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US 11,126,166 B2Granted
Intelligent workpieces
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsGeorge Lo, Dong Wei, Kun Ji, Kurt Dirk Bettenhausen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An intelligent workpiece system includes a workpiece comprising a portion of a product; and an embedded computing system attached to the workpiece. The embedded computing system is configured to communicate with machines in a manufacturing environment to facilitate assembly of the workpiece into the product at a plurality of assembling areas.
Claims19
An intelligent workpiece system comprising:
- a workpiece comprising a portion of a product and having a set of product requirements customized to the product as a combination of design features and desired cost;
- and
- an embedded computing system attached to the workpiece to provide intelligence at the workpiece for optimization during production of the product from the perspective of the workpiece, the embedded computing system configured to:
- communicate with a plurality of machine controllers in a manufacturing environment to facilitate assembly of the workpiece into the product at a plurality of assembling areas, wherein the manufacturing environment assembles a plurality of products from other workpieces having different customized product requirements;
- transmit the set of product requirements to one or more of the machine controllers which control one or more machines at each respective assembling area of the plurality of assembling areas,
- receive, responsive to the transmitted set of product requirements, machine information from the one or more machine controllers corresponding to machine states and availability of materials or parts in the respective assembling area to meet the set of product requirements, and
- determine a path through the plurality of assembling areas that selects a particular machine of the one or more machines at each respective assembling area of the plurality of assembling areas for performing assembly operations optimized to meet the set of product requirements from the perspective of the workpiece rather than from the perspective of the particular machine, the determined path being based on the received machine information.
4 more elements
A method for manufacturing products using an intelligent workpiece system, each product comprising a workpiece, the method comprising:
- for each product:
- receiving, by an embedded computing system operably coupled to the workpiece, product requirement information from a gateway server, wherein the product requirement information identifies product requirements customized to the product as a combination of design features and desired cost;
- identifying, by the embedded computing system, a plurality of assembling areas for assembling the product using the workpiece, wherein the assembling areas assemble a plurality of products from other workpieces having different customized product requirements;
- performing, by the embedded computing system, an optimized assembly process for each of the plurality of assembling areas with optimization of the assembly process from the perspective of the workpiece, the assembly process performed at each respective assembling area of the plurality of assembling areas comprising:
- broadcasting or multicasting at least a portion of the product requirement information to one or more machine controllers which control one or more machines in a respective assembling area of the plurality of assembling areas,
- receiving service availability information corresponding to machine states and availability of materials or parts in the respective assembling area to meet the product requirements, wherein the service availability information is responsive to the product requirement information,
- determining a path through the plurality of assembling areas that selects a particular machine included in the one or more machines for performing assembly operations optimized to meet the product requirements from the perspective of the workpiece rather than from the perspective of the particular machine, the determined path being based on the received service availability information,
- communicating with one or more automated guided vehicles to facilitate transportation of the embedded computing system and the workpiece to the particular machine, and
- providing input information related to the workpiece to the particular machine.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.