2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

(559c) Real-Time Monitoring and Control in an Automated Lab Environment

Authors

Darren Whitaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical
With the rapid advancement of technologies in laboratory environments, the necessity for real-time monitoring and control systems has become increasingly evident. These systems play a pivotal role in ensuring the efficiency, accuracy, and integration of various devices within the lab. The aim of this project is to develop a unified system that facilitates seamless monitoring, control, and data collection from a multitude of devices, thereby enhancing the overall productivity and effectiveness of laboratory operations. By enabling connectivity and interoperability between previously incompatible devices, researchers can build robust platforms, gather comprehensive data, and deliver swift and reliable results.

The system consists of a few layers. The first and highest layer in the hierarchy is the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software. This layer ties everything together, and allows direct access to the connected devices and acquired data. This is the interface most users will be familiar with. Located under that are the communication protocols. These are a mix of many industry standard communications that allow devices to send and receive commands and data with the SCADA environment. The layer below are the devices. These each have their own controller that will send and receive the relevant data back to the SCADA, for collection and control.

A few case studies were conducted using this infrastructure.

A device was created to be used with a Mettler-Toleda EasyMax, to allow pressure control within a vessel. Communication protocols were used to interface with the EasyMax itself, as well as the SCADA software. Users had the option of using the EasyMax for local control or the SCADA for remote control. A main advantage of this was the same principle can be used for any control with an EasyMax, provided the correct communication protocols were available.

A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) was used to create a system which allowed multiple devices to be connected to it at once. These devices had direct access to settings within the SCADA software, that allowed on-the-fly programming of the devices, as well as control and data acquisition. A flow process was created using this system to optimize a key route in a developing drug. The major advantage to this setup is the modularity provided. Devices can be added or removed quickly and without much extra configuration.

Efforts are still ongoing as to build and design more modules and setups for researchers and other lab personnel to use. The above case studies show that these methods are versatile and can be applied to many tasks within a lab setting. These modules and methods can also be scaled into a manufacturing setting once proven to be robust in the lab. There is still much more to be done to make this system truly automated, but the hope is that it will get there and be adopted more as it is being completed.