Systems and methods for simultaneously manufacturing a plurality of objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11904538-B2
Application number	US-202117505582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2021
Priority date	Nov 27, 2020
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

An example method for simultaneously manufacturing a plurality of objects is described. The method includes simultaneously cycling a plurality of pallets through a conveyor system. The conveyor system is cyclical, and the conveyor system includes an entrance point for each pallet, an exit point, and a plurality of manufacturing points corresponding to a plurality of manufacturing devices. Simultaneously cycling the plurality of pallets includes simultaneously cycling the plurality of pallets past the plurality of manufacturing points for two or more cycles, wherein each pallet is associated with a set of manufacturing instructions for a corresponding object. The method further includes, while simultaneously cycling the plurality of pallets through the conveyor system, using a different combination of the plurality of manufacturing devices to manufacture each object in accordance with the set of manufacturing instructions associated with each pallet, thereby manufacturing different objects for each pallet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
pallets;
a plurality of manufacturing devices each comprising a computing device, wherein each of the manufacturing devices is configured for performing different aspects of manufacturing objects, wherein the plurality of manufacturing devices are each configured to lay material for the objects with an orientation relative to the pallets that is different from the other manufacturing devices of the plurality of manufacturing devices;
a conveyor system configured for moving each of the pallets to one or more manufacturing devices of the plurality of manufacturing devices, wherein the conveyor system is cyclical, and wherein the conveyor system comprises an entrance point for the pallets, an exit point, and manufacturing points corresponding to the plurality of manufacturing devices; and
an additional computing device comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of functions comprising:
simultaneously cycling the pallets through the conveyor system and past the manufacturing points for two or more cycles, wherein each of the pallets is associated with a set of manufacturing instructions for each of the objects; and
while simultaneously cycling the pallets through the conveyor system, using a different combination of the plurality of manufacturing devices to manufacture each of the objects in accordance with the set of manufacturing instructions associated with each of the pallets, thereby manufacturing the objects for each of the pallets.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the functions further comprise:
encoding the set of manufacturing instructions for each of the objects on each of the pallets, wherein the one or more manufacturing devices are configured to manufacture each of the objects based on the set of manufacturing instructions on each of the pallets.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein each of the pallets comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, and wherein the set of manufacturing instructions are encoded on the RFID chip.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of manufacturing devices is configured to encode manufacturing details for each of the objects onto each of the pallets, the manufacturing details comprising an amount of material laid for the object by the manufacturing device, wherein the functions further comprise:
evaluating performance of the one or more manufacturing devices based on the manufacturing details encoded onto each of the pallets.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein evaluating performance of the one or more manufacturing devices comprises:
reading the set of manufacturing instructions and the manufacturing details from each of the pallets;
providing the set of manufacturing instructions and the manufacturing details from each of the pallets to a machine learning model; and
evaluating performance of the one or more manufacturing devices based on an output of the machine learning model.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein simultaneously cycling the pallets comprises simultaneously cycling the pallets such that a first pallet of the pallets remains on the conveyor system for a first number of cycles and a second pallet of the pallets remains on the conveyor system for a second number of cycles, wherein the first number of cycles is different from the second number of cycles.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of manufacturing devices each comprise a multi-spindle lamination cell.

8. A method for simultaneously manufacturing objects, the method comprising:
simultaneously cycling pallets through a conveyor system, wherein the conveyor system is cyclical, and wherein the conveyor system comprises an entrance point for the pallets, an exit point, and manufacturing points corresponding to a plurality of manufacturing devices, the plurality of manufacturing devices each comprising a computing device, wherein simultaneously cycling the pallets comprises simultaneously cycling the pallets past the manufacturing points for two or more cycles, wherein each of the pallets is associated with a set of manufacturing instructions for each of the objects, wherein the plurality of manufacturing devices are each configured to lay material for the objects with an orientation relative to the pallets that is different from the other manufacturing devices of the plurality of manufacturing devices; and
while simultaneously cycling the pallets through the conveyor system, using a different combination of the plurality of manufacturing devices to manufacture each of the objects in accordance with the set of manufacturing instructions associated with each of the pallets, thereby manufacturing the objects for each of the pallets.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
encoding the set of manufacturing instructions for each of the objects on each of the pallets, and the one or more manufacturing devices manufacturing each of the objects based on the set of manufacturing instructions on each of the pallets.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein each of the pallets comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, and wherein encoding the set of manufacturing instructions for each of the objects comprises encoding the set of manufacturing instructions on the RFID chip.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: the plurality of manufacturing devices encoding manufacturing details for each of the objects onto each of the pallets, and
evaluating performance of the one or more manufacturing devices based on the manufacturing details encoded onto each of the pallets.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein evaluating performance of the one or more manufacturing devices comprises:
reading the set of manufacturing instructions and the manufacturing details from each of the pallets;
providing the set of manufacturing instructions and the manufacturing details from each of the pallets to a machine learning model; and
evaluating performance of the one or more manufacturing devices based on an output of the machine learning model.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a number of the pallets on the conveyor system;
based on (i) the number of the pallets on the conveyor system and (ii) the set of manufacturing instructions encoded on each of the pallets on the conveyor system, determining a level of usage for each of the plurality of manufacturing devices; and
based on the level of usage for a given manufacturing device being less than a threshold level, selecting an additional pallet to enter the conveyor system.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining that a first object has been manufactured in accordance with its manufacturing instructions based on a status message from a given manufacturing device; and
based on determining that the first object has been manufactured, causing a first pallet that corresponds to the first object to leave the conveyor system at the exit point.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein a first pallet of the pallets remains on the conveyor system for a first number of cycles, wherein a second pallet of the pallets remains on the conveyor system for a second number of cycles, and wherein the first number of cycles is different from the second number of cycles, the method further comprising:
training a machine learning model based on the first number of cycles and the second number of cycles.

16. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: the plurality of manufacturi

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Smith Daniel R
• Jones Darrell D
• Suriyaarachchi Raviendra S

Classifications

• B29C64/182 Primary

  in parallel batches · CPC title

• B29C64/209

  Heads; Nozzles · CPC title

• B29C64/379

  Handling of additively manufactured objects, e.g. using robots · CPC title

• B29C64/393

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title