Automatic generation of PLC code beyond the nominal sequence

Abstract

In the "digital factory" tool chain, usually only the nominal production sequence, i.e. the production process under ideal conditions, is considered and automatically converted into PLC code. However, the nominal sequence is a prominent but rather small fraction of the total PLC code. The large remaining parts, such as interlock logic, safety functions, start-up and shutdown sequences, are mostly neglected. In the approach described in this paper, the authors focus on this part of the control code and strive for a concept to automatically generate a significantly larger part of the control code of a production plant, based on plant and process information which is already available.

Meta-Modeling and Automatic Code Generation for Computer Aided Development of Logic Control Systems

“…The knowledge of the experts needs to be extracted and provided as computer readable rules, in a form of a model [6], the structure and semantics of which are defined by a so called metamodel [1]. Considering the development of an automation project however, there are typically different engineers or technicians involved with different qualification levels and subjects.…”

“…[6,5,3]; − Graphical user interface development -several frameworks have been widely accepted for that purpose based on a data flow modeling and a visual programming interface. The best known frameworks with these goals are the LabVIEW and MATLAB/Simulink frameworks.…”

“…Nowadays the development of a software for industrial applications faces an increasing complexity of problems, including integration of many additional functions, such as safety, communications, visualization etc., next to the "ordinary" control task [19,6]. Traditional engineering practices, where software is developed and coded without modeling, might be considered obsolete, due to their inability to allow the developer to easily produce an error-free control software that matches the resources of the modern hardware [19].…”

“…Traditional engineering practices, where software is developed and coded without modeling, might be considered obsolete, due to their inability to allow the developer to easily produce an error-free control software that matches the resources of the modern hardware [19]. Furthermore, as engineering costs dominate the project costs of an automation system [6] and the time-to-market should be reduced as much as possible [10,13], an approach for efficient engineering is even more prominent.…”

“…The need for creating a PLC software, which is comprised of reusable components, is emphasized by many authors [6,19,7,2,20,3,5]. Once created, those components could be used in different projects with minimal or no modifications at all.…”