Production System Automation

Aim

The aim of the course is to provide a theoretical and practical overview on computerized manufacturing equipment focusing on system level automation. After the course the students should be able to:

• Explain the logic based formalism that supports the programming of industrial controllers
• Implement basic programs for industrial controllers that are able to interpret the information collected from a set of sensors and convert that information into the corresponding actuation.
• Implement programs that can communicate with other programs in other devices and therefore control a complex system.
• Describe the main programming principles for large automated systems.
• Describe the current and emerging automation and system architectures as well as their application context.

Content

The course focuses on the principles, concepts and technologies required/used to automate current manufacturing systems containing different equipment: robots, conveyor belts, automated guided vehicles, etc. The initial part of the course covers the basics of programmable logic controllers (PLC) programming and communication, the formal models that support them and how these relate to the most common sensors, actuators and equipment found in large automated manufacturing systems.. The following topics are covered:

• Boolean Algebra
• PLC Programming (using the IEC 61131-3)
• PLC communication
• Sensors & Actuators
• System architectures for automation