Self-organizing rolling mill system importing neighbor constraint ranges

• US 6,427,221 B1
• Filed: 04/12/1999
• Issued: 07/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Herr, Rebecca J., Vasko, David A., Maturana, Francisco P., Lenner, Joseph A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton, David
• Application Number:
  US09/290,455
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 364/148, 364/468.06, 364/468.05, 364/468.01, 364/468.09, 364/468.15, 364/131, 345/467, 705/8, 705/7, 72/71, 72/72, 298/32, 700/100, 700/103, 365/225.7, 714/798
• US Class Current: 714/798
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32328 Dynamic scheduling, resource allocation, multi agent negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A rolling mill system uses a number of autonomous control units, each associated with one piece of equipment of the rolling mill system. The autonomious control units include data indicating not only their constraints of operation, but also reflecting the constraints of operation of machines to which they are attached and with which they share common operating parameters. An autonomous control unit associated with a machine having operating parameters in common with another machine of the rolling mill system adopts the intersection of the ranges of the machine constraints of the two machines. Machine constraints are preserved to the extent possible as ranges, so as to permit flexibility in selecting and seeking goals by the individual autonomous control units.

Claims

1. An automatically configurable rolling mill system comprising:

a rolling mill having an entrance receiving billets at an input temperature, a set of rolls rolling a received billet to change the billets by a rolling diameter as moved at a rolling speed, and an exit discharging the rolled billet at an output temperature, the rolling mill system comprising;

a rolling mill controller having;

(a) an electronic memory holding data representing;

(i) rolling mill constraints indicating constraints on the operation of the rolling mill;

(ii) inter-machine relationships indicating physical operating parameters of the rolling mill dependent on physical operating parameters of other machines to which the rolling mill is connected;

(b) an electronic computer executing a stored program to;

(i) receive a job plan describing a job to be performed by the rolling mill and the other machines

(ii) modify the rolling mill constraints identified by the inter-machine relationships, by the corresponding machine constraints of the other machines;

(iii) after the modification of (ii), exchange bids and counterbids with the other machines proposing completion or portions of the job by the rolling mill and the other machines; and

(iv) evaluate the feasibility of the bids and counterbids against the modified rolling mill constraints.

2. The rolling mill system of claim 1 wherein the modified rolling mill constraints are selected from the group consisting of the input temperature, the rolling speed, and the output temperature.

3. The rolling mill system of claim 1:

wherein the memory holds multiple rolling machine constraints and inter-machine relationships identified to different material paths between the rolling mill and the other machines, and

wherein the rolling mill constraints associated with a given material path are modified by the machine constraints of only machines related by the inter-machine relationships associated with the given material path.

4. The industrial control system of claim 1:

wherein the job description describes a single material path between the rolling mill and other machines; and

wherein the evaluation of the feasibility of the bids and counterbids by the electronic computer is based on the modified rolling mill constraints associated with the single material path.

5. The industrial control system of claim 1 wherein the electronic computer evaluates the feasibility of the bids and counterbids by:

(v) in response to the job plan and bids from other machines, creating a bid for the job plan describing performance of a portion of the job plan that may be performed by the rolling mill according to the modified rolling mill constraints, and in the alternative creating a counterbid proposing further modification of the rolling mill constraints;

(vi) in response to counterbids by other machines, creating a modified bid for the job plan describing performance of a portion of the job plan that may be performed by the rolling mill according to the modified rolling mill constraints adjusted by the received counterbid, and in the alternative creating a counterbid proposing new rolling mill constraints within the modified rolling mill constraints.

6. The industrial control system of claim 1 wherein the rolling mill constraints are a range of operating parameters and the modification of the rolling mill constraints produces a multivalued range of operating parameters that is a subset of the range of operating parameters.

7. The automatically configurable rolling mill system of claim 1 further including:

a reheat furnace having an entrance receiving billets at an input temperature, a heater heating the billets to a reheat temperature and at an exit discharging the billets at the reheat temperature;

a reheat controller having;

(a) an electronic memory holding data representing;

(i) reheat furnace constraints indicating constraints on the operation of the reheat furnace;

(ii) inter-machine relationships indicating physical operating parameters of the reheat furnace dependent on physical operating parameters of other machines to which the reheat furnace is connected;

(b) an electronic computer executing a stored program to;

(i) receive the job plan describing a job to be performed by the reheat furnace and the other machines;

(ii) modify the reheat furnace constraints identified by the inter-machine relationships, by the corresponding machine constraints of the other machines;

(iii) after the modification of (ii), exchange bids and counterbids with the other machines proposing completion or portions of the job by the reheat furnace and the other machines; and

(iv) evaluate the feasibility of the bids and counterbids against the modified reheat furnace constraints.

8. The rolling mill system of claim 7 wherein the modified reheat furnace constraints are selected from the group consisting of the input temperature and the reheat temperature.

9. The automatically configurable rolling mill system of claim 1 further including:

a cooling bath having an entrance receiving billets at an input temperature, a cooling medium cooling the billets to a cooled temperature and an exit discharging the billets at the cooled temperature;

a cooling bath controller having;

(a) an electronic memory holding data representing;

(i) cooling bath constraints indicating constraints on the operation of the cooling bath;

(ii) inter-machine relationships indicating physical operating parameters of the cooling bath dependent on physical operating parameters of other machines to which the cooling bath is connected;

(b) an electronic computer executing a stored program to;

(i) receive the job plan describing a job to be performed by the cooling bath and the other machines;

(ii) modify the cooling bath constraints identified by the inter-machine relationships, by the corresponding machine constraints of the other machines;

(iii) after the modification of (ii), exchange bids and counterbids with the other machines proposing completion or portions of the job by the cooling bath and the other machines; and

(iv) evaluate the feasibility of the bids and counterbids against the modified cooling bath constraints.

10. The rolling mill system of claim 9 wherein the modified cooling bath constraints are selected from the group consisting of the input temperature and the reheat temperature.

11. The automatically configurable rolling mill system of claim 1 further including:

a reheat furnace having an entrance receiving billets at an input temperature, a heater heating the billets to a reheat temperature and an exit discharging the billets at the reheat temperature;

a reheat controller having;

(a) an electronic memory holding data representing;

(i) reheat furnace constraints indicating constraints on the operation of the reheat furnace;

(ii) inter-machine relationships indicating physical operating parameters of the reheat furnace dependent on physical operating parameters of other machines to which the reheat furnace is connected;

(b) an electronic computer executing a stored program to;

(i) receive the job plan describing a job to be performed by the reheat furnace and the other machines;

(ii) modify the reheat furnace constraints identified by the inter-machine relationships by the corresponding machine constraints of the other machines;

(iii) after the modification of (ii), exchange bids and counterbids with the other machines proposing completion or portions of the job by the reheat furnace and the other machines; and

(iv) evaluate the feasibility of the bids and counterbids against the modified reheat furnace constraints.

12. The rolling mill system of claim 11 wherein the modified reheat furnace constraints are selected from the group consisting of the input temperature and the reheat temperature.