Freightliner Uses LabVIEW and PXI to Verify Truck Assembly
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The Challenge
Integrating electrical test, machine vision, and physical measurements into a system that instructs operators on correct assembly processes.
The Solution
Using NI LabVIEW software and PXI-based hardware to replace a VME-based proprietary solution for verifying electrical assembly on the new line of Freightliner heavy-duty trucks.
At Freightliner, we needed to design a high-performance test system that would give us the flexibility of a completely off-the-shelf solution while providing the open architecture and power to expand our application in the future. We chose Wineman Technology Inc., a specialty machine designer and National Instruments Alliance Partner, to create a test system to meet our requirements. The flexibility and performance of the new platform, as well as its increased cost efficiency over the previous system, made it a natural choice for this application.
LabVIEW and PXI provide Freightliner with a flexible, open, high-performance test system for verifying electrical assembly on heavy-duty trucks.
Using NI tools, Freightliner and Wineman engineers integrated electrical test, machine vision, and physical measurements into a system that ensures high-quality vehicles and instructs operators on the correct assembly process. The software communicates with the plant information system to acquire a build order specific to each truck. Once finished, the operator prompts the system to take a digital picture of the populated assembly and compares it to the computer-generated image of the build order.
Once the tests are completed, a cumulative offline report provides an interactive resource for technicians to view the results of all previous test systems for any given truck. A “to do” list is generated in the event that any test failures could not be repaired in-station. Also, if there are any special truck options that require additional setup or validation, the system compiles those requirements into a list so that a technician can address them prior to releasing the vehicle.
By integrating LabVIEW software and PXI hardware with proprietary PROVEtech software from Mercedes-Benz Technology, the collaboration between Freightliner, Wineman, and Mercedes-Benz produced a system capable of guiding the operator through each step of the process required to validate all electrical signals that could have been assembled incorrectly or damaged during the assembly process. The final system delivers on our initial requirements, and the successful development is reflective of the valuable relationships Freightliner enjoys with both external and internal resources.
– John Rokus
Freightliner LLC
Read an in-depth article on PXI system architecture.
This article first appeared in the Q4 2007 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.
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