DESIGN OF PROCEDURAL CONTROLLERS FOR CHEMICAL PROCESSES

A four step method is presented for the formal specification and synth esis of procedural controllers. These controllers are used in the proc ess industries for safety and alarm operations, interlocking, batch se quencing, etc. The procedural controller is based on a process model t hat takes the form of a labelled finite state machine, termed a-machin e. Desired process behaviour specifications are constructed using Pred icate (PL) and Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) formalisms. The resulting c ontroller structure can then be translated into a target sequential co ntrol language for implementation. The method is demonstrated with a s mall example.