plc英文资料

2402107zz

1.1 Motivation
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), a computing device invented by Richard E. Morley in 1968, have been widely used in industry including manufacturing systems, transportation systems, chemical process facilities, and many others. At that time, the PLC replaced the hardwired logic with soft-wired logic or so-called relay ladder logic (RLL), a programming language visually resembling the hardwired logic, and reduced thereby the configuration time from 6 months down to 6 days [Moody and Morley, 1999].
Although PC based control has started to come into place, PLC based control will remain the technique to which the majority of industrial applications will adhere due to its higher performance, lower price, and superior reliability in harsh environments. Moreover, according to a study on the PLC market of Frost and Sullivan [1995], an increase of the annual sales volume to 15 million PLCs per year with the hardware value of more than 8 billion US dollars has been predicted, though the prices of computing hardware is steadily dropping. The inventor of the PLC, Richard E Morley, fairly considers the PLC market as a 5-billion industry at the present time.
Though PLCs are widely used in industrial practice, the programming of PLC based control systems is still very much relying on trial-and-error. Alike software engineering, PLC software design is facing the software dilemma or crisis in a similar way. Morley himself emphasized this aspect most forcefully by indicating [Moody and Morley, 1999, p. 110]:
`If houses were built like software projects, a single woodpecker could destroy civilization.”
Particularly, practical problems in PLC programming are to eliminate software bugs and to reduce the maintenance costs of old ladder logic programs. Though the hardware costs of PLCs are dropping continuously, reducing the scan time of the ladder logic is still an issue in industry so that low-cost PLCs can be used.
In general, the productivity in generating PLC is far behind compared to other domains, for instance, VLSI design, where efficient computer aided design tools are in practice. Existent software engineering methodologies are not necessarily applicable to the PLC based software design because PLC-programming requires a simultaneous consideration of hardware and software. The software design becomes, thereby, more and more the major cost driver. In many industrial design projects, more than SO0/a of the manpower allocated for the control system design and installation is scheduled for testing and debugging PLC programs [Rockwell, 1999].
In addition, current PLC based control systems are not properly designed to support the growing demand for flexibility and reconfigurability of manufacturing systems. A further problem, impelling the need for a systematic design methodology, is the increasing software complexity in large-scale projects.
1.2 Objective and Significance of the Thesis
The objective of this thesis is to develop a systematic software design methodology for PLC operated automation systems. The design methodology involves high-level description based on state transition models that treat automation control systems as discrete event systems, a stepwise design process, and set of design rules providing guidance and measurements to achieve a successful design. The tangible outcome of this research is to find a way to reduce the uncertainty in managing the control software development process, that is, reducing programming and debugging time and their variation, increasing flexibility of the automation systems, and enabling software reusability through modularity. The goal is to overcome shortcomings of current programming strategies that are based on the experience of the individual software developer.
A systematic approach to designing PLC software can overcome deficiencies in the traditional way of programming manufacturing control systems, and can have wide ramifications in several industrial applications. Automation control systems are modeled by formal languages or, equivalently, by state machines. Formal representations provide a high-level description of the behavior of the system to be controlled. State machines can be analytically evaluated as to whether or not they meet the desired goals. Secondly, a state machine description provides a structured representation to convey the logical requirements and constraints such as detailed safety rules. Thirdly, well-defined control systems design outcomes are conducive to automatic code generation- An ability to produce control software executable on commercial distinct logic controllers can reduce programming lead-time and labor cost. In particular, the thesis is relevant with respect to the following aspects.
Customer-Driven Manufacturing
In modern manufacturing, systems are characterized by product and process innovation, become customer-driven and thus have to respond quickly to changing system requirements. A major challenge is therefore to provide enabling technologies that can economically reconfigure automation control systems in response to changing needs and new opportunities. Design and operational knowledge can be reused in real-time, therefore, giving a significant competitive edge in industrial practice.
Higher Degree of Design Automation and Software Quality
Studies have shown that programming methodologies in automation systems have not been able to match rapid increase in use of computing resources. For instance, the programming of PLCs still relies on a conventional programming style with ladder logic diagrams. As a result, the delays and resources in programming are a major stumbling stone for the progress of manufacturing industry. Testing and debugging may consume over 50% of the manpower allocated for the PLC program design. Standards [IEC 60848, 1999; IEC-61131-3, 1993; IEC 61499, 1998; ISO 15745-1, 1999] have been formed to fix and disseminate state-of-the-art design methods, but they normally cannot participate in advancing the knowledge of efficient program and system design.
A systematic approach will increase the level of design automation through reusing existing software components, and will provide methods to make large-scale system design manageable. Likewise, it will improve software quality and reliability and will be relevant to systems high security standards, especially those having hazardous impact on the environment such as airport control, and public railroads.
System Complexity
The software industry is regarded as a performance destructor and complexity generator. Steadily shrinking hardware prices spoils the need for software performance in terms of code optimization and efficiency. The result is that massive and less efficient software code on one hand outpaces the gains in hardware performance on the other hand. Secondly, software proliferates into complexity of unmanageable dimensions; software redesign and maintenance-essential in modern automation systems-becomes nearly impossible. Particularly, PLC programs have evolved from a couple lines of code 25 years ago to thousands of lines of code with a similar number of 1/O points. Increased safety, for instance new policies on fire protection, and the flexibility of modern automation systems add complexity to the program design process. Consequently, the life-cycle cost of software is a permanently growing fraction of the total cost. 80-90% of these costs are going into software maintenance, debugging, adaptation and expansion to meet changing needs [Simmons et al., 1998].
Design Theory Development
Today, the primary focus of most design research is based on mechanical or electrical products. One of the by-products of this proposed research is to enhance our fundamental understanding of design theory and methodology by extending it to the field of engineering systems design. A system design theory for large-scale and complex system is not yet fully developed. Particularly, the question of how to simplify a complicated or complex design task has not been tackled in a scientific way. Furthermore, building a bridge between design theory and the latest epistemological outcomes of formal representations in computer sciences and operations research, such as discrete event system modeling, can advance future development in engineering design.
Application in Logical Hardware Design
From a logical perspective, PLC software design is similar to the hardware design of integrated circuits. Modern VLSI designs are extremely complex with several million parts and a product development time of 3 years [Whitney, 1996]. The design process is normally separated into a component design and a system design stage. At component design stage, single functions are designed and verified. At system design stage, components are aggregated and the whole system behavior and functionality is tested through simulation. In general, a complete verification is impossible. Hence, a systematic approach as exemplified for the PLC program design may impact the logical hardware design.
1.3 Structure of the Thesis
Figure 1.1 illustrates the outline of the following thesis. Chapter 2 clarifies the major challenges and research issues, and discourses the relevant background and terminology. It will be argued that a systematic design of PLC software can contribute to higher flexibility and reconfigurability of manufacturing systems. The important issue of how to deal with complexity in engineering design with respect to designing and operating a system will be debated. The research approach applied in this thesis is introduced starting from a discussion of design theory and methodology and what can be learnt from that field.
Chapter 3 covers the state-of-the-art of control technology and the current practice in designing and programming PLC software. The influences of electrical and software engineering are revealed as well as the potentially applicable methods from computer science are discussed. Pros and cons are evaluated and will lead to the conclusion that a new methodology is required that suffices the increasing complexity of PLC software design.
Chapter 4 represents the main body of the thesis and captures the essential features of the design methodology. Though design theory is regarded as being in a pre- scientific stage it has advanced in mechanical, software and system engineering with respect to a number of proposed design models and their evaluation throughout real-world examples. Based on a literature review in Chapter 2 and 3 potential applicable design concepts and approaches are selected and applied to context of PLC software design. Axiomatic design is chosen as underlying design concept since it provides guidance for the designer without restriction to a particular design context. To advance the design concept to PLC software design, a formal notation based on statechart formalism is introduced. Furthermore, a design process is developed that arranges the activities needed in a sequential order and shows the related design outcomes.
In Chapter 5, a number of case studies are given to demonstrate the applicability of the developed design methodology. The examples are derived from a complex reference system, a flexible assembly system. The achieved insights are evaluated in a concluding paragraph.
Chapter 6 presents the developed computerized design tool for PLC software design on a conceptual level. The software is written in Visual Basic by using ActiveX controls to provide modularity and reuse in a web-based collaborative programming environment. Main components of the PLC software are modeling editors for the structural (modular) and the behavioral design, a layout specification interface and a simulation engine that can validate the developed model.
Chapter 7 is concluding this thesis. It addresses the achievements with respect to the research objectives and questions. A critical evaluation is given alongside with an outlook for future research issues.

zoutian

[em05]

ZHL606

多介绍中文，不要来英文，

ycshi

[em01][em01]

lthlycyj

差一点喷饭!!!