Design and implementation of a function block-based holonic control architecture for a new generation flexible manufacturing system

Abstract

In this research work a control architecture which gives response to the requirements of new generation of flexible manufacturing systems in terms of flexibility, reconfigurability, robustness and autonomy is designed and implemented. To do so the main principles of the Holonic Manufacturing paradigm are applied using the IEC61499 function block (FB) technology. Unlike other similar research proposals, in this work FBs are not relegated to low-level control but are used to model manufacturing execution and control high-level control tasks. This is done with the objective of evaluating the viability of using FBs to develop holonic architectures in comparison to more established technologies like multi-agent systems. Moreover, the proposed control architecture also focuses on better integrating and exploiting the products' information to enhance its flexibility and adaptability. For this STEP-NC (ISO14649) is used to model richer process plans which include manufacturing alternatives and could be easily integrated in the control itself.Keywords: Intelligent Manufacturing System; Manufacturing Control; Holonic Architecture; Function Blocks; STEP-NC Process Plans IntroductionIn last the decades the global demand of products has suffered an important evolution. From a steady demand of a small assortment of products it has evolved to a volatile demand of an enormous variety of products, resulting in the apparition of new production paradigms (Koren, 2013): the mass customization, that has led the evolution of manufacturing in the last decades, and more recently the mass individualization. These emerging production paradigms have forced the manufacturing automation to face significant challenges over the twenty past years, with the objective of building the next generation of manufacturing systems. These challenges brought to the appearance of a new operational paradigm: the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) (Yoshikawa, 1995;Valckenaers, 1998;2000). According to Morel et al. (2003) it is a new systemic paradigm, that is, the whole manufacturing enterprise is analyzed as a system, that goes beyond the Integrated Manufacturing (IM) paradigm (Vernadat, 1996), which cannot neither face the problems related to the interface between the enterprise corporate and the manufacturing shop floor Design and implementation of a function block based holonic control architecture for a new generation flexible manufacturing systemlevel nor the dynamic loops that are produced in that interface and that require moving from an the hierarchical IM to the heterarchical IMS paradigm. One of the points that IMS paradigm considers is to organize human resources and machines into a networked and evolving system that adapts itself to the requirements of agile manufacturing. Manufacturing systems developed under their principles must distribute the digital intelligence across the field factory in order to enable flexible and autonomous operation of distributed units to transform information flows into products flows . Around this vis...