Alexander Fay

• Prof. Dr.
• Chair of Automation at Ruhr University Bochum

Der zunehmende Anteil erneuerbarer Energien und die damit verbundene Notwendigkeit, die Energieerzeugung und den Energieverbrauch an die Verfügbarkeit von Energie anzupassen, erfordern neue Konzepte zur energieflexiblen Steuerung industrieller Produktionsanlagen. In diesem Beitrag wird am Beispiel einer Abwasseraufbereitungsanlage demonstriert, wie...

The integration of increasing shares of intermittent renewable energy necessitates flexibility in both energy generation and consumption. Typically, the operation of flexible energy resources is orchestrated through optimization models. However, the manual creation of these models is a complex and error-prone task, often requiring the expertise of...

The growing penetration of renewable energy sources and the increasing number of electrical consumers at the low-voltage level present significant challenges for controlling the low-voltage grid. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing a decentralized approach to energy dispatch and grid congestion management. While the global energy tra...

The current manufacturing process of commercial aerospace components using Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) fails to fully utilize the potentialof composites, producing quasi-isotropic laminates. The design, computation, and path generation steps are isolated, requiring extensive designcycles and manual effort. To harness potential weight and cycle...

As modern production systems become increasingly complex, traditional document-based systems engineering methods struggle to meet contemporary challenges, such as maintaining consistent knowledge bases across disciplines and ensuring early validation and verification processes. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) using Systems Modeling Language...

Die rasche Expansion erneuerbarer Energiequellen führt zu erheblicher Volatilität und Unvorhersehbarkeit in der Energieversorgungskette, was die Stabilität und Zuverlässigkeit des Stromnetzes herausfordert. Diese Arbeit präsentiert daher eine Methode, die bestehende statische Optimierungsmodelle flexibler Energiequellen echtzeitfähig macht und dami...

The increasing complexity of modern manufacturing systems, driven by demands for sustainability, shorter product life cycles, and greater customization, necessitates frequent reconfiguration and redesign of production processes. In this context, knowledge about parameter interdependencies is crucial. Additionally, simulations play a vital role by e...

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein Konzept vorgestellt, das Large Language Models (LLMs) und eine Chatbot-Benutzeroberfläche nutzt, um eine intuitive Interaktion zwischen Anwendern und Ontologien zu ermöglichen. Eingaben in natürlicher Sprache werden dabei in SPARQL-Abfragen umgewandelt, um das Faktenwissen der Ontologie abzufragen und das Risiko von...

Modular production systems that employ the Module Type Package (MTP) to describe module interfaces can, at present, only communicate energy data through proprietary solutions. Due to this limitation, users face additional effort when calculating energy KPIs for modules or determining the energy efficiency of modules. To address this issue, we prese...

Der zunehmende Anteil erneuerbarer Energien und die damit verbundene Notwendigkeit, die Energieerzeugung und den Energieverbrauch an die Verfügbarkeit von Energie anzupassen, erfordern neue Konzepte zur energieflexiblen Steuerung industrieller Produktionsanlagen. In diesem Beitrag wird daher demonstriert, wie das Potenzial von Massespeichern zur St...

In response to the predicted growth trends in the aerospace industry, a gradual implementation of future industrial production systems with a strong focus on robotics and automation is inevitable. These technologies enhance production performance by automating repetitive tasks, allowing workers to concentrate on more complex activities. This paper...

Die Unternehmen der Fertigungsindustrie stehen heute unter erheblichem Druck, einerseits hohe Qualität bei komplexen Produktionsprozessen sicherzustellen und andererseits einen schnellen Ratenhochlauf zu gewährleisten. Um diese Herausforderungen effizient und fehlerfrei zu bewältigen, gewinnt die Virtuelle Inbetriebnahme (VIBN) immer mehr an Bedeut...

Alarm flood classification (AFC) methods are crucial in assisting human operators to identify and mitigate the overwhelming occurrences of alarm floods in industrial process plants, a challenge exacerbated by the complexity and data-intensive nature of modern process control systems. These alarm floods can significantly impair situational awareness...

In diesem Artikel wird ein Leitfaden für die industrielle KI-Entwicklung zur Realisierung von zwei konkreten Fallbeispielen aus der Produktion angewendet. Im ersten Fallbeispiel wird eine KI-Anwendung zur optischen Qualitätsüberwachung von industriellen Bauteilen unter Verwendung von Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) entwickelt. Im zweiten Fallbe...

Requirements engineering is a knowledge intensive process and crucial for the success of engineering projects. The field of knowledge-based requirements engineering (KBRE) aims to support engineers by providing knowledge to assist in the elicitation, validation, and management of system requirements. The advent of large language models (LLMs) opens...

The development and implementation of technical system concepts require validation to ensure that stakeholder needs, goals, and requirements are fulfilled. Model-driven requirements engineering focuses on the automatic transformation of requirements into concepts and can be supported by ontologies for semantically unambiguous specifications. Howeve...

Formal methods can help make safety-critical systems safer by detecting problems before they occur. In general, the earlier a problem is caught during development, the better. Therefore, applying formal methods not to the actual code, but to its specification, before a line of code is even written, can make fixing problems much easier. A property o...

Dieser Artikel soll als Leitfaden für Praktiker dienen, die ihre eigenen KI-Anwendungen entwickeln wollen. Er deckt den ganzen Prozess von der Konzeption bis zur Realisierung ab. Um dies zu erreichen, wird eine bestehende Entwicklungsmethodik erweitert, um einen strukturierten Ansatz für den KI-Entwicklungsprozess zu bieten. Diese Struktur wird dur...

The following contribution introduces a concept that employs Large Language Models (LLMs) and a chatbot interface to enhance SPARQL query generation for ontologies, thereby facilitating intuitive access to formalized knowledge. Utilizing natural language inputs, the system converts user inquiries into accurate SPARQL queries that strictly query the...

Due to the increasing number of renewable energy sources and the growing number of energy consumers such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, distribution system operators face growing challenges in managing the grid. A promising direction for future grid management is the decentralization of computing power to individual agents within the distribu...

Zusammenfassung Die modellbasierte Identifikation von Anomalien ist ein weit verbreiteter Ansatz, um Abweichungen vom erwarteten Verhalten eines Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) zu erkennen. Da die manuelle Erstellung dieser Modelle ein zeitaufwändiger Prozess ist, ist es vorteilhaft, sie aus Daten zu lernen und in einem generischen Formali...

The shortage of trained plant operators who can control complex systems in the process and energy industry is leading to an increasing need for more autonomy of such plants. In future, such systems will be controlled by autonomous agents executing intelligent control algorithms. Due to the critical nature of such plants and processes, new control s...

Modular production systems that employ the Module Type Package (MTP) to describe module interfaces can, at present, only communicate energy data through proprietary solutions. Due to this limitation, users face additional effort when calculating energy KPIs for modules or determining the energy efficiency of modules. To address this issue, we prese...

Process plants are becoming increasingly autonomous to compensate for the lack of experienced plant operators. However, certain activities still need to be carried out by humans. To move from a low to a high level of autonomy, an evaluation of operator and plant behavior is necessary. This provides insights into suitable automation measures. Our co...

The increasing complexity of automated production systems, especially in industries like aircraft manufacturing, calls for a methodological framework to efficiently manage and validate control program changes. This paper proposes a novel approach, Continuous Virtual Commissioning in Operation (CVCO), designed to detect and validate such changes dur...

The integration of renewable energy sources into an energy grid introduces volatility, challenging grid stability and reliability. To address these challenges, this work proposes a two-stage optimization approach for the operation of electrolyzers used in green hydrogen production. This method combines site-wide and real-time optimization to manage...

This paper introduces an innovative conceptual framework for an Energy Internet of Things (eIoT) platform designed to address challenges related to grid congestion, voltage limit violations, and the growing demands on low-voltage grids due to increased electrification in the energy and heating sectors. The proposed platform seamlessly integrates cu...

The collaboration among autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and/or unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), significantly enhances their capabilities by enabling them to tackle more complex tasks exceeding those of individual robots. However, to fully exploit this collaboration, a co...

Simulations offer opportunities in the examination of manufacturing processes. They represent various aspects of the production process and the associated production systems. However, often a single simulation does not suffice to provide a comprehensive understanding of specific process settings. Instead, a combination of different simulations is n...

Manually creating Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) descriptions is difficult, error-prone, and requires extensive expert knowledge. However, this knowledge is already embedded in engineering models and can be reused. Therefore, this contribution presents a comprehensive workflow for the automated generation of PDDL descriptions from integ...

In many recent application domains, software systems must repeatedly reconfigure themselves at runtime to satisfy changing contextual requirements. To decide which next configuration is presumably best suited is a very challenging task as it involves not only functional requirements but also non-functional properties (NFP). NFP include multiple, po...

The rapid expansion of renewable energy sources has introduced significant volatility and unpredictability in the energy supply chain, necessitating advanced control strategies to ensure grid stability and reliability. Green hydrogen production via electrolysis offers a viable solution for converting and storing this volatile renewable energy. Howe...

The following contribution introduces a concept that employs Large Language Models (LLMs) and a chatbot interface to enhance SPARQL query generation for ontologies, thereby facilitating intuitive access to formalized knowledge. Utilizing natural language inputs, the system converts user inquiries into accurate SPARQL queries that strictly query the...

Cyber-Physical Production Systems necessitate efficient configuration and continuous reconfiguration to adapt to evolving requirements and shifting goals. This process involves integrating various system structures to derive new functions and behaviors. The concept of the Digital Twin, which allows for effective integration and testing, is instrume...

The increasing share of renewable energy generation poses a challenge to maintaining the adequacy of power generation and demand. Planning the operation of flexible energy resources helps stabilize this balance. Optimization models are needed for operation planning. The use of a predefined and validated optimization model avoids modeling errors, bu...

In the following contribution, a method is introduced that integrates domain expert-centric ontology design with the Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM). This approach aims to efficiently build an application-specific ontology tailored to the corrective maintenance of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). The proposed method is divid...

In response to the energy transition to renewable resources, green hydrogen production via electrolysis is gaining momentum. Modular electrolysis plants provide a flexible and scalable solution to meet rising hydrogen demand and adapt to renewable energy fluctuations. However, optimizing their operation poses challenges, especially when dealing wit...

Mobile robots, becoming increasingly autonomous, are capable of operating in diverse and unknown environments. This flexibility allows them to fulfill goals independently and adapting their actions dynamically without rigidly predefined control codes. However, their autonomous behavior complicates guaranteeing safety and reliability due to the limi...

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into automation systems has the potential to enhance efficiency and to address currently unsolved existing technical challenges. However, the industry-wide adoption of AI is hindered by the lack of standardized documentation for the complex compositions of automation systems, AI software, production h...

Im Forschungsprojekt „Modulare Produktionslogistik (MoProLog)“ wurde die Automatisierung modularer produktionsnaher Logistiksysteme auf Basis des Module-Type-Package (MTP) untersucht. Die entwickelten Konzepte erscheinen auch für die Dienste-basierte Automatisierung modularer Fertigungssysteme sowie für die Integration mobiler Robotik in modulare P...

The shortage of trained plant operators who can control complex systems in the process and energy industry is leading to an increasing need for more autonomy of such plants. In future, such systems will be controlled by autonomous agents executing intelligent control algorithms. Due to the critical nature of such plants and processes, new control s...

To achieve a flexible and adaptable system, capability ontologies are increasingly leveraged to describe functions in a machine-interpretable way. However, modeling such complex ontological descriptions is still a manual and error-prone task that requires a significant amount of effort and ontology expertise. This contribution presents an innovativ...

Vor dem Hintergrund steigender Energiepreise und Abgaben für CO2-Emissionen spielt die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz auch in modularen Anlagen eine bedeutende Rolle. Dafür kann die Nutzung eines geregelten Lastmanagements sinnvoll sein. Dieses hilft sowohl bei geplanten als auch bei ungeplanten Produktionsunterbrechungen, den Energiebedarf auf ei...

Nowadays, companies face a variety of changes and challenges that often require adjustments and reconfiguration of manufacturing systems and processes. One topic of great importance in this regard are the interdependencies among process parameters. By modeling these interdependencies and making them accessible to experts and decision makers, these...

In diesem Beitrag wird die Entwicklung eines dedizierten SysML-Profils vorgestellt, das die Einbettung von Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) Konstrukten direkt in SysML-Modelle ermöglicht. Dieser Ansatz unterstützt die automatisierte Prozessablaufplanung, indem es eine Schnittstelle zwischen Systemmodellierung und Planungsalgorithmen schaf...

Alarm management systems in the process industry use root-cause analysis methods to reduce alarm logs. To enable the application of these methods in different plant types, the alarm characteristics of a continuous, two discrete, and a hybrid plant are examined. The main contribution is threefold. First, root-cause analysis requirements, posed by di...

In response to the global shift towards renewable energy resources, the production of green hydrogen through electrolysis is emerging as a promising solution. Modular electrolysis plants, designed for flexibility and scalability, offer a dynamic response to the increasing demand for hydrogen while accommodating the fluctuations inherent in renewabl...

In response to the global shift towards renewable energy resources, the production of green hydrogen through electrolysis is emerging as a promising solution. Modular electrolysis plants, designed for flexibility and scalability, offer a dynamic response to the increasing demand for hydrogen while accommodating the fluctuations inherent in renewabl...

The deployment of teams of autonomous mobile robots provides potential by leveraging the strengths of individual robots and compensating for their disadvantages. This makes them particularly well suited to carrying out complex scenarios for logistics, environmental monitoring or search and rescue. However, the success of such teams relies on achiev...

A key aspect in creating models of production systems with the use of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) lies in the description of system functions. These functions should be described in a clear and standardized manner. The VDI/VDE 3682 standard for Formalised Process Description (FPD) provides a simple and easily understandable representatio...

Zusammenfassung Agentensysteme werden seit vielen Jahrzehnten eingesetzt, um Aufgaben wie die Zuordnungs- und Reihenfolgeplanung in komplexen industriellen Systemen zu übernehmen. Das am häufigsten verwendete Koordinationsverfahren dabei ist das Contract Net Protokoll, ein einfaches, aber leistungsstarkes Auktionsprotokoll, auf welchem auch die Pro...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

In diesem Beitrag werden das Zielbild und aktuelle Arbeiten zur Automatisierung modularer produktionsnaher Logistiksysteme aufgezeigt. Der Fokus liegt auf der Umsetzung mittels des Module-Type-Package-Konzepts (MTP-Konzepts). Der praktische Einsatz der vorgestellten Lösungen wird anhand dreier Anwendungsbeispiele verdeutlicht, und deren Vorteile we...

In research of manufacturing systems and autonomous robots, the term capability is used for a machine-interpretable specification of a system function. Approaches in this research area develop information models that capture all information relevant to interpret the requirements, effects and behavior of functions. These approaches are intended to o...

Aufgrund der klimatischen Veränderungen und steigender Energiepreise hat das nachhaltige und umweltbewusste Handeln in den letzten Jahren an Bedeutung gewonnen. Um dieses Handeln zu unterstützen, können Unternehmen Energiemanagementsysteme nach dem ISO-Standard 50001 einführen. Diese Systeme ermöglichen es u. a. Energieverbräuche in einem Energie-M...

Automation enhances the capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by enabling self-determined behavior, while reducing the need for extensive human involvement. Future concepts envision a single human operator commanding multiple autonomous UAVs with minimal supervision. Despite advances in automation, there remains a demand for a “human in c...

Cold spraying is currently developing as a high potential technique for the repair of metallic components, particularly for the deposition of heat-and oxidation-sensitive materials. However, for the appropriate application, it is essential to prepare the component surface suitably to ensure optimum prerequisites for the subsequent material depositi...

Teams consisting of cooperating mobile robots are able to carry out tasks faster and more effectively than individual robots. Previous research projects have focused on teams of homogeneous robots in particular, whereas heterogeneous robots are becoming increasingly important. In this paper, the fundamentals of both homogeneous and heterogeneous ro...

To achieve a highly agile and flexible production, a transformational shift is envisioned whereby industrial production systems evolve to be more decentralized, interconnected, and intelligent. Within this vision, production assets collaborate with each other, exhibiting a high degree of autonomy. Furthermore, information about individual productio...

Inhalt/Content Vorwort 1 Prozessautomation: Regelung & Optimierung Architectural elements for configuration and control of modular plants 5 Produktionsplanung für die Praxis: Simulationsgetriebene Optimierung für industrielle Batchprozesse mit Evolutionären Algorithmen 21 Containerisierung von Model Predictive Control für modulare Anlagen – Ein Sch...

Inhalt/Content Vorwort 1 Prozessautomation: Regelung & Optimierung Architectural elements for configuration and control of modular plants 5 Produktionsplanung für die Praxis: Simulationsgetriebene Optimierung für industrielle Batchprozesse mit Evolutionären Algorithmen 21 Containerisierung von Model Predictive Control für modulare Anlagen – Ein Sch...

Inhalt/Content Vorwort 1 Prozessautomation: Regelung & Optimierung Architectural elements for configuration and control of modular plants 5 Produktionsplanung für die Praxis: Simulationsgetriebene Optimierung für industrielle Batchprozesse mit Evolutionären Algorithmen 21 Containerisierung von Model Predictive Control für modulare Anlagen – Ein Sch...

This paper delves into Virtual Commissioning's (VC) crucial role in accelerating aircraft manufacturing amid shorter product life cycles, employing the Software Platform Embedded Systems (SPES) methodology. Developing an adaptable VC architecture tailored for this industry, the study reveals SPES's efficacy but highlights areas for improvement. Des...

Alarm flood management is essential for industrial process plant safety and efficiency. Online “alarm flood classification” (AFC) assigns an observed sequence of alarms to one (of many) alarm flood classes known from the past. Nevertheless, accurately differentiating between alarm flood classes as they evolve over time remains a challenge due to cl...

In diesem Beitrag wird ein Konzept vorgestellt, welches es der Industrie erlaubt, eigenständig KI-Anwendungen für Automatisierungssysteme samt Fertigungs- oder Verfahrensprozess zu modellieren und deren Entwicklung, Integration, Dokumentation und Betrieb auf Basis dieses Modells zu koordinieren. Das Konzept basiert auf der Kombination eines grafisc...

Addressing the trends of digitalization, decentralization, democratization, and decarbonization, local peer-to-peer (P2P) markets have the potential to significantly accelerate decarbonization at the communal level. However, due to an increase in the number of energy consumers, such as electric vehicles or heat pumps, grid congestion can occur sinc...

Cold spraying has emerged as a promising technique for the repair of metallic components. Manipulating the cold spray gun by industrial robots, referred to as robot-guided cold spraying, enables flexible and controlled material deposition. This work proposes a concept for automated planning of robotic cold spray paths and trajectories, enabling eff...

The operation of flexible energy resources is frequently optimized by means of mixed-integer linear programs. Optimization models often use recurrent constraints to represent resource behavior. However, application-specific modeling and the frequent lack of availability of implementations prevent the reuse of optimization models. This work presents...

To counteract the intermittence of renewable energy generation, flexible energy resources can shift their energy consumption to times of abundant renewable energy availability. A high flexibility potential lies within industrial production facilities. To exploit this potential, optimization strategies can be employed to determine the optimal time a...

Das Module Type Package (MTP) stellt Informationen über Module der Prozessautomatisierung standardisiert bereit und erleichtert so deren Integration in eine modulare Anlage. Der MTP-Standard verspricht auch für die Fertigungsautomatisierung großes Potenzial. Im ersten Beitragsteil, erschienen im atp magazin 9/2023, wurde untersucht, was dem MTP feh...

Aircraft components are subject to numerous, complex and often manual maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) procedures to ensure long operating cycles. In order to remain competitive in the long term, in spite of increased cost pressure, MRO service providers must improve the efficiency of their processes through the targeted use of internal knowl...

In future energy systems, different energy resources must be controlled simultaneously. To determine their optimal operation, these energy resources must be modeled adequately.In most cases, an adequate model requires a trade-off between the time required to solve the corresponding optimization problem and the model's level of detail. However, opti...

Due to the ongoing energy transition the coordination of the power flow is shifting from centralized to decentralized, where autonomous systems such as software agents interact with each other. However, in contrast to centralized approaches, the communication effort of the agents significantly increases to share information among all agents, thereb...

The production of green hydrogen and its scale-up require the enginering and installation of new electrolysis plants. Modular electrolysis plants ease the scale-up as they allow to add further modules with growing demand. While many engineering methods focus on the detailed planning of the plants and their automation systems, the early engineering...