SIMULATION SOFTWARE
is carefully managed to prevent rapid wear and damage to the machine tools,” noted Biermann. “The team modified its cooling process to improve the tool life by about 50%.”
Validating the Digital Factory Aside from additive and CAE developments, the need for manufacturers to quickly design factory-floor layouts has never been greater. New digital manufacturing simulation tools like the FastSuite Edition 2 from Cenit North America (Auburn Hills, MI) help manufactures design factory layouts and vali- date all manufacturing processes in advance, speeding the process and optimizing designs.
scratch, but are often re-planned while production is running. Having the virtual factories and model plants as an exact representation of the real production systems, not just geo- metrically and kinematically, but also in regard to the logical behavior and control of the manufacturing units, guarantees agile, self-organized production units,” he said. “Digital factory allows implementation of new manufactur-
ing processes, plant concepts, and technologies that would be too expensive or even impossible without simulation- based solutions,” he added. “The more robotic applications are used—not only for simple handling tasks, but also for complex production steps—the greater the advantage of using programming and simulation tools. Software solu- tions are leading the way to these complex applications, giving the operator the necessary programming and simulation environment to make applications that were previously represented through a manual teach-in or would not show the necessary process quality. Instead of building a quick layout with 3D CAD com-
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and other software from Ansys helped researchers at the Institute of Machining Technology, Technical University of Dortmund, analyze the severe stresses put on cutting tools while machining very hard superalloys such as Inconel.
“IoT or Industry 4.0 represents the radical change that’s shaking the very foundations of the manufacturing floor. Digital factory software and 3D tools are driving that change forward,” noted Lee Van Every, Cenit North America senior account manager. “The digital factory software helps com- panies efficiently break into smart manufacturing. Nowadays, the software must be compatible with all CAD systems and work with any manufacturer’s robots and machines. This is a mandatory prerequisite for customer relationships that are becoming more and more diverse with more complex and demanding systems.” Today’s 3D-based simulation software allows visualiza- tion and validation of processes and production tasks, Van Every noted. “Production plants are seldom established from
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | June 2017
ponents from the catalog, and then programming the scripts and macros for simulating the material flow and behavior of the cell, FastSuite Edition 2 uses the mecha- tronic components and resources for the layout definition and at the same time is defining a schematic logic for the production island, according to Van Every. “In this way, it is ensured that the simulated and real behavior match— because the simulation is based on the same logic used during the PLC programming and therefore corresponds to the real system behavior later on.” Cenit’s new FastSuite software provides user-friendly functions for integrating new, project-specific compo- nents in the layout, Van Every said. “This process must be quick and easy for users without programming knowledge to complete.” The software infrastructure is based on open standards, he added, with consistent use of AML (Automation Markup Language) as a descriptive language for system models, for example, which Van Every said allows considerably simpler interaction with engineering partners through standardized, system-neutral exchange of complete system data or equip- ment data, including kinematic and logic definitions. In addition, PLC Open ensures that the system logic at the basis of the first simulation concepts can also be used for later PLC program- ming. The software uses a shared memory in which the controls write the simulation data and from which the 3D visualization then reads the simulation data.
Image courtesy Ansys Inc.
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