Nozzle Management System for Suction Nozzle Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Managing multiple suction nozzles in a nozzle housing system is challenging due to difficulties in tracking the type and location of each nozzle, leading to inefficiencies in nozzle management and usability.

Innovation Solution

A nozzle management system with multiple housing devices and a control device that acquires and determines the presence of required suction nozzles, allowing for efficient transfer and ordering of nozzles by identifying housed and non-housed nozzles across multiple devices.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If multiple nozzle housing devices are provided to store large quantities of suction nozzles, then the quantity of stored nozzles is improved, but the difficulty of managing nozzle types and locations increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvequantity of stored nozzlesVSAvoiddifficulty of managing nozzle types and locations
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control device acquires housed nozzle information from multiple nozzle housing devices and uses this feedback to determine whether required nozzles are available. The system continuously monitors nozzle inventory across all housing devices and provides feedback to operators or automated systems about nozzle availability, enabling informed decisions about transfers and ordering without manually tracking each nozzle.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The control device acts as an intermediary between multiple nozzle housing devices and the nozzle transfer/management system. It centralizes the acquisition and processing of housed nozzle information from various devices, mediating the complexity of tracking nozzles across multiple locations by providing a unified interface for nozzle management.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If housed nozzle information is acquired from multiple devices to determine nozzle availability, then the accuracy of nozzle management is improved, but the time and complexity of information processing increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of nozzle managementVSAvoidtime for information processing
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The control device acquires housed nozzle information in advance from all nozzle housing devices and stores it for future reference. By performing this information gathering preliminarily, the system avoids repeated queries when determining nozzle availability, reducing processing time during actual transfer operations while maintaining accurate inventory knowledge.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The control device creates a digital copy or record of housed nozzle information from multiple physical nozzle housing devices. This informational copy allows the system to determine nozzle availability and manage transfers based on stored data representations rather than repeatedly accessing physical devices, reducing time loss while maintaining accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP3007537B1Nozzle management system
Publication Date: 2019.02.27 FUJI CORP
  • EP3007537B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3007537B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3007537B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

In nozzle management system 110 provided with multiple nozzle management devices 112, control device 114 includes housed nozzle information acquisition section 352 that acquires information related to all suction nozzles housed in multiple nozzle management devices, first determination section 354 that determines whether all the required suction nozzles to be transferred to a nozzle tray are housed in a prescribed nozzle housing device, and second determination section 356 that determines whether non-housed suction nozzles which are not housed in the prescribed nozzle housing device from among the required suction nozzles are housed in another suction nozzle housing device. Thus, in a case in which all the required suction nozzles are stored in multiple nozzle housing devices, it is possible to gather all the required suction nozzles to be moved to a nozzle tray. Also, in a case in which not all the required suction nozzles are stored in multiple suction nozzle housing devices, the presence of non-housed suction nozzles can be recognized, and ordering or the like of non-housed suction nozzles can be performed.