Methodological approach for the development of an operator assistance system for the press shop

The productivity of a deep drawing process strongly relies on its robustness as well as the experience of the machine operator. Steadily increasing requirements regarding weight, design and efficiency lead to a production operating increasingly closer to the process limits, making it more challenging to ensure a high robustness of the process. Minimal process fluctuations caused by disturbances such as varying material properties or changing tribological conditions may negatively affect the process due to deteriorated product properties as well as an increased risk of scrap. Thus, a target-oriented adjustment of available parameters by the machine operator becomes more difficult, and an increased knowledge about the causes of defects is more important. In the past, several approaches with different combinations of sensors and actuators have been investigated to enable a stable process window based on a control system. This paper presents a method to address the need for a more robust process by developing an operator assistance system that enables the identification of the component state and provides decision support to the machine operator. The methodological approach includes a thorough process analysis to evaluate the expediency of such a system and to make a reasonable preselection of sensors in order to avoid unnecessary costs.

Werkerassistenz in der manuellen Montage/Analysis of the Impact of Informational Assistance Systems on Manual Assembly – Operator Assistance in Manual Assembly

Kürzere Innovations- und Produktlebenszyklen bringen eine höhere Variantenvielfalt in die Produktion. Infolge dessen ändern sich die Anforderungen an die Gestaltung der manuellen Montage. Werker müssen in kürzester Zeit befähigt werden, ein schnell wechselndes Produktportfolio fehlerfrei zu montieren. Zunehmend werden dafür diverse unterstützende Werkerassistenzsysteme eingesetzt. Dieser Beitrag veranschaulicht die Potenziale informatorischer Werkerassistenzsysteme.   Shorter innovation and product life cycles increase the variety in production. In consequence, the requirements for the design of manual assembly are changing. Workers have to be enabled to assemble a rapidly changing product portfolio without errors in the shortest possible time. Various assistance systems are increasingly used to support the operator. This article presents the potential of informational assistance systems.

Architectures for Flexible Collaborative Systems

Collaborative systems are characterized by their interaction with other systems in collaborative system groups in order to reach a common goal. These systems interact based on fixed rules and have the ability to change structurally, if necessary. Changes in the collaboration are usually triggered from outside and are time-discrete with a rather wide time scale. The architectures of these systems and system groups must support flexibility and adaptability at runtime while also ensuring specific qualities, although these changes and their consequences cannot be fully foreseen in all combinations at design time.In order to enable knowledge preservation and reuse for the design of system architectures for flexible collaborative systems and system groups, we present a method for designing reference architectures for systems and system groups. For this approach, we present an example of a reference architecture for an operator assistance system. To adequately consider safety requirements during the design, we further introduce a method which adapts safety argumentation for flexible collaborative systems to changes in their specification or operating context.

A Hybrid Model using Online and Operator for Traveler Assistance Via Smartphone

This paper proposes a hybrid model for use by travelers on a smartphone. The principles lie in the combined deployment of 24x7 network that directly serves the travelers and links the existing phone service as an alternate backup choice. Such a redundancy will insure higher reliability in an urgent situation, where many available communication channels are often jammed by panic calls and accesses. In addition, off-line service is also provided as an optional access means to ease the network traffic, whereby important information can be immediately conveyed to the travelers in need of assistance. An information management workflow is also set up to effectively disseminate the relevant information. The proposed system is implemented and tested by volunteers. The results are compared with the predicted outcomes obtained from the preliminary test. It was found that once the users are familiar with the answers, they tend to prematurely exit the application. However, it is not the case with operator assistance as they can continue inquiring freely with the human operator. Future artificial intelligent techniques can be employed to enhance the non-human operations to become as lively as the human service.

Danfoss Digital Displacement® Excavator: Test Results and Analysis

There is a long trend in off-highway vehicles toward higher energy efficiency and electro-hydraulic control. Digital pumps and motors are poised to become a significant enabling technology in this trend. This paper analyzes a 20-tonne tracked excavator that was equipped with digital displacement pumps and evaluated for efficiency and productivity. Previous research by Artemis Intelligent Power demonstrated improvements compared to a conventional, negative flow control excavator hydraulic system. With support from Artemis, the Danfoss Digital Displacement Excavator (DDE) is a step forward in terms of technology and commercial readiness. DDE is based on a CAT 320 next-generation excavator with completely electronic controls and advanced sensor and operator-assistance features. In before/after testing, DDE showed 15% higher productivity (in meters of trench per hour) and 13% higher efficiency (in meters per liter of fuel) for a trench digging cycle. Static pump efficiency is only part of the story; dynamic response and controllability contributed to the measured performance gains. Potential causes for variation in measurement were analyzed including operator variation, flow variation, and machine response.