Factory-automation-cell control language based on Petri nets and its application to a real-life system

A novel programming method named Cell Control Language (CCL) for factory automation systems has been developed. Its main advantage over other programming methods is that it is very easy to write programs in CCL because its description is exactly like conventional design methods used in the upper phases of a program development cycle. In CCL programming, an action sequence of each functional unit in each operation mode is described as a net module. The net module is a subclass of Petri nets and this subclass is equivalent to a state transition diagram, which is one of the conventional design methods. Moreover several net modules are automatically merged and translated into an internal code program, which is executed in a cell controller. As an example of CCL application, we introduce a cell product which was developed by using CCL and analyze how net modules were made for such a real life system. Through this example, we show that the easy description and modular structure of CCL enables us to increase the productivity of programs for factory automation systems.