Proof of Concept for a Visualization Interface into the Intralogistics Process

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Stéphane Castanheira
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/24005
• topic: industrial automation; intralogistics; conveyor systems; visualization systems; Siemens SIMATIC WinCC Unified; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia

For the past few decades, the intralogistics sector has experienced constant growth and development. As digitalization has taken hold, the need for modern and efficient solutions has become more pressing. Industrial automation manufacturers have risen to the challenge and are dedicated to satisfying this demand. To ensure effective control and monitoring of industrial applications, it is essential to consider the interaction between humans and machines. In the past, visualization systems were limited, regarding the functionality they offered, and visually unappealing, leading to failures and high associated costs. However, with the rapid development of web technologies, it is now possible to create clean and modern interfaces that are easy to read and interact with. To meet market demands, Siemens has recently developed SIMATIC WinCC Unified, a new system for the development of visualizations for control and supervision levels that is characterised by hardware abstraction and flexibility. The primary objective of this dissertation is to utilise the new WinCC Unified system to redesign and improve the visualizations of the Siemens standard for intralogistics implementations, with a particular focus on the conveyor system. Additionally, the project involves hardware implementation using a structure that includes a server, to store and manage the visualizations, and multiple distributed clients that can access them. Furthermore, a study is conducted on the technologies that could be used to develop a completely wireless concept for this system. Given that the implementation of a completely wireless system did not prove to be the most suitable course of action for the INTRALOG CS standard in the near future, due to the complexity and costs it would entail, a wired concept was employed. This choice allowed for the successful execution and validation of the transition from the WinCC Advanced visualization system to Unified, accomplishing all the proposed objectives at both the hardware and software levels.