Vacuum Furnace Loaded Layout Visualization for Component Traceability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vacuum furnaces used in aerospace component repair processes often lose information about the location and placement of components and baskets after the repair process, making traceability, root cause analysis, and quality investigations challenging.
Innovation Solution
A method and control system that capture and store visual data of the loaded layout within the vacuum furnace using cameras, generating 2D or 3D images of the components and baskets, allowing for accurate visualization and recording of their positions during the loading process, which can be used for traceability and quality investigations post-processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If components and baskets are stacked in the furnace to maximize loading capacity, then productivity is improved, but traceability of component positions is lost after removal
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures visual data of component and basket positions before the repair process begins. This preliminary recording of the loaded layout enables traceability after processing without interfering with the maximized loading capacity during the repair operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates visual copies (images) of the component and basket arrangements within the furnace. These visual records serve as information copies that preserve position data without requiring physical tags or markers on the components, thus maintaining maximum loading capacity while enabling post-process traceability.
2Loss of information
If visual data capture system is added to the vacuum furnace, then traceability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The camera system serves multiple functions: it captures visual data for traceability, records the loaded layout for quality investigations, and provides visual documentation for root cause analysis. This multi-functionality justifies the added complexity by delivering multiple benefits from a single system addition.
Solution Approach 2:
The visual data capture system acts as an intermediary between the physical component arrangement and the information system. Instead of requiring complex tracking devices attached to each component, the camera system mediates by capturing overall layout images that can be stored and referenced later, simplifying the traceability mechanism.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method (300) of generating a loaded layout in a vacuum furnace (200) corresponding to an actual layout in the vacuum furnace during operation of the vacuum furnace may comprise receiving, via a processor, a visual data of a loading process of the vacuum furnace from a camera (106); comparing, via the processor, the visual data to a predetermined maximum capacity layout for the vacuum furnace; and arranging, via the processor, the visual data into the loaded layout in response to comparing the visual data.