Systems and methods for maintaining a record for a workpiece processed by a computer numerically controlled (CNC) electronically synchronized manufacturing assembly line cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12405599-B2
Application number	US-202418777181-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2024
Priority date	Mar 29, 2023
Publication date	Sep 2, 2025
Grant date	Sep 2, 2025

Abstract

Various systems and methods for maintaining a record for a workpiece processed by a CNC electronically synchronized cell of a manufacturing assembly line are disclosed herein. Example embodiments involve a cell controller and a part-processing control system. The cell controller can be configured to: initialize a cell controller record; initiate a part assembly task involving at least one electronically synchronized part-processing operation and upon completion of each operation, update an inspection identifier of the cell controller. The part-processing control system can be configured to initialize a part-processing control system record; during completion of the part assembly task, query the cell controller for the inspection identifier, and update the part-processing control system record, based on a result of the querying; and upon completion of the part assembly task, compare the cell controller record and the part-processing control system record; and determine a status for the workpiece based on the comparison.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for operating a dual-controller system for improving a rapid-speed manufacturing process at a computer numerically controlled (CNC) electronically synchronized cell of a manufacturing assembly line for a plurality of workpieces, the CNC electronically synchronized cell comprising a plurality of CNC-equipped workstations operating according to timed and coordinated motion, the method comprising:
operating a cell controller of the dual-controller system to, in real-time, generate and manage, a cell controller record for a workpiece of the plurality of workpieces during the rapid-speed manufacturing process, the cell controller being responsible for overseeing the rapid-speed manufacturing process at the CNC electronically synchronized cell;
operating a part-processing controller of the dual-controller system to, in real-time, generate and manage a part-processing controller record for the workpiece during the rapid-speed manufacturing process, the part-processing controller being responsible for motion control at the plurality of CNC-equipped workstations, the part-processing controller operating to manage the part-processing controller record to include processing information related to the workpiece during one or more part assembly tasks in real-time, and the cell controller operating to manage the cell controller record which comprises workpiece data in addition to the part-processing controller record;
initiating by the cell controller the rapid-speed manufacturing process at the CNC electronically synchronized cell during which at least one part assembly task is initiated, the at least one part assembly task comprises at least one electronically synchronized part-processing operation involving motion control managed by the part-processing controller within one or more predefined timed windows;
during the rapid-speed manufacturing process and upon completion of each electronically synchronized part-processing operation of the at least one electronically synchronized part-processing operation,
operating the cell controller to, in real-time during the rapid-speed manufacturing process, modify the cell controller record to include an inspection identifier based on a result of the at least one part-processing operation; and
at a predefined time window of the one or more predefined timed windows following completion of the part assembly task managed by the part-processing controller, operating the part-processing controller to initiate a status request for the result of the at least one part-processing operation and modifying the part-processing controller record based on the received result from the cell controller;

during the rapid-speed manufacturing process and upon completion of the part assembly task, operating the part-processing controller to evaluate the cell controller record and the part-processing controller record to assign a status for the workpiece following the part assembly task consistent with the rapid-speed manufacturing process.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining, at the cell controller, a reference identifier for the workpiece; and
transmitting, at the cell controller, a part identifier based on the reference identifier to the part-processing controller,
wherein generating the cell controller record comprises initializing the cell controller record based on the reference identifier for the workpiece, and
wherein generating the part-processing controller record comprises initializing the part-processing controller record based on the part identifier for the workpiece.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the part identifier comprises a portion of the reference identifier.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein initiating the at least one part assembly task comprises determining the part assembly task based on the reference identifier.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises:
notifying, at the part-processing controller, the cell controller of a presence of the workpiece in the cell;
transmitting, at the cell controller, instructions to an identification device in communication with the cell controller for identifying the workpiece; and
determining the reference identifier based on a result of the identification device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the cell controller record comprises incrementing an inspection identifier of the cell controller record and wherein modifying the part-processing controller record comprises incrementing an inspection identifier of the part-processing controller record.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: querying the cell controller at an electronically timed time interval and determining the presence of the modified inspection identifier during the electronically timed time interval.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the electronically timed time interval is based on the at least one electronically synchronized part-processing operation.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
notifying, at the cell controller, of a presence of the updated inspection identifier to the part-processing controller.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
transmitting, at the part-processing controller, the part-processing controller record to the cell controller; and
merging, at the cell controller, the cell controller record and the part-processing controller record to obtain a merged cell controller record.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting the merged cell controller record to a database.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: comparing the inspection identifier of the cell controller record and the inspection identifier of the part-processing controller.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the part assembly task comprises at least one loading operation and wherein the method further comprises:
transmitting, by the part-processing controller, a request identifier associated with the workpiece, the request identifier comprising a pallet identifier and a nest identifier for the workpiece associated with a station within the cell; and
updating, at the cell controller, the cell controller record with a location identifier of the workpiece associated with the station.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises:
transmitting, to at least one part-processing device, process information for processing the workpiece based on the reference identifier and a location identifier for the workpiece; and
processing, by the at least one part-processing device, the workpiece according to the process information.

15. The method of claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises:
transmitting, at the part-processing controller, an inspection request to the cell controller, the inspection request comprising the part identifier for the workpiece; and
determining, at the part-processing controller, an expected inspection identifier for the workpiece, and
wherein determining, at the part-processing controller, the status for the workpiece is based in part on the expected inspection identifier for the workpiece.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, by the cell controller, an inspection result for the workpiece from a part-processing device of the at least one part-processing device;
updating, by the cell controller, the cell controller record for the workpiece with the inspection result;
determining, by the cell controller, the status for the workpiece

Assignees

• Ats Corp

Inventors

• Colyer Chad William
• Almas Robert David
• Munroe Philip David
• Mclean James Mark
• Mcintosh Murray Connor Hugh
• Tran Hang
• Nicholson Kenneth Wayne

Classifications

• G05B19/4145

  characterised by using same processor to execute programmable controller and numerical controller function [CNC] and PC controlled NC [PCNC] · CPC title

• G05B19/4063

  Monitoring general control system (G05B19/4062 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B2219/32177

  Computer assisted quality surveyance, caq · CPC title

• G05B2219/31282

  Data acquisition, BDE MDE · CPC title

• G05B19/41875

  characterised by quality surveillance of production · CPC title