INTEGRATED SYNTHESIS OF A PROCESS AND ITS FAULT-TOLERANT CONTROL-SYSTEM

The previously developed method for integrated process and control sys tem (IPCS) synthesis (Hangos et al., 1994) has been extended to the ca ses for which process safety or reliability is of primary concern. An unambiguous representation of the resultant integrated process and fau lt-tolerant control system structure, IPFCS structure in brief, is ren dered possible through the CP-graph originally proposed for IPCS synth esis. A new axiom for the fault-tolerant controllability is establishe d; it states that more than one independent control path are required for each controlled variable. The fundamental combinatorial algorithm of IPCS synthesis, i.e., algorithm CMSG, has been revised so that the modified set of axioms is capable of identifying the controllable, fau lt-tolerant structures of an IPFCS synthesis problem. The efficacy of the proposed method for IPFCS synthesis method is demonstrated with a relatively simple example by systematically varying the level of the f ault tolerance.