EP3815863A1

EP3815863A1 - Control method for an edge banding machine, and machine

Info

Publication number: EP3815863A1
Application number: EP20203198.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gianluca Gallo
Original assignee: SCM Group SpA
Current assignee: SCM Group SpA
Priority date: 2019-11-04
Filing date: 2020-10-22
Publication date: 2021-05-05
Also published as: IT201900020258A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel, for an edge banding machine (1) and a vision group (3) comprising the following steps:
- Quality control of said worked panel trough said vision group (3) to identify one or more edging defects through a processor;
- Processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof.

The invention also relates to a quality control system for the edging of a machined panel, which can be coupled to an edge banding machine (1), which implements such control method.

Furthermore, the invention relates to an edge banding machine (1) equipped with a vision unit (3) for the quality control of the edge banding of a machined panel, which implements such control method.

Description

The present invention relates to a control method for an edge banding machine, implemented on the basis of the data received from an analysis carried out on the machined panels, through a vision unit, which can be possibly integrated into the machine itself.
Therefore, the present invention lies in the field of systems for the quality control of the edge banding of panels, and for the control of the operation of the edge banding machine itself.
One of the most relevant problems relating to the panel edging process is the creation of a system for controlling the operation and/or the self-regulation of an edge banding machine, which is such as to provide targeted information aimed at increasing the quality of the processing of edged pieces, and which it can be integrated into any type of edge banding machine even already in use.
The edging process of a wooden particle panel is suitable to cover the previously cut sides of a panel with an ennobling edge, applied by gluing. The edge should be as close as realistically as possible to the essence of the panel's main surfaces, or otherwise, aesthetically match with it. The edgebander is the machine where the edging process takes place. This process comprises several operations, including, the application of the glue on the side of the panel to be edged, the application of the edge on that side, the dimensioning of the edge itself according to the height and the length of said side, and any processing, for example of rounding, in correspondence with the edges of the edge and/or the panel. The aforesaid processes are performed while the panel being worked is moving between an inlet station and an outlet station of the edge banding machine, along a predetermined direction.
As it is easy to guess, there are several conditions to be respected during this type of process, so that the machined panel has optimal characteristics both from the structural, and the aesthetic point of view.
In fact, the aforementioned edges can be made according to different and numerous varieties not only of materials, for example, wood, metals, etc., but of colors and shapes, moreover, they are glued, so it is easy to understand that even gluing becomes a process to be controlled with particular attention.
The guarantee of the optimal success of the edging process can be provided, for example, by checking the quality of the processed panels by means of a vision unit, which can be integrated directly into the edge banding machine. However, the wide range of possible flaws reflects an equally wide range of possible causes, on which one should directly intervene in order to increase the processing quality and/or the productivity of the edge banding machine itself.
The problem that arises at the basis of the present invention is the fact that, as previously expressed, the sole control of the quality of the edged piece is not sufficient to guarantee the maximization of the working quality and/or productivity of the edge banding machine, since it allows identifying the machined parts with insufficient quality requirements.
The control systems for traditional edge banding machines provide a vision unit, often external to the edge banding machine, which is based on the use of cameras usually pointed only laterally with respect to the panel at issue, and of illuminators, often adjacent to the cameras themselves.
Even if equipped with the aforementioned control system, which guarantees production with satisfactory quality requirements, traditional edge banding machines do not have a control system relating to both the quality of the machined pieces (certified using the vision unit) and the edging process itself. Therefore, traditional control systems do not provide (for example, to the operator) targeted information relating to the controls and/or adjustments to be performed on the edge banding machine, in order to increase the overall quality of the machining and/or the productivity of the edge banding machine itself, avoiding to reproduce the manufacturing defects previously identified.
Furthermore, traditional control systems do not make the aforementioned targeted information available to all possible users of the machine, including the parent company.
Therefore, these traditional control systems do not guarantee high precision in the edging process, causing various drawbacks also in terms of economic and time expenditure.
A control system, integrated in an edge banding machine, in relation both with the vision unit for the quality control and with the edge banding process itself, with characteristics similar to those that will be described in detail below, is not currently on the market.
Within the scope of the above-mentioned requirements, therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a machine control system that allows not only to identify the machined parts with insufficient quality requirements but also to achieve an increase in the general machining quality and/or productivity of the machine, avoiding to reproduce already identified manufacturing defects.
Another object of the invention is to provide a control system in relation to both the vision unit for quality control, and the edge banding process itself.
The object of the present invention is also that of realizing a control system for edge banding machines, which allows carrying out targeted checks and/or adjustments on the edge banding process, for example by intervening on the edge banding machine itself.
A further object of the invention is to provide a control system for edge banding machines, which can be integrated into edge banding machines already in use, and which could also integrate any other control systems for edge banding machines.
It is object of the present invention to provide a control system, which allows acting on the edging process by exploiting the data received from a vision unit, possibly integrable in the machine, capable of certifying the quality of the processed panels.
A further object of the invention is that of obtaining a control system for edge banding machines which is cost-effective to be realize with respect to the advantages achieved.
It is therefore object of the present invention a method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel, for an edge banding machine and a vision group comprising the following steps:

Quality control of said worked panel trough said vision group to identify one or more edging defects through a processor;
Processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof.

Preferably, according to the invention, after the step of processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof, a step of reporting of the one or more defects identified may be provided.
Further, according to the invention, after the step of processing of the one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof, one of the following steps may be provided:

Report of the one or more defects identified and suggestion for a corrective action to correct each of the one or more defect identified;
Implementation of corrective action to correct each of the one or more defects identified.

In this case, according to the invention, it may be provided a step of receipt of the confirmation of the implementation of the corrective action of said one or more defects.
Always, according to the invention, it may be comprised a step of transmission of the cause of the one or more identified defects and/or suggestion of a corrective action to a remote system.
Still, according to the invention, the processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof may provide:

A classification of the defect deriving from the edging process;
A related statistical incidence of said one or more defects;
An extrapolation of a probable assignable cause to each of said one or more defects.

In detail, the assignable cause to each of the one or more defects may be extrapolated through one of the following:

A pre-compiled database;
A database updated by the operator and/or other sources;
An artificial intelligence algorithm.

Further, according to the invention, it may be provided a step of transmission of the one or more edging defects to a dedicated system.
It is further object of the present invention an edge banding machine of a substantially known type for processing and/or coating a piece preferably at least of wooden section and/or wood-based material and/or plastic comprising: a machine device for working the piece, a power supply group of the coating material into the machine, a junction device for joining the coating material to a surface of the piece to be worked, a transportation device for making a relative motion between the piece to be worked and the machine device, characterized in that it further comprises a vision unit for the quality control of the edging of a worked panel which implements the described control method.
It is another object of the invention a quality control system for the edging of a worked panel, which can be coupled to an edge banding machine.
The present invention will be now described, for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, with particular reference to the figures of the enclosed drawings, wherein:
These and other purposes are achieved by a control system for edge banding machines according to the invention, as will become clearer in the following of the present description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment by way of indication and not limitation in the attached figures of the drawings, wherein:

figure 1 schematically shows a perspective view of the edge banding machine;
figure 2 schematically shows a block diagram that describes the operation of the control system described in the present patent application.

With reference to the aforementioned figures, the edge banding machine 1 object of the present invention comprises a support roller conveyor 2, for sliding the worked piece along the X direction in the R way, and a control system (not shown in the figure) having the following features:

Connected to a vision unit, preferably positioned inside an empty compartment 3 downstream of the edge banding machine 1 and able to guarantee a production with satisfactory quality requirements;
Capable of processing, on the basis of the data relating to the inspection of the machined panels, targeted information aimed at achieving an increase in the overall quality of the processing and/or the productivity of the edge banding machine itself.

The control system allows to manage any critical parameters and/or recurring errors of an edge banding machine, which can be found through a vision unit.
The control system object of the present invention, in fact, interfaces with the vision group for the quality control, and it is able to recognize the aforementioned found critical parameters and/or any recurring errors, associating them with one or more defects in the operation of the edge banding machine itself.
The associations, not necessarily unique, between the detected errors and the operating defects of the edge banding machine are stored (for example on physical or digital support) and provided as output by the control system, in order to simplify and speed up the correction operations to be performed at the level of the edging process, in order to avoid the reproduction of already detected manufacturing defects.
In other words, the control system of the edge banding machine contributes to the creation of an archive of the data acquired and analyzed by the vision group, creating a cause-effect connection between the aforementioned data and the possible causes, in such a way as to facilitate (for example, by sending the operator feedback on the progress of the process) the operations (for example, checks and/or adjustments of certain parameters), aimed at improving the performance of the edge banding machine.
For this reason, there is a need for a high level of precision in the control of the possible defects relating to the examined panel, so that information on the operation of the edge banding machine itself can be obtained from the same.
In addition to what has already been expressed, the data relating to cause-effect connections, after having been stored and/or provided to the operator, can for example be made available to all those who own said edge banding machines and/or to the parent company of the edge banding machine itself.
By way of example only, a standard control routine of the edging process described in this patent application is briefly reported, based on the results of the quality control carried out with the vision group. The order of the steps is preferential but not essential.

A. Quality control of the edged piece through a vision unit

Downstream of the edging process, the machined piece is checked by a vision unit, for example, integrated into the machine.
The vision group can consist of one or more cameras, mirrors and/or illuminators, and it acquires images relating to the panel to be inspected, processes them (post-processing), and analyzes them.
The processing and analysis of the acquired images can take place:

by the processor dedicated to the vision group;
and/or by the processor dedicated to the machine, if the vision group is managed directly by this processor;
and/or through cloud computing.

The result of the processing of the acquired images is an evaluation of the edging process, or, in other words, the result of the evaluation is a list of detected defects.

B. Transmission of the results from the quality control phase to the dedicated system (not essential)

The transmission of the results that emerged from the check to the dedicated system is in particular the transmission of the list of defects identified, which emerged following the edging process.
This list must be processed, therefore there may be a need to transmit it to a dedicated system, which could include:

a processor dedicated to the vision group, possibly integrable within the vision group;
a processor dedicated to the edge banding machine;
a remote system, such as cloud computing.

This step is considered non-essential since, depending on where the image acquired by the vision group is processed, there may not be the need to transmit the list of defects found elsewhere.

C. Processing of the results obtained from the quality control step and identification of a possible cause of any error or defect found

The list of identified defects must be processed in order to refine the information it already contains, producing new ones that are legible and understandable by the operator.
What usually happens, in case of an error, is the transmission of an optical and/or acoustic and/or haptic type signal to the operator.
In this specific case, the notification signal of the occurred error is not the only possible output.
For this reason, in particular, the errors that have emerged are processed as follows:

they are classified according to various criteria, for example on the basis of which part of the panel is affected by that particular defect, the severity of the defect, etc.
the statistical impact is calculated, (this last parameter is constantly updated)
at least one cause is associated with each error, even if it is simply the most plausible. If the possible causes were different, they would be presented from the most to the least probable.

The assigning of a cause to each error can be done in several ways:

Static database: the control system software is equipped, for example, with a pre-compiled table, which associates a cause to each possible error;
Dynamic database: in this case, the error-cause database (for example, the above-mentioned table) can be updated manually by the operator and/or by importing data from another source. This type of update can be defined as semi-automatic.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): the management of the error-cause association is an absolutely automatic process, at the base of which an AI algorithm is exploited, so as to have a dynamic and continuously updated mapping of all possible errors (emerged) and all possible causes (machine malfunctions, human errors, misuse of the machine), in order to continuously improve the process of assigning a cause to each error.

D. Indication of the cause of any error found

For each detected defect, the control system provides a notification to the operator.
The signaling can be of various kinds, such as an optical and/or acoustic and/or haptic signal, etc.
The signaling can be processed and/or sent from different points:

a processor dedicated to the vision group, integrated in or independent of the vision group;
a processor dedicated to the machine;
a remote system, for example, a cloud computing.

E. Receipt, by the dedicated system, of the confirmation of having carried out a corrective action

In order for the edging process to resume to normal conditions, it may be necessary for the control system to receive a confirmation that corrective actions have been taken, in order not to repeat the error.
The confirmation that corrective actions have been taken can be provided in two ways:

1) the operator confirms that he has done something (for example that he has pressed a button, pressed a pedal on the machine, carried out a particular confirmation procedure, etc.)
2) the machine is equipped with special sensors so that changes in the configuration and/or in the operating program are automatically detected.

In detail, by the resumption of the edging process under normal conditions we mean:

if the edging process was interrupted due to the detected error, for example through an emergency stop of the machine, it can resume;
if the user chooses not to use the emergency stop option, it must be emphasized that the machine may continue to work, but for example by emitting a particular acoustic and/or haptic signal, etc.

In a second embodiment, still in step D, the control system notifies the operator of both the detection of an error that occurred during the edging process and a suggestion for corrective action.
The suggested corrective action may concern the entire edging process in a broad sense; for example, it could be suggested to change the mechanical setting of the machine and/or to change the program in use and/or to change the working parameters and/or to check the processed material etc.
Again, in order for the edging process to resume in normal conditions, it may be necessary for the control system to receive confirmation that corrective actions have been taken.
This confirmation can be provided in the way already described above according to step E.
Alternatively, in a third embodiment, again in step D, the system comprising the machine and the vision unit performs two actions:

1) notifies the operator of the detection of an error that has occurred;
2) it self-regulates, or a corrective action is automatically performed; obviously, this is only possible if the corrective action consists of varying hardware and/or software aspects of the edging process.

The control system cannot clearly intervene if the problem lies in the material being processed, such as defective panels before being edged, poor quality glue, etc. if the cause of the error is in the material being processed, the control system can notify the operator of the error and/or suggest corrective action.
Again, for the edging process to resume in normal conditions, the control system may need to receive confirmation that corrective actions have been taken.
Since these are automatic corrections, the machine will be suitably equipped with special sensors.

F. Transmission to a remote system of the cause of the error and/or suggestion of corrective action and/or relative to the operation carried out.

The information transmitted by the control system to the operator, for example, the notification of the detected error, is also transmitted to a dedicated remote system.
The data is stored here, and can be accessed for example:

by the customer, who owns the machine, who can access it remotely using any device, such as a mobile phone, tablet, PC, etc.
and/or by the parent company
and/or by other customers of the parent company.

The operator can also transmit to the remote system information regarding the measure applied to correct the signaled error.
The AI algorithm mentioned in step C, when present, is automatically updated by drawing on the information loaded into the remote system in step F.
In this way, by also statistically evaluating the cause-effect relationships between the detected error and the corrective actions taken, the algorithm with self-learning characteristics will continuously improve, improving more and more the error-cause correspondence.
In a first preferred variant, compatible with each of the embodiments described above, in addition, the operator can also transmit to the remote system information that describes the solution used to solve the problem, even if it differs from the suggestion given by the machine plus vision group.
Furthermore, in a second preferred variant, compatible with each of the embodiments described above, in addition, the operator can also transmit to the remote system information that describes the resolving measure used to solve the problem, also of a manual type, and even if it deviates from the suggestion given by the system comprising the machine and the vision unit.
The control system for edge banding machines connected to a vision unit that can be integrated into the edge banding machine itself, realized as described above and according to the examples illustrated in detail in the attached figures 1, 2, therefore has the following advantages:

Being able to be integrated into existing edge banding machines and other control systems;
Increasing the quality of the output work of the edge banding machine and the productivity of said edge banding machine;
Evaluating any defects in the edging more accurately;
Having a system that allows avoiding the serial reproduction of manufacturing defects;
Having a system that simplifies and speeds up the carrying out of checks and/or corrective actions to be carried out on the edging process in order to improve it;
Creating an association between the manufacturing defects and the possible causes at the process level;
Having a constantly updated database containing all the solutions to the problems found;
Allowing the parent company to record the most common problems to concentrate on research and development in this direction, with a view to continuous improvement;
Implying a limited production cost, compared to traditional solutions, in relation to the achieved advantages.

The invention thus conceived and illustrated here is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept.
Furthermore, all the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

Claims

Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel, for an edge banding machine (1) and a vision group (3) characterized in that it comprises the following steps:
quality control of said worked panel trough said vision group (3) to identify one or more edging defects through a processor;

processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises, after the step of processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof, the following step:
- report of the one or more defects identified.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises, after the step of processing of the one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof, one of the following steps:
- report of the one or more defects identified and suggestion for a corrective action to correct each of the one or more defect identified;

- implementation of a corrective action to correct each of the one or more defects identified.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises the step:
- receipt of the confirmation of the implementation of the corrective action of said one or more defects.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel according to one of claims 1-4, characterized in that it comprises the step:
- transmission of the cause of the one or more identified defects and/or suggestion of a corrective action to a remote system.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel, according to one of claims 1-5, characterized in that said processing of one or more edging defects identified to determine the cause thereof provides:
- a classification of the defect deriving from the edging process;

- a related statistical incidence of said one or more defects;

- an extrapolation of a probable assignable cause to each of said one or more defects.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel, according to claim 6, characterized in that the assignable cause to each of the one or more defects can be extrapolated through one of the following:
- a pre-compiled database;

- a database updated by the operator and/or other sources;

- an artificial intelligence algorithm.
Method for controlling the process of edging a worked panel according one of claims 1-7, characterized in that it includes the following step:
- transmission of the one or more edging defects to a dedicated system.
Edge banding machine (1) of a substantially known type for processing and/or coating a piece preferably at least of wooden section and/or wood-based material and/or plastic comprising:
a machine device for working the piece, a power supply group of the coating material into the machine, a junction device for joining the coating material to a surface of the piece to be worked,

a transportation device (2) for making a relative motion between the piece to be worked and the machine device, characterized in that it further comprises a vision unit (3) for the quality control of the edging of a worked panel which implements a control method according to one of claims 1-8.
Quality control system for the edging of a worked panel, which can be coupled to an edge boarding machine, according to claim 9, which implements a control method according to one of claims 1-8.