SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING PRODUCTION AND/OR DISTRIBUTION LINES

• US 20190332077A1
• Filed: 11/16/2017
• Published: 10/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sicpa Holding SA
• Original Assignee: Sicpa Holding SA
• Inventors: DE ANDRADE CHALAR DA SILVA, Luis Felipe, DE CARVALHO COSTA, Diego, DIAS PINHEIRO, Vitor, MATTOS ALBERTO DOS SANTOS, Leonardo Rodrigo Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 11,592,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4186 by protocol, e.g. MAP, TOP
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/1133 Sensor actuator, asi, bus, network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A system (100) for controlling a plurality of lines (10), with each line (10) being at least one of a production line and a distribution line, comprises: a first subsystem (30), hereinafter referred to as “master room subsystem”, comprising a first control device (40) hosting an OPC UA server (45); and, for each line (10), a second subsystem (50), hereinafter referred to as “line control subsystem”, comprising: (a) a second control device (60) on which an operating system is running, the second control device (60) hosting an OPC UA client (65); (b) at least one field device (70); and (c) a connection device (80) arranged for allowing communication between the field device(s) (70) and the second control device (60). The field device(s) (70) is connected to the second control device (60) through a point-to-point digital communication interface, the second control device (60) having one port per field device (70).

Claims

1. A system for controlling a plurality of lines, wherein each line is at least one of a production line and a distribution line, the system comprising:

a master room subsystem, comprising a first control device hosting an OPC UA server; and

,

for each line, a line control subsystem,

wherein the line control subsystem comprises;

a second control device per line, on which an operating system is running, the second control device hosting an OPC UA client;

at least one field device; and

a connection device per line,

wherein the at least one field device communicates with the second control device via the connection device, wherein the at least one field device is connected to the connection device through a point-to-point digital communication interface and the connection device has one port per field device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second control device comprises one of:

a computer, a printer, and a camera.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the second control device is a smart camera.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second control device has capabilities to decode a machine-readable representation of a code.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the second control device has at least one of linear barcode recognition capabilities and two-dimensional barcode recognition capabilities.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second control device has Data Matrix code recognition capabilities.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the point-to-point digital communication interface is an IO-Link or IO-Link-compatible interface.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second control device is configured for monitoring the at least one field device and generating an alarm upon detecting that a field device is in an abnormal state.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the master room subsystem is configured for powering each field device.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein, for at least one line,

the line control subsystem comprises a field device being an encoder, and

the first control device is configured for supplying codes to the encoder through the connection device.

11. The system according to any one of the preceding claim 1, wherein the second control device is not a programmable logic controller.

12. Method A method for controlling a plurality of lines, wherein each line is at least one of a production line and a distribution line, the method comprising operating:

a master room subsystem, comprising a first control device hosting an OPC UA server; and

,

further operating

for each line, a line control subsystem, comprising;

a second control device per line, on which an operating system is running, the second control device hosting an OPC UA client;

at least one field device; and

a connection device per line,

wherein the at least one field device communicates with the second control device via the connection device,

wherein the at least one field device is connected to the connection device through a point-to-point digital communication interface and the connection device has one port per field device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the point-to-point digital communication interface is an IO-Link or IO-Link-compatible interface.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second control device monitors the at least one field device and generates an alarm upon detecting that a field device is in an abnormal state.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the master room subsystem powers each field device.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein, for at least one line,

the line control subsystem comprises a field device being an encoder, and

the first control device supplies codes to the encoder through the connection device.