Week12 Technology in the e-Factory The roles that technology is playing in the e-Factory: Sensors Connections Actuation Control Systems Integration Industry Integration Measurement

Technology in the e-Factory Technology: –(Def): The application of machinery or scientific principles to performing work –Technology in the e-Factory: Not just software and hardware Includes: Mechanical Electrical Fluidic Optical Electromagnetic Electronic Devises –Innovations in the internal operations of manufacturing must occur as well

Technology in the e-Factory Sensors: –Allow the physical world to be measured electronically –Types of sensors include: Electromagnetic Infrared Optical Mechanical Chemical –Sensors are typically used for: Capturing data about position Identity Physical state Environment

Technology in the e-Factory Relationship of Sensing to Operations (Figure 3.1): Position sensing: Physical confirmation –Pick and place robots, material handling systems Identity: Absolute confirmation of location and status –Laser scanner Physical state sensing: Form of objects –Machinery, materials –Determining when a machine will go out of tolerance Material state sensing: What processes have been performed and what are next –A ‘smart label’ that stores information during the build Environmental sensing: Safety and comfort –Hazardous material, temperature, humidity, pressure, particulate count, fluid flow

Technology in the e-Factory Connection (Figure 3.2): –Real-time controllable factory is limited only by the ability to electrically connect all the intelligent devices –Communication uses wire, fiber, or wireless –Key issues of connections are media, bandwidth, cost, reliability, flexibility, usefulness –Some factories use handwritten signs on erasable boards –Voic example –Choosing network software architecture: Communication technology be digital or analog or both? What type of network protocols are used?

Technology in the e-Factory Actuation: –(Def): The conversion of a ‘signal’ to move into a mechanical movement –Shift from people operating machines to analyzing data –Efficiency in actuation: Hydraulic pump driven by an electric motor or linear actuator? Is it more efficient to let an electric motor run constantly to hold pressure… or let a linear actuator ‘push and hold’ –Electrical actuation provides an improved level of performance and flexibility that is amenable to computer control

Technology in the e-Factory Control: –How to control the complexity of the e-Factory –Complexity Theory: A modified Chaos Theory, complex systems that can be controlled and operate successfully Should be organized into simple groups and rules Simple subsystems can be managed more easily –Control technology includes: Electronic hardware, microprocessor, software, sensors, actuators ( Figure 3.3 repeated from chapter 1) –Feedback systems: (Figure 3.4) Provide information to allow for corrections Used in electronic and business situation –Observability: Certain parameters need to be observable If a variable can’t be measured, it can’t be controlled.

Technology in the e-Factory Systems Integration: Connecting all the intelligent agents (human and machine) in the environment and providing them with the necessary sensor technology and control software so that the factory can operate efficiently, with speed, and with flexibility Total electronic control requires computer automation Control software is limiting the amount of integration IMS Consortium coined ‘holonics’: self-contained objects Object-Oriented Technology (OOT): Modularizes software components It should be possible to plug any new equipment in and have the software recognize it automatically Compound and simple machines: –Where is the cutoff of the machine or a group of machines to be considered an ‘object’

Technology in the e-Factory Industry Integration: –The need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the factory automation being introduced to the e-factory –Companies have been outsourcing as much as possible to minimize the overhead burden –Companies are looking for an e-Factory ‘solution’ rather than assembling components to meet a need –Two different approaches to industry integration: Figure 3.5 Top-down: Software/hardware to the device control Bottom-up: Intelligent machines to the control computers Roadmap to the e-Factory by Alex N. Beavers, Jr., Auerbach Publications, 2000, Ch3.