The measurement-aided welding cell—giving sight to the blind

dc.contributorAalto-yliopistofi
dc.contributorAalto Universityen
dc.contributor.authorTuominen, Valtterien_US
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Built Environmenten
dc.contributor.groupauthorGeoinformaticsen
dc.contributor.organizationAalto Universityen_US
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-09T10:05:16Z
dc.date.available2018-02-09T10:05:16Z
dc.date.issued2016-09-01en_US
dc.description.abstractThis article introduces the concept of a measurement-aided welding cell (MAWC). It then focuses on developing the MAWC for body and chassis components in the automotive industry. Industry 4.0 requires flexibility and reconfigurability from manufacturing systems, which has been addressed by cellular manufacturing systems (CMS). Traditional automotive welding technology is not flexible enough to be used as a CMS. So, the core of automotive production does not meet the needs of next-generation manufacturing and Industry 4.0. For the first time, this demand has been answered—by the MAWC. The MAWC is based on two handling robots, a welding robot and an optical measurement system, all integrated into one welding cell. The measurement system controls guides and gives feedback to the handling and welding robots. This way, accurate welding is based on actual part-to-part adjustment, rather than hard mechanical tooling. The lack of hard mechanical tooling allows flexibility. Measurement-assisted assembly and machining is not new. However, it has not previously been applied to complex welding processes, because traditional measurement technologies have not been satisfactory. A newly developed system using multi-camera measurement technology meets the flexibility requirements. The technology required for a MAWC is reviewed and found to be in common use in the automotive industry. Three development projects are presented in which the main functions of a MAWC are successfully demonstrated. Two of these projects were done with BMW. A MAWC allows the manufacturing process to immediately swap to a different product on the same line, increasing the production line utilisation rate and making it possible to produce several low-volume products in one manufacturing system. So, the MAWC will not only yield benefits from its scalable capacity and global decentralization, but it will also open new business opportunities for manufacturing low-volume luxury car parts or post-production spare parts.en
dc.description.versionPeer revieweden
dc.format.extent16
dc.format.extent371-386
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationTuominen, V 2016, ' The measurement-aided welding cell—giving sight to the blind ', International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 86, no. 1-4, pp. 371-386 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-015-8193-9en
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s00170-015-8193-9en_US
dc.identifier.issn0268-3768
dc.identifier.issn1433-3015
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: bfb5e656-3126-4131-9f28-74eeaa1aa4bden_US
dc.identifier.otherPURE ITEMURL: https://research.aalto.fi/en/publications/bfb5e656-3126-4131-9f28-74eeaa1aa4bden_US
dc.identifier.otherPURE LINK: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949643380&partnerID=8YFLogxKen_US
dc.identifier.otherPURE FILEURL: https://research.aalto.fi/files/16192649/10.1007_s00170_015_8193_9.pdfen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/29969
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:fi:aalto-201802091466
dc.language.isoenen
dc.relation.ispartofseriesInternational Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technologyen
dc.relation.ispartofseriesVolume 86, issue 1-4en
dc.rightsopenAccessen
dc.subject.keywordAutomotive industryen_US
dc.subject.keywordFlexible manufacturingen_US
dc.subject.keywordFlexible measurementen_US
dc.subject.keywordIntelligent feedback loopen_US
dc.subject.keywordMeasurement-aided welding cellen_US
dc.subject.keywordOptical measurementen_US
dc.subject.keywordReconfigurable manufacturingen_US
dc.subject.keywordRobot weldingen_US
dc.titleThe measurement-aided welding cell—giving sight to the blinden
dc.typeA1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessäfi
dc.type.versionpublishedVersion
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