Digital process analysis and control camera system
First Claim
1. A digital vision control system for monitoring and controlling a manufacturing process of a web product occurring on manufacturing equipment comprising:
- at least one sensor positioned at a pre-determined location adjacent the manufacturing equipment to acquire real time digital images of the web product and the equipment;
a broadband communication network to transfer the real time digital images from the at least one sensor to an analysis system;
said analysis system processing the real time digital images and generating control outputs for communication to the manufacturing equipment by the broadband communication network.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Many continuous processes, such as paper manufacturing, use analog camera systems to capture break events and use the video information to diagnose runnability problems. These systems trigger off a break signal on the machine and synchronize all videos to the same point on the process using the machine speed. The present invention provides a new approach to use real-time information from digital cameras to perform image analysis in real time and execute specific control functions normally performed by operators. A reference image is defined as the control objective function and each frame from the cameras is compared to the reference image. Deviations from the reference image that exceed a defined deadband (the threshold) are output to the control system to take corrective action. The applications of the disclosed approach include dynamic draw control, trim control, tension control, release angle control, creping blade control with control signals determined from a two-dimensional camera image.
20 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A digital vision control system for monitoring and controlling a manufacturing process of a web product occurring on manufacturing equipment comprising:
-
at least one sensor positioned at a pre-determined location adjacent the manufacturing equipment to acquire real time digital images of the web product and the equipment;
a broadband communication network to transfer the real time digital images from the at least one sensor to an analysis system;
said analysis system processing the real time digital images and generating control outputs for communication to the manufacturing equipment by the broadband communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A method for monitoring and controlling a manufacturing process of a web product occurring on manufacturing equipment comprising:
-
acquiring real time digital images of the web product and the equipment using at least one sensor positioned at a pre-determined location adjacent the manufacturing equipment;
transferring the real time digital images from the at least one sensor via a broadband communication network to an analysis system;
processing the real time digital images using the analysis system and generating control outputs for communication to the manufacturing equipment by the broadband communication network.
-
Specification