Multi-agent structure for batch process control

The changes of the customers' demands become rapid and the product lifecycles have become shorter and shorter. Although batch processes have natural flexibility, addition of new products needs many modifications not only in the batch plant but also in the system for control, scheduling and so on. The flexibility of this management system must be improved to catch up the rapid changes. In this paper, multi-agent structure for batch control system is proposed to make its change management easier. Four types of agents work in communicating with each other. The recipe agents instruct the recipe to equipment agents. Equipment agents have intelligence to recognize instructions described in the recipe. The specification of the human interface to support the operator is also discussed.