WO2018196998A1

WO2018196998A1 - Method and system for allocating resources in a process plant

Info

Publication number: WO2018196998A1
Application number: PCT/EP2017/060206
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael Pirker
Original assignee: Siemens AG; Siemens Corp
Current assignee: Siemens AG; Siemens Corp
Priority date: 2017-04-28
Filing date: 2017-04-28
Publication date: 2018-11-01
Anticipated expiration: 2019-10-28

Abstract

First, a recipe (RCP) for the production of a continuous product is processed. Afterwards, resources (P1, P2, T) in a process plant (PP) are allocated based on the recipe. Therefore, the resources are allocated in a product-driven way. Based on the product's recipe, plant resources are allocated automatically in advance, while still considering the continuous character of the product. This introduces more flexibility by facilitating automated product-driven resource allocation in process plants. Incidents, like unscheduled maintenance, and unforeseen conditions, like need for higher or reduced plant output, can be handled in an automated way. In existing process plants, flexible behavior, like re-routing a product during its production, can be realized only manually - if at all. In an embodiment, the resources are allocated by executing automated auctions at a virtual market place (VMP). In a further embodiment, a processor (CPU) combines parts of the recipe to derive atomic auctions consisting of atomic combinations of required resources. The processor forms an atomic auction sequence (AAS) by concatenating the atomic auctions, and allocates the resources by executing the atomic auction sequence using a negotiation algorithm. This embodiment introduces an extra processing step for identifying the atomic combinations of plant resources.

Description

Method and system for allocating resources in a process plant In today's industrial process plants, for example chemical plants, there is an increasing demand for more flexibility during the production process. Processing continuous products like gases and liquids poses many challenges to the plant flexibility as continuous products very often require static installations of plant equipment like pipes, tanks, pumps, and valves. A fluid that is currently in a pipe which leads to a tank may not be easily redirected and may occupy the pipe and the tank at the same time, as long as the tank is being filled up.

The default approach in today's process plants is to "hard^¬ wire" the required process with pipes, tanks etc. and to con^¬ trol the process with pumps, valves and the like. It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative to the state of the art.

According to the method for allocating resources in a process plant, the following steps are executed: processing, by a processor, a recipe for the production of a continuous prod^¬ uct, and allocating, by a processor, resources in a process plant based on the recipe.

The system for allocating resources in a process plant com- prises an electronic memory, storing a recipe for the produc^¬ tion of a continuous product, and at least one processor, programmed for processing the recipe and for allocating resources in a process plant based on the recipe. The following advantages and explanations are not necessarily the result of the object of the independent claims. Rather, they may be advantages and explanations that only apply to certain embodiments or variants. The method and the system organize an allocation of resources according to production recipes of continuous products in a product-driven way. Based on the product's recipe, plant re- sources are allocated automatically in advance, while still considering the continuous character of the product.

The method and the system introduce more flexibility by fa^¬ cilitating automated product-driven resource allocation in process plants. Incidents, like unscheduled maintenance, and unforeseen conditions, like need for higher or reduced plant output, can be handled in an automated way. In existing pro^¬ cess plants, flexible behavior, like re-routing a product during its production, can be realized only manually - if at all.

An embodiment of the method comprises the additional step of producing the product according to the recipe with the allo^¬ cated resources.

In another embodiment of the method, the processor allocates the resources by executing automated auctions at a virtual market place. In another embodiment of the method, the processor combines parts of the recipe to derive atomic auctions consisting of atomic combinations of required resources. The processor forms an atomic auction sequence by concatenating the atomic auctions, and allocates the resources by executing the atomic auction sequence using a negotiation algorithm.

This embodiment introduces an extra processing step for iden^¬ tifying the atomic combinations of plant resources. Each com^¬ bination is a set of resources.

In an embodiment of the method, the processor derives the atomic auctions with a rule-based system, in particular a constraint solver, the rule-based system processing rules from a rule base and knowledge from a knowledge base stored in an electronic memory, the rules and/or knowledge describ^¬ ing correlations and/or dependencies between one resource and at least one other resource in the production plant, and/or a topology and/or location of the resources in the production plant, and/or a runtime behavior of the resources in the pro^¬ duction plant, and/or malfunctioning conditions of the resources in the production plant. This embodiment uses a rule-based system for the automated derivation of atomic auctions. The atomic combinations of re^¬ quired resources are identified by the rule-based system, by combining recipe parts. Based on correlations/dependencies expressed in explicit rules, the rule-based system can derive the atomic combinations as sets of plant resources. Based on the recipe and the current state of the process plant, a rule base describing important features of the process plant is used to derive sets of resources that must be allocated to produce the product .

In an embodiment of the method, the negotiation algorithm processes offers of available resources and executes the atomic auctions based on an atomic consideration of several required resources for each atomic auction.

In other words, the negotiation algorithm uses combinatorial auctions to allocate atomic combinations of required re^¬ sources. This means that, when an atomic set of required re^¬ sources is identified, a combinatorial auction can be applied to allocate these resources, as required by the recipe of the product .

In an embodiment of the method, a software agent is running on the processor, the software agent representing the product of the recipe and initiating the atomic auctions in order to allocate the resources. In an embodiment of the system, the system comprises a pro^¬ duction control system, configured for a production of the product with the allocated resources. In an embodiment of the system, the system is configured for performing the method.

The computer-readable storage media has stored thereon in^¬ structions executable by one or more processors of a computer system, wherein execution of the instructions causes the com^¬ puter system to perform the method.

The computer program is being executed by one or more proces^¬ sors of a computer system and performs the method.

The foregoing and other aspects of the present invention are best understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments that are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific instrumentalities disclosed. Included in the draw^¬ ings are the following Figures: Fig. 1 a section of a process plant,

Fig. 2 a schematic overview of an embodiment of a system for allocating resources in a process plant PP, and Fig. 3 a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for allo^¬ cating resources in a process plant.

Figure 1 shows a section of a process plant. Based on a product's recipe, plant resources are allocated automatically in advance. To automate the resource allocation, negotiation mechanisms are used: The plants available resources, like pipes and tanks, are offered at a virtual market place. The product, represented by a software agent, starts a negotia- tion sequence based on the required resources derived from its recipe. For instance, a recipe for mixing a first liquid A with a second liquid B requires a certain amount of the first liquid A to be transported via a first pipe PI to a specific tank T and another amount of the second liquid B via a second pipe P2 to the same tank T. While the tank T is filled with the first liquid A, it may occupy the first pipe PI and the tank T at the same time. Therefore the first pipe PI and the tank T must be considered in one atomic step of the product's negotiation sequence. Otherwise the tank T would be allocated for the production of the recipe, but the first pipe PI could be already allocated to another produc^¬ tion process. Figure 2 shows a schematic overview of an embodiment of a system for allocating resources in a process plant PP. As an example, the first pipe PI, the second pipe P2 and the tank T from Figure 1 are depicted as resources in Figure 2. A processor CPU is programmed to perform resource allocation based on virtual market places by means of auctions. To this end, the processor CPU uses the concept of "combinatorial auctions", meaning the atomic consideration of several re^¬ quired resources. This means that, when an atomic set of re- quired resources (like the first pipe PI and the tank T) is identified, a combinatorial auction can be applied to allo^¬ cate these resources, as required by a recipe RCP of a prod^¬ uct that is stored in an electronic memory M, for example a hard drive or cloud storage. The processor CPU can be pro- grammed to implement software platforms to realize such re^¬ source allocations, for example software agent market places. In this regard, program code representing at least one soft^¬ ware agent SOA and at least on virtual market place VMP can be loaded into the processor CPU for execution.

Before the automated auctions take place, the processor CPU derives an atomic auction sequence AAS, like "allocate (PI AND T) from 10:43 to 10:52", from an instruction in the reci- pe RCP, like "Fill 300 liters of the first liquid A to a tank". This derivation is performed by a rule-based system RBS that is executed by the processor CPU. The rule-based system RBS processes rules stored in a rule base RB located in the electronic memory M. Each rule describes correlations and dependencies of one resource of the process plant PP (like a pipe) with other resources (like a tank), e.g. the first pipe PI leads to the tank T. Based on these correla^¬ tions/dependencies expressed in explicit rules, a rule engine of the rule-based system RBS can derive atomic sets of plant resources (like "PI AND T") . The rule-based system RBS can also process knowledge stored in a knowledge base KB located in the electronic memory M. The rule-based system RBS to solve such tasks can be a constraint solver. The electronic memory M, the processor CPU and/or the automic auction sequence AAS can be located in a cloud CL .

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for allocating resources in a process plant and gives a summary and example of the approach. A product dataset PD (stored for example in the electronic memory M depicted in Figure 2) con^¬ tains a recipe RCP and a knowledge base KB, the latter con^¬ taining knowledge about the current state of the plant (e.g. locations of different product components) . The product da- taset PD is fed to a rule-based system RBS which processes the product dataset using a rule base RB . The rule base RB describes important features of the process plant (like to^¬ pology, runtime behavior, malfunctioning conditions etc.) and is used by the rule-based system to derive sets of atomic re- sources that must be allocated to process the recipe RCP. In the example shown in Figure 3, the depicted rules derive that always a pipe and a tank located beside each other must be handled as an atomic set in each resource allocation step (i.e. these rules describe topological information). Other rules might describe maintenance, malfunctioning, and other important aspects of the process plant also. The output of the rule-based system RBS is an atomic auction sequence AAS that is processed at a virtual market place VMP. In process plants, this step is required prior to resource allocation because of the physical installations for fluids or gases that are processed, e.g. pipes are directly connect- ed to tanks. By introducing an extra processing step for identifying the atomic sets of plant resources (e.g. pipe AND tank) , resource allocation can be applied in process plants (continuous production systems) . To realize automated re^¬ source allocation within a plant is very important, because it leverages much more flexible process/production systems that are capable of more efficient exploitation of production resources, better handling of unforeseeable situations, han^¬ dling of unscheduled maintenance, etc. According to this embodiment, the rule-based system RBS is used for automated derivation of the atomic auction sequence AAS, which is then executed with combinatorial auctions for automated resource allocation at the virtual market place VMP.

The combinatorial auctions allocate atomic combinations of required resources (like a pipe and a tank) according to the recipe RC . The atomic combinations (like "a pipe AND a tank", "a reactor", "a pipe AND a valve AND a pump") of required re- sources are identified by the rule-based system RBS, by com^¬ bining parts of the recipe RCP ("a pipe", "a tank", "a reac^¬ tor", "a valve", " a pump") .

Thereby incidents, like unscheduled maintenance, and unfore- seen conditions, like need for higher or reduced plant out^¬ put, can be handled in an automated way.

The method can be executed by a processor such as a microcon^¬ troller or a microprocessor, by an Application Specific Inte- grated Circuit (ASIC) , by any kind of computer, including mo^¬ bile computing devices such as tablet computers, smartphones or laptops, or by one or more servers in a control room or cloud . For example, a processor, controller, or integrated circuit of the computer system and/or another processor may be configured to implement the acts described herein.

The above-described method may be implemented via a computer program product including one or more computer-readable stor^¬ age media having stored thereon instructions executable by one or more processors of a computing system. Execution of the instructions causes the computing system to perform oper^¬ ations corresponding with the acts of the method described above .

The instructions for implementing processes or methods de- scribed herein may be provided on non-transitory computer- readable storage media or memories, such as a cache, buffer, RAM, FLASH, removable media, hard drive, or other computer readable storage media. Computer readable storage media in^¬ clude various types of volatile and non-volatile storage me- dia. The functions, acts, or tasks illustrated in the figures or described herein may be executed in response to one or more sets of instructions stored in or on computer readable storage media. The functions, acts or tasks may be independ^¬ ent of the particular type of instruction set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, micro code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.

The invention has been described in detail with reference to embodiments thereof and examples. Variations and modifica^¬ tions may, however, be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention covered by the claims. The phrase "at least one of A, B and C" as an alternative expression may provide that one or more of A, B and C may be used. While the present invention has been described above by ref^¬ erence to various embodiments, it should be understood that many changes and modifications may be made to the described embodiments. It is therefore intended that the foregoing de- scription be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understood that all equivalents and/or combi^¬ nations of embodiments are intended to be included in this description .

Claims

Patent claims

1. Method for allocating resources in a process plant,

with the following steps:

- processing, by a processor (CPU) , a recipe (RCP) for the production of a continuous product, and

allocating, by a processor, resources (PI, P2, T) in a process plant (PP) based on the recipe.

2. Method according to claim 1,

with the additional step of

producing the product according to the recipe with the al^¬ located resources.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2,

wherein the processor allocates the resources by executing automated auctions at a virtual market place (VMP) .

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims,

- wherein the processor combines parts of the recipe to de^¬ rive atomic auctions consisting of atomic combinations of required resources,

wherein the processor forms an atomic auction sequence (AAS) by concatenating the atomic auctions, and

- wherein the processor allocates the resources by executing the atomic auction sequence using a negotiation algorithm.

5. Method according to claim 4,

wherein the processor derives the atomic auctions with a rule-based system (RBS) , in particular a constraint solv^¬ er, the rule-based system (RBS) processing rules from a rule base (RB) and knowledge from a knowledge base (KB) stored in an electronic memory (M) , the rules and/or knowledge describing

- correlations and/or dependencies between one resource and at least one other resource in the production plant, and/or a topology and/or location of the resources in the pro^¬ duction plant, and/or

a runtime behavior of the resources in the production plant, and/or

malfunctioning conditions of the resources in the pro^¬ duction plant.

6. Method according to claim 4 or 5,

wherein the negotiation algorithm processes offers of available resources and executes the atomic auctions based on an atomic consideration of several required resources for each atomic auction.

7. Method according to one of the claims 4 to 6,

with a software agent (SOA) running on the processor, the software agent representing the product of the recipe and initiating the atomic auctions in order to allocate the resources .

8. System for allocating resources in a process plant,

with an electronic memory (M) , storing a recipe (RCP) for the production of a continuous product, and

with at least one processor (CPU) , programmed for pro^¬ cessing the recipe and for allocating resources (PI, P2, T) in a process plant (PP) based on the recipe.

9. System according to claim 8,

with a production control system, configured for a produc^¬ tion of the product with the allocated resources.

10. System according to claim 8 or 9,

configured for performing the method according to one of the claims 3 to 7.

11. Computer-readable storage media having stored thereon: instructions executable by one or more processors (CPU) of a computer system, wherein execution of the instructions causes the computer system to perform the method according to one of the claims 1 to 7.

12. Computer program,

- which is being executed by one or more processors (CPU) of a computer system and performs the method according to one of the claims 1 to 7.