Sequences are ubiquitous pieces of software found throughout a variety of industries and applications. This diversity, however, creates problems for both the user and the developer as it becomes difficult to define standards that allow for robust operation, recovery and error handling in the event of a plant malfunction or process abnormality. The aim of this article is to expand on the basic guidelines and ensure minimum requirements that will make it easier to develop test and maintain sequence software irrespective of the application or hardware. The different concepts and processes are discussed through the use of practical plant examples.
The reader is introduced to the following operating modes:
* Automatic.
* Semi-automatic.
* Manual.
In addition, the ways in which abnormal conditions can be accommodated and where each of the following sequence modes should be used is also discussed:
* Running.
* Hold.
* Interrupt.
* Abort.
As further supplementary information, examples of generic configurations for each mode are supplied.
The documentation required to enable the programming of robust software is discussed in depth with examples of each document type and an explanation of why the specific document is required. The difference between operations and steps is explained and details provided on the following documents required for programming and testing:
* Process overview flowchart.
* Detailed flowchart.
* Sequence matrix.
All the information is then brought together in a practical example of how a typical (in this case filter plant) system would be implemented. The information provided should enable the reader to build robust and easy to test sequence and batch applications. The documents and principles described can be easily customised to cater for the majority of sequence applications. The detailed information can be found at: http://instrumentation.co.za/+C15525
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