PRODUCTION PLANT WITH CONTROL OF THE PRODUCTION AND/OR CONSUMPTION RATE

Abstract

Production plant (1) for producing at least one end product (3) from at least one primary starting material (2), comprising at least one processing station (41-43) which processes at least one starting material (21-23) to form at least one product (31, 32, 33), and a process controller (51-53) which can control at least one variable (71-73), which is a measure of a quality feature of the product (31-33) and/or is correlated with a quality feature of the product (31-33), by influencing at least one manipulated variable (61-63) acting on the processing station (41-43), wherein the process controller (51-53) is additionally designed to control the production rate (31a-33a) of the processing station (41-43) for the product (31-33) and/or the consumption rate (21a-23a) of the processing station (41-43) with regard to starting material (21-23) by acting on the manipulated variable (61-63).

Claims

1. A production plant for the production of at least one end product from at least one primary starting material, the production plant comprising: at least one processing station, which processes at least one starting material to form at least one product, and a process controller, which controls at least one variable which is correlated with a quality feature of the product, by influencing at least one manipulated variable acting on the processing station, wherein the process controller also controls the production rate for the product of the processing station, the consumption rate of starting material of the processing station, or both by acting on the at least one manipulated variable.

2. The production plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the process controller receives at least one process variable from the processing station as additional feedback.

3. The production plant as claimed in claim 2, wherein the process controller controls the process variable.

4. The production plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing station is configured to process a starting material to form a product by drilling.

5. The production plant as claimed in claim 3, wherein the process controller controls the advancing force F of the drill as a process variable.

6. The production plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing station is designed to process a starting material to form a product by milling.

7. The production plant as claimed in claim 3, wherein the process controller is designed to control the advancing rate v of the milling cutter as a process variable.

8. The production plant as claimed in claim 2, wherein the process controller also receives as an additionally fed back process variable a measured variable R, which describes the chattering of the milling cutter.

9. The production plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two processing stations are provided, at least one product of the first processing station being a starting material of the second processing station.

10. The production plant as claimed in claim 9, wherein a first process controller is provided, which receives at least one process variable in each case from each processing station as feedback and influences a manipulated variable acting on the first processing station, and in that a second process controller is also provided, which receives at least one process variable from the second processing station and also at least one variable which is a measure of a quality feature of the product, and/or which is correlated with a quality feature of the product, as feedback and influences a manipulated variable acting on the second processing station.

11. The production plant as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a production controller, configured to control the consumption rate of at least one primary starting material of the production plant, the production rate for the end product of the production plant or both, by acting on the setpoint values of the process controllers for the production rates for the respective products of the processing stations, the consumption rates of the respective starting materials of the processing stations, or both.

12. A process controller for a processing station in a production plant, which can control at least one variable, which is a measure of a quality feature of the product, and/or which is correlated with a quality feature of the product, by influencing at least one manipulated variable acting on the processing station, the processing station processing at least one starting material to form at least one product, wherein the process controller controls the production rate for the product (31, 32, 33) of the processing station, the consumption rate of starting material of the processing station, or both by acting on the manipulated variable.

13. A production controller for a production plant, which comprises at least two processing stations and also at least one process controller, at least one product of the first processing station being a starting material of the second processing station, wherein the production controller is designed to control the consumption rate of at least one primary starting material of the production plant, and/or the production rate for the end product of the production plant, by acting on the setpoint values of the process controllers for the production rates for the respective products of the processing stations, and/or for the consumption rates of the respective starting materials of the processing stations.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Further measures that improve the invention are presented more specifically below together with the description of the preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention on the basis of figures.

[0039] In the figures:

[0040] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a production plant 1 according to the invention with a processing station 41;

[0041] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a production plant 1 according to the invention with two cascaded processing stations 41 and 42.

[0042] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a production plant 1 according to the invention with a production controller 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] According to FIG. 1, the production plant 1 comprises a single processing station 41. The primary starting material 2, which is supplied to the production plant 1 as a whole and is consumed by the production plant 1 at a rate 2a, is at the same time the starting material 21 of the processing station 41. The processing station 41 consumes the starting material 21 at a rate 21a and processes the starting material 21 at a rate 31a to form a product 31. This product 31 is at the same time the end product 3 of the production plant 1. The production rate 3a of the production plant 1 as a whole is identical to the production rate 31a of the single processing station 41.

[0044] Along with the variable 71, which is a measure of a quality feature of the product 31, the process controller 51 assigned to the processing station 41 receives both the consumption rate 21a and the production rate 31a of the processing station 41. Consequently, the process controller 51 is capable of optionally controlling the consumption rate 21a, the production rate 31a or a combination of the consumption rate 21a and the production rate 31a with consistent quality of the product 31. For this purpose, the process controller 51 influences a manipulated variable 61 acting on the processing station 41. The variable 71 is not only registered on the finished product 31, but also at the same time taken, on a much faster timescale, directly from the process proceeding in the processing station 41.

[0045] In addition, the process controller 51 also receives a further process variable 81 from the processing station as further feedback, which may be used for monitoring boundary conditions.

[0046] In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the production plant 1 comprises two processing stations 41 and 42 cascaded with one another. The primary starting material 2 is at the same time the starting material 21 of the first processing station 41, and the consumption rate 2a of primary starting material 2 is identical to the consumption rate 21a of the first processing station 41. The first processing station 41 produces a first product 31 at a rate 31a. This first product 31 is at the same time the starting material 22 of the second processing station 42, which produces the second product 32 from this starting material 22 at a rate 32a. In this case, the second product 32 is identical to the end product 3, which the production plant 1 as a whole produces, and the rate 3a, at which the end product 3 is produced, is identical to the production rate 32a of the second processing station 42. However, the consumption rate 22a of the second processing station 42 is not necessarily identical to the production rate 31a of the first processing station 41. Instead, the product 31 may be intermediately stored before it is supplied to the second processing station 42 as starting material 22.

[0047] The production plant 1 includes two process controllers 51 and 52. The first process controller 51 receives the consumption rate 21a and the production rate 31a of the first processing station 41 as feedback. In addition, the first process controller 51 receives a first process variable 81 from the first processing station 41 and a second process variable 82 from the second processing station 42. The first process controller 51 influences a manipulated variable 61, which acts on the first processing station 41. It undertakes the main work in the conversion of the quantitative preselections for production and resource consumption.

[0048] The second process controller 52 receives the consumption rate 22a and the production rate 32a of the processing station 42 as feedback. As further feedback, the second process controller 52 receives the variable 72, which is a measure of a quality feature of the product 32. The second process controller 52 consequently undertakes the final inspection of the product 32, which is at the same time the end product 3 of the production plant 1. By analogy with FIG. 1, the variable 72 is taken both from the finished product 32 and on a much faster timescale directly from the process proceeding in the processing station 42.

[0049] FIG. 3 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a production plant 1 according to the invention. In this exemplary embodiment, a mixed series and parallel arrangement of four processing stations 41, 42a, 42b and 43 is provided.

[0050] The first processing station 41 consumes a starting material 21, which is at the same time the primary starting material 2 of the production plant 1 as a whole, at a consumption rate 21a and produces a first product 31 from this starting material 21 at a production rate 31a. The process controller 51, which is assigned to the first processing station 41 and acts on the first processing station 41 by way of a manipulated variable 61, receives as feedback the consumption rate 21a and the production rate 31a of the first processing station 41, as well as also a manipulated variable 71, which is a measure of a quality feature of the first product 31. The process controller 51 is designed to control along with the variable 71 also the consumption rate 21a, and/or the production rate 31a, of the first processing station.

[0051] The first product 31 is an intermediate product, which is supplied as starting material 22 to two processing stations 42a and 42b arranged in parallel. The two processing stations 42a and 42b produce a second product 32 from the starting material 22. In this case, the consumption rate 22a1 of the starting material 22 of the processing station 42a may differ from the consumption rate 22a2 of the starting material 22 of the processing station 42b. Similarly, the production rate 32a1 for the second product 32 of the processing station 42a may differ from the production rate 32a2 for the second product 32 of the processing station 42b. The sum of the consumption rates 22a1 and 22a2 of the starting material 22 of the two processing stations 42a and 42b does not have to correspond at all times to the production rate 31a at which this starting product 22 is produced as the first product 31 by the processing station 41. Between the processing stations 41 on the one hand and also 42a and 42b on the other hand, there is a storage capacity, which receives excess production on the part of the processing station 41 and covers excess demand on the part of the processing stations 42a and 42b.

[0052] The process controller 52a assigned to the processing station 42a influences the processing station 42a as dictated by a manipulated variable 62a. It receives as feedback the consumption rate 22a1 and the production rate 32a1 of the processing station 42a, and also the variable 72a, which is a measure of a quality feature of the second product 32 produced by the processing station 42a.

[0053] By analogy, the process controller 52b assigned to the processing station 42b influences the processing station 42b as dictated by a manipulated variable 62b. It receives as feedback the consumption rate 22a2 and the production rate 32a2 of the processing station 42b, and also the variable 72b, which is a measure of a quality feature of the second product 32 produced by the processing station 42b.

[0054] The second product 32, produced by the two processing stations 42a and 42b, is at the same time the starting material 23 for the processing station 43. The processing station 43 consumes the starting material 23 at a consumption rate 23a and from it produces at the production rate 33a the third product 33, which is at the same time the end product 3 of the production plant 1 as a whole.

[0055] In this case there is once again storage capacity between the processing stations 42a and 42b on the one hand and the processing station 43 on the other hand, so that the consumption rate 23a of the processing station 43 does not have to correspond at all times to the sum of the production rates 32a1 and 32a2 of the processing stations 42a and 42b.

[0056] The process controller 53 assigned to the processing station 43 receives the consumption rate 23a and the production rate 33a of the processing station 43 and also a variable 73, which is a measure of a quality feature of the product 33, as feedback.

[0057] By analogy with FIGS. 1 and 2, the variables 71, 72a, 72b and 73 are not only determined on the basis of the finished products 31, 32 and 33, but also taken, on a much faster timescale, directly from the processes proceeding in the processing stations 41, 42a, 42b and 43.

[0058] Since only the processing station 41 consumes the starting material 21, which is identical to the primary starting material 2 of the production plant 1 as a whole, the consumption rate 21a of the first processing station 41 is identical to the consumption rate 2a of the production plant 1 as a whole.

[0059] Since only the processing station 43 produces the product 33, which is the end product 3 of the production plant 1 as a whole, the production rate 33a of the processing station 43 is identical to the production rate 3a of the production plant 1 as a whole.

[0060] The production controller 9 receives the consumption rate 2a and the production rate 3a of the production plant 1 as feedback. It is designed to control the consumption rate 2a, and/or the production rate 3a. For this purpose, the production controller 9 influences the setpoint values 91, 92a, 92b and 93 for the consumption rates 21a, 22a1, 22a2, 23a, and/or for the production rates 31a, 32a1, 32a2, 33a, of the processing stations 42, 42a, 42b and 43. In this case, the production controller may also receive further feedback concerning the state of the processing stations 42, 42a, 42b and 43, which for reasons of overall clarity are not depicted in FIG. 3.

[0061] The production controller 9 allows the production plant 1 as a whole to be operated between the extremes of the maximum production rate 3a and the minimum consumption rate 2a. It is also possible for example to respond to a failure of the processing station 42a by increasing the utilization of the processing station 42b correspondingly.