Expert system for the control of emergencies of a process plant

The chemical industry due to its great potential of danger, as much for the human health and for the environmental one, requires exceptional safety measures. Not in vain there appear new more strict norms concerning the systems of control and study of the consequences of a possible accident. The investigation group has been developing an expert system for the integral management of the procedures of emergency of a refinery, the greatest and most complex of the chemical industries. The tool has two missions that are fundamental for the safety of any chemical plant, on one side advises to the operator for the actions to take in case of an emergency and on the other hand the expert system makes a complete program of formation for new workers. In this formation it simulates emergency situations that the user must solve successfully. In order to achieve this double objective, almost a year has been dedicated to the compilation of all the information necessary to nourish the knowledge base. The inference motor governed by logics rules will use all this information for, under several premises, to decide which the best action to take is. In addition the system is able to complete the formation of new technicians simulating emergency situations, soliciting data of equipment, safety norms, and function of the units.... Due to the structure with which the expert system has been constructed, is easy to export it to another type of process plants. It as easy as finding an expert who, with the aid of a knowledge engineer, would introduce in the data base the particularities of that type of industry.