WO2010013266A1

WO2010013266A1 - Apparatus and method for the disassembly and re-assembly of a factory

Info

Publication number: WO2010013266A1
Application number: PCT/IT2008/000519
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pierluigi Bresciani
Original assignee: IRIDE ITALIA Srl
Current assignee: IRIDE ITALIA Srl
Priority date: 2008-07-30
Filing date: 2008-07-30
Publication date: 2010-02-04
Anticipated expiration: 2011-01-30

Abstract

Method for the disassembly and re-assembly of a factory comprises the steps prior to, or during the disassembly of the factory, of detecting each component (102) of every plant (101) of the factory (100) and its relative position within the factory, assigning a univocal identification code (3) to each detected component (102) to distinguish each component from another and, during the re-assembly of the factory, creating a virtual image of the assembled factory in which each component (102) of every plant (101) is associated with a relevant univocal identification code (3).

Description

"APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR THE DISASSEMBY AND REASSEMBLY OF A FACTORY" Technical Field Of the Invention:

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the disassembly and re-assembly of a factory.

More and more often, a lot of manufacturing firms decide to delocalize their production site and to move to regions of the world where the labour is less expensive, so as to produce at lower costs.

State of the art:

Sometimes, the delocalized factories are new, that is, they are factories that begin their production for the first time in the geographical area where the firm intends to carry on its manufacturing activity.

Other times, equipping a delocalized factory call for the termination of the manufacturing activity in one geographical area and the contemporary beginning thereof in another one.

In these case, very often, the factory in which the production will be cut off is disassembled, packed and delivered to the delocalized geographical area where it will be unpacked and re-assembled.

Usually, the various machineries which make up the factory are completely disassembled and parts of the machinery thus disassembled are disposed within suitable cases and delivered to the new production site.

At their arrival, the cases are opened and the work for re-assembling the plant begins.

These operations often bring about remarkable drawbacks mostly related to the re-assembly process.

Actually, although it is relatively simple to completely disassemble a machinery, it is not so much simple to re-assemble it in a manner identical to the original one.

In particular, although ^'each machinery is provided with an instruction and maintenance manual, it may happen sometimes that a machinery be modified for improvement, thereby resulting slightly different from the original one .

Accordingly, the re-assembly of the machinery results complicated especially when the improvements being made are not indexed and recorded.

In any case, even if the machinery to be re-assembled is well described and illustrated in the maintanance manual, when the cases are opened it is not always easy to immediately recognize each part of the machinery and to assign the content of each case to the right place. The problem of the re-assembly of a factory is cause for so great a concern that very often the disassembly and subsequent re-assembly thereof are entrusted to specialized firms which operate in close contact with the technicians who have run or been in charge of the various machineries of the factory. Description of the invention:

In this context, the technical task on which the present invention is based is that of providing an apparatus and method for a factory' s disassembly and re-assembly without exhibiting the above drawbacks. In particular, the object of the present invention is to propose an apparatus and method for the factory' s disassembly and re-assembly allowing the immediate re-assembly of the plant.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by an apparatus and method for a factory' s disassembly and re-assembly comprising the characteristics of one or more of the attached claims .

The technical characteristics of the invention and the advantages thereof will appear more clearly by a reading of the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings which show an exempleray and not-limiting embodiment of same invention. In the drawings:

Figs . 1 and 2 illustrate two block diagrams of a factory' s disassembly and re-assembly according to the invention.

The method for a factory' s disassembly and reassembly according to the invention provides - prior to, or during the disassembly of the factory (the difference between the two options will appear clear later on in this description) - for detecting each component 102 of each plant 101 of the factory 100 and its position with respect to other factory' s components .

In the context of the present invention, the term "factory" refers to the whole of machineries or parts thereof which cooperate to allow a production process of any kind to be carried out.

A "factory' s plant" is a term referring to a machinery or a part thereof, preferably capable of performing a technical function which, combined with the functions of other plants, allows carrying out a production process.

The components of a plant are the parts making up the machinery or a section thereof.

In particular, the components of the plant consist of the minimum number of units into which a plant can be disassembled.

Accordingly, depending on the factory, the components of the plants may have dimensions, shapes and functions fully different from each other. Most recurring examples of the elements of a plant are an electric motor, a power cable, a mechanical transmission, a frame, and the like.

The above mentioned step of detecting each component of every plant of the factory and its relative position within the latter, comprises the step of creating a virtual image of the same factory including the various components of every plant. In particular, the virtual image is achieved by operating a tridimensional scanning of the factory 100, as diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1. The tridimensional scanning of the factory is preferably made by means of a high-resolution laser scanner 1 operating at a distance and without contact (as represented in Fig. 1) , so that it is not necessary to cut off the production cycle of the plant during the scanning.

An example of scanner to be used for this operation is given by a device based on the principle of measuring a distance through the time a laser signal takes to cover it, thereby obtaining a 3D-modelling of the factory being scanned.

The tridimensional scanning of the factory is acquired by a CAD (Computer Aided Design or Computer Aided Drafting) system 2 for generating one or more tables T representative of the scanned factory. In particular, the data obtained by the scanner 1 are transmitted to the CAD system 2 which will process the same data for providing a representation on tables T of the whole factory or parts of it in operating configuration, that is, during the operation thereof (as schematically shown in Fig. 1) . Assigned to each component 102 is a univocal identification code 3 in order to distinguish each component 102 from another.

Each identification code 3 carries one or more data related to the components which is associated with. The identification code, and the data held therein, are integrated in the CAD system so that each component 102 figuring in the tables T can be associated, immediately visible and traceable, with the respective identification code 3 and relative data.

Preferably, each identification code holds data related to the assembly of the same component such as, for example, the function thereof, its position with respect to the components of the setting torque, the power voltage and the like.

Preferably, each identification code 3 includes a plurality of high-contrast graphical elements which can be read by a sensor.

In particular, the high-contrast graphical elements are pressure-sensitive bar codes and are produced by a labelling machine 4 linked to, and driven by the

CAD system 2 (as represented in Fig. 1) .

The bar codes 3 printed by the labelling machine 4 are physically applied to each scanned component 102.

Preferably, the bas codes 3 also comprise an element of visual recognition, such as a colored band, for example; the bar codes of the various components of an individual plant comprise the same element of visual recognition so that each component be able of being acknowledged, also only visually, as belonging to a given plant 101.

According to the above, before diassembling the factory, each component of every plant 101 of the factory is "indexed", reproduced by the CAD system and put therein as an entry in its operating position within the factory.

It should be noted that the CAD system makes it possible to retrieve any component 102 in order to visualize the exact position, technical specifications and other useful information thereof. It will be appreciated that what has been described hereinbefore, can be applied both to factories the detailed constructional plans are known, and to factories whose constructional details are missing, inasmuch as, in any case, it is possible to acknowledge each component and to produce a corresponding, univocal identification code thereof. By way of example only, the present invention can be advantageously applied also to factories of fresh construction, that is, factories in which the traceability of the various components can take place also upon the design process thereof so as to facilitate their transfer when required. The method according to the present invention provides, therefore, for the disassembly of the factory.

It should be noted that the disassembly of the factory can however be started immediately after it has been scanned. In this case, the univocal identification codes are physically associated with any component at the time the component is disassembled. The choice of the time in which the identification codes are to be applied to the various components, depends on the type and dimensions of the factory.

By way of example, the identification code of a conduit that cannot be reached directly within the operating plant can be advantageously applied to the conduit at the moment the conduit is disassembled.

On the contrary, the identification code of an inspection bulkhead (whose function requires that it could be reached when the plant is in use) can be applied to the bulkhead when the plant is in operation.

Regardless of the time when the identification codes

3 are applied to the various components 102, the various components, as the factory is disassembled, are stored inside suitable transport containers 104

(as shown in the diagram of Fig. 2) .

During this operation, each container is associated with an identification code in order to be identified afterwards among a plurality of containers identical to each other.

Each identification code of the container is read by a sensor 5 which provides for delivering the reading to a filing device 6.

In the same way the sensor 5 reads the identification codes 3 associated with the components 102 which are disposed inside the container 104 and sends the same codes to the filing device 6, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2.

Preferably, the sensor 5 is a bar-code reader and transmits in wireless mode the read data to the filing device 6.

According to the above, once the whole factory has been disassembled and the various components 102 are stored in the containers 104, the filing device 6 reproduces in a file the location of the various components held in the containers.

In other words, the file 6 holds the information related to the position of each disassembled component 102.

The file 6 is also operatively connected to the CAD system 2 (Fig. 2) so as to have each component reproduced in the tables T associated, not only with the information held in the bar codes 3, but also with the information related to the location of the component with respect to the containers. In this way, during the re-assembly of the factory, the CAD system creates a virtual image of the factory wherein each component of every plant is associated with data relating to the assembly sequence to which the component is to be subjected (data which are held in the bar code 3) and data relating to the location of the components in one of the various containers. It should be understood therefore that the reassembly of the factory results easy and rapid, inasmuch as any information necessary for the reassembly of the plant is immediately available and traceable.

In particular, to re-assemble the factory, it is sufficient to select the plant to be re-assembled by selecting the corresponding virtual plant by means of the CAD system, the CAD system generating a list of components with the relevant stocking position. By retrieving the components indicated in the specified container, and following the instructions for the re-assembly displayed by the CAD System, the plant can be re-assembled in a manner identical to the original.

Claims

1. Method for the disassembly and re-assembly of a factory, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: prior to, or during the disassembly of the factory, detecting each component (102) of every plant (101) of the factory (100) and its relative position within the factory, assigning a univocal identification code (3) to each detected component (102) to distinguish each component (102) from another; during the re-assembly of the factory, creating a virtual image of the assembled factory in which each component (102) of every plant (101) is associated with a relevant univocal identification code (3) .

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises the steps of inserting, into one or more containers (104), the components (102) of the disassembled plants (101) and of associating each container (104) with a relevant univocal identification code.

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that each container (102) is further associated with the relevant identification codes (3) of the components (102) held therein.

4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of detecting each component (102) of every plant (101) of the factory (100) and its relative position therein comprises the step of creating a virtual image of the factory including the various components (102) of each plant (101) .

5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that said virtual image is obtained by making a tridimensional scanning of the factory.

6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the tridimensional scanning of the factory is acquired by a CAD system (2) in order to create one or more tables (T) representative of the factory

(100) .

7. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that said tridimensional scanning of each plant is made with a high-resolution laser scanner (1) without interrupting the production cycle of the plant during the scanning.

8. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the step of assigning a univocal identification code

(3) to each component (102) is performed by associating a plurality of data related to the same component with each component figuring in the tables

(T) generated by the CAD system (2) .

9. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each univocal identification code (3) comprises a plurality of high-contrast graphical elements that can be read by a sensor.

10. Method according to claims 8 and 9, characterized in that said high-contrast graphical elements are self-adhesive bar codes generated by a labelling machine communicating with said CAD system (2) .

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that said bar codes further comprise a visual recognition element; the bar codes of the various components of an individual plant comprise the same visual recognition element.

12. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the step of creating a virtual image of the factory during the re-assembly thereof is carried out by retrieving the tables (T) generated by the CAD system (2) .

13. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises the step of creating a file (6) holding information relevant to the components (102) present in each transport container (104) .

14. Method according to claims 12 and 13, characterized in that said CAD system (2) is operatively associated with said file (6) for detecting the location of each component (102) with respect to the transport containers (104) .

15. Apparatus for carrying out the method of disassembly and re-assembly of a factory according to one or more preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a tridimensional scanner (1) to detect each component (102) of every plant (101) of the factory (100) and its relevant position within the factory, a CAD system (2) operatively connected to said scanner (1) to generate a virtual image of the factory, a generator (4) of bar codes (3) operatively connected to said CAD system (2) to assign a univocal identification code (3) to each detected component (102) .

16. Apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that it comprises a bar-code reader (5) to read the identification code (3) of each component (102) and transmit it to a filing device (6) during the disassembly and the stocking operation for the transportation of the various components (102) .

17. Apparatus according to claim 16, characterized in that the data held in said filing device (6) are made available to said CAD system (2) to identify the position of each component (102) during the operations for disassembling and re-assembling the factory (100) .