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- Developing an OPC UA Server for CNC MachinesPublication . Martins, André; Lucas, João; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, CarlosThis paper addresses the concept of Industry 4.0 from the perspective of the molds industry, a key industry in today’s industrial panorama. With its constant modernization, several technologies have been introduced, in particular regarding machining equipment. With each brand and model requiring different (proprietary) interfaces and communication protocols, this technological diversity renders the automatic interconnection with production management software extremely challenging. In this paper a methodology to build monitoring solutions for machining devices is defined, based on the main equipment and operations used by molds industry companies. For a standardized approach, OPC UA is used for high-level communication between the various systems. As a key result of this paper, and given the variety of monitoring systems and communication protocols, the developed approach combines various different machine interfaces on a single system, in order to cover a relevant subset of machining equipment currently in use by the molds industry. This kind of all-in-one approach will give production managers access to the information needed for a continuous monitoring and improvement of the entire production process.
- CNC Machines Integration in Smart Factories using OPC UAPublication . Martins, André; Lucas, João; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, CarlosThis paper examines the idea of Industry 4.0 from the perspective of the molds industry, a vital industry in today’s industrial panorama. Several technologies, particularly in the area of machining equipment, have been introduced as a result of the industry’s constant modernization. This technological diversity makes automatic interconnection with production management software extremely difficult, as each brand and model requires different, mostly proprietary, interfaces and communication protocols. In the methodology presented in this paper, a development of monitoring solutions for machining devices is defined supporting the leading equipment and operations used by molds industry companies. OPC UA is employed for high-level communication between the various systems for a standardized approach. The approach combines various machine interfaces on a single system to cover a significant subset of machining equipment currently used by the molds industry, as a key result of this paper and given the variety of monitoring systems and communication protocols. This type of all-in-one approach will provide production managers with the information they need to monitor and improve the complete manufacturing process.
- Localization and navigation of a mobile robot in an office-like environmentPublication . Alves, Paulo; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, CarlosThis article focuses on the localization and navigation of a mobile differential robot in an indoor office-like environment. These are fundamental issues to service robotics, which is a branch with a strong market growth. The work implements a vision tracking system, environment mapping, route planning and navigation for an autonomous robot application inside services buildings. One goal of the methodology is its application with low cost equipment. The test bed chosen was a Pioneer P3-DX robot [16] in a service building, with an attached USB webcam, pointed at the ceiling to take advantage of the position of the light fixtures as natural landmarks. The robot location is estimated through two distinct probabilistic methods: a particle filter, when there is no information about the starting location of the robot, and the Kalman filter, given the convergence of the particle filter. Both methods use the detection of light fixtures together with the robot kinematics as information to estimate the pose. The mapping of the environment and its obstacles is obtained from the localization estimates and the information gathered by ultrasound sensors, representing the entire navigation space discretized in the form of an occupation grid. Planning the navigation path is determined by a simple search algorithm, namely the Wavefront algorithm, based on the information contained in the occupancy grid. For a given path, navigation is performed with obstacle avoidance using the virtual forces method. Replanning is used to recover from local minima situations.
- A novel monolithic silicon sensor for measuring acceleration, pressure and temperature on a shock absorberPublication . Ferreira, C.; Ventura, P.; Grinde, C.; Morais, R.; Valente, A.; Neves, C.; Reis, M.J.C.S.; Henriques Ferreira, Carlos Daniel; Neves, CarlosA fabricated micro-mechanical sensor to assess the condition of automotive shock absorbers is presented. The monolithic sensor, measures the oil temperature, acceleration and internal pressure of the shock absorber. A dual mass accelerometer with optimized beam geometry is used for acceleration readout. In addition, a 23.1 μm thickness square membrane and two buried resistors are used for pressure and temperature sensing respectively. The proposed miniaturized sensor can be effectively integrated with standard single- and dual-tube shock absorbers. The data acquired during normal vehicle operation can be continuously used to monitor the condition of the shock absorbers, allowing shock absorbers to be replaced before their degradation significantly reduce the comfort, performance and safety of the vehicle.
- Sensing methodologies to determine automotive damper condition under vehicle normal operationPublication . Ferreira, Carlos Daniel Henriques; Ventura, Paulo; Morais, Raul; Valente, António L.G.; Neves, Carlos; Reis, Manuel C.Vehicles rely on the efficiency of dampers to dissipate energy from the motion of vehicle body and wheels, maintaining the vehicle more stable, and improving the contact between tires and the road surface. To achieve an effective monitoring of dampers (or shock absorbers), two different methodologies, capable of assessing, under vehicle normal operation, the condition of the automotive dampers are presented. The proposed methodologies are based in acceleration, temperature and pressure sensing to determine the shock absorber condition, and are therefore suitable for future implementation in low cost fabrication technologies. The results shown that it is possible to have an effective monitoring device, installed in the damper body, capable of continuously determining shock absorber status, and therefore enabling real time diagnosis. Such a diagnosis system can reduce the number of vehicles riding with defective suspension systems and increase the overall vehicle safety.
- Digital Twin Development for a Quality Control CellPublication . Marcella Cavalcanti; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, Carlos; Martins, André; Luís PerdigotoThe Digital Twin is one of the enabling technologies of Industry 4.0, Cyber-Physical Systems and Smart Factories. In this context, Digital Twins can be developed for being employed through the entire lifecycle of a system, for design, operation, monitoring, maintenance, and even fault prediction and reconfiguration. This paper describes the development of a Digital Twin for a Quality Control cell that is part of a larger manufacturing process in the automotive industry. The virtual environment was built using ABB RobotStudio, the communication between devices in the cell was implemented with OPC UA (UA. NET and open62541), and the process data are registered in a database using MySQL. The results show a fully functional simulation of the cell's behaviour and future development will include the connection of the Digital Twin with the real system.
- Flexible Manufacturing Systems Through the Integration of Asset Administration Shells, Skill-Based Manufacturing, and OPC UAPublication . Martins, André; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, Carlos; Cosgrove, John; Lyons, JohnThe advent of Industry 4.0 has created a need for more flexible and adaptable manufacturing systems. This paper proposes the integration of AAS (Asset Administration Shells), SBM (Skill-based manufacturing) and OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture), to enable more flexible manufacturing systems. The integration of these concepts provides a solution for achieving faster and easier dynamic reconfiguration in manufacturing systems, which is essential for fulfilling the demand of customization and flexibility in modern production systems. An Asset Administration Shell provides a standardized structure for describing assets and their administration, while Skill-based manufacturing enables the deployment of task-oriented machines that can self-configure, self-diagnose, and self-optimize their performance. The use of OPC UA as a communication protocol ensures that these systems can communicate with one another in a secure and reliable way. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the integration of these three open technologies. This framework contributes to having a single interface and source of information for every asset, which can lead to increased efficiency by reducing changeover times, thus reducing the overall cost in flexible manufacturing system scenarios. Future work will focus on the implementation and validation of this framework in a real-world manufacturing setting.
- A multidisciplinary engineering-based approach for tunnelling strengthening with a new fibre reinforced shotcrete technologyPublication . Barros, Joaquim; Costelha, Hugo; Bento, David; Brites, Nelson; Luís, Rui; Patrício, Hugo; Cunha, Vítor M.C.F.; Bento, Luís; Miranda, Tiago; Coelho, Paulo; Azenha, Miguel; Neves, Carlos; Salehian, Hamidreza; Moniz, Gonçalo; Nematollahi, Mojtaba; Teixeira, Abel; Taheri, Mahsa; Mezhyrych, Anton; Hosseinpour, Emad; Correia, Tales; Kazemi, Hamid; Hassanshahi, Omid; Rashiddel, Alireza; Esmail, BriarThis paper describes the relevant research activities that are being carried out on the development of a novel shotcrete technology capable of applying, autonomously and in real time, fibre reinforced shotcrete (FRS) with tailored properties regarding the optimum structural strengthening of railway tunnels (RT). This technique allows to apply fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) of strain softening (SSFRC) and strain hardening (SHFRC) according to a multi-level advanced numerical simulation that considers the relevant nonlinear features of these FRC, as well as their interaction with the surrounding soil, for an intended strengthening performance of the RT. Building information modelling (BIM) is used for assisting on the development of data files of the involved design software, integrating geometric assessment of a RT, damages from inspection and diagnosis, and the characteristics of the FRS strengthening solution. A dedicated computational tool was developed to design FRC with target properties. The preliminary experimental results on the evaluation of the relevant mechanical properties of the FRS are presented and discussed, as well as the experimental tests on the bond between FRS and current substrates found in RT. Representative numerical simulations were performed to demonstrate the structural performance of the proposed FRS-based strengthening technique. Computational tools capable of assuring, in real time, the aimed thickness of the layers forming the FRS strengthening shell were also developed. The first generation of a mechanical device for controlling the amount of fibres to be added, in real time, to the FRS mixture was conceived, built and tested. A mechanism is also being developed to improve the fibre distribution during its introduction through the mechanical device to avoid fibre balling. This work describes the relevant achievements already attained, as introduces the planned future initiatives in the scope of this project.
- An approach to integrating manufacturing data from legacy Injection Moulding Machines using OPC UAPublication . Martins, André; Miguel Lopes e Silva, Bruno; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, Carlos; Lyons, John; Cosgrove, JohnTo achieve the ambitions related with the concept of a Smart Factory, manufacturers of new industrial devices have been developing and releasing products capable of integrating themselves into fully-connected environments, with the communication capabilities and advanced specifications required. In these environments, the automatic retrieval of data across the shop floor is a must, allowing the analysis of machine performance for increased production quality and outputs. On most of the recently released industrial devices this machine data is readily available. However, the same is not true when using legacy devices. It is also well established that most SMEs are unable or do not intend to radically replace their industrial devices with this purpose only, since that would imply a high investment, and mainly because many of these legacy machines remain highly productive. That said, there is a need to develop integration methodologies for these legacy industrial devices and provide them with smart factory communication capabilities that make them suitable for the new Smart Factory environments. In this work, an approach is proposed, using as a case study an industrial shop floor, to integrate data from a range of injection moulding machines, from different generations and different models / manufacturers. This equipment diversity renders the automatic interconnection extremely challenging, but is also representative of many existing industrial scenarios. This research will contribute to the development of integration methodologies and, consequently, improve equipment compatibility. To apply these methodologies, information about specific machines within the shop floor was gathered, as well as their communication and I/O capabilities, together with other features deemed relevant. A trend in recently released machines can be identified, revealing a special focus on the use of OPC UA standard, making use of its address space based on the structured Euromap information models. On the other hand, the legacy devices mainly allow outputting a text file to an external storage unit connected to the machine, containing machine and injection cycles related information. Regarding the communication interfaces available, the Ethernet interface reveals to be the most common among the recently acquired machines, while USB is the main interface in older equipment. An experimental solution was developed for the presented case study, which uses the machine's USB interface to access these files at each injection cycle, mapping the acquired data to structured information model variables, according with Euromap specifications, and making it available through an OPC UA server address space. The developed server provides a standardized, interoperable, scalable, and secure approach for data exchange between the injection moulding machines and various OPC UA clients, allowing device monitoring and control during operation, as well as transmitting this data to higher-level management systems, e.g., MES and ERP systems. This solution shows that older legacy devices, available across the shop floors, can be retrofitted and integrated in Smart Factory scenarios, side-by-side with recently released equipment, giving production managers access to information needed to monitor and improve the production process, thus moving towards the Factories of the Future.
- Study of the driver’s behavior when cornering and characterization of safe speed perceptionPublication . Brás, M.; Ferreira, Carlos Daniel Henriques; Neves, CarlosRecently, there has been a growing interest in research towards autonomous vehicles, aiming to improve efficiency, safety, comfort and to eliminate human errors. However, a question arises: what should set the speed of the vehicle? The road legal limit, the maximum possible given the traffic conditions, the road critical speed or any other matter? Moreover, it has been mentioned in literature that drivers feel unsafe when using cruise control systems, namely in cornering conditions. Therefore, to study the driver’s behaviour when cornering, a test vehicle was equipped with a dedicated data acquisition system to acquire the vehicle dynamics and the driver heart rate. Trials with volunteers were carried out on a 22 km selected route, consisting of multiple types of roads, from city roads to highways. Based on the field results, we propose a control strategy for the vehicle speed when cornering relating the curve radius with the centrifugal acceleration. The proposed control strategy could be easily adopted by advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. The reproduction of a human-like behavior will enhance the perception of safety and comfort of both the driver and occupants.