SmartFactoryKL will exhibit expanded infrastructure functions at the Hannover Messe: Measurements moved from infrastructure box to edge devices.
Not only do the production lines have to be flexible in the context of plug and produce for versatile production on demand. The associated infrastructure must also be more flexibly linked to the plant to supply the production modules. The partner consortium behind the SmartFactoryKL Industrie 4.0 production plant will present a solution where, for the first time, the data management of the production modules no longer resides in various infrastructure boxes, but instead, can be centrally managed. This is made possible through the use of edge devices. The application will be on display at the Hannover Messe from April 23-27, at the joint exhibit stand of SmartFactoryKL and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Hall 8, Stand D18.
In the past, an infrastructure box supplied every two modules of the SmartFactoryKL production plant with all required media – electrical power, compressed air, industrial Ethernet. This year, for the first time, the partner consortium shows how a central box can take over the supply functions for a complete production line with up to four modules.
An additional simplification has been achieved in the area of data measurement: in the past data measurement and evaluation was done within the infrastructure boxes, whereas, this year a decentralized approach has been introduced. In this approach, edge devices are retrofitted as needed, on or in the individual modules, which supports the handling of the entire data management for the connected production modules. The edge device provides the data for the various services such as edge computing or data transfer to the cloud. Furthermore, the edge devices provide and make use of the administrative shells of the installed components within the manufacturing modules. In this way, the “intelligent” infrastructure moves closer to the production stations themselves.
Additional Use Case: Contactless charging of flexible transport systems
In 2018, the flexible transport system (FTS) of the SmartFactoryKL Industrie 4.0 plant takes on additional, energy intensive functions, for example, optical quality assurance during product transport by means of 5G communication technologies. To accelerate the battery charging process and simplify the logistics, the FTS is recharged after reaching a docking station without any physical contact. The transfers between the production line and the transport system are used for the energy transmission process and ensure the long-term availability of the FTS.