Design Pattern for Decomposition or Aggregation of Automation Systems into Hierarchy Levels

In variable automation systems the encapsulation of sub-systems is a key factor for fast reconfiguration of modern production plants. This contribution proposes a generic and recursive design pattern for decomposing or aggregating automation systems into standardized abstract units. Depending on the use case, the top-down or bottom-up methodology is favorable for classifying the identified entities in different hierarchy levels. The intuitive, cross-domain approach creates commonly understandable, abstracted digital twins of the entities in form of integrated mechatronic models. The encapsulation of the entities allows a better exchangeability on each hierarchical level and paves the way for faster commissioning in variable automation systems. The approach is evaluated by means of a production cell presented at the automatica 2018 trade fair.