OPTICAL DETERMINATION OF A CONTROL SIGNAL FOR SLABSTOCK POLYURETHANE FOAM PRODUCTION

    公开(公告)号:EP4257327A1

    公开(公告)日:2023-10-11

    申请号:EP22167358.5

    申请日:2022-04-08

    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of producing a polyurethane foam block (137) using a foam production machine (100) configured for producing polyurethane foam as a slabstock (137) using a continuous slabstock process defined by at least one process parameter, such as a raw material output factor or a conveyor speed, the foam production machine including a mixing head (102) configured to mix precursor reagents for forming a reactive mixture, and a conveyor (106) configured to receive the reactive mixture. The method comprises: mixing (800) the precursor reagents in the mixing head to provide the reactive mixture; dispensing (802) the reactive mixture to initiate foaming of the reactive mixture; receiving (804) the reactive mixture by the conveyor; cutting (806) the polyurethane foam block from an end portion (720) of the slabstock to produce a cut surface (724), wherein the polyurethane foam comprises foam cells, wherein the intersection of the cut surface with the foam cells forms a foam cell structure (906); acquiring (808) a digital image (742) of at least a portion of the cut surface using an imaging system (706), wherein the digital image depicts the foam cell structure; inputting (810) the digital image into a trained machine learning module (762, 1000, 1200), the trained machine learning module being trained to produce a two-dimensional segmentation (1012) of the foam cell structure at the cut surface; and receiving (812) a control signal (744) for changing the least one process parameter of the continuous slabstock process in response to inputting the digital image into the trained machine learning module.

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