The background of the concept, ABB Production Cell, meets the increasing demands from manufacturing industries throughout the world to simplify through standardization and by that reduce investment cost and operating cost throughout the entire lifecycle of the production cell. ABB is delivering the production cell as one easy to order, use, and maintain. The production cell is developed for virtual versions and full scale production cells. The different modules shall be utilized and presented in RobotStudio and configured in Automation Builder. With generic templates and hardware it provides e.g. early visualization, standardized systems, shortened design/development phase, and enable virtual FAT(Factory Acceptance Test). There is multiple ways of doing a virtual commissioning and it’s a known approach for testing software and hardware together. The method used in this project is known as SIL (Software-In-The-Loop).  This means that the hardware runs as software- e.g. PLC, Drives and HMI- with same properties and behavior as the real hardware. This thesis focus on describing phases of an automation system and see how different phases are affected by a virtual commissioning. Benefits will be described and the existing software will be evaluated. Furthermore, an attempt of virtual commissioning has been done with focus on connecting the software for stable communication with the virtual PLC and make a PLC-task with a handshake to the robot controller and the virtual environment. The system is tested in a virtual environment with vFAT and then on the workshop (FAT). This was done to see if the softwares replicated the same behavior as the hardwares.  The result for the virtual commissioning is that it is possible to run the virtual PLC (VAC500) with the same time interface, behavior, and signals as the real PLC (AC500). / Bakgrunden till konceptet ABB Produktions Cell är ökad efterfrågan av ett enkelt sätt, genom standardisering, att reducera kostnaderna för hela livscykeln för en produktions cell. ABB Produktions cell ska vara enkel att köpa, använda och upprätthålla. Konceptet är utvecklat för att kunna skapa fullskaliga modeller av produktionsceller. Utrustningen och den virtuella miljön finns i RobotStudio och konfigurationen av HMI,Drives och PLC i AutomationBuilder.  Generiska mallar, mjukvaror, hårdvaror ger möjlighet för t.ex. tidig visualisering, förkortad design och utvecklingsfas, standardiserade system samt tidig verifiering och test genom virtuell FAT(Factory Acceptance Test)   Idrifttagning av ett automationssystem kan tillämpas både virtuellt och traditionellt. Det finns flera olika metoder för virtuell idrifttagning och metoden för detta projekt är SIL(Software-In-the-Loop). Detta går ut på att hårdvaror såsom HMI, PLC och Drives körs som mjukvaror, med samma beteende och egenskaper(tidsgränssnitt) som de riktiga hårdvarorna. Den här uppsatsen fokuserar på att beskriva de olika delarna av ett automationsprojekt och hur de påverkas av virtuell idrifttagning. Fördelar med metoden tas fram och den befintliga utrustningen utvärderas. Ett försök till virtuell idrifttagning har genomförts där fokus varit att skapa en sekvenskod för logiken till en befintlig produktionscell samt skapa kopplingar mellan mjukvarorna. Detta testas och verifieras först i virtuell miljö med virtuell FAT(Factory Acceptance Test) och därefter har den verkliga produktionscellen verifierats i verkstaden(FAT). Utvärdering om beteende och cykeltider har också gjorts för att dra slutsatsen om vFAT kan jämföras med FAT under utvecklingsstadiet. Resultatet för den virtuella idrifttagningen är att det är möjligt att köra virtuell PLC(VAC500) med samma tidsinterface, beteende och signaler som den riktiga PLC(AC500).

Volvo is continually updating and replacing their equipment and want to investigate the possibility to shorten the time it takes to implement changes and shorten the time in commissioning projects. The use of an emulation model of a production cell can shorten the commissioning time since the equipment and sequence of the cell can be thoroughly tested before implementation. Volvo also wants to investigate the possibility to validate equipment using emulation. The main objectives are to find an emulation software that suits Volvo’s needs and build an emulation model of an actual production cell at Volvo called G750. A literature review was performed in which the authors gained knowledge about virtual commissioning, simulation and emulation and the usage of these. A market survey was conducted in order to find emulation software that could handle Volvo’s complex production equipment consisting of ABB robots and Siemens PLC. A method for building emulation models of existing production equipment was found during the literature review. The software used to build the emulation model was Simumatik3D. Other software used to make the model as realistic as possible includes RobotStudio, WinCC and PLCSIM. The emulation model handles approximately 350 inputs and outputs. When the emulation model was finished experiments were conducted in order to answer research questions and to reach the main objectives. The experiments validate that the emulation model is representative of the real production cell regarding programming, fail scenarios and movement.

PLC kan idag vara det mest använda styrsystemet till industriella applikationer. Verifikation av programmerad PLC-logik är av stort värde och kan göras på olika sätt. ÅF Karlstad vill idag börja se över möjligheter till implementering av Virtual Commissioning som ett alternativ till minskning av ledtider. I det stora hela blev målet för detta projektarbete att i Xcelgo Experior bygga upp en 3D-miljö som liknar en saltvatten-process på Barilla i Filipstad, skriva PLC-logiken i Siemens TIA-portalen och testköra logiken i 3D-miljön. Och av detta kunna ge underlag till eventuella investeringar i denna teknik för ÅF Karlstad. Gränssnittet Xcelgo Experior visade sig var funktionellt och lättarbetat. Dock hann inte programutvecklarna få i stånd den uppdatering av modulkatologen som krävts för att tillräckligt kunna efterlikna Barillas process att det försvarbart skulle kunna verifiera PLC-logiken. Efter överläggande med min handledare på ÅF, Anders Emanuelsson, bestämdes att i stället verifiera logiken visuellt i Siemens HMI.  Då detta projektarbete endast delvis kommer uppfylla de syften och mål som satts kommer istället en verifiering av PLC-logiken för processen att utgöras av Siemens HMI. Dock har användandet och testkörning av mindre skriven kod, anpassat för nuvarande version av Xcelgo, givit en bild av möjligheterna att effektivt validera PLC-logik då en version lämpad mer för den Värmländska industrin kommit.

The diploma thesis deals with the virtual commissioning of robotized workplace for cold spraying. The theoretical part of the thesis contains an overview of the current state of knowledge in the field of virtual commissioning, the theory of crating HMI user environments, deals principles of the Rapid programming language as a tool for controlling industrial robots and analysis of robotic workplace components. The practical part defines the structure of the proposed user program and user environment, which are created using software tools Robotstudio and Screenmaker. The last part discusses in detail the steps during the implementation of the created program together with the HMI into commission, which is associated with the testing of functionalities on a real device for cold spraying. The diploma thesis also includes a user manual created for operating an industrial robot.

In recent years, the automotive industry has been significantly affected by a number of challenges driven by globalisation, economic fluctuations, environmental awareness and rapid technological developments. As a consequence, product lifecycles are shortening and customer demands are becoming more diverse. To survive in such a business environment, manufacturers are striving to find a costeffective solution for fast and efficient development and reconfiguration of manufacturing systems to satisfy the needs of changing markets without losses in production. Production systems within automotive industry are vastly automated and heavily rely on PLC-based control systems. It has been established that one of the major obstacles in realising reconfigurable manufacturing systems is the fragmented engineering approach to implement control systems. Control engineering starts at a very late stage in the overall system engineering process and remains highly isolated from the mechanical design and build of the system. During this stage, control code is typically written manually in vendor-specific tools in a combination of IEC 61131-3 languages. Writing control code is a complex, time consuming and error-prone process.

Increasing market demands for highly customised products with shorter time-to-market and at lower prices are forcing manufacturing systems to be built and operated in a more efficient ways. In order to overcome some of the limitations in traditional methods of automation system engineering, this thesis focuses on the creation of a new approach to Virtual Commissioning (VC). In current VC approaches, virtual models are driven by pre-programmed PLC control software. These approaches are still time-consuming and heavily control expertise-reliant as the required programming and debugging activities are mainly performed by control engineers. Another current limitation is that virtual models validated during VC are difficult to reuse due to a lack of tool-independent data models. Therefore, in order to maximise the potential of VC, there is a need for new VC approaches and tools to address these limitations. The main contributions of this research are: (1) to develop a new approach and the related engineering tool functionality for directly deploying PLC control software based on component-based VC models and reusable components; and (2) to build tool-independent common data models for describing component-based virtual automation systems in order to enable data reusability.

This thesis has two aims, both related with simulation programs. The first one is to analyze the viability of using Factory I/O as a tool at the University of Gävle for teaching and understanding the PLCs and the ladder programing. The second one is do a 3D model of the robotics laboratory to use it with the KUKASim and after that find a method to transfer code from KUKASim to the actual robots.Factory I/O has been install and use with a Siemens PLC, which was programed in Siemens TIA Portal. The evaluation of the software as a teaching tool has been done according to a supposition of how much time could it take to an average bachelor degree student in automation to create a functional project. In order to determine that, a demo has been done, which consist on a process in where a box enters by a conveyor. There are two ruts for the box to exit, straight or to the left, and the direction is choose by moving a switcher in the PLC. After analyzing finishing the demo, it has been determinate that it could take around 4 hours to complete a functional project.For the KUKASim part, KUKASim was already installed. However, during the development of this project it was updated from 2.2 to 3.0.4 which caused a minor issues; the SketchUp model could not be imported to 2.2 version and by the time that the upgrade was made the 3D environment of the robotic laboratory was already made in KUKASim.On the other hand, the Office Lite software was needed to be installed in order to transfer the code from KUKASim to the real robots, but due to some license issues, the installation was done at the end period of the project. The connection of both software was not possible to make, still, during the time that Office Lite was not available, an alternative method to transfer the code was found. The program files were download from KUKASim and transfer to the robot with WorkVisual.The conclusion of the thesis is that Factory I/O could be used as a learning and teaching tool because is an easy program to work with. All the same, KUKASim is a multifunctional software, which has make it possible to achieve both of the purposes for corresponding part of the project.

På uppdrag av Projektengagemang AB i Skövde har detta projekt genomförts för att studera möjligheten att kvalitetssäkra automationsprojekt bättre med hjälp av emulering. I projektets sammanhang innebär det att representera hela eller delar av automationssystemet virtuellt. För att lyckas med projektet har forskning inom områden som projektledning och virtuella miljöer studerats för att undersöka vad som i dagsläget är möjligt att genomföra. Med hjälp av litteraturen utformades ett intervjuprotokoll för genomförande av en intervjustudie. Beställande och levererande företag av automationsutrustning har bidragit för att ge en realistisk bild av hur automationsprojekt genomförs, kvalitetssäkras samt vad som idag är problematiskt. Sammanställningen och analysen av intervjustudien tyder på att vikt skall läggas vid planering och nedbrytning av projekt, för att ha en tydlig plan från början. Samt att virtuella miljöer kan användas för att testa programkod tidigare i projekt, alltså i mindre kritiska lägen. Efter en granskning av Projektengagemangs förutsättningar i förhållande till intervjustudien framkom att det finns brister och förbättringspotential gällande programstruktur och kvalitetssäkring. Förslaget för att öka kvalitetssäkringen med hjälp av emulering innefattar skapandet av ett arbetskoncept där en emuleringsmodell tillsammans med en kravspecifikation används för framtagning av ett grundprogram. Samt att företagets konstruktionsgranskning utökas till att inkludera kontroll av både programmering och eventuell emuleringsmodell. I förslaget till Projektengagemang lämnas 2 olika konfigurationer som skulle kunna användas för att inkludera skapandet och användning av emuleringsmodeller i projekt. Vilket skulle öka kvalitetssäkringen markant. I dagsläget påverkas inte ledtiden markant med införandet av emulering, dock finns möjligheten på längre sikt. Ytterligare kravställningar behöver tas i beaktning innan val av mjukvaror sker, eftersom förutsättningarna för varje projekt påverkar byggnationen av en emuleringsmodell.

Volvo Cars Corporation creates robot programs off-line for all new robot implementations for virtual commissioning. These virtually created robot programs are then downloaded to the real robot, after the installation has been carried out, to be tested before they are fully operational. These tests are spanned from robot installation until full production, adjusting the robot programme according to Volvo Cars specification and correcting errors that the robot program may have. Changes of the robot programs will be saved each time it is modified, generating a series of backups for each robot until the robot is correctly adjusted along all the steps of the process. To improve the offline programming there is a necessity for visualize the modifications made during the physical robot commissioning. The objective of this thesis is to identify, categorise, quantify and visualize modifications between each different backup of a robot. A software application has been developed using Microsoft Visual Studio using C#. The application is designed in windows for different types of data. It enables the user to compare two robot programs (two different backup programs from the tests) from one robot and see the result between them graphically. The graphs are designed interactively so that the user can filter the information to see the desired data from the robot programs comparison. Key performance indicators (KPIs) has been specified for RobTargets and Procedures according to Volvo Cars Corporation requests. These KPIs are implemented and visualised in a graphical representation.

The aim of this thesis is to create a custom application to simulate production lines. The first part explains the main reasons, benefits and current trends in the field of virtual commissioning and describes several simulation tools and engineering tools from Siemens. The second part is devoted to a detailed description of features, capabilities and application interface of the PLCSIM Advanced simulation tool. The third part is devoted to design and realization of the custom simulation application, which can be used for create conveyor lines and validate user PLC program in cooperation with PLCSIM Advanced tool. This simulator was created using Unity3D game engine and C# programming language. In the last part of the thesis, a simple simulation task is created in the simulator and is tested using PLC program and visualization created in the TIA Portal engineering framework.