Cycle-based signal monitoring using a directionally variant multivariate control chart system

Abstract

Cycle-based signals are generally obtained through the automatic sensing of critical process variables during each repetitive operation cycle of a manufacturing process, and they thus contain a significant amount of information about the process condition. Increasing attention has been paid recently to the problem of effectively monitoring these signals as an aid to the detection of process changes. In general, either based on process engineering knowledge or on historical data analysis, it is possible to obtain process faults and the corresponding signal patterns (the direction and magnitude of a mean shift). In order to fully utilize such fault pattern information in process monitoring, this paper proposes a directionally variant control chart obtained through the effective combination of a multivariate χ2 chart and a univariate projection chart. It is shown that the addition of the univariate projection chart can improve the detection power for pre-known process faults, however, this may be at the cost of a deterioration in the detection power for unknown faults. A detailed quantitative analysis is provided to justify the application conditions of the proposed chart. A case study of cycle-based tonnage monitoring of a forging process is presented to illustrate the design procedures and the effectiveness of the proposed control chart system.