PC-based Human Machine Interface Control for Packaging System in Pharmaceutical Factory

Moving from trend to tradition, more and more manufacturers are adding human machine interface (HMI) to their manufacturing process. A good HMI will increase the productivity of the operator and machine, increase uptime and assist in providing consistent product quality. In this system, HMI is developed to monitor the whole process and control the functions of process. The system is designed and constructed to control and monitor drug bottle packaging operation in the pharmaceutical factory. PC is interfaced with hardware module using serial interfacing circuit. The monitoring and running conditions are shown by motors and sensors on the screen of computer using a group of program as Visual Basic.Net and Mikro C. The robotic arm used as packager is constructed using aluminum and the gripper is made by plastic. The control circuit is consisted of PIC, DC motors, motor drivers, LDR and limit switches. It is also used own programs using VB.NET instead of off-the-shelf software. . The software is designed of the real time monitoring for packaging process and included signal sensing, supervisory control using PIC, data acquisition and visualization programs. This research is studied to develop automation manufacturing technology in Myanmar industries and implement the software package to control the operations.