Automating the rubber compounding process

A project aimed at integrating machine control and process control is discussed. A number of automation objectives are being pursued to achieve this goal are described. The equipment and the process are examined. The system consists of three programmable logic controllers and two personal computers, communicating over a LAN. The system, as assembled, consists of a number of subsystems functioning as autonomous units under the centralized control of the programmable logic controllers. Recipe creation or edit is performed offline on a separate computer. Once a recipe is configured, it can be saved, stored, and moved to any batch system that has been defined to execute the recipe. Batch management is organized so that all of the units were coordinated as required to produce a batch as well as to schedule and start additional batches to maintain high output.<>