Embedded simulation for automation of material manipulators in a PVD coating process

For the automation of a production system a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation model of the mechanical system was developed and embedded on the controller. In a second level, the controller was simulated on a PC for designing and testing the human-machine interface (HMI). The task of the system is a PVD (physical vapor deposition) coating process for materials, which involves pulsed laser deposition and magnetron sputtering. It requires positioning devices to move material probes as well as to manipulate laser target materials in a vacuum chamber. As a result of using simulation, the start-up phase was shortened and production was resumed faster. The need of software changes after deployment was reduced. With the increasing capabilities of modern simulation software and controller hardware it turns out, that virtual start-up, factory acceptance test and functional validation are practicable also for small projects.