A framework concept for data visualization and structuring in a complex production process

This paper provides a concept study for a visual interface framework together with the software Sequence Planner for implementation on a complex industrial process for extracting process information in an efficient way and how to make use of a lot of data to visualize it in a standardized human machine interface for different user perspectives. The concept is tested and validated on a smaller simulation of a paint booth with several interconnected and supporting control systems to prove the functionality and usefulness in this kind of production system.The paper presents the resulting five abstraction levels in the framework concept, from a production top view down to the signal exchange between the different resources in one production cell, together with additional features. The simulation proves the setup with Sequence Planner and the visual interface to work by extract and present process data from a running sequence

Performance measurement on automotive assembly line

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Automação). Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201

Business Sphere, Vol. 17, no.3

Through networking, Iowa’s manufacturers share expertise in lean manufacturing, supply chain efficiency and rapid prototyping, strengthening the powerful environment for success. The Iowa Department of Economic Development builds on these strengths with a focus on advanced manufacturing, extending financial and tax benefits to companies making substantial investments and creating higher skill, higher paying jobs. Many companies these days are finding that it pays to explore options in Iowa as they plan manufacturing expansions. You can get in touch with us at www.iowalifechanging.com

Komponenttien luokittelu ja parhaat käytännöt tuotantosimulaation mallinnuksessa

Production simulation software plays a major role in validation, optimization and illustration of production systems. Operation of production simulation is generally based on components and their interaction. Components typically represent factory floor devices, but in addition, there can be components to provide visualization, statistics, control or other input to simulation. The demand for having high-quality, easy-to-use and compatible components emphasizes the importance of component modelling. The objectives of this thesis were to develop component classes based on industrial devices, to standardize component modelling solutions and best practices in component modelling. Other objectives were to identify and analyse future prospects of production simulation. This focuses on the concept of digital twin, which could be described as reflective real-time simulation model from the physical system. In addition, focus is also set on formal modelling languages. The outcome of this thesis presents component classes and best practices in component modelling. In component classification, the focus was set to development of generic components, which can be controlled with signal-based logic. This enables components from the software to be externally controlled. In addition, automatic model creation tool wizard, is implemented to instantly generate components based on the defined component classes. Best practices were based on the selected modelling fields that are most relevant for general use. In the development of best practices, interviewing method was utilized to receive input from simulation experts.Tuotantosimulaatio on tärkeässä osassa tuotantojärjestelmien validoinnissa, optimoinnissa ja visualisoinnissa. Tuotantosimulaation toiminta perustuu yleisesti komponentteihin ja niiden väliseen vuorovaikutukseen. Komponentit esittävät tyypillisesti tehtaasta löytyviä laitteita ja esineitä, mutta komponentteja voidaan käyttää myös visualisointiin, statistiikan keräämiseen, järjestelmän ohjaukseen tai muuhun tarpeeseen simuloinnissa. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteita oli kehittää komponenttiluokkia teollisuudesta valittujen laitteiden perusteella, mikä mahdollistaa mallinnusratkaisujen standardoinnin. Sen lisäksi tavoitteena oli kehittää parhaat käytännöt komponenttimallinnukseen. Muita tavoitteita oli tunnistaa ja analysoida tulevaisuuden näkymiä tuotantosimulaatiolle. Tämä keskittyi pääosin digitaaliseen kaksoseen, jota voidaan kuvata reaaliaikaisesti peilautuvaksi simulaatiomalliksi todellisesta järjestelmästä. Tämän lisäksi työssä keskityttiin formaaleihin mallinnuskieliin. Diplomityön lopputulos esittää kehitetyt komponenttiluokat ja parhaat käytännöt komponenttimallinnuksessa. Komponenttien luokittelussa keskityttiin kehittämään geneerisiä komponentteja, joita voidaan ohjata signaalipohjaisilla komennoilla. Tämä mahdollistaa komponentin ohjaamisen myös simulointiohjelman ulkopuolelta. Tämän lisäksi automaattista komponenttien luomistyökalua käytettiin luokiteltujen komponenttien luomisessa. Parhaat käytännöt komponenttimallinnuksessa pohjautuivat mallinnuksen oleellisimpiin osa-alueisiin tavanomaisissa mallinnustilanteissa. Parhaiden käytäntöjen kehityksessä haastateltiin simulointiammattilaisia, joiden mielipiteistä muodostettiin perusta käytäntöjen kehitykselle

Komponenttien luokittelu ja parhaat käytännöt tuotantosimulaation mallinnuksessa

Production simulation software plays a major role in validation, optimization and illustration of production systems. Operation of production simulation is generally based on components and their interaction. Components typically represent factory floor devices, but in addition, there can be components to provide visualization, statistics, control or other input to simulation. The demand for having high-quality, easy-to-use and compatible components emphasizes the importance of component modelling. The objectives of this thesis were to develop component classes based on industrial devices, to standardize component modelling solutions and best practices in component modelling. Other objectives were to identify and analyse future prospects of production simulation. This focuses on the concept of digital twin, which could be described as reflective real-time simulation model from the physical system. In addition, focus is also set on formal modelling languages. The outcome of this thesis presents component classes and best practices in component modelling. In component classification, the focus was set to development of generic components, which can be controlled with signal-based logic. This enables components from the software to be externally controlled. In addition, automatic model creation tool wizard, is implemented to instantly generate components based on the defined component classes. Best practices were based on the selected modelling fields that are most relevant for general use. In the development of best practices, interviewing method was utilized to receive input from simulation experts.Tuotantosimulaatio on tärkeässä osassa tuotantojärjestelmien validoinnissa, optimoinnissa ja visualisoinnissa. Tuotantosimulaation toiminta perustuu yleisesti komponentteihin ja niiden väliseen vuorovaikutukseen. Komponentit esittävät tyypillisesti tehtaasta löytyviä laitteita ja esineitä, mutta komponentteja voidaan käyttää myös visualisointiin, statistiikan keräämiseen, järjestelmän ohjaukseen tai muuhun tarpeeseen simuloinnissa. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteita oli kehittää komponenttiluokkia teollisuudesta valittujen laitteiden perusteella, mikä mahdollistaa mallinnusratkaisujen standardoinnin. Sen lisäksi tavoitteena oli kehittää parhaat käytännöt komponenttimallinnukseen. Muita tavoitteita oli tunnistaa ja analysoida tulevaisuuden näkymiä tuotantosimulaatiolle. Tämä keskittyi pääosin digitaaliseen kaksoseen, jota voidaan kuvata reaaliaikaisesti peilautuvaksi simulaatiomalliksi todellisesta järjestelmästä. Tämän lisäksi työssä keskityttiin formaaleihin mallinnuskieliin. Diplomityön lopputulos esittää kehitetyt komponenttiluokat ja parhaat käytännöt komponenttimallinnuksessa. Komponenttien luokittelussa keskityttiin kehittämään geneerisiä komponentteja, joita voidaan ohjata signaalipohjaisilla komennoilla. Tämä mahdollistaa komponentin ohjaamisen myös simulointiohjelman ulkopuolelta. Tämän lisäksi automaattista komponenttien luomistyökalua käytettiin luokiteltujen komponenttien luomisessa. Parhaat käytännöt komponenttimallinnuksessa pohjautuivat mallinnuksen oleellisimpiin osa-alueisiin tavanomaisissa mallinnustilanteissa. Parhaiden käytäntöjen kehityksessä haastateltiin simulointiammattilaisia, joiden mielipiteistä muodostettiin perusta käytäntöjen kehitykselle

Advanced teleoperation and control system for industrial robots based on augmented virtuality and haptic feedback

There are some industrial tasks that are still mainly performed manually by human workers due to their complexity, which is the case of surface treatment operations (such as sanding, deburring, finishing, grinding, polishing, etc.) used to repair defects. This work develops an advanced teleoperation and control system for industrial robots in order to assist the human operator to perform the mentioned tasks. On the one hand, the controlled robotic system provides strength and accuracy, holding the tool, keeping the right tool orientation and guaranteeing a smooth approach to the workpiece. On the other hand, the advanced teleoperation provides security and comfort to the user when performing the task. In particular, the proposed teleoperation uses augmented virtuality (i.e., a virtual world that includes non-modeled real-world data) and haptic feedback to provide the user an immersive virtual experience when remotely teleoperating the tool of the robot system to treat arbitrary regions of the workpiece surface. The method is illustrated with a car body surface treatment operation, although it can be easily extended to other surface treatment applications or even to other industrial tasks where the human operator may benefit from robotic assistance. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is shown with several experiments using a 6R robotic arm. Moreover, a comparison of the performance obtained manually by an expert and that obtained with the proposed method has also been conducted in order to show the suitability of the proposed approach

Towards a holistic methodology of efficient virtual preparation and commissioning for production systems

The industry elaborates on the possibilities of applying virtual engineering work to excel in production system development. For example, Virtual Commissioning as a concept for testing and validating system performance in advance of on-site commissioning has proven beneficial in multiple areas of development. Some areas include reducing on-site commissioning time, guaranteeing functional behavior, and removing potential errors, resulting in a smoother integration of new and upgraded systems.Nevertheless, it has been hard to prove the financial benefits and actual gain from VC compared to the more trusted traditional methods. The lack of standards mixed with the increasing complexity of systems and experience from prior attempts is one of many reasons.This thesis has identified different vital areas crucial for adopting virtual elements into the value chain of the development process within the automotive industry. It is of the highest importance to understand the prerequisites of a project’s ability to integrate virtual preparation for efficient commissioning and further break down the technical requirements of modeling and simulation in a multidisciplinary digital architecture.With more quantified data and insight from Virtual Commissioning attempts, it is possible to adopt knowledge to future projects and find ways to increase the utilization of the invested virtual engineering work.The thesis investigates the challenges of implementing virtual preparational methods for efficient commissioning to achieve flawless launches for all implementation projects of production systems. In addition, the research aims to find ways to increase the utilization of the constructed models, decrease the cost of virtual development and testing, and verify functionality and accuracy for optimal levels of simulation

Internet of robotic things : converging sensing/actuating, hypoconnectivity, artificial intelligence and IoT Platforms

The Internet of Things (IoT) concept is evolving rapidly and influencing newdevelopments in various application domains, such as the Internet of MobileThings (IoMT), Autonomous Internet of Things (A-IoT), Autonomous Systemof Things (ASoT), Internet of Autonomous Things (IoAT), Internetof Things Clouds (IoT-C) and the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT) etc.that are progressing/advancing by using IoT technology. The IoT influencerepresents new development and deployment challenges in different areassuch as seamless platform integration, context based cognitive network integration,new mobile sensor/actuator network paradigms, things identification(addressing, naming in IoT) and dynamic things discoverability and manyothers. The IoRT represents new convergence challenges and their need to be addressed, in one side the programmability and the communication ofmultiple heterogeneous mobile/autonomous/robotic things for cooperating,their coordination, configuration, exchange of information, security, safetyand protection. Developments in IoT heterogeneous parallel processing/communication and dynamic systems based on parallelism and concurrencyrequire new ideas for integrating the intelligent “devices”, collaborativerobots (COBOTS), into IoT applications. Dynamic maintainability, selfhealing,self-repair of resources, changing resource state, (re-) configurationand context based IoT systems for service implementation and integrationwith IoT network service composition are of paramount importance whennew “cognitive devices” are becoming active participants in IoT applications.This chapter aims to be an overview of the IoRT concept, technologies,architectures and applications and to provide a comprehensive coverage offuture challenges, developments and applications

Coupling of interactive manufacturing operations simulation and immersive virtual reality

This paper presents a novel general-purpose simulation analysis application that combines concurrent operations simulation with the advanced data interrogation and user interaction capabilities of immersive virtual reality systems. The application allows for interactive modification of the simulation parameters, while providing the users with the available simulation information by effectively placing the operator in the midst of the environment being simulated. The major contribution of this research is the total integration of the immersive virtual reality environment with the simulation, allowing users in the environment to interactively change the inputs to the simulation as it is running. Implementation and functionality details of the developed application are presented. The experience of using the application to analyze a manufacturing operation in a collaborative scenario is also discussed

A standardization approach to Virtual Commissioning strategies in complex production environments

The ongoing industrial revolution puts high demands on the component manufacturers and suppliers to meet the tough requirements set by the development industries to follow the technological advancement of highly digitalized factories with more future-oriented applications as Virtual Commissioning for cyber-physical systems. This paper provides a production system lifecycle assessment regarding the technical specification strategies using Virtual Commissioning for implementation and integration of new systems or plants and its predicted future challenges. With the use of standards and a common language practice between a purchaser/contractor procurement situation and across the different technical disciplines internally and externally, the implementation strategies is reiterated to achieve a new sustainable business model. The paper investigates different types of production systems and how a defined classification framework of different levels of Virtual Commissioning can connect the implementation requirements to a desired solution. This strategy includes aspects of standardization, communication, process lifecycle, and predicted cost parameters