Patent Application
20190018395
The technical field generally relates to manufacturing processes, and more particularly relates to designing a manufacturing process using an interference and clearance database.
Manufacturing is continually becoming more sophisticated reflecting the drive to reduce size, weight and therefore, cost of products while maintaining and improving quality. For example, the typical architecture in the automotive industry utilizes over 2500 hex fasteners (i.e., screws, bolts, nuts). Coupling these vast numbers of fasteners with a myriad of unique constrained access scenarios can be a cumbersome task to design an efficient manufacturing process and select the proper tool.
Accordingly, it is desirable to use an interference and clearance database to design a manufacturing process. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.
A method is provided for designing a product manufacturing process. In one embodiment, the method includes: loading a final assembly into a manufacturing process design engine; performing interference and clearance checks for objects used during the manufacturing process with an interference and clearance calculation engine, where the interference and clearance checks are based on data retrieved from an interference and clearance database (ICD); redesigning an assembly operation if an interference or inadequate clearance is detected by the process design engine; optimizing the assembly operation with a manufacturing process optimization engine if an interference or inadequate clearance is not detected by the process design engine; and finalizing the manufacturing process once optimization is complete.
A method is provided for creating an interference and clearance database (ICD) for a manufacturing process. In one embodiment, the method includes: loading dimensions for all available objects for possible use in the manufacturing process into an interference and clearance calculation engine, wherein the dimensions of the available objects are retrieved from computer-aided design (CAD) models; loading the dimensions for all product variations in the manufacturing process into the interference and clearance calculation engine, wherein the dimensions of the product variations are retrieved from the CAD models; loading the work position for assembly of every combination of tools and fasteners for possible use in during the manufacturing process into the interference and clearance calculation engine; calculating any interference and inadequate clearance of each possible combination of objects, products and work positions in the manufacturing process with the clearance calculation engine; determining possible alternative work positions for all object interferences and inadequate clearance detected by the clearance calculation engine; disregarding objects for use in the manufacturing process if no possible alternative work positions for the interference or inadequate clearance are determined; and adding each combination of object, product variation and work positions to the ICD if no interference or inadequate clearance for the combination is detected by the interference and clearance calculation engine.
The exemplary embodiments will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and wherein:
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the application and uses. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description.
A method for designing a manufacturing a manufacturing process using an interference and clearance database has been developed. The tool clearance database contains information pertaining to clearances between all vehicle parts, all relevant variations of tools (hand, cutting, robotic, etc.) and all relevant positions and postures of human workers during the manufacturing process. The method optimizes the manufacturing process by minimizing the costs of tools and equipment, minimizing process time and optimizing ergonomic actions of human workers. The method allows the design and verification of the manufacturing process by performing batch calculations on all possible combinations of tools, fasteners and work positions to determine tool clearances.
In one embodiment, the method calculates: all possible locations, positions and postures of human workers; all possible combinations of tools available during the manufacturing process including tool extensions and sockets; and all possible combinations of fasteners used during the manufacturing process. The method then calculates clearances for all tool combinations used within a final manufacturing and records these clearances into a database down to the level of individual part occurrences. Additionally, ergonomic and positioning clearances are calculated for both human and robotic tools for the entire final manufacturing. Each of the clearances are saved in an interference and clearance database (ICD) for later retrieval and batch processing.
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Next, the dimensions for all variations of the product in all stages a manufacturing are loaded into the interference and clearance calculation engine 106. This includes data on fasteners, disposable materials and other objects required for the manufacturing process. The information regarding the dimensions are retrieved from CAD models stored on PLM and PDM databases 104. Finally, the work positions for every combination of tools, fixtures and fasteners for every possible use during the product manufacturing process are loaded into the interference and clearance calculation engine 110. The work positions include data for assembly, welding, machining and all other manufacturing activities. Additionally, work positions for in-process assemblies (IPA) may be loaded as well. All possible work positions for human workers, robots and AGV's are included. The information regarding the work positions are retrieved from CAD models stored on PLM and PDM databases 104.
Once the data regarding the objects, product variations and work positions is loaded, the interference and clearance calculation engine will calculate the clearance of all possible combination and variation of objects, product variations and work positions in the manufacturing process 112. If the engine determines an interference exists 114, it will attempt to identify any alternative work positions, objects, tools or fasteners that will accomplish the individual manufacturing operation. For each alternative available, the interference and clearance calculation engine will repeat the clearance analysis 120. If no alternative is available, the tool will be disregarded and not used in the manufacturing process 122. Once each possible combination of tools, fasteners and work positions is analyzed, the combinations that have adequate clearance will be added to the ICD 116.
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Some of the advantages of embodiments of the present method include quickly and instantaneously verifying the feasibility of a manufacturing process during design. The method has the scalable ability to quickly determine the best tools to perform manufacturing operations. It provides instant design verification on the impact to the manufacturing processes. It should be clear that other advantages of the embodiments of the present method include: optimizing the number of tools and tool combinations; optimizing the sequence of motion of the tools used in the manufacturing process; optimizing the ergonomic position of human workers; and optimizing the position of robots and other mechanisms to decrease manufacturing time.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be described herein in terms of functional and/or logical block components and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such block components may be realized by any number of hardware, software, and/or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, an embodiment of the present disclosure may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, digital signal processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, or the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced in conjunction with any number of systems, and that the systems described herein is merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.
While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims and the legal equivalents thereof.
