METHOD AND DEVICE FOR IDENTIFYING WORKPIECES

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for identifying workpieces, which preferably consist at least partly of wood, wood materials or the like, in a machining process, having the steps of: detecting at least one workpiece property prior to a machining step, uniquely assigning a workpiece category to the workpiece using the at least one detected workpiece property, and machining the workpiece in the machining step which is determined by the assigned workpiece category of the workpiece.

Claims

1. A method for identifying workpieces, comprising wood, wood materials or the like, in a machining process, comprising the steps of: detecting at least one workpiece property prior to a machining step, uniquely assigning the workpiece to a workpiece category on the basis of the at least one workpiece property, and machining the workpiece based on the workpiece category.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one workpiece property to be changed is detected after the machining step, and a subsequent process step is determined on this basis.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the subsequent process step, the workpiece is further machined or discharged from the machining process.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, prior to the machining, at least one workpiece property to be changed is detected and the workpiece is machined based on the workpiece category and the at least one workpiece property to be changed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the workpiece is assigned to a workpiece category by combining a plurality of workpiece properties.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein physical or geometric workpiece properties are detected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one workpeice property is one of a plurality of workpiece properties to be detected and the workpiece category is one of a plurality of workpiece categories defined in a data pool.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing in the data pool the at least one workpiece property detected during the machining process.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a process control system accesses the data pool and controls the machining process.

10. A device for identifying workpieces, comprising wood, wood materials or the like, the device comprising: at least one detection system configured upstream of a workpiece machining unit, in order to detect workpiece properties which are necessary for assigning a workpiece category, and at least one workpiece machining unit configured to machine the workpiece in accordance with an assigned workpiece category.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the at least one detection system is configured upstream of the workpiece machining unit in order to detect workpiece properties to be changed.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising at least one detection system downstream of the machining unit in order to detect changed workpiece properties.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the detection system comprises one or more active or passive sensors.

14. The device of claim 11, further comprising a switch element configured downstream of the at least one detection system and the machining unit in order to discharge the workpiece or to feed it to a further machining step.

15. The device of claim 10, furhter comprising a process control system configured to control the machining process on the basis of the data pool.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more active or passive sensors includes mechanical, thermoelectric, resistive, piezoelectric, capacitive, inductive, optical, acoustic, or magnetic sensors.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the physical or geometric workpiece properties include weight specifications, dimensions, colors, or three-dimensional structures.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] Further features and advantages of a device, a use and/or a method can be found in the following description of embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In said drawings:

[0045] FIG. 1: is a schematic view of a device for identifying workpieces in a machining process;

[0046] FIG. 2: is a schematic view of a device for identifying a door and a tabletop in a machining process which includes, by way of example, the machining steps of varnishing and edge banding.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0047] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a device 100 for identifying workpieces 3 in a machining process according to a first embodiment of the invention.

[0048] The workpieces consist for example of wood, wood materials, synthetic materials, metal or the like. The workpieces 3 are in particular known from furniture manufacture, interior furnishings, in vehicle construction and shipbuilding, in house construction and interior fittings and the like.

[0049] The device 100 comprises one or more machining units for machining the workpieces. For example the machine tools and coating machines, such as form at and edge banding machines, varnishing machines, broadband grinders, planning machines, drills and dowel insertion machines, plate-splitting saws and the like are provided as machining units.

[0050] In particular, the device shown is such that two detection systems 1, 4 are configured upstream, and a detection system 5 is configured downstream, of the machining unit 2.

[0051] The detection systems 1, 4, 5 are equipped with various sensors such as mechanical, thermoelectric, resistive, piezoelectric, capacitive, inductive, optical, acoustic or magnetic sensors.

[0052] In the present embodiment, a conveying device 9 is configured such that it allows for a closed conveying circuit of a workpiece 3.

[0053] The conveying device 9 for conveying the workpieces 3 is configured for example in the form of band conveyors, conveyor belts, conveyor chains, driverless transport systems (DTS), autonomous handling systems, robots and the like.

[0054] The workpieces 3 are fed to the conveying circuit again at a location S and it is possible to regulate, by means of a switch element 7, whether these remain in the conveying circuit, are discharged into an external storage unit 11, or are transported to a further machine tool 10. The switch element 7 is preferably arranged directly downstream of the third detection system 5.

[0055] Furthermore, the device 100 is configured such that the location S, at which the workpieces 3 are transported, via the switch element 7, back to the machining unit 2 and at which the unmachined workpieces 3 are discharged into the machining process, is located upstream of the first 1 and second detection system 1, 4.

[0056] The device 100 is in particular configured such that a central process control system 8 controls the individual units (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11) of the device 100, for example by means of a wireless connection. The device 100 described in FIG. 1 can be considered a distinct process unit. In order to control the machining process, the process control sy stem 8 can access a data pool 20.

[0057] According to further embodiments which are not shown, an entire process consists of process units connected in series and/or in parallel, as a result of which a more continuous and gap-free machining process of a workpiece 3 is made possible.

[0058] In the following, the method will now be described by way of example with reference to the device 100 shown in FIG. 1.

[0059] In a first step of the claimed method, first of all the workpiece properties, specified for identification, of the workpiece 3 which is loaded into the machining process at the location S and transported, via the conveying device 9, to the first detection system 1, are detected by means of a sensor 6 of the detection system 1.

[0060] The workpiece properties suitable for identification are in particular geometric and/or physical properties. Depending on the geometric and physical properties of the workpiece 3 to be machined, a plurality of different workpiece properties results, which properties can be detected in the present machining process. The workpiece properties to be detected are defined in a data pool 20.

[0061] In the second method step, the workpiece 3 is uniquely assigned a workpiece category, on the basis of the detected workpiece properties, and identified thereby. A workpiece category is defined in the data pool 20 by a workpiece property or by a plurality of workpiece properties, according to the principle of combinatorics. For example, a workpiece category can be defined by a surface pattern in combination with a weight specification. In particular, in this case, it is also possible to define a value set for the weight specification, instead of a single value for the weight specification.

[0062] The assignment of the workpiece 3 to a workpiece category is performed in particular by the process control system 8, in that it accesses the data pool 20. In this case, the process control system 8 compares the values of the workpiece properties of the workpiece 3, detected by means of the detection system 1, with the defined values of the workpiece properties of the defined workpiece categories. If the detected values of the workpiece properties of the workpiece 3 correspond to the defined values of the workpiece properties of a workpiece category, then the process control system 8 assigns the workpiece 3 to this workpiece category, as a result of which it is identified.

[0063] The process control system 8 furthermore checks the detected values of the workpiece properties of the workpiece 3, for example also for possible deviations from a defined standard. FIG. 1 does not show that a further switch element may be configured upstream of the machining unit 2, which discharges the workpiece 3 from the machining process if it does not correspond to a standard.

[0064] After the unambiguous assignment of the workpiece 3 to a workpiece category, and a positive check of the workpiece properties for adherence to a standard, the third method step is initiated. In this step, the workpiece 3 is machined, in the machining unit 2, according to the assigned workpiece category. In the process control system 8, in particular for each workpiece category one or more operations are stored by the machining unit 2. The process control system 8 determines the machining, to be performed, of the workpiece 3 in the machining unit in a situational manner, according to the workpiece category.

[0065] After machining of the workpiece 3 in the machining unit 2, a third detection system 5 detects the changed workpiece properties of the workpiece 3 by means of a sensor 6. Said properties are transmitted to the process control system 8 and stored in the data pool 20. Depending on the machining result of the machining unit 2, the process control sy stem 8 controls the conveyance of the workpiece 3 by means of the conveying unit 9 via the switch element 7, either back to the first machining unit 2, or into a storage unit 11 or to a further machining unit 10.

[0066] Repeated feeding of the workpiece 3 to the first machining unit 2 takes place, for example, if the workpiece 3 was not machined competently, the error is reversible, and the machining can be performed again. A further machining step can also be performed using the same machining unit 2, at another and/or the same location on the workpiece 3, such that a further workpiece property is changed. In this case, in particular the machining unit 2 is configured such that the workpiece 3 can be re-aligned in the machine tool 2.

[0067] If the machining result is incorrect and the error is irreversible or the machining has been terminated, the workpiece 3 is stored in the storage unit 11 of the device.

[0068] If the workpiece 3 is fed repeatedly to the machining unit 2, in particular at least one second detection system may be provided upstream of the machining unit 2, in order to detect the changed workpiece properties of the workpiece 3. The work step in the machining unit 2 is determined and performed by the process control system on the basis of the assigned workpiece category and/or changed workpiece properties of the workpiece 3.

[0069] All data relating to the detected workpiece properties of the workpieces 3 during the machining process are stored in the data pool 20. Access of the process control system 8 to the data pool 20 allows the user to ascertain, by means of visualization, the location, in the machining process, at which a workpiece 3 of a particular category is located, and what the machining state is. If the machining process contains different workpieces 3, the process control system 8 can regulate the individual units 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and dynamically control the entire process, on the basis of the data of the data pool 8.

[0070] FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a device 100 for identifying a door 12 and a tabletop 13 in a machining process according to a second embodiment of the invention, which includes, by way of example, the machining steps of varnishing and edge banding. The claimed method will be described on the basis of a possible machining process from practice, with reference to FIG. 2.

[0071] At the location S of the device 100, two rectangular workpieces to b e machined, in the example set out here a semi-finished door 12 of a cupboard and a semi-finished tabletop 13, are loaded into the machining process. By means of a camera of a first optical detection system 1, the length and the height of the door 12 (X.sub.door, Y.sub.door) and of the tabletop 13 (X.sub.table, Y.sub.table) are detected. It is stored in the data pool 20 that, for a combination of a specified value range [x.sub.1, . . . , x.sub.n] with respect to the length with a specified value range [y.sub.1, . . . , y.sub.n] with respect to the height of a workpiece, either the workpiece category “door” or “table” is defined. The process control system 8 accesses the data pool 20 and assigns the workpiece “door”, for which a length X.sub.door and height Y.sub.door have been detected by the optical detection system 1, the category “door”, if the detected values in each case correspond to a value in the corresponding value range which is defined for the length and the height of the category “door”. The described process takes place analogously for the tabletop 13. The categories “door” and “table” are then uniquely distinguishable by means of the two value ranges for length and height, if at least one of the two value regions for length and height does not intersect. In the method described here, the value ranges are selected so as to be so narrow that they simultaneously also fulfil the function of checking the tabletop (12) and the door for deviations from a standard. The value range which is defined for the assignment of a workpiece to a category then corresponds to the allowable value range for a standard dimension.

[0072] After the unmachined tabletop and the door have been uniquely assigned the category “door” and “table”, the machining step stored in the process control system 8 for the respective workpiece category is performed, accordingly, in the varnishing machine 2.

[0073] The second optical detection system 5 identifies, by means of a camera 6, the varnishing region and the pattern of the varnishing of the door and the tabletop, and stores the information in the data pool 20. On the basis of this information, by means of controlling the switch 7, the process control system 8 causes the partially varnished door 15 to be transported back into the varnishing machine 2, a tabletop 17 to be discharged into a store 11 on account of incorrect varnishing, and a correctly varnished door 16 to be transported to the edge banding machine 10.

[0074] The second optical detection system 4, upstream of the varnishing machine 2, detects the partially varnished part of the door 15, wherein the process control system 8 assigns the door (15) the category “door”, by means of the first optical detection system 1 which detects the height and length of the door. For the category “door”, the process control system 8 initiates, on account of the additional information relating to the varnishing state of the door 15, a further varnishing process on the door by the varnishing machine 2.

[0075] The method for identifying the door 16 and the tabletop 14 upstream of the edge banding machine 10 takes place in a manner analogous to the method described above. A door 19 and the tabletop 18 is provided with an edge, by means of the edge banding machine 10, in accordance with the workpiece category.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0076] 1 detection system, optical detection system

[0077] 2 machining device, varnishing machine

[0078] 3 workpieces

[0079] 4 detection system, optical detection system

[0080] 5 detection system, optical detection system

[0081] 6 sensor, camera

[0082] 7 switch element

[0083] 8 process control system

[0084] 9 conveying device

[0085] 10 machining device, edge banding machine

[0086] 11 storage unit

[0087] 12 door

[0088] 13 tabletop

[0089] 14 varnished tabletop

[0090] 15 partially varnished door

[0091] 16 varnished door

[0092] 17 incorrectly varnished tabletop

[0093] 18 varnished tabletop having an edge

[0094] 19 varnished door having an edge

[0095] 20 data pool

[0096] 21 optical detection system