Control of workstations in assembly lines
First Claim
1. A system for controlling multiple workstations in an assembly line, comprising:
- a plurality of independent workstations coupled to each other by a conveyor, each workstation having an executing means for executing one or more operations on a workpiece and having a controller coupled to the executing means and the conveyors; and
wherein the controller of one of the plurality of workstations is adapted to control the executing means in that workstation to reduce said one or more operations in response to an idle status signal received from the controller of a subsequent workstation, and to communicate an idle status signal to the controller of a preceding workstation, and to control the conveyor to convey the workpiece to the subsequent workstation to complete a remainder of said reduced operations on the workpiece.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A workstation (1) in an assembly line for placing components onto workpieces is associated with a conveyor (3) for conveying the workpieces into and out of workstation (1). A component placer (6) places components from a component feeder (5) onto the workpieces. Controller (4) controls conveyor (3) and component placer (6) and determines placement operations for a workpiece. Information may be provided by a preceding workstation to controller (4) to determine the operations. When an idle status signal from a subsequent workstation is received, controller (4) determines information on how much of the operations have been executed or unexecuted by workstation (1). This information, associated with the workpiece, is then provided to the subsequent workstation when the workpiece is conveyed to the subsequent workstation. Thereafter, workstation (1) provides an idle status signal to the preceding workstation to request for another workpiece.
35 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for controlling multiple workstations in an assembly line, comprising:
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a plurality of independent workstations coupled to each other by a conveyor, each workstation having an executing means for executing one or more operations on a workpiece and having a controller coupled to the executing means and the conveyors; and wherein the controller of one of the plurality of workstations is adapted to control the executing means in that workstation to reduce said one or more operations in response to an idle status signal received from the controller of a subsequent workstation, and to communicate an idle status signal to the controller of a preceding workstation, and to control the conveyor to convey the workpiece to the subsequent workstation to complete a remainder of said reduced operations on the workpiece. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for controlling a workstation in an assembly line having a plurality of workstations in communication with each other, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a workpiece from a preceding workstation; determining one or more operations to be performed on said workpiece; reducing the extent of said one or more operations in response to a signal received from a subsequent idle workstation; and transferring said workpiece to said subsequent idle workstation in order to perform at least a portion of said reduced operations. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A placement workstation comprising:
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a component placer for executing one or more placement operations on a workpiece; a conveyor for conveying said workpiece, said conveyor being associated with said component placer; and a controller coupled to control said component placer and said conveyor, wherein said controller is adapted to control said component placer to reduce said one or more placement operations in response to an idle status signal communicated from a preceding workstation and, thereafter, to control said conveyor to convey said workpiece out of said placement workstation. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification