A fully automatic vertical fish-killing machine control system based on TwinCAT3

Abstract

This invention discloses a fully automatic vertical fish-killing machine control system based on TwinCAT3, belonging to the field of automated control technology for aquatic product processing equipment. The system adopts an open architecture of "PC + TwinCAT3," with EtherCAT fieldbus as the communication core. The hardware consists of a host computer, Beckhoff embedded controller, servo drive unit, sensors, and actuators for transmission, positioning, descaling, cutting, and evisceration. The software is developed based on the TwinCAT3 platform, integrating modules for fish size detection, multi-axis synchronous motion, process timing control, status monitoring, and human-machine interaction. The system acquires fish size parameters through displacement and photoelectric sensors, and relies on servo control and timing logic to achieve coordinated actions of various mechanisms, completing the fully automated fish-killing process. This system has a simple structure, reliable control, and moderate development and debugging difficulty. It solves the problems of asynchronous actions, poor fish adaptability, and insufficient processing accuracy in traditional fish-killing machines, and can meet the automated processing needs of common fish species.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of aquatic product processing equipment control technology, specifically to a fully automatic vertical fish-killing machine control system based on TwinCAT3, which is suitable for multi-mechanism coordinated control and automated processing of vertical fish-killing machines. Background Technology

[0002] Fully automatic vertical fish-killing machines are commonly used automated equipment in the aquatic product processing industry. They can complete continuous processes such as fish conveying, positioning and clamping, descaling, gutting, and cleaning. The performance of their control system directly determines the processing efficiency and the quality of the finished product. Existing fish-killing machine control systems generally suffer from the following problems:

[0003] The system suffers from poor coordination among multiple mechanisms. Traditional equipment often uses relays or ordinary bus control, resulting in poor synchronization of the actions of each actuator. This can easily lead to process interruptions and misalignments, affecting processing stability. Furthermore, the system lacks adaptability to different fish sizes. Most equipment requires manual adjustment of clamping and processing parameters and cannot automatically adjust according to the actual size of the fish, limiting its applicability. Control precision and reliability are also insufficient. Point-to-point control is coarse, easily leading to problems such as cutting deviation and uneven scaling. Moreover, it lacks a comprehensive status monitoring and protection mechanism. Finally, the system has poor scalability, often employing a closed control structure, making parameter modification and function upgrades inconvenient and difficult to adapt to the flexible needs of small-scale aquatic product processing.

[0004] TwinCAT3, as a general-purpose industrial automation control platform, has the advantages of simple wiring, stable communication, and convenient development when paired with the EtherCAT bus. Designing a fish-killing machine control system based on this platform can reduce development complexity while ensuring control effectiveness, and has good practical value. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a fully automatic vertical fish-killing machine control system based on TwinCAT3, which solves the problems of asynchronous operation, poor fish body adaptability, insufficient control precision, and weak scalability of traditional fish-killing machines.

[0006] This invention adopts a three-layer architecture of "hardware layer - software layer - human-computer interaction layer", which has a simple overall structure, clear control logic, and stable and reliable operation.

[0007] The hardware layer uses an EtherCAT bus to build a distributed control structure: the host computer is a conventional industrial PC used for program development, parameter configuration, and status monitoring; the Beckhoff embedded controller acts as the EtherCAT master station, responsible for signal processing, logic operations, and motion control command output; servo drivers and motors serve as execution units, driving the transmission, positioning, descaling, cutting, and evisceration mechanisms; digital I / O modules are used for sensor signal acquisition and actuator control signal output; the sensor unit uses displacement sensors and photoelectric limit sensors, with displacement sensors used to detect fish size and photoelectric limit sensors used for process positioning and action triggering; the power supply module provides a stable DC power supply to the system, and the overall hardware wiring is standardized, facilitating installation and debugging.

[0008] The software layer is developed based on the TwinCAT3 platform and adopts a modular design, with all modules implemented based on basic control logic.

[0009] Fish size detection module: Reads displacement sensor data in real time, obtains fish length and width parameters through linear conversion, outputs the parameters to motion control unit, and automatically matches the corresponding clamping stroke and processing position;

[0010] Multi-axis synchronous motion module: It adopts a master-slave follow-up control mode, with the transmission device as the reference axis and the other mechanisms following the action according to the preset timing sequence. The EtherCAT bus ensures synchronous transmission of commands and achieves smooth linkage.

[0011] Process timing control module: It adopts sequential triggering logic and uses photoelectric sensor signals as switching conditions to complete the entire process of fish feeding, conveying, positioning, descaling, cutting, devising and discharging in sequence. The logic is simple and the operation is stable.

[0012] Status monitoring module: Real-time monitoring of motor current and sensor on / off status; setting overload and abnormal thresholds; immediate shutdown and alarm signal output in case of fault, ensuring equipment and processing safety.

[0013] The human-machine interface layer includes a touch monitoring interface and a manual operation unit: the touch interface can display the equipment operating status, fish size parameters, and fault information in real time, and supports parameter settings such as conveying speed and processing position; the manual operation unit includes jog, start, stop, and reset buttons, which facilitate equipment debugging and emergency operation; the interactive system is connected to the controller through a basic communication protocol, ensuring stable data transmission and intuitive and convenient operation.

[0014] After powering on, the system completes self-tests of the controller, servo motor, and sensors, and enters standby mode. Parameters such as processing speed and compatible size range are set through the human-machine interface. After the fish is placed in the system, the photoelectric sensor at the feed inlet is triggered, and the conveyor mechanism starts feeding. When the fish reaches the detection position, the displacement sensor completes size detection, and the adjustment device automatically adjusts the clamping position. After clamping, the system sequentially starts the descaling, cutting, and eviscerating mechanisms, with each mechanism acting synchronously and collaboratively. After processing is completed, the discharge mechanism sends out the finished fish, and the system resets to enter the next processing cycle. During operation, the status monitoring module provides real-time protection, and in case of abnormalities, the system immediately stops and alarms. Attached Figure Description

[0015] To provide a detailed description of the technical solution of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the present invention will be briefly introduced.

[0016] Figure 1 This is a hardware topology diagram of the control system of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 This is a block diagram of the control system software modules of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 This is a layered architecture diagram of the robot control system of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating the entire development process of the robot control system for this invention. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0021] In this embodiment, Figure 1 The control system hardware uses an EtherCAT chain topology. The host computer is a conventional industrial PC with TwinCAT3 automation software installed, communicating with the Beckhoff embedded controller via Ethernet. The EtherCAT master station is the Beckhoff embedded controller, serving as the core control unit of the system. The EtherCAT slave stations include servo drivers and digital I / O modules. The conveying device, positioning device, descaling mechanism, cutting device, and evisceration mechanism are all equipped with matching servo motors and drivers. In the sensor unit, displacement sensors are installed on both sides of the positioning device to collect fish size signals, and photoelectric limit sensors are installed at the feeding, positioning, cutting, and discharging stations for process triggering and positioning. The sensor signal lines are connected to the digital input module, and the actuator control lines are connected to the digital output module. A 24V DC power supply powers all hardware units.

[0022] Figure 2This is a block diagram of the control system software modules of the present invention. The software system is developed based on the TwinCAT3 platform. After creating a new project, the EtherCAT bus is scanned to complete the mapping and parameter configuration of slave devices. The servo driver is set to position control mode, and a normal control cycle is set to ensure stable operation. The control program is written in structured text language to realize the functions of fish size detection, multi-axis synchronous motion, process timing control, and status monitoring. Fish size detection obtains the actual size by reading the analog data of the displacement sensor and performing linear calculations, and outputs the control parameters. Multi-axis motion uses the transmission axis as the reference, and the other axes follow the movement according to the preset delay and position to ensure coordination. Process control adopts photoelectric signal triggering logic. After the signal of the previous process is in place, the next process is automatically started. Status monitoring reads the motor status word and sensor level signal in real time. Abnormal status immediately triggers shutdown and alarm.

[0023] The human-machine interface system is developed using a conventional touch interface, which includes a status display area, a parameter setting area, and an operation button area. It can display the current process, fish size, and fault codes in real time, and supports modification of key parameters such as speed and position. The manual buttons can realize single-axis jogging, system start and stop, and fault reset, which is convenient for debugging and daily operation. The communication method adopts a standard protocol to ensure stable transmission of instructions and data between the host computer and the controller.

[0024] Figure 3 The intelligent fish-killing machine's hierarchical control system architecture, based on TwinCAT3+EtherCAT, adopts a three-layer progressive design: the top layer is the human-machine interaction layer, integrating a teach pendant and a host computer monitoring interface to realize the distribution of fish-killing operation parameters, transmission of operation commands, and real-time uploading of equipment operating status; the core module layer is the control hub, integrating five major functional modules: fish size adaptation (visual acquisition and feature extraction to adapt to different fish sizes), kinematic modeling and trajectory planning (DH modeling to generate precise processing trajectories), multi-axis collaborative control (1ms synchronous control to ensure processing accuracy), process timing linkage (logic and interlock protection of each fish-killing process), and status monitoring and fault diagnosis, supporting the fully automated operation of the fish-killing process; the bottom layer is the TwinCAT3+EtherCAT bus layer, equipped with a real-time control kernel, providing underlying hardware support for the high-speed and high-stability processing of the fish-killing machine through millisecond-level distributed data transmission.

[0025] Figure 4The complete development and implementation process of this intelligent fish-killing machine control system follows a standardized logic from low-level configuration to high-level application: starting with creating a new TwinCAT3 project and scanning the EtherCAT bus, the system sequentially completes the configuration of servo and I / O modules, slave device mapping, servo CSP mode and 1ms control cycle settings, then allocates NC axes, develops DH kinematics forward and inverse kinematics function blocks, integrates OpenCV visual fish body recognition and force feedback algorithm library, writes the fish-killing process state machine linkage program, and after hardware and software integration, debugging and operation and loop parameter optimization, the fish-killing machine system is finally put into use, fully covering the entire development process from hardware construction to the implementation of fish-killing automation functions.

[0026] In actual operation, after the system completes initialization, it enters standby mode. After the fish is placed in, the processing process is automatically started. Conveying, positioning, descaling, cutting, and unloading are executed in an orderly manner without human intervention. The equipment is suitable for common fish sizes, with smooth processing, accurate positioning, and stable continuous operation. In case of abnormality, it can quickly stop the machine and indicate the cause of the fault. After resetting, it can continue to operate. Invention Effects

[0027] This invention is built on TwinCAT3 and EtherCAT buses, featuring a simple overall structure, clear control logic, and stable and reliable operation, offering the following advantages:

[0028] The multi-mechanism collaboration effect is good. Through bus synchronous control, the smooth linkage of each actuator is realized, the process connection is stable, and the misalignment of actions and processing jams are effectively avoided.

[0029] It has strong adaptability to fish bodies and can automatically detect size and adjust processing parameters through sensors, eliminating the need for frequent manual adjustments and making it more widely applicable.

[0030] It features high control precision and safety, employs basic servo point-to-point control to ensure accurate machining position, and a comprehensive status monitoring module to achieve real-time fault protection, thereby enhancing the safety of equipment operation.

[0031] The system is highly scalable, based on an open platform design, with standardized hardware wiring and modular software. Parameters can be modified or functions expanded according to requirements to adapt to different processing scenarios.

[0032] It is easy to develop and maintain. The overall solution does not require complex algorithms or professional equipment. The hardware is universal, the software is easy to read, and it is convenient to install, debug and maintain.

[0033] This invention can effectively meet the automated processing needs of fully automatic vertical fish-killing machines, is suitable for small-scale aquatic product processing scenarios, and has high practical and promotional value.

Claims

1. A fully automatic vertical fish-killing machine control system based on TwinCAT3, characterized in that, It includes a hardware layer, a software layer and a human-computer interaction layer. The hardware layer and the software layer realize data interaction through the EtherCAT fieldbus, and the software layer is built on the TwinCAT3 platform. Hardware layer: includes host computer, Beckhoff embedded controller, EtherCAT slave unit, actuator and sensor unit; the EtherCAT slave unit includes servo driver and digital I / O module; the actuator includes conveyor motor, positioner motor, descaling mechanism motor, cutting mechanism motor, and visceration mechanism motor; the sensor unit includes displacement sensor and photoelectric limit sensor; Software layer: Running on the TwinCAT3 platform, including fish size detection module, multi-axis synchronous motion module, process timing control module, and status monitoring module; it uses basic point positioning and linear interpolation to achieve motion control of each axis, and uses sensor signals to trigger process linkage; Human-machine interaction layer: includes a touch monitoring interface and a manual operation unit, which realizes parameter setting, status display, start / stop control and fault prompt functions through communication.

2. The control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The fish size detection module collects the width and length signals of the fish through a displacement sensor, calculates the fish size parameters through data conversion, and outputs them to the control system to automatically adjust the clamping stroke of the positioning device to adapt to fish of different sizes.

3. The control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The multi-axis synchronous motion module uses the conveying device as the reference axis and the positioning, descaling, cutting, and visceration devices as follow-up axes. The EtherCAT bus is used to synchronize the movements of each axis, ensuring smooth process connection.

4. The control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The process timing control module adopts sensor signal triggered sequential control logic. After the fish is delivered to the correct position, the repositioning action is triggered. After the repositioning is completed, the scaling, cutting, and visceration actions are triggered in sequence. After processing is completed, the unloading action is executed.

5. The control system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The status monitoring module collects motor operating status and sensor signals in real time, provides real-time alarms and shutdown protection for motor overload and sensor abnormalities, and supports fault reset and process restart.

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