Multi-Machine Workpiece Inspection With Tool-Specific Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
In automated factory manufacturing systems, measuring individual features after each machining operation on successive machine tools reduces overall efficiency, and manual correction of the production process is delayed, affecting the quality of workpieces produced in the meantime.
Innovation Solution
A method where workpieces are successively loaded onto multiple machine tools, then passed to a common dimensional inspection station for measuring dimensions, with output signals generated to adjust each machine tool based on performance, eliminating the need for intermediate inspection stations and improving cost-effectiveness and quality control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If intermediate inspection stations are placed between each machine tool to measure features after each machining operation, then measurement precision and quality control are improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple intermediate inspection stations into a single common inspection station that inspects all workpieces after they have passed through all machine tools. This consolidation reduces device complexity and manufacturing cost while maintaining measurement precision through centralized, standardized inspection equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The common inspection station serves as a universal measurement point for all workpieces regardless of which machine tools processed them. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for dedicated inspection stations at each machining stage, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive quality control.
2Reliability
If intermediate inspection stations are placed between each machine tool to provide real-time feedback, then quality control is improved, but productivity decreases due to increased inspection time and workpiece handling
Solution Approach 1:
By consolidating inspection operations into a single common station at the end of the machining sequence, the patent eliminates multiple intermediate inspection stops. This reduces the total time workpieces spend in inspection and handling, thereby improving productivity while maintaining quality control through comprehensive final inspection and feedback mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback from the common inspection station to adjust machine tool parameters for subsequent workpieces. This feedback mechanism enables continuous quality improvement without requiring intermediate inspections, as corrections are applied to the next batch of workpieces based on measurements taken after all machining operations are complete.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple intermediate inspection stations are used to inspect each feature after machining, then manufacturing precision is improved through immediate detection and correction, but loss of time increases due to repeated loading and unloading of workpieces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines all intermediate inspection functions into a single common inspection station that operates after all machining operations are complete. This eliminates the need for repeated loading and unloading of workpieces at multiple intermediate inspection points, significantly reducing time loss while maintaining manufacturing precision through comprehensive final measurement and feedback to machine tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables continuous machining operations without interruption for intermediate inspections. Workpieces flow continuously through all machine tools, and inspection is performed continuously at the common station without breaking the production flow, thereby minimizing time loss while maintaining precision through uninterrupted processing and systematic quality control.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of producing a workpiece which is successively loaded onto two or more machine tools and one or more machining operations are performed to produce one or more features of the workpiece on each machine tool. After the machining operations on both or all of the machine tools, the workpiece is passed to a common dimensional inspection station. At the common dimensional inspection station, dimensions of the features of the workpiece produced by the machining operations on the two or more machine tools are measured. Based on the results of measuring the dimensions of the features, two or more output signals are produced which respectively relate to the performance of the two or more machine tools which performed the machining operations. Each of the output signals is fed back to the machine tool which performed the respective operation, to adjust the production process of each corresponding machine tool.