Supervisory Control of a Flexible Manufacturing Unit for the Production of Two Products

TL;DR

This paper develops a supervisory control framework for a flexible manufacturing system with multiple machines and product routes, modeled using automata and regular languages, to optimize product flow.

Contribution

It introduces a novel supervisory control architecture based on automata and regular languages for multi-product manufacturing units.

Findings

Mathematical models of subsystems using finite automata

Design of supervisory control based on desired regular languages

Analysis of product routing and system properties

Abstract

In this diploma thesis, the mathematical model of a multi-product manufacturing unit will be presented. The unit consists of a set of three conveyors, a robot, a lathe, a milling machine, an assembly machine, and a painting machine. Finally, the connection of the above elements is carried out via one slot buffer. The products can be divided into two distinct sets according to the route they will follow through the machines of the unit. The mathematical models of the individual subsystems of the plant using finite deterministic automata will be presented. The two different routes that the products can follow will be presented. The desired product flow will be presented in the form of desired regular languages. The properties of the desired languages with respect the overall automaton of the system will be investigated. A supervisory architecture will be designed based on the desired regular languages.