Information model to support PLCOpen Motion Control programming from Mechanical Design

Abstract

The design of automated industrial machinery involves different areas of engineering, each of which employs its own and different information representation systems and software tools. The lack of a common information model to collect and organize the essential common data of each technology, prevents collaborative multidisciplinary engineering work, which complicates the use of a mechatronic approach. This article proposes the structure of an information model that allows to include geometric, kinematic and logical information related to the tools and objects that the machine manipulates, organized hierarchically according to the mechanical structure of the machine. This model complements an earlier development by the authors by calling MMCS “Mechanical and Motion Control Schematics”, which focuses on graphical representation. By combining them, the dynamic behavior can be visualized together.