Real-time control/scheduling for multi-purpose batch plants

The current trend in the chemical process industry is to operate flexible m ulti-purpose batch plants. This configuration is capable of manufacturing a variety of chemical products using different combinations of available pro cess resources. Flexible and dynamic control and scheduling are critical co ntrol activities necessary to realize agile manufacturing in a multi-purpos e batch plant. In this paper, the real-time control/scheduling of a multipu rpose batch chemical plant is considered. A real-time control and schedulin g approach, based on predictive control and situation calculus, is develope d. Simulation results for the mean flow time using the proposed approach ar e compared with results obtained using a conventional dispatching rule. Sta tistical analysis shows that the performance of the proposed approach is pr eferred for the experimental plant. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.