A smart assembly process and device for fiber preforms

Abstract

The application belongs to the field of advanced manufacturing, and discloses a kind of fiber preform intelligent assembly process and device, mainly including rotating platform, manipulator, visual sensor. The profile of preform is scanned by visual sensor, and the position information of preform is obtained. The manipulator moves to the specified position, grabs the handle of preform, and separates the preform from the wooden mold. Then, the visual sensor scans the profile of wooden mold and male mold successively, obtains and compares the position information of wooden mold and male mold, calculates the position deviation result, controls the rotating platform to rotate and translate according to the result, moves the male mold to the position of previous wooden mold, overlaps the profile of previous wooden mold, and returns the upper chuck, lower chuck and each manipulator according to the previous preform ascending path. The preform is sleeved on the male mold, and the whole mold sleeving operation is completed. The application can realize the automatic sleeving of fiber preforms with different shapes and sizes in RTM process, and improve the production efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of advanced manufacturing, specifically relating to an intelligent assembly process and device for fiber preforms. Background Technology

[0002] The RTM (Resin Injection Molding) process requires first weaving a fiber preform onto a wooden mold, then removing the preform from the wooden mold and fitting it onto a metal mold, followed by mold closing and resin injection molding. To achieve high precision and surface quality, the injection molding process requires the preform to remain undeformed during weaving, fitting, and mold closing; otherwise, unevenness and other defects will occur on the surface. However, fiber preforms have low stiffness, and due to the tight fit between the preform and the wooden and metal molds, deformation is highly likely during the process of removing the preform from the wooden mold and installing it onto the metal mold. Currently, the preform fitting process is entirely manual, with multiple operators relying on visual judgment to determine the relative position of the preform to the metal mold and assembling it by feel. This process is labor-intensive and inefficient. Therefore, effectively preventing deformation and maintaining the integrity of the flexible preform during removal and fitting, and automating and standardizing the fitting process of preforms for various non-standard molds, are urgent problems to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the issues of heavy manual labor and easy damage to the surface of fiber preforms during the RTM process, the present invention aims to provide an intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms. This process can intelligently identify the contours and positions of preforms, wooden molds, and metal molds, enabling automated intelligent grasping and assembly of preforms with different complex shapes, reducing the burden on workers, and lowering the cost of intelligent assembly.

[0004] One object of the present invention is to provide an intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms, specifically including the following steps:

[0005] S1. Place the wooden mold (4) carrying the prefabricated body (6) on the rotating platform (3);

[0006] S2, The rotating platform (3) carries the wooden mold (4) and moves it along the horizontal guide rail (1) to the assembly station;

[0007] S3. Start the vision sensor (11), rotate the platform (3) one revolution, and record the position information of the handle (6-1) on the prefabricated body (6) through the vision sensor (11);

[0008] S4. The upper chuck (8), lower chuck (9) and each robotic arm (7) move to the designated position according to the position information of the handle (6-1) and clamp each handle (6-1);

[0009] S5, the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) are moved upwards along the vertical guide rail (5) simultaneously, and the prefabricated body (6) is separated from the wooden mold (4);

[0010] S6, the rotating platform (3) is rotated again for one revolution, and the position information of the wooden mold (4) at this time is recorded by the visual sensor (10);

[0011] S7, the rotating platform (3) is moved out to the feeding position along the horizontal guide rail (1), and the wooden mold (4) is unloaded from the rotating platform (3);

[0012] S8, the metal mold (2) is placed on the rotating platform (3);

[0013] S9, the rotating platform (3) carries the metal mold (2) and moves along the horizontal guide rail (1) to the assembly station;

[0014] S10, the rotating platform (3) is rotated again for one revolution, and the position of the metal mold (2) at this time is recorded by the visual sensor (11);

[0015] S11, the position information difference of the wooden mold (4) and the metal mold (2) is compared, and the rotating platform (3) is horizontally translated and rotated according to the comparison result, so that the position of the metal mold (2) coincides with the position of the wooden mold (4);

[0016] S12, the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) move downwards along the vertical guide rail (5) simultaneously, and the prefabricated body (6) is sleeved on the metal mold (2);

[0017] S13, the mechanical hands (7) loosen the prefabricated body handle (6-1) and return to the initial position;

[0018] The visual sensor used in steps S3, S6 and S10 is based on line laser to perform rotating scanning imaging, and then performs three-dimensional model reconstruction to identify all contour features of the target object.

[0019] Another object of the application is to provide a fiber prefabricated body intelligent assembly device. Its features include: a horizontal guide rail (1), a vertical guide rail (5), a rotating platform (3), an upper chuck (8), a lower chuck (9), a mechanical hand (7), a visual sensor (11), the vertical guide rail (5) is fixed to the end of the horizontal guide rail (1), the rotating platform (3) is located on the horizontal guide rail (1) and moves along the horizontal guide rail, the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) are located on the vertical guide rail (5) and move up and down along the vertical guide rail (5), the mechanical hands (7) are respectively located on the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) and make circumferential motion along the circular arc guide rail (10) on the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9), and the visual sensor (11) is fixed to the outside of the assembly station and detects the positions of the prefabricated body (6), the wooden mold (4) and the metal mold (2).

[0020] Further, the rotating platform (3) has an axial translation mechanism (3-1), a vertical movement mechanism (3-2) and a rotating mechanism (3-3), which can drive the wooden mold (4) and the metal mold (2) to move axially, vertically and rotationally.

[0021] Further, the manipulator (7) has a circumferential movement mechanism (7-1), a radial translation mechanism (7-2) and a vertical adjustment mechanism (7-3), which drive the end clamping mechanism (7-4) to move circumferentially, radially and vertically, and the clamping mechanism (7-4) can clamp the handle (6-1) of the preform body (6) to drive the preform body (6) to move together.

[0022] The present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0023] 1. The present application can realize automatic assembly of the fiber preform body and improve the assembly efficiency.

[0024] 2. The present application can identify the profiles of the fiber preform body wooden mold and the male mold of different shapes, and does not need to pre-store the size information of the mold for shape matching, which has lower operation difficulty.

[0025] 3. The visual sensor can be moved to different positions for scanning through the movable base, which can adapt to different sampling range requirements, reduce the number of visual sensors required, and reduce the detection cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0026] The accompanying drawings, which form a part of the present application, are included to provide a further understanding of the application, and are incorporated herein for purposes of illustrating the illustrative embodiments of the present application and the explanations provided herein are made with respect to the illustrative embodiments and are not intended to limit the present application.

[0027] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the fiber preform body device;

[0028] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the preform body;

[0029] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the upper and lower chucks;

[0030] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the rotating platform;

[0031] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the manipulator.

[0032] Explanation of reference signs

[0033] 1, horizontal guide rail; 2, metal mold; 3, rotating platform; 3-1, axial translation mechanism; 3-2, vertical movement mechanism; 3-3, rotating mechanism; 4, wooden mold; 5, vertical guide rail; 6, preform; 6-1, preform handle; 7, manipulator; 7-1, circumferential movement mechanism; 7-2, radial translation mechanism; 7-3, vertical adjustment mechanism; 7-4, clamping mechanism; 8, upper chuck; 8-1, spacing adjustment screw; 8-2, spacing adjustment mechanism; 9, lower chuck; 9-1, lifting adjustment screw; 9-2, lifting adjustment transmission mechanism; 10, circular arc guide rail; 11, visual sensor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. The described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The description of the at least one exemplary embodiment is actually only illustrative, but not as any limitation on the present application and its application or use. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative labor fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0035] Unless specifically stated, the relative arrangement of the components and steps, numerical expressions, and numerical values set forth in the various examples herein are not meant to limit the scope of the present application. Moreover, it is to be understood that the dimensions of the various parts shown in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and that for clarity certain components can be shown exaggerated relative to other components. Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the art can not be discussed in detail, but are to be considered as part of the described technology. In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values are to be interpreted as illustrative only and are not to be construed as limiting. Other examples of the exemplary embodiments can have different values. It is noted that like components and / or features throughout the drawings are identified by like reference numerals and letters, thus, once certain parts have been defined throughout the drawings, it is not necessary to discuss those parts further in the subsequent drawings. The technical solutions of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings:

[0036] As shown in Figure 2 The preform (6) is sewn with two sets of preform handles (6-1) at the upper end and the lower end respectively, and each set has three grabbing points. The upper handle is used to pull out the preform (6) from the wooden mold (4) integrally, and the lower handle is used to put the preform (6) into the metal mold (2) integrally.

[0037] As shown in Figure 3 , 5As shown, the upper chuck (8), lower chuck (9), and the robotic arms (7) on them form an integrated connecting device. First, the upper chuck (8) and lower chuck (9) are connected as a whole by a pitch adjustment screw (8-1). The pitch adjustment transmission mechanism (8-2) can adjust the pitch between the upper chuck (8) and lower chuck (9) to match the pitch of prefabricated bodies (6) of different sizes and the upper and lower prefabricated body handles (6-1) sewn on them. Each chuck has 3 robotic arms (7), which have the ability to adjust the circumferential, radial, and vertical movements to match the position and height difference between the 3 gripping points of the same set of prefabricated body handles (6-1). After scanning and obtaining the positions of the handles (6-1) of each precast body, the integral fitting device will first undergo deformation adjustment so that the upper chuck (8) and lower chuck (9) correspond to the upper / lower precast body handles (6-1) respectively. Each robot (7) adjusts its posture to correspond to its gripping point, thereby achieving seamless docking between the integral fitting device and precast bodies of various sizes and their grippers. After gripping and fixing 6 gripping points, the precast body (6) and the fitting device form a whole. The integral fitting device ensures the integrity of the precast body during the fitting process. The lower chuck (9) is driven by the lifting adjustment screw (9-1), thereby driving the overall lifting; the lifting adjustment transmission mechanism (9-2) can simultaneously drive 3 lifting adjustment screws (9-1) to achieve the overall smooth lifting of the chuck mechanism, which greatly reduces the risk of damage to the integrity of the precast body during the fitting process and solves the problem of fitting deformation.

[0038] like Figure 1 , 4 As shown, the wooden mold (4) or metal mold (2) carrying the prefabricated body (6) is placed on the rotating platform (3). The rotating platform (3) has a clamping device to fix the mold position during transportation, measurement and fitting. The rotating platform (3) has the ability to rotate and translate, and has different functions at different stages. During each scan, the rotating platform (3) acts as the circumferential motion mechanism for the line laser scan and provides coded information of the circumferential motion. During adjustment, the rotating platform (3) acts as the adjustment chassis for the metal mold (2). The vision sensor (11) is mounted on a liftable and translatable base, which can be adjusted according to the size of the prefabricated body (6) and the position of the prefabricated body handle (6-1) to place it within the optimal detection range. The equipment has dedicated vision acquisition and processing software, which can convert the scanning cloud map of the line laser sensor into the spatial coordinate information of the prefabricated body handle (6-1) or the posture difference adjustment information between the wooden mold (4) and the metal mold (2) according to the process, as the deformation basis of the above-mentioned integral fitting device or the coordinate parameters of the rotating platform (3). The combined use of a rotating platform and a vision sensor enabled the extraction of the shape features of the prefabricated handle (6-1) and the wooden mold (4) and metal mold (2), and realized the modeling and calculation of relevant key coordinate parameters.

[0039] The present application is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and on the basis of the technical solutions disclosed in the present application, those skilled in the art can make some substitutions and modifications to some technical features without creative labor according to the disclosed technical content, and these substitutions and modifications are all within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A smart assembly process for fiber preforms, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1. Place the wooden mold (4) carrying the preform (6) on the rotating platform (3) and clamp it; S2, The rotating platform (3) carries the wooden mold (4) and moves it along the horizontal guide rail (1) to the assembly station; S3. Start the vision sensor (11), rotate the platform (3) one revolution, and record the position information of the prefabricated handle (6-1) through the vision sensor (11); S4, the upper chuck (8), the lower chuck (9) and each robotic arm (7) move to the designated position according to the position information of the prefabricated handle (6-1) and hold each prefabricated handle (6-1). The prefabricated body (6) has two sets of prefabricated handles (6-1) sewn on the upper and lower ends respectively. Each set has three gripping points. The robotic arm (7) has the ability to adjust the circumferential, radial and vertical movements to match the position and height difference between the three gripping points of the same set of prefabricated handles (6-1). S5. The upper chuck (8) and lower chuck (9) move upwards simultaneously along the vertical guide rail (5), causing the precast body (6) to detach from the wooden mold (4). S6. Rotate the rotating platform (3) one more turn and record the position information of the wooden mold (4) when the preform (6) is demolded from the wooden mold (4) by the vision sensor (11); S7. The rotating platform (3) moves along the horizontal guide rail (1) to the loading position and unloads the wooden mold (4) from the rotating platform (3); S8. Place the metal mold (2) on the rotating platform (3) and clamp it; S9. The rotating platform (3) carries the metal mold (2) and moves it along the horizontal guide rail (1) to the assembly station; S10. Rotate the rotating platform (3) one revolution again and record the position of the metal mold (2) at this time through the vision sensor (11); S11. Compare the position information differences between the wooden mold (4) and the metal mold (2). Based on the comparison results, the rotating platform (3) will be horizontally translated and rotated to make the position of the metal mold (2) coincide with the position of the wooden mold (4) when the preform (6) is demolded from the wooden mold (4). S12, the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) move downwards simultaneously along the vertical guide rail (5) to fit the preform (6) onto the metal mold (2); S13. Each robotic arm (7) releases the preform handle (6-1) and returns to its initial position.

2. The intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms according to claim 1, characterized in that: The visual sensor used in steps S3, S6, and S10 is based on line laser for rotational scanning imaging, followed by 3D model reconstruction to identify all contour features of the target object.

3. The intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms according to claim 1, characterized in that... The assembly process is implemented using an assembly device, which includes: Horizontal guide rail (1), vertical guide rail (5), rotary platform (3), upper chuck (8), lower chuck (9), robotic arm (7), vision sensor (11); Among them, the horizontal guide rail (1) is in contact with the horizontal ground through the chassis; the vertical guide rail (5) is connected and fixed to the mounting base of the chassis through the vertical beam; the rotating platform (3) is connected to the horizontal guide rail (1) and can move horizontally along it; the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) are both connected to the vertical guide rail (5) and can move up and down along the vertical guide rail (5); the robot (7) is located on the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) respectively and can make circular motion along the arc guide rail (10) on the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9); the vision sensor (11) is fixed on the movable bracket and in contact with the horizontal ground.

4. The intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms according to claim 3, characterized in that: The upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9) are connected by a pitch adjustment screw (8-1) to form a whole. The pitch adjustment transmission mechanism (8-2) drives the three pitch adjustment screws (8-1) at the same time to adjust the pitch between the upper chuck (8) and the lower chuck (9). The weight of the upper chuck (8), the lower chuck (9), the pitch adjustment screw (8-1) and the pitch adjustment transmission mechanism (8-2) is borne by the lower chuck (9). The lower chuck (9) is driven by the lifting adjustment screw (9-1) to drive the overall lifting. The lifting adjustment transmission mechanism (9-2) can drive the three lifting adjustment screws (9-1) at the same time to realize the overall smooth lifting of the chuck mechanism.

5. The intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms according to claim 3, characterized in that: The rotating platform (3) has a transverse translation mechanism (3-1), a longitudinal translation mechanism (3-2), a rotation mechanism (3-3) and a clamping mechanism (3-4), which can drive the wooden mold (4) or the metal mold (2) to perform translation and rotation movements. The clamping mechanism (3-4) drives the chuck through the screw to clamp the base of the wooden mold (4) or the metal mold (2) in the transverse and longitudinal directions in sequence.

6. The intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms according to claim 3, characterized in that: The robotic arm (7) has a circumferential moving mechanism (7-1), a radial moving mechanism (7-2), and a vertical adjusting mechanism (7-3), which drives the end clamping mechanism (7-4) to perform circumferential, radial, and vertical movements. The clamping mechanism (7-4) can clamp the preform handle (6-1) and drive the preform (6) to move together.

7. The intelligent assembly process for fiber preforms according to claim 3, characterized in that: The vision sensor (11) is mounted on a base with vertical and horizontal movement mechanisms, and the vision sensor (11) can move with the base in the vertical or horizontal direction.

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