Optimizing Cycle Time and Energy Efficiency of a Robotic Cell Using an Emulation Model
Ayani Mikel, Ng Amos H.C., Martin Birtic · Advances in transdisciplinary engineering · 2018
Industrial automated systems are mostly designed and pre-adjusted to always work at their maximum production rate. This leaves room for important energy consumption reductions considering the production rate variations of factories in reality. This article presents a multi-objective optimization application targeting cycle time and energy consumption of a robotic cell. A novel approach is presented where an existing emulation model of a fictitious robotic cell was extended with low-level electrical components modeled and encapsulated as FMUs. The model, commanded by PLC and Robot Control software, was subjected to a multi-objective optimization algorithm in order to find the Pareto front between energy consumption and production rate. The result of the optimization process allows selecting the most efficient energy consumption for the robotic cell in order to achieve the required cycle.