Petri-Net-Based Strategy To Synthesize the Operating Procedures for Cleaning Pipeline Networks

Cleaning the pipeline network is a routine operation in almost every chemical plant, Traditionally, the tasks for synthesizing the needed operation steps are carried out manually on an ad hoc basis, This approach is often time-consuming for a complex industrial process and, furthermore, the resulting recipe may be error-prone, The aim of this paper is thus to develop a systematic strategy to generate correct cleaning procedures efficiently, Specifically, the proper material-transfer routes are selected on the basis of the Petri-net representation of all possible paths in the pipeline network, The operation steps for transporting detergent along a designated route can be identified from the simulation results obtained with the Petri-net model of the entire system, By connection of this system model with a net representing the schedule manager, a recipe can be produced accordingly to achieve a multiroute sequential/concurrent schedule, A realistic example is presented at the end of this paper to demonstrate the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed strategy,