Central Filling Plant Control With GUI Reconfiguration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Filling plants lack a centralized control system that allows for easy adaptation and dynamic reconfiguration of machine operations, requiring manual and customer-specific programming by experts, leading to increased complexity and costs.
Innovation Solution
A filling plant with a central control device and graphical user interface (GUI) that enables intuitive, low-code or no-code programming, utilizing artificial intelligence and self-learning systems to control and regulate machine operations, allowing flexible configuration and adaptation without specialized knowledge.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If individual machines are controlled independently with manual programming, then each machine can operate autonomously, but the overall system lacks adaptability and requires expert programming for each customer-specific function
Solution Approach 1:
A central control device is introduced as an intermediary between the user and the individual machines. This mediator consolidates control functions, enabling centralized management of all machines while providing a unified interface for programming and configuration, thereby improving adaptability without increasing individual machine complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The control functions of multiple individual machines are merged into a single central control device. This consolidation allows for unified programming and configuration, reducing the need for separate expert programming for each machine while maintaining autonomous operation capabilities through distributed control
2Reliability
If customer-specific functions are programmed individually in each machine, then each machine can be precisely configured, but the commissioning time and costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The central control device pre-configures and stores control programs for multiple machines. During commissioning, these pre-prepared configurations can be quickly deployed to individual machines, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual programming while maintaining precise configuration capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
Control configurations and programs can be copied from the central control device to individual machines or replicated across multiple machines. This copying mechanism enables rapid deployment of customer-specific functions without requiring expert programming for each machine, significantly reducing commissioning time while preserving configuration precision
3Device complexity
If machines communicate only with direct predecessor or successor, then the control system is simple, but the central control device cannot access information about other machines in the line
Solution Approach 1:
The control architecture transitions from a one-dimensional linear communication chain (machine to immediate neighbor only) to a two-dimensional structure where machines communicate with neighbors while also connecting to a central control device. This dimensional expansion enables the central device to access information from all machines without complicating the basic machine-to-machine communication
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a filling plant having a plurality of machines, each of which is configured to perform operating functions on the basis of a respective set of commands, and a central control device that is configured to control the operating functions of the plurality of machines. Furthermore, the filling plant comprises a graphical user interface, which is configured to communicate with the central control device and to provide a user with graphically supported programming of the central control device.