JP2006301947A - Batch control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a batch control device that registers virtual equipment and virtual processes for preventing process overtaking in a batch production plant, and filters out and hides information about the virtual equipment and virtual processes. <P>SOLUTION: The batch control device for a plant that simultaneously produces a plurality of batches, differing in used equipment or production processes, has a means for registering virtual equipment BT and virtual processes BBT executed in the virtual equipment, whereby virtual equipment is added in parallel with the used equipment different between the batches, virtual processes are added in parallel to the different processes, and the used equipment and virtual equipment or the processes and virtual processes are executed in parallel, to prevent process overtaking between the batches, and has a batch monitoring means for displaying the production processes, wherein a filter 8 filters out the information regarding the virtual equipment and virtual processes to hide it on the batch monitoring means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is designed to prevent overtaking of the process between batches in a batch control device, particularly in a batch manufacturing plant such as a food / chemical plant, which manufactures a wide variety of products (batch) having different equipment use conditions. The present invention relates to a batch control apparatus that controls the above.

  In conventional batch control devices, there is no concept of distinguishing virtual equipment, virtual processes from physically existing equipment and processes, and in order to prevent process overtaking between multiple batches with greatly different equipment used for batch production, Facilities and virtual processes were provided, but the occupation of facilities was an interlock condition. In this case, however, the batch monitoring function displays virtual equipment and virtual processes in the same manner as existing equipment and processes, and information including unnecessary information is provided to the operator. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-148702 A (FIG. 8)

  Generally, a batch production plant has an equipment configuration designed so that various varieties (batch) can be produced. Usually, in the same plant, almost the same equipment is used for producing other varieties as the equipment used for producing a specific variety (batch). However, with the recent increase in variety, there are many cases in which varieties (batch) having completely different prescriptions are manufactured using a part of the facilities of the conventional plant. In this case, it is necessary to additionally register a new type (batch) prescription to the type (batch) prescription already registered in the batch control device.

  The prescription registered in the batch control device is the equipment used for batch production and the processes such as “heating”, “stirring”, “transfer”, etc. executed in those equipment (generally called “process”). And a batch sequence in which the processes are combined in the order of execution. As described above, the facilities in which the process is performed are linked and defined in the process.

  Thus, when manufacturing multiple batches simultaneously in the same plant, the batch control device occupies the equipment necessary for the process of a specific batch in the batch, and when the process is completed, the operation of releasing the occupation of the equipment The exclusive control is performed so that a plurality of batches do not use the same equipment at the same time. As a result, when manufacturing multiple batches, the manufacturing process proceeds in the order in which the manufacturing was started, and the manufacturing process of the batch that started manufacturing later is ahead of the batch that started manufacturing earlier. The batch sequence is executed so that it does not occur.

  Therefore, when registering a prescription with completely different equipment (for example, a product (batch) with extremely few equipment to be used), it is necessary to register the prescription in consideration of the equipment occupation order so that the process overtaking between batches does not occur. is there. In this case, a virtual facility that does not actually exist physically and a virtual process executed by the virtual facility are registered, and virtual facilities are provided in parallel at different facility locations between batches. This can be accommodated by incorporating the equipment into the batch sequence to run in parallel.

  The conventional batch control device manages the virtual equipment / virtual process, the physically existing equipment, and the process using the equipment as the same, without distinction. Therefore, the batch monitoring function referred to by the operator for batch manufacturing has a problem that information on virtual facilities and virtual processes unnecessary for manufacturing monitoring is displayed. For this reason, the batch monitoring function is created by an application program. In addition, the batch process overtaking management as described above is realized not by the batch control apparatus but by the application program.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. In the batch manufacturing plant, virtual facilities and virtual processes are registered and function as described above, and the batch monitoring function eliminates unnecessary virtual facilities for the operator. An object of the present invention is to provide a batch control apparatus that hides and displays virtual process information.

  The batch control device according to the present invention is a batch control device for a plant that simultaneously manufactures a plurality of batches having different use facilities or manufacturing processes, and includes means for registering virtual facilities and virtual processes executed by the virtual facilities, By adding virtual equipment in parallel with different used equipment between batches, adding virtual processes in parallel with different processes, and executing the used equipment and virtual equipment or processes and virtual processes in parallel, each batch The batch monitoring means for displaying the manufacturing process is provided, and the virtual equipment and the virtual process are filtered so that the information on the virtual equipment and the virtual process is not displayed on the batch monitoring means. It was made to hide with.

  Since the batch control apparatus according to the present invention is configured as described above, the operator can display only information that needs to be monitored in production, and can provide an efficient operation environment for batch production. . In addition, the batch monitoring function that has been created by the conventional application program and the management function that prevents overtaking of the batch process can be realized by the batch monitoring device, and it is not necessary to create an application program.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall functional configuration of the batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the batch control apparatus of the first embodiment defines a batch basic recipe, a batch client function 1 that performs a status monitoring function at the time of batch execution, a change in execution recipe, and the like, and a process equipment group 15. The phase logic 14 that is the minimum unit of the control application program defined to perform the control logic in batch manufacturing and the batch server function that performs the interface of this phase logic and manages batch execution 9. In the figure, solid arrows indicate the flow of data, and broken arrows indicate the flow of instructions / commands.

  The batch client function 1 displays an equipment registration function 2 that defines equipment information 3 that is a basic prescription, a sequence registration function 4 that defines sequence information 5, and a batch execution state displayed on an output device such as a CRT during batch execution. Information is obtained from the batch monitoring function 6 having the function of changing the execution prescription of the batch being executed, the schedule management function 7 for registering / monitoring the batch schedule, the execution processing data 12 and the batch control function 11, A virtual facility / virtual process display filter 8 serving as a filter for concealing information on virtual facilities / virtual processes whose virtual classification is set to ON from the inside.

  The batch server function 9 starts a batch based on the batch schedule 13 registered by the batch client function 1, and also executes an execution recipe required for a specific batch execution from the basic recipe created by the batch client function 1 when the batch is started. And a batch control function 11 that performs start-up control of the phase logic 14 based on the execution recipe.

  Furthermore, the equipment information 3 and the sequence information 4 described above have an attribute called a virtual section, as shown in the figure, and it is possible to define whether the equipment information and the sequence information are real or virtual when defining the equipment / sequence. It can be done. In addition, by having the virtual facility / virtual process display filter 8 described above, the batch monitoring function 6 blocks the information on the virtual facility / virtual process and displays only the batch execution state on an external output device such as a CRT device.

FIG. 2 shows a specific screen configuration example of the facility registration function 2 of FIG. The equipment definition editing area 21 has an editing function capable of defining equipment 22 constituting the plant.
By double-clicking the equipment 22 arranged in the equipment definition editing area 21, the equipment attribute definition window 23 is displayed, and the equipment name, equipment ID, and the process to be executed using the equipment are defined. Is provided with an attribute called virtual classification, and the equipment is defined as an actual equipment or a virtual equipment.

  FIG. 3 shows a specific screen configuration example of the sequence registration function 4 of FIG. The sequence information definition editing area 41 has a function of registering a sequence for executing a batch in the form of a flowchart. The flowchart can be expressed in three layers as proposed in IEC 61512-1, “Batch Control Part 1: Model and Technology”.

  The procedure hierarchy definition editing function 42 is a function for defining a sequence of the highest hierarchy, and has a function of describing a sequence in a flowchart format by a combination of an initial step 43, a transition 44, a step 45, and a final step 46. The unit procedure hierarchy definition function 47 is a hierarchy that further defines and defines step 45 of the procedure hierarchy definition editing function 42.

  The operation hierarchy definition function 48 is a function for defining and defining one step in the unit procedure hierarchy definition function 47 in detail. The phase logic 49 shows details of one step of the operation hierarchy definition function 48. Here, 42A, 47A and 48A are called step attribute definition windows, which are displayed by double-clicking a step defined by the procedure hierarchy definition editing function 42, the unit procedure hierarchy definition function 47 and the operation hierarchy definition function 48. Defines the process name, process ID, and occupancy equipment (equipment occupied when executing the step) of the step, but has an attribute called virtual section to define whether the step is a real process or a virtual process Like to do. This definition also has a function of automatically setting the settings defined in the upper hierarchy so as to be inherited in the lower hierarchy.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the equipment configuration of the batch plant, and FIG. 5 shows a table representing the equipment occupation order for each brand in the batch plant. In FIG. 5, batch A which is one brand indicates that the equipment is occupied in the order of raw material tank A → mixing tank A one buffer tank → filtration tank A → storage tank of the equipment shown in FIG. ing. The same view applies to batch B and batch C.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the definition of the procedure hierarchy of the brand batch A shown in FIGS.
Raw material receiving unit procedure 51 occupying “raw material tank A” and “raw material tank B”, brewing unit procedure 52 occupying “preparation tank A”, idle unit procedure 53 occupying “buffer tank”, “filtration” Batch A is manufactured by executing the sequence of filtration unit procedure 54 occupying tank A "and storage unit procedure 55 occupying" storage tank ". Note that the description of the unit / procedure hierarchy and the operation hierarchy is omitted here.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the definition of the procedure hierarchy of the brand batch C shown in FIGS. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 are attached to the same procedures as those in FIG. C raw material receiving unit procedure 56 occupying “raw tank C”, blending unit procedure 52 occupying “preparation tank A”, filtration unit procedure 54 occupying “filtration tank A”, “storage tank” occupied Batch C is manufactured by executing the sequence of storage unit procedures 55 to be performed. Here, as in FIG. 6, description of the unit / procedure hierarchy and the operation hierarchy is omitted.

FIG. 8 shows an implementation based on the procedure hierarchy definition of batch A in FIG. 6 and the procedure hierarchy definition of batch C in FIG. 7 based on the batch production plan 60 shown in FIG. The example which the batch control apparatus by the form 1 performs execution control of a batch is shown.
Here, production of batch A is started as batch No. 001, for example, at time 9:00, and production of batch C is started as batch No. 002, for example, at time 9:01.

  Further, it is assumed that the raw material reception execution time of batch A is longer than the raw material reception execution time of batch C by, for example, 1 minute or more. Production of batch No. 001 is started in advance, but because the C raw material receiving unit procedure 56 of batch No. 002 is completed before the raw material receiving unit procedure 51 of batch No. 001 from the above conditions, The execution of the next blending unit procedure 52 is started with batch No. 002 first. Thereafter, even though the raw material receiving unit procedure 51 for batch No. 001 is completed and an attempt is made to execute the next mixing unit procedure 52, batch No. 002 is executing the mixing unit procedure 52, that is, Since it is occupied, the blending unit procedure 52 of the batch No. 001 cannot be executed, and it waits until the blending tank A is released from the batch No. 002. As a result, batch No. 002 overtakes batch No. 001 and completes the blend unit procedure 52 first.

  In the first embodiment, the basic recipe is defined so that the process overtaking between batches does not occur as described above. Specific examples thereof will be described below. FIG. 9 is a definition example of facility information. In order to fill the difference between “Raw Material Acceptance” and “Suspension”, which are greatly different between Batch A and Batch C, two virtual equipments, a virtual raw material tank BT and a virtual buffer tank BBT, are defined. A virtual raw material tank BT is installed in parallel at the tanks A and B, and a virtual buffer tank BBT is installed in parallel at the buffer tank.

  10 and 11 show the sequence information of batch A and batch C defined based on the equipment information definition of FIG. In FIG. 10, the virtual raw material acceptance BT is defined as a step attribute definition window BTW, and the virtual pause BBT is defined as a virtual process in the step attribute definition window BBTW. In batch A, the virtual raw material receiving BT is executed in parallel with the raw material receiving 51, and the pause 53 and the virtual pause BBT are executed in parallel.

Similarly, in FIG. 11, the virtual raw material acceptance BT and the virtual halt BBT are the same virtual process as defined in FIG. 10.
In the batch C, the virtual raw material receiving BT is executed in parallel with the C raw material receiving 56, and the virtual pause BBT is executed between the preparation 52 and the filtration 54.

12 is based on the procedure hierarchy definition of batch A in FIG. 10 and the procedure hierarchy definition of batch C in FIG. 11 based on the batch production plan 60 shown in FIG. The example which the batch control apparatus by the form 1 performs execution control of a batch is shown.
In the case of FIG. 8, the C raw material receiving unit procedure 56 of the batch No. 002 is completed before the raw material receiving unit procedure 51 of the batch No. 001, but in the case of FIG. 12, the procedure hierarchy of the batch A Since the virtual raw material receiving unit procedure BT is added to the definition and the procedure hierarchy definition of batch C, and the virtual raw material receiving unit procedure BT is executed in parallel with the raw material receiving unit procedures 51 and 56, batch No. 001 Until the raw material receiving unit procedure 51 and virtual raw material receiving unit procedure BT of FIG. 9 are completed, the virtual raw material tank BT of FIG. Will not be executed and will be jammed.

  By using the virtual facility BT and the virtual process BBT in this way, it is possible to define to control so that process overtaking between batches does not occur. However, if this procedure hierarchy definition of batch A and batch C is displayed on the operation screen as a batch monitoring function, virtual processes that do not actually exist will be displayed, and unnecessary information will be provided to the operator. End up. Therefore, Embodiment 1 does not provide such unnecessary information to the operator. The operation will be described below.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an operation when the batch monitoring function 6 of the batch client function 1 of FIG. 1 displays the batch execution state.
When an operator requests a batch execution status display by a CRT device or the like, reading of the execution recipe of the currently executed batch starts by reading the execution recipe data in step S1.
Next, in step S2, whether or not a unit procedure exists in the execution recipe is confirmed by checking whether or not there is a unit procedure.

  If a unit procedure exists, the unit procedure definition information is read by reading the unit procedure in step S3, and whether or not the virtual section of the step attribute definition is a virtual process in the unit procedure virtual section check in step S4. Check. If it is a virtual process, the process returns to the unit / procedure check in step S2. If it is not a virtual process, a unit procedure is added to the display list in step S5. This operation is performed for all unit procedures in the execution recipe.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not an operation exists in the execution recipe by the operation existence check in step S6. If there is an operation, the operation definition information is read by reading the operation in step S7, and whether or not the virtual section of the step attribute definition is a virtual process is checked in the operation virtual section check in step S8. If the process is a virtual process, the process returns to the operation check in step S6. If it is not a virtual process, an operation is added to the display list in step S9. This operation is performed for all operations in the execution recipe.

  Next, it is confirmed whether or not there is a phase in the execution recipe by the phase presence / absence check in step S10. If a phase exists, the phase definition information is read by reading the phase in step S11, and it is checked in the phase virtual section check in step S12 whether the virtual section of the step attribute definition is not a virtual process. If it is a virtual process, the process returns to the phase presence check in step S10. If it is not a virtual process, a phase is added to the display list in step S13. This operation is performed for all phases in the execution recipe.

  After the display list of each hierarchy of unit procedure, operation, and phase is created, in step S14, the unit procedure is read from the display list, a display layer is created, and a unit procedure display list is created. Similarly, in step S15, an operation is read from the display list, a display layer is created, and an operation display list is created. Next, in step S16, a phase is read from the display list, a display layer is created, and a phase display list is created.

  After the display layers of the unit procedure, operation, and phase layers are created, the execution status of the unit procedure is read from the batch control function in step S17, and the status display is added to the display layer. Similarly, in step S18, the execution state of the operation is read from the batch control function and the state display is added to the display layer. In step S19, the execution state of the phase is read from the batch control function and the state display is added to the display layer.

  If an execution status display is added to the display layer of each hierarchy, the batch execution status is displayed on a display device such as a CRT in step S20.

  As described above, in the batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment, virtual sections are added to the basic prescription equipment information and sequence information, and the virtual equipment and virtual processes are defined as necessary to prevent unintended batch overtaking. Definition is possible. In addition, virtual facilities and virtual processes are facilities and processes that do not exist as their names indicate, and as described above, by concealing these unnecessary information with a filter, only necessary information can be provided to the operator.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole function structure of the batch control apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the specific example of a screen structure of the equipment registration function of FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of a screen structure of the sequence registration function of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the equipment structure of a batch plant. It is the table | surface showing the equipment occupation order for every brand in a batch plant. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the definition of the procedure hierarchy of batch A shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. It is a figure showing the definition of the procedure hierarchy of the batch C shown in FIG. 4, FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which is performing execution control of the batch based on the procedure hierarchy definition of the batch A and the batch C under a batch manufacturing plan. It is a figure which shows the example of a definition of the facility information in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the sequence information of the batch A in Embodiment 1 defined based on the equipment information definition of FIG. It is a figure which shows the sequence information of the batch C in Embodiment 1 defined based on the equipment information definition of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which is performing execution control of the batch based on the procedure hierarchy definition of the batch A of FIG. 10, and the batch C of FIG. 11 based on a batch manufacturing plan. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which the batch monitoring function of a batch client function displays a batch execution state.

Explanation of symbols

  1 Batch client function, 2 Equipment registration function, 3 Equipment information, 4 Sequence registration function, 5 Sequence information, 6 Batch monitoring function, 7 Schedule management function, 8 Virtual equipment / virtual phase display filter, 9 Batch server function, 10 Execution prescription Generation function, 11 Batch control function, 12 Execution prescription data, 13 Batch schedule, 14 Phase logic, 15 Process equipment group.

Claims (1)

  In a batch control apparatus for a plant that simultaneously manufactures a plurality of batches having different use facilities or production processes, means for registering virtual facilities and virtual processes executed by the virtual facilities are provided, and in parallel with different use facilities between each batch In addition to adding virtual equipment to the system, adding virtual processes in parallel with different processes, and executing the used equipment and virtual equipment or processes and virtual processes in parallel does not cause process overtaking between batches. In addition, a batch monitoring means for displaying the manufacturing process is provided, and the virtual equipment and the virtual process are concealed by a filter so that the information on the virtual equipment and the virtual process is not displayed on the batch monitoring means. Batch control device.

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