Petri Net to Ladder Logic Diagram Converter and a Batch Process Simulation

Discrete-event dynamic systems (DEDS) are characterized by a set of states which the system can take, and by the set of asynchronous events that cause the state changes at discrete time points. Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are still important special purpose computers used to automate the DEDS in industry. Ladder logic diagrams (LLDs) are still the most popular graphical programming tools of the PLCs; but the major problem is that programming is done heuristically and the LLDs are difficult to be used for both analysis and performance evaluation. Petri nets (PNs) are nowadays the most effective modeling environment for both the design and implementation of DEDS. This paper proposes a PN to LLD conversion tool, used for graphical editing of a PN net model of a DEDS controller and for converting this PN into the equivalent LLD for programming a PLC. The conversion algorithm is presented, considering many types of transitions, places, and arcs with generality that many types of PNs can be considered. This paper also presents a simulation of a batch process, on a personal computer from one side, interfaced with a real PLC from the other side, that is programmed using a LLD obtained from the conversion of a suitable PN model using the proposed conversion tool. Compared with a LDD got heuristically, the LLD got from a PN conversion is simpler, understandable, and meeting all the characteristics obtained from the PN analysis.