Optimal process control through feature-based state tracking along process chains

The optimal control of a manufacturing process aims at control parameters that achieve the optimal result with least effort while accepting and handling uncertainty in the state space. This requires a description of the process which includes a representation of the state of the processed material. Only few observable quantities can usually be measured from which the state has to be reconstructed by real-time capable and robust state tracker models. This state tracking is performed by a mapping of the measured quantities on the state variables which is found by nonlinear regression. The mapping also includes a dimension reduction to lower the complexity of the multi-stage optimization problem which is approximately solved online. The proposed generic process model provides a universal description that can be adapted to specific data from simulations or experiments. We show the feasibility of the generic approach by the application to two deep drawing simulation models.