Wire Insertion Robot Offset Plug Maps for Connector Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wire insertion machines face issues with aligning spatial coordinates for inserting wires into grommet cavity locations of electrical connectors due to manufacturing tolerances, leading to failed insertions.
Innovation Solution
The method involves generating and using plug maps with offset values to compensate for manufacturing tolerances, which are pre-generated and stored in a data storage unit, allowing the automated machine to calculate and apply these offsets for precise wire insertion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If standard plug maps are used for wire insertion, then the automated machine operates efficiently, but manufacturing tolerances cause misalignment with true grommet cavity locations leading to failed insertions
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and stores multiple plug maps with different offset values before wire insertion operations. These pre-generated plug maps account for potential manufacturing tolerances in advance, allowing the automated machine to select the most appropriate plug map for each electrical connector without real-time adjustments, thereby ensuring reliable wire insertions despite variations in manufacturing precision
Solution Approach 2:
The system modifies the plug map parameters by incorporating offset values that compensate for manufacturing tolerances. By adjusting the spatial coordinates in the plug map to account for potential deviations in grommet cavity locations, the system maintains accurate alignment between the robot's wire insertion points and the actual cavity locations, resolving the contradiction between operating efficiency and alignment accuracy
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple plug maps with offset values are stored and processed, then alignment accuracy improves to compensate for manufacturing tolerances, but data storage requirements and processing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the plug map data into multiple discrete versions, each with specific offset values corresponding to different manufacturing tolerance scenarios. This segmentation allows the automated machine to store organized, modular plug map data and selectively retrieve only the relevant version needed for each wire insertion task, reducing unnecessary processing complexity while maintaining high alignment accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates multiple copies of the base plug map with varying offset values to account for manufacturing tolerances. Rather than developing complex real-time calculation algorithms, the system pre-generates these plug map copies and stores them for direct retrieval and use, simplifying the processing requirements while ensuring accurate alignment through the use of pre-computed offset values
Data Source
AI summary
An automated wire insertion machine for inserting wires into grommet cavity locations of an electrical connector includes a controllable wire insertion robot and a processor to generate pre-generated plug maps based upon an original plug map of the grommet cavity locations and to control the wire insertion robot based upon one pre-generated plug map to insert the wires into the grommet cavity locations. The pre-generated plug maps are generated by defining a range of potential error of the grommet cavity locations that includes at least one of a potential rotational error and a potential translational error, defining an acceptable tolerance of the grommet cavity locations that includes at least one of an acceptable rotational tolerance and an acceptable translational tolerance, and calculating offset values of the grommet cavity locations based on the range of potential error and the acceptable tolerance, thereby generating the plurality of pre-generated plug maps.