COSMOS

Cost-driven Adaptive Factory based on Modular Self-Contained Factory Units

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Wind turbines and aeronautic are sectors where Europe is leading the world class competition. To guarantee this competitiveness, their productivity has to be improved. The adoption of an automation strategy is a key factor to increase productivity. In the wind turbine manufacturing, the assembly is one of the core processes. Most of these assembly operations are manual which has the quality of being the most flexible way to do the work. The main objective for COSMOS is the design/development/implementation of a control system for factory management with a flexible, modular and evolvable automation approach which will permit to increase the assembly factory productivity by 20% without losing flexibility, focused on wind turbine assembly process although the solution will be suitable for other sectors. Cost models will be defined to assist in establishing the economically optimum factory’s configuration and automation level. The achievement of the main objective will be obtained by fulfilling the following technical objectives: -Create a factory organisation conception based on intelligent factory units for facilitating the self-adaptation to production changes under a flexible and modular automation configuration basis. -Develop the distributed control system architecture according to such factory organisation. -Develop the service layer infrastructure between control system and equipment involved in production. COSMOS system features: -Autonomous behaviour of the factory units. -Multilayer decentralised control. The control will work in three interconnected levels. -Interoperable connectivity with factory units’ equipment/devices. -Local intelligence (self-adaptation to different parts conditions without human intervention). -Collaboration among equipment/devices to complete specific tasks. COSMOS will be implemented as a pilot installation for the assembly of wind turbines nacelles (most critical and added value part).'

Introduzione (Teaser)

For Europe to guarantee its leading position in the wind generation of energy, manufacturing processes should be improved throughout the production chain of wind turbines. EU-funded researchers focused on assembly, the area with the greatest margin for improvements.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Today, most assembly operations in the wind turbine industry are carried out manually with the help of tools and machines. The main disadvantages of manual assembly are the relatively high degree of variability and the need to repeat certain tasks difficult to complete the first time correctly. One approach to improving the assembly process is the introduction of automation solutions.

Despite the difficulties of implementing automated control systems, realising this holds enormous potential for improvement in terms of quality and manufacturing times. The main objective of the EU-funded project 'Cost-driven adaptive factory based on modular self-contained factory units' (http://www.cosmosproject.eu/ (COSMOS)) was to develop such a system of multi-level control for the management of a factory.

With the focus on wind turbine assembly, the COSMOS manufacturing model is based on intelligent factory units capable of self-adaptation to eventual changes in production. A distributed control system enables synchronisation of the work of different factory units. Having defined the main project concepts, scientists worked on an agent-based management software for the assembly of wind turbine nacelles.

Nacelles are the most critical elements of wind turbines comprising thousands of parts with a large number of variants that are continuously evolving. COSMOS partners proposed to automate their assembly employing a framework of agents. For manufacturing, agents are sensors, actuators and controlling devices that can be reused for different tasks.

Self-adaptability was achieved by providing each agent with a cost function and error metrics for the successful completion of a task despite environmental changes and uncertainty. COSMOS researchers also introduced the concept of self-contained factory units. These are units of production that incorporate the resources and management skills necessary for producing an overall set of products.

Lastly, researchers integrated the communication infrastructure between all devices involved in production processes with the central system of control. The COSMOS system is expected to have major impact on manufacturing industries that rely on manual assembly, including the aerospace and railway industries. Enhancing productivity while simultaneously increasing flexibility will help Europe maintain its leading position in the wind generation industry.