DESC:CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[001] This application is based on and derives the benefit of Indian Provisional Application 201721003637, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[002] Embodiments disclosed herein relate to securing manufacturing premises comprising of one or more mechanical equipment and more particularly to securing manufacturing premises comprising of one or more mechanical equipment by securely interlocking one or more mechanical equipment.

BACKGROUND
[003] In today’s manufacturing premises, safety is an upmost priority. Consider an example scenario, where a manufacturing premise comprises of a tandem press line of capacity 2000T and 5 presses. The press line can be equipped with two bolsters (moving tables mounted on press where the dies are loaded for production) on the left and the right side of the press. One bolster can be used for current production and the other bolster can be used for loading dies required for the next set up production. When production is running, one bolster remains inside of the press and the other bolster remains outside the press. An operator can load the dies on the bolster outside the press with help of a crane. During die loading production, the operator needs to perform the following steps:
- Unclamp the lower die clamper which are hydraulic clampers 4 in numbers placed on all 4 corners of dies;
- Remove the lower die clamper from the die slot and keep it on the floor;
- Engage the crane slings to the die lifting pin at the corners of the die; and
- Operate the crane in upward direction and unload the die on the bolster and keep the die at the storage location.
[004] The press and the crane are separate machines and are not interconnected with each other anywhere. Consider a scenario, where the operator forgets to remove the clamper from the die and keep on floor and operates the crane, the crane can lift the whole die along with the bolster and can result in a major accident, where the bolster will hit personnel around it as there will be sudden slippage of the die and the bolster and can kill a person or cause permanent disability. The clamper can also break.
[005] Current solutions use automatic cranes, which use optical cameras and mechanical booms for lifting the dies, but still the operator has to remove the clampers manually and keep them aside. This can once again lead to incidents as mentioned in the above mentioned example scenario.

OBJECTS
[006] The principal object of embodiments herein is to disclose methods and systems for securing a press shop by providing an interlock between a press line present in the press shop and at least one crane present in the press shop.
[007] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating at least one embodiment and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[008] Embodiments herein are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, through out which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:
[009] FIG. 1 depicts a press shop, according to embodiments as disclosed herein;
[0010] FIGs. 2a and 2b depict the bolster with the die, according to embodiments as disclosed herein; and
[0011] FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting the process of securing a press shop by providing an interlock between a press line present in the press shop and at least one crane present in the press shop, according to embodiments as disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
[0013] The embodiments herein disclose methods and systems for securing a press shop by providing an interlock between a press line present in the press shop and at least one crane present in the press shop. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 3, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown embodiments.
[0014] Interlock as referred to herein can refer to a communication channel between one or more press lines and one or more cranes, wherein the interlock can ensure that the crane only moves when one or more conditions are satisfied.
[0015] FIG. 1 depicts a press shop. The system 100 in the press shop, as depicted, comprises of at least one crane 101, a wireless communication interfaces 102a, 102b, a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) 103, a photoelectric sensor 104, a touch switch 105, and a die clamper 106. In an embodiment herein, the crane 101 can be an EOT crane.
[0016] The press line and the crane 101 work in close proximity to each other; however they are not interconnected physically with each other. The press line is stationary, while the crane 101 is mobile. Embodiments herein ensure that a main hoist of the crane 101 does not go up when the die clampers 106 are engaged with one or more die slots and the crane 101 should not move up when the die clampers 106 are in one or more die slots.
[0017] The crane 101 comprises of a first wireless communication interface 102a, which is wirelessly connected to a second wireless communication interface 102b, which is connected using a wired means to the PLC 103, which controls the press line.
[0018] The touch switch 105 can be located on the bolster 107 (as depicted in FIGs. 2a and 2b). In an embodiment herein, the bolster 107 can be a mobile bolster. The bolster 107 can comprise of a parking bracket 201. The parking bracket 201 can provide a pre-determined parking position for a lower portion of the die clamper 106 on the bolster 107. The parking bracket 201 can be adjustable to accommodate different sizes and shapes of dies 108. The touch switch 105 can sense if the die clamper 106 is at the pre-determined location using a float less level controller, wherein the level controller can use shorting phenomena to determine the location of the die clamper 106. Embodiments herein provide a visual indicator (such as one or more indicator lights) on the bolster 107, to indicate if all the clampers have been removed. The touch switch 105 can communicate the determined location to the PLC 103.
[0019] The photoelectric sensor 104 can determine the location of the crane 101 and can communicate the determined location to the PLC 103. The photoelectric sensor 104 can sense the location of the crane 101 with respect to one or press lines. In an embodiment herein, there can be a photoelectric sensor 104 for each press line, wherein the photoelectric sensor 104 can sense the location of the crane 101 with respect to each press line. In an embodiment herein, the press line can be divided into one or more zones, wherein there can be a photoelectric sensor 104 for each zone, wherein the photoelectric sensor 104 can sense the location of the crane 101 with respect to press lines in each zone.
[0020] On receiving input from the touch switch 105 that the die clamper 106 has been moved from the die and the crane 101 is in the appropriate position (which can be determined based on the layout of the press line, the size and shape of the dies) from the input received from the photoelectric sensor 104, the PLC 103 can communicate with the crane 101, using the wireless communication interfaces 102a, 102b, to provide instructions to pick up one or more loads from the press line. The wireless communication interface 102b can communicate the received instructions to a crane controller 101a, which can move the crane 101 accordingly. If the die clamper 106 has not been moved from the die and/or the crane is not in the appropriate position, the PLC 103 does not provide any instructions to the crane 103 and the crane 103 will remain in the stationary position till it receives instructions to pick up one or more loads from the press line.
[0021] Consider an example scenario, consider that a single crane is utilized for five presses and crane up movement will stop at press 3. If the lower die clamper is not removed from presses 1, 2, 4, and 5 as the parking position of clampers of different presses will be different, some will be on place of clamping and some will be at the position of unclamping as old dies need to be lifted and new set up dies has to be loaded. The photoelectric sensor 103 near each press 103 will sense the presence of the crane 101 and the PLC 103 will ensure that the cranes which are in proximity to the press line will be capable of upwards movement.
[0022] FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting the process of securing a press shop by providing an interlock between a press line present in the press shop and at least one crane present in the press shop. The touch switch 105 determines (301) the location of the die clamper 106 and clamps form the on the bolster 107 and communicates (302) the determined location to the PLC 103. The photoelectric sensor 104 determines (303) the location of the crane 101 with respect to one or press lines and communicates (304) the determined location to the PLC 103. Based on the received inputs, the PLC 103 determines (305) if both the conditions have been satisfied (wherein the conditions comprise of whether the die clamper 106 and the clamps have been moved from the die and whether the crane 101 is in the appropriate position with respect to the press line). If both the conditions have been satisfied, the PLC 103 communicates (306) with the crane 101, using the wireless communication interfaces 102a, 102b, to provide instructions to pick up one or more loads from the press line. Based on the instructions, the crane controller 101a moves (307) the crane accordingly. The various actions in method 300 may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some actions listed in FIG. 3 may be omitted.
[0023] Embodiments herein disclose a simple, cost effective solution with huge scope of horizontal deployment across the industry. Embodiments herein eliminate operator mistake, by automating the crane movement. Embodiments herein provide a low cost and very effective solution to provide interlock between crane and the press line. Embodiments herein eliminate unsafe conditions and prevent loss or damage to premises and the equipment present in the premises.
[0024] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the network elements. The network elements shown in FIG. 1 include blocks, which can be at least one of a hardware device, or a combination of hardware device and software module.
[0025] The embodiment disclosed herein describes methods and systems for securing a press shop by providing an interlock between a press line present in the press shop and at least one crane present in the press shop. Therefore, it is understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer readable means having a message therein, such computer readable storage means contain program code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or mobile device or any suitable programmable device. The method is implemented in at least one embodiment through or together with a software program written in e.g. Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) another programming language, or implemented by one or more VHDL or several software modules being executed on at least one hardware device. The hardware device can be any kind of portable device that can be programmed. The device may also include means which could be e.g. hardware means like e.g. an ASIC, or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g. an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software modules located therein. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented partly in hardware and partly in software. Alternatively, the invention may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g. using a plurality of CPUs.
[0026] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of embodiments and examples, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments and examples disclosed herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein. ,CLAIMS:STATEMENT OF CLAIMS
We claim:
1. A system (100) for providing an interlock between a press line and a crane (101), the system comprising
a touch switch (105) configured for
determining location of a die clamper (106) and clamps from a parking bracket (201) on a bolster (107); and
communicating the determined location to a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) (103);
a photoelectric sensor (104) configured for
determining location of the crane (101) with respect to the press line; and
communicating the determined location to the PLC (103);
the PLC (103) configured for
checking if the die clamper (106) and the clamps have been removed from the bolster (107) using the determined location received from the touch switch (105);
checking if the crane (101) is an appropriate position with respect to the press line using the determined location received from the photoelectric sensor (104); and
communicating using wireless communication interfaces (102a, 102b) to the crane (101) to move the crane, if the die clamper (106) and the clamps have been removed from the bolster (107) and the crane (101) is an appropriate position with respect to the press line; and
a crane controller (101a) configured for
moving the crane (101) on receiving a communication from the PLC (104).

2. The system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the crane (101) is an EOT crane.

3. The system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the parking bracket (201) is configured to provide a pre-determined parking location to a lower portion of the die clamper (106) on the bolster (107).

4. The system, as claimed in claim 2, wherein the parking bracket (201) is adjustable.

5. The system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the touch switch (105) is configured for determining the location using a float less level controller.

6. The system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system (100) comprises of a photoelectric sensor (104) for each crane (101).