Got Control?

The modern era of manufacturing is largely an outgrowth of controls. And that migration has had a long history since the relay logic and Computer Numerical Control systems of the 1950’s. (CNC for any younger readers that might not know what some of these crazy acronyms actually stand for). Would high speed automation of manufacturing be possible without control systems?

Probably not. And since all business is ultimately governed by return on investment, what are the implications on manufacturing processes when control systems cost in the tens of thousands of dollars as they did in the Seventies? Or over time, as the cost of control has decreased, are we justified in putting a controller on everything?

Is the alphabet soup of industrial control the basis of real distinctions in functionality? Or is it a matter of keeping the domain of a particular field of application in the hands of a few suppliers of proprietary solutions? In the early days, I think a lot of new control frontiers were driven by the demands of particular industries, Military and Aerospace applications of CNC’s where speed and precision were required, and high costs were acceptable. This stimulated the creation of a whole universe of equipment which, as with all things electronic, have become more affordable over time. Read more

5 Design Challenges and Solutions for Machine Builders

Machine builders can virtually prototype their machine control systems with LabVIEW and the NI SoftMotion Development Module for motion profile generation as well as mechanically simulate and detect collisions with SolidWorks and COSMOSMotion.

Intense competition is putting pressure on machine builders to deliver machines with higher throughput, reduced operating cost, and increased safety.

By Nipun Mathur, National Instruments

Faster, better, cheaper, safer is the name of the game for machine builders. For this reason, today’s machine builders have switched from rigid, single-purpose machines – relying purely on mechanical gears and cams – to flexible multipurpose machines by adopting modern control systems and servomotors.

Although these improvements have made machines more adaptable, they also have introduced a significant amount of complexity to the machines and subsequently to the machine design process. Along with designing the mechanicals, machine builders now incorporate control logic, human machine interfaces (HMIs), networking, and machine condition monitoring systems into their designs. The added complexity has created inefficiencies in the machine design process that lengthen design time and increase design cost.
Solving this multidisciplinary engineering problem requires improvements in three key areas – development techniques, design tools, and embedded control technology. The term mechatronics is gaining popularity as a way to describe this evolution. It represents an industry-wide effort to improve the design process by integrating the best available development practices and technologies to streamline machine design, prototyping, and deployment. A mechatronics-based approach can lower the risks associated with machine design and meet the following five key challenges that machine designers face today. Read more