Material flow reference page
Material flow
Material flow is the appearance, movement and removal of materials, such as workpieces, during simulation within FASTSUITE Edition 2.
Materials appear at a material source in a time set interval or when triggered by a port signal. When the material moves and at some point then collides with a material sink, it will be removed from the simulation. This behavior can be defined in the Material simulation dashboard in the Resource Builder workbench.
Material flow and with that the materials do only exist during the life cycle of the simulation.
Source
A source is the trigger position for the material to appear during simulation. The source is a frame with an additional 3D representation.
The source is created on the center of the Manipulator with the Manipulator’s position and orientation.
In the Actuators dashboard, the source attributes can be modified.
| Attribute | Description | Remark |
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Name | The name of the material source. | A blank name is allowed. |
 | ||
| X, Y, Z | The X,Y and Z coordinates of the source. | Coordinates are set to the component’s global coordinate system. |
| Roll(X), Pitch(Y), Yaw(Z) | The roll, pitch and yaw orientation of the source. | Orientation angles are set to the component’s global coordinate system. |
Its simulation behavior is defined in the Material simulation dashboard.
| Attribute | Description | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Trigger | The trigger to appear the material. The trigger can be: Time Port signal | The material appears on the rising edge of the port signal.  |
| Trigger time | The trigger time during simulation for the material to appear. | Only valid when time trigger has been set. |
| Sequence | The sequence in which the material appears. | Fixed. |
 | ||
| The material selector to assign a workpiece from the layout to the source. |
During simulation, a ‘light weight’ copy of the assigned material appears at the source location. To correctly position the material, the root frame of the parent material will placed and aligned with the frame of the source.
Sink
A sink is the trigger to remove the material from the simulation. The sink is a frame showing an additional 3D representation, combined with a sink box.
The sink box is the sensitive area for the material to disappear. When during simulation the root frame of a material enters this sink box area, the material instantly will be removed from the simulation and disappears.
The sink is created on the center of the Manipulator with the Manipulator’s position and orientation.
In the Actuators dashboard, the sink attributes can be modified.
| Attribute | Description | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Name | The name of the material sink. | A blank name is allowed. |
| Width (X), Depth (Y), Height (Z) | The size of the sink activation box. | The box dimensions are defined from the sink’s origin. |
| ||
| X, Y, Z | The X,Y and Z coordinates of the sink. | Coordinates are set to the component’s global coordinate system. |
| Roll(X), Pitch(Y), Yaw(Z) | The roll, pitch and yaw orientation of the sink. | Orientation angles are set to the component’s global coordinate system. |
