Apparatus, systems and methods for providing smart pick-up and drop-off are presented. The apparatus comprises at least one vertical support member and at least one storage shelf supported by the at least one vertical support member. A payload transfer surface, supported by the vertical support members, is located below the lowest storage shelf. The payload transfer surface has an access channel so that a self-driving material-transport vehicle equipped with a lift appliance can pick up or drop off a payload on the payload transfer surface. A sensor associated with the payload transfer surface senses the presence or absence of a payload on the payload transfer surface, and sends a signal to a fleet-management system in communication with the self-driving material-transport vehicle.

Disclosed is a system for swapping springs present in a product. A data receiving module receives metadata associated to a spring. The metadata comprises a pitch, vector coordinates and alike. A comparison module compares the pitch associated to the spring with a predefined threshold value thereby categorizing each spring into one of a category including a utilized spring category and an underutilized spring category. A determination module determines an underutilized spring, amongst the underutilized spring category, based on at least one of the vector coordinates and the pitch, when the spring is categorized in the utilized spring category. Subsequent to determining the underutilized spring, the swapping module swaps the spring with the underutilized spring by using a control mechanism.

A digital manufacturing system includes a web portal to receive product configuration information. An enterprise resource planning subsystem generates a production order based on the product configuration information, and determines a manufacturing resource plan and production steps for manufacturing the product. A manufacturing execution subsystem generates an identifier for the manufacturing resource plan, and communicate the manufacturing resource plan and the production steps to a production control subsystem controlling machines performing the manufacturing of the product according to the manufacturing resource plan and the production steps. A production control subsystem stores the identifier in a near field communication chip attachable to the product during the manufacturing to provide real-time tracking of the manufacturing throughout the steps. An empirical analysis subsystem connects to different social media applications to determine sentiment of the manufactured product.

A method for operating a fieldbus controller (2) having a plurality of I/O modules (4) is provided, the fieldbus controller (2) being coupled to a valve assembly (6) via the plurality of I/O modules (4). The method includes providing a user interface (8) for wirelessly operating the fieldbus controller (2), wherein providing the user interface (8) includes: providing a configuration interface (14) for configuring an operating mode of the plurality of I/O modules (4); providing a monitor interface (16) for reading status information from the plurality of I/O modules (4); and providing a control interface (18) for controlling a state of the plurality of I/O modules (4), the state of the plurality of I/O modules affecting a state of the valve assembly (6).

A method for implementing a centralized control platform of a hydraulic support on a fully mechanized mining working face in underground coal mines, which is used for safety production in the underground coal mines. A Siemens PLC S7-300, a C8051F020 single chip microcomputer, a PowerBuilder tool, an SQLServer database and a multi-protocol communication platform are selected to form the centralized control platform, wherein the PowerBuilder tool is used as a front-end development platform; the Siemens PLC S7-300 and the C8051F020 single chip microcomputer are used as a real-time control platform; the PLC is connected to an electro-hydraulic control system, and a communication protocol thereof is a TCP/IP MODBUS protocol; the PLC acts as a client; the electro-hydraulic control system acts as a server end; an infrared transmission apparatus is mounted on a coal mining machine; a receiving apparatus is embedded into a support controller of the electro-hydraulic control system; and after receiving infrared information, the support controller transmits the information to an explosion-proof computer of the electro-hydraulic control system. The method may satisfy control functions required by an unattended or nearly unattended working face; can reliably complete various control functions based on operation of an adjacent support; can remotely transmit various pieces of information to a ground monitoring center in real time; and can monitor various failures in coal mining process in real time.

The invention relates to a method for accessing a field device in order to simplify and/or improve web access to a field device. The field device is connected to a field bus designed for an Industrial Ethernet protocol or ProfiNET, and the method comprises transmitting a request from a web browser to a web server implemented in the field device, processing the received request in the field device by using a protocol stack of the Industrial Ethernet protocol, the protocol stack being stored in the field device, and transmitting response information from the web server to the web browser. The web server is implemented in the communication chip of the field device and both the communication with the controller and the web server use the same ProfiNET stack. The invention further relates to a field device designed to perform the method, and to a communication chip.

Systems and methods for controlling electric vehicle chargers using central control consoles for controlling and communicating with industrial equipment. The electric vehicle chargers operate as clients in a client-server configuration with a dedicated OCPP server. The OCPP server communicates with a control console using either of two communications pathsone path uses a direct HTTP connection with the control console. For this path, the control console operates as a web-enabled client. For the other path, multiple communications protocols are used and conversions between these protocols are effected using a conversion module and a MODBUS server. The MODBUS server communicates with the OCPP server. The MODBUS server also communicates with the control console by way of the conversion module and a control server. The control console is thereby able to control multiple pieces of industrial equipment along with the electric vehicle chargers without needing to be compliant with the OCPP protocol.

The present invention relates to a method, device, and system for transmitting a program and parameter to a PLC. An adapter connecting to a port of a PLC allows an operator to simply (i) log in on a cloud server with use of a mobile terminal on which an APP is installed, (ii) download a written program or parameter, and (iii) transmit the program or parameter directly to the adapter wirelessly to transmit the program or parameter to the PLC via the adapter. An alternative embodiment may be arranged such that the cloud server transmits, to an APP of the mobile terminal over a mobile network, an instruction on what data to sample and that the APP accesses the PLC via the adapter, obtains the data, and feeds back the data to the cloud server. This simplifies the operation for updating and maintaining a program and/or parameter of a PLC and reduces costs.

A measurement and control system comprises a housing and an electrical power distribution sub-system. The housing includes a plurality of addressable and programmable modules, a module rack that is expandable and having a length, and a main controller configured to communicate with the plurality of addressable and programmable modules. Each of the addressable and programmable module is installed on the module rack in a sequential configuration and is addressable based on a specific physical location of it across the length of the module rack. The main controller communicates with the plurality of addressable and programmable modules by addressing through a communication network. The electrical power distribution sub-system is configured to monitor inputs and signals from the each addressable and programmable module.

An automation interface is provided for interacting with industrial controllers. The automation interface provides for programming, editing, monitoring and maintenance of industrial controllers programmatically from a local or remote location. The automation interface component is adapted to communicate with industrial controllers by integrating a computer process interface library into the automation interface component. The computer process interface library exposes the automation interface component to client application processes, so that the client application processes can communicate with the at least one industrial controller programmatically. The automation interface is provided with functionality for downloading, uploading and programming of control programs to the processors of the industrial controllers.