TABLE OF CONTENTS Equipment modules use equipment procedural control to achieve minor processing tasks. An equipment module is the container for performing the different elements of procedural logic required to achieve the process task.
Equipment modules may be contained within units, or may be shared between units in a process cell. In either case, they usually contain all of the physical equipment and control capabilities to perform their minor processing function.
The purpose of an equipment module is to coordinate and execute the procedural logic required to implement a phase, or to execute any other required equipment procedural control.
Figure 5-15 illustrates the following elements of an equipment module:
Equipment modules contain functions to perform coordination control, equipment procedural control, exception detection and evaluation, data collection, and manual interface.
Equipment modules contain zero or more control modules, and may contain or use the services of other equipment modules.
Equipment modules do not interface directly with the controller I/O; they use the services of control modules to interface with the physical equipment.
Equipment modules contain the procedural logic associated with each state of each equipment phase, or other equipment procedural logic.
For example, an equipment module may control the valves and pumps that feed material into a tank and a level sensor that records the volume of material in the tank. The equipment module could have one phase to fill the tank as fast as possible (such as filling with water to clean the tank), and another...
