SIMULATION METHOD FOR SIMULATING A REAL CONTROL FOR AN INDUSTRIAL PROCESS, A SYSTEM, OR A MACHINE, AND SIMULATION SYSTEM FOR CARRYING OUT SUCH A SIMULATION METHOD

Abstract

Simulation methods for simulating a real control (2) for an industrial process, a plant or a machine shall be able to determine errors occurring in the course of simulation more easily. For this purpose the invention proposes that the simulation system (7) stores intermediate states during the simulation and time-stamps them, wherein a stored intermediate state can be reloaded into the simulation system (7) at a later time and a simulation carried out on the basis thereof. As a result, simulations do not always need to start with the beginning of the control program to be simulated.

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A simulation method for simulating a real control for an industrial process, a plant or a machine, said simulation method comprising: specifying a control program for controlling the industrial process, plant or machine for a simulation system; determining by the simulation system control commands for the industrial process, plant or machine while the control program is being executed by a simulation program; determining by the simulation system expected actual values of the industrial process, plant or machine on the basis of a model of the industrial process, plant or machine and taking the actual values into account in a simulation; storing by the simulation system intermediate states during the simulation and time-stamping the intermediate states; and reloading a stored intermediate state into the simulation system at a later time and carrying out a simulation on the basis thereof; wherein the control program is modified and/or wherein memory contents and/or system states are changed manually before the simulation is restarted.

13. The simulation method of claim 12, further comprising simulating by the simulation system a simulated control which comprises a plurality of virtual components which correspond to real components of the real control, and storing intermediate states for the individual virtual components.

14. The simulation method of claim 13, wherein the virtual components store the intermediate states component-internally.

15. The simulation method of claim 12, further comprising specifying for the simulation system industrial process, plant or machine parameters for matching the model of the industrial process, plant or machine to the real industrial process, real plant or real machine.

16. The simulation method of claim 12 for simulating a numerical control for processing a workpiece by a machine tool.

17. A simulation system for simulating a real control for an industrial process, a plant or a machine, said simulation system comprising a control program configured to control the industrial process, plant or machine, said simulation system being configured to: determine control commands for the industrial process, plant or machine while the control program is being executed by a simulation program, determine expected actual values of the industrial process, plant or machine on the basis of a model of the industrial process, plant or machine and taking the actual values into account in a simulation; store intermediate states during the simulation and time-stamp the intermediate states; and reload a stored intermediate state into the simulation system at a later time and carry out a simulation on the basis thereof; wherein the control program is modifiable and/or wherein memory contents and/or system states are changeable manually prior to a restart of the simulation.

18. The simulation system of claim 17, further comprising a simulated control comprising a plurality of virtual components which correspond to real components of the real control, said simulation system being configured to store intermediate states for the individual virtual components.

19. The simulation system of claim 18, wherein the intermediate states are stored component-internally by the virtual components.

20. The simulation system of claim 17, configured to receive specified industrial process, plant, or machine parameters for matching the model of the industrial process, plant or machine to the real process, real plant or real machine.

21. The simulation system of claim 17, configured to simulate a numerical control for the processing of a workpiece by a machine tool.

22. A data medium having stored thereon a control program for carrying out a simulation method as claimed in claim 11.

Description

[0030] Further advantages and details will emerge from the following description of an exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0031] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a machine tool and a simulation system,

[0032] FIG. 2 shows the storing of intermediate states at different times and

[0033] FIG. 3 shows the loading of a stored intermediate state.

[0034] According to FIG. 1, a schematically illustrated machine tool 1 is controlled by a real numerical control 2 (CNC 2). For this purpose the numerical control 2 is supplied with a user program (control program) 4, also termed a part program in a CNC control context, by a user 3 or by a master computer (not shown). Said user program 4 consists of instruction steps which describe the processing to be implemented by the machine tool 1. The instruction steps can alternatively be machine-dependent or machine-independent.

[0035] The numerical control 2 executes the user program 4. In the course of executing the user program 4, the numerical control 2 determines, step by step, machine-dependent control commands for the machine tool 1 and controls the machine tool 1 accordingly. This takes place within the framework of a real-time kernel (NCK) 5. The real-time kernel 5 comprises a real-time operating system 5 and control software 5. These are stored in the numerical control 2 by a manufacturer of the numerical control 2. In the course of execution of the user program 4 by the numerical control 2, e.g. a workpiece 6 is processed by the machine tool 1 by means of a tool.

[0036] In order to simulate processing of the workpiece 6 by the machine tool 1, a simulation system 7 is provided on which a suitably designed simulation program 8 is run to simulate the control 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the simulation system 7 is an entity different from the numerical control 2. It is therefore not used to control the machine tool 1.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 1, the simulation system 7 comprises among other things a mass storage device (not shown), e.g. a hard disk. A control program 9 to be simulated is loaded onto the mass storage device. As indicated in FIG. 1, the control program 9 can be supplied to the simulation system 7 in advance e.g. via a data medium 10 on which the control program 9 is stored in (exclusively) machine-readable form. An example of such a medium 10 is a CD-ROM. However, the control program 9 can also have been supplied to the simulation system 7 in some other way, e.g. via a LAN (LAN=local area network) or the Internet.

[0038] The control program 9 is designed for subsequent transfer to the CNC 2 and processing of a workpiece by means of the machine tool 1. However, it must first be tested on the simulation system 7. For this purpose, the simulation system 7 simulates the operation of the real CNC control 2 by means of a virtual CNC control 11. The operation of the machine tool 1 is also encompassed by the simulation system 7 in the form of the virtual machine tool 20. Thus, the simulation system 7 can execute the control program 9 in the same way as it would also run on the real CNC control 2. The model 20 of the real machine tool 1 ensures that the virtual CNC control 7 is provided with the expected actual values (machine states, sensor signals, etc.) of the real machine tool 1 for the respective processing step.

[0039] The control program 9 can be called by means of a call instruction which is specified for the simulation system 7. The call instruction can be directly specified for the simulation system 7, e.g. by a user 13. However, it can also be specified via a computer-computer link (not shown), e.g. from the numerical control 2 or from another computer (not shown). Said computer-computer link can basically be of any type. For example, it can be implemented as an Ethernet or Internet connection. Other embodiments are also possible. When the control program 9 is called, the simulation system 7 carries out a simulation method for simulating the CNC control 2 and therefore for simulating the processing of a workpiece 6 by the machine tool 1.

[0040] The virtual CNC control 11 is advantageously subdivided in into its essential components, here namely NCK 12, PLC 13 and HMI 14. This subdivision can be implemented, for example, by appropriate subprograms within the simulation program 8. In addition, these components are advantageously assigned their own logical and/or physical memory areas 15 to 17.

[0041] According to the invention, intermediate states in the simulation are stored and time-stamped by the simulation system 7 in such a way that a stored intermediate state can be reloaded into the simulation system 7 at a later time and a new simulation carried out on the basis thereof. The data relating to the intermediate states is advantageously stored in the memory areas 15 to 17.

[0042] FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate, in a general manner and independently of the specific example as shown in FIG. 1, the buffering and reloading of particular intermediate states. However, persons skilled in the art will readily understand how the explanations apply to the specific example illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0043] According to FIG. 2, the respective intermediate states of the components K1, K2 and K3 are temporarily stored in a memory 18 at particular times t1 and t2. Said FIG. 2 illustrates primarily the time sequence. In particular, the memory 18 can also comprise a plurality of logical and/or physical memories which are permanently assigned to the respective components K1 to K3. The readout and storage of the intermediate states is controlled in particular by a simulation control 19. This ensures that the buffered values are each assigned the relevant time stamp so that a respective system state (intermediate state) is assigned a unique time specification for that state.

[0044] FIG. 3 now illustrates the resetting of the simulation system to a buffered system state. For this purpose, the time, for which the system is to be reset, i.e. the relevant intermediate state is to be restored, is specified by the user. In the example, this is the time t1. Therefore, the memory contents provided with the time stamp t1 are read out from the memory 18 and transferred back into the original memory cells. The simulation can thus be performed again from t1.

[0045] Obviously the control program can be modified before the simulation is restarted from the time t1. As a result, different program variations can be run through again beginning from the time t1. It is also possible for memory contents and/or system states to be modified manually before the simulation is launched. This also enables different initial situations to be tested without having to re-run the control program from the beginning. This increases flexibility and saves time.