Knowledge-Based Monitoring, Diagnostics and Control for Producing Nanoparticles

摘要

A knowledge-based system (KBS) has been developed for an industrial process generating nanoparticles. The soft sensor incorporates both quantitative and qualitative information from the process. The adaptive control algorithm allows the manipulation of process inputs to control complex distributed product attributes such as nano-particle size distribution (nPSD) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) in a process. The expert system provides continuous decision support, fault rectification, process monitoring and maintenance of functionality with process safety. Process events such as product growth stages and nucleation are analysed by our statistically-enhanced, rule-based expert system. The diagnostic and decision support system (DDSS) incorporates features such as intelligent recipe input interface to pre-selected optimal control operations. The expert system was put to test on an actual facility to aid operators in conducting the process.