• Journal of Ship and Ocean Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

A control system for an automated line heating process is developed by use of object-oriented methodology. The main function of the control system is to provide real-time heating information to technicians or automated machines. The information includes heating location, torch speed, heating order, and others. The system development is achieved by following the five steps in the object-oriented procedure. First, requirements are specified and corresponding objects are determined. Then, the analysis, design, and implementation of the proposed system are sequentially carried out. The system consists of six subsystems, or modules. These are (1) the inference module with an artificial neural network algorithm, (2) the analysis module with the Finite Element Method and kinematics analysis, (3) the data access module to store and retrieve the forming information, (4) the communication module, (5) the display module, and (6) the measurement module. The system is useful, irrespective of the heating sources, i.e. flame/gas, laser, or high frequency induction heating. A newly developed automated line heating machine is connected to the proposed system. Experiments and discussions follow.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2010

For the last couple of decades many studies have been carried out to find out solutions to improve the effectiveness and productivity of the plate forming process. The practical way for the automation of the plate forming process has not been, however, developed yet. Since the characteristics of heating machines may be different form each other, it is necessary to investigate the thermal deformation characteristics of the heating machine to be used in the automation system. And their characteristics may be updated as new information about thermal deformation by heating is accumulated. In this paper, data base system has been constructed based on the results of experiments and numerical analyses, which will be used in deriving the deformation estimation formula. The computer code which can automatically derive the deformation estimation formula has been also developed. This paper also illustrates how the formula is updated as experimental data are added. From the present findings, it can be said that the automatic deriving procedure may be important in the automated plate forming system since the heating line information to be generated must be directly influenced by the deformation estimation formula.