CONTROL SYSTEM
Computers have revolutionized manufacturing. They have given manufacturing engineers control over events in the factory. With this information, processes can be reorganized for maximum efficiency and production steps can be rearranged for maximum cost savings. You can know what is occurring on the floor now.
Because of computers tasks are done more quickly and accurately. It enables engineers to make changes or corrections that will utilize equipment and people optimally.
An important quality of computers is that they are flexible. Change the program and you have a "new computer".
Software. Computers cannot run without software; that is, without some instructions on what to do. Software controls the flow of information in a computer system. The software makes a computer la specific device — a calculator, a designer, a programmer, a cost estimator, an expert.
Simulation software is another type of software which is now becoming quite popular. This type of software lets you see your proposed factory layout at work "on paper".
Simulation software helps in the design and development of automated work cells, manufacturing systems and factories such as FMS.
An FMS without software is not flexible, has little use in manufacturing and is not even a system.
The main problems that FMS software should solve are as follows:
Keep track1 of the materials being manufactured, determine the exact physical location in the system and perform the correct sequence of operations.
Prevent the different operations from interfering with2 each other.
Determine error conditions and minimize their impact on the system.
Keep management informed on parts, production, part programming, system status.
Determine the best production schedule to meet due data and maximize machine utilization.
Forecast system needs at due time — fixtures, tools, lubricants and coolants.
Direct in real-time the operations of people in charge of3 the above facilities. Compare actual and forecast performances.
Inform the plant management with the required data from FMS, for production planning and control, accounting and reporting.
Thus, the FMS control system manages the total combination of devices in the system that contributes to the automatic operation of the production process. This includes the machine-tool controllers, the material handling system, the system monitoring devices, the system communications, and finally the system computer. Computer software supplies all the control management and monitoring functions that enable the system to achieve high utilization.
The control system is easily visualized4 by considering all the elements of the system in a structured arrangement according to its function. This structure and how each function of the structure relates to the overall system performance will be discussed later.
Пояснения к тексту
1. keep track (of)...—следить за (ходом, развитием чего-л.)
2. interfere with...—мешать, служить препятствием
3. people in charge of smth...—ответственные за что-л.
4. visualize—мысленно представлять себе
. 1.Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты следующих русских слов и сочетаний слов;
происходить (иметь место); программное обеспечение; моделирование; решать проблему; выполнять правильную последовательность операций; график основного производственного процесса; в свое время (своевременно); требуемые данные; отчетность; способствовать автоматизации производственного процесса; автоматизированная транспортная система; функции управления и контроля
2. Дополните следующие предложения фактами из текста:
1. It is necessary to say that one of the important features of computers is that.... 2. The significance of simulation software is that.... 3. As is known FMS software should solve a lot of problems, for example.... 4. Summing it up, one must say that the FMS control system.... 5. The task of FMS computer software is to.... 6. It is necessary to say that we can understand the FMS control system easily if we consider....
TOMORROW'S TRANSPORT
1. Will the strips move at the same or at different speeds?
What will cities of the future look like? Town planners are thinking of new methods of construction and transportation.
What will city transport be like in 20 or 30 years? The moving pavement is one possibility. It consists of several strips moving along at different speeds. These escalators are moving in both directions along all streets. On reaching his destination the passenger steps over the slower strip and there to terra firma (неподвижная земля).
For convenience these moving pavements may be supplied with chairs, benches, vending machines selling soft drinks, ice-cream, candy and so on.
2. What kind of transport will bе forced out?
The first lines of such moving pavements should appear in the streets which have the heaviest traffic and are the most dangerous for pedestrians. In the beginning they will replace the older forms of city traffic only in certain streets, but then they will appear in a single system serving the centre of the city. Buses, trolley-buses and motor-cars will be forced out as the trams are forced out of the centre of many cities now.
3. What kind of cars shall we have in future?
What will the car of the future be like? It probably won't be red} Our response to colours isn't always the same. If you want people to stop when they see a car in front of them, yellow is probably the best. When you go for a drive in the car of tomorrow you will certainly know more about the road in front of you. Your car radio will tell you about the next corner before you can see it. It will pick this up from a wire under the road. When you stop quickly, the light that tells the man behind you to be careful will spread across the car. At the same time a bag in front of you will fill up with air to stop you hitting your head on the window. What will the car of the future run on? Not petrol, which is duty and noisy. In future we'll probably have electric cars. As a rule the electric car can only make a short journey before going back to the garage. Or steam cars. That too would be quiet and clean. But in England there is a farmer who has invented a car that runs on manure and he drives to London in it every week.
4. What are the advantages of a tube system?
Trains of the Future. What about long-distance travel? Consider the "tube-train" suspended and propelled by compressed air. ft may carry passengers on trips at 350 miles an hour. This idea is materialised in a 12-foot long model of a strange new aluminium torpedo train. The full-size train will run through an 18 foot-diameter metal tube,, while big propellers pump the air from die front to the rear. A tube system has many advantages, a tube train makes little noise; die tube can be suspended, buried (эд. подземный) or even run through buildings; maintenance.