利用决策支持系统分析可重构制造系统中的问题

可重构制造系统是面向新世纪的先进制造模式 .本文提出利用决策支持系统解决可重构制造系统所面临的重构决策问题 ,在系统决策、加工单元布局、以及可重构产品的生产计划问题上采用智能化算法 ,可以得到满意的结果     

Modular machine tools: Design and barriers to industrial implementation

The Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) paradigm has been developed to address challenges in the design of manufacturing systems and equipment that will meet the demands of modern manufacturing. This research involved the development of Modular Reconfigurable Machines (MRMs); as an emerging technology in reconfigurable manufacturing. MRMs are mechanically modular machines. The modularity permits the kinematic architecture and processing functions of the machine to be reconfigured to meet changing production requirements. This paper will focus on aspects of the mechanical design and the development of a control system that supported the modularity and reconfigurability of the mechanical platform. A modular electronic system is presented that is characterized by a plug and play approach to control scalability. This is complemented by a software architecture that has been developed with a focus on hardware abstraction for the management of an augmented mechanical and electronic architecture. The implications of MRMs for RMSs are discussed and key inhibitors to industrial implementation are identified.     

RMS design methodology for automotive framing systems BIW

Today, markets increasingly require more customized products, with shorter life cycles. In response, manufacturing systems have evolved from mass production techniques, through flexible automation and mass customization, to produce at mass production costs. Manufacturing facilities must incorporate more flexibility and intelligence, evolving toward reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). RMS are amid to posses such flexibility and responsiveness and said to be the next generation of world class systems. RMS are designed for rapid change in structure and for a quickly adjustable production capacity. This paper proposes a new methodology (high level process) of framework using flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing systems principles for automotive framing systems as well as to provide a guideline to support the structure of different stages of the design methodology. The proposed methodology is presented through a case study using data based on actual production systems of three different styles; (process and design data) which supports the hypothesis of the research.     

A non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm based approach for optimal machines selection in reconfigurable manufacturing environment

This paper deals with a problem of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) design based on products specifications and reconfigurable machines capabilities. A reconfigurable manufacturing environment includes machines, tools, system layout, etc. Moreover, the machine can be reconfigured to meet the changing needs in terms of capacity and functionality, which means that the same machine can be modified in order to perform different tasks depending on the offered axes of motion in each configuration and the availability of tools. This problem is related to the selection of candidate reconfigurable machines among an available set, which will be then used to carry out a certain product based on the product characteristics. The selection of the machines considers two main objectives respectively the minimization of the total cost (production cost, reconfiguration cost, tool changing cost and tool using cost) and the total completion time. An adapted version of the non- dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is proposed to solve the problem. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on RMS design problem, a numerical example is presented and the obtained results are discussed with suggested future research.     

可重构制造系统的关键技术

可重构制造系统是一种新型的制造模式 .本文中详细阐述了可重构制造系统的特点以及研究内容 ,并提出了拟开展的一些研究工作     

可重构制造系统可重构逻辑控制器设计与实现

针对可重构制造系统的逻辑控制问题,提出一种可重构逻辑控制器的解决方案．该逻辑控制器具有递阶分布式的控制体系结构,并根据模块化的设计思想设计成多个分离的功能模块．然后给出基于CORBA组件模型(CCM)的可重构逻辑控制器软件的开发过程．由递阶分布式体系、模块化设计和软件组件开发技术实现的可重构逻辑控制器具有快速动态重构的能力,能满足可重构制造系统逻辑控制的要求．     

制造系统的可重构布局设计

研究重构系统的新布局具有重要的理论与实际意义 .本文讨论了制造系统可重构布局研究的目标、对象、基础及研究范畴 ,提出了利用模拟退火方法寻找重构布局最优解的搜索算法 .仿真实验验证了算法的有效性     

可重构制造系统的可重构控制器

可重构控制器是可重构制造系统的重要组成部分之一。该文提出了可重构控制器的体系结构。分析了实现可重构制造系统的可重构控制的方法。仿真研究表明可重构控制是实现可重构制造系统控制系统可重构的有效方法。     

A framework to design a human-centred adaptive manufacturing system for aging workers

The so-called smart manufacturing systems (SMS) combine smart manufacturing technologies, cyber-physical infrastructures, and data control to realize predictive and adaptive behaviours. In this context, industrial research focused mainly on improving the manufacturing system performance, almost neglecting human factors (HF) and their relation to the production systems. However, in order to create an effective smart factory context, human performance should be included to drive smart system adaptation in efficient and effective way, also by exploiting the linkages between tangible and intangible entities offered by Industry 4.0. Furthermore, modern companies are facing another interesting trend: aging workers. The age of workers is generally growing up and, consequently, the percentage of working 45–64 years old population with different needs, capabilities, and reactions, is increasing. This research focuses on the design of human-centred adaptive manufacturing systems (AMS) for the modern companies, where aging workers are more and more common. In particular, it defines a methodology to design AMS able to adapt to the aging workers’ needs considering their reduced workability, due to both physical and cognitive functional decrease, with the final aim to improve the human-machine interaction and the workers’ wellbeing. The paper finally presents an industrial case study focusing on the woodworking sector, where an existing machine has been re-designed to define a new human-centred AMS. The new machine has been engineered and prototyped by adopting cyber-physical systems (CPS) and pervasive technologies to smartly adapt the machine behaviour to the working conditions and the specific workers’ skills, tasks, and cognitive-physical abilities, with the final aim to support aging workers. The achieved benefits were expressed in terms of system usability, focusing on human-interaction quality.     

计算机辅助可重构制造系统设计

可重构制造系统是为了快速而准确地提供响应新的高层需求所需的生产能力和生产同一零件族内的新零件所需的制造功能，从一开始就设计成可面向系统级和生产资源级快速而又以有竞争力的成本重构的制造系统，文中分析了可重构制造系统的设计方法及其特征，提出了计算机辅助可重构制造系统设计这一新的研究方向，说明了包括动态适应学习识别机制，建模分析与性能优化，专家系统、集成设计等模块的设计机辅助可重建制造系统设计的流程，实现了可重构制造系统的集成设计。     

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems: Key to future manufacturing

Presented in this article is a review of manufacturing techniques and introduction of reconfigurable manufacturing systems; a new paradigm in manufacturing which is designed for rapid adjustment of production capacity and functionality, in response to new market conditions. A definition of reconfigurable manufacturing systems is outlined and an overview of available manufacturing techniques, their key drivers and enablers, and their impacts, achievements and limitations is presented. A historical review of manufacturing from the point-of-view of the major developments in the market, technology and sciences issues affecting manufacturing is provided. The new requirements for manufacturing are discussed and characteristics of reconfigurable manufacturing systems and their key role in future manufacturing are explained. The paper is concluded with a brief review of specific technologies and research issues related to RMSs.     

A novel methodology to measure the responsiveness of RMTs in reconfigurable manufacturing system

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems are designed to deliver exact functionality and capacity that is needed, when it is needed. The reconfigurable machine tool (RMT) plays a pivotal role in the accomplishment of this objective through their built in modular structure consisting of basic and auxiliary modules along with the open architecture software.     

基于ACR路由器的DIRL系统研究与实现

随着网络业务需求的发展,构建具有可扩展性和灵活性的路由器成为网络技术研究领域的热点问题。在传统网络可重构技术的基础上,提出了大规模接入汇聚路由器(ACR)中分布式网络可重构逻辑(DIRL)系统。该系统赋予了分布式路由器网络可重构能力,提高了设备的可扩展性和灵活性,降低了设备的维护和更新成本。     

Towards a generic design method for reconfigurable manufacturing systems: Analysis and synthesis of current design methods and evaluation of supportive tools

In today’s global manufacturing environment, changes are inevitable and something that every manufacturer must respond to and take advantage of, whether it is in regards to technology changes, product changes, or changes in the manufacturing processes. The reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) meets this challenge through the ability to rapidly and efficiently change capacity and functionality, which is the reason why it has been widely labelled the manufacturing paradigm of the future. However, design of the RMS represents a significant challenge compared to the design of traditional manufacturing systems, as it should be designed for efficient production of multiple variants, as well as multiple product generations over its lifetime. Thus, critical decisions regarding the degree of scalability and convertibility of the system must be considered in the design phase, which affects the abilities to reconfigure the system in accordance with changes during its operating lifetime. However, in current research it is indicated that conventional manufacturing system design methods do not support the design of an RMS and that a systematic RMS design method is lacking, despite the fact that numerous contributions exist. Moreover, there is currently only limited evidence for the breakthrough of reconfigurability in industry. Therefore, the research presented in this paper aims at synthesizing current contributions into a generic method for RMS design. Initially, currently available design methods for RMS are reviewed, in terms of classifying and comparing their content, structure, and scope, which leads to a synthesis of the reviewed methods into a generic design method. In continuation of this, the paper includes a discussion of practical implications related to carrying out the design, including an identification of potential challenges and an assessment of which tools that can be applied to support the design. Conclusively, further areas for research are indicated, which provides valuable knowledge of how to develop and realize the benefits of reconfigurability in industry.     

Reconfigurability of behavioural specifications for manufacturing systems

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) support flexibility in the product variety and the configuration of the manufacturing system itself in order to enable quick adjustments to new products and production requirements. As a consequence, an essential feature of RMS is their ability to rapidly modify the control strategy during run-time. In this paper, the particular problem of changing the specified operation of a RMS, whose logical behaviour is modelled as a finite state automaton, is addressed. The notion of reconfigurability of specifications (RoS) is introduced and it is shown that the stated reconfiguration problem can be formulated as a controlled language convergence problem. In addition, algorithms for the verification of RoS and the construction of a reconfiguration supervisor are proposed. The supervisor is realised in a modular way which facilitates the extension by new configurations. Finally, it is shown that a supremal nonblocking and controllable strict subautomaton of the plant automaton that fulfils RoS exists in case RoS is violated for the plant automaton itself and an algorithm for the computation of this strict subautomaton is presented. The developed concepts and results are illustrated by a manufacturing cell example.     

HARNESS: a next generation distributed virtual machine

Heterogeneous Adaptable Reconfigurable Networked SystemS (HARNESS) is an experimental metacomputing system [L. Smarr, C.E. Catlett, Communications of the ACM 35 (6) (1992) 45–52] built around the services of a highly customizable and reconfigurable Distributed Virtual Machine (DVM). The successful experience of the HARNESS design team with the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) project has taught us both the features which make the DVM model so valuable to parallel programmers and the limitations imposed by the PVM design. HARNESS seeks to remove some of those limitations by taking a totally different approach to creating and modifying a DVM.     

A multiagent-based control system applied to an educational shop floor

This paper addresses the design and implementation of a multiagent-based control architecture to support modular reconfigurable production systems. The requirements for plugability of modules (manufacturing components) and product changes were considered and tested against an educational platform based on Fischertechnik, which resembles a production system composed of several workstations connected by a crane and conveyors.     

Decision-making method of reconfigurable manufacturing systems’ reconfiguration by a Gale-Shapley model

The companies need to rapid response to new product introduction, mix and demand changes to stay competitive. A reconfigurable manufacturing system can quickly react to changes in products and market. The control method to reconfigure the machines of a reconfigurable manufacturing system is crucial for the performance level. This paper proposes a reconfiguration decision-making method based on a Game-Theory algorithm, and in particular the Gale-Shapley model. A periodic review strategy is used to create two sets: one set of machine over-loaded and one set under-loaded. The Gale-Shapley model forms a coupled of over-loaded and under-loaded machines. The reconfiguration concerns the under-loaded machine of the coupled adding also the task performed by the over-loaded machine. This paper presents a simulation environment developed to evaluate the proposed method and highlight the main topics. The simulation results highlight how the game-theory approach developed improves all the performance measures with controlled number of machines’ reconfigurations.     

可重构制造系统监督控制器的自动重构

提出了基于改进的网重写系统(Improved net rewriting system, INRS)的可重构制造系统(Reconfigurable manufacturing systems, RMS) Petri网监督控制器的自动重构方法, 以快速适应由市场需求变化所引起的制造系统构形的频繁变化. INRS解决了网重写系统存在的问题, 可动态调整给定Petri网模型的结构而不改变其行为属性. 以集合和图的组合形式定义了RMS的构形, 并提出了基于INRS的一类模块化、可重构的Petri网控制器的设计方法. 针对这类Petri网控制器, 提出了基于INRS的自动重构方法. 方法可将RMS构形的变化转变为INRS的图重写规则, 并作用于当前Petri网控制器, 使其快速、自动地重构为所求的新控制器. 所提出的Petri网控制器的设计与重构方法, 均从理论上保证了结果的正确性, 免校验. 仿真研究验证了方法的有效性.     

Towards practical,high-level guidelines to promote company strategy for the use of reconfigurable manufacturing automation

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) and more specifically reconfigurable manufacturing automation systems (RMAS) represent an industrial production paradigm that has evolved in the last twenty years, and provide a low cost solution in the presence of product variety. In spite of the potential impact of this approach to industrial competitiveness, the literature still lacks a set of structured guidelines, derived from the theory and from field studies, to promote its practical implementation in industry. In this paper some early results that contribute towards addressing this research gap are presented. A set of practical guidelines is derived and compiled from four sources: a literature review; a structured questionnaire survey on the attitude of industry to RMAS based on 55 respondents from various sectors of the manufacturing industry; unstructured interviews with the survey respondents to discuss the barriers to the implementation of RMAS; and lessons learned from three pilot industrial test cases where the feasibility of implementing a new RMAS was investigated. The portion of the work reported herein deals exclusively with high level and over-arching practical implementation aspects of RMAS, rather than detailed design and development aspects. The guidelines are validated through further feedback from industry.