Video inspection system for fabric cutting operations

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for video inspection of fabric cutting operations, video inspection of fabric prior to cutting and selective collection of finished products, the system being mounted on automated laser / knife cutting coordinate cutting equipment, wherein the textile material unwound and conveyed by means of a conveyor (5) passes through a first textile material video inspection subsystem (4) located downstream of the cutting machine (7) and the cutting area, which subsystem (4) transmits information to a defect marking assembly (6) arranged on top of the conveyor (5), after video inspection and marking of textile material defects and cutting defects with a defect marking assembly (10), a second textile material cutting operation video inspection subsystem (9) is installed, the cutting blade (8) is transported to a modular pick and grip assembly (12) and then to a pull system (14) for the cutting blade (8), textile sheets produced by cutting are arranged in a waiting batten box below a storage subsystem (17) and then transported to a collection batten box (15) or to a waste collection assembly (13), the collection batten box (15) being part of the storage subsystem (16), the textile sheets produced by cutting being arranged in the waiting batten box below the storage subsystem (17), the positioning of the collection batten box (15) loaded with the cutting sheets on each level is performed by means of a batten box handling device (18), and performing a level change between the level / level / level elevators (19s, 19d) by means of the level transfer device, a level positioning and locking device on the elevator (20) checking and correcting the position of each level before each level is received by the level handling device (18).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for video inspection of textile cutting operations, video inspection of textile materials before cutting, and selective collection of finished products. Background Art

[0002] A cutting device is known from WO2004030876A1, which is designed to stack sheets of textile material and take into account the specific deformations of the individual sheets of textile material such that the positions of predefined marking points on the sheets are aligned with each other. This operation is achieved by recording the specific deformations of the fabric sheets and stacking said sheets. The individual fabric sheets that have been stacked in the correct positions should be cut in groups, and the average deformation present in the stack is determined by one or more cameras or other devices for inspecting the fabric strips when they are pulled out of the bale. The (one or more) cameras form a sensing device for marking points provided on the material web, and subsequently supplying the corresponding camera images or measurement data to a control device that controls the cutting system.

[0003] It is well known that in the automotive industry, quality and performance requirements are much more stringent because they are directly related to safety systems in vehicles, which can prevent serious accidents and even death. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention describes an application for textile parts that identifies each part in real time and selects good parts for scrap. In the industrial production process of textile parts for road vehicles, one of the steps is to automatically cut components from certain types of textile materials using laser / cutter equipment. The shapes of these components are stored in specific CAD files, which also specify a set of strict tolerances that the components must meet in order to be used. Among all the performance criteria required to ensure product quality, two are crucial: verifying the correct cutting of the parts to meet the tolerances, and the traceability of these parts during the production process, i.e., storing the information required to quickly and accurately identify problems when they occur.

[0005] Although quality is an important indicator of these products and costs need to be kept as competitive as possible, an automatic textile unloading system has also been developed.

[0006] The implemented system is currently in use on the production line and the effects are as expected.

[0007] The proposed system also automates the collection process of the textile sheets cut by the laser / cutting machine, thereby automatically performing their quality inspection with the highest accuracy, and finally collecting the correct and incorrect parts separately.

[0008] The auxiliary systems are also used for the video inspection system of textile cutting operations and the selective collection of finished products, which, although not the object of the present invention, are necessary and mandatory for the operation of the system, such as traceability systems and databases.

[0009] The main problems of the template-based evaluation method are as follows: on the one hand, it has significant errors, which leads to the introduction of defective parts in the subsequent production process; on the other hand, the process is extremely slow, depending on the number of measurement dimensions defined in the CAD file. If a part is verified as incorrect, then there are three scenarios:

[0010] - In the most favorable case, the part is detected during the subsequent process of the company and production is stopped;

[0011] - The product is detected as having an error and is returned by the customer;

[0012] - In the worst case, the defective product is installed in the vehicle and endangers the safety of passengers.

[0013] The invention proposed in this patent aims to automate the video inspection of textile cutting operations and the selective collection of products generated by the cutting process. This automation is carried out to eliminate the sources of errors caused by human factors and to improve traceability information by quickly and efficiently analyzing process information, so as to identify and eliminate the sources of errors and generate relevant statistical data for further optimization.

[0014] The technical problem solved by the present invention is to eliminate the sources of errors caused by human factors and to improve traceability information, so as to quickly and efficiently analyze process information to identify and eliminate the sources of errors and generate relevant statistical data for further optimization.

[0015] The system according to the present invention includes a first subsystem for video inspection of textile materials, which transmits information to a defect marking assembly arranged on top of a conveyor. A second subsystem for video inspection of the operation of cutting the textile material into cut pieces, and a defect marking assembly, are provided downstream of the cutting machine. After the second video inspection and defect marking are completed, the cut pieces are transported to a cut piece pick-up and gripping assembly. The cut textile pieces are picked up by a pulling assembly and then transported to a collection bin or a waste collection assembly. The cut piece pick-up and gripping assembly has a modular construction and consists of pistons and suction cups distributed across the width of the conveyor in order to pick up the cut pieces and release them into the collection bin. These are part of a storage subsystem for crates for the cut pieces, below which is arranged a storage subsystem for waiting crates. The positioning of the cut piece collection crates at each level is done by a crate handling device and the level change is done by a crate transfer device / crate lift between the levels. The crate positioning and locking device on the lift checks and corrects the position of each crate before it is picked up by the crate handling device.

[0016] The system according to the present invention further includes image pickup equipment consisting of one or more cameras, processing equipment with a graphics accelerator, an encoder, user authentication equipment, and equipment for reading traceability data.

[0017] The advantages of this system are:

[0018] - Functionally complete and for production;

[0019] - Can be used for the detection of material defects and the detection of cutting defects;

[0020] - The possibility of wide application to other types of products;

[0021] - Reduction of production costs;

[0022] - A significant reduction in the number of defects and thus an improvement in quality;

[0023] - Automatic measurement, with much higher accuracy than manual operators;

[0024] - In terms of the time required to perform the inspection, the measurement process does not affect the cutting process. The inspection of the material is performed during the movement of the belt, so only the alignment and measurement steps need to be adapted to the time budget so as not to slow down the movement of the conveyor. Description of the Drawings

[0025] The following are embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with Figures 1 to 14, the drawings showing:

[0026] Figure 1 System Overview

[0027] Figure 2 Integrated information flow using the auxiliary subsystem

[0028] Figure 3 Textile cutting equipment

[0029] Figure 4 Template for Inspecting Dimensions of Parts

[0030] Figure 5 Block Diagram of Recognition and Measurement Engine Figure

[0031] Figure 6 Graphic representation of the identified defects

[0032] Figure 7 3D system representation

[0033] Figure 8 Cutting Disc Clamping Subsystem

[0034] Figure 9 Details of the Subsystem in Figure 8

[0035] Figure 10 Cutting Disc Pulling Subsystem

[0036] Figure 11 Cutting collection box

[0037] Figure 12 Storage subsystem for textile sheets from the cutting and storage subsystem of the crate tier crate for standby

[0038] Figure 13 Crate positioning and locking equipment on the crate handling equipment and the lift

[0039] Figure 14 Hardware-Software Interaction Scheme Detailed implementation mode

[0040] The system for video inspection of textile cutting operations, video inspection of finished products, and selective collection according to the present invention is installed on an automatic laser / knife cutting coordinate cutting equipment

[0041] To automate the textile cutting process by laser or knife, a solution integrating several subsystems is given, which not only ensures the quality of the cut pieces, but also ensures their classification and selective packaging

[0042] In some cases, the fabric is loaded into the cutting machine assembly and forms a stack

[0043] Textiles are usually delivered in the form of a reel 1. The reel 1 is loaded into the cutting machine assembly 2. The textile material is unwound and passed through the stretching assembly 3, and is conveyed to the first textile material inspection subsystem 4 via the conveyor 5

[0044] The decision of the fabric video inspection subsystem 4 is transmitted to the fabric defect marking assembly 6, which is arranged on top of the conveyor 5

[0045] Additionally, the system includes a laser cutting equipment 7, and a second subsystem 9 for video inspection of the textile cutting operation is installed downstream of the cutting area.

[0046] In other embodiments, the video inspection subsystem can also be positioned under or beside the conveyor.

[0047] In the following description, the video inspection subsystem refers to the entire hardware-software component designed to inspect laser or knife cut parts, with the aim of verifying the cut and measuring the dimensions extracted from the CAD file, as well as saving the inspection information for traceability purposes.

[0048] The system according to the present invention further includes an image pickup equipment composed of one or more cameras, a processing equipment with a graphics accelerator, an encoder, a user authentication equipment, and an equipment for reading traceability data.

[0049] In the following description, the mechanism downstream of the video inspection subsystem refers to the entire electromechanical component for classifying parts based on the information from the video inspection subsystem.

[0050] In the following description, PLC refers to a programmable logic controller that receives information from the video inspection subsystem to control the pick-and-place mechanism for classifying parts.

[0051] The video inspection subsystem communicates with the PLC programmable logic controller via a high-speed interface. The video inspection system periodically reads a signal called a "heartbeat" signal from the PLC register to verify the connection between the two systems.

[0052] The conveyor 5 is mechanically connected to an encoder, which is further read in real time by the PLC programmable logic controller. The position of the encoder is used to calculate the position of the conveyor belt of the conveyor 5 in real time.

[0053] The video inspection subsystem according to the present invention constitutes the central control part of the entire system and has the following functional components:

[0054] 1. CAD File Loading and Interpretation Equipment A, depending on the contours defined on the layer in the drawing, this equipment defines the measurement dimensions (dimensions on the X-axis and Y-axis) between the cutting contours and the measurement tolerances. This equipment also identifies the number of columns under which each piece will run on the conveyor belt and defines the number of suction cups of the pick-and-place mechanism to be used for each column.

[0055] 2. Acquisition Equipment B, this equipment is responsible for obtaining images from multiple cameras and stitching them together to form an overall picture.

[0056] 3. Image Preprocessing Equipment C, this equipment handles the transformations required to increase the contrast and remove the noise in the image.

[0057] 4. Material Detection Equipment D, which is designed to detect the edge of the fabric on the conveyor belt. This detection has a dual purpose: a) The metal strips on the left and right sides of the material are cut out of the image so that only the material remains in the image. b) The information about the positioning of the material on the belt is compiled by the video inspection system with the information extracted from the CAD describing the number of columns and the distance between columns to decide which suction cup of the pick and place system will be used to pick up each part on the belt.

[0058] 5. Column Segmentation Equipment E, the equipment is used to segment each column according to its position in the CAD file. The images on each column can then be processed in parallel.

[0059] 6. Component Segmentation Equipment F, the equipment is designed to identify the parts in the image according to the start cutting signal provided by the PLC programmable logic controller. This signal is from the laser /

[0060] The cutting machine transmits it to the PLC, which then transmits it to the video inspection system. This signal is transmitted at a fixed period at the beginning of each cutting cycle. Depending on the laser

[0061] The physical distance between the cutting machine and the video camera and the displacement between the columns in CAD allow the encoder position to be calculated when the part has completely passed the camera, thus fully acquiring the image.

[0062] 7. Verification and Measurement Equipment G, the function of this equipment is to identify the cutting contour in the segmented parts, so as to measure and verify the outer contour according to the information extracted from CAD. In addition, this equipment transmits the result of the part verification (OK / NOK) to the PLC programmable logic controller, and then the PLC programmable logic controller uses this result to control the cutting blade clamping assembly 12 that classifies the parts.

[0063] 8. Material Verification Equipment H, which is designed to identify and report material defects using artificial intelligence technology.

[0064] 9. Result Reporting and Traceability Equipment I, the role of this equipment is to store all information related to the verification, inspection and measurement of parts and materials, and integrate with industrial traceability systems to transmit this information. In addition, this subsystem also provides operators with a real-time view of the measured parts and their results.

[0065] The laser cutting machine 7 can avoid cutting defective pieces depending on the decision of the textile video inspection system 4. An advantageous solution is to integrate the textile video inspection subsystem 4 with the laser cutting machine 7 to eliminate the marking process.

[0066] After the textile material is cut into pieces 8 and passes through the video inspection subsystem 9 of the cutting operation, it is transferred to the cutting defect marking assembly 10 of the textile material and the modular pick-up and gripping assembly 12 of the cut pieces 8, and then to the pulling system 14 of the cut pieces 8.

[0067] Depending on the decisions of the textile video inspection subsystem 4, the textile defect marking assembly 6, and the textile cutting defect marking assembly 10, mark the affected pieces and / or, for a more favorable solution, mark the affected areas.

[0068] After the marking operation, the cut pieces 8 that meet the quality requirements are picked up by the cut piece pulling assembly 14 and transported to the cut piece collection box 15, and the cut pieces 8 that do not meet the quality requirements are transferred to the waste collection assembly 13 under the action of gravity.

[0069] In a preferred embodiment, the technical scraps 11 (i.e., the cut pieces that do not meet the quality requirements) fall into the waste collection assembly 13 under the action of gravity or are picked up by the roller assembly installed above the conveyor 5.

[0070] To achieve the pick-up of the cut pieces 8 that have been verified by the second fabric cutting video inspection subsystem 9 and / or by the first fabric video inspection system 4, the cut piece clamping assembly 12 is provided with a modular structure consisting of several pistons 12a and suction cups 12b distributed across the width of the conveyor 5. Each piston-suction cup pair is individually controlled according to the position of the cut piece 8 and the video inspection results.

[0071] The individual control of each piston-suction cup pair reduces the need for spare parts for the suction cups because only the suction cups required to lift the workpiece are operated, which reduces air consumption and provides increased flexibility in the workpiece pick-up process 8. The function of the workpiece gripper assembly 12 is to separate the workpieces 8 that meet the quality requirements from the workpieces 8 that do not meet the quality requirements.

[0072] Another function is to pick up the cut pieces 8 that meet the quality requirements and lift them from the conveyor 5 so that the pulling assembly 14 can perform its pick-up.

[0073] In another preferred embodiment, the cut piece clamping assembly 12 can be designed such that the lowering of the suction cups 12b is performed integrally, but their actuation is performed individually.

[0074] The cut piece pick-up and gripping assembly can have other structures or components, excluding pistons and suction cups.

[0075] After picking up and sorting the cut pieces 8, the cut piece pulling assembly 14 moves from the standby position to the pick-up position, and the cut piece gripping assembly 12 is actuated, which causes the suction cups to disengage.

[0076] The cutting blade pulling assembly 14 moves from the pick-up position to the cutting blade release position 8 and then releases the cutting blade 8 into the collection crate 15, which is part of the storage subsystem 16 for the textile pieces resulting from the cutting.

[0077] After performing the cutting blade release step 8, the cutting blade pulling assembly 14 returns to the standby position.

[0078] The travel speed when placing 8 cutting blades into the cutting blade collection box 15 can be configured for each individual item to eliminate the sail effect.

[0079] The cutting blade pulling assembly 14 is equipped with 8 cutting blade presence sensors and monitors the number of blades in each cutting blade collection crate 15, as well as whether the blade has been removed from the cutting blade gripping assembly 12.

[0080] Each 15-piece cutting crate is equipped with an RFID tag 15a to manage the flow of full or empty crates during the process. To prevent the crate from deforming during use and / or transportation and to increase its positioning accuracy, the crate is made of aluminum profiles and dense polycarbonate.

[0081] Each crate 15 is labeled with a tag 15a. These tags are recorded in the system database to monitor the position of the crates in the crate storage subsystem 17 at the level of the storage subsystem 16 for the textile pieces resulting from the cutting and the crates in the waiting state.

[0082] By integrating RFID technology on the collection crate 15, the traceability data for the required cutting blades 8 is ensured. This information can be transmitted to the centralized ERP / ERP / SAP IT subsystem to obtain accurate material availability data.

[0083] In an advantageous embodiment, to optimize space, the storage subsystem 16 for the textile material pieces resulting from the cutting is arranged above the crate storage subsystem 17 at the level of the crates in the waiting state.

[0084] In another advantageous embodiment, to reduce the replacement time of the cutting blade collection crate 15, the crate storage subsystem 17 at the level of the crates in the standby state can be used to store full crates.

[0085] The positioning of the cutting blade collection crate 15 at each level is performed by the crate handling device 18 and the level change is performed by the crate transfer device / crate elevator 19s and 19d between the levels.

[0086] The function of the crate handling device 18 is to move a cutting disc collection crate 15 loaded with cutting discs 8 that meet the quality requirements from the cutting disc storage subsystem 16 to the platform of the inter-level crate transfer device 19d / right-side crate lift.

[0087] The crate positioning and locking device on the lift 20 locks the crate 15 for lowering. When the crate position verification procedure confirms the position of the crate, the crate is lowered by the device 19d. Once at the lower limit, the positioning device 20 releases the crate and the crate is picked up by the handling device 18 and loaded into the crate storage subsystem 17.

[0088] In another embodiment, the crate handler 18 unloads an empty cutting disc collection crate 15 from the crate storage subsystem 17 to be processed in sequence. The crate is pushed onto the platform of the inter-level crate transfer device / crate lift - left side 19s. The platform 19s rises to the level of the cutting disc storage subsystem 16, and then the cutting disc collection crate 15 is transferred to the subsystem 16 by the handling device 18.

[0089] In another mode of use, only a part of the crate transfer device can be used between the levels / crate lifts 19s and 19d.

[0090] From the perspective of work safety, the crate positioning and locking device on the lift 20 is a great advantage as it checks and corrects the position of each crate before the crate is picked up by the crate handling device 18.

[0091] When loading and unloading crates, the protective device 21 is designed to protect the operator from moving parts when transferring crates between levels.

[0092] The system has two operating modes:

[0093] - Automatic: The configuration of the 8 cutting disc pick-up and suction cup activation dimensions is obtained from the video system.

[0094] - Manual: The above configuration is set manually by the technician.

[0095] The application itself is complex because it combines multiple subsystems that require complex control logic, combines preprocessing for contour sharpening and CAD file processing on the image acquisition side, and combines the identification of dimensions defined by CAD and actual measurements associated with parts in the image on the extraction dimension definition side.

[0096] The overall scheme of this process is shown in Figures 2 and 14.

[0097] The system according to the invention can be used only with the first video inspection subsystem 4, with or without the defect marking assembly 6, or with both the video inspection subsystems 4 and 9 and only with or without the second defect marking assembly 10.

[0098] In another embodiment, the system can have only the second video inspection subsystem 9, with or without the defect marking assembly 10.

Claims

1. A system for video inspection of textile cutting operations, for video inspection of textile materials before cutting, and for selective collection of products, the system comprising: A stretching assembly (3) for textile material wound on a reel (1), a conveyor (5), a subsystem for video inspection of the textile material before and after a cutting operation, including cameras, a device for sucking, transporting and placing the cut pieces in various cartridges, and a laser cutting equipment (7) as well as equipment for processing, reading or storing data, characterized in that a first subsystem (4) for video inspection of the textile material before the cutting operation transmits information to a defect marking assembly (6) arranged on top of the conveyor (5) and a second subsystem (9) for video inspection of the cutting operation (7), a cutting defect marking assembly (10) detected on the textile material, and a modular assembly (12) for picking up and gripping the cut pieces (8) consisting of pistons (12a) and suction cups (12b) distributed across the width of the conveyor (5), a pulling assembly (14) for the cut pieces (8), which are then guided towards a cut piece storage subsystem (16), which subsystem (16) consists of collecting crates (15) positioned on several levels, a storage subsystem (17) for waiting crates, a crate handling device (18), a crate transfer device / lift (19s, 19d) between the levels, with a crate positioning and locking device (20) provided on the lift, which device (20) checks and corrects the position of each crate before the crate handling device (18) receives each crate, and wherein the control of the video inspection subsystems (4) and (9) is carried out by the following equipment: equipment (A) for loading and interpreting DXF files, equipment (B) for acquiring images received from multiple cameras and forming an overview image, image preprocessing equipment (C), textile material detection equipment (D), textile material column segmentation equipment (E) according to its position in the DXF file, functional part segmentation equipment (F) having the function of identifying parts in the image according to a start cutting signal transmitted by the cutting equipment (7) and provided by a PLC programmable logic controller, verification and measurement equipment (G) for identifying the cutting profile in the segmented parts, the information being subsequently used to control the mechanism for classifying the parts, identification and reporting of material defects being carried out by material inspection equipment (H), preservation of all verification information, inspection and measurement of the parts and the textile material, and integration with an industrial traceability subsystem for transmitting the information being carried out by reporting and traceability equipment (I), data processing equipment with a graphics accelerator, an encoder, user authentication equipment and traceability data reading equipment.

2. The system for video inspection for textile cutting operations, for video inspection of textiles before cutting, and for selective collection of products according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cut piece pulling assembly (14) on the conveyor is equipped with a cut piece presence sensor (8) to monitor the number of pieces in each collection bin (15) and whether a piece has been picked up from the modular cut piece picking and gripping assembly (12).

3. The system for video inspection for textile cutting operations, for video inspection of textile materials before cutting, and for selective collection of products according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that, Each collecting crate (15) of the cutting pieces is equipped with a tag (15a) using RFID technology for managing the flow of full or empty crates during the process, and also monitors the position of each crate within the storage subsystem (16) for the textile pieces resulting from the cutting and within the storage subsystem (17) for the waiting crates. The integrated RFID technology provides the traceability data required for the cutting pieces (8), and this information is transmitted to the hardware-software components controlling the entire system.

4. A system for video inspection for textile cutting operations, for video inspection of textile materials before cutting, and for selective collection of products, according to claims 1, 2, and 3, characterized in that The positioning of the cutting-piece collecting crates (15) on each tier is carried out by means of the crate handling device (18), the change of tier is carried out by means of the crate transfer device / crate lift (19s) and (19d) between the tiers, and the locking of the crates (15) onto the lift is carried out by means of the locking device (20), which checks and corrects the position of each crate before it is received by the crate handling device (18).

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