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Process and device to continuously and in real time control a complex manufacturing process

  • US 5,668,741 A
  • Filed: 10/24/1996
  • Issued: 09/16/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/26/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method for continuously monitoring a complex manufacturing process of a material being transformed through a plurality of steps during a predetermined time period, in order to apprehend, in a continuous and complete manner, a transient or perturbing phenomena occurring during the manufacturing process, the method comprising the steps of:

  • disposing fundamental elements in separate channels situated in the immediate vicinity of a machine so that each fundamental element is continuously monitored by a sensor and connected to at least one remote work station, through a local network;

    translating, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, a fundamental element into an analog signal by means of a sensor fixed to the machine;

    making, within each channel in the mediate vicinity of the sensor, the analog signal discrete with a frequency determined in relationship to the fundamental element associated with the channel in order to obtain a succession of digital values representing the instantaneous values of the analog signal as a function of the time;

    storing, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, the digital values corresponding to the analog signal in the form of series of N values, said digital values being accessible during the predetermined time period;

    processing, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, a preceding series of M digital values where M>

    N, the processing of the preceding series of M digital values being carried out by the use of spectral estimation techniques making it possible to transform the signal variations with respect to time into values which are a function of the frequency, and then storing the values which are a function of the frequency;

    analyzing, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, the values which are a function of the frequency in order to obtain objective characteristics depending on the series of M digital values processed and the number of characteristics of which is less than N;

    continuously storing, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, the objective characteristics;

    comparing, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, the objective characteristics corresponding to the series of M digital values either with given values or with the objective characteristics corresponding to one or more of the preceding series so as to provide a result of the comparison;

    transmitting, within each channel in the immediate vicinity of the sensor, the result of the comparison over the local network;

    receiving, at the remote work station, the result of the comparison for each channel for the purpose of observation and use in real time with optionally storing of the results of the various comparisons in each channel, the objective characteristics, and the series of N digital values so as to be able to carry out subsequently an analysis in delayed time over all the fundamental elements of the complex process; and

    transferring, upon reception of an abnormal result of the comparison from any of the channels, from each of the channels to the remote work station the digital values stored during the predetermined time period and representing the instantaneous state of the fundamental elements as a function of time in order to time correlate each signal having occurred at the time the material experienced the fundamental element monitored by the respective sensor.

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