H{}²CM-based holonic modeling of a gas pipeline

A gas pipeline is a relatively simple physical system, but the optimality of the control is difficult to achieve. When switching from one kind of gas to another , a volume of useless mixture is generated. Therefore, the control needs to both respond to the demand and minimize the volume of lost gas. In case of stable and perfectly known demand, scheduling techniques can be used, but in other cases , calculation times are incompatible with an industrial application. This article introduces the application of H${}^2$CM (Holonic Hybrid Control Model) generic architecture on this specific case. The study case is extensively presented. Then, the defined holonic architecture (H${}^2$CM compatible) is detailed, and the role and functions of each holon are presented. Finally, a tentative general control algorithm is suggested, which gives an insight on the actual algorithms that will be developed in perspective of this work.