Design recovery for relay ladder logic

Author

Falcione, Albert ; Krogh, Bruce H.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Volume

13

Issue

2

fYear

1993

fDate

4/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

90

Lastpage

98

Abstract

An algorithm for converting relay ladder logic (RLL) programs for programmable logic controllers (PLCs) into sequential function chart (SFC) programs is introduced. Since an SFC (a standardization of Grafcet) better represents the sequential flow of control logic, it is considerably easier to understand and modify SFC programs. The practical motivation for this study is to provide a tool for converting existing RLL programs into SFC programs by recovering the underlying sequential control logic. A basic design recovery algorithm is presented and applied to a simple RLL program for one stage of a batch chemical process. Several fundamental issues in discrete control logic representation and analysis are identified as fertile areas for future research.<>

Keywords

batch processing (industrial); chemical industry; programmable controllers; batch chemical process; design recovery algorithm; discrete control logic representation; programmable logic controllers; relay ladder logic; sequential control logic; sequential function chart; Algorithm design and analysis; Automatic control; Chemical processes; Computer languages; Industrial control; Logic design; Logic programming; Process control; Programmable control; Relays;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Control Systems, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1066-033X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/37.206990

Filename

206990