Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B19/00—Program-control systems
  • G05B19/02—Program-control systems electric
  • G05B19/04—Program control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers
  • G05B19/05—Programmable logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts
  • G05B19/056—Programming the PLC
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
  • G05B2219/10—Plc systems
  • G05B2219/13—Plc programming
  • G05B2219/13011—Batch control

Definitions

• This disclosure relates generally to control systems and more specifically to a system and method for robust real-time control of regular automated production.
• Processing facilities are often managed using process control systems.
• Example processing facilities include chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, and petrochemical production plants.
• process control systems typically interact with and control industrial equipment in the processing facilities, such as equipment used to produce chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, or petrochemical products.
• a process control system is often used to automate execution of various production processes.
• Processing facilities often implement one or multiple fast-paced and high-value production processes. This often demands a procedure automation solution that is highly flexible and that can ensure timely execution of the production processes.
• aggressive real-time requirements in complex automation environments typically cannot be met with conventional automation solutions, which often rely on supervisory personal computer technology to control the production processes .
• a method includes initializing, at a first controller, at least one process step of a control recipe from a master recipe associated with a batch process in response to detection of an event associated with the batch process.
• the method also includes executing, at the first controller, the at least one process step of the control recipe.
• the method further includes initializing, at the first controller, at least one second process step of the control recipe while executing the at least one process step of the control recipe.
• a system in a second embodiment, includes a first controller having at least one memory and at least one processing unit.
• the at least one processing unit is configured to initialize at least one process step of a control recipe from a master recipe associated with a batch process in response to detection of an event associated with the batch process.
• the at least one processing unit is also configured to execute the at least one process step of the control recipe and initialize at least one second process step of the control recipe while executing the at least one process step of the control recipe.
• a non-transitory computer readable medium embodies a computer program.
• the computer program includes computer readable program code for initializing, at a first controller, at least one process step of a control recipe from a master recipe associated with a batch process in response to detection of an event associated with the batch process.
• the computer program also includes computer readable program code for executing, at the first controller, the at least one process step of the control recipe.
• the computer program further includes computer readable program code for initializing, at the first controller, at least one second process step of the control recipe while executing the at least one process step of the control recipe.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates an example process control system in accordance with this disclosure
• FIGURE 2 illustrates a specific implementation of a process control system in accordance with this disclosure
• FIGURE 3 illustrates another example process control system in accordance with this disclosure.
• FIGURE 4 illustrates an example method for supporting robust real-time control in an automated process control system in accordance with this disclosure .
• FIGURES 1 through 4 discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present invention in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the invention may be implemented in any type of suitably arranged device or system.
• this disclosure provides a system and method that take advantage of the fact that data structures used to describe batch production requirements and to capture their results (such as procedures, recipes, formula sets, equipment requirements, and the like) may share similar formats and may not be needed at the same time. Furthermore, data structures associated with batch production may contain information that anticipates possible or likely orders of production flow, even if the actual production flow is dependent on external factors that are either not known to the automation systems or not controllable.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates an example process control system 100 in accordance with this disclosure.
• the process control system 100 includes one or more process elements 102a-102b.
• the process elements 102a-102b represent components in a process or production system that may perform any of a wide variety of functions.
• the process elements 102a-102b could represent equipment used to manufacture chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, or petrochemical products.
• Each process element 102a-102b includes any suitable structure for performing one or more functions in a process system.
• a process system represents any system or portion thereof configured to process one or more materials in some manner.
• Two controllers 104a-104b are coupled to the process elements 102a-102b.
• the controllers 104a-104b control the operation of the process elements 102a-102b.
• the controllers 104a-104b could be capable of providing control signals to the process elements 102a-102b for controlling the production of chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, or petrochemical products.
• Each controller 104a-104b includes any suitable structure for controlling one or more process elements 102a-102b.
• Each controller 104a-104b could, for example, include one or more processors 105a and one or more memories 105b for storing instructions and data used, collected, or generated by the processor (s) 105a.
• Each controller 104a- 104b could also include one or more network interfaces 105c for communicating over one or more networks, such as an Ethernet network, an electrical signal network, a pneumatic control signal network, or any other or additional type(s) of network(s) .
• networks such as an Ethernet network, an electrical signal network, a pneumatic control signal network, or any other or additional type(s) of network(s) .
• Two servers 106a-106b are coupled to the controllers 104a-104b.
• the servers 106a-106b perform various functions to support the operation and control of the controllers 104a-104b and the process elements 102a- 102b.
• the servers 106a-106b could log information collected or generated by the controllers 104a-104b, such as status information related to the operation of the process elements 102a-102b.
• the servers 106a-106b could also execute applications that control the operation of the controllers 104a-104b, thereby controlling the operation of the process elements 102a- 102b.
• the servers 106a-106b could provide secure access to the controllers 104a-104b.
• Each server 106a-106b includes any suitable structure for providing access to or control of the controllers 104a-104b.
• Each server 106a-106b could, for example, include one or more processors 107a and one or more memories 107b storing instructions and data used, collected, or generated by the processor (s) 107a.
• Each server 106a-106b could also include one or more network interfaces 107c for communicating over one or more networks .
• One or more operator stations 108a-108b are coupled to the servers 106a-106b, and one or more operator stations 108c are coupled to the controllers 104a-104b.
• the operator stations 108a-108b represent computing or communication devices providing user access to the servers 106a-106b, which could then provide user access to the controllers 104a-104b and the process elements 102a-102b.
• the operator stations 108c represent computing or communication devices providing direct user access to the controllers 104a-104b.
• the operator stations 108a-108c could allow users to review the operational history of the process elements 102a-102b using information collected by the controllers 104a-104b and/or the servers 106a-106b.
• the operator stations 108a-108c could also allow the users to adjust the operation of the process elements 102a-102b, controllers 104a-104b, or servers 106a-106b.
• Each operator station 108a-108c includes any suitable structure for supporting user access and control of the system 100.
• Each operator station 108a-108c could, for example, include one or more processors 109a and one or more memories 109b storing instructions and data used, collected, or generated by the processor (s) 109a.
• Each operator station 108a-108c could also include one or more network interfaces 109c for communicating over one or more networks.
• the operator stations 108a-108c could represent personal computers executing a MICROSOFT WINDOWS or other operating system.
• At least one of the operator stations 108b is remote from the servers 106a-106b.
• the remote station is coupled to the servers 106a-106b through a network 110.
• the network 110 facilitates communication between various components in the system 100.
• the network 110 may communicate Internet Protocol (IP) packets, frame relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, or other information between network addresses.
• IP Internet Protocol
• ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
• the network 110 may include one or more local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), all or a portion of a global network such as the Internet, or any other communication system or systems at one or more locations.
• the system 100 includes two additional servers 112a-112b.
• the servers 112a-112b execute various applications to control the overall operation of the system 100.
• the system 100 could be used in a processing or production plant or other facility, and the servers 112a-112b could execute applications used to control the plant or other facility.
• the servers 112a-112b could execute applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) , manufacturing execution system (MES) , or any other or additional plant or process control applications.
• ERP enterprise resource planning
• MES manufacturing execution system
• Each server 112a-112b includes any suitable structure for controlling the overall operation of the system 100.
• the system 100 includes various redundant networks 114a-114b and single networks 116a-116c that support communication between components in the system 100.
• Each of these networks 114a-114b, 116a-116c represents any network or combination of networks facilitating communication between components in the system 100.
• the networks 114a-114b, 116a-116c could, for example, represent Ethernet networks.
• the process control system 100 manages one or multiple processes for producing one or more products (or parts thereof) .
• the controllers 104a-104b and the servers 106a-106b could manage one or multiple processes used to produce chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, or petrochemical products using the process elements 102a- 102b.
• the process control system 100 may implement a procedural automation mechanism that helps to automate the production processes.
• the procedural automation mechanism may determine when certain tasks in a production process can be performed and which process elements 102a-102b are used during those tasks.
• the procedural automation mechanism supports the use of one or multiple "recipes."
• a recipe generally represents information defining the production requirements for one or more specific products (or parts thereof) . More specifically, multiple recipes may include a master recipe and one or more control recipes.
• a master recipe is an object that is loaded, and a control recipe is an object that is executed.
• a control recipe can contain run-time data and retrieve load-time data from a master recipe, as is described in greater detail below.
• a control recipe is implemented using one or more function blocks, which represent executable software objects that can be combined together to define a control process implemented by one or more controllers 104a-104b.
• a control recipe could be implemented using multiple "phase" function blocks, which represent phases or portions of a control recipe (such as individual process steps of the control recipe) .
• the controllers 104a-104b may be configured to perform one or more techniques to support robust, real-time control of automated production as described in more detail below.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates one example of a process control system 100
• a process control system could include any number of process elements, controllers, servers, operator stations, and networks.
• the makeup and arrangement of the process control system 100 is for illustration only. Components could be added, omitted, combined, or placed in any other configuration according to particular needs.
• the process control system 100 could be used in any other manner.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates one operational environment in which the procedural automation mechanism described below can be used. The procedural automation mechanism could be used in any other device or system.
• FIGURE 2 illustrates a specific implementation of a process control system 200 in accordance with this disclosure.
• the process control system 200 of FIGURE 2 could represent a specific implementation of the process control system 100 of FIGURE 1, where many of the components in FIGURE 2 are used or supported by the controllers 104a-104b of FIGURE 1.
• the process control system 200 includes one or more unit control modules (UCMs) 202, recipe control modules (RCMs) 204, sequential control modules (SCMs) 206, and control modules (CMs) 208.
• UCMs unit control modules
• RCMs recipe control modules
• CMs control modules
• the unit control modules 202, recipe control modules 204, sequential control modules 206, and control modules 208 are distributed across multiple control execution environments in the process control system 100, such as in different controllers 104a-104b.
• a unit control module 202 generally represents or is associated with a process unit 210 that contains one or multiple pieces of processing equipment, where use of the process unit 210 occurs after acquisition of the unit control module 202.
• requester function blocks and resource function blocks can be invoked by, incorporated into, or otherwise used by the various control modules 202-208.
• the resource function blocks represent objects that can be acquired and released by the requester function blocks, where the requester function blocks use arbitration requests to attempt to acquire the resource function blocks.
• a unit control module 202 can be acquired by a recipe control module 204, which allows the process unit 210 to be used during execution of the recipe control module 204.
• a recipe control module 204 generally represents information defining the production requirements for one or more specific products (or parts thereof) , where execution of a recipe control module 204 could result in the production of a single batch of the one or more products (or parts thereof) .
• a recipe control module 204 could include a header, a procedure, a formula, and any equipment requirements.
• the procedure in a recipe control module 204 is defined by a set of phases represented by phase function blocks 212.
• Each phase of a recipe control module 204 is associated with a sequential control module 206, which interacts with one or more control modules 208 to implement one of the phases of the recipe control module 204.
• the control modules 208 provide access to and control over the actual process unit 210.
• the procedure in a recipe control module 204 could also include a set of step, transition, and synchronization blocks. Step blocks provide read/write access to the control modules 208, and synchronization blocks allow parallel execution of phase function blocks 212 or step blocks.
• a recipe control module 204 manipulates the sequential control modules 206 through its phases, where the phases control the sequential control modules 206, monitor the execution states of the sequential control modules 206, and optionally propagate the execution states to the recipe control module 204.
• Phase function blocks 212 may also monitor their parent recipe control modules' states and propagate the states to their underlying sequential control modules 206 when their parent recipe control modules 204 enter abnormal states.
• the various control modules 204-208 could operate as defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61131 and 61512 (including 61512-1) standards or in U.S. Patent No. 6,317,638 (all of which are hereby incorporated by reference) .
• a recipe control module 204 When a recipe control module 204 is created, it may optionally be associated with a specific unit control module 202.
• the unit control module 202 can be acquired when the recipe control module 204 is executed and can optionally be released by the recipe control module 204 at any time, such as when the recipe control module 204 reaches a terminal state or at any other previous time.
• Various parameters can be defined within the phase function blocks 212. These parameters may include a reference to a sequential control module 206 for execution control, a resource name to be allocated when a phase is started, and a flag indicating if the acquired resource will be released at the end of the execution of a sequential control module 206. By default, the resource name may be based on the selected sequential or recipe control module's name. If there is no selected sequential control module 206, a phase can be used for resource management purposes. Once in a terminal state, all resources acquired by the recipe control module 204 may or may not be released depending on the configuration flag .
• An owner pointer 214 in the unit control module 202 identifies the recipe control module 204 currently being executed (the recipe control module 204 that currently owns or has acquired the unit control module 202) .
• An arbitration queue 216 identifies a specified number of recipe control modules 204 waiting to acquire the unit control module 202 to execute.
• the unit control module 202 can select the next recipe control module 204 from the queue 216 using any arbitration technique supported by the unit control module 202 or defined by the user (such as first-in, first-out or other technique) .
• the sequential control module 206 may include an arbitration queue 218.
• One or more recipe control modules 204 that are waiting to acquire the sequential control module 206 on behalf of its phase blocks are identified in the arbitration queue 218 of the sequential control module 206.
• the recipe control modules can be selected from the queue 218 in any order .
• a phase function block 212 in a recipe control module 204 represents a function block used to acquire, initiate execution of, and monitor execution of a sequential control module 206 or another recipe control module 204.
• the phase function block 212 may acquire the sequential control module 206, load formula parameters into the sequential control module 206, and start the sequential control module 206.
• the formula parameters represent a set of parameters used by a phase to communicate appropriate recipe data to a sequential control module 206, such as data controlling how the process unit 210 is used during the phase execution.
• phase function block 212 may monitor the status of the sequential control module 206.
• the phase function block 212 may also project data from the sequential control module 206 so that SCM execution can be monitored by a recipe control module 204 through the phase function block 212.
• the phase function block 212 may command the sequential control module 206 to upload various report parameters to the phase function block 212, such as when execution of the sequential control module 206 is complete or another terminal state is reached.
• a phase function block 212 may or may not wait for the sequential control module 206 to complete before the phase completes, which allows the recipe control module 204 to proceed to the following phase or step.
• the phase function block 212 may or may not release any acquired resources (such as the sequential control module 206) at the completion of the phase.
• phase function block 212 can be divided into three general categories.
• the phase function block 212 may provide or download data (such as parameter definitions and formula parameters) to a sequential control module 206 and receive or upload data (such as result parameter values) from the sequential control module 206.
• the phase function block 212 may provide step-like behavior, including control of the sequential control module 206.
• the phase function block 212 can engage in resource arbitration by requesting acquisition of and releasing the sequential control module 206. These functions could be implemented as independent as possible to provide a higher degree of modularity, more simplified testing, and more universal use .
• FIGURE 2 illustrates a specific implementation of a process control system 200
• the process control system 200 could include any number of unit control modules 202, recipe control modules 204, sequential control modules 206, control modules 208, process units 210, and phase function blocks 212.
• FIGURE 3 illustrates another example process control system 300 in accordance with this disclosure.
• the process control system 300 of FIGURE 3 could represent a specific implementation of the process control system 100 of FIGURE 1, where many of the components in FIGURE 3 are similar to or the same as the components of FIGURE 1.
• the process control system 300 includes process elements 302a-302b, controllers 304a-304b, a server 306, an operation station 308, and an engineer station 310.
• the server 306 includes one or more memories, represented by memory 312.
• the components 302a-308 may be the same as or similar to the corresponding components in FIGURE 1.
• the engineer station 310 represents one or more computing devices that allow one or more engineers to draft, develop, maintain, test, and save one or more master recipes. Once developed, the master recipes may be communicated over a network to the server 306 and stored in the memory 312, as described in greater detail below.
• the memory 312 may include one or more databases.
• the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b are resource-constrained controllers. That is, 5 the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b may not include large amounts of memory or processing power.
• the amount of memory or processing power of the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b may be orders of magnitude less than a typically configured generality purpose computer (such as a PC) .
• the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b may include approximately 16MB of memory or less, in contrast to a typically configured PC that includes 2GB of memory or more.
• controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b are optimized to control the process elements 302a-302b in the process 25 control system 100, 300 with low latency and high robustness .
• the process control system 100, 300 30 promotes optimization of instantiation of any components, recipes, and data on a controller-by-controller basis.
• the modular approach of the process control system 100, 300 supports continuous incremental expansion by adding new controller resources, instead of a monolithic single container approach.
• the process control systems 100, 300 are both real-time capable and deterministic.
• the term "deterministic” generally refers to the ability to predict or specify the behavior of a program or environment.
• Conventional production environments are not deterministic because they typically suffer from occasional and unpredictable delays, including delays associated with functions performed in one or more control recipes. These delays represent non-deterministic behavior in the conventional production environments .
• real-time generally refers to applications or programs that interact with an associated environment or otherwise operate in a way that is carefully timed.
• a realtime application operates in a real-time system according to a predetermined schedule and provides an indication to the system if a particular process or activity is not performed according to the schedule.
• a real-time system is characterized by two properties. The first is that for a given action, the maximum amount of time that may be required to perform the action can be predicted. The second property is that if the system cannot adhere to the timeline, the system will indicate that the timeline is no longer adhered to. That is, in a real-time system, one or more applications or components of the system will not simply operate in a delayed timeline without some sort of notification or indication. In systems that do not provide a notification of a delay or a missed deadline, a controller that controls a process that occurs later in the recipe may not be aware of the delay or missed deadline and therefore may not be able to react by adjusting its process or processes .
• the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b execute certain algorithms according to real-time principles .
• the controller algorithms are configured to anticipate future resource requirements, which allows the controllers 104a- 104b, 304a-304b to avoid becoming a bottleneck.
• the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b use production process times to create one or more control recipe elements before the elements are needed as described in greater detail below.
• the algorithms are configured to balance the competing interests of loading only recipe processes that are needed immediately (thereby saving memory and processing resources but risking higher system latency) and loading additional processes that are anticipated to be needed (thereby using additional resources but helping to ensure lower system latency) .
• a master recipe is saved in the memory 107b, 312 of the server 106a-106b, 306. Before a batch process is to be executed, the master recipe is released for production.
• the master recipe is loaded from the server 106a-106b, 306 to the controller 104a, 304a, which may represent a first controller or single controller.
• the master recipe is loaded onto only one controller. However, in other embodiments, it may be necessary or desirable to load the master recipe onto more than one controller.
• an event causes a control recipe to be initially created in the controller 104a, 304a.
• the event may be a command from the operator station 108a- 108c, 308, a process start condition, an external application, another event, or a combination of two or more events.
• the control recipe is an executable version of part (or possibly all) of the master recipe.
• Run-time data is associated with the created instance of the control recipe.
• Conventional (such as PC-controlled) systems may copy the entire master recipe into the control recipe.
• the embedded controllers 104a- 104b, 304a-304b of the process control system 100, 300 may be resource-constrained.
• the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b may include only 16MB of memory, and may be unable to store the entire master recipe in memory. Thus, it may be advantageous to initially copy only a portion of the master recipe into the control recipe. For instance, the controller 104a, 304a may initialize only the portion of the control recipe that is needed to start execution of the process. As a particular simplified example, if a recipe includes ten process steps, the control initializes only the first step to start execution. Later, while the first step is being executed, the second of the ten steps is initialized, and so forth.
• the controller 104a, 304a executes the control recipe, which may result in the controller 104a, 304a creating and executing one or more additional control recipes . Moreover, the execution of a control recipe in the controller 104a, 304a may result in the controller 104b, 304b creating and executing one or more control recipes. Each instance of each control recipe is associated with its own run-time data.
• controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b can house the master recipe, and other controllers (such as controller 104b, 304b) can build their own control recipes by reading the master recipe over the network.
• the operator station 108a-108c, 308 may receive data from and transmit data to the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b.
• the data may be status information, operational history, or instructions related to the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b, the process elements 102a-102b, 302a-302b, other information, or a combination of data.
• the operator station 108a-108c, 308 may exchange information directly with the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b or indirectly, such as via a path through the server 106a-106b, 306.
• the server 106a-106b, 306 may collect post- execution data and store the data in the memory 107b, 312.
• the process control system 100, 300 may use one or more of multiple techniques to optimize processing. These techniques are optimized for robust, real-time control platforms, such as the process control system 100, 300.
• control recipe data that is to be used in one or more control recipes (but that is defined to be non-modifiable for security, safety, integrity, or other reasons) is not copied in the control recipe at the controller 104a-104b, 304a-304b. Instead, each control recipe contains only a reference or pointer to the master recipe data. The data is presented to other control equipment, data collection facilities, and human operators as if it is a full copy of the data. This technique reduces the amount of data to be copied, such as by a factor of approximately 1.5 to 10, depending on the nature of the control recipe.
• a second technique only the data that is needed to prepare and execute the beginning of the production activity is copied from the master recipe to the control recipe. This reduces control recipe data, such as by a factor of approximately 10 to 100, for this critical time in the production process.
• the master recipe may be very long.
• a particular controller 104a-104b, 304a-304b may need only a portion of the full recipe to start operation.
• Other portions of the recipe can be copied to the controller as needed.
• Some portions of the recipe may never be needed by the controller, so copying those portions of the recipe to the controller represents an unnecessary use of resources.
• a recipe may contain one or more decision points and different branches that are executed based on the decision points.
• Branches that are never executed due to earlier decisions do not need to be copied at the beginning of the production activity, and in fact may never need to be copied during a particular production process.
• data that is specific to some equipment such as process elements 102a-102b, 302a- 302b
• the master recipe may include information regarding a mixer class but may not include data specific to the mixer, such as location, identifier, size, and so forth.
• the equipment-specific data for the mixer may be stored at the associated controller.
• the data may be made available to peer controllers, such as via a real-time peer-to-peer network.
• the controller 304b may also have access to data stored at the controller 304a. This reduces data duplication among cost-intensive real-time controllers and makes the system economically scalable, even to large batch production facilities. Moreover, by storing the data in a single location, the maintenance of that data may not require any data duplication or repetitive work by humans, thereby keeping the costs of associated services to a minimum.
• a fourth technique one or more data allocations associated with near-future process steps in the control recipe are completed ahead of time at the controller 104a-104b, 304a-304b. That is, the data allocations associated with a given process step in the control recipe are performed at least one step in advance of when the data will be used. This pre-allocation of data reduces latencies associated with production decisions and initiation of future steps and activities.
• the high-level prediction strategy and timing characteristics may be configurable for better economic use of the process control system 100, 300.
• the internal execution of this technique ensures compliance with real-time objectives without any detailed knowledge by the recipe author.
• the controllers 104a-104b, 304a-304b may allocate the remaining control recipe data on-demand in a transparent manner in most practical situations while maintaining real-time, deterministic characteristics.
• the remaining unallocated control recipe data cannot be allocated on-demand in a transparent manner in compliance with the integrity requirements of the embedded controller platform (such as by maintaining time periods for time-discrete analog control algorithms, maintaining redundancy of controllers)
• only a part of the data may be copied on-demand.
• the remaining data may be scheduled for the next available time slice.
• the process control system 100, 300 may include configuration options to diagnose and/or report the occurrence of these situations to allow post-execution analysis of such occurrences, either for adjustment of the automation system or for impact analysis on the final production outcome as required in some industries. Many processes are tolerant to small delays in execution of process steps, but some may not be. Therefore, these techniques allow for economic sizing of the system without undue productions risks.
• FIGURE 3 illustrates an example process control system 300
• a process control system could include any number of process elements, controllers, servers, operator stations, engineer stations, and networks.
• the process control system 300 could include other features of the process control system 100 of FIGURE 1, such as the single networks 116a- 116c and the remote stations 108b.
• FIGURE 4 illustrates an example method 400 for supporting robust real-time control in an automated process control system in accordance with this disclosure.
• the method 400 is described as involving the process control system 300 of FIGURE 3.
• the method 400 could be used with any other system.
• a process engineer or other personnel develops and saves a master recipe at an engineer station (such as engineer station 310) .
• the master recipe is saved in a server database (such as server memory 312) . This can be an off-line activity that occurs before batch process execution.
• the master recipe is released for production at step 403.
• the master recipe may be loaded onto only one controller or onto more than one controller (such as one or more controllers 304a-304b) .
• an event causes a control recipe to be initially created in the controller ( s ) at step 405.
• data that is to be used in the control recipe, but that is defined to be non- modifiable is not copied in the control recipe at the controller ( s ) .
• only the data that is needed to prepare and execute the beginning of the production activity is initialized in the control recipe .
• the controller executes the steps of the control recipe, which may result in the controller creating and executing one or more additional control recipes.
• the controller pre- allocates data associated with near-future steps in the control recipe at least one step in advance of when the data will be used.
• the execution of a control recipe in the controller may result in another controller creating and executing one or more control recipes at step 409.
• an operator station (such as operator station 308) may receive data from and transmit data to the controller (s) at step 411.
• the data may include status information, operational history, instructions related to the controllers or process elements, or other information.
• data that is specific to one equipment and not specific to the master recipe is stored and maintained outside of the master recipe.
• a server (such as server 306) may collect post- execution data and store the data in a memory.
• FIGURE 4 illustrates one example of a method 400 for supporting robust real-time control in an automated process control system
• various changes may be made to FIGURE 4.
• steps shown in FIGURE 4 could overlap, occur in a different order, occur in parallel, or occur multiple times .
• some steps could be combined or removed, and additional steps could be added.
• various functions described above are implemented or supported by a computer program that is formed from computer readable program code and that is embodied in a computer readable medium.
• computer readable program code includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code.
• computer readable medium includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM) , random access memory (RAM) , a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory.
• Couple and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another.
• application and “program” refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer code (including source code, object code, or executable code) .
• transmit and “communicate,” as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication.
• controller means any device, system, or part thereof that controls at least one operation.
• a controller may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or some combination of at least two of the same. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.

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• 2012
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