A collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces

Abstract

The present invention discloses a collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces. The present invention includes a control module, a flexible positioning module, and a real-time monitoring module. The control module collects data such as the position of the fragile workpiece and the grayscale image of the workpiece surface through a vision sensor and a proximity sensor, and transmits the data to a programmable logic controller and a microcontroller for analysis and then sends it to the flexible positioning module; the flexible positioning module consists of two parts: motor control and electromagnetic proportional valve control. The high-precision motor is controlled by a motor driver, and the gas flow in the electromagnetic proportional valve is controlled by PWM drive. This module realizes the coordination of the positioning cylinder and the transmission belt. The real-time monitoring module mainly displays the real-time position of the workpiece, the transmission speed of the workpiece, whether the air source is normal, the operation of the overall equipment, and abnormal display, etc. The present invention improves the flexibility of positioning fragile workpieces in traditional production, reduces the breakage rate, and can reduce the random cost in the production process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of production and detection of fragile workpieces, mainly aiming at problems such as poor positioning accuracy and easy to be crushed during the production and detection of fragile workpieces in the positioning system. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of semiconductor manufacturing technology and the increasing demand for chips in all walks of life, while the number of chips is in short supply, the production cost is also increasing continuously. In the field of semiconductor production, it is necessary to detect the surface defects of the manufactured wafer. The detection equipment mainly includes some probe equipment, image recognition cameras, etc. In order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of detection, when detecting, there are certain requirements for the position of the wafer when it enters the detection equipment. In addition, the ex-factory quality monitoring and incoming material monitoring of photovoltaic wafers are the two most critical processes in the solar energy industry chain, and they are also the processes with the highest technological content and requirements, which play a crucial role in the development of the solar photovoltaic industry. There are also certain requirements for the positioning of photovoltaic wafers in these processes. Similarly, fragile products are very common in our production and life, such as display screens, glass, etc. It is very easy to damage fragile workpieces during positioning in daily production.

[0003] Regardless of which kind of fragile workpiece, its production and detection process will surely pass through multi-stage transmission equipment. The purpose of positioning during the transmission process is to improve the efficiency and quality of subsequent production processes. In the traditional production and detection process of fragile workpieces, the positioning devices generally include electric positioning devices, pneumatic positioning devices, and hydraulic positioning devices. Electric positioning devices and hydraulic positioning devices are often relatively large in volume, while the volume advantage of pneumatic positioning devices is obvious. In addition, if the positioning accuracy and force of fragile workpieces are not appropriate, it will affect the subsequent process, resulting in unnecessary losses. At present, the positioning system unilaterally adjusts the operation of the positioning device according to the information of the position sensor, and the effect is often not good. Or starting from improving the mechanical structure of the positioning device itself to improve the flexibility of positioning, which increases the R & D cost. Therefore, it can be seen that the difficulty of positioning lies in improving the positioning accuracy and flexibility after multi-stage transmission on the premise of considering cost. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The main purpose of the present invention is to improve the flexibility of the positioning device in the current production process of fragile workpieces, and a cooperative positioning control system in which a transmission device and a positioning device cooperate is proposed.

[0005] When the fragile workpieces transmitted from other production lines or other inspection platforms reach the next production line, in order to reduce the impact of the previous production line on this production line, a positioning operation is first required. Then, when the workpieces reach the inspection equipment from the transmission equipment, in order to reduce the impact of the position change of the fragile workpieces during the multi-stage transmission process on the inspection results, repositioning is required. In the subsequent process, the same positioning devices can also be installed on both sides of the transmission equipment according to actual requirements. In addition, there is also a key problem during the positioning process, that is, the positioning force. If the force is not appropriate, it is very likely to cause the workpiece to break. Therefore, how to use the pneumatic positioning devices distributed on both sides of the transmission equipment and the transmission equipment itself for more flexible positioning is an urgent problem to be solved. Therefore, a collaborative positioning system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces is invented.

[0006] The present invention improves the flexibility of the positioning system through the collaborative cooperation between the positioning device and the transmission device; the system includes a control module, a flexible positioning module and a real-time monitoring module; the control module collects the position and the gray-scale image data of the surface of the fragile workpiece through a vision sensor and a proximity sensor, and transmits the data to a programmable logic controller and a microcontroller for analysis and then sends it to the flexible positioning module; the flexible positioning module realizes motor control and electromagnetic proportional valve control. The high-precision motor is controlled by a motor driver, and the gas flow in the electromagnetic proportional valve is controlled by PWM drive. The flexible positioning module realizes the coordination of the positioning cylinder and the transmission belt; the real-time monitoring module is used to display the real-time position of the workpiece, the transmission speed of the workpiece, whether the air source is normal, the operation of the overall equipment and abnormal display.

[0007] The present invention first uploads the images of the surface of the workpiece before and after deformation by a vision sensor CCD device. The microcontroller preprocesses the images to obtain the gray-scale texture image of the surface, and then calculates the force data on the surface of the fragile workpiece; in addition, the real-time rotation speed of the motor is uploaded to the microcontroller, and a state space model is constructed by combining the force on the surface of the workpiece and the motor speed. The microcontroller obtains the optimal operating parameters of the next workpiece through the built-in algorithm, and finally adjusts the PWM drive and the motor drive output through real-time communication with the programmable logic controller, and finally adjusts the opening of the electromagnetic proportional valve and the rotation speed of the high-precision motor.

[0008] The main principle of the collaborative positioning system is as follows: When a fragile workpiece reaches the platform with a pneumatic positioning device, the proximity sensor first detects its specific position, enabling the programmable logic controller to detect the input signal. The programmable logic controller outputs a PWM signal to activate the electromagnetic proportional valve, and the positioning cylinder is inflated to clamp the positioning device equipped with pulleys on both sides. The pulley device installed on the positioning device is to prevent the product from being crushed due to jamming during transmission. For more flexible positioning, the vision sensor preprocesses the grayscale image of the surface of each fragile workpiece and transmits it to the microprocessor to analyze the force condition on the current workpiece surface. Through existing algorithms, the optimal operating parameters for the next workpiece positioning are calculated, and the processing results are respectively transmitted to the motor drive module and the PWM drive module to adjust the speeds of the high-precision motors on both sides of the transmission platform and the force of the positioning device. In summary, the collaborative positioning system coordinately adjusts the positioning force of the positioning cylinder and the transmission speed of the belt through the microcontroller and the programmable logic controller. Additionally, the system is also equipped with a display module to provide some important device information to the staff. The collaborative positioning system has a good effect on reducing the breakage rate and improving the positioning accuracy.

[0009] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0010] The pneumatic positioning device adopted in the present invention has the advantages of simple structure, convenient maintenance, low price, resistance to environmental pollution, relatively small volume, etc. The entire collaborative positioning control system has the characteristic of strong popularization. It is applicable to both small-scale fragile wafer production lines and medium and large-scale fragile workpieces (such as glass, display screens, etc.). The present invention embeds artificial intelligence methods (such as image processing technology, etc.) in the microcontroller and jointly adjusts the transmission equipment and the positioning device with the programmable logic controller, more effectively playing their respective roles, enhancing the flexibility of positioning fragile workpieces in traditional production, reducing the breakage rate, and reducing the random costs in the production process. Description of the Drawings

[0011] Figure 1 It is a composition diagram of the positioning system

[0012] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the positioning system

[0013] Figure 3 It is a cross-sectional view at the positioning location

[0014] In the figure, 1 is a high-precision motor, 2 is a transmission belt, 3 is a fragile workpiece, 4 is a proximity sensor, 5 is a CCD sensor, 6 is a pulley, 7 is a circuit, 8 is a display module, 9 is a control module, 10 is a gas source, 11 is a pressure sensor, 12 is an electromagnetic proportional valve, 13 is a transmission pipeline, and 14 is a positioning cylinder. Detailed Embodiments

[0015] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] The object of the present invention is to improve the flexibility of the positioning system through the coordinated cooperation between the positioning device and the transmission device. In the present invention, the control module can adopt common programmable logic controllers on the market (such as Siemens, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Schneider, etc.). The microcontroller in the control module can select the model brand according to the configuration required by the image processing algorithm (such as STMicroelectronics, TSMC, NXP, Texas Instruments, etc.). The vision sensor, proximity sensor, pressure sensor in the detection device and the high-precision motor, motor drive, positioning cylinder in the actuator also target common brands on the market, and the entire cooperative positioning system can be selected according to actual cost requirements. First, the vision sensor CCD device uploads the images of the workpiece surface before and after deformation. The microcontroller preprocesses the images to obtain the grayscale texture image of the surface, and then calculates the force data on the surface of the fragile workpiece. In addition, the real-time rotational speed of the motor is uploaded to the microcontroller, and a state space model is constructed by combining the force on the workpiece surface and the motor speed. The microcontroller uses existing filtering algorithms and prediction methods to obtain the optimal operating parameters of the next workpiece, and finally adjusts the PWM drive and motor drive outputs through real-time communication with the programmable logic controller, and finally adjusts the opening of the electromagnetic proportional valve and the rotational speed of the high-precision motor. Under the combined action of the two, it has a good effect on reducing the fragmentation rate and improving the positioning accuracy.

[0017] As Figure 1 shown in the composition module diagram of the present invention, the present invention is composed of a control module, a flexible positioning module and a real-time monitoring module. The control module includes a detection device, a microcontroller, and a programmable logic controller; the detection device includes a vision sensor, a proximity sensor and a pressure sensor. The detection device collects data such as the position and force of the fragile workpiece through the vision sensor and the proximity sensor, and synchronously transmits the data to the programmable logic controller and the microcontroller for analysis and then sends it to the flexible positioning module in real time. The pressure sensor is used to monitor whether the air supply pressure at the air source is normal, alarm for abnormal pressure information, and cut off the gas supply.

[0018] The flexible positioning module is composed of two parts: motor control and electromagnetic proportional valve control. The high-precision motor is controlled by the motor driver, and the gas flow in the electromagnetic proportional valve is controlled by the PWM drive. This flexible positioning module realizes the coordination of the positioning cylinder and the transmission belt;

[0019] The real-time monitoring module includes real-time position monitoring of the workpiece, transmission speed monitoring, real-time air pressure monitoring, equipment operation monitoring, and real-time anomaly monitoring, etc.

[0020] As Figure 2 shown in the schematic diagram of the implementation manner of the present invention. The working process of the present invention will be specifically introduced below:

[0021] First, the transmission process is described. The motor driver in the flexible positioning module drives the high-precision motor 1 to drive the transmission belt 2 to transport the fragile workpiece 3, and the fragile workpiece 3 is transported to the next transmission platform at a specified speed.

[0022] Then, the positioning process is introduced. When the fragile workpiece 3 reaches the transmission platform with the positioning cylinder 14, the cross-sectional view of the relative position between the positioning cylinder and the fragile workpiece is as shown in the appendix. Figure 3 First, the proximity sensor 4 detects the position of the fragile workpiece 3 and sends the position signal to the programmable logic controller of the control module 9. The output signal of the programmable logic controller controls the PWM driver to make the electromagnetic proportional valve 11 act, connecting the gas source 10 with the positioning cylinder 14 to inflate, and the positioning devices on both sides clamp. In addition, positioning pulleys 6 are installed on both sides of the positioning cylinder to prevent the workpiece from being clamped to death during transmission and positioning. In addition, for more flexible positioning, the image of the surface bending deformation process of the fragile workpiece is transmitted to the microcontroller in the control module 9 through the vision CCD sensor 5. The microcontroller processes the images of the fragile workpiece before and after deformation to obtain a clear grayscale texture image, preparing for the force analysis of the fragile workpiece based on the image grayscale texture information. The microcontroller writes the existing algorithm to analyze the optimal transmission speed during the positioning process and transmits the processing result to the motor driver in the control module 9, thereby adjusting the operation of the motors on both sides of the transmission platform. On the other hand, the result of the microcontroller controls the amount of gas filled into the positioning cylinder 14, further adjusting the force of the positioning device, providing a reference for the positioning of the next workpiece.

[0023] In summary, first, the positioning force needs to be adjusted; second, the transmission speed needs to be adjusted; third, clamping to death needs to be prevented.

[0024] Next, the function of the display module 7 is introduced. In the actual industrial production line process, the lines are often complex and there are many devices. And in order to improve production efficiency, some detection devices, actuating devices, etc. are not exposed on the surface. Therefore, the implementation of the display module is to better understand whether each device is operating normally or in an abnormal state during the actual production process.

[0025] Example 1:

[0026] This platform is applied to the detection and classification process of ultra-thin and fragile photovoltaic wafers. At present, without installing a positioning structure and when the equipment is operating normally, due to the influence of the multi-stage transmission process and other factors, the positions of most wafers on the transmission device do not meet the requirements of the detection equipment. Although not installing a positioning device will not cause wafer breakage, it affects the accuracy of the detection results of the probe detection system for photovoltaic wafers and also has an impact on the classification of subsequent problematic wafers. After installing positioning devices at intervals on both sides of the multi-stage transmission equipment, the positions of basically all wafers are unified and meet the position accuracy requirements before entering the detection device. In addition, due to the adoption of the collaborative positioning control system in the present invention, the flexibility of the overall equipment is improved, and the breakage rate of the photovoltaic wafers during positioning is effectively reduced.

Claims

1. A collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces, characterized in that Improve the flexibility of the positioning system through the coordinated cooperation between the positioning device and the transmission device; the system includes a control module, a flexible positioning module, and a real-time monitoring module; the control module collects the position and the grayscale image data of the surface of the fragile workpiece through a vision sensor and a proximity sensor, and transmits the data to a programmable logic controller and a microcontroller for analysis and then sends it to the flexible positioning module; the flexible positioning module realizes high-precision motor control and electromagnetic proportional valve control, the high-precision motor is controlled by a motor driver, and the gas flow in the electromagnetic proportional valve is controlled by PWM drive control, and the flexible positioning module realizes the coordination of the positioning cylinder and the transmission belt; the real-time monitoring module is used to display the real-time position of the workpiece, the transmission speed of the workpiece, whether the air source is normal, the operation of the overall equipment, and abnormal display; First, the vision sensor CCD device uploads the images of the surface of the workpiece before and after deformation, and the microcontroller preprocesses the images to obtain the grayscale texture image of the surface, and then calculates the force data on the surface of the fragile workpiece; in addition, the real-time speed of the high-precision motor is uploaded to the microcontroller, and a state space model is constructed by combining the force on the surface of the workpiece and the speed of the high-precision motor. The microcontroller obtains the optimal operating parameters of the next workpiece through the built-in algorithm, and finally adjusts the PWM drive and the high-precision motor drive output by real-time communication with the programmable logic controller, and finally adjusts the opening of the electromagnetic proportional valve and the speed of the high-precision motor.

2. The collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces according to claim 1, wherein The detection devices in the control module include a vision sensor, a proximity sensor, and a pressure sensor. The detection devices collect the data of the position and the force condition of the fragile workpiece through the vision sensor and the proximity sensor, and transmit the data to the programmable logic controller and the microcontroller for analysis in real time and synchronously and then send it to the flexible positioning module; the detection device monitors whether the air supply pressure at the air source is normal through the pressure sensor, processes the abnormal pressure information as an alarm, and cuts off the gas supply.

3. The collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces according to claim 1, wherein The transmission process is realized as follows: The high-precision motor driven by the motor driver in the flexible positioning module drives the transmission belt to transport the fragile workpiece, and the fragile workpiece is transported to the next transmission platform at a specified speed.

4. The collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces according to claim 3, characterized in that The positioning process is realized as follows: When the fragile workpiece reaches the transfer platform with positioning cylinders, the positioning cylinders are located on both sides directly below the opposite sides of the fragile workpiece; First, the proximity sensor detects the position of the fragile workpiece and sends the position signal to the programmable logic controller of the control module. The output signal of the programmable logic controller controls the PWM driver to make the electromagnetic proportional valve act, connecting the air source to the positioning cylinders to inflate, so that the positioning pulleys on both sides slowly clamp; The image of the surface bending deformation process of the fragile workpiece is transmitted to the microcontroller in the control module through the vision CCD sensor. The microcontroller processes the images of the fragile workpiece before and after deformation to obtain a clear grayscale texture image, conducts a force analysis on the fragile workpiece based on the texture information of the grayscale texture image, analyzes the optimal transfer speed during the positioning process through the built-in algorithm in the microcontroller, and transmits the optimal transfer speed to the motor driver in the control module, thereby adjusting the operation of the high-precision motors on both sides of the transfer platform; At the same time, the microcontroller adjusts the amount of gas filled into the positioning cylinders according to the force analysis result, further adjusting the force of the positioning pulleys to provide a reference for the positioning of the next workpiece.

5. The collaborative positioning control system for the multi-stage transmission process of fragile workpieces according to claim 4, wherein The display module is used to display in real time whether the equipment is operating normally or in an abnormal state during the industrial assembly line process.

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