Modeling and control of transporting systems in batch processes with multiple aggregated resources

In the paper, the problem of the modeling and design of a control system for transporting systems in batch processes is addressed. In particular, it is shown that with a careful modeling of transporting systems as aggregate resources and with a suitable hierarchical control architecture, the problem complexity can be strongly reduced with respect to known approaches. In addition, the implementation phase can be easily carried out as well. Supervisory control theory is here adopted as a design technique, and exploited to the extent to which it is convenient in the perspective of the design and implementation of industrial automation systems. Though the ideas here discussed are quite general, they have been exemplified with a batch process drawn from the literature.