An investigation into the use of distributed processing in glass container manufacture

The thesis describes the design and construction of a local area computer network to provide a distributed industrial control and monitoring system for glass container manufacture. In particular, a commercially available local area network, originally manufactured to link industrial programmable controllers, has been used to allow the implementation of multi-processor control scheme for container forming and to achieve an integrated data processing link with other plant computers concerned with inspection and quality data collection. A microprocessor-based I.S. machine controller was designed to replace conventional Timing Drum controllers used in many container manufacturing plants, and linked to the local area network. The control system developed provided the usual machine sequencing functions but also provided adaptive control of the invert mechanism speed using a specially designed electropneumatic servo mechanism valve. A data capture system was also designed, developed and tested to allow' on-line monitoring of container inspection machines. The system utilises the local area network to provide access to a file server (for data storage), to allow remote access (e.g. in Quality Control) and to establish a link with the I.S. machine controllers. The distributed control and monitoring scheme produced allows the convenient integration of other data processing functions in other plant areas such as batch, furnace, forehearth, and packing and can facilitate the integration of organisational functions such as planning, scheduling, and data base management in a planned step by step manner.