Method and system for batch process arbitration in a process control system

#The present disclosure generally relates to process control systems and, more particularly, to batch process arbitration.

#As computers have grown increasingly important in today's society, so has the importance of computers in process control systems. Process control systems control and monitor the operation of valves, actuators, transmitters, flowmeters, and other process control and monitoring devices.

#Factories and other production plants are commonly used to create a variety of products. Process control systems, such as those provided by Emerson Process Management, LLP, of Austin, Tex., are widely used in such factories and/or plants in which products are manufactured or processes are controlled (e.g., chemical manufacturing, power plant control, etc.). Process control systems are also used in the harvesting of natural resources such as, for example, oil and gas drilling and handling processes, etc. Virtually any manufacturing process, resource harvesting process, etc. can be automated through the application of one or more process control systems.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a process control system in a manufacturing plant according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details of the plant and the process control system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates further details of resources associated with the plant with respect to their organization within the plant according one embodiment of the present disclosure;

#Process control systems are often used in a variety of industries to control and monitor the operation of various devices at an industrial plant. One type of industrial plant that uses process control systems are pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities use batch processing techniques to generate large quantities of a particular substance, such as a drug, through a step-by-step process. In contrast to continuous processing techniques, such as those used for controlling the flow of natural gas through a refinery, batch processing techniques involve a series of discrete, ordered steps, such as a recipe specifying fifteen separate steps for creating a pharmaceutical. Each step may require the use of one or more pieces of equipment, such as heaters, conveyer belts, tanks, mixers, etc.

#A particular plant may also have multiple batch recipes running substantially in parallel. For example, one recipe may require the use of a mixing vat while another recipe involves heating in a storage container. The parallel recipes have to be coordinated to prevent multiple recipes from trying to simultaneously use the same equipment. The process control system has traditionally managed the allocation of equipment to recipes so that recipes do not ruin each other by simultaneously trying to use the same equipment, such as by preventing the addition of one substance in a mixing vat while another substance is being mixed.

#Typically, the manufacturing plants are logically separated into distinct groups of equipment known as “areas” so as to avoid overloading the processing capabilities of the batch control system. Each area would include certain equipment and often would be designated for certain operations. The batch control system would only protect equipment from simultaneous use by other equipment within that same area. Thus, if a recipe required equipment from multiple areas, the operator of the batch control system had to monitor the ongoing processes so that simultaneous use of a single piece of equipment by different on-going recipes did not occur.