Patent Application
20100112336
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method for attaching a permanent identification to a product with an RFID tag and, more particularly, to a plurality of RFID tags each encapsulated within a protective ball, where the RFID balls can be added to the product through coating where the balls are interspersed within the coating material, or through casting where the RFID balls are inserted into the product using mechanical force, or through molding where the RFID balls are interspersed within the work material itself.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In a manufacturing environment, raw materials or work pieces are used to produce products. For example, for high volume automotive applications, many materials, such as various types of sheet metal, are formed into desired parts for the vehicles, such as by stamping, pressing, bending, etc. Typically, these work pieces are coated with various materials when they are delivered to the manufacturing facility. For example, sheet metal may be covered with oil during transportation from a steel mill to a stamping plant. After delivery to the plant, the sheet metal is stored for stamping where the oil acts as a protective barrier. Other coatings include paint and zinc for galvanization.
During the manufacturing process, identification of metal types and other information, such as steel grades and coatings, including manners of applying coatings, in an automotive assembly plant sometimes can be a challenging task. Systems and methods to identify steel grade and other things generally may not be available in the production environment. Various methods, such as mechanical testing and chemical analysis that are known to provide this information typically have required a relatively long cycle time to make a positive identification. Therefore, a need exists for a more effective and straightforward technique to identify information about raw materials being used in a manufacturing process, such as the age of the material, thickness of metal pieces, grade of steel, etc.
During the life-cycle of a product, often the product needs to be identified for its age, origin, and more importantly, its authentication. Various methods exist for this problem, such as barcode scan, but it may not be effective enough to prevent faking the information. Therefore, a need exists for a method that enables permanent identification attachment on a product.
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, an RFID tag system and method are disclosed. An RFID tag is encapsulated within a protective material and formed as a ball. The RFID ball is then mixed with a material that is to be deposited on a particular work piece, such as a coating being deposited on a piece of sheet metal. The RFID ball can later be read when the work piece is in the production environment using a suitable RFID reader. In this manner, the RFID ball forms a permanent part of the work piece and is able to be interrogated at any occasion during the assembly of a product.
Additional features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The following discussion of the embodiments of the invention directed to a process for providing RFID balls as part of a work piece in a manufacturing environment is merely exemplary in nature, and is in no way intended to limit the invention or its applications or uses.
As will be discussed in detail below, the present invention proposes a system and method by which miniature RFID tags are encapsulated as part of a work piece where the RFID tags are encoded with information about the work piece. In the manufacturing environment, the work piece may be converted into a particular manufactured product, such as a vehicle. An RFID reader can interrogate the work piece at any desirable location to glean information about the work piece.
In the embodiment discussed above, the RFID balls 10 are interspersed within the coating 24 that is deposited on the main portion 22 of the work piece 20. However, in alternate embodiments, the RFID balls 10 can be embedded in or attached to the work piece 20 by a mechanical process, such as by stamping or pressing. The present invention contemplates any suitable technique for making the RFID balls 10 a permanent part of the work piece 20.
The RFID circuit 12 can be programmed with the information about the work piece 20 in any suitable manner. For example, the RFID balls 10 can be transported down a conveyer system and pass under a programming beam that transmits signals that are received by the RFID circuit 12 to store the information as desired.
The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from such discussion and from the accompanying drawings and claims that various changes, modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/111,067, titled RFID for Material Identification with Applications in Manufacturing, filed Nov. 4, 2008.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61111067 | Nov 2008 | US |
