Modular approach to Petri net modeling of flexible assembly system

Presented in the paper is a systematic approach to constructing a Petri net model of FAS (flexible assembly system). Petri net is widely used in modeling automated manufacturing systems. But, it found to be very difficult for an FA engineer to build a correct model of an FAS with Petri net symbols (ie, place, transition, and token) from the beginning. An automated manufacturing system in general is built from a set of "standard" hardware components. An FAS in particular is usually composed of assembly robots, work tables, conveyor lines, buffer storages, part feeders, etc. In the proposed modeling scheme, each type of standard resources is represented as a standard "module" which is a sub Petri net. Then, the model of a FAS can be conveniently constructed using the predefined modules the same way the FAS itself is built from the standard components. The network representation of a FAS is termed a JR-net (job resource relation net) which is easy to construct. This JR net is then mechanically converted to a formal Petri net (to simulate the behavior of the FAS). The proposed modeling scheme may easily be extended to the modeling of other types of automated manufacturing systems such as FMS and AS/RS.ch as FMS and AS/RS.