Unlike current production and transport systems the human being has the ability to adapt to physical changes in the workplace as well as organizational changes of the workflow. The aim of the research project " FTF out-of -the-box " is to empower fork lift trucks through cognitive technologies to autonomously handle tasks in logistic processes and execute them independently. Transport orders are given by voice and gesture control. To implement such an interactive autonomous guided vehicle ( AGV) a distributed intelligence to optimize its behavior independently and flexibly by adapting to changing production environments is needed.
driverless transport systems, cognition,production systems, flow of information, human-machine inter
Automated guided vehicle systems (AGVS) basically consist of a control station, a communication system and automated guided vehicles (AGV). Control of the AGVS has the task to carry out a transport order once it is issued by a higher level system. The transport order is implemented by the AGVS-control in an actual movement of the AGV. The number of AGV varies between a few up to 100 AGV. Due to the high number of AGV the likelihood of distraction in the route network increases. Todays central AGVS controls take into account the dynamic and evolving traffic situations inadequately and are insufficiently robust and flexible in terms of changes and disturbances .
agv, decentralzied control, automated guided vehicles
By increasing the height of wind turbine generators the usable wind energy increases exponentially. However, tower weight increases accordingly. Current tower designs limit the tower height due to the explained correlation. The application of lightweight design concepts can lead to a significant weight reduction at comparable tower stiffness. As part of a research project, lightweight design concepts have been developed. These design concepts allow a mass reduction for onshore wind turbine towers up to 20 %. In this paper, the development and results regarding these lightweight concepts are presented.
xxl-product, large-scale, xxl, wind turbine, wind power, lightweight construction, tower constructio
The utilization of lightweight engineering methods for tower construction of wind turbine generators enables a weight reduction at constant stiffness. Thus an increase of the tower’s height can be achieved, while keeping its weight. Within a research project at IPH several lightweight engineering solutions from bionical, aviation and aerospace applications have been investigated. According to the developed guidelines a lightweight concept based on trapezoidal sheets can reduce the mass of a 3 MW generator of 90 m height by 20 %. In this article certain details of the construction are being presented.
xxl-product, large-scale, xxl, wind turbine, wind power, lightweight construction, tower constructio
Schedule variances in the cycle of field assembly often cause high unplanned costs. This is particularly true for capital-intensive, large-scale products. Currently no model exists which supports cost determination already during planning, implementation or after assembly. Thus, comprehensive logistics controlling is not possible which prevents high schedule adherence and low logistics costs even on the occurrence of disruptions. In this paper, a research project is presented, which has the goal of developing a method by which a deadline- and cost controlling of the material availability for the assembly of wind turbines can be secured.
material provisioning, site assembly, cost controlling, schedule deviation, early warning system, fo
In modern business, the efficient use of resources, the optimization of processes and managing costs are key competitive factors. In the metal forming industry the pressure of competition is constantly increasing and the implementation of these competitive factors is important for staying in business. The increasing prices for energy and steel because the manufacturers to reduce these cost factors. With research activities even SME’s are able to improve their quality, for example by using warm forging processes. To keep the costs in a low level a reduction of the used material is necessary. Due to this aim, flashless preforming operations for a two cylinder crankshaft were developed. But the challenges are very long simulation and development time for designing the preforming dies. Further a highly qualified die steel material is required for complex preforming dies.
closed die forging, multididrectional forging, process chain, resource efficiency
The customer-oriented individual production, as part of the future project "Industry 4.0", is based on the progressive shortening of development cycles. The parallel to the material flow directed flow of information gains in importance for a decentralized material flow control. The use of this newly available information through the production systems requires cognitive abilities on the machines. For this future machines as well as handling and transport systems should communicate, identify problems, make their own conclusions, learn and plan. For this purpose cyber physical production systems are the technological foundation.
cyber-physical production systems, individual production, intelligent networking
Planning ahead, make decisions and adapt flexibly to new situations: What is natural for people should now learn machines. That is the aim of the industrial 4.0 project netkoPs, which developed together by ITA and IPH.
cyber-physical production systems, individual production, intelligent networking
Increasingly demanding markets and reduced production depths force manufacturers of complex products to better coordinate supply processes for assembly. In this article a research project is presented which aims to develop a control procedure for companies to react on delivery date deviations in supply processes. Particularly, as companies act as part of a network, a reasonable behavior in that perspective is sought.
company networks, simulation, supply processes, supply chain management, cooperation
When designing supply chains two opposing principles must be weighed. Supply chains are either rigid and allow a high throughput, e.g. belt conveyors, or they are flexible and only allow a lower throughput,e.g. forklift trucks. Versatile supply chains, which goes beyond the flexibility present both principles with new technical and economic challenges. In the project ISI-WALK (intelligent interfaces in versatile supply chains) methods and technologies for efficient design of versatile supply chains have been developed. Based on the cognitive abilities of people and the resulting high mutability, industrial trucks should be able to recognize their surroundings, to communicate information, to conclude, learn or plan. To achieve these goals an assistance system for industrial trucks based on 3D cameras to support the store and release from stock was developed, as well as an optical positioning system for navigation.
optical positioning, active infrastructure, data transmission, signal processing, image processing
Hydoroforming of titanium tubes was investigated by the Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover (IPH) and the Institute of Metal Forming Siegen. The basic research for designing a multi-stage process chain of hollow profiles made of titanium grade 2 was divided into three sub-items, the material model, the annealing treatment and friction value determination. The results were brought together in a simulation model, which enabled developing a multistage process chain.
hydroforming, FEA, titanium
Different billet dimensions or progressive die wear increase the geometric fluctuations of forged parts. This can lead to waste. Mostly this geometric fluctuations are compensated by increased billet masses which leads to lower efficiency in the manufacturing process. In a research project a controlled, moveable flash gap was examined, that enables the alteration of the material flow to increase the part quality.
forging, die design, material flow, FEA, flash land
ID-methods like RFID or barcodes are used for fast digital data access. Unfortunately the informaton is not readable by humans without a special device, which can cause several logistic problems. Therefor a new Auto-ID label was designed in the research project "IdentOverLight", that is readable by humans and transmits data wireless using visible light communication.
auto-id, rfid, qr-code, visible light communication
The production with assembly lines is highly efficient, but can it also be used for XXL products? Typical XXL products such as ships, aircrafts and wind turbines are not only larger and heavier than conventional products, but also much more complex. They are produced in a higher variety than conventional products, the degree of customer influence is greater – thus the processing contents vary during production. In addition, XXL products consist of a huge number of components and their value also is higher than that of conventional products. The manufacturing of XXL products therefore still largely follows the principle of the construction site.
xxl products, assembly, site production
The precision forging is energy and time saving. Therefore the basics of this topic are presented. On the one hand the material characteristics as temperature and yield stress development are shown. On the other hand tool geometry and construction instructions are given. Beyond these topics the principles of FEM, reachable tolerances are presented. Different types of crankshafts, a gear wheel and a pinion shaft are examples that were successfully investigated and even party produced in industrial environment. The goal of this chapter is to show the basic knowledge of precision forging.
precision forging, flashless
In this paper, a novel, widely usable gripper system for craneless and weather-independent assembly of rotor blades for offshore wind turbines is presented. This gripper system was developed in the context of the research project "XXL Assembly aids" of the IPH - Institute of Integrated Production Hannover gGmbH.
assembly aid, wind energy plan, xxl-products
In this article, a novel approach for an optical tracking system is presented, which is used in addition to the positioning of industrial trucks in particular the tracking and storage of the position data of carriers in intralogistics. The locating system consists of an active optical infrastructure and a receiving unit .
optical positioning system, indoor navigation
Growing XXL products reach dimensions that are no longer manageable by humans without innovative technological support. Therefore (semi-)automated assembly aids for the final assembly of large components are needed. The assembly of XXL-products is similar to the construction of prototypes. The aim is to avoid redundant new developments and designs of installation aids and to make them available across processes. In addition to presenting a method to systematize and select the right installation aid, the development of a gripper system for craneless and thus weather-independent assembly of rotor blades for offshore wind turbines is shown in this paper.
assembly aid, wind energy plan, xxl-products
In the research project "IdentOverLight" a new Auto-ID system ,using visible light communication, was developed. The new label combines the advatages of existing Auto-ID systems. It is rewriteable like RFID, machine-readable like Barcodes and readable by human like labels.
auto-id, rfid, qr-code, visible light communication
The main idea to develop an individual production is trend-setting and a part of the future project "Industry 4.0". Apart from the optimization of the manufacturing and delivery time there will be a focus on elevated information. Therefore the production systems of the future have to live up to requirements like the mutability, the real-time and network capability. A specific trial is based on the idea to port the cognitive features of a human to the production systems.
cognition,production systems, flow of information, human-machine interaction
