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US 2018/0299870 A1Published application
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.
Claims21
An intelligent workpiece system comprising:
- a workpiece comprising a portion of a product;
- and
- an embedded computing system attached to the workpiece, the embedded computing system configured to:
- communicate with a plurality of machines in a manufacturing environment to facilitate assembly of the workpiece into the product at a plurality of assembling areas,
- transmit product requirements to the one or more controllers which control one or more of the plurality of machines at each respective assembling area, and
- select a particular machine at each respective assembling area for performing assembly operations based on machine status information received from one or more controllers corresponding to available machines in the respective assembling area.
3 more elements
2-4. (canceled)
(canceled)
A method for manufacturing a product comprising a workpiece, the method comprising:
- receiving, by an embedded computing system operably coupled to the workpiece, product requirement information from a gateway server;
- identifying, by the embedded computing system, a plurality of assembling areas for assembling the product using the workpiece;
- performing, by the embedded computing, an assembly process for each of the plurality of assembling areas, the assembly process performed at each respective assembling area comprising:
- broadcasting or multicasting at least a portion of the product requirement information corresponding to the respective assembling area,
- receiving service availability information corresponding to a plurality of machines operating in the respective assembling area,
- selecting a particular machine included in the plurality of machines based on the 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.
5 more elements
A manufacturing system comprising:
- a plurality of controllers connected to a plurality of machines configured to perform an assembly process involving a workpiece to result in a product, wherein each respective controller is configured to broadcast availability information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of machines;
- an embedded computing system attached to the workpiece and configured to:
- receive the availability information,
- select a subset of the plurality of machines to complete the assembly process, and
- communicate with one or more automated guided vehicles to facilitate transportation of the workpiece between each respective machine in the subset of the plurality of machines.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.