Machine programming an data monitoring

Les màquines amb ganivets rotatius són àmpliament utilitzades al sector industrial per tallar o segellar diferent tipus de productes com poden ser, per exemple, envasos o caixes de cartró en línies de producció. Per tal que aquest tipus de màquina funcioni correctament, cal sincronitzar l’eix esclau (ganivet rotatiu) amb l’eix mestre (cinta amb productes) per tal que el tall o segellat es faci en el moment adequat. En aquesta tesi, es descriu la programació d’una màquina amb ganivets rotatius i se’n comprova el correcte funcionament mitjançant l’ús d’una demo compacta. S’ha fet servir la llibreria anomenada ‘RK_SyncRotary’ creada per Omron. Es demostren dos modes de funcionament a la màquina de tall: mode continu i mode tall per marques. Per al control de la màquina es fa servir una interfície gràfica per a pantalla tàctil. Els botons de reset i emergency stop de la màquina estan configurats a través del controlador de seguretat. Les dades de producció de la màquina són compartides en format JSON amb una aplicació web mitjançant l’ús del protocol MQTT. L’eficiència de la màquina es visualitza en un tauler de dades al qual es també possible accedir des d’un Smartphone o Tablet escanejant un codi QR.Las máquinas con cuchillas rotativas son ampliamente utilizadas en el sector industrial para cortar o sellar diferentes tipos de productos como pueden ser, por ejemplo, envases o cajas de cartón en una línea de producción. Para su correcto funcionamiento es necesario sincronizar el eje esclavo (cuchilla rotativa) con el eje maestro (cinta con productos) para que el corte o sellado se haga en el momento adecuado. En esta tesis, se describe la programación de una máquina con cuchillas rotativas y se comprueba su correcto funcionamiento mediante el uso de una demo compacta. Se ha utilizado una librería llamada ‘RK_SyncRotary’ creada por Omron. Se demuestran dos modos de funcionamiento en la máquina de corte: modo continuo y modo corte por marcas. Para el control de la máquina se utiliza una interfaz gráfica para pantalla táctil. Los botones de reset y emergency stop de la máquina están configurados a través del controlador de Seguridad. Los datos de producción de la máquina son compartidos con una aplicación web en formato JSON mediante el uso del protocolo MQTT. La eficiencia de la máquina se visualiza en un tablero de datos al cual se puede también acceder desde un Smartphone o Tablet escaneando un código QR.The rotary knife machine is commonly used in the industrial sector to cut or seal different type of products such as, for example, containers or cardboard boxes on a production line. For the correct operation of these machines, it’s necessary to synchronize the slave axis (rotary knife) with the master axis (conveyor with products) so that the cutting or sealing is done at the right time. In this thesis, the programming of a rotary knife machine is described and the correct operation is verified using a compact demo case. A library created by Omron called ‘RK_SyncRotary’ has been used. The following two operation modes have been demonstrated on the rotary knife machine: continuous mode and mark to mark mode. For the machine control, a Human Machine Interface device has been used. The reset and emergency stop buttons from the machine have been configured through the Safety controller. The production data of the machine are shared in JSON format with a web application using the MQTT protocol. The efficiency of the machine is displayed on a dashboard which is also accessible from a Smartphone or a Tablet via QR code

IIoT Based Efficiency Optimization in Logistics Applications

The Industrial Internet of Thing (IIoT) approach to an Industry plant design, devises a comprehensive interconnection of the system components, from sections up to single devices, in order to get a general and punctual understanding of the process. Such an intelligent network, mostly based on Ethernet basic layers, when properly conceived, should be able to add relevant value to the plant operation. This paper shows how, within the IIoT frame topics, the plant efficiency can be addressed and bring relevant improvement. The reason is that variables directly related to the energy consumption, such as current, electric power, actuator and motor torque, speed, etc., can be timely and easily monitored in the entire plant, since they are already conveyed on the network, due to real time control and diagnostics purpose. A power consumption diagram can be derived, and give hints on how to optimize operations, based on some efficiency index. The paper, after a general discussion, proves it with practical examples based on a Gantry robot, driven in an EtherCAT based automation network, and on the stacker cranes of an automated warehouse

Design, simulation and development of a decentralized control for a robotic manipulator

The objective of this thesis is to design, develop and test a decentralized control for the YouBot. This robot is composed by an omnidirectional mobile platform on which a five – axis robot arm with a two – finger gripper is installed. In the first step the YouBot arm’s performance is analysed and the problems are verified and mentioned by the community. The stat of the art is assessed. The available hardware and software is analysed, as well as the temporal performances, the responses of the system, the optimal sampling time and the torque characterization. Subsequently the COM (center of mass) for each link, is estimated, through a least squares algorithm, and the gravity compensation is implemented. After this a hybrid motion/force decentralized control based on Newton – Eulero dynamics is realized. The control algorithm is tested in simulation and on the real Youbot Manipulator. The obtained results have been analyzed and discussed

Modelling, Control and Optimization of Modular Reconfigurable Robots

Modular reconfigurable robots are robotic systems offering new opportunities to rapidly create fit-to-task flexible automation lines. The recent trends of increasingly varying market needs in low-volume high-mix manufacturing demands for highly adaptable robotic systems like this. In this context, methods for quickly and automatically generating a modular robot model and controller should be developed. Moreover, modularity and reconfigurabilty open up new opportunities for on-demand robot morphology optimization for varying tasks. Therefore a method to optimize the robot design for a certain criterion should be provided in order to exploit the full potential of reconfigurable robots. In this thesis, a complete hard- and software architecture for a modular reconfigurable EtherCAT-based robot is presented. This novel approach allows to automatically reconstruct the topology of different robot structures, composed of a set of body modules, each of which represents an EtherCAT slave. This approach enables to obtain in an automatic way the kinematic and dynamic model of the robot and store it in URDF format as soon as the physical robot is assembled or reconfigured. The method also automatically reshapes a generic optimization-based controller to be instantly used after reconfiguration. Finally, a study and analysis on how to find the best suited reconfigurable robot morphology for a given task are presented, starting from a fixed set of joint and link modules. In particular, is shown how exploiting multi-arm robotic systems and modifying the relative and absolute positions of their bases, can expand the solution space for a given task. Results obtained in simulations for different tasks, are verified with real-world experiments using a in-house developed reconfigurable robot prototype

Advanced beam protection systems for high-brightness electron-beam and linac-based Compton sources

The Gamma Beam System (GBS), within the ELI-NP project, under installation in Magurele (RO) by INFN, as part of EuroGammas association, can provide gamma rays that open new possibilities for nuclear photonics and nuclear physics. ELI-GBS gamma rays are produced by Compton backscattering to get monochromaticity (0,1 % bandwidth), high flux (1013 photon/s), tunable directions and energies up to 19 MeV. Such gamma beam is obtained when a highintensity laser collides a high-brightness electron beam with a repetition rate of 100 Hz in multibunch mode with trains of 32 bunches. An advanced high reliability and availability Machine Protection System, compliant with IEC61508 Functional Safety regulation, has been developed in order to ensure proper automated operation for this challenging facility. Such system operates on different layers of the control system: it is equipped with an EPICS supervisor for on-line monitoring of all subsystems, different beam loss monitors to verify electron beam transport and gamma beam luminosity, a real-time interlock system based on distributed FPGA over EtherCAT to monitor vacuum and RF systems which requires fast response within next RF pulse

A new method for motion synchronization among multivendor’s programmable controllers

This paper is aimed at increasing the number of possible architectures of distributed control systems by investigating and developing novel methods for the synchronization of axes between PLCs and iPCs of different vendors. In order to find a global solution to this problem, particular attention has been focused on programmable controllers that can manage axes by means of point-by-point control or motion instructions. Two synchronization algorithms have been developed and validated for real and virtual axes; they differ in computational load so that they can be used with programmable controllers having high or low computational performances