JP2008282165A - Batch control apparatus and batch control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a batch control apparatus for preventing stagnation of process manufacture due to a deadlock in simultaneously executing a variety of batches in a plurality of batch processes at one plant in batch manufacture plants using different facilities or manufacturing processes. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus comprises a batch simulation function unit 18 of verifying the possibility of a deadlock in unit occupation on the basis of basic recipe data; a deadlock information database 19 recording and storing a deadlock condition as a result of verification; and a deadlock avoidance function unit 20 for preventing the deadlock in execution of batch manufacture on the basis of the recorded and stored information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a batch control apparatus and a batch control method, and in particular, in a batch manufacturing plant having different use facilities or manufacturing processes such as a food or beverage manufacturing plant or a chemical manufacturing plant, a plurality of various brands are used in one plant. The present invention relates to a batch control apparatus for preventing process production from being stagnant due to a deadlock that occurs when batch execution is performed simultaneously, and a batch control method using the apparatus.

  In general, regarding batch control, “Batch Control part 1: Model and terminology” published in 1995 by the International Society for Measurement and Control, an international organization related to the problem of process control. Models and Terminology) ”standard. This standard is usually referred to as the ISA S88.01-1995 standard. As specified in the ISA S88.01-1995 standard, in a conventional batch controller, the recipe for the basic recipe is a procedure. (Procedure), unit procedure (unit procedure), operation (operation), composed of a combination of elements of unit control function such as phase (phase), used to realize the function in each element It is created by associating a physical unit that is equipment such as a tank, a kettle or the like, or a control module that is equipment attached to a unit such as a valve, a motor, or a sensor. Thus, when manufacturing a plurality of types (batch) at the same time, the batch control device performs unit occupancy management so that one unit or control module is not simultaneously used physically among a plurality of batches (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-148702 (paragraph 0014, FIG. 8)

  Since the recipe is configured as described above in the conventional batch control device, when recipes with different units occupying order or recipes with different occupying units are registered, control is performed by the execution recipe generated based on them. When a plurality of batches are simultaneously executed, depending on the combination of batches, a batch executed later may occupy a unit that is not yet used by a preceding batch. At this time, the preceding batch cannot occupy the next required unit.

  In addition, when the preceding batch occupies the unit that the batch that was executed later should occupy next, the unit that is necessary in each batch cannot occupy and can not proceed to the next process, so-called, There was a risk of a deadlock condition.

  Furthermore, in order to avoid these, it was necessary to devise a recipe creation method.

  However, if the number of elements constituting the recipe is large and the number of brands increases, it is necessary to verify the combination of the execution order of each brand for all brands, and it takes a lot of time for recipe creation time and operation verification time. become. In addition, due to a lack of operation verification, there was a problem that deadlock occurred during batch production, and batch production stopped, resulting in great damage.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and deadlock may occur when a plurality of batches are simultaneously executed by an execution recipe created based on a plurality of registered recipes. An object of the present invention is to obtain a batch control device that can grasp in advance whether or not there is a possibility.

  Another object of the present invention is to obtain a batch control apparatus and a batch control method that can avoid the occurrence of deadlock.

  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 is a batch client function that manages an interface with a system builder, an operator at the time of batch manufacturing, etc. A batch server function unit that controls a batch process according to a basic prescription registered in the batch client function unit, wherein the batch client function unit registers facility configuration information of the plant A unit registration function unit, a manufacturing process according to a batch to be manufactured, a recipe registration function unit for registering units occupied in the manufacturing process, and the basic prescription generated by the unit registration function unit and the recipe registration function unit A prescription transfer function unit that transfers the product to the batch server function unit and a production plan. -The batch schedule management function part to manage and the batch monitoring function part that displays the batch production status in the batch server function part, the batch server function part from the basic prescription received from the prescription transfer function part A batch control function unit that operates a process equipment group and controls batch production by generating an execution recipe and performing execution control of phase logic that is the minimum control unit of the batch process based on the execution recipe, A batch simulation function unit that performs prescription simulation and checks the possibility of a unit-occupied deadlock depending on the content of the basic prescription, and a deadlock information database that stores the results checked by the batch simulation function unit, It is provided.

  Further, the batch control method according to the present invention is a batch control method for a plant that simultaneously manufactures a plurality of batches having different use facilities or manufacturing processes, and the contents of the basic prescription registered by a system builder or an operator at the time of batch manufacturing The batch simulation function unit checks the possibility that a unit-occupied deadlock will occur, and stores the check result in the deadlock information database, and refers to the deadlock information database by the deadlock avoidance function unit during batch manufacturing. When the basic prescription at the time of batch production matches the deadlock occurrence condition, the start command to the phase logic which is the minimum control unit of the batch process is suppressed.

  According to the present invention, the system builder can create a basic prescription without considering the possibility of unit-occupied deadlock. It can be greatly reduced.

  Exemplary embodiments of a batch control apparatus and a batch control method using the apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall functional configuration of the batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment performs a batch process according to a batch client function unit 1 that controls an interface with a system builder, an operator at the time of batch manufacturing, and the like and a registered basic recipe. It consists of a batch server function unit 2 to be controlled. The batch client function unit 1 is generally mounted on hardware such as a personal computer or an industrial computer. The batch server function unit 2 is mounted on highly reliable hardware such as a hard diskless process control controller.

  The batch client function unit 1 includes an equipment database 3 that stores unit configuration information constituting a plant, a recipe database 4 that stores batch sequence information, a unit registration function unit 5 that registers these information, and a recipe registration function unit 6. Have The basic prescription generation unit 7 includes an equipment database 3 and a recipe database 4 and generates data necessary for batch process control.

  The batch client function unit 1 also includes a prescription transfer function unit 8 that transfers the basic prescription generated by the basic prescription generation unit 7 to the batch server function unit 2 that controls batch control, the registration of the batch schedule, and the status of the batch being executed Batch monitoring function unit 9 having functions such as monitoring and various data setting, and batch schedule management for transferring the batch schedule 10 registered by the batch monitoring function unit 9 to the batch server function unit 2 and managing the progress status of the batch schedule A function unit 11 is included. In the figure, solid arrows indicate the flow of data, and broken arrows indicate the flow of instructions / commands.

  The batch server function unit 2 performs control logic in batch manufacturing based on the execution prescription generation function unit 14 that generates the execution prescription 13 from the basic prescription 12 received from the batch client function unit 1, the batch schedule 10, and the execution prescription 13. By controlling the start-up of the phase logic 15, which is the minimum unit of the control application program defined for the purpose, the process device group 16 is controlled and the start-up state of the phase logic 15 is provided to the batch client function unit 1 A batch control function unit 17 is included.

  In addition, a batch simulation function unit 18 that simulates batch production based on a prescription registered in the basic prescription 12, a deadlock information database 19 that accumulates conditions for occurrence of unit-occupied deadlocks derived by the batch simulation function unit 18, and batches When a start command is issued to the next phase logic 15 at the time of execution control, it is determined whether or not a deadlock condition is met. If the condition stored in the deadlock information database 19 is met, It has a deadlock avoidance function unit 20 that suppresses the activation command.

  Here, deadlock will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining deadlock. In FIG. 2, A to E indicate tasks, and DA1 to DA5 indicate data sets, respectively. Assume that task A occupies data set DA1, task B occupies data set DA2, task C occupies data set DA3, task D occupies data set DA4, and task E occupies data set DA5. Under this state, when task B designates data set DA1 and issues an occupancy request, task B waits until task A releases data set DA1. Similarly, task C enters a waiting state when task C designates data set DA2 and issues an occupancy request under this state, and task D issues an occupancy request by designating data set DA3. When the task E enters the wait state and the task E designates the data set DA4 and issues an occupation request, the task E enters the wait state. Under the state where tasks B to E are in a waiting state, when task A designates data set DA5 and issues an occupancy request, all of tasks A to E are in a waiting state. This state is deadlock.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the equipment configuration of a batch process that is controlled by the batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment. In this batch process, raw materials are received in raw material tank A, raw material tank B, and raw material tank C, the raw materials received in preparation tank A and preparation tank B are prepared, the preparation liquid is buffered in the buffer tank, and then filtered. After filtration through tank A and filtration tank B, the temperature is controlled for a certain period of time in the storage tank, and then the process is performed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a procedure A registered as a recipe for the equipment configuration of FIG. Usually, a batch sequence is generally expressed in the form of a structured function chart (hereinafter referred to as SFC) as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 30 represents the start of a sequence, and reference numeral 31 represents the end of the sequence. A1 to A10 are called steps and describe the contents of the processing to be executed. Since FIG. 4 describes the procedure hierarchy, each step represents a unit procedure.

  In the lower level of the unit procedure, there is an operation like OP raw material acceptance C indicated by reference numeral 32 and a phase hierarchy such as PH raw material acceptance C indicated by reference numeral 33, but the description is omitted in this embodiment. Reference numeral 34 is called a transition and describes a condition for transition from one step to the next. In the present embodiment, transition 34 is the completion of the previous step. Reference numeral 35 represents the start of the parallel branch, and reference numeral 36 represents the end of the parallel branch. At the start of the parallel branch 35, the conditions start when both the UP raw material acceptance A (step A1) and the UP raw material acceptance B (step A2) are executable. At the parallel branch end 36, the UP raw material acceptance A ( If both step A1) and UP raw material acceptance B (step A2) are completed, the condition of the transition 34 is established, and the sequence proceeds to the next UP blending AB (step A3).

  FIG. 5 shows a list of all elements of procedure A and the units occupied by each element. For example, when transferring between tanks as in UP blending AB, the transfer source and transfer destination tanks are occupied.

  The batch server function unit 2 in FIG. 1 executes a batch sequence based on the registered procedure information as shown in FIG. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the information of the units occupied by each registered element of the procedure is referred to, and each element of the procedure is activated so that a plurality of batches do not occupy the same unit. This prevents the batch from mixing.

  FIG. 6 shows a procedure B different from FIG. 4 in the equipment configuration of FIG. FIG. 7 shows all elements of the procedure B of FIG. 6 and units occupied by each element in a list.

  FIG. 8 shows a state in which two batches of the execution recipe A created from the basic recipe procedure A and the execution recipe B created from the basic recipe procedure B are simultaneously executed. At this time, the execution prescription A executes the UP preparation BB (step A4), and the execution prescription B executes the UP preparation CA (step B2).

  From FIG. 5, the execution recipe A occupies the raw material tank B and the preparation tank B. Further, from FIG. 6, the execution recipe B occupies the raw material tank C and the mixing tank A.

  The execution recipe A needs to occupy the raw material tank C in order to execute the raw material acceptance C in the next step A5. However, the raw material tank C is occupied by the execution recipe B, and the next step cannot be started until it is opened.

  The execution recipe B needs to occupy the raw material tank B in order to execute the raw material acceptance B in the next step B3. However, the raw material tank B is occupied by the execution recipe A, and the next step cannot be started until it is opened.

  In this case, both the execution prescription A and the execution prescription B cannot proceed any further and fall into a deadlock state. In order to avoid this situation, the SFC construction method can be devised, batch production can be simulated in advance based on the execution recipe, and it can be confirmed that no deadlock due to unit occupation will occur. is necessary.

  In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the batch simulation function unit 18 automatically checks whether there is a possibility of occurrence of the deadlock as described above from the basic recipe 12, and sets the condition for the deadlock to be dead. The lock information 19 is stored in the database.

  The deadlock avoidance function unit 20 refers to the deadlock information database 19 at the time of batch execution. When the deadlock occurrence condition is met, the deadlock avoidance function unit 20 suppresses the activation command to the phase logic 15 and the deadlock occurs. It is something to prevent.

The batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment is configured as described above. Next, a batch control method using the batch control apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation when the batch simulation function unit 18 of FIG. 1 detects the possibility of unit-occupied deadlock by simulation.

  Unit occupancy deadlock occurs when two execution recipes are being executed at the same time, waiting for a previously executed batch to catch up with the preceding batch and releasing the necessary unit occupancy. Therefore, when the basic prescription is completed, it is necessary to perform verification with a combination of all procedures and check whether a condition for causing a deadlock exists.

  In FIG. 9, it is determined in the step ST <b> 1 “whether there is an unchecked procedure” whether all the procedures have been checked. If all checks have been completed, the process ends. When there is a procedure that has not been checked, the procedure proceeds to the “procedure selection 1” stage of step ST2, and one procedure to be checked is selected from the basic prescription.

  Next, in the determination stage of “whether there is a procedure that has not been verified with the selected procedure” at step ST3, another procedure that has not been verified with the procedure extracted at step ST2 Determine if it exists. If not, the process returns to step ST1 and continues. If it exists, the process proceeds to the “procedure selection 2” stage in step ST4, and the procedure selected in step ST2 and the procedure to be verified are determined. In this case, the procedure itself selected in step ST2 needs to be a selection candidate.

  Next, in order to determine whether or not there is a possibility of deadlock at the stage of “simulation execution” in step ST5, a simulation is executed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to the determination stage of “whether or not a deadlock occurs due to unit occupancy” in step ST6, and if the possibility of occurrence of a deadlock is found, “record in the deadlock information DB” in step ST7. Go to the stage and record the conditions at that time. If no possibility of deadlock is found, the process returns to step ST3 and continues.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing in detail the operation at the stage of “simulation execution” in step ST5 in FIG. While executing the two selected procedures, the possibility of deadlock occurrence is verified.

  In step ST51, it is determined that the procedure selected at the stage “whether or not the execution of the procedure selected in the procedure selection 1 has been completed” has been executed. If it is executed to the end, the process is terminated assuming that there is no possibility of deadlock. If it has not been executed to the end, the process proceeds to the step “execute the next step of the procedure selected in the procedure selection 1” in step ST52, and only one step is executed.

  Next, when the executed step does not enter the execution state due to unit occupation waiting at the stage of “step execution result determination” in step ST53, it is determined that a deadlock has occurred, and “deadlock” in step ST57. Proceed to the “Detect occurrence condition” stage. Further, when the execution state is entered, the process proceeds to the stage of “whether or not the execution of the procedure selected in the procedure selection 2 is completed” in step ST54, and it is determined that the verification target procedure has been executed to the end. . If it is determined in step ST54 that the process has been executed up to the end, it is determined that there is no possibility of occurrence of a deadlock. If it is determined that the process has not been executed up to the end, the “procedure” in step ST55 is executed. The next step of the procedure selected in the selection 2 in step 2 is performed, and the procedure step selected as the verification target is advanced.

  Next, if the executed step does not enter the execution state due to unit occupation waiting at the “step execution result determination” step of step ST56, the process returns to the step ST51 and the processing is continued. If the execution state is reached, the process returns to step ST54, and if the verification target procedure has been executed up to the last step, the process is terminated assuming that there is no possibility of deadlock. If it is not executed up to the last step, the step is advanced until it waits for unit occupation.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of the data structure of the deadlock information database 19 shown in FIG. In “record to deadlock information DB” in step ST7 of FIG. 9, information as shown in FIG. 11 is recorded in the deadlock information database 19 of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an operation when the batch server function unit 2 of FIG. 1 executes a batch.
In FIG. 12, at the determination stage of “whether it is necessary to create and start an execution recipe” in step ST <b> 1, whether or not batch activation is necessary is determined based on the batch schedule 10 of FIG. If batch activation is necessary, the process proceeds to “reference basic recipe” in step ST2, and the basic recipe of the batch to be activated is extracted from the basic recipe 12 in FIG.

  Thereafter, in the “execution prescription creation” stage of step ST3, the execution prescription generation function unit 14 in FIG. 1 creates an execution prescription from the basic prescription. In step ST4 “Detect next step to start”, a step to be executed next is detected from the created execution recipe. In the “deadlock information DB reference” stage of step ST5, the deadlock information database 19 created by the batch simulation function unit 18 of FIG. 1 is referred to.

  Next, in the step of determining whether or not a deadlock occurrence condition is met in step ST6, if the next step to be activated is executed by the deadlock avoidance function unit 20 in FIG. 1, it is detected in step ST5. Determine if the deadlock condition is met. If it is determined that the condition is satisfied by the determination in step ST6, the process proceeds to a determination stage of “whether it corresponds to the condition of the preceding batch or the condition of the succeeding batch” in step ST7. In step ST7, it is determined which of the deadlock occurrence conditions is met.

  If it is determined in step ST6 that the deadlock occurrence condition is not met, or if it is determined in step ST7 that the preceding batch condition is met, the process proceeds to the “unit occupation process execution” stage in step ST8. If the unit can be occupied, the process proceeds to “unit occupation process” in step ST9. If it is determined in step ST7 that the conditions of the subsequent batch are met, or if it is determined in step ST8 that the unit cannot be occupied, the process proceeds to “congestion processing” in step ST10.

  In the “unit occupancy process execution” stage of step ST8 and the “unit occupancy process” stage of step ST9, after the occupation process of the unit occupied by the next step is executed so that other batches cannot occupy the unit. Then, the process proceeds to the “next step start” stage of step ST11 and issues a start command to the next step. Upon receiving this start command, the phase logic 15 in FIG. 1 controls the process equipment group 16 and executes batch manufacturing.

  If there is a congested batch in the determination stage of “whether there is a congested batch” in step ST12, the process returns to the “detect next step to be activated” stage in step ST4, and there is a congested batch. If not, the process proceeds to the step “completed step exists” in step ST13.

  If there is a completed step at the stage of “STANDARD COMPLETED” in step ST13, the process returns to “Detect next step to be started” in step ST4, or if no completed step exists, or “ After the traffic jam processing is performed at the “traffic jam processing” stage, the process proceeds to the “need to create / activate execution prescription” step ST1.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the batch server function unit 2 that controls the batch process according to the registered basic prescription is provided with the batch simulation function unit 18 and the deadlock information database 19, and the batch control function unit Since the deadlock avoidance function unit 20 is provided in FIG. 17, even if there is an error in the registration of the basic prescription, the batch control that can grasp in advance whether or not the deadlock may occur by the batch server function unit 2 As a result, a batch control device and a batch control method can be obtained which automatically avoids it and prevents the occurrence of deadlock due to unit occupancy, greatly reduces system construction / verification time, and enables batch production. The actual operation can be performed safely.

  The batch control device and the batch control method according to the present invention is a manufacturing plant that simultaneously executes various brands in a batch in a batch manufacturing plant such as a food or beverage manufacturing plant or a chemical manufacturing plant. Available.

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 explaining a deadlock. It is a figure which shows an example of the equipment structure of the batch process which the batch control apparatus by Embodiment 1 makes a control object. It is a figure which shows the procedure A registered as a recipe with respect to the installation structure of FIG. All the elements of procedure A and the units occupied by each element are shown in a list. It is a figure which shows the procedure B different from FIG. 4 in the equipment structure of FIG. FIG. 7 is a list showing all elements of procedure B in FIG. 6 and units occupied by each element. It is a figure showing a mode that two batches of the execution prescription A created from the procedure A of the basic prescription, and the execution prescription B created from the procedure B of the basic prescription are simultaneously executed. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation when the batch simulation function unit of FIG. 1 detects the possibility of occurrence of a unit-locked deadlock by simulation. 10 is a flowchart showing in detail the operation at the stage of simulation execution in FIG. 9. 2 shows an example of a data structure of a deadlock information database shown in FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement at the time of the batch server function part of FIG. 1 performing a batch.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Batch client function part 2 Batch server function part 3 Equipment database 4 Recipe database 5 Unit registration function part 6 Recipe registration function part 7 Basic prescription production | generation part 8 Prescription transfer function part 9 Batch monitoring function part 10 Batch schedule 11 Batch schedule management function part 12 Basic prescription 13 Execution prescription 14 Execution prescription generation function part 15 Phase logic 16 Process equipment group 17 Batch control function part 18 Batch simulation function part 19 Deadlock information database 20 Deadlock avoidance function part 30 Start of sequence 31 End of sequence 32 OP Raw material acceptance C
33 PH raw material acceptance C
34 Transition 35 Start of parallel branch 36 End of parallel branch

Claims (3)

A batch control device for a plant that simultaneously manufactures a plurality of batches having different equipment or manufacturing processes, and a batch client function unit that manages an interface with a system builder or an operator at the time of batch manufacturing, and the batch client function unit In a batch control device including a batch server function unit that controls a batch process according to a registered basic prescription,
The batch client function part
A unit registration function unit for registering the equipment configuration information of the plant;
Recipe registration function unit for registering the manufacturing process according to the batch to be manufactured and the units occupied in the manufacturing process,
A prescription transfer function unit that transfers the basic prescription generated by the unit registration function unit and the recipe registration function unit to the batch server function unit;
Batch schedule management function to create and manage manufacturing plans,
Batch monitoring function unit for displaying the batch production status in the batch server function unit,
With
The batch server function unit
Generates an execution prescription from the basic prescription received from the prescription transfer function unit, and controls the execution of the process equipment group by performing phase logic, which is the minimum control unit of the batch process, based on this execution prescription, and batch manufacturing A batch control function unit for controlling
A simulation simulation of the basic prescription, and a batch simulation function unit that checks the possibility of unit-occupied deadlock due to the content of the basic prescription,
A deadlock information database for storing the results checked by the batch simulation function unit;
A batch control device comprising:   The batch control function unit includes a deadlock avoidance function unit that suppresses a start command to the phase logic when the basic prescription matches a deadlock generation condition stored in the deadlock information database. The batch control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: In a batch control method for a plant that simultaneously manufactures a plurality of batches having different equipment or manufacturing processes,
The batch simulation function unit checks the possibility of a unit-occupied deadlock depending on the contents of the basic prescription registered by the system builder or batch production operator, and stores the check result in the deadlock information database. When the deadlock avoidance function unit refers to the deadlock information database at the time of batch manufacturing and the basic recipe at the time of batch manufacturing matches the deadlock occurrence conditions, A batch control method characterized by suppressing a start command.

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