An IEC 61499 Based Approach for Distributed Batch Process Control

The function block (FB) construct has been adopted by recent IEC standards for the design of reusable, interoperable, distributed control applications. In this paper, an approach to exploit the benefits of this paradigm in batch process control is presented. A hybrid approach that integrates the FB model with the Unified Modeling Language is exploited and customized to the batch domain taking as starting point the industrially accepted SP88 standard. A toolset was customized to support the presented approach and demonstrate the applicability of the IEC61499 function block model in batch processing. Research experience with industrial engineers in the context of IEC 61499 and SP88 is used to motivate a development methodology that is sufficiently straightforward and efficient. The Java-based IEC61499-compliant run-time environment used for the execution of the control application is briefly described.