Variable-station automobile production line and automobile production methodTechnical Field
The invention relates to the field of automobile manufacturing, in particular to a station-variable automobile production line and an automobile production method.
Background
As shown in fig. 1, a vehicle position acquisition method commonly used by a whole vehicle manufacturer at present is to locate a vehicle position through a vehicle body identification system 200 (AVI system) and an inductive switch 405. The inductive switch 405 is installed at the entry of the conveying line 3021 of the production line, when a vehicle newly entering the production line passes through the inductive switch 405, the conveying line 3021 is driven to advance by the roller 3022, and the vehicle newly entering the production line and the vehicle originally on the production line are driven to integrally move to the next station.
Referring to fig. 1, a vehicle on the production line, such as vehicle a, either moves to the next station (e.g., from station 1 to station 2) or completes the production line work out of the production line. Vehicle a is positioned on carrier 401 into the production line while the position of carrier 401 is fixed. Thus, when the vehicle 401 carrying the vehicle a enters the production line, the inductive switch 405 is triggered to act, so that the manufacturing execution system 100 (MES system) knows that the vehicle a enters the first station. When a subsequent vehicle 401 of the vehicle 401 is passing through the sensor switch 405, the manufacturing execution system 100 deduces that the vehicle a is entering the second station, and so on, completes the movement of the vehicle a between the stations. If it is off the line, then the vehicle body identification system 200 and the manufacturing execution system 100, which are handed over to the subsequent line, record and track the new station of vehicle A.
When the vehicle a moves, all vehicles on the production line, including the vehicle B, the vehicle C and the vehicle D, also move forward, enter the corresponding stations 3 respectively, the vehicle C moves to the station 2, and the vehicle D enters the station 1. The vehicle D, which is a new vehicle entering the production line, first acquires vehicle information of the vehicle D by the vehicle body recognition system 200 and transmits the vehicle information to the manufacturing execution system 100. Subsequently, when vehicle D passes through the inductive switch 405, the manufacturing execution system 100 marks the vehicle D as currently located at station 1. After entering the production line, the same logic processes of the manufacturing execution system 100 and the vehicle a update the station information of the vehicle D in the manufacturing execution system 100. The vehicles arriving at the stations complete the assembly production process for the stations under the control of the production control system 300.
The main drawbacks of the prior art include:
1. The current vehicle position cannot be obtained in real time, because the whole production line has no acquisition device or calculation device to feed back information to the MES system, and the MES system can only infer the vehicle position through the preset distance between the carriers and the notification that the carriers enter the production line. When the actual running condition of the conveying line is inconsistent with the preset constant, a large deviation occurs between the actual moving position of the vehicle and the position considered by the MES system, and the production line is seriously stopped, for example, a robot on a station cannot be matched with the position of the vehicle to be assembled.
2. The requirement of the production line expansion station cannot be met. In the prior art, each station is already determined at the design stage, and then a corresponding production module (production equipment) is installed according to each station. Because the vehicle position cannot be accurately inferred in the MES system, the equipment at the station needs to leave enough margin to cope with the vehicle position misalignment. When the margins of a plurality of devices at the same station are overlapped, a lot of space for installing the devices can be lost. Particularly when multiple vehicle type production needs to be supported, a large amount of equipment needed by different vehicle types can aggravate the difficulty of production line layout. When the necessary production equipment cannot be arranged at one station, a new production line needs to be rebuilt, and the cost is high.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a variable-station automobile production line and an automobile production method, which mainly solve the problems in the prior art.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the invention is to provide a variable-station automobile production line, wherein a conveying line is used for driving a vehicle to be assembled to advance, and a plurality of stations corresponding to production procedures are arranged along the conveying line;
The manufacturing execution system stores a plurality of groups of manufacturing parameters, selects one group of the manufacturing parameters to be issued to the production control system according to the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle body identification system, the production control system configures all the production procedures of each station according to the manufacturing parameters, and the production monitoring system acquires production line information and feeds the production line information back to the manufacturing execution system to realize closed-loop control on production of a production line.
Further, the manufacturing execution system comprises a production line management module, a vehicle management module, a production monitoring module, a database module and a quick communication module;
The production line management module is used for providing a man-machine interaction interface to receive the manually input manufacturing parameters and also used for scheduling the vehicle management module and the production management module to work cooperatively, the vehicle management module is connected to the vehicle body identification system and is used for transmitting the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle body identification system to the production line management module, the production management module is connected to the production control system and is used for transmitting the vehicle information and the manufacturing parameters to the production control system, the production monitoring module is connected to the production monitoring system and is used for transmitting the production state information acquired by the production monitoring system to the production line management module, the quick communication module is used for providing direct communication connection between the production control system and the production monitoring system and is used for bypassing the production management module to conduct quick data interaction, and the manufacturing parameters and the vehicle information are stored in the database module.
The vehicle body identification system further comprises an RFID reading module, wherein the RFID reading module scans a radio frequency tag installed on the vehicle to be assembled to read the vehicle information, and the vehicle information at least comprises a vehicle identification code.
Further, the production control system comprises a configuration management module and a production module, wherein the configuration management module stores the manufacturing parameters issued by the manufacturing execution system and controls the production module to act, and the production module completes the transfer, processing and assembly work of the vehicle to be assembled.
Further, the configuration management module comprises a file storage unit and a communication unit, wherein the file storage unit stores the manufacturing parameters corresponding to the vehicle to be assembled, and the communication unit is used for connecting the file storage unit to the manufacturing execution system and the production module.
Further, the production monitoring system comprises a carrier, a vehicle monitoring module, a carrier monitoring module, a travel collection module and an inductive switch;
The vehicle monitoring module is used for collecting the placement state information of the vehicles to be assembled on the vehicle, sequentially installing the vehicle monitoring module and the inductive switch from an inlet of the production line, collecting the placement state information of the vehicles on the track, reporting limit state information when the vehicles and the vehicles to be assembled pass over the inductive switch, collecting the travel state information of the conveyor line, and reporting the production state information, including the placement state information, the limit state information and the travel state information, to the production monitoring system.
The travel collection module further comprises a data collection unit, a data calculation unit and a data storage unit, wherein the data collection unit is an encoder, the data calculation unit converts data of the encoder into travel state information, and the data storage unit is connected to the data collection unit and the data calculation unit.
The invention also provides a method for assembling the automobile by utilizing the automobile production line with the variable stations, which is characterized by comprising the following steps:
firstly, deploying a production line aiming at the vehicle to be installed;
secondly, initializing a production line according to the vehicle information of the vehicle to be assembled, and determining the number, the positions and the length of the stations;
and finally, the vehicle to be assembled enters a production line to start production.
Further, when the vehicle to be installed is deployed in a production line,
Firstly, adjusting the production control system and the production monitoring system, adjusting a production module in the production control system and connecting the newly added production module to a configuration management module, then configuring the stations, the production control system and the production monitoring system in the manufacturing execution system, adjusting the manufacturing parameters corresponding to the vehicles to be installed in the manufacturing execution system, and specifying the number, the positions and the lengths of the stations contained in a production line and also specifying the production procedure corresponding to each station;
finally, optionally removing redundant equipment which is not used any more after configuration is completed in the production control system and the production monitoring system, wherein the redundant equipment is contained in the production control system, and removing redundant production modules.
Further, at the time of initializing the process of the production line:
Firstly, starting the production monitoring system to collect the production line information;
Secondly, the vehicle to be assembled reaches a production line inlet, and the vehicle body identification system reads the vehicle information;
then, the manufacturing execution system selects one group from a plurality of groups of manufacturing parameters stored by the manufacturing execution system based on the vehicle information reported by the vehicle body identification system, configures the number, the position and the length of the stations on a production line, and issues the selected manufacturing parameters to the production control system;
finally, the production control system configures the production process of each station according to the received manufacturing parameters.
Further, the production process of the vehicle to be assembled comprises the steps of:
Step S1, the production monitoring system collects the production line information and reports the production line information to the manufacturing execution system;
Step S2, the manufacturing execution system combines the position and the length of the station of the current production line and the position information of the vehicle to be assembled on the conveying line, which is contained in the production line information, to determine the current station of the vehicle to be assembled and send the current station to the production control system;
step S3, the production control system executes the production procedure corresponding to the current station;
And S4, after the production procedure of the current station is completed, the manufacturing execution system drives the vehicle to be assembled to advance along the conveying line, and the step S1 is returned.
In view of the technical characteristics, the automobile production line and the automobile production method with the variable stations automatically adapt to different vehicle types to produce by utilizing preset manufacturing parameters without reinstalling a new production line, so that the cost of enterprises is greatly reduced. Compared with the prior art, the method has the following advantages that,
1. In the invention, the position of the vehicle to be assembled on the production line is accurately perceived by the manufacturing execution system, and the position can be adjusted through manufacturing parameters, so that the number, the size and the length of stations can be flexibly adjusted.
2. In the present invention, the manufacturing process can be adjusted by adjusting the manufacturing parameters without reprogramming the logic in the manufacturing execution system.
3. In the invention, in the same station, the manufacturing execution system can accurately and orderly initiate the processing command to the production control system according to the accurate position of the vehicle to be assembled, so that the layout of the production line is simplified, and the arrangement of the production modules along the production line is more compact.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art construction corresponding to a variable station automotive line of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a preferred embodiment of a variable station automotive production line of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a detailed schematic diagram of the manufacturing execution system and the vehicle body identification system in a preferred embodiment of the variable station automotive production line of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a production control system in a preferred embodiment of a variable station automotive production line of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a production monitoring system in a preferred embodiment of a variable station automotive production line of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of a preferred embodiment of the present invention for using a variable station automotive production line to produce an automotive vehicle;
FIG. 7 is a detailed method flowchart for the production line deployment of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a detailed method of performing production line initialization in FIG. 6;
Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a detailed method of performing the line production of fig. 6.
100-Manufacturing execution system, 200-vehicle body identification system, 300-production control system, 400-production monitoring system;
The system comprises a 101-production line management module, a 102-vehicle management module, a 103-production monitoring module, a 104-production management module, a 105-database module and a 106-quick communication module;
201-an RFID reading module;
301-configuration management module, 302-production module, 3011-file storage unit, 3012-communication unit, 3021-conveying line, 3022-roller, 3023-screwing gun, 3024-filling equipment, 3025-gluing equipment;
The system comprises a vehicle, a vehicle monitoring module, a travel acquisition module, a sensing switch, a data acquisition unit, a data calculation unit, a data storage unit and a data storage unit.
Detailed Description
The application is further described below in conjunction with the detailed description. It is to be understood that these examples are illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. Furthermore, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made by one skilled in the art after reading the teachings of the present application, and such equivalents are intended to fall within the scope of the application as defined in the appended claims.
Referring to fig. 2 to 5, the present invention discloses a variable station automotive production line. As shown, a preferred embodiment thereof is comprised of a manufacturing execution system 100 (MES), a vehicle body identification system 200 (AVI), a production control system 300, and a production monitoring system 400.
The automotive production line comprises a plurality of stations that can be dynamically planned, each station corresponding to a set of production processes, including the production actions and sequencing that each production module 302 on the station needs to complete. The production procedure of each station generally corresponds to the vehicle type to be produced, and is dynamically planned according to the vehicle information when the production line is initialized. Before the vehicle to be assembled enters the production line, the vehicle body identification system 200 (AVI) identifies the vehicle information, and then the manufacturing execution system 100 (MES) completes the planning of the stations and production processes. Then, the conveyor line 3021 drives the car to be equipped to pass through each station in turn. After the automobile enters a station, a static assembly mode and a dynamic assembly mode exist according to the configuration of different production lines. In the static assembly mode, the conveyor line 3021 stops moving forward, the vehicle is stationary at the station, the production process of the station is completed by the production module 302 (various robots, tightening gun 3022, etc.) installed around the station, and then the conveyor line 3021 is restarted to drive the vehicle into the next station. In the dynamic assembly mode, the conveyor line 3021 keeps advancing at a constant speed, and the production module 302 installed around the station follows the vehicle advancing at the constant speed, so as to complete the production process of the station.
The manufacturing execution system 100 is a control core of the whole automobile production line, and is used for configuring the positions and sequences of stations on the automobile production line, configuring production procedures corresponding to each station through the production control system 300, guiding the production control system 300 to complete automobile assembly work according to the production procedures, and configuring the production monitoring system 300. At the same time, it is also responsible for connecting the body recognition system 200, the production control system 300, and the production monitoring system 400, providing a communication channel therebetween.
The manufacturing execution system 100 includes a production management module 101, a vehicle management module 102, a production monitoring module 103, a production management module 104, a database module 105, and a quick communication module 106. The production line management module 101 provides a human-machine interface, receives user input (e.g., input of manufacturing parameters, modification, etc.), and then saves the user input to the database module 105, thereby completing configuration and adjustment of various parameters of the production line. Vehicle integrity information is maintained in database module 105, which contains a vehicle identification code. The vehicle body identification system 200 at least includes a vehicle identification code in the vehicle information read from the vehicle to be assembled. Thus, with the vehicle identification code as a key, in combination with the database module 105, vehicle integrity information of the vehicle to be assembled, such as manufacturing parameters matched thereto, can be obtained. Meanwhile, the production line management module 101 is a core control module in the manufacturing execution system 100, and is connected to the vehicle body identification system 200 through the vehicle management module 102 in combination with the database module 105, connected to the production monitoring system 400 through the production monitoring module 103, and connected to the production control system 300 through the production management module 104, and cooperates with the operation that when the production line management module 101 recognizes that the vehicle to be assembled advances to the set station along with the conveying line 3021 by using the production monitoring system 400 connected to the production monitoring module 103, the production management module 104 sends an instruction to the production control system 300 for assembly. The vehicle management module 102 reports the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle body recognition system 200 to the production line management module 101. The production monitoring module 103 reports the production line status information collected by the production monitoring system 400 to the production line management module 101. The production management module 104 issues manufacturing parameters corresponding to the vehicle to be assembled to the production control system 300 and sends control instructions, such as commands instructing the production module 302 to begin assembly, to the production control system 300 during the production process. The rapid communication module 106 is located at the bottom of the system and provides a direct communication connection between the production control system 300 and the production monitoring system 400, so that for some emergency commands, such as a shutdown command, and the production module 302 accessed by the manufacturing execution system 100 but managed by the home production control system 300, rapid data interaction can be directly performed around the production monitoring module 103 and the production management module 104, thereby improving communication efficiency.
The vehicle body identification system 200 acquires vehicle information, such as a vehicle identification code, by including an RFID reading module 201 to read a radio frequency tag mounted on a vehicle to be assembled. The vehicle information may also include additional information, such as vehicle model information, to speed up data retrieval, but the vehicle integrity information is retrieved by using the database module 105 of the manufacturing execution system 100 with the vehicle identification code as a key.
The production control system 300 itself also has the capability to save manufacturing parameters, but it only saves manufacturing parameters for the current production issued by the manufacturing execution system 100 and does not save manufacturing parameters for all vehicles supported by the production line. Specifically, the production control system 300 is constituted by a configuration management module 301 and a production module 302. Each configuration management module 301 corresponds to one or more production modules 302 according to different automobile production lines. The configuration management module 301 includes a file storage unit 3011 and a communication unit 3012. In the file storage unit 3011, manufacturing parameters for guiding the current production are stored, and the configuration management module 301 extracts information therefrom to guide and control the production module 302 to complete the production process of the corresponding station. The communication unit 3012 connects the configuration management module 301 to the manufacturing execution system 100 and the production module 302. The communication unit 3012 provides a flexible interface between the manufacturing execution system 100 and the production module 302. The flexible interface has the function that when the type of the external interface of the production module 302 changes, the communication unit 3012 maintains the communication capability with the changed production module 302 by expanding the flexible interface thereof, and ensures that the communication interface between the communication unit 3012 and the manufacturing execution system 100 is unchanged. In this way, when the line adjustment involves the new addition and modification of the production module 302, only the corresponding communication unit 3012 needs to be updated, so that the modification of other systems in the line is avoided.
The production module 302 contains not only assembly equipment, such as a tightening gun 3023, a filling equipment 3024, and a glue application equipment 3025, at each station, but also equipment related to the whole production line, such as a conveyor line 3021 and rollers 3022 fitting the conveyor line 3021. The rollers 3022 drive the conveyor line 3021 forward and transfer vehicles to be assembled between the different stations. The assembly equipment is arranged on the station and is used for completing the processing and assembly work of the vehicle to be assembled. The sequence of actions of all the assembly devices on a station constitutes the production process of this station.
The production monitoring system 400 is used to continuously collect production line information, such as vehicle status and vehicle position, during normal operation and then communicate the information to the manufacturing execution system 100. The production monitoring system 400 is composed of a carrier 401, a vehicle monitoring module 402, a carrier monitoring module 403, a travel collection module 404 and an inductive switch 405. The production line status information reported by the production monitoring system comprises placement status information, positioning status information, limit status information and travel status information. The carrier 401 is fixed on a conveyor line 3021, and the vehicle to be assembled should be placed on the carrier 401, then brought into the production line by the conveyor line 3021, and then passed through each processing station in turn. The vehicle monitoring module 402 is configured to identify whether the vehicle to be assembled is properly mounted on the vehicle 401, and provide mounting status information. From the line entrance, a carrier monitor module 403 (ohm dragon E3JK-TR 12-C) and a sense switch 405 (ohm dragon WLG 2-LD) are installed in sequence. The carrier monitoring module 403 is used to identify whether the carrier 401 itself is properly mounted on the track 3021, providing in-place status information. In combination, the vehicle monitoring module 402 and the vehicle monitoring module 403 can determine that the vehicle 401 itself and the vehicle to be assembled on the vehicle 401 are correctly positioned. A sensor switch 405 is mounted behind the carrier monitor module 403, which provides limit status information, in combination with the trip acquisition module 404, for determining the precise location of the vehicle to be assembled on the production line. Specifically, when the vehicle to be assembled passes over the inductive switch 405, limit state information is reported to the manufacturing execution system 100 to determine a zero point corresponding to the vehicle to be assembled. The trip acquisition module 404 includes a data acquisition unit 4031, a data calculation unit 4032, and a data storage unit 4033 for acquiring and calculating trip data of the conveyor line 3021. The data acquisition unit 4031 is an encoder, such as an ohm-dragon E6C3-AG5C 256P/R2M. The encoder data is converted by the data calculation unit 4032 to obtain the travel distance of the conveyor line 3021, and reported as travel state information. The data storage unit 4033 is connected to the data acquisition unit 4031 and the data calculation unit 4032 to provide storage support for calculations, such as storing input parameters, intermediate results and final results. Knowing the zero point and the travel distance of the conveyor line 3021, the distance traveled by the vehicle along with the conveyor line 3021 can be calculated, and in combination with the location and length information of the station in the manufacturing execution system 100, it can be determined whether the vehicle has arrived at a particular station, and a specific location in that station (e.g., a location at 30% of that station).
Referring to fig. 6, the invention also discloses a method for assembling an automobile by utilizing the automobile production line with a variable working position, which is characterized by comprising the following steps:
step S100, a production line is deployed for a vehicle to be installed.
Step S200, initializing a production line.
The vehicle body identification system reads vehicle information of the vehicle to be assembled, then the manufacturing execution system determines the number, the position and the length of the stations according to the vehicle information, and issues manufacturing parameters to complete the configuration of the stations and the production procedures.
Step S300, the vehicle to be assembled enters a production line to start production.
Referring to fig. 7, in step S100, the method further includes the steps of:
Step S101, adjusting the equipment of the production control system and the production monitoring system.
In the production control system, the production modules are adjusted and the newly added production modules are connected to the configuration management module. Step S102, configuring a station, a production control system and a production monitoring system in a manufacturing execution system.
In the manufacturing execution system, adjusting manufacturing parameters corresponding to the vehicle to be installed includes:
1. the configuration of the stations of the production line, i.e. the number, position and length of the stations involved, is specified.
2. And designating the corresponding production procedure of each station, namely how many production modules are participated in each station, and the operations required to be executed by each production module and the sequence thereof.
Step S103, removing the redundant equipment which is not used any more after the configuration is completed in the production control system and the production monitoring system.
In the production control system, excess production modules are removed. This step is optional, as long as the production line plan is satisfied, each module may be kept unchanged, except that the references in the parameters are not re-manufactured for later re-use.
Referring to fig. 8, in step S200, the method further comprises the steps of:
step S201, starting a production monitoring system to collect production line information.
In step S202, the vehicle body recognition system reads vehicle information of a vehicle to be assembled.
After the vehicle to be assembled enters the production line, the vehicle body identification system identifies the vehicle information through an RFID reading module (such as SIMATIC RF T) and transmits the vehicle information to the manufacturing execution system.
In step S203, the manufacturing execution system completes the production line planning.
The manufacturing execution system utilizes the vehicle identification code in the vehicle information to select one group from a plurality of groups of manufacturing parameters stored by the manufacturing execution system, so as to complete the planning of the number, the position and the length of the variable stations, and the manufacturing parameters are issued to the production control system.
In step S204, the production control system completes planning.
The production control system configures the production procedure of each station according to the received manufacturing parameters.
Referring to fig. 9, in step S300, the method further includes the steps of:
in step S301, the production monitoring system collects the production line information and reports the information to the manufacturing execution system.
When the vehicle to be assembled passes through the position of the inductive switch, the production monitoring system sends information to the manufacturing execution system, and the manufacturing execution system is arranged at the zero point of the travel for the vehicle to be assembled. And then, the production monitoring system periodically reports the travel state information of the conveying line and the execution condition of the production process on each station to the manufacturing execution system.
Step S302, the manufacturing execution system combines the position and the length of the station of the current production line and the position information of the vehicle to be assembled on the conveying line, which is contained in the production line information, determines the current station of the vehicle to be assembled, and sends the current station to the production control system.
The manufacturing execution system compares the position of the vehicle to be assembled on the conveying line, and when the position of the vehicle to be assembled is within the position and length interval of a certain station, the vehicle to be assembled is judged to enter the station.
Step S303, the production control system executes the production procedure corresponding to the current station.
Step S304, after completing the production process of the current station, the manufacturing execution system drives the vehicle to be assembled to advance along the conveying line, and returns to step S301.
The foregoing description is only of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and all equivalent structures or equivalent processes using the descriptions and drawings of the present invention or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields are included in the scope of the invention.