Here in, a high-quality automotive camera lens was developed based on an ultra-precision diamond turning core and cyclic olefin polymer (COP) injection molding process. To improve surface roughness and achieve the accuracy of plastic injection molding lens, systematic mold core machining process was developed and demonstrated using the diamond turning machine. The cutting tool path was generated by using NanoCAM 2D, and it was partly revised to prevent interference between the cutting tool and the workpiece. After the initial machining using the generated tool path, the compensation-cutting process was conducted based on the measured surface profile of an initially machined surface. After two times of compensation machining, the fabricated core mold showed a shape error of 100 nm between peak to valley (PV) and Arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of 3.9 nm. The performance of the fabricated core was evaluated using an injection molding test. Injection molded aspheric plastic lens showed contrasts that were higher than 55% at 0.0 F, 30% at 0.3 F, and 20% at 0.7 F without any moiré phenomenon that meets the specification for automotive vision module with 1MP and 140° field of view.

This study aimed to develop automotive radiator support parts by applying the press forming/drawing mold technology of 440 MPa high-tensile steel sheets. It is intended to develop a shape structure that does not generate shape and positional accuracy, deformation, wrinkles, or cracks by maintaining strong contact surface pressure on both sides of the blank material and freezing elastic recovery stress. Therefore, quality improvement and high productivity were secured by applying the forming/drawing method of high-strength steel sheets to the radiator support parts.

The subtle feature is one of the characteristic lines and represents the most noticeable line in the automotive panel. In this study, we proposed a method to predict the radius of curvature of products according to the material, its thickness, its punch angle, and its punch radius. The radius of curvature was divided into three regions, namely, the non-linear, transition, and linear regions. In the non-linear region, the prediction model for the radius of curvature with different forming conditions was derived using the finite element analysis. In the linear region, the radius of curvature was assumed to be the sum of the punch radius and the thickness of the material. In the transition region, a model connecting two regions (Non-linear and linear region) was developed based on the continuity condition. The prediction model presented a very small RMSE with the value of 0.314 mm. Using the prediction model, the radius of curvature with various forming variables could be predicted and the required radius of punch, to obtain a certain value of the radius of curvature, could be precisely predicted.

In response to the market’s need for luxurious automobile interiors, automotive parts makers are developing various types of crash pads to give drivers a sense of emotional luxury. In particular, a low-cost and high-quality crash pad manufacturing technology is being developed for mid- to low-priced vehicles, namely, the IMG-S (In Mold Grain-pre Stitch) technology. High defect rate of stitching is a critical problem during the manufacture of crash pad using the IMG-S technology. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a method of real-time machine vision inspection of stitches on the automotive crash pad. This paper presents the real-time machine vision inspection system configuration, proposes stitch and reference line detection methods, and method for calculating the distance between stitches and the reference line. According to the distance between the stitch and the reference line, the status of the stitch was judged as normal, warning, or erroneous, and the final result was displayed on the user interface. The applicability of the proposed real-time machine vision inspection method was verified by stitching the test line.

High-strength steel, which has higher strength than ordinary steel, has emerged as a representative lightweight material because of its superior price competitiveness and easy application of manufacturing processes compared to other lightweight materials such as nonferrous metals and sandwich plates. Thus, the purpose of this study was to reduce the thickness and light weight of parts by applying high strength steel more than 600 MPa to various body parts. TR590 and DP590 high tensile steels were applied to the reinforcement seat belt front top and bottom components respectively. To this end, the impact simulation was performed, and the safety of the parts was investigated through FE-Analysis. Prototype molding evaluation confirmed the possibility of mass production of reinforcement seat belt front upper and lower components, using high tensile steel.

This paper proposes a new improved methodology to assess reconfiguration manufacturing system (RMS) adaptability in small and medium manufacturing industries. The evaluation of scenarios and alternatives for a reconfigurable design in manufacturing systems requires efficient and convenient methodologies to confirm the comparative evaluation metrics of the assigned KPI. Customizable factors are extracted and mapped for the design structure matrix and the analytic hierarchy processes. Reconfiguration event information is visualized as bill of resource. Evaluation format of KPI choice is then suggested. The reconfiguration control manager is designed to extract and combine the objects and the resource library of the reconfigurable assembly module and line. This paper first proposes the improved evaluation modeling frame and format with the newly refined KPI for the assessment of reconfiguration adaptability. Second, it shows the applicable suitability through a partly designed domain at the real automotive components manufacturing and assembly factory. Finally, it discusses the issues related with the customization and case results by the suggested evaluation methods.