Packaging Machine Collision Avoidance Using Workspace Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increased use of individual servo drives in packaging machines enhances the risk of collisions between moving machine parts and products, particularly when their traversing paths overlap, leading to potential faults, material damage, and errors.
Innovation Solution
A method is developed to generate workspace data that defines areas where collisions can occur and where they cannot, allowing for the creation of collision-free travel paths and real-time monitoring to prevent collisions by controlling the movement of machine organs based on this data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If individual servo drives are used for each moving component instead of mechanical coupling to a main shaft, then the flexibility and control of each component is improved, but the risk of collisions between components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by generating workspace data and defining collision-prone areas before actual operation. Travel paths are pre-calculated to avoid collision zones, and the monitoring system is prepared with knowledge of dangerous areas, enabling preventive rather than reactive collision avoidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system continuously compares actual component positions with pre-defined collision-prone areas, providing real-time feedback. When a component enters or approaches a collision-prone area, the system generates signals that can trigger corrective actions, creating a closed-loop control system that adapts to prevent collisions.
2Productivity
If multiple moving components operate in overlapping travel paths within a shared workspace, then the productivity and functionality of the packaging machine is improved, but the risk of collisions between components and products increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shared workspace is segmented into distinct zones: safe areas and collision-prone areas. Each moving component's travel path is further segmented to identify specific segments that pass through or near collision-prone zones. This segmentation allows the system to apply monitoring and avoidance measures selectively to high-risk segments while maintaining efficient operation in safe zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a temporal dimension to spatial coordination by monitoring not just the positions of components but also their speeds and directions. This multi-dimensional approach (position, speed, direction, time) allows the system to predict future positions and detect potential collisions before they occur, enabling proactive intervention while maintaining overlapping travel paths.
3Reliability
If real-time monitoring and control measures are implemented to detect and avoid collisions, then the reliability and safety of the system is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system serves multiple functions: it detects actual collisions, predicts potential collisions, identifies components entering collision-prone areas, and provides data for travel path optimization. By making the monitoring system multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for separate dedicated systems for each function, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity while maintaining high reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for detecting and/or avoiding collisions between at least one first machine element (11, 13, 19) of a device (10) for the production of packages, in particular for cigarettes or other tobacco products, which moves in a work space in which such collisions can occur and is in particular driven (intermittently) by an electric motor, or between products handled by the first machine element (11, 13, 19) moving in this work space and on the one hand a second part of the device (10), preferably a second moving machine element (11, 13, 19).The invention is characterized by the following measures: a) Generating workspace data (25) that maps the workspace, wherein within the workspace data a workspace data area is defined as a subset of the workspace data in which collisions would occur and/or a workspace data area as a subset of the workspace data in which no collisions can occur, b1) Generating a collision-free travel path for the first moving machine part (11, 13, 19) based on the generated workspace data (25), optionally additionally a collision-free travel path for the second moving machine part (11, 13, 19), as well as controlling the movement of the moving first machine part (11, 13, 19), optionally additionally the movement of the second moving machine part, according to the (if applicable)respective) travel path, and/or b2) monitoring the movement of the moving first machine part (11, 13, 19), and optionally also the movement of the second moving machine part (11, 13, 19), for collisions or possible collisions based on the generated workspace data (25).