Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Transport Technology



V.M.I. Haag Hardware-in-the-Loop. Het implementeren van een 'hardware component' in een simulatie van een transportband met behulp van een PC.
Computer program, Report 2003.TL.6815, Transport Engineering and Logistics.


To investigate the possibilities of the "Hardware in the loop"-concept, a simulation will be developed to control an existing laboratory set up of a conveyor. A short summary of the available components is given: the conveyor, the Data Acquisition card and the software (Delphi & Tomas).

A simple conveyor model has been developed as a starting point for the simulation. The control of the hardware will be implemented into this model. The model incorporates the possibility to simulate a single conveyor or to run a simulation of several conveyors, with equal length and speed. The conveyors are connected end-to-front. The simulation will generate 'boxes' to simulate and control the conveyor process.

To determine the location of the boxes on the 'real' conveyor, the measured conveyor speed is used to calculate the progress along the conveyor length, in fact integrating the speed over time. Therefore the simulation must run at 'normal time'. There are several ways to achieve this, however the software is already equipped with a Tomasserver function. This will synchronize the simulation with the 'normal' time, at preset intervals.

Developed as a visualization aid and a means to check the proper functioning of the model, an animation shows the modelled conveyor(s) and current location of the boxes. The final program runs the simulation and controls the conveyor set up. There is a visual indication, which shows if the conveyor is faster or slower (lagging) to its simulated counterpart.


Reports on Transport Engineering and Logistics (in Dutch)
Modified: 2003.11.03; logistics@3mE.tudelft.nl , TU Delft / 3mE / TT / LT.