ExtruOnt: An ontology for describing a type of manufacturing machine for Industry 4.0 systems

TL;DR

ExtruOnt addresses the need for rich, machine-interpretable descriptions of extrusion machinery in Industry 4.0 by delivering a modular OWL 2 ontology focused on extruders. It adopts the NeOn methodology to support reuse, re-engineering, and merging, and structures the ontology into five dedicated modules (components, spatial relations, features, 3D representations, sensors). The work demonstrates interoperability with upper ontologies (DUL, MASON, SAREF4INMA) and domain resources (GeoSPARQL RCC8, 3DMO, SOSA/SSN, OM), and provides concrete results through competency questions and SPARQL examples. Domain coverage and modeling quality are evaluated via expert reviews, ontology metrics, and OOPS! checks, indicating strong applicability for ontology-based smart manufacturing systems. Future work aims to realize practical tools such as a Visual Query System and a recommender to aid diverse manufacturing stakeholders.

Abstract

Semantically rich descriptions of manufacturing machines, offered in a machine-interpretable code, can provide interesting benefits in Industry 4.0 scenarios. However, the lack of that type of descriptions is evident. In this paper we present the development effort made to build an ontology, called ExtruOnt, for describing a type of manufacturing machine, more precisely, a type that performs an extrusion process (extruder). Although the scope of the ontology is restricted to a concrete domain, it could be used as a model for the development of other ontologies for describing manufacturing machines in Industry 4.0 scenarios. The terms of the ExtruOnt ontology provide different types of information related with an extruder, which are reflected in distinct modules that constitute the ontology. Thus, it contains classes and properties for expressing descriptions about components of an extruder, spatial connections, features, and 3D representations of those components, and finally the sensors used to capture indicators about the performance of this type of machine. The ontology development process has been carried out in close collaboration with domain experts.

Figures (16)

• Figure 1: The Six-Phase + Merging Phase Waterfall Ontology Network Life Cycle Model along with scenarios, activities and ExtruOnt modules.
• Figure 2: ExtruOnt ontology diagram showing the reuse of terms from other domain ontologies.
• Figure 3: Some components of an extruder.
• Figure 4: Excerpt of the class hierarchy of the components.
• Figure 5: Definition of the Extrusion head for profiles.