Shin Ok Keun

The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society (1994 ~ 2000), Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 1397-1406, Nov. 1996
10.3745/KIPSTE.1996.3.6.1397,   PDF Download:

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a discrete model of conveyor systems, which is frequently used in flexible manufacturing systems to transfer work-in-process(WIP) between manipulators. In the cases where the time required for transferring WIP''s between manipulators are greater than that of manufacturing itself, as in many flexible assembly lines, the quantitative model of the transfer system is needed to analyze the behavior and productivity of the whole manufacturing system. The propose model to analyze the behavior and productivity of the whole manufacturing system. The proposed model is based upon the assumptions that the length of any unit conveyor component is integer multiple of the length if a pallet and that the transferring speed of the conveyor component in integer multiple of the length of a pallet and that the transferring speed of the conveyor is constant. Under these assumptions, the observation moments and the length of the conveyor can be quantized. Hence, the state of a conveyor can be represented by two kinds of Boolean variables: one representing the presence of a pallet on each quantized conveyor length and the other representing the mobility of this pallet. The whole conveyor system can be modelled as a networks composed of branches and knots based on these two Boolean variables. The proposed modelling method was tested with various conveyor system configurations and showed that the model can be adopted successfully for the simulation of transfer systems and of the piloting of manufacturing prosesses.

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