Application of RFID technology in automobile production workshops

Manufacturing is the foundation of a country and its strength. Without a strong manufacturing industry, there will be no prosperity for the country and nation. To enhance comprehensive national strength, enhance national competitiveness, and ensure the security of the country and nation, we must vigorously develop manufacturing and transform traditional manufacturing into advanced intelligent manufacturing.

"Made in China 2025" and the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have both proposed the deep integration of informatization and industrialization to drive the manufacturing industry toward intelligence, comprehensively improve the level of intelligent manufacturing, and achieve the goal of becoming a manufacturing power.

RFID technology is one of the most commonly used technologies in the Internet of Things. As the development of the Internet of Things continues to progress, it has been maturely applied in the automobile manufacturing industry to achieve intelligent and information-based manufacturing management. RFID relies on its high accuracy, fast reading speed, anti-interference, anti-oil pollution, non-contact, high temperature and high pressure resistance, etc., and is widely used in welding workshops in dusty and high-current interference environments. At the same time, RFID technology is also widely used in various automated production lines, sorting line management and other fields such as electroplating industry, automobile production workshops, pharmaceutical sorting, and hardware.

Application of RFID technology in automobile production lines

The automobile manufacturing industry is a typical large-scale production process with multiple types of work, multiple processes, and multiple materials. Nowadays, with the development of personalized cars (buyers can customize the cars), almost every car will have some personalized features. , Therefore, it is necessary to apply RFID technology to achieve transparency in the entire production process. The automobile industry chain can be simply divided into three basic links: parts manufacturing, vehicle assembly, and after-sales service. Currently, RFID technology is mainly used in parts manufacturing and vehicle assembly. In parts production plants and vehicle assembly plants, the large number of parts and complex and numerous manufacturing processes are prone to errors under manual management mode, and it is impossible to quickly improve the operational efficiency of each process from the source.

1. Application of RFID in automobile welding production line

In the early car body welding production lines, manual methods were mostly used, and the operations were performed step by step according to the instructions, which was prone to human errors. Later, barcode labels were gradually used for management. Although the human error rate was reduced, recognition errors often occurred due to dust, high temperature vibration, oil pollution and other influences at the production site. When encountering a cover, neither barcode label nor manual use can be used with confidence.

Therefore, choose RFID tags that are resistant to high temperatures, dust, metal, magnetic fields, and are reusable to monitor welding production line operations through automatic identification. Replacing manual work and barcode technology, due to the strong anti-pollution ability and strong durability of RFID tags, identification errors are greatly reduced and the visibility of the internal supply chain can be effectively improved.

In workshops with mixed production lines for multiple models, RFID Readers are installed at each welding station to confirm the model. It is generally suitable for Library-borrowing-machine-touch-query-intelligent-terminal-all-in-one-machine.html target='_blank'>workstations that require continuous confirmation of car models. Oil-proof, high-temperature-resistant RFID tags (for entering vehicle type information, welding instruction information, procedures, etc.) are installed on the crane robot or the crane car. The crane car has identification. When the crane passes the work station, the RFID reader installed on the rolling bed reads the RFID tag fixed on the crane to obtain data such as the vehicle model.

Basic process: When a station such as a crane rail car carries equipment to the next station, the vehicle model at the previous station transfers the vehicle model data to the next station through the PLC, or directly detects the vehicle model through the next station detection equipment. After the crane is in place, the vehicle model data recorded in the label of the crane is read through RFID, and compared with the vehicle model data transmitted by the PLC at the previous station or the data detected by the vehicle model sensor to ensure that the vehicle model is correct and to prevent Tooling and fixture switching. Error or robot program number call error, leading to serious equipment collision accidents, etc. The same situation can be applied to engine assembly lines, final assembly chain conveyor lines, and other workstations that require continuous confirmation of vehicle models.

2. Application of RFID in automobile painting production lines

The process of the automobile painting production line is complex, the models vary greatly, and the production flexibility is great. The purpose of automobile painting is to make every car sold look more perfect to consumers. Therefore, each process link of the workshop production line must have a very high level of automation and quality monitoring system. Therefore, RFID technology is used in the body recognition system of the production line automatic control system to collect statistics, status monitoring, quality inspection and other information of various on-site data during the production process in real time and send it to the production control center in a timely manner.

Basic process: In the automobile painting production line, the conveying equipment is a skid conveyor. An RFID tag is installed on each skid carrying the automobile body. During the entire production process, this tag runs with the workpiece, forming a The data that moves with the car body becomes a "smart car body" that carries data everywhere. According to the different needs of production technology and management, RFID readers can be installed at the entrance and exit of the coating workshop, the bifurcation of workpiece logistics, and the entrance of important processes (such as spray paint rooms, drying rooms, storage areas, etc.). Each on-site RFID reader can complete the collection of skid, body information, spray color and number of times, and send the information to the control center at the same time.

3. Application of RFID in automobile assembly production lines

As the final link in automobile production, the final assembly workshop involves numerous parts and processes. Complete, smooth, and error-free assembly plays an important role in ensuring automobile quality and production progress. Any interruption in the assembly process means a delay in the operation. On the assembly line, especially on the assembly line that adopts JIT (Just In Time) production method, raw materials and parts must be delivered to the work station on time, and inventory and material supply must also match the vehicle assembly progress.

Basic process: Install RFID tags on the racks of assembled vehicles (enter information such as vehicle, location, serial number, etc.), and then compile corresponding serial numbers for each assembled vehicle. The tags with detailed requirements required by the car run along the assembly conveyor belt. , install RFID readers at each work station to ensure that cars complete assembly tasks without errors at each assembly line position. When the rack carrying the assembled vehicle passes the RFID reader, the reader automatically obtains the information in the tag and sends it to the central control system. The system collects production data, quality monitoring data and other information on the production line in real time, and then transmits the information to the material management, production scheduling, quality assurance and other related departments. In this way, functions such as raw material supply, production scheduling, quality monitoring, and vehicle quality tracking can be realized at the same time, and various disadvantages of manual operations can be effectively avoided.

4. Related RFID hardware equipment

1. RFID Card reader J

This card reader supports 134.2kHz, 125kHz, supports reading of FDX-B and EMID protocol format tags, and has strong compatibility. It comes with 32-level automatic tuning circuit, anti-surge protection and over-voltage self-power-off protection function. It has IP67 industrial protection level, waterproof, dustproof, oil-proof, pressure-resistant and anti-interference.

2. RFID tag JY-T354AE

It is an anti-metal tag made of PPS. It adopts 134.2K operating frequency, is pressure and high temperature resistant, can work in an environment of -25℃~180℃, and complies with the standard ISO11784/11785 (FDX-B).

3. RFID card writer

Supports the reading and writing operations of EM4305 cards, which are often used for encoding reading and writing of AGV landmarks, site tags, and animal tags. It supports FDX-B and EMID formats. The reader/writer integrates the EM4305 radio frequency communication protocol. Developers only need to send simple commands through the communication interface to complete the reading and writing operations on the card, reducing the difficulty of product development and shortening the product development cycle.