A procedure for dynamic sharing of components in multiple-workcell process plants

This paper addresses the problem of dynamic handling of component overloads in a process plant that consists of several workcells. An approach is presented to evaluate the component overloads and to systematically reduce these overloads through component sharing both within a workcell and between several workcells. A blackboard architecture is described for implementation of the approach using Prolog. A simulation example of a fish processing plant is presented to illustrate the application of the approach.