After the electrodes have been collected into batches, they must be moved to the curing oven, where the moisture is removed from them, and then to the next production stage, where the electrodes are wrapped in special envelopes. Let's start simulating this process with adding the forklifts to our model.
To model the forklifts, we will use transporters - a specific agent type defined by the TransporterFleet block of the Material Handling Library. Transporters can be of different navigation types: either path-guided or free-space.
We will use the transporters with free space navigation type. During movement, they detect their surroundings (defined by markup elements, such as walls, conveyors, etc.) and avoid the obstacles and each other. Each transporter uses an automatically calculated route to reach the destination point in the most efficient manner, i.e. its route will be as short as possible.
The 3D objects palette contains a lot of elements. To expedite the search, navigate to the
Palette
view and start typing the name of the element that you are looking for. The items will be displayed in the
Palette
view, each under the header of the palette which they belong to.
a.
Length:
2 meters
b.
Width:
1.3 meter
c.
Height:
1.5 meter
Add the 3D animation
Now that we have created the agent type to represent forklifts and drawn their source and target locations, let's add the corresponding logic to our model.
Add the forklifts logic
a. In the
Navigation type
parameter select the
Free space
option. Now the forklifts we want to model will move independently,
navigating the obstacles on the factory floor on their own.
b. Adjust the fleet's
Capacity:
2. Two forklifts will be enough to transfer the electrodes between the buffer area and the curing oven.
c. Select the
forkliftHomeLocation
node as the
Home locations
for the fleet.
d. Set the
Turn radius
of the forklift truck to
1 meter.
e. In the
New transporter
parameter select the
Forklift.
f. Set the
Maximum speed
of the forklifts to
0.5 meters per second.
a.
Name:
toOven
b.
Destination is:
Node
c.
Node:
curingOven
d.
Fleet:
forklifts
e.
Loading time:
1 minute
f.
Unloading time:
1 minute
Model the curing process
After
the electrodes are delivered to the curing oven, they must spend some
time inside until the moisture is removed from them. In real life the
curing process takes a long time, something between 12 and 24 hours.
For the purposes of our tutorial, we will significantly decrease this
time.
Model the transfer to the pre-wrapping buffer area
This node will represent the place where the cured electrodes must be transferred.
a. Specify the
Node:
preassembleElectrodeBuffer.
b. In the
Seize transporter
section of the properties and specify the
Fleet:
forklifts.
c. Set the
Loading time
to
0.5 minutes.
d. Expand the
Release transporter
section and specify the
Unloading time
to
0.5 minutes.
Reference model:
Lead Acid Battery Production - Phase 2
Phase 1. Creating electrodes batches