| Resumo : |
This work presents a development of an intelligent tooling system, which optimizes the manufacture process in several industrial works like welding, cutting of metal structures, etc - by fixing the material which will be worked on. This tooling system resembles a bed of nails which each nail is the tool itself. This tool is able to move vertically, and its tip angularly. This movement will be made by a robot. Thus, this "bed" will be able to be set in different configurations; for example, as sheet metal with a specific format. After positioning the intelligent tooling system in the desired shape, the structure is positioned upon the system and, together with a vacuum activation, structure will be firmly fixed. In summary, this intelligent tooling system has been developed to fix structures firmly above it. So, it is possible to work on it. Once this system is able to reproduce the shape of the objects, there is no need to manufacture or/and move cumbersome set-up structures from place to place, in order to arrange the set ups, as normally occurs. Due to this and other facts which will be presented along this work, the set up time of the manufacture process decreases significantly. A prototype with 4 of this intelligent tooling system is proposed and discussed in this work. |