JP2005016737A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the efficiency and to reduce the cost in engineering work by reducing a time necessary for creating point definition information necessary for collecting data from a monitoring point. <P>SOLUTION: This monitoring device 5 accesses to the monitoring point of a monitored device on the basis of device definition information for making an identifier necessary for specifying the monitored device in a self-device, the network and address information necessary for specifying the monitored device in the device on the network correspond to each other by every monitored device, and a device template for making the identifier necessary for specifying the kind of monitoring point in the self-device, the network and address information necessary for specifying the kind of monitoring point in the monitored device on the network correspond to each other by every kind of the monitored device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a monitoring device that collects data from monitoring points of a plurality of monitoring target devices and manages each monitoring target device in a facility such as a building, factory, or plant.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in facilities such as buildings, factories, and plants, monitoring devices that collect data from monitoring points of a plurality of monitoring target devices and manage each monitoring target device have been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). In such a monitoring device, the monitoring point is managed based on a unique identifier (for example, the name of the monitoring point). On the other hand, in order to access an actual monitoring point in the monitoring target device, Address information of the monitoring point necessary for the network connecting to the monitoring target device and the monitoring target device to identify the monitoring point is required.
[0003]
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of conventional point definition information in which identifiers and address information of monitoring points are defined. The point definition information shown in FIG. 14 corresponds to the configuration of FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Since the configuration is the same in the conventional monitoring system, the point definition information is indicated by using the reference numerals in FIG. explain.
[0004]
The point definition information in FIG. 14 includes the device name, which is an identifier necessary for specifying the monitoring target device (the fume hoods 1 and 2, the general exhaust valve 3, and the constant air flow valve 4) in the monitoring device 5 in FIG. A point name that is an identifier necessary for specifying a monitoring point of the monitoring target device in the device 5, a device number that is address information necessary for specifying the monitoring target device in the network and devices on the network, and a network In addition, a point number and a point type, which are address information necessary for specifying a monitoring point in a monitoring target apparatus on the network, are associated with a point description describing the contents of the monitoring point. The monitoring device 5 refers to the point definition information in FIG. 14, accesses the monitoring point in each monitoring target device, and collects data. The applicant has not yet found prior art documents related to the present invention by the time of filing other than the prior art documents specified by the prior art document information described in this specification.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-8-210694
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
If there are N points to be monitored, the number of items to be set in the point definition information is N × (number of set items for each monitoring point). In the example of the fume hood monitoring system shown in FIG. 1, the total number of fume hoods may reach several hundreds, and the number N of monitoring points may reach several thousand. For this reason, the amount of entries for point definition is enormous, and the creation of point definition information that is performed by users (workers who install monitoring systems and workers who use monitoring systems) is prone to errors. It becomes. As a result, the conventional monitoring apparatus has a problem that it takes a lot of time to create point definition information and to confirm and correct the point definition information during system construction.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and reduces the time required to create point definition information necessary for collecting data from monitoring points, thereby improving the efficiency and cost of engineering work. For the purpose.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention provides a monitoring device that collects data from monitoring points of a plurality of monitoring target devices connected via a network and manages the monitoring target device, and includes an identifier of the monitoring target device and address information of the monitoring target device Storage means for storing device definition information for each monitored device, device templates defining the monitoring point identifier and the monitoring point address information for each type of monitored device, and the device definition Data access means for accessing a monitoring point of the monitoring target device based on the information and the device template. Further, the monitoring device of the present invention includes device definition information in which the identifier of the monitoring target device and the address information of the monitoring target device are defined for each monitoring target device, and the identifier of the monitoring point for each type of the monitoring target device. Storage means for storing defined device type definition information, a point template defined for each point group consisting of a collection of monitoring points associated with the monitoring point identifier and the monitoring point address information, and the device definition information And data access means for accessing the monitoring point of the monitoring target device based on the device type definition information and the point template.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a fume hood monitoring system will be described as an example of the monitoring system. The fume hood monitoring system includes a plurality of fume hoods 1 that locally exhaust toxic gases generated in facilities such as research facilities, factories, and hospitals, another fume hood 2 that is different from the fume hood 1, and a fume hood 1. , 2, a general exhaust valve 3 that exhausts excess air supply from the facility according to the total displacement that changes depending on the operating state, a constant air flow valve 4 that exhausts a constant air volume from the facility, a fume hood 1, 2, a monitoring device 5 that collects data from monitoring points of the general exhaust valve 3 and the constant air flow valve 4, a plurality of terminal devices 6 that display data transmitted from the monitoring device 5, a fume hood 1, 2 and a general exhaust A router 7 that connects the valve 3 and the constant air flow valve 4 to the network, a gateway device 8 that connects the network and the monitoring device 5, and a terminal Intranet 9 location 6 is connected, and a router 10 for connecting the monitoring device 5 and intranet 9.
[0009]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the monitoring device 5. The monitoring device 5 includes a first interface device 51 connected to the gateway device 8, a second interface device 52 connected to the router 10, an arithmetic device 53, and a storage device 54. Such a monitoring device 5 can be realized by a computer. The arithmetic device 53 is mounted with at least a monitoring application program (monitoring means 531) that realizes a monitoring function and a data access program (data access means 532) that realizes a data access function.
[0010]
Hereinafter, the operation of such a monitoring system will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the monitoring system of FIG. A plurality of monitoring points exist in each device to be monitored, such as the fume hoods 1 and 2, the general exhaust valve 3, and the constant air flow valve 4. For example, in the case of the fume hoods 1 and 2, there are an exhaust air volume, a sash opening, a human detection sensor, an alarm, and the like. At this time, in the monitoring device 5, the monitoring point is managed based on a unique identifier (for example, the name of the monitoring point). On the other hand, in order to access an actual monitoring point in the monitoring target device, the monitoring device 5 and the monitoring point address information necessary for the monitoring target device to specify the monitoring point is required. The data access means 532 of the monitoring device 5 creates in advance point definition information in which the identifier of the monitoring point is associated with the address information (step S1 in FIG. 3). A method for creating this point definition information will be described later.
[0011]
Next, the monitoring unit 531 of the monitoring device 5 periodically generates a data access request for accessing field data (step S2). When the data access unit 532 receives the data access request from the monitoring unit 531, the data access unit 532 acquires data representing the operating state of the fume hoods 1 and 2 from the controllers (not shown) of the respective fume hoods 1 and 2, and Data representing the operating state of the general exhaust valve 3 is obtained from a controller (not shown), and data representing the operating state of the constant air flow valve 4 is obtained from a controller (not shown) of the constant air flow valve 4 (step S3).
[0012]
In order to acquire data from the monitoring points of the monitoring target devices such as the fume hoods 1 and 2, the general exhaust valve 3, and the constant air flow valve 4, the data access means 532 refers to the point definition information created in step S1, A data request packet addressed to the monitoring target device is created, and this data request packet is sent to the gateway device 8. The monitoring target device that has received the data request packet via the gateway device 8 and the router 7 sends the monitoring point data designated by the address information of the data request packet to the monitoring device 5. Then, the data access unit 532 passes the data received from the monitoring target device to the monitoring unit 531.
[0013]
The monitoring unit 531 stores the data received from the data access unit 532 in the storage device 54 in the monitoring device and sends this data to the terminal device 6. Each terminal device 6 displays the data received from the monitoring device 5 (step S4). The processes in steps S2 to S4 described above are repeated until the worker gives an instruction to end the monitoring work (YES in step S5).
[0014]
Thus, the monitoring device 5 periodically collects field data and displays it on the monitoring screen of the terminal device 6. In some cases, not only the collected data is displayed as it is, but also a trend graph representing the data history is created by the monitoring means 531 and displayed on the terminal device 6.
[0015]
Next, a method for creating point definition information according to this embodiment will be described. First, in the present embodiment, a device template Dtemp is created in advance for each type of monitoring target device. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the device template Dtemp. The device template Dtemp is a template type that indicates the type of device template, that is, the type of the monitoring target device, a point name that is an identifier necessary for specifying the type of the monitoring point in the monitoring device 5, the network and the monitoring on the network. In the target device, a point number and a point type, which are address information necessary for specifying the type of the monitoring point, are associated with a point description describing the contents of the monitoring point.
[0016]
In FIG. 4, “FUMEHOOD”, “FUMEHOOD_2”, “GEX”, and “CAV” indicate device templates corresponding to the fume hood 1, the fume hood 2, the general exhaust valve 3, and the constant air flow valve 4, respectively. Yes.
[0017]
In the same type of monitoring target device, the combination of monitoring points is the same. In the same type of monitoring target device, the same point name, the same point number, and the same point type are assigned to the same type of monitoring point. For example, in the plurality of fume hoods 1 corresponding to the template type “FUMEHOOD”, the exhaust air volume point names are all “flow”, the point number is “12”, and the point type is “AI”.
[0018]
The device template Dtemp as described above is created when a user (a worker who installs the monitoring system or a worker who performs monitoring work using the monitoring system) operates the terminal device 6. The created device template Dtemp is stored in the storage device 54 in the monitoring device.
[0019]
In addition, not only the monitoring point of the monitoring target device but also a management data item can be arbitrarily added to the device template Dtemp. In the example of FIG. 4, “miniFlow” indicating the minimum air volume of the device, “ROOM” that is the name of the room in which the device is installed, and “MANIFOLD” that is the name of the manifold to which the device is connected as data items for management. “FLOOR”, which is the name of the floor on which the apparatus is installed, is added.
[0020]
Next, in this embodiment, device definition information Ddef is created in advance for each monitoring target device. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the device definition information Ddef. The device definition information Ddef is a device name that is an identifier necessary for specifying the monitoring target device in the monitoring device 5, the template type, and an address required for specifying the monitoring target device in the network and devices on the network. The device number, which is information, and the device description describing the contents of the device are associated with each monitoring target device. The device definition information Ddef is also created by the user operating the terminal device 6, and the created device definition information Ddef is stored in the storage device 54 in the monitoring device.
[0021]
Based on the device definition information Ddef and the device template Dtemp as described above, the data access means 532 of the monitoring device 5 creates the point definition information Pdef. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the point definition information Pdef. The point definition information Pdef associates a device name, a template type, a device number, a point number, a point type, a point name, and a point description. Among these pieces of information, the device number, the point number, and the point type constitute address information necessary for specifying the monitoring target device in the network and the devices on the network and specifying the monitoring point in the monitoring target device. Yes.
[0022]
The data access means 532 of the monitoring device 5 extracts one record from the device definition information Ddef, that is, the device definition information of one monitoring target device, acquires the template type from this device definition information, and based on this template type A device template corresponding to the monitoring target device is acquired from the device template Dtemp. Then, the data access unit 532 creates the point definition information of the monitoring target device by combining the acquired device definition information and the device template. The data access unit 532 creates such point definition information for each monitoring target device registered in the device definition information Ddef.
[0023]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the point definition information Pdef can be created from the device definition information Ddef and the device template Dtemp, so that it is not necessary to create point definition information point by point as in the prior art. As a result, the point definition can be performed efficiently, and the cost required for the engineering work of the point definition can be reduced.
[0024]
In the present embodiment, a device template Dtemp is prepared for each type of device to be monitored. In the device template Dtemp, since the same point name, the same point number, and the same point type are assigned to the same type of monitoring points of the same type of monitoring target device, the amount of entries for defining points is larger than before. Can also be reduced. Therefore, this embodiment is particularly effective in a monitoring system having a large number of monitoring target devices of the same type.
[0025]
In the present embodiment, the device template Dtemp is inherited to create the point definition information Pdef. However, when the inheritance source device template Dtemp is changed by the user, the data access means 532 includes the device template Dtemp. The point definition information Pdef is automatically changed according to the change. Therefore, the change of the device template Dtemp can be reflected in the point definition information Pdef without delay.
[0026]
As described above, in the same type of monitoring target device, the same point name, the same point number, and the same point type are assigned to the same type of monitoring point. You cannot manage points. In order to manage individual monitoring points in the monitoring device 5, it is necessary to use the device name together with the point name as an identifier of the monitoring point.
[0027]
[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the point definition information Pdef is created in advance, and the data access unit 532 accesses the monitoring point when the monitoring unit 531 of the monitoring device 5 generates a data access request. In the monitoring system of the first embodiment, it is also possible to access the monitoring point without creating the point definition information Pdef.
[0028]
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the monitoring system of the present embodiment, and the same processes as those in FIG. The difference from the first embodiment is that the point definition information Pdef is not created and the data acquisition process in step S3a. When the data access unit 532 of the monitoring device 5 receives the data access request from the monitoring unit 531 (YES in step S2), the data access unit 532 acquires the device definition information and the device template in the same manner as when creating the point definition information Pdef. The address information necessary to identify the monitoring target device in the network and the devices on the network and to specify the monitoring point in the monitoring target device is obtained from the device definition information and the device template, and the data request packet is obtained from this address information. Is created (step S3a). Thereby, data collection similar to that of the first embodiment can be realized.
[0029]
[Third Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the device template Dtemp is prepared in advance, but in the monitoring system of the first embodiment, device type definition information that defines a combination of monitoring points for each type of monitoring target device; The device template Dtemp may be created based on the point template in which the point name and the address information necessary for specifying the type of the monitoring point in the device on the network are associated with each point group. .
[0030]
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the device template Dtemp, and there is a common point group for each device type.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing these common point groups as an example of a point template. Here, point templates Ptemp are shown for two types of flow control point groups (flowControl, flowControl_2), alarm-related point groups (alarms), and management data item groups (management). The point template Ptemp associates a point template name, a point name, a point number, a point type, and a point description, and is a subset of the device template Dtemp. The point template Ptemp is also expressed as Dtemp for convenience and is handled in the same way as the device template.
[0031]
FIG. 9 is an example in which the same definition as the device template Dtemp shown in FIG. 4 is made using the point template Ptemp. For example, for each point group of “flowControl”, “alarms”, and “management” described in the inheritance item in the device template of the template type “FUMEHOOD” in FIG. 9, the point name and point number defined in the point template Ptemp And point type and point description. On the other hand, for points not described in the inheritance item, the point name, point number, point type, and point description described in the device template Dtemp in FIG. 9 are used. Thus, by treating the point template Ptemp as equivalent to the device template Dtemp, another device template can be inherited to define the device template Dtemp.
[0032]
10A differs from the device template of the template type “FUMEHOOD” in FIG. 4 in that the point number of the monitoring point of the point name “flow” is different and a new monitoring point of the point name “temporature” is added. It is a figure which shows the apparatus template Dtemp.
A new device type can be defined by describing a change point (a description of a point with a different point number and an added point) based on the already defined device template.
[0033]
The data access means 532 of the monitoring device 5 processes the inheritance relationship of the device template Dtemp of FIG. 10 before the processing of step S1 of FIG. 3, and the device template having no inheritance relationship as shown in FIG. Create Dtemp '. That is, the data access means 532 inherits the device template of the template type “FUMEHOOD” in FIG. 4 to create a device template of the template type “FUMEHOOD_X”. At this time, the monitoring points with the point names “flow” and “temporature” are created. The description of FIG. 10A is used for. Then, the data access unit 532 uses the device template Dtemp ′ to create the point definition information Pdef as described with reference to FIG. When the inheritance source device template Dtemp is changed by the user, the data access unit 532 automatically changes Dtemp ′ according to the change of the device template Dtemp, and also automatically changes the point definition information Pdef.
[0034]
As in the case of the point definition information Pdef described in the second embodiment, the monitoring point is accessed based on the device definition information Ddef and the device template Dtemp without creating the device template Dtemp ′ in advance. It may be. In this case, when the data access unit 532 receives the data access request from the monitoring unit 531, the data access unit 532 obtains the device template Dtemp from the device definition information Ddef, solves the inheritance relationship, obtains the address information of the monitoring target point, and the address information To create a data request packet (step S3a in FIG. 7).
[0035]
[Fourth Embodiment]
In the first to third embodiments, the address information is a simple list of the device number, the point number, and the point type, but the address information and the device described in the device definition information Ddef. The final address information may be generated by performing a predetermined calculation based on the address information described in the template Dtemp.
[0036]
FIG. 11 shows an example of the relative address designation method. In the example of FIG. 11, for example, the address of the monitoring target device connected lower in the gateway device 8 is converted, and the address designation to the monitoring point of each hood is not the device number but (device number × 100 + points) No.) is an example in the case of being set. In the device template Dtemp shown in FIG. 11, by adding a + symbol to the point number, it is indicated that the address is relative designation.
As shown in FIG. 12, by specifying the head number of the register block assigned to each hood in the device definition information Ddef, as shown in the point definition information Pdef in FIG. 13, the address of the monitoring point for each device The final address information can be generated with (start number + point number).
[0037]
In the first to fourth embodiments, a fume hood monitoring system that monitors the plurality of fume hoods 1, 2, the general exhaust valve 3, and the constant air volume valve 4 is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a system for monitoring other devices may be used. Needless to say, the router 7, the gateway device 8, and the router 10 are not necessarily provided, and can be appropriately changed according to the network status of each facility.
[0038]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the device definition information and the device template are created in advance, and the monitoring point of the monitoring target device is accessed based on the device definition information and the device template. There is no need to create point definition information point by point. As a result, the repetition of monotonous work can be reduced and errors in point definition can be reduced, so that the engineering work for creating, checking, and correcting point definition information (device definition information and device templates) can be performed efficiently. The cost required for engineering work can be reduced. In recent years, the price of monitoring systems has been decreasing, but when viewed from the perspective of system delivery prices to customers, the ratio of costs required for engineering work to create, confirm, and modify point definition information has become extremely high. It is coming. If the cost required for this engineering work can be reduced, not only can the delivery price to the customer be reduced, but the customer's willingness to purchase will be stimulated to increase the sales amount by increasing the sales volume and increase the profit by reducing the cost. Can be aimed. Since the present invention prepares a device template for each type of monitoring target device, it is particularly effective in a monitoring system having many monitoring target devices of the same type.
[0039]
In addition, device definition information, device type definition information, and a point template are created in advance, and the monitoring point of the monitoring target device is accessed based on the device definition information, the device type definition information, and the point template. Therefore, similarly to the above, it is possible to efficiently perform the engineering work for creating, checking, and correcting the point definition information, and to reduce the cost required for the engineering work.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a monitoring device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the monitoring system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a device template according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of device definition information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of point definition information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a point template according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a point template is used to perform the same definition as a device template in the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of a device template according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a device template using relative addressing in the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of device definition information according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of point definition information according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of conventional point definition information.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 ... Hume hood, 3 ... General exhaust valve, 4 ... Constant air volume valve, 5 ... Monitoring apparatus, 6 ... Terminal device, 7 ... Router, 8 ... Gateway apparatus, 9 ... Intranet, 10 ... Router, 51, 52 ... Interface device, 53... Arithmetic device, 54... Storage device, 531.

Claims (2)

In a monitoring device that collects data from monitoring points of a plurality of monitoring target devices connected via a network and manages the monitoring target device,
Device definition information in which the identifier of the monitoring target device and the address information of the monitoring target device are defined for each monitoring target device, and the identifier of the monitoring point and the address information of the monitoring point are defined for each type of monitoring target device Storage means for storing the device template
A monitoring apparatus comprising: data access means for accessing a monitoring point of the monitoring target apparatus based on the apparatus definition information and the apparatus template. In a monitoring device that collects data from monitoring points of a plurality of monitoring target devices connected via a network and manages the monitoring target device,
Device definition information that defines the identifier of the monitoring target device and the address information of the monitoring target device for each monitoring target device, device type definition information that defines the identifier of the monitoring point for each type of monitoring target device, and Storage means for storing a point template defined for each point group consisting of a collection of monitoring points related to the monitoring point identifier and the monitoring point address information;
A monitoring apparatus comprising: data access means for accessing a monitoring point of the monitoring target apparatus based on the apparatus definition information, the apparatus type definition information, and the point template.

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