Synthesis a Petri net based control model for a FMS cell

Petri nets have been recognised as a high level formal and graphical specification language for modelling, analysis, and control of concurrent asynchronous distributed systems. This paper presents a PN model, synthesised by an extended version of the knitting synthesis technique. This method, as an incremental design approach, establishes the conditions under which the fundamental behavioural properties of the synthesised systems are fulfilled and preserved. That is, the synthesised models are live, bounded, and reversible (cyclic). A Petri net with the aforementioned properties is called a well-behaved Petri net system which is guaranteed to operate in a deadlock-free, stable, and cyclic fashion. Well-behaved Petri net models, synthesised using the proposed method can be compiled into control codes and implemented as real-time controllers for flexible manufacturing systems. The significance of this paper is due to the application of an extended version of knitting synthesis technique to a real life example of a flexible manufacturing system.     

Deadlock-free scheduling strategy for automated production cell

Deadlock must be avoided in a manufacturing system. In this paper, an efficient algorithm for finding a good deadlock-free schedule in a manufacturing system with enough (sufficient) or limited buffer is presented. This algorithm is based on the effective genetic algorithm (GA) search method. A formal Petri net structure is introduced, and the token player is used to assure deadlock freeness. In order to make the scheduling strategy generated by GA meet the required deadlock-free constraint, a Petri net is involved in checking the implementation of a manufacturing system during the job-scheduling process. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach is illustrated by several examples.     

Combining flow control techniques with Petri nets methodologies for real-time control of FMS

This paper focuses on the combination of the flow control techniques with Petri net methodologies. The flow control techniques are improved in order to handle multiple routing. A general and unified Petri net formalism is introduced. The integration of the flow control techniques with an interpreter based on this new Petri net formalism is discussed. Results for simulation of a very flexible manufacturing system are provided.     

On systematic methods to remove redundant monitors from liveness-enforcing net supervisors

Petri nets based deadlock prevention for flexible manufacturing systems has received much attention over the past decade, primarily due to the seminal work of Ezpeleta et al. in 1995. A Petri net based deadlock prevention mechanism is usually implemented by adding monitors or control places to a plant Petri net model such that liveness can be enforced. The significance of this methodology lies in that both a plant model and its supervisor are in a same formalism-Petri nets. Due to the inherent complexity of Petri nets, in theory, the number of additional monitors that have to been added to achieve liveness-enforcement purpose for an uncontrolled plant model is exponential with respect to the size of the model. This paper first proposes a systematic method to minimize the number of additional monitors in a liveness-enforcing Petri net supervisor such that the resultant net system has the same permissive behavior while liveness can still be preserved. Furthermore, for the liveness-enforcing Petri net supervisors of flexible manufacturing systems, which have some particular property, an algorithm is developed such that more permissive liveness-enforcing Petri net supervisors can be obtained after liveness-restrictive monitor removal. Compared with the existing techniques of eliminating redundant monitors in the literature, the complete state enumeration of a supervisor is avoided, which implies the high computational efficiency of the methods in this paper. Flexible manufacturing examples are used to demonstrate the proposed approaches.     

Optimal deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisors for automated manufacturing systems

Deadlock avoidance problems are investigated for automated manufacturing systems with flexible routings. Based on the Petri net models of the systems, this paper proposes, for the first time, the concept of perfect maximal resourcetransition circuits and their saturated states. The concept facilities the development of system liveness characterization and deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisors. Deadlock is characterized as some perfect maximal resource-transition circuits reach their saturated states. For a large class of manufacturing systems, which do not contain center resources, the optimal deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisors are presented. For an general manufacturing system, a method is proposed for reducing the system Petri net model so that the reduced model does not contain center resources and, hence, has optimal deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisor. The controlled reduced Petri net model can then be used as the liveness supervisor of the system.     

Optimal deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisors for automated manufacturing systems

Deadlock avoidance problems are investigated for automated manufacturing systems with flexible routings. Based on the Petri net models of the systems, this paper proposes, for the first time, the concept of perfect maximal resource-transition circuits and their saturated states. The concept facilitates the development of system liveness characterization and deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisors. Deadlock is characterized as some perfect maximal resource-transition circuits reaching their saturated states. For a large class of manufacturing systems, which do not contain center resources, the optimal deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisors are presented. For a general manufacturing system, a method is proposed for reducing the system Petri net model so that the reduced model does not contain center resources and, hence, has optimal deadlock avoidance Petri net supervisor. The controlled reduced Petri net model can then be used as the liveness supervisor of the system.     

Petri net modeling and scheduling for cyclic job shops with blocking

Cyclic scheduling is an effective scheduling method in the repetitive discrete manufacturing environment. We investigate the scheduling problem for general cyclic job shops with blocking where each machine has an input buffer of finite capacity. We develop Petri net models for the shops. We propose a sequential buffer control policy that restricts the jobs to enter the input buffer of the next machine in a specified sequence. We show that the scheduling model of a cyclic shop with finite buffers under such a buffer control policy can be transformed into a scheduling model of a cyclic shop with no buffer that can be modeled as a timed marked graph. In addition, we characterize the structural properties for deadlock detection. Finally, we present a mixed integer programming model to find an optimal deadlock-free schedule that minimizes the cycle time.     

基于Petri网的半导体生产线建模

总结了Petri网在半导体生产线建模中的应用,着重针对半导体生产线大规模,可重入,可靠性,混合加工方式,不确定性等特殊复杂性,对多种扩展Petri网模型进行了分析和比较,并进一步探讨了基于Petri网模型和扩展Petri网模型的半导体生产线建模方式,指出了存在的问题,并探讨了可能的研究方向。     

离散制造装配系统的活性控制1)

首次研究离散制造装配系统的活性控制问题.建立了系统的工件加工过程Petri网模型.通过对系统Petri网模型的结构分析,提出了导致系统死锁的两类元素结构及活性特征.对一类离散制造装配系统提出了避免死锁的Petri网控制器,这类控制器容易实现,对系统的限制小,而且使得受控系统仍具Petri网模型.对一般离散制造装配系统提出了保证系统活性的控制策略.     

离散制造装配系统的活性控制

首次研究离散制造装配系统的活性控制问题.建立了系统的工件加工过程Petri网 模型.通过对系统Petri网模型的结构分析,提出了导致系统死锁的两类元素结构及活性特 征.对一类离散制造装配系统提出了避免死锁的Petri网控制器,这类控制器容易实现,对系 统的限制小,而且使得受控系统仍具Petri网模型.对一般离散制造装配系统提出了保证系统 活性的控制策略.     

Estimation of the firing frequencies in discrete and continuous Petri nets models

Production frequencies provide useful information for performance analysis, monitoring and control applications of manufacturing systems. However, such frequencies are not always measurable. In this case, they must be estimated from the observation of other variables. This paper deals with production frequencies estimation for systems modelled by discrete or continuous Petri nets. For this purpose, the content of the buffers is measured on-line with a sampling period, and the evolution equations of the model are reversed. In the case of timed Petri nets, the production frequencies estimation is obtained from the approximation of the firing sequences and in the case of continuous Petri nets it results directly from the variations of the marking vector. The exact and approximated solutions of the estimation problem are described. Accuracy of the estimation is related to measurement error, Petri net structure and sampling period. Moreover, when the estimation provides several solutions, the Petri net model is extended such that a unique solution is obtained.     

Design of Optimal Petri Net Supervisors for Flexible Manufacturing Systems via Weighted Inhibitor Arcs

This paper develops an approach to the design of an optimal Petri net supervisor that enforces liveness to flexible manufacturing systems. The supervisor contains a set of observer places with weighted inhibitor arcs. An observer place with a weighted inhibitor arc is used to forbid a net from yielding an illegal marking by inhibiting the firing of a transition at a marking while ensuring that all legal markings are preserved. A marking reduction technique is presented to decrease the number of considered markings, which can dramatically lower the computational burden of the proposed approach. An integer linear program is presented to simplify the supervisory structure by minimizing the number of observer places. Finally, several examples are used to shed light on the proposed approach which can lead to an optimal supervisor for the net models that cannot be optimally controlled via pure Petri net supervisors.     

基于Petri网仿真的随机制造单元性能分析研究

分析了传统随机制造单元Petri网模型能的不足, 对传统随机制造单元的Petri网模型进行了改进。通过对Petri模型的直接仿真, 对不同的Petri网模型的随机制造单元的性能指标进行了分析比较, 并通过和同构的马尔可夫链的计算结果进行验证, 证明了改进后的Petri网模型准确地描述随机制造单元, 对基于仿真的性能分析方法具有普遍意义。     

柔性制造系统中生产调度问题的零压缩二叉决策图算法

针对赋时有界Petri网模型下柔性制造系统的生产调度问题,给出了有界Petri网的零压缩二叉决策图表示方法,进而建立了此类生产调度问题求解的符号零压缩二叉决策图算法.该算法在求解过程中对状态空间及其搜索过程中的相关数据,采用零压缩二叉决策图表示,避免了状态和搜索的显式枚举,实现了隐式高效操作,有效地改善了算法的计算性能.实验结果表明了算法的有效性.     

并行计算的Petri网建模和FPGA实现

在分析现有Petri网建模及其FPGA实现方法的基础上, 首先探讨了并行计算的Petri网建模方法, 将并行计算任务分解成多个并行处理单元, 用IOPT网为系统进行建模; 然后提出了构造监控层和算法层的双层结构以实现模型到FPGA实现的具体映射, 有效解决了Petri网模型中变迁只能表示简单加减运算的问题。通过矩阵乘法的应用示例, 表明了上述方法的正确性和通用性。最后提出了进一步的研究方向。     

A generalized Petri net modeling approach for the control of re-entrant flow semiconductor wafer fabrication

Re-entrant flow manufacturing lines, such as occur in semiconductor wafer fabrication, are characterized by a product routing that consists of multiple visits to a workstation or group of workstations during the manufacturing process. In this paper, a modeling approach is based on the use of generalized Petri nets for a re-entrant flow manufacturing line is presented. Specifically, three Petri net models representing a re-entrant flow line with three work centers and six machines are modeled. How these models may be used to represent a variety of queuing disciplines and work release policies is discussed.     

A deadlock prevention approach for flexible manufacturing systems with uncontrollable transitions in their Petri net models

Deadlocks are a highly undesired situation in a fully automated flexible manufacturing system, whose occurrences are tied to the existence of shared resources that are competed by different production processes. In the last two decades, a fair amount of research has been done on deadlock analysis and control for flexible manufacturing systems, leading to a variety of strategies in the literature. Petri nets are a promising mathematical tool to handle deadlock problems in flexible manufacturing systems. However, most deadlock control policies based on a Petri net formalism assume that all the transitions in a plant model are controllable. However, uncontrollability of events are a natural feature in a real‐world production system. This paper proposes a deadlock prevention policy for a class of Petri nets by considering the existence of uncontrollable transitions. Deadlocks are prevented by adding monitors to a plant Petri net model, whose addition does not inhibit the firings of uncontrollable transitions. Linear programming techniques are employed to find transitions to which a monitor points in order that a more permissive liveness‐enforcing Petri net supervisor can be found. A number of manufacturing examples are used to demonstrate the proposed methods. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

一种制造系统模型及其简化

本文采用随机Petri网的方法,建立制造系统基本单元模型。在保持系统可靠性等特性的前提下,对单一加工制造单元、串行加工系统这两种基本系统模型进行有效变换,从而最大程度地简化模型,降低模型的复杂度。     

A Survey of Petri Net Methods for Controlled Discrete Event Systems

This paper surveys recent research on the application of Petri net models to the analysis and synthesis of controllers for discrete event systems. Petri nets have been used extensively in applications such as automated manufacturing, and there exists a large body of tools for qualitative and quantitative analysis of Petri nets. The goal of Petri net research in discrete event systems is to exploit the structural properties of Petri net models in computationally efficient algorithms for computing controls. We present an overview of the various models and problems formulated in the literature focusing on two particular models, the controlled Petri nets and the labeled nets. We describe two basic approaches for controller synthesis, based on state feedback and event feedback. We also discuss two efficient techniques for the on-line computation of the control law, namely the linear integer programming approach which takes advantage of the linear structure of the Petri net state transition equation, and path-based algorithms which take advantage of the graphical structure of Petri net models. Extensions to timed models are briefly described. The paper concludes with a discussion of directions for future research.     

Matrix approach to deadlock-free dispatching in multi-class finite buffer flowlines

For finite-buffer manufacturing systems, the major stability issue is "deadlock," rather than "bounded-buffer-length stability." The paper introduces the concept of "system deadlock," defined rigorously in Petri net terms, and system operation with uninterrupted part-flow is characterized in terms of the absence of this condition. For a large class of finite-buffer multiclass re-entrant flowline systems, an analysis of "circular waits" yields necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of "system deadlock." This allows the formulation of a maximally permissive one-step-look-ahead deadlock-avoidance control policy for dispatching jobs, while maximizing the percent utilization of resources. The result is a generalized kanban dispatching strategy, which is more general than the standard multiclass last buffer first serve (LBFS) dispatching strategies for finite buffer flowlines that typically under-utilize the resources. The problem of computational complexity associated with Petri net (PN) applications is overcome by using certain sub-matrices of the PN incidence matrix. Computationally efficient matrix techniques are given for implementing the deadlock-free dispatching policy.