HPNS — A hybrid process net simulation environment executing online dynamic models of industrial manufacturing systems

Modelling technical systems nowadays is a great challenge of automation technology. Particular complex manufacturing processes, like the industrial paper production, consists of discrete and continuous signals and dynamic response times. Inspired by Petri nets, this paper proposes a new modelling approach is presented to describe those technical systems on different abstraction layer. The hybrid process net simulator (HPNS) framework allows to specify complex models, typically represented as a system of differential equations mixed with continuous and discrete-event subsystems, based on a bipartite graph structure. In addition, the HPNS execute model specifications with dynamic delays. This paper focuses on the concept and the modelling approach. We give a short review of this new unified representation model for hybrid technical systems, the presentation of the model formalism is out of scope of this paper. A short summary about capabilities and restrictions of HPNS is presented. Moreover, examples of hybrid systems are presented.