AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS

21ME71
 Module -1
• Introduction to automation:
Basic elements of an automated system, advanced automation
functions, levels of automation, process industries versus discrete
manufacturing industries, continuous versus discrete control, computer
process control. Hardware components for automation and process
control, sensors, actuators, analogue to digital converters, digital to
analog converters, input/output devices for discrete data
 Automation
• Automation can be defined as the technology by which a process or procedure
is accomplished without human assistance.
• It is implemented using a program of instructions combined with a control
system that executes the instructions.
• To automate a process, power is required, both to drive the process itself and
to operate the program and control system.
• Although automation is applied in a wide variety of areas, it is most closely
associated with the manufacturing industries.
 Automated Manufacturing Systems

Three basic types:

1. Fixed automation
2. Programmable automation
3. Flexible automation
 Fixed Automation :
A manufacturing system in which the sequence of
processing (or assembly) operations is fixed by the
equipment configuration
Typical features:
 Suited to high production quantities
 High initial investment for custom-engineered equipment
 High production rates
 Relatively inflexible in accommodating product variety
 Programmable Automation

A manufacturing system designed with the capability to change the

sequence of operations to accommodate different product configurations

Typical features:
 High investment in general purpose equipment
 Lower production rates than fixed automation
 Flexibility to deal with variations and changes in product configuration
 Most suitable for batch production
 Physical setup and part program must be changed between jobs
(batches)
 Flexible Automation
An extension of programmable automation in which the system is capable
of changing over from one job to the next with no lost time between jobs

Typical features:
 High investment for custom-engineered system
 Continuous production of variable mixes of products
 Medium production rates
 Flexibility to deal with soft product variety
Product Variety and Production
Quantity for Three Automation Types
 Computerized Manufacturing Support Systems
Objectives of automating the manufacturing support systems:

 To reduce the amount of manual and clerical effort in product

design, manufacturing planning and control, and the business
functions
 Integrates computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM) in CAD/CAM
 CIM includes CAD/CAM and the business functions of the firm
 Reasons for Automating

1. To increase labor productivity

2. To reduce labor cost
3. To mitigate the effects of labor shortages
4. To reduce or remove routine manual and clerical tasks
5. To improve worker safety
6. To improve product quality
7. To reduce manufacturing lead time
8. To accomplish what cannot be done manually
9. To avoid the high cost of not automating
 Manual Labor in Production Systems

Is there a place for manual labor in the modern production system?

 Answer: YES

 Two aspects:
1. Manual labor in factory operations
2. Labor in manufacturing support systems
 Manual Labor in Factory Operations
The long term trend is toward greater use of automated systems to
substitute for manual labor
 When is manual labor justified?
 Some countries have very low labor rates and automation cannot be
justified
 Task is too technologically difficult to automate
 Short product life cycle
 Customized product requires human flexibility
 To cope with ups and downs in demand
 To reduce risk of product failure
 Labor in Manufacturing Support Systems
 Product designers who bring creativity to the design task
 Manufacturing engineers who
 Design the production equipment and tooling
 And plan the production methods and routings
 Equipment maintenance
 Programming and computer operation
 Engineering project work
 Plant management
 Automation Principles and Strategies

1. The USA Principle

2. Ten Strategies for Automation and Process Improvement

3. Automation Migration Strategy

 U.S.A Principle
1. Understand the existing process
 Input/output analysis
 Value chain analysis
 Charting techniques and mathematical modeling
2. Simplify the process
 Reduce unnecessary steps and moves
3. Automate the process
 Ten strategies for automation and production systems
 Automation migration strategy
Ten Strategies for Automation and Process
Improvement
1. Specialization of operations
2. Combined operations
3. Simultaneous operations
4. Integration of operations
5. Increased flexibility
6. Improved material handling and storage
7. On-line inspection
8. Process control and optimization
9. Plant operations control
10. Computer-integrated manufacturing
 Automation Migration Strategy
For Introduction of New Products

1. Phase 1 – Manual production

 Single-station manned cells working independently
 Advantages: quick to set up, low-cost tooling
2. Phase 2 – Automated production
 Single-station automated cells operating independently
 As demand grows and automation can be justified
3. Phase 3 – Automated integrated production
 Multi-station system with serial operations and automated
transfer of work units between stations
Automation Migration Strategy
 Automated Manufacturing Systems
Examples:
• Automated machine tools
• Transfer lines
• Automated assembly systems
• Industrial robots that perform processing or assembly operations
• Automated material handling and storage systems to integrate
manufacturing operations
• Automatic inspection systems for quality control
Basic Elements of an Automated System
Limit switches
 Industrial control is defined here as the automatic regulation of unit operations and their
associated equipment, as well as the integration and coordination of the unit operations in
the larger production system.
Industries Versus Discrete Manufacturing Industries
industries and their production operations were divided into two basic categories:
(1) process industries and
(2) discrete manufacturing industries.

Process industries perform their production operations on amounts of materials, because the
materials tend to be liquids, gases, powders, and similar materials.

Discrete manufacturing industries perform their operations on quantities of materials,

because the materials tend to be discrete parts and products.
 Variables and Parameters in the Two Industries
The distinction between process industries and discrete manufacturing industries extends to the variables
and parameters that characterize their respective production operations.
variables are defined as outputs of the process.
parameters are defined as inputs to the process.
In the process industries, the variables and parameters of interest tend to be continuous, where as in discrete
manufacturing, they tend to be discrete.
A discrete variable (or parameter) is one that can take on only certain values within a given range. The most
common type of discrete variable is binary, meaning it can take on either of two possible values, ON or
OFF, open or closed, and so on.
Examples of discrete binary variables and parameters in manufacturing include limit switch open or
closed, motor on or off, and work part present or not present in a fixture.

Not all discrete variables (and parameters) are binary.

Other possibilities are variables that can take on more than two possible values but less than an infinite
number, that is, discrete other than binary.
Examples include daily piece counts in a production operation and the display of a digital tachometer.
A special form of discrete variable is pulse data, which consist of a series of pulses (called a pulse train)
As a discrete variable, a pulse train might be used to indicate piece counts, for example, parts passing on a
conveyor activate a photocell to produce a pulse for each part detected. As a process parameter, a
pulse train might be used to drive a stepper motor.
 Continuous Control Systems

 In continuous control, the usual objective is to maintain the value of an

output variable at a desired level, similar to the operation of a feedback
control system.
 However, most continuous processes in the practical world consist of many
separate feedback loops, all of which have to be controlled and coordinated
to maintain the output variable at the desired value.
 There are several ways to achieve the control objective in a continuous
process-control system.
Feed forward Control.
Steady State Optimal Control
 Computer Process Control
 The use of digital computers to control industrial processes had its origins in the continuous process
industries in the late 1950s.
 Prior to that time, analog controllers were used to implement continuous control, and relay systems were
used to implement discrete control.
 At that time, computer technology was in its infancy, and the only computers available for process
control were large, expensive mainframes.
 Compared with today’s technology, digital computers of the 1950s were slow, unreliable, and not well
suited to process-control applications.
 The computers that were installed sometimes cost more than the processes they controlled.
 Advances in integrated circuit technology have resulted in the development of the microprocessor.
 Today, virtually all industrial processes, certainly new installations, are controlled by digital computers
based on microprocessor technology.
 Control Requirements

 Whether the application involves continuous control, discrete control, or both, there are
certain basic requirements that tend to be common to nearly all process-control
applications.
 By and large, they are concerned with the need to communicate and interact with the
process on a real-time basis.
 A real-time controller is a controller that is able to respond to the process within a
short enough time period that process performance is not degraded.
 Real-time control usually requires the controller to be capable of multitasking, which
means coping with multiple tasks concurrently without the tasks interfering with one
another.
 There are two basic requirements that must be managed by the controller to
achieve real-time control:
1. Process-initiated interrupts.
2. Timer-initiated actions.
3. Computer commands to process
4. System- and program-initiated events.
5. Operator-initiated events
Forms of Computer Process Control
 Computer-Process Interface

 To implement process control, the computer must collect data from and
transmit signals to the production process
 Components required to implement the interface:
 Sensors to measure continuous and discrete process variables
 Actuators to drive continuous and discrete process parameters
 Devices for ADC and DAC
 I/O devices for discrete data
Computer Process Control System

Transformation Process

Continuous and Discrete Continuous and Discrete

Parameters Variables

Actuators Sensors

DAC ADC
Computer
Controller
Output Devices Input Devices
Sensors

Stimulus (s) Signal (S)

Physical Sensing Conditioning Target

Medium Element Handling

Temperature Resistance Voltage Information

Transducers
Micro-sensors 10-6m
 Transfer Function

S  f (s)

where S = output signal; s = stimulus; and f(s) = functional relationship

For binary sensors: S = 1 if s > 0 and S = 0 if s < 0.

The ideal functional form for an analogue measuring device is a simple proportional relationship,
such as:

S  C  ms
where C = output value at a stimulus value of zero
and m = constant of proportionality (sensitivity)
 Sensors
A sensor is a transducer that converts a physical stimulus from one form into
a more useful form to measure the stimulus
 Two basic categories:
1. Analog
2. Discrete Ultrasonic
 Binary (distance)
 Digital (e.g., pulse counter)

Light
(light intensity)
Sound Touch
(db pressure)
 Other Sensors

 Temperature
 RFID
 Barcode
 Proximity
 Vision
 Gyroscope
 Compass
 Tilt/Acceleration
 Etc.
 Actuators

Hardware devices that convert a controller command signal into a change in a

physical parameter
 The change is usually mechanical (e.g., position or velocity)
 An actuator is also a transducer because it changes one type of physical
quantity into some alternative form
 An actuator is usually activated by a low-level command signal, so an amplifier
may be required to provide sufficient power to drive the actuator
 Actuators

Mechanism

Logical
Signal Signal Processing
Electric Hydraulic
& Amplification Final Actuation
Pneumatic
Element

Actuator
Sensor
 Types of Actuators

1. Electrical actuators
 Electric motors
 DC servomotors
 AC motors
 Stepper motors
 Solenoids
2. Hydraulic actuators
 Use hydraulic fluid to amplify the controller
command signal
3. Pneumatic actuators
 Use compressed air as the driving force
Stepper motor and Servomotor
 Stepper Motors

360
Step angle is given by: : 
ns
where ns is the number of steps for the stepper motor (integer)

Total angle through which the motor rotates (Am) is given by: Am  n p
where np = number of pulses received by the motor.

2f p
Angular velocity is given by:  where fp = pulse frequency
ns
60 f p
Speed of rotation is given by: N
ns
ServoMotor
2 steps
 Sampling and
Holding (S/H)
 Quantizing and
Encoding (Q/E)
 Analog-to-Digital Conversion
Sampling – converts the continuous signal into a series of discrete analog signals at
periodic intervals
Quantization – each discrete analog is converted into one of a finite number of (previously
defined) discrete amplitude levels
Encoding – discrete amplitude levels are converted into digital code

Variable Analogue Signal

Discrete
1001 1101 0101
Variables

Time
 Hardware Devices in
Analog-to-Digital Conversion

Transformation Process

Continuous
Variable
Sensors
& Transducer
Multiplexer

Amplifer Signal
Digital Analog Conditioner
Computer Digital
Converter
Other Signals
 Features of an ADC

 Sampling rate – rate at which continuous analog signal is polled e.g. 1000
samples/sec
 Quantization – divide analog signal into discrete levels
 Resolution – depends on number of quantization levels
 Conversion time – how long it takes to convert the sampled signal to digital
code
 Conversion method – means by which analog signal is encoded into digital
equivalent
 Example – Successive approximation method
 Successive Approximation Method

 A series of trial voltages are successively compared to the input signal whose
value is unknown
 Number of trial voltages = number of bits used to encode the signal
 First trial voltage is 1/2 the full scale range of the ADC
 If the remainder of the input voltage exceeds the trial voltage, then a bit value
of 1 is entered, if less than trial voltage then a bit value of zero is entered
 The successive bit values, multiplied by their respective trial voltages and
added, becomes the encoded value of the input signal
Digital Signals
Digital Signals – have only two states. For digital computers, we refer to binary states, 0 and 1. “1”can be on, “0” can be
off.
Examples:
• Light switch can be either on or off
• Door to a room is either open or closed
 Digital-to-Analog Converters
 The process performed by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is the reverse of
the ADC process.
 The DAC transforms the digital output of the computer into a continuous signal
to drive an analog actuator or other analog device.
 Digital-to-analog conversion consists of two steps:
(1) decoding, in which the digital output of the computer is converted into a
series of analog values at discrete moments in time, and
(2) data holding, in which each successive value is changed into a continuous
signal (usually electrical voltage) used to
Drive the analog actuator during the sampling interval.
Decoding is accomplished by transferring the digital value from the computer to a binary register that
controls a reference voltage source. Each successive bit in the register controls half the voltage of
the preceding bit, so that the level of the output voltage is determined by the status of the bits in the
register.
Thus, the output voltage is given by
  
E0  Eref 0.5 B1  0.25 B2    2 n
1
Bn 
where Eo = output voltage of the decoding step, V;
Eref = reference voltage, V; B1, B2, p ,
Bn = status of successive bits in the register, 0 or 1;
and n = number of bits in the binary register.
 Digital-to-Analog Conversion

 Convert digital values into continuous analogue signal

 Decoding digital value to an analogue value at discrete moments in time
based on value within register


E0  Eref 0.5B1  0.25 B2    2  
n 1
Bn 
Where E0 is output voltage; Eref is reference voltage; Bn is status of successive bits in the
binary register

 Data Holding that changes series of discrete analogue signals into one
continuous signal
 Example

 A DAC has a reference voltage of 100 V and has 6-bit precision. Three
successive sampling instances 0.5 sec apart have the following data in the data
register:
Instant Binary Data
1 101000
 Output Values:
2 101010
3 101101

E01 = 100{0.5(1)+0.25(0)+0.125(1)+0.0625(0)+0.03125(0)+0.015625(0)}
E01 = 62.50V
E02 = 100{0.5(1)+0.25(0)+0.125(1)+0.0625(0)+0.03125(0)+0.015625(0)}
E02 = 65.63V
E03 = 100{0.5(1)+0.25(0)+0.125(1)+0.0625(0)+0.03125(0)+0.015625(0)}
E03 = 70.31V
 Input/Output Devices
Binary data:
 Contact input interface – input data to computer
 Contact output interface – output data from computer
Discrete data other than binary:
 Contact input interface – input data to computer
 Contact output interface – output data from computer
Pulse data:
 Pulse counters - input data to computer
 Pulse generators - output data from computer
 Input/Output Devices for Discrete Data

 Discrete data can be processed by a digital computer without the kinds of conversion
procedures required for continuous analog signals.
 As indicated earlier, discrete data divide into three categories:
(a) binary data,
(b) discrete data other than binary, and
(c) pulse data.