IL103468A - Automated industrial process simulator - Google Patents

Description

'unitfiN 'iT'E/yn vVnn1? mu m' AUTOMATED INDUSTRIAL PROCESS SIMULATOR HUGHES TRAINING, INC.

C: 15764 103468/2 AUTOMATED INDUSTRIAL PROCESS SIMULATOR CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This invention contains material related to the co- , owned U.S. Patent No. 5,286,202 entitled "Glass Trainer and U.S.

Patent No. 5,240,419 entitled "Condition Monitor Request Process- ing System. " invention. .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Technical Field This invention relates to training systems, and' ore particularly to an interactive training system which simulates the use of industrial equipment. 2. Discussion ' Sophisticated industrial equipment and systems often place great demands on their operators. As a -result, training such operators requires . a significant investment to achieve an acceptable level of skill and proficiency in the operation of such systems. In common practice, users of complex industrial equipment such as injection molding equipment, are taught how to use the equipment by a combination of classroom and hands-on training. In particular, instructors, using visual aids, will typically explain the operation of the equipment in a lecture format. Afterwards the manufacturing equipment is taken off-line and students are then instructed on the actual equipment in the factory setting. One disadvantage of this approach is that while the students were being trained, the equipment cannot be used in the normal production processes. Unfortunately, taking equipment off-line can cost thousands of dollars a day in lost production. Also, instructing on actual equipment in the usually noisy environment of the production shop floor, is distracting and not conducive to effective learning and retention.

While training systems which simulate complex operating environments have been developed, such as flight simulators to train pilots, the cost of such systems has heretofore been prohibitive for training users of industrial equipment. Due to the wide variety of types of industrial equipment and the relatively low numbers of each in existence, the cost of developing a sophisticated simulation system for a single type of industrial equipment is well beyond the practical training budget for most manufacturers.

Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system for training users of industrial equipment which can be used entirely in a quiet and comfortable classroom setting. Also, it would be desirable to provide an industrial equipment training system which is effective in giving students training and hands-on use of the equipment without requiring the expense of taking actual industrial equipment off-line and out of production. Further, it would be desirable to provide an industrial equipment training system which can give a realistic simulated experience of the equipment at a reasonable cost, and which can be readily adapted to various types of industrial equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Pursuant to the present invention, an automated programmable training system is provided for training users of complex industrial equipment which includes a plurality of simulated displays for presenting a view of a portion of said equipment, and a graphics generator for generating an overlay graphic image on the simulated displays. The graphic image depicts manipulable controls and displays in the equipment. At least one touch-sensitive screen simulates changes in the state of a plurality of manipulable controls in the industrial equipment in response to touching by the user. Glass I/O software is used for interpreting activation of the touch-sensitive screen and in response thereto changes the graphic image of the controls and displays. Instructional features software is coupled to the touch-sensitive screen for permitting the user to select from a plurality of functions of the simulation system. Procedure monitor software, including a courseware database, receives device inputs which describe actions taken by said user. The procedure wants software that responds in a manner prescribed by the courseware. Simulation software is employed for receiving device inputs which indicate the position of the simulated controls, and in response thereto generating audio, visual and text display outputs simulating the actual operation of the industrial equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The various advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the following specification and by reference to the following drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a diagram of the industrial process simulator in accordance with the present invention; 5 FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary hardware configuration of the industrial process simulator shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment; FIG. 3 is a diagram of the common software programs and dataflow in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 4 is a detailed breakdown of the common software programs ; ·,' ,.· · FIG. 5 is a view of an activity selections screen in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 6 is a view of a procedure selection screen in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 7 is a view of a begin training screen in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 8 is a view of the hierarchy of simulated equipment views in accordance with the present invention; and ...

FIG. 9 is a diagram of the function of the simulation software in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The automated industrial process simulator in accordance with the present invention comprises three major components: (1) Hardware platform, (2) Common software, and (3) Simulation ■ The hardware platform is based on the concept of an inexpensive, flexible, and reconfigurable hardware platform. Such a system incorporating computer generated graphics overlays of controls and displays superimposed on video images of the equipment to be simulated is the subject of a related U. S . Patent No. ' 5,286,2021 entitled "Glass Trainer", - ■·""*·■' which- is '< incorporated herein by " reference. irie essential * components are a computer, graphics hardw.are, video disks hardware, and audio hardware. A preferred embodiment of the hardware architecture of the hardware platform of the process simulator 10 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown is FIGS. 1 & 2. FIG. 1 illustrates the peripherals that the software interacts with. FIG. 2 illustrates the hardware connected with the CPUs. A personal computer (PC) bus computer 12 interfaces to two Multibus computers 14, 16 by means of an IEEE-488 interface module 18, and Bus 64.

In more detail, the trainer software computer program configuration item 22 contains all of the programs of the simulation system 10 as described below. A touch screen 24 is connected through a touch screen interface module 26 to the trainer software 22. An audio controller 28 is connected through an audio controller interface 30 to the trainer software 22. A high resolution graphic display 32 is connected through a high resolution graphic interface 34 to the software 22. The high resolution graphic display is used for presentation of views of the equipment to be simulated. A graphic/video display 36 is connected through a graphic/video interface 38 to the software 22. The graphic/video display is used for presentation of views of the equipment as well as graphic overlays. A video disk player 40 is connected by means of a video disk player interface 42 to the trainer software 22. A removable hard disk 44, which is used to store the software which runs on the trainer, is connected to a small computer systems interface (SCSI) 46 which allows the information on disk to be accessed by the software and is connected to the trainer software 22. The SCSI interface merely allows the information on disk to be accessed by the software..

Referring now to FIG. 2, an example of a hardware configuration 48 in accordance with a preferred embodiment is shown. A Multibus simulation panel card rack 50 contains two micro-processor boards 52 and 54 as well as an IEEE-488 interface board 56. The card rack 50 also includes a spare section 58 for the addition of future cards. Also an I/O section 60 contains an audio generator card 62.

The Multibus card rack 50 is connected by means of IEEE-488 external bus 64 to a PC Bus card rack 66 which includes a processing section 68 having microprocessor 70, 488 card 72 and disk controller 74. In addition, the PC Bus card rack 66 includes a spare portion 76 and an I/O portion 78 which includes an ethernet card 80, touch screen controller 82, VGO-AT graphics card 84 and a PG-1281 graphics card 86. Also, a removable disk drive 88 is connected by means of a PC bus 90. A video disk system 92 is connected by means of an RS-232 bus 94. It will be appreciated that the relatively low cost of the hardware components used in this invention contributes to the low end user cost of acquiring it. Also it will be apparent that FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate one example of a hardware configuration and that many alternative configurations are possible.

The common software component of the automated industrial process simulator of the present invention provides the generic user interface. The term common software is used to describe the software programs and databases used to provide the user interface to the trainer. It should be noted that the majority of the software program used in the present invention are reusable on a variety of simulators and trainers. The databases provide details of the user interface and will be different on each different type of trainer produced. Thus, the term "common" signifies that these software programs are common to different applications for various industrial processors and equipment.

The primary common software programs and the dataflow between them are depicted in FIG. 3. A detailed breakdown of the common software programs is shown in FIG. 4. Glass I/O software 96 interprets activations of a touch-sensitive screen 98 by interpreting the touch screen coordinate reports received on line 100. In response, the Glass I/O 96 changes the indications of simulated devices (such as knobs and switches) using graphical representations. The Glass I/O 96 reports changes in the states of devices as device inputs along line 102. Glass I/O 96 uses a database (not shown) authored off-line to interpret which areas of the touch screen indicate that devices should change state when the touch screen 98 is activated. The database also specifies the type of device and its location on the screen. Many device types are supported by Glass I/O 96 including push buttons, rotary switches, toggle switches, lamps, meters, and numeric displays. Glass I/O 96 also receives requests to set the state of output devices (lamps, meters, etc.), along line 104 and creates primitive graphics requests (PGR) along line 106 to display representations of the output devices. For clarity of illustration the Glass I/O software 96 is shown in two locations in FIG. 3. In response to user indications to view different parts of the equipment being simulated, Glass I/O 96 also generates requests to change the video disk picture being displayed along line 108.

Instructional features software 110 allows users to specify the types of functions they want to perform using the trainer. It is important to note that all user interfaces are accomplished using the touch screens 98. This is a significant advantage over previous automated simulators in which the primary user interfaces were accomplished using a character based terminal with keyboard. The advantage of this approach is that people unfamiliar with keyboards will not be confused by having to use them. A significant portion of the users of industrial process equipment do not read well, and the use of a touch screen will be much simpler for them than typing on a keyboard. The user interfaces handled by instructional features software are described in more detail in connection with FIGS. 5 - 7. In response to user actions communicated along line 112, instructional features 110 will generate graphical feedback in the form of primitive graphics requests along line 114 which are processed by a VGO-AT device driver 116 coupled to the touch screens 98 by means of a video communication line 118.

Procedure monitor software 120 receives device inputs ^ from line 102 which indicate actions which the student has taken. Procedure monitor uses a special type of database called "courseware" (not shown) , which specifies the actions that the student is expected to take. In response to correct or incorrect actions the courseware may specify that instructional . graphics and audio presentations be made to the student. Based on the courseware, procedure monitor software will make requests for the presentations to be made. In particular, instructional audio requests are communicated along line 122 and instructional graphics display requests along line 124. Procedure monitor software 120 also passes on device inputs along line 126 to simulation software 128 for the simulation software to act on. At certain points the courseware may also specify that environmental conditions (such as temperatures and pressures) change, or malfunctions in the equipment appear or disappear. Based on the courseware procedure monitor 121 will make requests to simulation to respond to environmental parameters and malfunctions. · The condition monitor request processing software 130 receives requests from the procedure monitor 120 along line 132 to monitor for occurrence of a state in simulation and receives reports of simulation states from simulation 128 along line 134. When a simulation state has achieved the state desired by the procedure monitor 120, the condition monitor request processing software 130 indicates events completion status to procedure monitor 120 along line 136. Further details of the procedure monitor 120 and condition monitor request processing 130 can be -found in related U.S. Patent No. .5, 240 Ϊ 9,™ ent "Condition Monitor Request Processi ng System, ' whi ch is h incorporated by refreence. The simulation software 128 receives device inputs from the procedure monitor 120 which indicate the position of simulated switches, knobs and other controls. Environmental parameters indicate the status of variables in the operating environment such as temperatures and pressures. Malfunctions are indications that the simulation should respond as though something in the actual equipment were not operating as expected. Malfunctions are used to provide training in troubleshooting and emergency procedures. In response to these inputs simulation 128 will generate aural cues in the form of audio messages transmitted along line 136. In addition, visual cues in the form of device outputs (requests to set the state of simulated devices such as lamps, meters, and numeric displays) are transmitted along line 104 to Glass I/O 96. Also, text and graphic display commands ;„are communicated along line 138 to simulation graphics 140 provide further visual cues._ Courseware graphics software 142 receives requests to display instructional graphics from the procedure monitor along line 124. These instructional graphics are authored off-line and stored in a database which specifies the appearance of the instructional displays. The courseware graphics software decodes this database and generates primitive graphics requests to display the graphics which are transmitted through line 144 to a graphics monitor driver 146.

Audio processor software 148 receives requests to generate tones and play digitized audio from the procedure monitor and simulation software. These sounds reflect sounds made by the actual equipment being simulated and also includes instructional materials narrated by humans. The audio processor software then generates audio signals along line 150 which are transmitted to speaker 152.

Simulation graphics software 140 transforms high level simulation graphics requests from simulation 128 into low level .· graphics primitive commands and requests graphics device drivers such as 146 to display the graphics. The primitive graphics requests are transmitted along line 154.

Video disk controller software 156 receives commands from Gl.ass 1/096 along line 108 to move the video disk player (not shown) and produces the necessary commands along line 158 to stimulate a video monitor 160 to produce the appropriate still or motion video. In particular, this still or motion video will depict selected portions of the simulated equipment which may include for example the views shown in FIG. 8 as described below.

VGO-AT device driver software 162 receives primitive graphics commands from Glass I/O 96 along line 106 and stimulates a VGO-AT graphics card (not shown) to generate graphics displays which get overlayed on top of the video from the, video disk and displayed on video monitor 160. The graphics commands are transmitted along line 164. These graphic overlays depict the various devices and displays such as switches, lamps, meters, etc. The device driver software 146 (for driving PG-1281 type devices) receives primitive graphics commands from Glass 1/096 along 1 ine 108, simulation .graphics and courseware graphics and stimulates a PG-1281 graphics card to generate graphics displays which are seen on a high resolution graphics monitor 166. These display commands are communicated along line 168. The purpose of these displays is to simulate graphics displays that occur on the real equipment (i.e., the Pathfinder CRT), and to provide high resolution instructional materials that would have a poor appearance on a low/medium resolution monitor.

As discussed previously, the user interfaces of the present invention are simplified to permit all interfaces to be performed using a touch screen without a keyboard. In more detail, referring now to FIGs. 5 - 7 simplified diagrams in these figures depict the user interface controlled by the instructional feature software 110 which are used to initialize the invention for simulated equipment operation. It should be noted that the user interfaces are authored in a manner similar to the way the databases for the Glass I/O and courseware graphics are authored and can be easily changed to reflect the needs of different users.

When the system is initializing an initialization screen (not shown) appears, after the system has initialized, the screen shown in FIG. 5 appears. If the freeplay touch target is pressed, the system will operate without courseware. During freeplay the user can operate the simulated equipment in any way he wants without regard to specific step-by-step procedures. If the "start up lesson" touch target is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 6 will then appear. This screen allows the user to choose which procedure he wants to go through. A "procedure" is defined as a step-by-step instructional sequence, as previously discussed in the description of the procedure monitor software 120.

If "freeplay" on FIG. 5 is chosen, or the "enter" touch target on FIG. 6 is chosen, the screen in FIG. 7 will appear. When the touch target on the screen in FIG. 7 is pressed the invention will present a procedure and/or allow simulated operation of the equipment. Simulated equipment is depicted in both the high resolution 166 and video overlay 160 monitors.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention injection molding equipment is depicted as shown in FIG. 8. However, the Glass I/O database which specifies the types of equipment the user can interact with is easily modifiable to depict other types of equipment. Since monitors are limited in the amount of information they can present at one time, different views of the equipment are broken out into units called frames. The user moves between views of the equipment on the frames by pressing "frame change buttons", which are touch-sensitive areas on the frames. FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting the different views of the equipment available in the injection molding equipment embodiment. In particular, each view depicted in FIG. 8 is stored on the video disk controller 156 and may have overlay graphics superimposed on them depending on the commands generated by the Glass I/O software 96.

Further details of the functions of the simulation software 128 are shown in FIG. 9. This high fidelity real-time interactive simulation provides the simulated equipment responses based on input actions on the simulated equipment. The simulated equipment in a preferred embodiment is an injection mold machine with a CRT display. For example this machine may comprise a Van Dorn injection molding machine with a Pathfinder CRT display. The simulation system 10 is modeled to provide dynamic equipment responses for automated molding attendant training in the set up and operation of the injection mold machine. The simulation may be run in either a freeplay or courseware procedural mode of operation. In the freeplay environment there is no procedural limits on what operations the attendant may perform. All available simulated equipment functions and modes are available for training. In the courseware procedural environment, the same simulation functions are available, but the molding attendant is monitored for the correct procedural action. If the correct action, is not performed, the action is not sent to simulation and no simulated response will be generated. The design of the simulated injection mold machine is illustrated in FIG. 9. This figure shows the major processing function and the data that flows between these functions and the rest of the major software functions. Each function in FIG. 9 is described below.

The "model machine outputs" function 170 provides all the injection mold machine output indicators except for the Pathfinder display device. This function 170 consists of the following subfunctions (not shown) : 1. Power distribution model. This function accepts input power and master power controls as inputs and provides individual power signals to the rest of simulation 128. 2. Mold temperature control model. This function models the device that provides the application of temperature controlled water to the moveable and fixed halves of the mold. The water temperature to each half of the mold is independently controlled. 3. Robot model. This function models the robot arm of the injection mold machine. The robot arm is modeled to simulate motion in the Y, A, C, Z and X axes which is shown on the video monitor. The robot model also controls the local robot power, gripper indicators, and other panel indicators . 4. Injector model. This function models the injection unit of the injection mold machine which provides molten plastic to the mold. The simulated injector unit models the effects of barrel temperatures, screw rotation and positioning, and plastic purging indications. 5. Mold/Clamp model. This function models the mold and clamp assembly of the injection mold machine which compresses and forms the molten plastic into the desired part shape. The simulated mold/clamp assembly models the effects of mold temperatures, clamp positioning, ejector positioning, and hydraulic pumps. 6. Injection mold machine controller model. This function models the controller functions on the operator control panel of the injection mold machine. This function controls the manual machine commands, and the overall master machine mode.

Referring again to FIG. 9, the "model pathfinder display" 172 models the multifunction pathfinder CRT display and control unit of the injection control machine. The simulated pathfinder display provides the primary method of setting machine parameters and observing machine status on the injection mold machine.

The "process simulated malfunctions" 174 simulates the failure of selected components of the injection mold machine. The simulated failure of these components are realistically presented on the injection mold machine outputs .

The "provide condition monitor request state" function 176 provides internal states of the simulated system to the condition monitor request processor 130 shown in FIG. 3, which uses the data to determine whether a procedural step has been completed. This is used when a procedural step cannot be monitored by the state of a device output. The "model audio tones and messages" function 178 provides audio messages that indicate that a tone or message needs to be generated. The tones or messages are high fidelity replicas of the actual system being modeled.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention provides a high fidelity real-time interactive simulation of industrial equipment and peripherals. The invention also provides procedural monitoring of student actions and displays of instructional materials to the student. By combining real-time simulation principles and instructional media presentation principles in an automated trainer which teaches industrial processes, the present invention provides a superior training vehicle which does not necessitate the use of actual equipment in a factory setting. Learning is improved because the present invention allows instructors to teach the use of industrial equipment in a quiet environment which is conducive to learning. Yet the invention allows students to simulate interaction with the injection molding equipment in a highly realistic manner. That is, the student will receive many of the same visual and aural cues reflecting the equipment operation that they would receive if they were operating the actual equipment. Because of the quiet environment students feel more willing to ask questions concerning operation of the equipment and will gain better understanding of the equipment.

Because real equipment is not taken off-line for training, significant cost saving in preventing lost production is achieved. Besides saving time and money spent in training students, reduction of waste due to imperfect training and equipment operation is also realized. Further, because the present invention can be adapted to many different applications, the time to develop an individual application is greatly reduced. Further, the cost of the system will be less than it would otherwise be if it were only usable for a single application due to the higher potential volumes of sales of such systems.

Those skilled in the art can appreciate that other advantages can be obtained from the use of this invention and that modification may be made without departing from the true spirit of the invention after studying the specification, drawings and following claims.

Claims (15)

CLAIMS What is Claimed is:

1. An automated programmable training system for training users of industrial equipment, said training system comprising: a plurality of simulated displays for presenting a view of a portion of said equipment; graphics generator for generating an overlay graphic image on said simulated displays, said image depicting anipulable controls and displays in said equipment ; at least one touch-sensitive screen simulating changes in the state of a plurality of manipulable controls in said industrial equipment in response to touching by said users; . glass I/O software for interpreting activation of said touch-sensitive screen and in response thereto changing the graphic image of said controls and displays; instructional features software coupled to said touch-sensitive screen for permitting said user to select from a plurality of functions of said simulation system; procedure monitor software, including a courseware database, said procedure monitor receiving device inputs describing actions taken by said user, and responding in a manner prescribed by said courseware; and simulation software for receiving device inputs which indicate the position of said simulated controls from said procedure monitor, and in response thereto generating audio, visual and text display outputs simulating the actual operation of said industrial equipment.

2. The training system of Claim 1 wherein said simulation software can be run in a choice of either a freeplay or a courseware procedural mode of operation, said choice being made by said user by means of 103468/2 18 interacting with said instructional feature software by means of said touch-sensitive screen.

3. The system of Claim 2 wherein said freeplay mode will permit said user to perform all simulated equipment functions in modes, and wherein said courseware procedural mode will, under control of the procedure monitor, not generate a simulated response to a user action if a correct function is not performed.

4. The system of Claim 3 wherein said instructional features includes touch screen displays presenting' the student with lesson selections.

5. The system of Claim 4 wherein simulation software controls the presentation of different views of said equipment.

6. The system of Claim 4 further comprising video disk unit coupled to said simulated displays for generating said view of a portion of said equipment.

7. The system of Claim 5 further comprising audio generator for generating simulated audio signals simulating sounds produced by said equipment in operation, said audio generator being coupled to and under control of said simulation software.

8. The system of Claim 1 further comprising condition monitor request processing software for monitoring the occurrence of a state in said simulator and for indicating when a simulation state, has achieved a state desired by said procedure monitor.

9. The training system of Claim 1 wherein said simulation software also receives environmental parameters and malfunctions inputs from said procedure monitor. (From procedure monitor to simulation software clause in Claim 1.)

10. A training system for training users of injection molding equipment, said training system comprising: a plurality of simulated displays for presenting a view of a portion of said equipment; graphics generator for generating an overlay graphic image on said simulated displays, said image depicting manipulable controls and displays in said injecting molding equipment; at least one touch-sensitive screen simulating changes in the state of a plurality of manipulable controls in said injection molding equipment in responsive to touching by said users; glass I/O software for interpreting activation of said touch-sensitive screen and in response thereto changing the graphic image of said controls and displays; and simulation software for receiving device inputs which indicate the position of said simulated controls, and in response thereto generating audio, visual and text display outputs simulating the actual operation of said injection molding equipment.

11. The training system of Claim 10 further comprising instructional features software coupled to said touch-sensitive screen for permitting said user to select from a plurality of functions of said simulation system; and procedure monitor software, including a courseware database, said procedure monitor receiving device inputs describing actions taken by said user, and responding in a manner prescribed by said courseware.

12. The training system of Claim 10 wherein said simulation software can be run in a choice of either a freeplay or a courseware procedural mode of operation, said choice being made by said user by means of interacting with said instructional feature software by means of said touch-sensitive screen.

13. The system of Claim 12 wherein said freeplay mode will permit said user to perform all simulated equipment functions in modes, and wherein said courseware procedural mode will, under control of the procedure monitor, not generate a simulated response to a user action if a correct function is not performed.

14. The system of Claim 10 further comprising condition monitor request processing software for monitoring the occurrence of a state in said simulator and for indicating when a simulation state has achieved a state desired- by said procedure monitor.

15. An automated programmable training system for training users of industrial equipment, said training system comprising: a plurality of simulated displays for presenting a view of a portion of said equipment; graphics generator for generating an overlay graphic image on said simulated displays, said image depicting manipulable controls and displays in said equipment; at least one touch-sensitive screen simulating changes in state of a plurality of manipulable controls in said industrial equipment in responsive to touching by said users; glass I/O software for interpreting activation of said touch-sensitive screen for permitting said user to select from a plurality of functions of said simulation system; procedure monitor software, including a courseware database, said procedure monitor receiving device inputs describing actions taken by said user, and responding in a manner prescribed by said coursware; simulation software for receiving device inputs which indicates the position of said simulated controls from said procedure monitor, and in response thereto generating audio, visual and text display outputs simulating the actual operation of said industrial equipment; and condition monitor request processing software for monitoring the occurrence of a state in said simulator and for indicating when a simulation state has achieved a state desired by said procedure monitor. For the Applicant, C: 15764