Reconfigurable assembly approach for wind turbines using multiple intelligent agents

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of an agent based assembly strategy for a wind turbine hub. The manual assembly procedure for a wind turbine is presented. The hub parts are constantly optimised and therefore a fully automated assembly line requires continously reprogramming. Thus, a new reconfigurable assembly system is introduced which is flexible and self-adaptive. The methodology of implementing an intelligent agent for designing the assembly strategy for the wind generator hub and the algorithm for the optimal task sequence are described. This reconfigurable automation runs a Partial Order Planning algorithm in real-time using Beckhoff TwinCAT® 3. © Springer-Verlag 2012.