Liquid Food Process Control for Parallel PLC Step Execution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing process control systems for liquid food production, such as PLCs, are limited by single-threaded processing, which restricts the ability to execute food processing steps in parallel, leading to longer production times and potential inefficiencies in high-reliability industrial environments.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a computer device with single-threaded processing capabilities, employing predefined control commands like START and STOP to allocate and manage food processing steps, allowing for sequential execution while enabling parallel execution of certain steps by using START commands without waiting for completion and ensuring completion with CHECK and END commands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a PLC with single-threaded processing is used for process control, then high-reliability control and ease of programming are achieved, but the execution time increases and parallel food processing steps cannot be performed
Solution Approach 1:
The control program is segmented into multiple independent threads, each responsible for executing specific food processing steps. The PLC's single-threaded processor sequentially executes these segmented threads, allowing different processing steps to be organized and managed as separate executable units that can run in an organized sequence, effectively enabling parallel processing capabilities within a single-threaded architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The control program performs preliminary actions by pre-defining multiple threads with their respective food processing steps before execution. Each thread is prepared in advance with its instructions and parameters, allowing the PLC to efficiently switch between pre-prepared processing sequences without requiring complex real-time decision-making, thus maintaining high reliability while improving throughput.
2Productivity
If a PC with multi-threading capability is used for process control, then parallel execution of food processing steps is enabled, but high-reliability and robust control in industrial environment is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The control program is segmented into multiple independent threads, each responsible for executing specific food processing steps. The PLC's single-threaded processor sequentially executes these segmented threads, allowing different processing steps to be organized and managed as separate executable units that can run in an organized sequence, effectively enabling parallel processing capabilities within a single-threaded architecture.
3Ease of operation
If sequential execution of food processing steps is performed, then control simplicity is maintained, but production time increases undesirably
Solution Approach 1:
The control program implements dynamic thread management where the PLC can selectively activate and switch between different threads based on process requirements. This dynamic approach allows the system to maintain simplicity when sequential execution is sufficient while automatically utilizing parallel thread execution when multiple processing steps can occur simultaneously, thus reducing production time without sacrificing control simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for production of liquid food (P) comprises a food processing arrangement (2) and a computer device (3), e.g. a PLC. The computer device (3) sequentially executes a control program (5A) to control the food processing arrangement (2) to perform processing steps for producing the liquid food (P) from one or more ingredients in accordance with a predefined recipe. The program comprises command instructions that each allocates a respective processing step to a predefined control command among a predefined set. To enable parallelism, despite the sequential execution by the computer device (3), the set of control commands comprises a start command which is associated, by the computer device (3), with an action of: starting the food processing step that is allocated to the start command and proceeding, without waiting for the food processing step to be completed, to a subsequent instruction in the list of instructions.