Schneider Electric Usa, Inc.

Schneider Automation Gmbh

Schneider Electric Automation Gmbh

Ronald Schoop

James M Simonelli

Scott Henneberry

Gregory Allen Thompson

Vincent Petit

Eckart I Tietze

Siegfried Ralf Neubert

John Connor

Philip E London

Cyril Perducat

Jean-Louis Bergerand

Barry Coflan

Philippe Delorme

Armando Walter Colombo

Axel Bepperling

Rui Milagaia

Marco Mendes

Jim Simonelli

Armado Walter Colombo

Riu Milagaia

An integrated solution strategy that integrates multiple domains together in a seamless and standardized way for increasing a user's control over facilities and equipment. This integrated approach can lead to a reduction of energy usage, more efficient energy usage, increased safety, health, and security of a facility and its occupants, optimized production in industrial settings, and associated and other economic advantages. Accurate, reliable information about a facility or equipment is essential to making timely, informed decisions. Enhanced automation provides a reliable means of collecting and assembling a variety of operating data and archiving that data into a central database for evaluation, reporting, forecasting, and negotiation with resource marketers.

Methods of integrating multiple management domains

An integrated solution strategy that integrates multiple domains together in a seamless and standardized way for increasing a users control over facilities and equipment. This integrated approach can lead to a reduction of energy usage, more efficient energy usage, increased safety, health, and security of a facility and its occupants, optimized production in industrial settings, and associated and other economic advantages. Accurate, reliable information about a facility or equipment is essential to making timely, informed decisions. Enhanced automation provides a reliable means of collecting and assembling a variety of operating data and archiving that data into a central database for evaluation, reporting, forecasting, and negotiation with resource marketers.

The invention relates to a collaborative automation system (PS), comprising devices providing divided production and control services (D) such as transport and processing machines (M) with associated device agents (ST-AG, MA-AG), products with associated product agents (WP-AG), and a coordination unit (CO) providing a communication platform (SKP); the invention further relates to a method for the control of such a system. In order to obtain a dynamic detection and calling of processes in a loosely coupled production structure and infrastructure, the invention provides for devices (ST, MA, WP) providing the production and control services to be associated with a DPWS-based web service (ST-WS; MA-WS), wherein device functions are implemented into the DPWS-based web service as device service and agent functions. The communication platform (SKP) is designed as a uniform, DPWS-oriented SOA platform. The devices (ST, MA, WP) providing production and control services communicate via an integrated DPWS-based web service (ST-WS; MA-WS) and via a single communication platform (SKP), wherein device functions are implemented as device services (ST-WS; MA-WS) and agent functions describing device agents (ST-AG; MA-AG; WP-AG) as agent services in the DPWS-based web service. The communication platform is used as a uniform, DPWS-oriented SOA platform.

Collaborative automation system and method for the control thereof

Process for developing and implementing a model (ASM) for the formal description of a collaborative system including multiple, distributed components, wherein analyzable models of the components are generated via simulation processes. The invention includes the steps of generation of models of collaborative units, preparation of a catalog of models of the collaborative units, assignment of a set of rules to the catalog for the specification of interactions among the autonomous models of the collaborative units and for the development of the model of the complex collaborative system, generation of the desired model using selected models of the collaborative units as the basic module from the catalog, and taking selected rules into account, and automatic adaptation of the model by deriving new rules, taking into account evaluation parameters for each application in one process operation.

Process for developing and implementing a model for the formal description of a collaborative system comprised of multiple distributed components, especially an intelligent, flexible production and/or process automation system

The invention relates to a method for monitoring a workpiece (WSx) during a transportation and/or production process with at least one workpiece agent (WA . . . WAn) assigned to the workpiece. To enhance the freedom of the process from failure on the one hand and to facilitate the incorporation of new workpieces into the process on the other, it is provided that the failure of a workpiece agent (WA . . . WAn) assigned to a workpiece (WSx) is detected; that the monitoring of the workpiece (WSx) is taken over by a further workpiece agent (WAk), and workpiece-specific data of the taken-over workpiece (WSx) are contained in the workpiece agent (WAk) taking over the monitoring and/or in a database and are transmitted in the workpiece agents.

Method for monitoring a workpiece during a transportation and/or production process

The invention relates to a transportation system ( ) for transporting objects (WSx), in particular workpieces, including a plurality of parallel or substantially parallel transportation paths ( ) and a device ( ) for shifting the objects (WSx) between at least two adjacent transportation paths ( ). In order to reduce both the space required for the transportation path and the time consumption for displacing the workpieces between the transportation paths, it is proposed that the transportation paths ( ) are disposed one above the other in different planes, and that the workpieces (WSx) on being shifted are moved on a path ( ) that defines a plane extending perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the transportation paths ( ).

Transportation system for transporting objects

The invention relates to a method for adjusting the workpiece flow in a production system ( ), including workpieces ( ) and workpiece agents ( ) associated with the workpieces, machines ( ) for machining the workpieces ( ), and machine agents ( ) associated with the machines ( ) and transportation device ( ). To make a flexible production system available that is tolerant of at least partial failures of system components, it is provided that each transportation agent ( ) is assigned at least one machine ( ) with a specified machine address Mn; that the transportation agent ( ) is tasked to transport the workpiece ( ) to a desired destination machine address Mz; and that the transportation agent ( ) autonomously controls the transportation device ( ) in such a way that the workpiece ( ) is transported to the machine with the destination machine address Mz via a specified destination exit (A -A ).

Method for adjusting the workpiece flow in a production system

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Hainburg, Germany

Ronald Schoop