Generic control-algorithm for modules of automated material handling systems

Automated material handling systems are increasingly used in industry due to short process times and high throughputs. These systems have to be custom-built in order to utilize their full potential and therefore require individually created control software. To create this individual control software extensive manual programming is required, since a modular structure of the control algorithm with predefined modules is often missing. We fill this gap and describe such a modular control structure, which is based upon a two-layer architecture separating the hardware control from the material flow control. Our control structure uses a five-phase generic control algorithm, which represents a template by which the modules can be worked out. We describe this five-phase generic control algorithm, implement it for a demonstrator scenario and show its proper functionality. We show that with our two-layer architecture and the generic control algorithm predefined modules for the conveyor hardware and material flow elements can be created and then assembled in the needed configuration. Therefore, the presented method allows to create the control software for a custom-built material handling system by arranging predefined modules, thus without manual programming.