MRPG: Intelligent Control of Distributed Large Scale Manufacturing Systems

The University Of Central Florida Board Of Trustees, Orlando FL

Investigators

Abstract

This Minority Research Planning Grant (MRPG) provides funding for the planning of a full proposal to the Manufacturing Enterprise Systems program for the development of a tool that will offer distributed intelligent control of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). FMS is a fairly a new concept in manufacturing where the manufacturing plant produces a large variety of parts in very low quantity. This type of manufacturing is suitable for manufacturing replacement parts where parts are manufactured as needed and no inventory is kept. While this manufacturing concept is very promising, because it is always operating in a transient state, it requires a very complex control system that continuously optimizes its operation. This planning activity will compliment the future proposal in two areas. First industry partners will be sought to advise and educate the research team on the current needs and practices of industry in this area of research. These Industry partners will play a key role in guiding the research effort through its development. They will also allow the team to look at real applications of the tool and real problems. Second a prototype of the controller tool will be developed to measure its potential improvement over current technology and measure its capability to control a FMS. If successful the results of this research will demonstrate and validate the capabilities of this new type of controller and show its obtainable improvement over current systems. The manufacturing partners will educate the team on the current practices and needs and allow the team to study actual systems. Potential performance improvements will prove the need for such complex control architectures. The results of the eventual research will optimally control a FMS and allow this new manufacturing concept to reach the goals that they were originally designed to meet.