Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090031181 | Automated root cause identification of logic controller failure - A method, system, and computer program product for automated root cause identification of a failure of a logic controller have been provided. The method includes receiving logic controller failure information, receiving a logic model of logic code for the logic controller, and mapping the logic controller failure information to the logic model to identify a logic failure model state. The method further includes determining a potential trigger of the failure of the logic controller as a root cause via tracing through at least one path in the logic model to reach the logic failure model state. The method also includes identifying the root cause in the logic code via mapping the root cause from the logic model to the logic code, and outputting the logic code with the identified root cause of the failure of the logic controller. | 01-29-2009 |
20090048889 | Manufacturing portfolio flexibility planning - A method, computer program product, and system for manufacturing portfolio flexibility planning are provided. The method includes matching production needs to manufacture a plurality of products with manufacturing capabilities of plants in a manufacturing portfolio. The method also includes developing flexibility scenarios for a manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan. The flexibility scenarios include manufacturing related products at one or more identified plants in the manufacturing portfolio. The method further includes performing statistical analysis of the flexibility scenarios, and evaluating a result of the statistical analysis to determine whether the flexibility scenarios meet a success criterion. The method additionally includes updating the manufacturing portfolio per the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios meet the success criterion, and outputting the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan. | 02-19-2009 |
20090088884 | MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION SYSTEM COMPONENTS COMPATIBILITY AND PERFORMANCE TESTING WITH INTEGRATED VIRTUAL AND REAL ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for providing an integrated virtual and real emulation environment for a manufacturing process to provide component compatibility testing and system performance prediction. In one embodiment, a real manufacturing system includes one or more real components that are controlled by a programmable logic controller. The real component can be replaced with a virtual component to determine whether it is compatible in the process, where the programmable controller sends signals to and receive signals from the virtual component as if it were the real component. For system performance prediction, a virtual manufacturing process is provided that includes virtual components where the virtual process is controlled by a programmable logic control as if it were a real process to determine the performance of a real system using the virtual process. | 04-02-2009 |
20090088885 | METHODS OF INTEGRATING REAL AND VIRTUAL WORLD USING VIRTUAL SENSOR/ACTUATOR - An integrated real and virtual manufacturing automation system that employs a programmable logic controller that controls part flow between a real machine in the real world part of the system and a virtual machine in the virtual world part of the system using virtually coupled sensors and actuators. A real world sensor senses the position of the real world machine and a real world actuator actuates the real world machine. Likewise, a virtual world sensor senses the position of the virtual world machine and a virtual world actuator actuates the virtual world machine. An interface device transfers signals between the virtual world part of the system and the real world part of the system, and an input/output device processes signals sent to the programmable logic controller and signals sent from the programmable logic controller. | 04-02-2009 |
20090089700 | METHODS OF INTEGRATING REAL AND VIRTUAL WORLD USING PHYSICAL SENSOR/ACTUATOR - A system and method for integrating a real and virtual manufacturing automation system that provides a part flow between a virtual world part of the system including virtual world components and a real world part of the system including real world components. The system includes an interface device for transferring signals between the virtual world part of the system and the real world part of the system, a programmable logic controller for controlling the operation of the system and an input/output device that processes signals sent to the programmable logic controller and signals sent from the programmable logic controller. The programmable logic controller controls the operation of the system where sensors and actuators coupled between the virtual world part of the system and the real world part of the system are physically coupled. | 04-02-2009 |
20090112343 | FRAMEWORK FOR AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF SEQUENCE OF OPERATIONS - A method for generation of a sequence of operations for a manufacturing process including modeling the manufacturing process through a finite state machine to create a sequence of operations generator operative to generate a list of sequences of operations for the manufacturing process and utilizing the sequence of operations generator to input process information and automatically generate a list of sequences of operations. | 04-30-2009 |
20090112350 | PROCESS FOR GENERATING CONTROL SEQUENCE OF OPERATIONS - A method for generation of a control code set for a manufacturing process includes generating a list of sequences of operations with an automatic sequence of operations generator, selecting an optimized sequence of operations from said list of sequences of operations, and utilizing said optimized sequence of operations to generate said control code set. | 04-30-2009 |
20100023534 | Computer-aided safety logic certification - A method is provided for certifying safety logic code in a manufacturing automation system. A plurality of safety related test scenarios is provided for testing the safety logic code in the manufacturing automation system. A processing unit is configured for communication with the logic controller. The processing unit generates logic input signals in response to the plurality of safety related test scenarios and provides the logic input signals to the logic controller. Execution of the plurality of safety related test scenarios via the safety logic code is triggered in response to the processing unit providing the logic input signals to the logic controller. Response output signals are generated by the logic controller in response to the safety related test scenarios being executed by the safety logic code. Compliancy of the safety logic code is determined by evaluating response output signals and associated logic input signals to a predetermined standard. | 01-28-2010 |
20100030357 | METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTED HYBRID EMULATION OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS - Manufacturing facility process optimization includes monitoring communication signals within a facility device network, analyzing work station specific patterns in the communication signals, developing operational dependencies for work stations based upon the work station specific patterns, and predictively evaluating impacts to the work stations of the proposed configuration of the manufacturing facility process based upon the operational dependencies. | 02-04-2010 |
20100042455 | MODEL-BASED REAL-TIME COST ALLOCATION AND COST FLOW - A costing process that takes advantage of real-time information about plant floor activities and provides a more accurate and timely financial feedback about the process efficiencies in response to new changes in the process operation. The costing process includes identifying stations that consume resources, consume activities and supply activities. The costing process also identifies a plurality of resources that are provided to one or more of the stations. The costing process also includes identifying resources from the plurality of resources that are used as needed and resources that are supplied in advance of being used. The costing process allocates costs for each resource to each station that the resource supplies, including calculating a cost rate, calculating a cost of used capacity and calculating a cost of unused capacity. The costing process then determines the cost that each station and product uses based on the allocations. | 02-18-2010 |
20100174395 | INTEGRATED TESTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VALIDATION OF A MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION SYSTEM - A method of testing a physical manufacturing automation system for manufactured work pieces is provided via a testing system and includes connecting a computer-simulated manufacturing automation system to a controller of the physical manufacturing automation system, wherein the computer-simulated manufacturing automation system is configured to represent a portion of the physical manufacturing automation system, including a simulated work piece. The method then includes concurrently running the physical manufacturing automation system and the computer-simulated manufacturing automation system via the controller, with the physical automation system running in the absence of the physical work pieces. | 07-08-2010 |
20100229151 | PLATFORM-INDEPENDENT METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DEPLOYING CONTROL LOGIC PROGRAMMING - A system for generating platform-specific control logic implementation code for execution on a programmable logic controller (PLC) platform includes a plurality of processing layers. A first layer models generic control requirements as a unitary mathematical model (UMM). A second layer translates the UMM into generic control code describing a platform-independent set of generic control functions following an open structured language. A third layer automatically transforms the generic control functions into the platform-specific implementation code executable on different PLC platforms. A method of generating the implementation code includes modeling control requirements as a mathematical model, transforming the model into platform-independent control code describing a predetermined set of generic control functions using Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema, and automatically transforming the generic control functions into the implementation code. | 09-09-2010 |
20100286797 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TESTING SAFETY AUTOMATION LOGIC OF A MANUFACTURING CELL - A method for testing the safety automation logic used in a manufacturing cell includes recording control signals of a safety-related component such as an E-Stop, light curtain, gate lock, or a safety mat using a host machine, and then disconnecting the component from the host machine. The recorded test signals are transmitted to an automation controller in accordance with a test scenario from a test scenario generator module (TSGM) to emulate operation of the component. The automation logic may be certified using the playback of the recorded test signals. A system for testing the safety automation logic includes the controller, host machine, and TSGM. The host machine records the control signals and plays back the test signals on the controller to emulate operation of the component. The automation control logic may be certified using the test signals, e.g., by comparing these to the test specification or standard. | 11-11-2010 |
20110125302 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FORMAL SAFETY VERIFICATION OF MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION SYSTEMS - A method and system is provided for verifying and certifying the safety logic of a manufacturing automation system including safety logic, where the logic may include one or more safety modules, routines, programs and tasks or a combination thereof; testing specifications corresponding to the safety logic; one or more formal model generators adapted for automatically transforming the safety logic and testing specifications through a logic parser into their respective mathematical models, formatted for example, as a Petri-net or binary decision diagram; a safety logic verifier configured for automatically comparing the safety logic formal model against the testing specification formal model to verify the safety logic model for the purpose of certifying the safety logic. The testing specifications may include testing of safety logic behavior including reaching safe state, remaining in safe state without reset, recovering from safe state with reset and remaining active with false alarm detection. | 05-26-2011 |
20120284077 | AUTOMATED WORK ORDER GENERATION FOR MAINTENANCE - A method for generating an electronic work order for plant maintenance includes detecting a fault of a machine in the plant, and communicating fault information to a system. The system has a server and a database for recording downtime of the machine. The method further includes generating the work order via the server in response to the fault, including recording, within in the work order, a plurality of values from the fault information. The work order is transmitted from the server to a computing device, and a confirmation signal is recorded by the computing device indicating completion of the repair. The method includes transmitting a completed work order from the computing device to the server and recording the completed work order in the database. A system is also disclosed for generating an electronic work order for maintenance in a plant. The system includes the database and server noted above. | 11-08-2012 |
20130268105 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING HEAT ENERGY IN A METAL CASTING PLANT - A method for managing heat energy in a metal casting plant includes executing a local control optimization model to control mass of solid metal charges to each modular melting furnace. The local control optimization model is configured to achieve a commanded total mass of molten material and coincidentally minimize waste heat for each of the modular melting furnaces. The method for managing heat energy in the metal casting plant further includes executing a system control optimization model to manage operation of a heat energy recovery system. The system control optimization model is configured to manage the operation of the heat energy recovery system including transferring the waste heat from the modular melting furnaces to a plurality of heat demand centers while minimizing total loss of the waste heat in the metal casting plant. | 10-10-2013 |