WO1998026338A1 - Manufacturing process simulation - Google Patents
Manufacturing process simulation Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1998026338A1 WO1998026338A1 PCT/GB1997/003342 GB9703342W WO9826338A1 WO 1998026338 A1 WO1998026338 A1 WO 1998026338A1 GB 9703342 W GB9703342 W GB 9703342W WO 9826338 A1 WO9826338 A1 WO 9826338A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- steps
- physical equipment
- programmable logic
- data relating
- logic function
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
- G05B19/00—Programme-control systems
- G05B19/02—Programme-control systems electric
- G05B19/418—Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS], computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B25—HAND TOOLS; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; MANIPULATORS
- B25J—MANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES
- B25J9/00—Programme-controlled manipulators
- B25J9/16—Programme controls
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P90/00—Enabling technologies with a potential contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation
- Y02P90/02—Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
Definitions
- This invention relates to manufacturing processes and, more particularly, to the simulation of manufacturing processes to enable their commercial and practical viability to be assessed.
- a particular type of manufacturing process which is not susceptible to analysis of practical and commercial viability by small-scale modelling or computer simulation concerns the nuclear fuel industry.
- fuel elements are manufactured for use by nuclear power stations.
- a fuel element comprises a multiplicity of fuel rods held within a skeleton of grids.
- a fuel rod is made up by loading a carrier tube with fuel pellets which are arranged in an end-to-end relationship within the tube.
- a fuel element manufacturing facility may be required to manufacture fuel elements for use in different types of reactors.
- the fuel elements for different light water reactors vary one from another, including those for Pressurised Water Reactors, Boiling Water Reactors and the East European VVER reactor.
- various matters will be specified including the type of reactor and, increasingly nowadays, the fuel makeup within each rod which forms part of the fuel element. So-called multi-zoned stack makeup is an increasing requirement for any manufacturing facility.
- apparatus for assessing the commercial and practical viability of a manufacturing process, the process comprising a plurality of steps, the apparatus comprising a computer programmed to simulate the process making use of performance and other data relating to some but not all of the steps, physical apparatus for carrying out at least one of the steps, means for controlling the physical equipment for carrying out said at least one step when required by the computer, and display means for displaying data relating to the results of the simulation.
- the present invention also provides a method of assessing the commercial and practical viability of the manufacturing process, the process comprising a plurality of steps, the method comprising using a computer programmed to simulate the process making use of performance data relating to some but not all of the steps of the process, operating physical equipment for carrying out at least one of the steps, deriving at least some of said performance and other data as a result of said operation, and displaying data relating to the results of the simulation.
- control system of apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises an operator interface, an alarm handling function and a communication function. More preferably the communication function communicates with at least one programmable logic function. Most preferably, the programmable logic function controls the physical equipment. Examples of physical equipment controlled by the programmable logic function include fuel assembly process equipment, a tray retrieval unit and a robot, and a visions system and a servo motor.
- the apparatus includes an error recovery system for detecting faults and error conditions in the physical equipment or in the operation thereof.
- the computer contains means for providing a range of indicators of commercial and practical viability including a profit forecast, a risk analysis and an investment appraisal. Additionally or alternatively, the computer may contain means for utilising information on capital and operating costs, information on plant design and information on the cost of finance in its analysis.
- FIG. 3 shows the physical equipment used in connection with the apparatus of Figure 1.
- the present invention is concerned with the use of computer technology and ethernet/internet communication to integrate financial analysis in a virtual world environment with "high technical risk" physical hardware to determine at the early stage of development the costs associated with the use of the manufacturing facility over a period which might be the whole of its lifetime and also to minimise the risks associated with the proposed investment.
- Apparatus of the present invention will enable plant to be designed having taken into account all possible problems in the operation of the plant including bottle-necks, buffering and the down time of machinery. In operating the apparatus, those aspects of the plant which represent "risk technology" will be eliminated.
- This embodiment of the present invention makes use of advanced 3 -dimensional stochastic processes and a virtual world plant simulation is used to scheme and optimise a manufacturing facility.
- a number of concept plant design solutions is developed to meet the requirements for a multiplicity of sales projections from start up to maximum throughput. The solutions will determine the additions in plant and equipment required to meet increasing production throughput. From this concept plant design, the capital and operating costs for the lifetime of the facility can be generated.
- a high-level factory control system is electronically integrated with simulation software and development equipment.
- the concept of inserting the physical test equipment into the virtual world environment and operating the combined system as a manufacturing facility is an important aspect of the present invention.
- the combined facility generates, tests and validates the real manufacturing capacity and plant operability in connection with production works orders generated from customers' orders and delivery dates.
- apparatus includes a factory control system 1 which provides higher level management information, control and production scheduling, allowing strategic level control of the operations in the plant as well as maintaining traceability.
- the factory control system consists of two layers.
- the lower layer 3 provides SCADA facilities such as an operator interface and alarm handling. These facilities are provided by a software package which is a real time control and data acquisition system.
- the lower layer communicates with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and the simulator part of the system via ethernet. This level also contains application software which drives the physical machines by means of the PLCs and populates the application specification part of the database.
- PLCs programmable logic controllers
- the upper layer 5 of the factory control system 1 includes a software package which provides production scheduling facilities. Management information is stored in an Oracle database.
- PLC systems 7 which provide tactical level control of the machine and servo drives within the plant 9.
- Each PLC has a small panel providing a man/machine interface. All three PLCs communicate directly with the plant via direct input/output. Communication between the PLCs is achieved by means of appropriate software.
- the simulator 1 1 can be used to simulate the entire plant or just those parts which are not demonstrated with the physical equipment.
- the plant is modelled using a package called Quest together with a further package 12 called Syslink which drives the interface to the higher level system.
- Syslink which drives the interface to the higher level system.
- PLC 1 has associated with it two systems 13, 15 which control particular aspects of the physical machinery operation.
- PLC 2 has two further systems 17, 19 concerned with other aspects of the control of the physical apparatus. These will be discussed in more detail below.
- an error recovery system 21 monitors the states of the input/output devices on each PLC using ethernet.
- Error recovery system 21 detects fault and error conditions on the plant and provides advice to the operator on one or more possible methods of correcting the problem. It operates in real time and provides an expert system for handling error monitoring and recovery. It includes a library of errors and associated causes and remedies and it is capable of building up this library as and when a new condition occurs and is remedied.
- Figure 2 shows the relationship between the computer system software packages and the development equipment used to evaluate manufacturing options.
- the apparatus shown in Figure 3 represents demonstration equipment identified as being the risk technology steps in the manufacture of nuclear fuel elements.
- the steps in manufacturing a nuclear fuel element might start with the retrieval of the required nuclear fuel pellets from storage positions. These required nuclear fuel pellets are delivered to equipment for making up columns of pellets for weighing and loading into carrier tubes to make fuel rods. The completed fuel rods are inserted into a skeleton of grids to form the fuel elements.
- the apparatus shown in Figure 3 includes equipment for demonstrating some of the stages in the manufacturing process.
- This equipment includes a tray retrieval unit 31 for delivering trays of pellets to the region where they are made up into columns or substacks. Trays 33 from the tray retrieval unit are delivered to an index table 35 and a robot 37 removes pellet retaining end bars from the tray. The tray 33 is then moved to the position indicated by 39 in Figure 3 where a control system 41, including a vision system, finds rows of pellets on the tray and builds a substack of the required length. The substack is located on a stack weigh beam 43 which, when loaded with pellets, is moved from the position indicated in solid lines to the position indicated by broken lines (see arrow in Figure 3). From this latter position, the pellets are pushed through a pellet load head 45 and pneumatic seal 47 into a fuel tube 49. Further operations are carried out on the rod (the loaded fuel tube) by means of the simulator rather than using actual physical equipment.
- the system When building a fuel element, the system requests the simulator to provide a rod. The simulator will then instruct the control system that it has provided the rod. An operator will load a rod onto the fuel rod pusher device 51 and this device will then be operated to load the fuel rod into a fuel skeleton 53 located on positioning equipment 55. The equipment will load the rod into an appropriate position in the fuel assembly and, when all the rods have been loaded, the simulator takes over the remaining operations.
- the vision system 17 is a PC based system which is used to identify the positions of pellets on the pellet trays and to measure substacks. It communicates with PLC 2.
- the servo control system 19 manages the motion control systems for the whole demonstrator. It is used to move the drives on the index table, the pellet pusher and the rod load machine.
- PLC 2 controls substack build, stack weight and the loading of pellets into tubes. It also controls the vision system and the servo unit.
- System 13 is a tray retrieval unit control system, controlling the machine which delivers the pellet trays from a store of such trays to the tray index table. It removes them again when they are no longer required. This system is under the control of PLC 1 using digital I/O for communication.
- System 15 controls the robot which removes the end bars from the tray of pellets after a tray has been placed on the index table and so that pellets may be transferred from the table. This system communicates with PLC 1.
- PLC 1 controls the loading and unloading of pellet trays on the index table via the tray retrieval unit. It also controls the movement of the tray index table and the removal of the tray retainers.
- PLC 3 controls the fuel assembly process.
- apparatus of the present invention will operate in accordance with a Works Order which requires various resources, such as raw or part finished materials, machines and tools, in order for it to take place.
- a Works Order which requires various resources, such as raw or part finished materials, machines and tools, in order for it to take place.
- a Works Order is defined by the operator by means of the production scheduling package on the control system. Use of this scheduling system allows short term production planning which has real time knowledge of what is happening on the plant. The system will not allow a Works Order to be commenced without the necessary resources being available.
- the operator checks that the machine is ready and then instructs the Works Order to commence on that machine. The machine is able to process material when the appropriate material arrives at the machine. As soon as a machine has been started for a Works Order, that Works Order can no longer be rescheduled using the production scheduling system.
- the simulator will start to mark carriers used, in order to identify them. It will then plug the rods. If the systems are in full plant simulation mode, fuel will then be made until the Works Order is complete. Otherwise, the simulator suspends operations once it has bottom end plugged a rod. The system then waits for the arrival of a bottom end plugged rod at stack build; this is detected by the stack build PLC via a bar code reading.
- the use of the apparatus of the present invention provides a robust and structured method for the generation and analysis of investment appraisals for new and existing manufacturing facilities. Research and development is only focused on areas of high technical risk. Development costs are minimised to the high risk areas of development. Financial sensitivity can be evaluated and quantified.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
JP52635098A JP2001506027A (en) | 1996-12-09 | 1997-12-03 | Simulation of manufacturing process |
AU52328/98A AU5232898A (en) | 1996-12-09 | 1997-12-03 | Manufacturing process simulation |
EP97947179A EP0943121A1 (en) | 1996-12-09 | 1997-12-03 | Manufacturing process simulation |
CA002274497A CA2274497A1 (en) | 1996-12-09 | 1997-12-03 | Manufacturing process simulation |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB9625515.3 | 1996-12-09 | ||
GBGB9625515.3A GB9625515D0 (en) | 1996-12-09 | 1996-12-09 | Assembly of nuclear fuel elements |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO1998026338A1 true WO1998026338A1 (en) | 1998-06-18 |
Family
ID=10804144
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/GB1997/003342 WO1998026338A1 (en) | 1996-12-09 | 1997-12-03 | Manufacturing process simulation |
Country Status (8)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0943121A1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2001506027A (en) |
KR (1) | KR20000069404A (en) |
CN (1) | CN1240034A (en) |
AU (1) | AU5232898A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2274497A1 (en) |
GB (1) | GB9625515D0 (en) |
WO (1) | WO1998026338A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR20010100127A (en) * | 2001-10-09 | 2001-11-14 | (주)포커스 테크놀로지 | I / O monitoring device of power plant simulation controller |
Citations (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5483440A (en) * | 1993-06-07 | 1996-01-09 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Remote control apparatus and control method thereof |
-
1996
- 1996-12-09 GB GBGB9625515.3A patent/GB9625515D0/en active Pending
-
1997
- 1997-12-03 JP JP52635098A patent/JP2001506027A/en active Pending
- 1997-12-03 CN CN97180456A patent/CN1240034A/en active Pending
- 1997-12-03 KR KR1019997005157A patent/KR20000069404A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1997-12-03 EP EP97947179A patent/EP0943121A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1997-12-03 CA CA002274497A patent/CA2274497A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1997-12-03 WO PCT/GB1997/003342 patent/WO1998026338A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1997-12-03 AU AU52328/98A patent/AU5232898A/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5483440A (en) * | 1993-06-07 | 1996-01-09 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Remote control apparatus and control method thereof |
Non-Patent Citations (2)
Title |
---|
HARRIGAN R W: "AUTOMATING THE OPERATION OF ROBOTS IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS", PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1993 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFRENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS : INTELLIGENT ROBOTS FOR FLEXIBILITY, YOKOHAMA, JP, JULY 26 - 30, 1993, vol. 2, July 1993 (1993-07-01), INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS, pages 1211 - 1219, XP000447573 * |
ROCHELEAU D N ET AL: "DEVELOPMENT OF A GRAPHICAL INTERFACE FOR ROBOTIC OPERATION IN A HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT", CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1991 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEMS, MA AND CYBERNETICS : DECISION AIDING FOR COMPLEX SYSTEMS, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., US, OCT. 13 - 16, 1991, vol. 2, October 1991 (1991-10-01), INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS, pages 1077 - 1081, XP000238074 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CN1240034A (en) | 1999-12-29 |
AU5232898A (en) | 1998-07-03 |
GB9625515D0 (en) | 1997-01-29 |
CA2274497A1 (en) | 1998-06-18 |
KR20000069404A (en) | 2000-11-25 |
JP2001506027A (en) | 2001-05-08 |
EP0943121A1 (en) | 1999-09-22 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US7860595B2 (en) | Production schedule creation device and method, production process control device and method, computer program, and computer-readable recording medium | |
EP0823118B1 (en) | Integrated data management system for nuclear power plant components | |
CN108062989A (en) | Nuclear power station design and operation supports method and system | |
CN109557889A (en) | Support device and record media | |
Buckova et al. | Impact of digital factory tools on designing of warehouses | |
CN112906407A (en) | Simulation device and method for simulating nuclear critical state | |
Rostkowska | Simulation of production lines in the education of engineers: how to choose the right software? | |
CN114067048A (en) | Material transfer visual intelligent system and construction method | |
US7657410B2 (en) | Process simulation system | |
EP0943121A1 (en) | Manufacturing process simulation | |
US20050250226A1 (en) | Method for generating work-in-process schedules | |
Levasseur et al. | A conversion from a functional to a cellular manufacturing layout at Steward, Inc. | |
Kaczmarczyk et al. | An industry 4.0 testbed (Self-Acting barman): principles and design | |
CN112861319A (en) | Device and method for simulating nuclear fuel loading feedback | |
JPS6315357A (en) | Method and apparatus for supporting preparation of work program | |
US20100208858A1 (en) | Method for selecting a loading map for a nuclear reactor core, corresponding selection system, computer program and storage mediium | |
Bangsow et al. | Modeling of production processes | |
Aggogeri et al. | A novel logic and approach to speed up simulation and analysis of production systems | |
US20230384765A1 (en) | Process Generation System | |
US20240006086A1 (en) | Systems and methods for simulating an operation of one or more automated tools within a nuclear facility | |
Acaccia et al. | Development of CAD codes for the job integration of industrial robots | |
Kropik et al. | VINSAP Tool for Visualization of Severe Accident Progress | |
Del Taglia et al. | A software architecture for FMS simulation and control | |
Higgins | Fitness of simulation: advancing the application of discrete event simulation within the automotive industry | |
JPH0926994A (en) | Method for predicting process load and device for enforcing it |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 97180456.7 Country of ref document: CN |
|
AK | Designated states |
Kind code of ref document: A1 Designated state(s): AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY CA CH CN CU CZ DE DK EE ES FI GB GE GH HU IL IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MD MG MK MN MW MX NO NZ PL PT RO RU SD SE SG SI SK SL TJ TM TR TT UA UG US UZ VN YU ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM |
|
AL | Designated countries for regional patents |
Kind code of ref document: A1 Designated state(s): GH KE LS MW SD SZ UG ZW AT BE CH DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL |
|
DFPE | Request for preliminary examination filed prior to expiration of 19th month from priority date (pct application filed before 20040101) | ||
121 | Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application | ||
ENP | Entry into the national phase |
Ref document number: 2274497 Country of ref document: CA Ref document number: 2274497 Country of ref document: CA Kind code of ref document: A |
|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 1997947179 Country of ref document: EP |
|
ENP | Entry into the national phase |
Ref document number: 1998 526350 Country of ref document: JP Kind code of ref document: A |
|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 1019997005157 Country of ref document: KR |
|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 09319789 Country of ref document: US |
|
WWP | Wipo information: published in national office |
Ref document number: 1997947179 Country of ref document: EP |
|
REG | Reference to national code |
Ref country code: DE Ref legal event code: 8642 |
|
WWP | Wipo information: published in national office |
Ref document number: 1019997005157 Country of ref document: KR |
|
WWW | Wipo information: withdrawn in national office |
Ref document number: 1997947179 Country of ref document: EP |
|
WWW | Wipo information: withdrawn in national office |
Ref document number: 1019997005157 Country of ref document: KR |