As products are developed for the batch processing industry based on the IEC 61512-1 Batch Control – Part 1: Models and Terminology standard there is an increasing need to exchange data between these products and other systems. Interfaces occur at all levels; with Field Management devices (e.g. monitoring stations, control stations…), Process Management systems (e.g. lab systems, batch control systems, loading, unloading, dispensing, weighing systems…), and with Business Management systems (e.g. ERP and MES). The data exchange needs to cover four basic types of information; equipment capabilities, current operating conditions, historical and recipe contents.
This specification defines interfaces for the exchange of: Current operating conditions with related equipment capabilities, Historical records of batch execution and Master recipe contents as well as batch specific event attributes for the OPC Alarms and Events Specification. Current operating conditions are described using a Batch List and a Batch Model which combines Batch and Control Recipe information. Equipment capabilities correspond to the IEC 61512-1 Physical Model. Historical records of batch execution is a copy of the operating conditions for completed batches without certain properties that pertain to current operating conditions. Master recipe contents correspond to the data model and exchange table definitions in ISA-dS88.02-2000 draft 17 of May 2000. The batch specific attributes for the OPC Alarms and Events Specification are vendor specific attributes that will enable OPC Alarms and Events servers to treat batch events in a manner consistent with OPC batch servers and based on the data model and exchange table definitions in ISA-dS88.02-2000 draft 17 of May 2000.
Currently most batch systems use their own proprietary interfaces for dissemination and collection of data. There is no capability to augment existing solutions with other capabilities in a plug-n-play envir