LineCell
One cell kit for a moulding machine: checks every part and watches the machine that made it
LineCell does the jobs of QualityCheck AI (teach-by-example PASS / FAIL / UNSURE on every part with a reject output and lot log) and PlantNode (machine running or stopped from the stack light, pump-motor bearing trend, air in dollars, hot cabinet joints and the machine's own dials) at one machine cell, with one brain: the IEMI Edge Hub at the inspection bench. The PlantNode head on the machine cabinet now also does the QualityCheck I/O pod's job and talks to the hub over one USB lead. Because one brain sees both, every part verdict carries the machine state, so scrap after a restart and reject spikes that line up with hot oil or low air are named automatically.
- Who buys it
- The owner, production manager or QC lead at a 10-200 person injection moulder or small parts maker, who today inspects by eye and finds out about machine trouble from the scrap bin.
- Why it pays
- Bought separately, QualityCheck Inspect ($3,499 + $399/mo) and PlantNode ($1,190 + $39/mo, plus a $399 LoRa gateway) cost $5,088 + $438/mo for one cell, with two apps that never meet. LineCell is $3,990 + $349/mo (target) with one hub, one app and no gateway.
- Target price
- $3,990 per cell + $349/month (target), after the $500 feasibility study on your parts (credited)
- First-minute wow
- The app says '9 parts failed after the 10:40 stop, and the spike at 14:05 came while the oil dial read 58 °C', not just '18 fails today'.
What the research found
And how this design answers it
- Two products, two apps → one cell kit with one Edge Hub brain that runs the part check and all five PlantNode jobs
- The QualityCheck I/O pod and the PlantNode head merged: one ESP32-S3 head on the machine cabinet with 24 V trigger and reject terminals and the machine sensors, one USB lead to the hub
- Dropped PlantNode's LoRa radio, $399 site gateway and 5 V panel supply; one 24 V adapter powers the head, LED ring and outputs
- New shared jobs (5/5 checks pass): every verdict tagged with machine state; restart scrap counted; reject spikes tagged with oil temperature or air pressure; energy per good part from the pump clamp; a weekend leak test of the cell's own air using a reject-style output on a drop valve
- Rules: monitor and alert only; LineCell never stops the machine, and work inside the cabinet is for a qualified electrician
Use case
A 120 t moulding machine making housings, with a QC bench beside it
Production managerSetterQC inspector
- 01Trigger: each housing drops down the chute; the inspector places it in the nest and the photo-eye fires
- 02Detection: the hub scores the part in about 0.4 s and joins it to the machine's state, shot count, oil and air readings
- 03Alert: after a 10:40 stop the first 9 parts fail and are logged as restart scrap; at 14:05 a spike shows with the oil dial at 58 °C
- 04Action: the setter checks the oil cooler before more scrap is made; on Monday the app shows pump bearings and the cell's leak cost
Outcome: Bad parts caught at the bench and their cause named from the machine, from one kit and one app
How it works
Architecture
- 01
Sense: light-box camera; stack-light clip, pump puck, current clamp, air-drop pressure, cabinet thermal eye and joint tags, dial camera
- 02
Decide: QualityCheck part check on the Hailo-8L; PlantNode jobs and the shared cell report on the Pi 5
- 03
Send: the head talks to the hub over USB; the hub sends to the app over Ethernet and MQTT
- 04
Tell: operator screen at the bench, one LineCell app, SMS for stops, hot joints and reject spikes
Hardware
Real parts, buyable today
Bill of materials: about $1,420 per cell at qty 1 (est.).
| Block | Part | Why this part |
|---|---|---|
| Edge Hub (the one brain) | Raspberry Pi 5 8 GB + AI HAT+ 13 TOPS (Hailo-8L) | Only part that can run the vision model and every machine job |
| Light box | Global Shutter camera, 16 mm lens, strobed LED ring, part nest, photo-eye | Unchanged from QualityCheck |
| Cell head | ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8, OV5640 dial camera, ADS131M04, M7E-Hecto RFID, 24 V I/O terminals | PlantNode head plus the QualityCheck I/O pod |
| Machine sensors | IIS3DWB puck, SCT-1250 clamp, PX3 pressure, MLX90640 eye, AZN3254 tags, stack-light clip | Unchanged from PlantNode |
Mechanical
Printable CAD
14 parts, generated from code and checked as closed solids. Pick a part to inspect it, or download the STL files to print.
Loading the CAD…
Real CAD · drag to rotate · scroll to zoomReal CAD · swipe sideways
Bought hardware fitted inside this part (checked in the CAD: nothing collides with the plastic)
- Cell head base: I/O controller, ADC, RFID reader, backup cell, two 24 V terminal windowscellhead-base.stl · ASA
- Cell head lid with dial-camera window and glare hoodhead-lid.stl · ASA
- Pump motor puck bodypuck-body.stl · PA12
- Pump motor puck cappuck-cap.stl · ASA
- Cabinet thermal eye fronteye-front.stl · PC-FR
- Cabinet thermal eye back with magnetseye-back.stl · PC-FR
- Stack-light clip with three light sensorslamp-clip.stl · ASA
- Busbar joint-tag carriertag-carrier.stl · PC-FR
- Camera mount for 2020 barcam-mount.stl · PETG
- LED ring holderring-holder.stl · PETG
- LED ring diffuserring-diffuser.stl · PETG
- Part nest with fiducialspart-nest.stl · PETG
- Light-box panel clippanel-clip.stl · PETG
- Photo-eye bracketphoto-eye-bracket.stl · PETG
Open risks we are working on
- Restart-scrap and spike causes are correlations, not proof; the setter decides what to change
- USB serial over 3 m next to a moulding machine's drives: noise test needed (fallback RS-485, est. +$6)
- Not every moulder has an analog oil gauge or a separate air drop; the dial and leak jobs depend on the machine
- Big press makers sell their own connected controllers (e.g. Engel e-connect, Arburg ALS) and big vision makers sell inline cameras; our buyer is the small, mixed-fleet shop
- Price $3,990 + $349/mo against a BOM of about $1,420 (est.) leaves room, but the feasibility study must convert
Design stage only: nothing on this page is for sale. Specifications and prices are targets.