OPAK

Brief description

The OPAK project focuses on the development of a 3D-supported engineering platform for intuitive planning, development and commissioning of production plants. The plant can be initially planned, independent of the manufacturer, based on purely functional descriptions of the standard components of the automation system. The precise components with the specific performance characteristics of the respective supplier are not added until later.

Challenge

In modern production plants, components are increasingly being networked to each other and also to other parts of the value chain. Individual components are being equipped with a growing number of sensors and actuators, given their own intelligence and communicating independently with other components. This greater complexity also means that planning, commissioning and maintenance becomes more expensive and time-consuming.

Aim

The OPAK project aims to make this easier with “plug-and-produce”. Plant planners and operators are to be given an assistance system which they can use to plan, develop, maintain and expand a plant using a 3D-supported user interface and hence in a less abstract manner.

Technologies

This focus here is on standardising interfaces, both of plant components and their mechatronic interfaces, as well as the connection between hardware and software. This approach enables real plug-and-produce so that individual components from different manufacturers can be combined to form an overall system without the need for special adaptation. The functions of the individual components are described in a standardised manner so that they reflect their physical abilities, and this benefits the designer who can, for instance, directly determine the route of mechatronic axes or conveyor belts instead of describing them in a manner that the computer understands. OPAK does this by automatically generating the corresponding program code for the machine ín the background. Using 3D visualisation, the designer can directly track the effects of his changes and optimise the plant. Thanks to this progress, the plant engineer can focus entirely on programming the plant. The advantage of this is that in addition to making it easier to write control programs, the plant can already undergo virtual testing on the computer which means considerable savings.

Use case

The results of the project will be demonstrated in four applications in research, industry and education. Taking the Asys Group and Festo AG as examples, the viability of the planned software architectures is to be tested in industrial production. Using specific mechatronic elements, such as grabbers, conveyor belts, pneumatic cylinders and electrical linear axes, simple production plant design will be demonstrated. This much simpler planning and commissioning of production plants will also be demonstrated in the Lemgo Model Factory at Ostwestfalen-Lippe University and in a modular production system at Festo Didactic and will pave the way for new possibilities in research as well as training and advanced education because production plant design now no longer calls for special programming skills. 3D visualisation also means that staff can be quickly and easily trained in the different plants.

Partners: Festo AG & Co. KG (consortium leader), ASYS Automatisierungssysteme GmbH, elrest Automationssysteme GmbH, Festo Didactic GmbH & Co. KG, fortiss GmbH, Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe (inIT), 3S-Smart Software Solutions GmbH