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Micro lens arrays (MLAs) are widely applied in different areas to fulfill different functions. Ultra-precision diamond cutting technology can generate MLA with sub-micrometer form accuracy and nanometer surface roughness but mostly for nonferrous material. In this paper, a three-axis micro punching machine tool is developed to use diamond tool to produce MLAs on steel mold. The developed micro punching machine realizes high-feed and high-precision motions by a macro-micro composite structure. An on-site measurement system based on machine vision is designed to provide evaluation results for MLAs and compensation data for the PZT. The fabrication methodologies for MLAs are studied under the consideration of the output voltage of PZT, tool path generation, and machining parameters. Experiments are conducted to testify the machine tool and the on-site measurement system by machining of MLAs on mold steel. The experimental results show that the micro punching machine can produce MLAs on hard materials with sub-micrometer form accuracy, and the evaluation results from the on-site measurement are close to those from the white-interference profiler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of individualized product demands drives high flexibility of manufacturing processes, which requires large-scale deployment of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Since centralized control of IIoT suffers from poor flexibility in coping with disturbances and changes, a decentralized organization structure is a better choice, in which a permissioned blockchain-driven IIoT can enable partially decentralized self-organization and thus offload and accelerate the optimization of upper-level manufacturing planning. A novel iterative bi-level hybrid intelligence model named ManuChain is proposed to get rid of unbalance/inconsistency between holistic planning and local execution in individualized manufacturing systems. Lower-level blockchain-driven smart contracts proactively decentralize fine-grained and individualized task execution among machine tools via Raspberry Pi-based smart gateways and make the results available on an upper-level digital twin model for iterative coarse-grained holistic optimization. A prototype ManuChain based on a permissioned blockchain network is presented to realize both lower-level crowd self-organizing intelligence and upper-level holistic optimization intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Digital twins-based flexible operating of open architecture production line. • The reconfigurability based on open architectural architecting of cyber system and physical system. • Integration of online system-level logistics simulation and equipment-level multi-physical field simulation. Individualized manufacturing implies high flexibility of both the hardware and software of the production lines based on a fast physical and logical system (de)commissioning. This paper proposes an open architecture production line (OAPL) design together with a digital twins-based flexible operating approach for individualized manufacturing. Firstly, an OAPL is designed and implemented with physical reconfigurability by orchestrating different open architectural platforms together with open architecture machine tools (OAMTs). Secondly, an open architectural style modeling and configuration method is presented to enable the software reconfigurability of the controls of the OAPL. Thirdly, a digital twin-based online process emulating and multi-physics simulation is integrated to aid the comprehensive characterizing of the operation status of the OAPL. Based on the system reconfigurability and digital twins system, a triple-layer Learning-Optimization-Reacting approach together with an ensemble algorithm for flexible operating of the OAPL is proposed. The digital twins are formed with the ability to flexibly operate the OAPL for catering to different individualized requirements. A demonstrative implementation of a stepping-motor assembly OAPL is presented finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]