FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE

EXAM / EKSAMEN

Course code: MAS221

Course name: Industrial IT & Robotics

Date: November 24, 2016

Duration: 5 hours
Language: The questions are given in English

Number of pages incl.

8
front page:

Open book: All written and printed material allowed, approved

Resources allowed:
calculator.

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Problem 1: Industrial IT – Flow-chart/State machine
Figure 1 shows a robotic/automatic milking station arranged for voluntary milking of cows.
Referring to the numbers in the picture, the milking station 1 comprises an/a

• enclosure having an inlet gate 2 and an outlet gate 3, which are both capable of being
opened/closed automatically.

• food dispenser 4 with cover that can be opened/closed automatically

• autonomous milking robot 7 which is a rather complex unit which includes teat/udder
washing mechanism, teat cups 6, camera and/or laser vision system

• flow-meter 8 which continuously measures the milk flow

• scale 9 providing the weight of the cow

• central processing and control device located on the “back” of the machine

Figure 1: Robotic/automatic milking station. Photo courtesy: Lely

Visiting the food dispenser 4 is actually the main motivator for the cows to visit the milking
station. To limit access, each cow is equipped with a unique identification tag around their
necks 5, e.g. based on RFID technology. The inlet gate 2 will not open unless H hours has
passed since the cow’s last visit.
To keep things simple in this exam, we assume the autonomous milking robot 7 is providing
end-to-end and out-of-the-box functionality for detecting, cleaning, gripping and milking the
cow’s teats (e.g. using a HW/SW library provided by a sub-supplier). Hence, in the questions
to come, one need only to interact with this HW/SW library through two dedicated functions,
StartMilking and StopMilking.

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Functional description
1. A cow approaching the milking station is initially identified by the identification number 5
(e.g., RFID tag). The central processing and control device may then, depending on the
elapsed time since last visit being larger than H, give the cow access to the milking
station 1 by means of opening the inlet gate 2.

2. When the cow is in correct position – identified by the weight of the cow, W , exceeding
a pre-set limit, Wu – the inlet gate 2 is closed and the cover of the food dispenser 4 is
turned open upon which the milking robot 7 does it’s magic by a call to the StartMilking
function.

3. The milking is considered completed either when the milk-flow, denoted M ,

(a) falls below a certain lower level, Ll , OR

(b) the time spent milking exceeds an a priori set upper limit, Tu , at the same time as
the milk-flow is below a certain upper level, Lu .

4. After a call to a sub-supplied function named StopMilking, the feeding is stopped and the
outlet gate 3 is opened and the cow may leave the milking station 1.

5. Once the cow has left the station – based on the measured weight falling below Wl – the
outlet gate 3 is closed. At this point, the timer keeping track of the cow’s last visit is also
set to zero.

Referring to the functional description of the milking station provided above:

a) Set up an I/O list explicitly defining all introduced notations. (5p)

b) Sketch a flow-chart for the milking station control system explicitly using the notation
introduced in 1a). Assume the station is initiated empty and with both gates and dispenser
lock closed. (10p)

c) Draw a state-machine describing the same system explicitly using the notation introduced
in 1a). (10p)

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Problem 2:Industrial IT, Technical safety

Figure 2: Pipeline containing hydrocarbons (gas)

The export pipeline is equipped with a compressor producing the necessary pressure to assure
adequate flow in the pipeline.
There is installed an export valve (V), which is to close if the pressure (PT) gets above the
design pressure.
The compressor is located in an area where gas could be present. If gas is detected (GD) the
power to the compressor will be cut.
There are two pressure transmitters installed, and three gas detectors. The gas detectors are
of type IR point.
The valve (V) consists of a solenoid + ESV/XV.
There are defined two safety instrumented functions, SIF 01 for the protection of the pipeline,
and SIF 02 for the protection of the compressor.
SIF 01: The valve (V) is to close on high pressure (PT)
SIF 02: Cut power to the compressor upon gas detected
The planned test interval for both SIFs are once pr. year.

a) Based on generic data source, complete the table for the components: CB, PT, GD, Logic
solver, Valve (incl. Source reference, see example CB circuit breaker) (2 p)

Component λdu β SFF Type A or B Source

CB 1,50E-07 5% > 60 % A NOG 070 attachment + PDS

b) For SIF 01 and SIF 02 the required risk reduction is set to SIL 2 List the necessary HFT
for all components, with reference to SIL 2 (3 p)

c) Draw Reliability block diagrams for both SIF 01 and SIF 02 (5 p)

d) Calculate PFD for both SIF 01 and SIF 02 (5 p)

e) What is the actual risk reduction (SIL level) for SIF 01 and SIF 02? Are the requirements
set in b) fulfilled? (3 p)

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f) List at least two measures that could be implemented to achieve a higher risk reduction
(2 p)

g) Use one of the examples listed in f) and re-design the function(s) that does not fulfill the
requirements. Calculate the new PFD for the re-designed function(s) (5 p)

CB Circuit Breaker
V Valve (solenoid + ESV/XV, incl. actuator)
LS Logic Solver / Programmable Logic Controller / PLS
ESV/XV Emergency shutdown valve/process shutdown valve
HFT Hardware Fault Tolerance
SIL Safety Integrity Level
SIF Safety Instrumented Function
SFF Safe Failure Fraction

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Problem 3: Robotics - Denavit-Hartenberg (DH) table

Figure 3 shows a robot mechanism

in the home position. The mech-
anism consists of six revolute (rota-
tional) joints. There are six fixed-
length links with lengths a-f from the
the first joint θ1 to the last joint θ6 .
The first joint is located in the origin
of the global (robot) coordinate system
x0 y0 z0 . The angles between the fixed-
length links b-c, c-d, d-e are 90o .

Define the Denavit-Hartenberg (DH)

table for the robot in Figure 3. Strictly
speaking, in a DH-table the rota-
tions θ1 -θ6 are about the current Z-
axis according to the positive directions
shown by arrows. DO NOT calculate
the forward kinematics based on the
DH table. Maximum number of points
is given for the DH table containing 6
lines. (7 p)

Figure 3: Robot mechanism in the home position.

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Problem 4: Robotics - Forward Kinematics

Figure 4: Robot mechanism.

Figure 4 shows a three-link PRR manipulator. In the home position a rotation of joint θ3
is 0. The prismatic joint d (linear motion) is located at the origin of the global coordinate
system. The length of the prismatic joint may vary. Next, there are three fixed-length links
with lengths l1 , l2 and l3 connecting the rotational joints θ2 , θ3 and TCP. The positive rotations
are presented by arrows about the local Z-axis. The Denavit-Hartenberg (DH) table for the
robot is given below.

Link RotZ TrZ TrX RotX

1 0 d∗1 l1 0
2 θ2 0 l2 0
3 θ3 0 l3 0

a) Calculate the forward kinematics based on the DH table from question. In other words,
calculate symbolic expressions for the TCP positions X, Y and Z. (15 p)

b) Calculate the symbolic Jacobian matrix for this robot. (7 p)

c) Does the robot in Figure 3 have any singularities? Explain your answer. (7 p)

Hint:
Determinant of 3x3 matrix A:

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Problem 5: Robotics - Inverse Kinematics

Figure 5: Robot mechanism in the home position.

a) Figure 5 shows a robot. The first rotational joint (q1 ) is located at the origin of the global
coordinate system. There is an offset A from the origin of the global coordinate system to
the second translational joint (d∗ ). The link (B) connects the third rotational joint (q2 ) and
TCP. The forward kinematics for the robot is given below
   
x B · sin(q1 ) · sin(q2 ) − d · sin(q1 )
 y  =  d · cos(q1 )) − B · cos(q1 ) · sin(q2 )  (1)
z A + B · cos(q2 )

Calculate the symbolic inverse kinematics for this robot. (14 p)