Development of an Optical Sensor for the Measurement of the Material Flow in Deep Drawing Processes

Abstract In this paper a new optical sensor and its applications are presented. The prediction of faults that occur during the layout of deep drawing processes (e.g. cracks) remains a significant problem. Therefore, at the IFUM a new optical sensor principle has been developed for the contact-free recording of the material flow. The sensor recognizes special patterns on the sheet surface. The measured material (low can be used for the determination of local strain. The optical Sensor could be utilized instead of using expensive optical systems or manual methods (e.g. with a measurement grid) for the deformation measurement, which still require a special preparation of the specimen. Furthermore, the material flow can be used as the controlled variable for the closed loop control of deep drawing processes with varying blank holder forces along the flange. On the one hand the data recorded with the new optical Sensor is used to increase the quality of the FE-simulation. On the other hand a press with a multipoint drawing tool will be regulated by the control loop. A fuzzy controller is under development for the automatic connection between the material flow and the blank holding force.