Briefings 2023

Challenge 1: The aUTOMATIC RECOGNITION AND MONITORING OF FRAMES

THE INITIAL SITUATION

Spacers are needed for the production of an insulating glass unit. These are responsible in the insulating glass for keeping the two glass panes of a chamber at a distance, or holding them together. Apart from other functions such as the absorption of desiccant and the main sealing, the insulation is the most important task.

TOPIC 1: AUTOMATIC RECOGNITION OF SPACER FRAMES

The less heat is transferred, the better the edge of the unit insulates. This is one of the reasons why up to 300 variants of these spacers are available on the market and have to be processed. Furthermore, new products with improved properties are constantly being launched. The spacers can be made of a wide variety of materials and composites, such as aluminium, stainless steel, various plastics, plastics with glass fibre content, incorporated wires and a wide variety of foils as diffusion barriers.

The challenge of an insulating glass manufacturer is to efficiently process a large number of spacers.

In order for the machine to recognise which product to process, the recipe for the spacer has to be selected manually in the machine. This takes time and creates the possibility for errors and not infrequently leads to rejects.

We want to help our customers to avoid these errors. In order for the machine to automatically recognise a spacer and select the correct recipe for processing, it needs one or more sensors or a camera system that reliably identifies the spacer. Furthermore, it would be advantageous if the system could be taught to a new spacer age as easily as possible.

TOPIC 2: AUTOMATIC MONITORING OF BUTYLATION FRAMES

The main sealing is done by a butyl strand, which is applied to the left and right of the spacer. When refilling the butyl, it can happen under certain circumstances that air gets into the system. Due to this or also due to incorrect settings, faults occur in the butylation. As a result, the unit becomes leaky and condensation can form after only a few years. This leads to a complaint or an early replacement by the end customer, which is associated with costs but also an enormous waste of resources.

The reason for this is that nowadays the insulating glass is glued to the window sash. Consequently, the entire window sash must be replaced.

On average, 1 frame is installed on a line every 12 seconds. Despite the high degree of automation, there is currently no possibility for monitoring this sealing line.

The challenge is to detect and document the butyl strand shape and position in a process-safe manner. Subsequently, in a second step, the data could even be used for an automatic readjustment of the system. If this succeeds, valuable resources can be saved and inconvenience avoided.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for ambitious people with a hands-on mentality who have knowledge of image processing, sensor technology, AI and machine learning and who want to work with us on innovative MVPs and prototypes that contribute to solving these challenges. Our experts are happy to support you during the whole process with their industry and engineering know-how.

IMPRESSIONS

LiSEC BSV-45NK - AUTOMATIC BENDING MACHINE FOR ALL COMMON SPACER FRAMES

LiSEC LBH-60M - BUTYLATION

LiSEC LBH-B - BUTYLATION

Challenge 2: Glass Rack measurement for Robotics

THE INITIAL SITUATION

For the automatic loading and unloading of insulating glass lines and processing lines, LiSEC uses 6-axis robot systems with up to 600kg payload. For example, when unloading an insulating glass line, the finished sealed units have to be stacked on one-sided or two-sided transport racks. The robot gets the glass sheet data from the upstream machine and the rack data from the central MRP system. The sheet data is available in sufficient quality, but the rack data is not.

Due to the decades of use of the transport racks, our customers have a correspondingly high number of variants. On the one hand, the dimensions differ slightly because they were purchased from another manufacturer. On the other hand, they are partly deformed due to the rough use on the construction sites. The biggest problem, however, is that the necessary information about the struts is not available. To measure this data manually, to enter it into the system and to maintain it would cause enormous effort on the part of the customer.

WHAT WE ARE SEARCHING FOR

We are looking for a system that can measure the geometry of empty glass racks. This includes the position, angle and flatness of the storage surface including the rear wall, the outer limits of the rack and the distances between the bars. Based on the measurement data, the robot can place the glasses optimally and gently.

For all those who are looking for an even bigger challenge, we have on top the measurement of transparent glasses on a full glass rack. A tolerance of +/-5mm is sufficient for gripping the pane. This means that the robot knows how to grip the pane and how to place it on the line. If we could get the tolerance down to +/-1mm, we could also use the data for pane identification and stabilise the process accordingly.

Kick-off video

Contact

The main contact persons for the project are Andreas Mader and David Adelsberger from LiSEC.

About us

LiSEC – all.in.one :solutions

With headquarters in Seitenstetten/Amstetten, Austria, LiSEC is a worldwide group of companies that for 60 years has provided individual and comprehensive solutions in flat glass processing and refining. Its businesses include machines, automation solutions and services. In 2021, with about 1,100 employees and over 20 locations, the group achieved an export ratio of more than 90 percent and generated sales of more than €200 million.

LiSEC develops and manufactures glass cutting and sorting systems, single components and complete production lines for fabricating insulating glass and laminated glass, as well as machines for glass edge processing and tempering. With reliable technology and intelligent automation solutions, LiSEC sets standards in quality and technology and significantly contributes to the success of its customers.

More about LiSEC