US-12623248-B2 - Smart sealer management system and method

US12623248B2US 12623248 B2US12623248 B2US 12623248B2US-12623248-B2

Abstract

A sealer management system processes a method for monitoring a sealer usage. The sealer management system includes: an application unit for applying a sealer to a vehicle body; a pump for supplying the sealer to the application unit; a first sensor for detecting absence of a sealer inside a sealer drum, and a second sensor for detecting whether the sealer drum has been replaced; a sealer application device including an application controller that recognizes when the sealer drum is replaced based on the detection information of the first sensor and the second sensor, and calculates the actual sealer usage by counting the number of times of the replacement of the sealer drum; and a management server that compares the actual sealer usage obtained from the sealer application device with a set standard sealer usage to determine whether a sealer usage failure event occurs.

Inventors

Seung Ho Lee
Sung Hwan Seo

Assignees

HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
KIA CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20241108
Priority Date: 20240704

Claims (18)

1 . A sealer management system comprising: a sealer drum configured to store a sealer; a sealer application device comprising an application unit configured to apply the sealer to a vehicle body; a pump configured to supply the sealer in the sealer drum to the application unit; a first sensor configured to detect absence of the sealer inside the sealer drum; a second sensor configured to detect whether the sealer drum has been replaced; and a management server configured to communicate with the sealer application device, wherein the sealer application device further comprises an application controller that is configured to: determine a replacement event of the sealer drum based on detection information of the first sensor and the second sensor, and calculate a sealer usage by counting a number of times of the replacement event of the sealer drum, and wherein the management server is configured to: compare the sealer usage obtained from the sealer application device to a set standard sealer usage, and determine whether a sealer usage failure event occurs.
2 . The sealer management system of claim 1 , further comprising: an induction plate disposed in the sealer drum and configured to suction the sealer, wherein the first sensor comprises: a first plate that is fixedly mounted to a first side of an upper plate of the pump and extends downward in a longitudinal direction, the first plate being configured to ascend or descend based on an operation of the induction plate; and a first physical switch configured to, based on the induction plate descending to a bottom of the sealer drum, generate no sealer detection signal in response to the first plate making physical contact with the first physical switch.
3 . The sealer management system of claim 2 , wherein the second sensor comprises: a second plate that is fixedly to a second side of the upper plate of the pump and extends downward in the longitudinal direction, the second plate being configured to ascend or descend based on the operation of the induction plate; and a second physical switch that is configured to: based on the induction plate descending to detect the sealer in the sealer drum, be turned on in response to the second plate making physical contact with the second physical switch, and based on the induction plate ascending above the bottom of the sealer drum, be turned off and generate a sealer drum replacement signal in response to a release of the physical contact between the second plate and the second physical switch.
4 . The sealer management system of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor comprises a first rotary limit switch disposed at a first height with respect to a bottom of the sealer drum, and wherein the second sensor comprises a second rotary limit switch disposed at a second height different from the first height.
5 . The sealer management system of claim 3 , wherein the application controller is configured to: raise the induction plate to a first position higher than an upper surface of the sealer drum based on the sealer drum being replaced, and after the sealer drum is replaced, lower the induction plate to a second position corresponding to an upper surface of the sealer in the sealer drum.
6 . The sealer management system of claim 5 , wherein the application controller is configured to: detect the absence of the sealer in the sealer drum based on (i) the second sensor being turned on based on the induction plate descending toward the bottom of the sealer drum and then (ii) the first sensor being turned on based on the induction plate reaching the bottom of the sealer drum; and generate an alarm to notify the absence of the sealer.
7 . The sealer management system of claim 3 , wherein the application controller is configured to: count and accumulate the number of times of the replacement event of the sealer drum based on both of the first and second sensors being turned off while the induction plate is raised for replacing the sealer drum.
8 . The sealer management system of claim 7 , wherein the application controller is configured to calculate the sealer usage by multiplying the accumulated number of times of the replacement event of the sealer drum by a weight of the sealer that is predetermined based on a sealer type of the sealer.
9 . The sealer management system of claim 1 , wherein the management server is configured to: based on the sealer usage exceeding an upper limit of an allowable range, determine that a sealer excessive usage event occurs; and based on the sealer usage falling below a lower limit of the allowable range, determine that a sealer short usage event occurs.
10 . The sealer management system of claim 9 , wherein the management server is configured to: based on determining that the sealer excessive usage event or the sealer short usage event occurs, recognize failure cause information that includes an identification (ID) and a location of the sealer application device having the sealer excessive usage event or the sealer short usage event; and transmit an alarm message to a terminal.
11 . The sealer management system of claim 9 , wherein the management server is configured to perform autonomous application amount management control to reduce or increase an amount of the sealer used in one or more stages of the sealer application device that have experienced the sealer excessive usage event or the sealer short usage event.
12 . The sealer management system of claim 1 , wherein the set standard sealer usage is set through experiments and learning based on at least one of (i) a target vehicle type, (ii) a vehicle body part, (iii) a number of vehicles produced, (iv) a type of the sealer, (v) a capacity of the sealer drum, or (vi) operation characteristics of the application unit of the sealer application device.
13 . A sealer management method of managing a sealer usage of one or more sealer application devices based on detection information of a first sensor and a second sensor, the sealer management method comprising: lowering, by an application controller, an induction plate to an upper surface of a sealer disposed inside a sealer drum; based on lowering the induction plate, switching the second sensor to an on-state for detecting a replacement event of the sealer drum; further lowering, by the application controller, the induction plate based on the sealer usage of the sealer in the sealer drum; based on the induction plate reaching a bottom of the sealer drum, detecting, by the application controller, absence of the sealer in response to the first sensor being switched on; generating an alarm to notify the absence of the sealer in the sealer drum; and calculating, by the application controller, the sealer usage by counting a number of times of a replacement even of the sealer drum based on both of the first and second sensors being switched to an off-state while the induction plate being raised for replacing the sealer drum.
14 . The sealer management method of claim 13 , further comprising: after calculating the sealer usage, obtaining, by a management server, the sealer usage from the application controller; and comparing, by the management server, the sealer usage to a reference standard sealer usage and determining whether a sealer usage failure event occurs.
15 . The sealer management method of claim 14 , wherein determining whether the sealer usage failure event occurs comprises: based on the sealer usage exceeding an upper limit of an allowable range, determining that a sealer excessive usage event occurs; and based on the sealer usage falling below a lower limit of the allowable range, determining that a sealer short usage event occurs.
16 . The sealer management method of claim 15 , further comprising: based on determining that the sealer excessive usage event or the sealer short usage event occurs, recognizing failure cause information that includes an identification (ID) and a location of a sealer application device among the one or more sealer application devices corresponding to the sealer excessive usage event or the sealer short usage event; and displaying the failure cause information on a sealer usage monitoring screen, or transmitting an alarm message to a terminal.
17 . The sealer management method of claim 15 , further comprising: after determining whether the sealer usage failure event occurs, performing, by the management server, autonomous application amount management control to reduce or increase an amount of the sealer used in one or more stages of a sealer application device among the one or more sealer application devices that have experienced the sealer excessive usage event or the sealer short usage event.
18 . The sealer management method of claim 17 , further comprising: after performing the autonomous application amount management control, adjusting, by the application controller, the amount of the sealer by adjusting at least one of (i) a sealer pressure supplied from a pump or (ii) an opening rate of an application unit of the sealer application device in accordance with the autonomous application amount management control of the management server.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0088227, filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, on Jul. 4, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a smart sealer management system and method, and more particularly, to a smart sealer management system and method of automatically managing an actual usage of a sealer for painting a vehicle body. BACKGROUND Vehicle factories may perform paint operations in which sealers are applied to gaps generated in a steel overlap portion, a connection portion, and the like in an assembled vehicle body. The sealer for painting the vehicle body is a subsidiary material that is related to rust resistance, rigidity, durability, and watertightness quality of a vehicle. For example, omitting the sealer application or an insufficient amount of the sealer applied may lead to corrosion or watertightness issues of the vehicle, which may reduce the durability of the vehicle. In addition, insufficient application of an adhesive for a structure, which ensures the rigidity of the vehicle, may reduce the rigidity of the vehicle, thereby reducing customer safety and reliability. Therefore, the sealer usage may be well controlled to avoid missing sealer applications or poor quality due to the small amount of sealer applied during vehicle body painting. In some cases, sealer material receipts, the record of the sealer usage, line inputs, and determination of sealer application amounts are managed manually by humans, so that the management of the sealer usage may be difficult. In some cases, when a quality problem occurs due to omitting of a large number of lots of sealer applications and/or the insufficient amount of sealer applied due to the absence of the management of the data-based sealer application amount, it may be difficult to identify when and on which line the problem occurred. In some cases, painting operations may sometimes excessively apply the sealer to avoid missing of the sealer application and the insufficient amount of sealer applied, which may lead to the increased usage of sealer subsidiary material and decreased profitability. In some cases, it may be difficult to recognize the history and cause of the problem in the event of excessive application of the sealer, resulting in wasted subsidiary material usage and decreased profitability. SUMMARY The present disclosure describes a smart sealer management system and method of automatically managing the right usage of a sealer for painting a vehicle body to be available at the right place at the right time by monitoring the actual sealer usage based on information detected through sensors applied to a pump and responding quickly in the event of the poor sealer usage. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a smart sealer management system includes: an application unit for applying a sealer to a vehicle body; a pump for supplying a sealer for an application work of the application unit; a first sensor for detecting absence of a sealer inside a sealer drum being used in the pump, and a second sensor for detecting whether the sealer drum has been replaced; a sealer application device including an application controller that recognizes when the sealer drum is replaced based on the detection information of the first sensor and the second sensor, and calculates the actual sealer usage by counting the number of times of the replacement of the sealer drum; and a management server that compares the actual sealer usage obtained from the sealer application device with a set standard sealer usage to determine whether a sealer usage failure event NG outside an allowable range occurs. In some implementations, the first sensor may include: a first plate fixedly mounted downwardly in a longitudinal direction on one side of an upper plate of the pump and ascending or descending with an operation of an induction plate for sealer suction; and a first physical switch for generating a no sealer detection signal when the induction plate descends to a bottom of the sealer drum and makes physical contact with the first plate. In some implementations, the second sensor may include: a second plate fixedly mounted downwardly in a longitudinal direction on the other side of the upper plate of the pump and ascending or descending with the operation of the induction plate for sealer suction; and a second physical switch that is turned on by physical contact with the second plate when the induction plate descends to detect that a sealer is in use, and that generates a sealer drum replacement signal when the physical contact is released when the induction plate ascends and the second physical switch is switched to off. In some implementations, the first sensor and the second sensor may be configured as rotary limit switches fixed at different heights. In some implementat