The main purpose of the MATRIX project is the development of a highly efficient, Reconfigurable Matrix Pin Die for sheet metal forming leading to a 60 percent reduction of time and cost with respect to state of the art manufacturing processes. This objective has been achieved by developing a novel system architecture based on a two-stages matrix of pins that optimized the performances of the die.
The concept of using a close-packet matrix of square pins to generate reconfigurable dies is well known but so far limited to academia. Previous attempts to develop reconfigurable dies for sheet metal forming were not successful because of the high complexity and low speed of the production process. In particular, the time required to reconfigure the die surface was too long to be accepted by manufacturers. The main innovation of the proposed project consists in utilizing a two-stages matrix of pins that allows a much faster positioning of the surface.
