A knowledge based system for diagnosing microbial activities during a fermentation process

A knowledge based system, LAexpert, was developed to diagnose microbial activities during a fermentation process on the basis of specific rates determined on-line. The LAexpert is a supervisor for a process control system and assists operators in fault diagnosis. The LAexpert was implemented using a fuzzy expert system shell based on the object oriented programming tool Smalltalk V/Mac running in a Macintosh II computer. The shell can handle uncertainties both in the measurements and knowledge by fuzzy reasoning.List of Symbols X g/l biomass dry weight (g/l) - S g/l substrate concentration (g/l) - P g/l product concentration (g/l) - _c, _c, _c 1/h specific rates calculated from on-line measured data of X, S and P (1/h) - _d, _d, _d 1/h specific rates read from database of BIOACS (1/h)