AUTOMATED
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING
SYSTEMS (ADMS) LABORATORY
The centerpiece of the ADMS lab is a state-of-the-art automated manufacturing cell.
The Lab is used in ME345, a junior-level course on Manufacturing Automation. The emphasis is
on a systems point of view of the manufacturing process and the role each component plays in
an integrated system.
The main components of the ADMS Lab are:
- Robots
- Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)
- CNC machines
- Sensors, including a vision system
- Software modules for CAD/CAM, CIM, and Simulation
- Communication networking
The ADMS Lab cell consist of a set of stations arranged around a conveyor belt as shown…
Control
Station
The control station contains the central computer, the PLC (Programmable
Logic Controller) and its terminal. It does not contain a robot or any
production devices.
CNC Station
The CNC station contains the CNC computer and controller, the CNC machines (two
milling machines and one lathe) ERV7/9 robots, sensors, buffers and a small
linear conveyor.
QC (Quality Control) Station
The QC station contains the QC computer and controller, two CNC mills, one CNC
Lathe, the ERV9 Robot, a vision system, sensors and buffers. The devices
are used for inspection of part quality based primarily on machine vision.
The following elements are common to both the CNC and QC stations:
- An ACL controller which coordinates the operation of the station and controls
the robot and any peripheral devices.
- A PC for user interface to the station controller and device controllers or
other software.
- Devices that perform an operation in the production cycle, such as CNC
machines.
- Two SCORBOT-ER7/9 robots which perform material handling tasks such as
loading and unloading a part into a CNC machine, loading it onto the pallets,
etc.
- A peripheral device that aids the robot in the material handling tasks, such
as a linear slide-base that supports the robots in the CNC stations.
In addition the stations contain other devices that perform production activity
such as material removal or online inspection.
Design Stations
The design stations contain PCs loaded with several software tools: design
packages, production tools and production system simulation and control. These
include CAD/CAM software and the OpenCIM package to
run the entire setup as a single CIM system.
What
students learn
As part of the ADMS lab experience in (12 modules), students manufacture various parts designed on a CAD
system and then fabricated using computer-controlled machines.
The CAD software package used in the lab allows the user to not only
design a part but to also generate the CNC machine code. There are two basic
types of machines in the ADMS Lab: Universal Milling Machines and Lathes. Each
of these machines requires different types of programs in order to work. The
After the students gain experience on how
CAD/CAM works, they learn how to load a program onto a machine and how to set
up the machine in order to fabricate the required part. Additional lab sessions
are geared towards teaching quality control, process control, system
integration, and information processing in an automated manufacturing
environment. Finally, the students get an exposure to computer simulation
software (Extend and SimEvents) for performance
evaluation of the entire manufacturing setup and gain insight on how to improve
on that.
The course includes a final project where
students in groups of 2 or 3 select any topic relevant to the objectives of the
course.
