The research project “StAmping Insights”(FKZ: 13N16563), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), aims to develop an application-adaptive camera system. Another focus is on optimising the latency of the measurement system. This means that the system can be used to monitor, control and regulate highly dynamic production processes. A central challenge is the integration of the optical system into the production process. This is partly due to the limited installation space and partly due to the influence of disturbance variables. In addition, the recorded data must be stored and processed, where artificial intelligence (AI) is used to analyse the data. The challenge when using AI as the basis for a control system is that the decisions made must be robust and reliable.

The system developed is intended to improve cost-effectiveness, efficiency and process understanding.

Motivation

Forming processes are among the most economical processes in the manufacturing industry and are characterised by tight tolerances and consistent product quality combined with high production rates. However, the complexity of such processes and the associated process and semi-finished product-related uncertainties are in conflict with reliable process control. Especially in combination with high process speeds of up to 1,000 processed components per minute, even short machine downtimes or process times in which faulty components are produced lead to reduced economic efficiency. In order to ensure that manufacturing companies in this sector remain competitive in the future, monitoring and automated adaptation of the process to changing boundary conditions based on optical data is necessary.

Approach

The aim of the joint project is to develop an optical system in the form of a modular building block system that enables the monitoring and automated adaptation of high-speed production processes to changing boundary conditions. The overall solution consists of the three main components HARDWARE, SOFTWARE and PROCESS CONTROL, which are shown in Figure 1. While the HARDWARE component is responsible for developing the optical system and adapting it to technical production requirement profiles, the SOFTWARE component is used to set up a hybrid database in which the data is structured and analysed and data-driven models are provided. Finally, in the PROCESS CONTROL module, the automated adaptation of the production processes takes place through the use of control and regulation models in combination with intelligent actuators.

Acknowledgement

The “StAmping Insights” research project is part of the BMBF's “Photonik Forschung Deutschland” programme. The Institute of Production Engineering and Forming Machines would like to thank the project sponsor for the financial support provided as part of the project. We would also like to thank all industrial partners who support the “StAmping Insights” research project in the project support committee.

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