Augmented Reality Guidance for Wash Rack Item Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for loading items onto wash racks for thorough cleaning are inefficient, require spatial imagination, and often fail to account for critical placement features like orientation, leading to errors and suboptimal loading.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality apparatus, preferably mixed reality glasses, provides visual and audio instructions for loading items onto wash racks, allowing real-time alignment with virtual 3D models, capturing user interactions, and ensuring correct positioning and arrangement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If two-dimensional drawings are used to depict wash rack loading, then loading instructions can be provided, but spatial imagination is required and loading efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional drawings to three-dimensional augmented reality visualizations. The AR system displays 3D models of items to be cleaned and their correct positions on the wash rack, allowing operators to directly perceive spatial relationships and loading sequences without requiring spatial imagination or interpreting 2D diagrams.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates virtual copies of the actual items to be cleaned and their correct loading positions. The AR display shows replicated 3D models of items (e.g., ampoules, tools, clips) in their proper locations on the wash rack, enabling operators to match physical items with their correct positions through visual comparison rather than interpreting textual or 2D instructions.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual loading instructions are used, then loading can be guided, but recognition of special features like orientation is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The AR system employs color-coding to indicate correct and incorrect placement orientations. Items are highlighted in green when correctly oriented and red when misplaced or incorrectly oriented. This visual feedback system makes orientation requirements explicit and immediately visible, eliminating the need for operators to interpret subtle textual instructions about placement orientation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system displays 3D virtual copies of items with their correct orientation clearly visible. The AR visualization shows the exact pose, orientation, and position that physical items should assume, making it immediately apparent whether real items are correctly placed without requiring operators to mentally rotate or interpret 2D diagrams showing orientation requirements.
3Productivity
If 2D drawings show loading positions, then loading can be instructed, but the sequence for efficient and ergonomic loading is not shown
Solution Approach 1:
The AR system presents loading instructions in a predetermined optimal sequence before the operator begins loading. The system displays which item should be loaded first, second, and so on, along with the correct position for each item. This pre-planned sequence eliminates the need for operators to figure out loading order themselves, ensuring both efficiency and ergonomic considerations are built into the loading process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback by highlighting completed loading steps and indicating remaining steps. The AR display shows checkmarks or visual confirmation when items are correctly placed according to the optimal sequence, and continues to guide the operator through the remaining items. This feedback mechanism ensures the operator follows the efficient sequence while maintaining high speed and ergonomic posture throughout the loading process.
4Productivity
If augmented reality visual representations are used, then loading can be visualized and understood quickly, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The AR system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it displays 3D visualizations of items and positions, provides step-by-step loading sequences, offers real-time placement feedback through color-coding, and guides the operator through optimal loading order. By consolidating these multiple instructional and feedback functions into a single AR interface, the system achieves high productivity without requiring multiple separate devices or complex multi-step instruction systems.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a loading method (10) for loading a wash item carrier (41) for cleaning in a cleaning system. Comprising the steps of: Providing an augmented reality apparatus (1), in particular comprising augmented reality glasses. Providing a wash rack (41). Providing loading instructions by the augmented reality apparatus (1) for loading the wash rack (41), in particular by means of visual representation and/or acoustic instructions. In particular, capturing of completed loading steps, preferably by input by the user and/or by at least one recording device (3) of the augmented reality apparatus (1). Loading of the wash rack (41) with items to be cleaned (42b) by a user according to the given loading instructions.