Steps Towards Advanced Cell Control Systems: An Application in Flexible Assembly Systems

摘要

Abstract This paper presents an advanced cell control system which integrates design, modelling, control and monitoring capabilities and demonstrates its use in a class of Flexible Assembly System (FAS). From this research work, a Timed Colour Petri Net (TCPN) based model for the design and modelling of FAS is proposed. Furthermore, through the adoption of a Manufacturing Message Specifications (MMS) based open network communication scheme, a real-time distributed client/server control methodology is formulated. These techniques are integrated within an advanced cell control architecture which is demonstrated through the implementation of a class of FAS using multiple robotic workstations and a conveyor based materials handling system for concurrent manufacture of products in small batch quantities. Operational flexibility is enhanced by the introduction of a flexible process planning scheme and a genetic algorithm for real-time searching of near-optimal production sequences and operation assignments. Suc...