CA2418567A1 - Closed loop location detection - Google Patents

Description

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y, Cogiscan Closed loop location detection Project Background:
Different equipment suppliers currently offer validation systems for their component placement equipments. These systems are designed to validate that the right component part number is used at the right feeder location for a given product to be produced. Most of these validations systems are not fully closed loop and require some level of intervention by the operator, which can be the source for potential errors. These systems are typically machine dedicated and cannot be used on machines from other equipment suppliers.
Cogiscan currently offers a line validation system. This is a new product and it provides the ability to validate that the right components are used at the correct location on a placement machine, but also provide a way to validate that the proper tooling, chemicals and programs are used on every machine on the assembly line.
As a first step, Cogiscan decided to offer this system to the market in an open Poop configuration. The intent of this document is to describe an extension to this product that provides a closed loop solution to the validation process. This solution is believed to include some unique features that contribute to its value and therefore, the intellectual property should be protected.
A typical component placement machine includes one or several feeding areas.
Each feeding area can hold a number of feeders depending of the machine supplier.
Each feeder holds typically one component tape & reel, one or several trays of components, or one or several tubes of components. The following description of the system is made specific to the case of a component placement machine with feeders containing components packaged in tape & reel format. The same system is also capable to handle components packaged in trays and tubes. It also could be used for other applications such as any other equipment that has at least one material input, any removable portion of equipment - such as feeder banks - or any storage area for either material or tooling.
Solution:
The solution that Cogiscan is developing is based on the use of the RFID
technology. The RFID technology provides a good way to eliminate the operator intervention during the replacement of an empty feeder with a feeder with components.
Each feeder is identified with an RF tag. The feeder tag is mounted on an arm permanently or temporarily attached to the feeder. The feeder arm also incorporates a mean to deactivate one or more position tags. When a tape & reel is placed in a feeder, the component information (part number, lot number, supplier etc) is linked to the feeder tag. This operation can be done for example by a manual keyboard entry, by reading the information in barcode format or by reading a tag on the component tape & reel.
One or several antennas are located close to the feeding area, depending on the machine configuration. The antennas incorporate at least one RF tag for each possible feeder position part of a feeding area that a given antenna monitors.
The feeder arm is located on the feeder in a way that when a feeder is added to the component placement machine, the corresponding antenna detects the arrival of the feeder tag and the position tag is deactivated. The association between the feeder tag that was detected and the position tag that is no longer detected by the antenna make it possible to determine that a specific feeder arrived at a given position in the machine.
Similarly, when a feeder is removed from a component placement machine, the antenna will detect that a feeder tag departed and a position tag detected.
The system then makes the association between the 2 events to determine the identity of the feeder that was removed along with its position in the machine.
The following picture illustrates a possible system integration.
Antennas 1 RF tag on each feeder Machine Controller hosting the Smerna control validation software box at exit '~,, Local Control Unit on assembly line A software algorithm enables the system to validate that all the feeders containing the proper component part numbers and lot numbers are located at the appropriate feeder positions in the component placement machine against the requirement of a specific product recipe. This validation can be done during a product changeover operation or during normal production when feeders need to be replenished with components. This association between a given tool or material and a given position can also be used for many other applications such as inventory, physical location, etc.
System benefits:
Fully closed loop validation system Automatic control without operator intervention (no barcode scanning) Validation system that is not machine or equipment supplier specific Real-time location of material and tooling

Claims