Batch Sequence Control Using a Distributed Control System with a Coordinator Station

Abstract

Current distributed control systems, having only control stations corresponding to each batch unit, may make it difficult to achieve proper control of processes, which incorporate simultaneously complex material transfers between units and sequence control over the entire process.In order to solve the above mentioned problem, we tried to introduce a new control station, called coordinator station, into the above processes. For those processes, necessary control functions are hierarchically divided, and this station is dedicated to the higher level function layer, which executes tasks such as coordination between units.This paper describes the basic design concept of batch control systems and function allocation when such a coordinated distributed control system is applied to the above processes. We also give two examples of typical applications to indicate the effectiveness of this control system and the applied design technique. Furthermore, our paper describes the check procedure used to evaluate system's communication performance, which is one of the keys to the effectiveness of this type of control system.