Metal treatment – Process of modifying or maintaining internal physical... – Processes of coating utilizing a reactive composition which...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-17
2003-09-30
King, Roy (Department: 1742)
Metal treatment
Process of modifying or maintaining internal physical...
Processes of coating utilizing a reactive composition which...
C148S262000, C148S500000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06627006
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a process for controlling a treatment line, in which a workpiece is treated by chemical and/or physical processes. More particularly, the invention relates to processes in which the surface of the workpiece is chemically modified and/or coated. An example of such an application is the phosphating and the subsequent painting of metals, more particularly car bodies.
There are a large number of industrial processes in which a workpiece is treated by chemical and/or physical treatment processes. One objective of such treatment may be the chemical modification of the surface of the workpiece or its coating, for example its paint. A frequent objective of such processes is to give desired technical or aesthetic properties to the surfaces of the workpieces. One example of this are processes by which the surface of the workpieces may be protected from corrosion or by which the surface of the workpiece is given a desired, aesthetically attractive appearance.
In all these cases, the aim of treating the workpieces by chemical and/or physical processes is to produce certain technical or aesthetic effects. Whether the desired result is achieved depends on the substrate and on the selected parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes. The more precisely it is known which of the selectable parameters influence the desired result and how they do so, the parameters may be so adjusted that the desired result is achieved as reliably as possible or that the intended technical and/or aesthetic results of the treatment are as good as possible. In this connection, various constants which are considered to be characteristic of the intended result are defined. These constants correlate in different ways with one or more of the parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes by which the desired result is to be achieved. The practical knowledge of which parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes influence the result and in what way they do so is mostly of an empirical nature and has been acquired and improved in series of tests. Nevertheless, it is by no means guaranteed that all correlations between the parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes and the results attained by the treatment are now known sufficiently well and that these parameters are so adjusted that the desired result is achieved as optimally as possible. Accordingly, there is a need to refine the known correlations and to find new correlations. There is also a need, in the event of deviations of the obtained result from the intended result, to recognize those parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes and to be able to vary them in such a way that deviations of the obtained result from the intended result may be corrected as reliably as possible.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for controlling a treatment line, in which a workpiece is treated by chemical and/or physical processes, characterized in that:
a) a correlation between one or more variable parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line and one or more constants which are characteristic of the outcome of the treatment is established, from it rules are derived which define the dependence of the constant or of the constants on the variable parameters and the correlation and/or the rules derived from it are stored in a control system for the treatment line;
b) the one or more constants characteristic of the outcome of the treatment are measured continuously or intermittently; and
c) in the event of a deviation of these constants from a given range of set values or in the event of a significant tendency of these constants to move towards the limits of the range of set values, that/those variable parameter(s) of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line which is/are most closely correlated with this constant is/are altered in accordance with the correlation established in step a) and/or the rules derived from it in that direction which counteracts the deviation of the constant or constants from the range of set values.
In this connection, it is of course advisable to alter only those parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line which do not adversely affect the other constants that are characteristic of the result. The chosen parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes are therefore those whose alteration is correlated as closely as possible with the diverging constant and whose alteration does not have a negative effect on other constants. This may be effected, for example, by a computer programme operating on the lines of an expert system.
The process according to the present invention is preferably carried out in such a way that, in step c), the alteration of the variable parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line takes place automatically without human intervention or that the control system for the process issues an appropriate recommendation to alter the variable parameters. The first alternative corresponds to fully automatic operation of the treatment line; in the second alternative, the operating personnel receive precise information as to which parameters are to be altered and in what way as the outcome of the process according to the invention.
The control system for the process according to the present invention is preferably installed so that it is “adaptive”. Accordingly, the process according to the present invention is preferably started in such a way that, during the operation of the treatment line, the correlation between the variable parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line and one or more constants characteristic of the outcome of the treatment, and/or the rules derived from it, are adapted. Care is accordingly taken to ensure, firstly, that the control system receives—continuously or at specific times—information about the values of as many as possible of the parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line. This may be effected, for example, by automatically analyzing chemical processing liquids used during the treatment of the workpieces and passing the results of the analyses to the control system for the process according to the invention. This may of course also be done by manual input. Secondly, care is taken to ensure that the control system is informed as fully as possible about the outcome of the chemical and/or physical treatment, i.e. that it receives information about the values of as many as possible of the constants which are important to the result of the treatment. As far as possible, this is preferably also carried out automatically, but otherwise by manual data input. In this way, the system is placed in the position of being able continually to improve the correlation between the actual parameters and the results achieved and, if necessary, to find new correlations.
The manner in which the correlation between the individual variable parameters of the chemical and/or physical processes of the treatment line and the constants characteristic of the outcome of the treatment are stored in the control system and evaluated is basically unimportant. For example, the rules derived from the empirically discovered correlation may be expressed in the form of mathematical equations, as imprecise relations (“fuzzy logic”)or in the form of model-free algorithms, such as neuronal networks. Suitable mathematical equation are, for example, multilinear regression methods or a partial least squares regression.
In one particular embodiment, the process according to the present invention may be carried out at a plant in which chemical modification and/or coating of the surface of the workpiece is carried out. A coating may consist, for example, of a single-layer or multi-layer paint structure. The chemical nature of the workpiece is initially not relevant. For example, a workpiece may be made of a natural substance, such as wood, of a plastic, of a ceramic material or of metal. For e
Bartik-Himmler Ibolya
Kling Hans-Willi
Optiz Werner
Seemann Jens
Harper Stephen D.
Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
King Roy
Murphy Glenn E. J.
Oltmans Andrew L.
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