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US 12,214,521 B2Granted
Method and system for layered wood product production
AssigneeBoise Cascade Corporation
InventorDavid Bolton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for production of layered wood products employs local and independently operating robotic panel assembly cells including one or more veneer handling robots, one or more core handling robots, and one or more glue application robots to produce stacks of layered wood product panels locally near the pressing stations. Consequently, the stacks of layered wood product panels are independently built at, or near, the location of the pressing stations. This eliminates the need for traditional panel conveyors, traditional layered wood product panel assembly layup lines, and stack press delivery lines. This, in turn, eliminates thousands of moving parts and dozens of people from the layered wood product production process.
Claims19
A local robotic panel assembly and pressing station, the local robotic panel assembly and pressing station comprising:
- a single robot panel assembly cell station, the single robot panel assembly cell station being located at a single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the single robot panel assembly cell station including at least one stack of veneer sheets, a control system, and two or more robots all located at the same single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the single robot panel assembly cell station producing a green layered wood product panel stack, the green layered wood product panel stack including two or more green layered wood product panels, at the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location;
- a pre-press, the pre-press receiving the green layered wood product panel stack, including two or more green layered wood product panels, from the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the pre-press pressing the green layered wood product panel stack to produce pre-pressed layered wood product panels;
- a hot press, the hot press heating and pressing the pre-pressed layered wood product panels to produce cured layered wood product panels;
- and
- a quality analysis and feedback cell, the quality analysis and feedback cell for analyzing quality of cured layered wood product panels.
2 more elements
A local robotic panel assembly and pressing station, the local robotic panel assembly and pressing station comprising:
- a single robot panel assembly cell station, the single robot panel assembly cell station being located at a single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the single robot panel assembly cell station including at least one stack of veneer sheets, a control system, and two or more robots all located at the same single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the single robot panel assembly cell station producing a green plywood panel stack, the green plywood panel stack including two or more green plywood panels, at the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location;
- a pre-press, the pre-press receiving the green plywood panel stack, including two or more green plywood panels, from the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the pre-press pressing the green plywood panel stack to produce pre-pressed plywood panels;
- a hot press, the hot press heating and pressing the pre-pressed plywood panels to produce cured plywood panels;
- and
- a quality analysis and feedback cell, the quality analysis and feedback cell for analyzing quality of cured plywood panels.
2 more elements
A local robotic panel assembly and pressing station, the local robotic panel assembly and pressing station comprising:
- a single robot panel assembly cell station, the single robot panel assembly cell station being located at a single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the single robot panel assembly cell station including:
- one or more veneer handling robots, the one or more veneer handling robots retrieving veneer sheets from a stack of veneer sheets and placing the veneer sheets on a green plywood panel stack at the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location in accordance with received control signals;
- one or more core handling robots, the one or more core handling robots retrieving core material from a core material stack and placing the core material on the green plywood panel stack at the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location in accordance with received control signals;
- one or more glue application robots, the one or more glue application robots applying a layer of glue between sheets of veneer and core material in the green plywood panel stack at the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location in accordance with received control signals;
- a control system, wherein the control system controls the one or more veneer handling robots, the one or more core handling robots, and the one or more glue application robots and directs the one or more veneer handling robots, the one or more core handling robots, and the one or more glue application robots in the construction of the green plywood panel stack at the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location via control signals sent to the one or more veneer handling robots, the one or more core handling robots, and the one or more glue application robots;
- a pre-press, the pre-press receiving the green plywood panel stack, including two or more green plywood panels, from the single stationary robot panel assembly cell station location, the pre-press pressing the green plywood panel stack to produce pre-pressed plywood panels;
- a hot press, the hot press heating and pressing the pre-pressed plywood panels to produce cured plywood panels;
- and
- a quality analysis and feedback cell, the quality analysis and feedback cell for analyzing quality of cured plywood panels and adjusting the control signals sent to the one or more veneer handling robots, the one or more core handling robots, and the one or more glue application robots in response to the quality analysis in order to improve the quality of subsequent cured plywood panels.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.