SKID conveyor technology & push SKID lines
Automotive solutions from WinMOD
SKID conveyor technology
Floor conveyor technology for car bodies
Conveyor technology with rollers and chains
The classic SKID conveyor technology is certainly one of the central elements in automotive engineering and is used in body-in-white construction, paint buffers, pre-assembly and final assembly. WinMOD-SIMLINE provides an extensive 3D library of conveyor technology elements for virtual commissioning (VIBN). This includes roller conveyors and chain conveyors, turning, lifting and travelling modules and complex handling stations. These 3D elements are coupled with virtual drive components that include the control-relevant behaviour and bus connection. These virtual devices can also be found in extensive WinMOD libraries.
The automation system to be tested is coupled via conventional fieldbus systems using configuration and signal imports from your automation software.
Large systems with many SKID modules
The challenge with the VIBN of SKID systems is often the size and complexity of such systems, which can consist of several hundred individual conveyors and therefore naturally have just as many SKID modules moving in them. Added to this are 100s of proximity sensors or light barriers. The WinMOD-SIMLINE real-time system is designed for such scenarios. You can virtually run your systems just as „full“ here as later in real operation and simulate buffering, sequencing, stopper logic or empty SKIDs in the return circuit.
The creation of such large projects is simple and efficient thanks to WinMOD engineering and layout wizards as well as import functions. You can also integrate your project data and CAD drawings directly.
Thrust SKID lines
Floor conveyor technology with push platforms
Push-SKID conveyor technology
With this floor-bound conveyor technology, car bodies or heavy assemblies are moved along rails on large SKID platforms using push mechanisms. It is also typical to alternate between the push SKID rails and standard conveyor technology such as roller conveyors.
This is why the rails in WinMOD-SIMLINE are part of the extensive 3D SKID library. It contains busbars for the power and data supply of the SKID platforms. Code bands can also be defined on the rails. The SKID transport takes place via continuous or clocked feed. For this purpose, we simulate the driving, impact and jam behaviour of virtual push SKIDs in real time, which enables cycle time analyses (car bodies/h), for example.
One or two large conveyor control systems are usually used as the automation system. These are connected to the WinMOD system via the original fieldbus coupling, e.g. PROFINET. However, it is also possible to use virtual controllers such as PLCSim Advanced. For the coupling, you import the projected hardware configuration and symbol list from your PLC project planning tool for both uses. In virtual commissioning (VIBN), you can test your original control software, the transitions between push SKID rails and standard conveyor technology or the empty SKID return.
Push-SKID platforms
In contrast to classic SKIDs, push-SKID platforms are more complex, as they can usually include lifting systems, their own controllers, current collectors or code readers. In the WinMOD-SIMLINE 3D-SKID library you will find a selection of typical push-SKID platforms. However, most platforms are manufacturer-specific platforms that simulate all real functions exactly. Here we create customised solutions exactly according to your requirements. For this purpose, the original CAD data is imported and the complete control-relevant behaviour is integrated. These WinMOD-SIMLINE elements are managed in customised libraries.
As the VIBN of such systems usually involves testing the conveyor controls, the platform controllers and local lifting drives are often simulated directly in WinMOD. This also has the great advantage that you do not need to have real platform controllers available for large systems with many SKIDs. With this WinMOD-internal behaviour, you can test the real control communication exactly, e.g. switching the platform controller on and off at the transition from and to the rail.
