Project title:

Study metal sheet profiles through different forming processes and prototype intelligent control system

Project Summary:

During my employment at Formflow, I was required to design a system which could analyse the profile of corrugated sheets before and after a secondary bend forming. I noticed how important it is for companies such as Formflow to be able to predict the profile of a sheet based on its initial profile properties. As having such knowledge would then allow them to change parameters during the forming and cutting processes such that the outcome is closest to their standards.

This project aims to study the properties of the sheets before and after various processes in order to build the relations between the incoming and outgoing profiles. It would then focus on possible control systems that would allow customising the profiles during the processes.

Methodology:

This project has been divided into three main parts:

• Getting data
• Analysing data
• Designing a prototype

The initial data required for this project is acquired from the sheets processed at Formflow. Each sheet is QR Code labelled and is scanned using a 2D laser system. Different parameters of the sheet are then analysed using an accompanying software I had previously developed, as shown in the figure below. Additionally, sample of the sheets might also be taken for a tensile test to take the metal properties also into consideration.

The data acquired from the previous stage would be then analysed further. Machine learning could be used to learn the relations between the incoming and outgoing profiles. Depending how successful this would be, a control system might be prototyped to automatically, control the profiles of the sheets during the bending and cutting processes.