The automobile industry is an important pillar of the current national economy and an indispensable component of people's daily lives. As the pearl of the modern industrial system, one of the characteristics of the automotive industry is that the manufacturing process is complex and involves many parts, usually an ordinary car needs more than 20,000 parts to assemble. Promoting the continuous upgrading of automobile manufacturing processes and promoting the high-speed, efficient and safe production lines of automobiles are the foundation and guarantee for the high-quality development of the automobile industry.
Numerous technology partners play an important role in the development of the automotive industry. In addition to offering innovative products and solutions, many companies have established their own automation standards. For example, Mitsubishi Electric's MEL-AVM has been successfully applied to all aspects of the process of automobile manufacturing, solving real-world challenges and problems in production.
What is MEL-AVM
MEL-AVM (Mitsubishi ELectric - Automotive Vehicle Manufacturing) is a standardized software solution developed by Mitsubishi Electric for applications in the automotive industry. It is based on the iQ-R series PLC and GOT2000 series HMI, including standardized PLC function blocks and supporting HMI screen templates.
Mel-AVM consists of two parts: the System Library (SYS) and the Application Library (APP). The System Library (SYS) contains a PLC/HMI program that provides common features required by a single device. The Application Library (APP) contains several independent PLC/HMI programs that can be easily integrated into the System Library (SYS) or client programs.
MEL-AVM application scenario
At present, MEL-AVM has been successfully applied to the four major process links of automobile manufacturing (stamping, welding, painting, final assembly) and power battery PACK, traditional engine and transmission assembly.
MEL-AVM brings different application values to equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end users in the automotive industry:
For device manufacturers, the time and cost of program development and equipment commissioning can be reduced.
For the end user, the cost of personnel training and equipment maintenance can be reduced, so that the equipment and production lines can reach higher quality.
MEL-AVM Screen Analysis
MEL-AVM System Library (SYS)
Main Screen
In the status bar at the top of the screen, it contains the status of up to 12 areas, screen name, station/user information, date and time, PLC status, language selection and operator login. Predefined screen navigation is provided at the bottom of the screen.
Manual Operation
There are three types of manual operation screens:
The standard version is used for general operations, supports up to 240 rows, and can be set by FB.
The 8-cylinder type is a solenoid valve for controlling single or multiple cylinders, supporting up to 240 rows and can be set via FB.
The 16 position type is used for servo/inverter applications and supports up to 24 rows, which can be set by FB.
Alarms
The alarm screen contains two pictures: alarm summary and alarm record. The red characters are displayed as alarms and the yellow characters are displayed as warnings.
Alarm Summary: You can display alarms and warnings that are currently occurring.
Alarm record: You can display the previous alarm and warning records, and you can also export the record to a USB stick.
PLC Status
The PLC status screen can display information about the PLC (including the safety PLC) and the status of the LED indicators on the CPU module.
I/O状态(I/O Status)
The I/O status screen has two columns of I/O dot On/Off status indicators and corresponding text descriptions, the left column is used for the display of 16 o'clock input, and the right column is used for the display of 16 o'clock output. Up to 256 pages can be displayed.
MEL-AVM Application Library (APP)
Network Diagnostics (CC-Link IE TSN Diagnostic)
CC-Link IE TSN Network Diagnostics consists of two screens, the first of which shows the status of the CC-Link IE TSN network master module and each slave. In practice, small squares representing individual slave stations can be placed in the equipment/line layout diagram to find the specific location of the site more quickly.
The second screen can display the slave-specific diagnostic information and fault record, and the fault record can be exported to a USB stick.
Frequency converter (VFD-E800 CC-Link IE TSN)
The inverter contains two pictures, the first can monitor the operating state of the inverter, control the forward and reverse of the inverter, set the operating frequency, read and write the parameters of the inverter, display the current alarm information, etc.
The second picture can display the alarm record of the frequency converter.
Servo (Servo-RD78G)
The servo screen can set the axis number, jogging speed, and perform origin reset, positive and negative joging, position control, and position teaching for the servo axis.
Network diagnostics are also available.
Based on the MEL-AVM system library and application library, Mitsubishi Electric can also customize and develop according to customer needs, and help the development of automobile manufacturing with standardized solutions of hardware + software.