Application scenarios and technology inventory of RFID technology in automobile-related fields

On December 29, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the National Standardization Administration Committee approved the release of six national recommended standards for electronic marking of motor vehicles, which will be officially implemented on July 1, 2018. The release of this standard is bound to further promote the application of RFID technology in automobile-related fields. Today we will take stock of the application scenarios and technologies of RFID technology in automobile-related fields.

Application in automobile parts manufacturing

Auto parts manufacturing technology is complex, involves a wide range of manufacturing processes, covers a variety of processes, and the number of parts reaches 8,000 to 15,000. Only manual management of a large number of parts and components and complex and numerous manufacturing processes is often prone to errors and It is impossible to quickly improve the operational efficiency and effectiveness of each process from the source. Therefore, people use RFID technology to provide a variety of effective management solutions for parts manufacturing and vehicle assembly. Doing a good job in parts tracking and management can improve the level of logistics management and quality management. Today’s parts tracking is mainly done through two methods:

First, the label is attached to the part itself, which is called a hard link. A typical example is the use of RFID for tire tracking and management. Such parts generally have high value, safety requirements, and easy confusion between parts. RFID can be used to effectively identify and track parts.

The second is to affix the label to the packaging or shipping rack of the parts. The cost of using RFID can be reduced, but a link on the database needs to be maintained between the RFID-tagged container and the parts in the container. This method is called soft linking or soft tracking. The principles of these two methods are the same, but the placement of the label is different. Let’s take tires as an example for detailed explanation.

The main production processes for manufacturing tires include: mixing, rubber component preparation, tire molding, vulcanization, inspection, testing and other processes. Each process contains a very complex process. At the same time, due to the characteristics of long product data and large number of products, in the In the process of production control and product data management, manual data recording is inevitable, and errors are inevitable; in addition, errors may also occur when millions of tires and related information are accurately entered into the database each year using manual methods, so most tire factories There is no detailed database for individual tires, which is not conducive to querying tire information and cannot be scientifically managed during tire manufacturing and use. Therefore, RFID technology is applied to tire production to produce smart tires based on RFID technology.

Workers embed RFID tags during the tire building process. The embedding position is between the carcass ply and the sidewall rubber. After the tire embryo goes through the vulcanization process, the tag is fixed and sealed in the tire. This smart tire will be used from the factory to the end of use. During the entire life cycle from maintenance and refurbishment to scrapping, all important data such as production serial number, production date, manufacturer code, automobile manufacturer identification code and other important data are completely Stored in the chip of the tag.

Smart tires based on RFID technology improve the operating efficiency and benefits of the tire supply chain in many aspects:

(1) Using the RFID Reader to read the tag information, the staff can quickly count the number of tires without omission, ensuring the accuracy of the input data;

(2) Since each tire has a unique identification code, when a tire fails early, it can be confirmed by reading the label whether the tire is a product of the factory, and then it can be traced from top to bottom to molding, vulcanization, quality inspection, Packaging, warehousing, shipping and other aspects to determine the key links leading to tire failure and find the real reasons, so as to gradually improve product quality;

In addition, qualified manufacturers can also embed special RFID tags with pressure and temperature sensing functions. The special tags embedded in the tires can be combined with the tire pressure (temperature) monitoring system to monitor tire pressure and tire temperature in real time, so that the tire pressure and tire temperature can be monitored at any time. Drivers provide real-time data. If the tire pressure is too low, the monitoring system will warn the driver not to drive under dangerous conditions with low tire pressure, thereby increasing driving safety and improving the difference between smart tires and ordinary tires.

In addition, RFID technology is also widely used in anti-counterfeiting traceability of automobile parts. Counterfeiting is prevalent in the auto parts industry, and many unscrupulous businessmen even mix genuine and fake products, which not only damages the reputation of the brand owner, but also harms the personal safety of consumers.

Application of automobile assembly link

When assembling a complete vehicle, the main purpose is to transmit the production data, quality monitoring data, etc. collected in real time on various automobile production lines to material management, production scheduling, quality assurance and other related departments to better realize the supply of raw materials. , production scheduling, sales service, quality monitoring and vehicle lifetime quality tracking and other functions.

Before the application of RFID technology, barcodes were mainly used to store vehicle body information. The advantages of using barcode recognition methods are flexible configuration and low system cost. However, since the vehicle body information is stored in the PLC (Programmable Controller) or PMC (Production and Material Control) database, the speed and reliability of network communication are very high, requiring high-performance PLC, large-capacity Database and high-speed PMC host.

After adopting the RFID system, the electronic tag is generally placed on the skid carrying the car body and runs with the workpiece from beginning to end, forming a data that moves with the car body and becomes a "smart car body" that carries the database with it throughout the production process. . According to the needs of process and production management, readers/writers 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.). The reading/writing station is mainly composed of a workpiece position detection switch, a tag reading/writing device, a communication interface module and a human-machine interface. The basic process is: after the detection switch detects the vehicle body in place signal, the read/write device starts to automatically read the data stored in the tag installed on the skid, and sends the data to the PLC and displays it on the human-machine interface at the same time; It is uploaded to the workshop production process monitoring system PMC through the PLC for further processing and calculation, thereby realizing tracking of the entire workshop workpiece logistics and production process control.

Using RFID technology on the production line does not require all read/write devices to communicate with the main database, so failure to communicate with the main database will not cause production to stop. After passing through the work station, data can also be written to the tag. Therefore, RFID is increasingly used in vehicle body identification systems.

Application in vehicle Logistics Management

RFID smart electronic tags with vehicle information can realize information management of vehicle logistics and help solve problems in vehicle production, inventory management, and sales management.

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the ID Card in vehicle circulation. This identification number can be written into the RFID tag embedded in the car to realize the management of automobile electronic digital license plates. By reading the information stored in the vehicle's smart electronic tag, the accuracy of vehicle information and work efficiency are greatly improved, and problems in automobile after-sales service, product tracking, quality traceability, etc. are solved.

We can write important information such as the vehicle's order number, frame number, internal car model, certificate number, certificate car model, VIN number, engine number, factory date, warranty card number, etc. in the vehicle's smart electronic label. It can support each other and share data information with systems such as production management system, vehicle quality File management system, vehicle inventory management system, after-sales service "online communication" and GPS global positioning system, realizing the realization of complete vehicle production, quality inspection, Information management of a series of links including warehousing and warehousing, after-sales service and maintenance.

The vehicle intelligent electronic tag system is relatively simple to operate. It only requires a dedicated person to use a handheld machine with a wireless communication device to scan the vehicle and send the scanned information to the database server of the vehicle logistics management system.

Application in the entire automotive supply chain

RFID technology is breaking through the limitations of the factory and realizing its application in the entire process of the automotive supply chain. We can establish a system to track the entire process of the vehicle supply chain.

The first phase monitors vehicles in the assembly shop through reused tags;

In the second stage, disposable paper RFID tags are used to track parts and complete vehicles, and vehicle tracking management is implemented in its distribution center.

In the third stage, RFID technology will be used in the retail field. RFID tags will be permanently retained on the vehicle and used throughout the life cycle. The information on the RFID tag will include customer information and original production data.

Application in automotive electronic identification system

The automobile electronic identification system is to install an RFID electronic tag on the inside of the vehicle's front windshield to store the car's identity data. It communicates with the electronic license plate high-speed reading and writing equipment deployed on the urban road section and can read and write the RFID electronic tag. The data is read and written to realize active, non-contact, non-stop street stall network to complete vehicle identification and monitoring.

At the same time, combined with the original traffic information collection and traffic management platform, it can meet the requirements of the Ministry of Public Security for “timely monitoring, networked control, proactive alarm, rapid response, scientific, efficient, and information sharing” and achieve true digitalization, intelligence, and refinement Optimized traffic management; fundamentally eliminates the "blind spots" of road traffic management in time and space, expands the monitoring period and scope of traffic management, can fully improve the intensity of urban traffic management, and also improve the compliance of traffic participants Law-abiding awareness.

In addition, RFID technology is also widely used in RFID intelligent parking management, toll management, intelligent weighing management, RFID car wash management and other application scenarios.