Carbon roll tracking with RF-ID system: Dallara compositi case study

Dallara Compositi, formerly Camattini Meccanica, has more than 30 years of experience in the engineering of composite components for various sectors such as Motorsport, Aerospace and Automotive.

Camattini Meccanica was acquired by the Dallara Group in 2014 and changed its name to Dallara Compositi in 2018, further confirming its affiliation with the group. Its core competence is the industrialisation and production of composite components including tooling, models and moulds.

Composite materials are textiles made of carbon fibres or other synthetic materials, which can trap fibres when subjected to solidification treatments at high temperatures and pressures. Carbon fibre rolls are usually stored in cold storage at temperatures as low as -20°C, which is why it is important that the transition from cold storage to the processing department is controlled and quick.
Dallara Compositi turned to Sygest to structure a process capable of tracking the out-of-cell life of carbon rolls.

The system proposed by Sygest makes it possible, by means of RF-ID technology, to recognise the position of carbon rolls, particularly when they are out of the cells, in order to calculate the time spent outside and consequently determine their remaining useful life.

An RF-ID TAG is applied on each roll with an indication of the lot on a two-dimensional bar code; at the exit of the cells and at the entrance of the processing department, TAG-reading antennas are placed to intercept the roll, recognise its position, and calculate the time spent outside.

As supporting tools, Sygest provides:

• Rugged Android/Windows Tablets
• A web application, independent of the device used for visualisation
• Antenna-based RF-ID readers
• BlueTooth compatible two-dimensional barcode reader in HID emulation for high read rates
• HID emulation compatible BlueTooth RF-ID tag reader, suitable for environments with temperatures down to -20°.

Thanks to the procedure implemented by Sygest, Dallara Composites is confident that the product is always under control and the data can be tracked and accessed immediately.

As well as improving data management, this system has also made it possible to reduce the number of rejects due to the carbon rolls remaining outside the cell for a long time.

RF-ID technology has been deepened by Sygest and developed in order to structure, in addition to the carbon tracking system, a solution dedicated to the warehouse that allows the search for components that are difficult to locate.

Sygest has in fact dedicated an RF-ID module to the Packing List Photo solution, software which allows the management of a packing list with a photographic attachment and the generation of a Qr-code which, when scanned, shows the contents of the package/item/container.

With Packing List Photo's RF-ID module, using an Android terminal with an RF-ID reader, it is possible to search for 'hidden' parts, and locate a component within a warehouse up to 10 metres away.

By setting the antenna power, it is possible to search for a component with TAG and the App will acoustically warn of the TAG's presence. The background can change from red-yellow-green depending on the response quality of the TAG (shown as a percentage) and thus giving an indication of the proximity of the component.

In general, the use of RF-ID technology applied to Sygest's solutions, allows users faster execution of operational management tasks as well as greater accuracy, hence permitting the management of high unit-value materials.