Supporting the Configuration of Technical Systems

1 Hans Kleine Büning, Benno Stein ABSTRACT Configuration is a process of creating complex systems out of a finite set of predefined objects. This process may enclose the selection, the assemblage and the adaptation of these objects. In this paper we want to describe how the configuration of hydraulic plants can be supported. A hydraulic plant is a complex system that consists of electronic, mechanical, and hydraulic components. Such a system has to be configured according to particular customers’ demands. Before installing and setting a hydraulic plant into operation, it must be checked whether it contains faults and whether it fulfills the required demands. Since such a configuration process is rather creative, it cannot be automated completely. But, it is possible to support the process of checking, detecting faults and designing a hydraulic circuit in an appropriate way. Our idea of “appropriate” orients itself by the usual working documents of experts within the hydraulic domain. Since the central working document is the drawing of a hydraulic plant, one key idea is the graphical description of hydraulic problems using knowledge based techniques. For this, we have been developing the prototypic system art deco that enables a user to examine hydraulic systems as follows: While a hydraulic circuit is drawn, basic checks are performed and associated knowledge bases are built automatically in order to reproduce the physical model of the system. Upon the base of this model arbitrary parts of the circuit can be investigated easily.1