JP3448269B2 - Remote monitoring and diagnostic system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a remote monitoring / diagnosis system, in particular, to monitor the operating status of industrial equipment in real time, analyze the operating status periodically, and easily perform maintenance and inspection. In addition, the present invention relates to an improvement of a remote monitoring / diagnosis system capable of giving a warning immediately when a failure or an abnormal condition occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus for remotely monitoring industrial equipment has been proposed, for example, JP-A-64-6670.
No. 3 discloses a remote monitoring and control device for a plant. In this conventional technique, a computer installed in a central monitoring station monitors operation data such as operation and stop of various devices provided in the plant from a sequencer for controlling the plant, The operation status is displayed, the data is displayed and data is managed, and the alarm for the abnormal state of the plant is displayed.

Further, as another conventional system, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
No. 0-97966 discloses a remote maintenance system for industrial equipment and a production method using the remote maintenance system.

In this conventional apparatus, a host management system connects a plurality of factories equipped with industrial equipment such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment by communication means using the Internet, and the industrial equipment of each factory is remotely controlled by a vendor's management system. Can be managed.

[0005]

However, in these conventional remote monitoring systems, it is necessary to construct a complicated operation system for fetching operation data between the computer on the management side and the facility equipment. There is a problem that the complicated system must be individually set in accordance with each plant or semiconductor manufacturing equipment group.

Therefore, in the conventional remote monitoring system, there is a problem that it takes a lot of time and cost to construct the system, and a large amount of resources must be invested in order to change the system once constructed. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and its object is extremely versatile in that system construction, in particular, various settings can be easily performed and the changes can be easily performed. To provide a rich remote monitoring and diagnostic system.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention uses a built-in monitoring diagnostic program to
A field monitoring server that captures operation data of industrial equipment in real time and accumulates the data in a predetermined editing format, and a connection to the field monitoring server via a communication line. The accumulated operation data of the industrial equipment is specified. The remote monitoring terminal includes a remote monitoring terminal that reads out in an edited format for monitoring and diagnosing the operating status of each equipment, and the field monitoring server uses the monitoring diagnostic program based on various setting files for built-in monitoring diagnosis. The above
Incorporating operation data of industrial equipment in real time ,
At least one of the remote monitoring terminal is accessible to field monitoring server, from the field monitoring server using a field monitoring server configuration program downloaded
The various settings files over de, edit, have rows desired setting, field monitoring the edited settings file
Characterized by uploading to the server .

Further, according to the present invention, the field monitoring server or at least one remote monitoring terminal has a database of repair and maintenance information, performs a failure diagnosis from operation data of each equipment, and monitors another remote monitoring terminal or field. The server is capable of receiving the failure diagnosis result via a communication line.

Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that the field monitoring server transmits warning information to a predetermined remote monitoring terminal when a predetermined failure or abnormality occurs.

Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that the field monitoring server gives a restoration instruction to a maintenance person by using wireless communication when a predetermined failure or abnormality occurs.

Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that the field monitoring server or the remote monitoring terminal can input external information other than the operation data fetched from the equipment.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a remote monitoring / diagnosing system according to the present invention. In order to integrally control an arbitrary industrial facility device, a plurality of sequencers including a programmable controller (PLC) are used in the embodiment, and as is well known, these sequencers 10, 11, 12, 13 are used in respective industries. The operation of the equipment equipment is sequentially controlled according to a preset procedure.
The illustrated sequencer 13 is a further sequencer 14,
A network is formed with 15 to control a plurality of equipments in a centralized manner. Therefore, these sequencers 10
By taking the control information of 15 as the operation data of each equipment, the operating status of each equipment can be known. Therefore, in the embodiment, the Ethernet 2
1, each sequencer 10 to 15 constructs a LAN, and a field monitoring server 20 is connected to this LAN, and each operation data is operated as tag information for each control element of each sequencer 10 to 15. Data can be captured in real time. In the embodiment, the operation data including various detection data or history data is used for each sequencer 10 for each predetermined tag.
However, such operation data can be electrically retrieved not only from the sequencer but also from a motor-controlled inverter or other control device.

The field monitoring server 20 described above is usually installed near equipment.

The mail server 2 is connected to the Ethernet 21.
2 is connected, and the data accumulated in the field monitoring server 20 is further supplied to the wide area communication line 23 such as the Internet via the mail server 22.

The field monitoring server 20 stores the above-mentioned operation data in a predetermined edit format,
The accumulated data edited in this way is stored on the Internet 23.
Can be transmitted to any remote monitoring terminal via.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of remote monitoring terminals 30 ... 31 are connected to the Internet 23, and each of these terminals 30.
It can be provided at the facility equipment installation site or any other remote location. In the present invention, as will be described later in detail, the accumulated data of the field monitoring server 20 is read out in the above-mentioned predetermined edit format and each facility equipment is read. The operating status can be monitored.

Further, the Internet 23 can be connected to a failure diagnosis system 32 as one of remote monitoring terminals, and the failure diagnosis system 32 may be built in the other remote monitoring terminals 30, 31 or in the field. Although it may be incorporated in the monitoring server 20, by independently connecting to the Internet 23 as in the embodiment, a failure diagnosis is performed from the operation data of each equipment and a failure occurs in another remote monitoring terminal or field monitoring server. The diagnosis result can be transmitted via the communication lines 23, 21. A database of repair and maintenance information is incorporated in the failure diagnosis system 32, and this database can be updated and modified arbitrarily to provide the latest repair and maintenance information. Of course, a mail server 33 is connected to the Internet 23, and mails can be freely sent and received between the terminals.

A feature of the present invention is that the field monitoring server 20 has a setting file of a remote monitoring / diagnostic system, and all the settings of the entire remote monitoring / diagnosis are arbitrarily set by a setting program. It can be carried out.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the remote monitoring terminals 30 and 31 and the failure diagnosis system 32 can perform all the settings including the initial settings of the monitoring diagnosis without having any program necessary for the system of the present invention. it can. At least one remote monitoring terminal is the field monitoring server 20.
To download the setting file stored therein, and after making the desired setting, upload the setting result to the field monitoring server 20 to perform various settings suitable for the target industrial facility device. General settings such as access rights for remote monitoring terminals can also be completed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, an extremely versatile monitoring and diagnostic program is incorporated in the field monitoring server 20, and the general-purpose monitoring and diagnostic program is freely set by the setting program, so that individual industrial equipment devices can be installed. It is possible to build a monitoring / diagnosis system suitable for. As described above, in the present invention, all such monitoring diagnostic programs and setting programs are built in the field monitoring server 20, and the remote monitoring systems 30 and 31 and the failure diagnostic system 32 are configured by general-purpose personal computers. The remote monitoring terminal downloads the setting file of the field monitoring server 20 and performs the setting and uploading described above, whereby the entire remote monitoring / diagnosis system can be constructed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the field monitoring server 20 sends an e-mail to the wireless communication device 41 via the mail server 22 to give a necessary restoration instruction to a maintenance person having these wireless communication devices 41, for example. It is possible to give.

As described above, each remote monitoring terminal 30,
Even if 31 is located remotely from the industrial equipment, the accumulated operation data of the field monitoring server 20 can be read arbitrarily, and the operating status of each equipment can be monitored. In addition, since the field monitoring server 20 constantly monitors the equipment in real time, when a failure or an abnormality occurs, the field monitoring server 20 sends desired warning information to a predetermined remote monitoring terminal to recover and restore the abnormality. Maintenance can be performed easily. In addition, the failure diagnosis system 32 can analyze using the maintenance information database accumulated in the history system of operation data, predict the occurrence of an accident or abnormality, and perform desired preventive maintenance.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the remote monitoring terminal can be sent from an arbitrary remote place such as a maintenance center, another monitoring office, a facility site or a personal computer to which access right is granted, only by a web browser via the Internet. There is an advantage that related equipment can be monitored using a public line.

Further, when a failure or an abnormality occurs, warning information is sent to a predetermined remote monitoring terminal by e-mail as described above, or a restoration instruction is given to maintenance personnel, so that efficient operation of equipment can be ensured. it can. In addition, since the operating status of equipment is collected in real time and recorded in a predetermined edit format, daily report data, for example, information on every hour is recorded as one file per day and recorded as daily report data for several months, by making necessary settings. It is also possible to use these as the operation monitoring data of the production equipment and use them for improving the efficiency of equipment operation and adjusting the operation schedule.

Further, according to the present invention, since the operation status of the equipment is recorded as a tag for each control element, a plurality of data can be displayed by displaying each measurement data or operation data of the related equipment in time series. It is possible to understand the relationship between equipments at a glance.

Hereinafter, detailed operations such as setting of the remote monitoring / diagnosis system according to the present invention, system operation, and operation from a browser will be described.

1. Tag and Parameter Setting In the remote monitoring / diagnosis system according to the present invention,
It is necessary to perform initial setting for each tag in a setting file incorporated in the field monitoring server 20 in advance. As a result, the general-purpose monitoring / diagnostic program can be adapted to the target specific industrial facility device to construct a unique monitoring / diagnostic program. Therefore, the monitoring diagnostic program and the setting program in the present invention are both general-purpose programs and can be used for any facility equipment, and a program once adapted to a specific industrial facility equipment can also set the settings. By changing it, it becomes possible to use it for other completely different industrial equipment.

Here, the tag means each of a plurality of control elements for controlling a sequencer or the like, and in the embodiment, 800 points of tags can be designated, and various monitors and history data can be designated by these tag numbers. Collection can be done.

The outline of the parameter setting is as follows.
The field monitoring server 20 and any of the remote monitoring terminals 30 are connected via 21, and the remote monitoring terminal 30 downloads a setting file from the field monitoring server 20, and the remote monitoring terminal 30 edits and sets by a predetermined setting program. After that, this is done by uploading it again to the field monitoring server 20.

The setting items in this embodiment are as follows. 1 System setting 2 Communication setting 3 User comment setting 4 Display color setting (display color of monitor screen) 5 Tag setting 6 Daily report history setting (setting of group displayed on daily report history screen) 7 Trend history setting (history of multiple operation data) Set the group that displays the correlation on the trend history screen.) 8 User customization settings

The system settings include the user name and password of the administrator and the web browser, and also set the mail server and the mail transmission destination address when an alarm occurs.

The communication settings are settings such as PLC Ethernet communication parameters.

The user comment indicates a comment displayed in the guide field in the edit format of the field monitoring server 20, and can be arbitrarily set by the remote monitoring terminal 30.

As the display color, it is possible to arbitrarily select a display color when each tag is stationary and when an alarm is issued, and a display color when the data exceeds the upper limit value or the lower limit value.

The setting items of the tag indicating the control element are shown in the list of FIG. 2, an example of the data block in this setting item is shown in FIG. 3, and the list of the inverter data is shown in FIG. The desired tag setting is performed according to the setting item of.

The daily report history and trend history are also set in a predetermined edit format by grouping tags.

User customization settings are built-in HMI
With software, visual screen construction for each user,
Set quality control data such as maintenance information and stop factor Pareto chart.

As described above, when the settings suitable for the target industrial equipment are set and uploaded to the field monitoring server 20, the remote monitoring / diagnostic system is in an operating state and is composed of a normal personal computer. The remote monitoring terminals 30 and 31 and the failure diagnosis system 32 are incorporated into the system only by being given an access right.

2. Operation from Browser In the present invention, the operation data of the equipment is fetched from the sequencer, inverter or other control equipment in real time to the field monitoring server 20 via the Ethernet 21 or the communication line 24, and the predetermined editing is set. Data is stored in the format. Then, the remote monitoring terminals 30 and 31 connected via the communication line 23 such as the Internet arbitrarily read the accumulated data by a browser such as the Internet Explorer to monitor and diagnose the operating status of each equipment. You can

FIG. 5 shows an example of a screen of accumulated data which can be read out by operating the browser.

While displaying the accumulated data, an example in which the current value monitor is displayed in a list format according to the tag setting is shown in FIG. 6, and it is understood that the current state of the control element can be monitored in real time for each tag. .

The present value can be displayed in a graphic format or a trend format. FIG. 7 shows an example of the trend format.

In FIG. 7 (screen display reference diagram), reference numerals 1 to 6 indicated by arrows indicate the following contents. 1 Date and time of the latest tag information (upper side) 2 Date and time of the oldest tag information within 100 points (data acquisition number) 3 Date and time of the latest tag information (lower side) 4 Scale of each trend graph 5 Draw a trend graph Area 6 Current drawing position

Therefore, the remote monitoring terminals 30 and 31 can select the display format required for monitoring by these various displays.

Hereinafter, the daily report history, trend history, alarm history, and operation history can be similarly arbitrarily monitored.

In the embodiment, the daily report history displays log data collected every hour, and the trend history displays log data collected every designated cycle. Further, the alarm history can store various kinds of information when an abnormality occurs in the monitoring target, and the operation history can store various kinds of information when the ON / OFF state of the monitoring target changes.

3. Warning Information In the present invention, when a failure or abnormality occurs in the equipment to be controlled, the warning information can be transmitted to the preset mail address via the mail server. The e-mail address of not only includes the remote monitoring terminal, but also includes other set e-mail addresses.

An example of each warning information is shown in FIG.
Each item of information shows the following.

1 Mail sender of mail server setting 2 Alarm occurrence date / time (year / month / day / hour / minute / second) 3 Tag name 4 Alarm content (bit data: ON name of bit data name, word data: upper limit abnormality, lower limit) Abnormal) 5 Data when alarm is generated 6 Unit of data when alarm is generated 7 Set alarm comment

Further, the field monitoring server can use the mail server 22 to give a recovery instruction to the wireless communication device 41 such as a mobile phone carried by the maintenance staff by the above-mentioned e-mail, thereby promptly breaking down. Alternatively, the abnormality can be restored.

By making the wireless communication device 41 a mobile phone with a PHS or GPS function, the field monitoring server 20 selects a PHS or mobile phone with a GPS function at the nearest base, or knows its position, and performs optimum maintenance. It is possible to give recovery instructions to personnel.

Further, in the present invention, the field monitoring server 20 or the remote monitoring terminals 30 and 31 are not limited to the control information of the equipments fetched from the sequencer or the inverter, but may be the mechanical ones that have caused the past failure or abnormality. It is possible to input monitoring items and the like as external information to the feel monitoring server 20 from a keyboard or the like, so that information such as past failures can be efficiently accumulated.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the failure diagnosis system 32 has a database of repair / maintenance information, which causes a failure or abnormality while monitoring various histories of facility equipment obtained from the browser. It is possible to perform necessary maintenance and inspections before the operation, and to prevent the operation of facility equipment from being interrupted.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The operating status of the industrial equipment can be continuously monitored in real time by a predetermined editing format, and optimal diagnosis and restoration work can be performed.

According to the present invention, even for a large-scale facility to which complicated facility equipment is connected, a general-purpose monitoring / diagnostic program is used to arbitrarily set the monitoring / diagnostic system to provide a monitoring / diagnostic system suitable for the facility equipment group. Easy to build. The monitoring diagnostic program and the setting program are provided only in the field monitoring server, and a normal personal computer can be used for other terminals for remote monitoring, and one of these terminals uses the setting program of the field monitoring server. It becomes possible to easily perform optimum setting, and a general-purpose monitoring / diagnostic system can be used to construct a unique monitoring / diagnostic system for a group of industrial equipment devices having different fields or configurations.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a remote monitoring / diagnosing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of setting items in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a list of data blocks in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a list of inverter data in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a monitoring screen operated from a browser.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which current values are displayed in a list format on the monitoring screen shown in FIG.

7 is a diagram showing an example of a trend format in the current value monitor of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of warning information.

[Explanation of symbols]

10-15 Sequencer, 20 field monitoring server, 21 Ethernet, 23 Internet, 3
0,31 Remote monitoring terminal, 32 Failure diagnosis system.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G05B 23/00-23/02 H04Q 9/00-9/06 H04M 11/00-11/10

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A built-in monitoring diagnostic program is used.
A field monitoring server that captures the operation data of the industrial equipment in real time and stores the data in a predetermined edit format, and the accumulated operation data of the industrial equipment that is connected to the field monitoring server via a communication line. The remote monitoring terminal includes a remote monitoring terminal for monitoring and diagnosing the operating status of each facility device in a predetermined edit format.The field monitoring server is based on various built-in setting files for monitoring diagnosis,
Real-time operation data of the industrial equipment
Uptake in time, at least one remote monitoring terminal is accessible to field monitoring server, downloaded from the field monitoring server using a field monitoring server configuration program
The various settings files over de, edit, have rows desired setting, field monitoring the edited settings file
Remote monitoring / diagnosis system characterized by uploading to a server . 2. The remote monitoring / diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the field monitoring server or at least one remote monitoring terminal has a database of repair / maintenance information, and performs a failure diagnosis from operation data of each equipment. A remote monitoring / diagnosis system, wherein another remote monitoring terminal or a field monitoring server can receive the failure diagnosis result via a communication line. 3. The remote monitoring / diagnosing system according to claim 1, wherein the field monitoring server transmits warning information to a predetermined remote monitoring terminal when a predetermined failure or abnormality occurs. Remote monitoring / diagnosis system. 4. The remote monitoring / diagnosis system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the field monitoring server uses a wireless communication to issue a restoration instruction to a maintenance person when a predetermined failure or abnormality occurs. Monitoring / diagnosis system. 5. The remote monitoring / diagnosis system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the field monitoring server or the remote monitoring terminal can input external information other than operation data fetched from equipment.・ Diagnostic system.