In this presentation the results of the research project "FTF out of the box" are presented. The focus is on the innovative man-machine interface based on a voice and gesture control which was developed by IPH.
man-machine interface, voice control, gesture control, AGV
Automated guided vehicles are well established in modern production environments. Once installed the automated guided vehicles are able to automatically transports good inside the factory. The set up of the system is still a laborous task with high planning costs. Besides the right choice of vehicles and the right controll strategy, the planning of an efficient roadmap is one of the major time consuming tasks. The planning of the roadmaps is mostly performed manually. Experienced system planners decide if a roadmap is feasible or has to be adapted. Aim of this project is to design automatically roadmaps that are both efficient and applicable for AGVs. The planning phase of the roadmaps should be reduced from several weeks to a few hours. In the end a ressource-efficient and standardized planning is aspired.
AGV, road map planning, fuzzy logic
Free information around the topic Industry 4.0 is offered by “Mit uns digital! Das Zentrum für Niedersachsen und Bremen“ (literally translated as: Go digital with the Centre for Lower Saxony and Bremen!). The experts provide trainings for specialists and executive managers and support them when implementing their digitalization projects.
industry 4.0, digitalization, training
The future belongs to forging preforms that are designed automatically: IPH is presently working on a software programme based on evolutionary algorithms, allowing companies to save valuable development time and improve the efficiency of forging processes.
forming technology, forging, preform, evolutionary algorithms
Rising electricity prices for industrial companies result in increasing energy costs and thus lower international competitiveness. Due to increasing electricity price fluctuations, savings in energy costs without capital-intensive investments are possible by implementing specific organizational methods to process energy-intensive orders at times of low prices and energy-low orders at times of high prices.
energy costs, energy price, manufacturing control, sequencing
Rising electricity prices for industrial companies result in increasing energy costs and thus lower international competitiveness. Due to increasing electricity price fluctuations, savings in energy costs without capital-intensive investments are possible by implementing specific organizational methods to process energy-intensive orders at times of low prices and energy-low orders at times of high prices.
energy costs, energy price, manufacturing control, sequencing
Disassembling of large-scale products (e. g. wind energy plants, crane and conveyor systems which are known as XXL-Products) becomes increasingly important, as the operating time is limited. The challenge is to optimize the positioning of the complex and expensive disassembling on the operation site on the one hand and the costly transportation of modules to the disassembling factories. For this reason the location and allocation problem will be pictured in a mathematical model within the research project “DemoNet”. This model supports companies to create a XXL-disassembly-network. The research hypothesis assumes: a disassembly under ecological, economical and logistical aspects constitutes the optimum. The extension of a location planning tool forms the basis of the mathematical optimization model for the disassembly of XXL-Products. For solving the problem a genetic algorithms will be used. The result helps companies to arrange disassembling networks for XXL-Products efficiently.
dismantling planing, dismantling networks, impact model
The generation of bulk metal forming processes needs a lot of time. Researchers construct and simulate many days until a forming sequence without defects is found. At IPH a algorithm is supposed to predict a simulation result within one minute based on the constructions made.
Artificial intelligence, FEA
Assembling large-scale products involves frequent process interruptions. To reduce the duration of an assembly stop, the WZL of RWTH Aachen University and the IPH Hannover developed an approach which is able to identify alternative assembly plans and to evaluate them on the basis of the logistic performance objectives. Stock, capacity utilization, lead time and adherence to schedule are transferred into costs and assembly plans are thus comparable based on one parameter.
production planning and control, assembly, logistical objectives
Within the research project "Situational behavior control for interactive, automated guided vehicles" a voice and gesture-based control concept was developed and implemented on an automated forklift truck. Based on an industrial application the economic value of this system is to be reviewed in the context of a material flow simulation.
gesture control, speech control, automated guided vehicles
A factory planning is currently being assessed either at low cost and qualitatively by experts or quantitatively by a simulation model. A review by simulation model is both more costly and time-consuming and a big burden for small and medium enterprises. This article describes the procedure of a research project and the selection of evaluation fields that will in future allow a low-maintenance and at the same time quantitative factory evaluation.
factory planning, quantitative factory evaluation, simulation model
Controlling the time synchronicity of supply processes for assembly requires a quantitative measure. An existing controlling instrument, the supply diagram, already provides an effective way of assessing the supply situation. It incorporates different key figures which allow for an evaluation of a company’s supply process coordination. However, it lacks a key figure for describing the level of time synchronicity. Therefore, a quantitative evaluation of actions to improve the time synchronicity in supply processes is not possible. Based on an existing approach of approximating the completion of full assembly orders, a key figure for describing the level of time synchronicity is developed in this article: the synchronicity factor. As this new key figure is dependent on the average number of components required for one assembly order for the regarded time period, a second measure, the relative synchronicity factor, accounts for this number and can thereby be used to compare different time periods. As the numerical calculation of the synchronicity factors is a complex problem, the possibility of applying a simple hill climbing algorithm to accurately determine the synchronicity factor for a certain supply situation is examined.
Production planning and control, supply chain management, supply diagram, time synchronicity
Within this article a decentrally controlled, intelligent material flow system is presented. The novel product routing is based on a decentralized intelligence and conducts the route planning of the individual materials. The decentralized intelligence permits an expansion or adaption of the production line at any time without significant configuration. In addition, the networked decentralized intelligence allows a parallel flow of material and information, and an identification of the layout of the entire conveyor system. Another core element is the decision-making cognitive conveyor, which is composed of small-scale conveyor modules. In addition to transporting, injecting and ejecting a variety of intralogistics functions can be solved with the cooperation of these conveyor modules. For this cognitive conveyor a drive solution is presented that meets the requirements in terms of functionality and compactness.
Decentralized Intelligence, Material Flow, Cognitive Conveyor, ProductionML, Routing
In this article a small scale, cyber-physical conveyor system using the example of a cognitive conveyor is presented. This cognitive conveyor is modularly assembled of individual conveyor modules that are smaller than the transported units. Furthermore the cognitive conveyor is in the position to handle different intralogistical functions such as transport unit's transporting, rotating, buffering and sequencing. Parallel to the route of the physical transport unit, a data shadow is moved: Hereby all data describing the transport operation are available at any time of transport. Cognitive conveyor's control is decentralized and distributed. Hereinafter both the hardware setup of the conveyor modules and the necessary control algorithms are described. The control algorithms are on the one hand used to move the physical transport unit on the surface of the cognitive conveyor. On the other hand it is utilized to align the data shadow with physical transport unit's information.
cyber-physical conveyor technology, decentralized control, material flow, ProductionML
Flash-reduced forging is a promising alternative for forging complicated high-duty parts. With a new process chain, the ability to reduce the existing flash quota of complex high-duty parts can make the difference in the competition and reduce the costs compared to flashless forging. The European Union is funding a research project which deals with the improvement of the forging sequence of a two-cylinder crankshaft by using flash-reduced forging. To increase the forecast quality of simulations using Finite-Element-Analysis for a future process chain design, the conventional existing process chain is simulated with FORGE3 and compared with industrial forging trials. Furthermore, a variation of simulation parameters has been used to get the significant influence parameters, fitting the results of these forging trials.
Forging, crankshaft, flash reduced, investigation simulation parameters
IPH offers independent testing of conveyor belt idlers. For this purpose we dispose of measurement technology and modern test rigs. We provide the determination of size and weight of idlers (DIN 22112), running resistance (DIN 22112), concentricity deviation (DIN 22112), axial relocatability (DIN 22112), breakaway mass (SAB 1313) and balancing quality (DIN ISO 1940).
conveyor technology, conveyor belt idlers, test rig
The ongoing change from make-to-stock to make-to-order production and the increasing interaction in value creation networks lead to growing challenges for companies regarding delivery date and delivery quantity flexibility. This leads to increased work load scatter in the production systems of companies. This paper presents a simulation-based approach on how the work load scatter can be reduced to a lower level and how this influences logistical characteristic lines.
load scattering, load variation, quantification, batch splitting
Production companies are faced with an increasingly turbulent business environment, which demands very high production volumes and delivery date flexibility. If a decoupling by storage stages is not possible or undesirable from a logistical point of view, load scattering effects the production processes. This expresses itself in the form of heavy load scattering. What kinds of quantification of the load scattering exist and how these have been further developed is subject of the following article.
load scattering, load variation, quantification, production planning and control
The use of 3D printing techniques gives manufacturing companies the opportunity to implement new production processes and to unlock economic potentials. In this article a research project is presented, which aims to analyse the use of build-operate-transfer models with 3D printers. Thereto an evaluation and implementation tool for build-operate-transfer models is being designed, which considers the perceptions of the suppliers and the costumers.
3D printer, build-operate-transfer models, production organization, profitability, production logist
The condition-based maintenance of a marine gearbox poses special challenges because of the inaccessibility to the hull of the ship and harsh environment in the form of higher temperatures, continuous vibrations and salty sea air, which can lead to corrosion. In this article, the integration of a wireless sensor network with a marine gearbox is shown. The integration consists of sensor nodes that record characteristic measurement data, send them actively to a receiving unit and harvest energy from the environment for electrical supply after a one-time installation expenditure. The developed sensor node has a thermoelectric power supply that allows measurement intervals of less than 20 minutes. The recorded vibration data from the gearbox surface are sent via ZigBee wireless technology. By evaluating the envelope spectrum of the measured vibration data, the current rotational speed of the input drive shaft could be identified.
energy harvesting, thermoelectric generator, wireless sensor network, condition monitoring
