Building to a buffer

Question

question

Jacob Leto asked Mar 15, '17 Jeff Nordgren commented Mar 20, '17

Building to a buffer

I'm trying to find a way to make a source create items (with two different itemtypes) based on the content of two conveyors that are downqueue (I also want to make the max content of these conveyors be 8 without changing the conveyor's length). For example, if a robot pulls an item with type 1 from a conveyor, I want a source to create another item with type 1 to send through the system in its place. The concept I'm trying to simulate is "build to buffer" if that helps clarify what I am seeking to do. Is there a way I could have the robot send a message to the source on what it is pulling and have the source create an item based on that? Thanks in advance

Software Version:

FlexSim 17.0.0

itemtype max content message trigger item creation

Answer 1 · 2017-03-20T19:09:37Z

Jeff Nordgren answered Mar 20, '17 Jeff Nordgren commented Mar 20, '17

@Jacob Leto

Attached is your model with the changes that I've made to it. I'm hoping that I am understanding what you are wanting it to do. Rather than have a Source create the flowitems, I have a Queue that handles the creation of the necessary flowitems.

In your model you were not assigning an itemtype to the flowitems, like you mentioned in your question. So I was a little confused as to how you wanted the flowitem types to work. I just created one flowitem type for each conveyor. I hope that will work for you.

In the OnReset trigger of Queue1 and Queue2, I send a message back to the queue to create the ConveyorMax number of flowitems for each conveyor. That takes care of the initial loading of the conveyors. Then in the OnUnload trigger of the Robots, I send a message back to the queue to create another flowitem of that same itemtype. I colored the flowitems, by itemtype, so that you could see clearly what the itemtype is of the flowitems. Not sure if that is necessary or not but helps with the visualization.

Take a look at the model and see if something like this would work for your situation.

build2buffer-jn1.fsm

build2buffer-jn1.fsm (216.3 KiB)

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Jacob Leto commented · Mar 20, 2017 at 07:29 PM

@Jeff Nordgren

Thank you so much for your help. However, I was referring to the "CrewQuad143" and "CrewQuad144" sources in the model referencing the content of the conveyors attached to the "Crew Mariage" and "Quad Marriage" processors that are attached to the sink. I believe the logic you have defined should be able to be applied to this and help me fix my problem. Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!

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Jeff Nordgren Jacob Leto commented · Mar 20, 2017 at 07:34 PM

@Jacob Leto,

Let me know if you need more help. Otherwise, I'm guessing that you've figured out how to modify the code to fit your needs.

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Answer 2 · 2017-03-15T16:16:12Z

Steven Hamoen answered Mar 15, '17 Jacob Leto commented Mar 20, '17

@Jacob Leto you could use the onexit trigger from the conveyor or the onload of the robot to send a message to the source. On this message you open the source and on the onexit of the source you close the source again.

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Jacob Leto commented · Mar 20, 2017 at 04:33 PM

@steven.hamoen I figured giving you an example of what I'm trying to do would help clarify what I'm asking. At the end of the process in the model i have four conveyors feeding into two combiners that both lead to a sink. As it is set up right now, I have two different sources creating two itemtypes based on a sequence I defined, but this isn't how I want it. On reset (or whenever would be best), I want the source to see that all conveyors are empty, and make items based on filling up the conveyors. However, when the robot loads the first item, and thereafter, I want the source to create items that are the same as what is being loaded by the robot. If you or anyone could help me out, I would really appreciate it. build2buffer.fsm

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build2buffer.fsm (211.8 KiB)

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