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PSI Technics Develops New Standards in Cooperation with Volkswagen AG

VIRTUAL MODELING OFFERS RELIABLE DATA FOR SYSTEM EVALUATION

PSI Technics offers you a "glimpse into the future" of your installation - enabling you to predict and avoid costly downtimes for new and existing installations.

The Conveyor Technology Planning department at Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, had commissioned PSI Technics to analyze and evaluate the operation of a vertical material lift in a vehicle body warehouse. The successful cooperation was aimed at developing a new positioning standard for similar vertical lifting systems.

During the course of the project, a software simulation of the vertical lifting system was created using a finite element model (FE). Subsequently, a co-simulation interface was established to simulation of the system controlled by the ARATEC Positioning Solution System. The configuration enabled a detailed evaluation of the system's travel profile and resulting mechanical stresses affecting the system structure.

Evaluation of the mechanical stresses of a system by means of a dynamic simulation.

By using virtual modeling PSI Technics was able to create an ideal modernization concept for the vertical lifting system. The simulation showed that a modernization of the existing control interface with the ARATEC Positioning Solution System would result in considerably reduced mechanical stress. Virtual modeling revealed that mechanical stresses that are affecting critical system components can be reduced by approximately 10%.

Stress Comparison between the PLC-controlled System (blue) and a System with Positioning Control (red)

Stress Comparison between the PLC-controlled System (blue) and a System with Positioning Control (red). Positioning control, improved drive technology and improvements to the loading and retrieval cycles will reduce peak mechanical stresses by approximately 10%.

Based on the optimization results, the client decided to replace his existing positioning solution. The existing controller was replaced by an extended ARATEC Positioning Solution System with closed-loop control. Instead of bus communication, the ARATEC system uses the lifting system's hardware signals (limit switches, position switches) as well as digital signals transmitted by the PLC. No changes to the existing S5 PLC were required.

In addition, the ARATEC system was installed parallel to the existing system to include redundancy as the lifting system is critical for production and to ensure the operator could switch between both systems if needed.

The optimization potential demonstrated by the simulation could be fully realized. Due to the optimized travel profile, creeping speed was completely eliminated and replaced by a controlled slow-down that enabled the system to reach the target positions faster. This meant that the acceleration of the actual system could be lowered by 16% to reduce system wear. Compared to the PLC-controlled system, realized time-savings of 3 seconds per motion sequence (down and back) were achieved with the ARATEC Positioning Solution System. Since the acceleration is proportional to the mechanical stresses, reduced mechanical stress can be expected and will be verified using strain gauges at run-time.

The system installed by PSI Technics has been successfully used in production since summer 2013.

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