Chemical Park Raw Material Validation for Automated Feed Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Chemical plants face challenges in maintaining consistent product quality due to variations in the physico-chemical properties of raw materials, leading to potential failures and accidents.

Innovation Solution

An automated control system that acquires and validates raw material properties through a central acquisition device, compares them with stored specifications, and generates a validation result to determine acceptance or rejection, thereby streamlining the handling of raw materials and reducing human intervention.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual validation of raw material properties is performed, then human intervention can handle complex certificate analysis, but processing time increases and throughput decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveraw material processing throughputVSAvoidautomated certificate analysis system

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables automated self-validation of raw material certificates by extracting properties automatically and comparing them against specifications without human intervention, thereby increasing throughput while maintaining validation accuracy

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

Manual mechanical processes of certificate analysis and validation are replaced with automated digital systems that extract data from certificates and perform validation algorithms, eliminating human intervention and improving processing speed

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Speed

If automated validation is implemented, then processing speed increases, but the system may struggle with unstructured or complex certificate formats

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevalidation decision speedVSAvoidcertificate format compatibility

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system adapts to different certificate formats by changing extraction parameters and methods based on the detected certificate type, enabling fast automated validation across diverse unstructured formats including PDF, images, and electronic documents

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The validation system is designed with multi-functional capabilities to handle various certificate formats and structures universally, using pattern recognition and adaptive extraction methods that work across different document types without requiring format-specific manual processing

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Loss of substance

If centralized validation is used, then decision-making is streamlined and waste is reduced, but coordination between multiple chemical plants requires robust communication

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveraw material wasteVSAvoidcentralized control architecture

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system merges validation functionality into a centralized control architecture that coordinates multiple chemical plants, allowing unified decision-making on raw material acceptance that reduces waste by preventing defective materials from entering any plant in the network

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The centralized validation system implements feedback loops where validation results are communicated to all connected chemical plants, and plant performance data feeds back into the validation criteria, continuously improving waste reduction while managing coordination complexity through standardized communication protocols

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS20250135429A1Automated control system and method and chemical park

Publication Date: 2025.05.01 BASF SE

AI summary

Provided is an automated control system for controlling production in one or more chemical plants comprising: a central acquisition device that acquires a certificate indicating raw material properties of an inbound raw material and automatically derives the raw material properties from the certificate; a central management device that compares the raw material properties with corresponding pre-stored raw material specifications and generates a validation result indicating acceptance or rejection of the inbound raw material; and one or more process control systems for controlling respective chemical reactions in the chemical plants that, if the validation result indicates acceptance of the inbound raw material, control the corresponding chemical plant to feed the inbound raw material. A corresponding automated control method and a chemical park are also provided.