A virtual environment with programmable logic controllers: an application in the evaluation of control strategies

Abstract

This article describes a proposal for a virtual environment to be used in the evaluation of control strategies in programmable logic controllers (PLCs). For this purpose, a process simulation manager, which controls the digital model, and a component communication manager, which integrates the elements of the virtual environment (virtual PLC and digital model) through the industrial communication protocol OPC UA, have been developed. The virtual environment has been validated through a case study that considers as a process system a food sterilization unit that requires discrete and continuous control logic to perform its operation. This allows the control logic in the virtual environment to be verified in a simulation environment for subsequent scalability to the real process using protocols suitable for field devices.