23rd December 2016
This is the heading of an article from the specialist magazine A&D about smart factory, which reported solutions for a closed loop of data flow from machine to application and back again. Already at CIM times in the 80th was talked about, but today the cloud belongs to the essence of the digital factory.
Connectivity and networking is once again the backbone of current production automation. It was written by the “dream of the closed loop”, the data integration via the cloud back into the production automation.
Is this dream desirable or is a step to far here? Creativity and thus innovation are living on not putting too much emphasis on boundaries. And it is also about expanding the market for digitalization products and arousing customer needs. Let us look more closely at the term.
The term closed loop used here comes from the control technology and denotes a shortened control loop with an integrated observer. This regulator is used e.g. in water-steam circuits of power stations, in order to predict dynamically processes under expert perspectives and correct them in a forward way.
Further applications are in the drive control or in the network infrastructure. E.g. In the capacity control of a network infrastructure. There is a multi-stage setpoint formation of superimposed control circuits. An internal performance or pressure setpoint via a correction interface is influenced in such a way that a predictive change in the manipulated variable is achieved by means of a forward-looking control. This is done while respecting the limits and utilization of the tolerance ranges.
All these application areas are critical control distances. Features such as high availability, IT security, time and cycle integrity lead to the list of priorities when using the closed loop. The immediate benefits of a cloud architecture are moving into the background. At the same time, decentralized control in case of doubt will be gained before a central control.
What brings us a clarification? In order to gain content and exchange from keywords like Industry 4.0, the next step towards the solution development can be approached with precision in answering emerging questions. Thus, ideas and dreams become credible products and offers.
For the development of convincing digitization strategies, it is always necessary to have expert knowledges from many areas. For example, the question about the benefit to the customer, the impact on the processes and the technological feasibility must be answered. With Levellift you have an experienced companion for interdisciplinary teamwork and the introduction and implementation of new solutions and technologies.