Polynomial approach to optimal one-wafer cyclic scheduling of treelike hybrid multi-cluster tools via Petri nets

Abstract

A treelike hybrid multi-cluster tool is composed of both single-arm and dual-arm cluster tools with a treelike topology. Scheduling such a tool is challenging. For a hybrid treelike multi-cluster tool whose bottleneck individual tool is process-bound, this work aims at finding its optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule. It is modeled with Petri nets such that a onewafer cyclic schedule is parameterized as its robots' waiting time. Based on the model, this work proves the existence of its onewafer cyclic schedule that features with the ease of industrial implementation. Then, computationally efficient algorithms are proposed to find the minimal cycle time and optimal onewafer cyclic schedule. Multi-cluster tool examples are given to illustrate the proposed approach. The use of the found schedules enables industrial multi-cluster tools to operate with their highest productivity.

Privacy-Preserving Behavioral Correctness Verification of Cross-Organizational Workflow With Task Synchronization Patterns

“…In the traditional research of discrete event systems, Petri-net based analysis of message and resource interactions among different sub-systems received much attention in the past two decades. As one of the most typical kind of resource interaction (allocation) systems [32], modeling and correctness verification of flexible manufacturing systems concerning resource allocation problems [12], [45], [50]- [52] have been extensively studied. Message interactions in Web service composition and cross-organizational workflow management have also received much concern [27], [38], [50].…”

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“…Baruwa et al [10] apply timed colored Petri nets (TCPNs) to model flexible manufacturing systems, where each operation has a certain number of preconditions, an estimated duration, and a set of postconditions. Yang et al [11] extend a resource-oriented Petri net to model a cluster tool in wafer fabrication. They define colors of transitions, and associate both transitions and places with time.…”

Time-Varying Automated Manufacturing Systems and Their Invariant-Based Control: A Petri Net Approach

“…The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Shouguang Wang. scheduling problem [1], [46]- [50], [53], [59], [60], dynamic reconfiguration problem [57], [58], and control implementation problem [34], [35]. Among these studies, liveness which ensures all events can finally fire from any one in the reachable markings is the most fundamental requirement.…”

“…For example, the deterministic timed weighted marked graphs are used to solve cycle time optimization problem that finds an initial marking to minimize the average cycle time [19]. Cluster tools, as a kind of automated robotic manufacturing systems containing multiple computer-controlled process modules, are also widely used to study the cyclic scheduling problem [1], [48], [53]. For the time-related constraints, such as wafer residency time constraint, wafer sojourn time, and activity time variation, are studied in single-or dual-arms cluster tool to schedule processes [38], [46], [47], [54], [60].…”