WO2016107981A1

WO2016107981A1 - Method, system, computer program and computer program product for industrial automation system

Info

Publication number: WO2016107981A1
Application number: PCT/FI2015/050944
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mika Karaila
Original assignee: Valmet Automation Oy
Priority date: 2014-12-30
Filing date: 2015-12-28
Publication date: 2016-07-07
Also published as: FI20146155A

Abstract

An industrial automation system having field devices connected by at least two types of field buses to a process controller is provided. A mapping between device types of the field devices and templates for producing device-specific data on the field devices is defined. A template defines at least one connection to a field device according to a specific device type. A tag uniquely identifying a device in the industrial automation system by an identifier is obtained. The identifier comprises information indicating at least a device type and a field bus of a field device in the industrial automation system. A template matching to the device type and field bus identified by the tag is determined. The determined template is executed for obtaining device-specific data of the device.

Description

Method, System, Computer Program and Computer Program product for Industrial Automation System

FIELD

The invention relates to industrial automation systems and particularly industrial automation systems having at least two types of field buses for connecting field devices.

BACKGROUND

Maintenance of industrial plant motors, pumps, rotating machinery with gear boxes and bearings, and control valves is essential to keep the processes running at desired efficiency, avoiding costly failures and ensuring worker safety.

In an industrial automation system, field devices and sensors installed to the field devices generate data for use in process control and maintenance. Configuring a field device or a sensor to the automation system such that data from the field device or sensor may be obtained for use in the process control and maintenance is conventionally a time consuming task involving manual work. This is particularly time consuming in automation systems having many different field buses for connecting field devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a method, a system, a computer program and a computer program product for implementing the method so as to solve at least part of the above indicated disadvantages. The present invention is characterized by the features of the independent claims. Preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.

The invention is based on the idea of defining templates for obtaining device-specific data with respect to field devices in an industrial automation system.

An advantage of the invention is that device-specific data regarding a field device may be obtained by identifying the template for the field device. In this way time for configuration of the field device to the automation system may be reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following the invention will be described in greater detail by means of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 shows an example of an automation system according to an embodiment;

Figure 2 shows an example of a method for an automation system according to an embodiment; and

Figure 3 shows an example of obtaining device-specific on field devices by a mobile device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 shows an example of automation system according to an embodiment. The automation may be an industrial automation system having field devices connected by at least two types of field buses to a process controller.

The invention may be applied to condition monitoring of field devices in any process or automation system. An automation system may be an individual programmable logic device or a system for controlling the operation of the entire factory, for example. Figure 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary decentralized automation system, to which example embodiments of the invention may be applied. The central processing unit of the automation system controlling the productive activity of an entire factory, such as a paper mill, is typically a control room, which is composed of one or more control room computers 1 , for example. The automation system may comprise a process bus/network 3 and/or a control room bus/network 2, by which different process control components or computers are coupled to one another. The control room bus/network 2 may interconnect the user interface components of the automation system. The control room bus/network 2 may be a local area network, for example, based on the standard Ethernet technology. The process bus/network 3 may, in turn, interconnect the process control components. The process bus/network 3 may be based on a deterministic token passing protocol, for instance. Process controllers may also be connected to the control room network 3, allowing the communication between the process controllers and the user interfaces. The process network 3 may also be connected with one or more interface units 4 or I/O (input/output) units, to which control buses 5, generally referred to as field buses, are connected. Field buses connect individual field devices 6-1 , 6-2, ... 6-N, such as actuators, valves, pumps and sensors, in the field to the control room computers 1 . Examples of field bus types include Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus and HART. One example of such a decentralized automation system is MetsoDNA (DNA, Dynamic Network of Applications) delivered by Metso Automation Inc. It must be appreciated, however, that Figure 1 only illustrates one example of an automation system and it is not the intention to limit the application area of the invention to any specific implementation of an automation system.

A field device may be, for example, a control valve provided with an intelligent valve controller. The operation of an intelligent valve controller may be based on a microcontroller, such as a microprocessor (μΡ), which controls the position of the valve on the basis of control information obtained from the field bus. The valve controller is preferably provided with valve position measurement, in addition to which it is possible to measure many other variables, such as supply pressure (p_s) for pressurized air, pressure difference (Apactuator) over actuator piston or temperature, which may be necessary in the self-diagnostics of the valve or which the valve controller transmits as such or as processed diagnostic information to the control room computer, process controller, condition monitoring computer or a similar higher-level unit of the automation system via a field bus. An example of such an intelligent valve controller is Neles ND9000 manufactured by Metso Automation Inc.

The automation system according to the example embodiment of Figure 1 is also connected with a condition monitoring computer 9 monitoring the condition of field devices. The condition monitoring computer 9 may be a part of the automation system, in which case it preferably communicates with the field devices via the process bus and the field buses. Although the condition monitoring computer 9 is shown as a separate device in Figure 1 , it may also be a part of the control room computer or software of the automation system or of some other station or software of the automation system. The condition monitoring computer 9 may also be separate from the automation system, in which case it may be connected to the field buses via its own interface unit 10 (such as a HART multiplexer for HART field devices or an ISA or PCI card or an ISA or PCI gateway for PROFIBUS field devices), the I/O port/ports 11 of which is/are connected (broken lines 11 represent interface buses) to the field bus/buses 5 and the other side of which is connected via a suitable data bus to the condition monitoring computer 9. The condition monitoring computer 9 collects diagnostics information and status information provided by the field devices and warns the user of potential problems before they harm the process. Each field device provides the information on its status itself and the condition monitoring computer reads this information from the field device via a field bus. An example of this type of monitoring computer or software is FieldCare™ software delivered by Metso Automation Inc.

Diagnostics and measurement information obtained from the field devices may be stored in suitable databases, such as a process database 7 and a condition monitoring database 8. The process database 7 may, for instance, store process measurements on the valve environment performed by the automation system, such as pressure difference over valve (Ap_vaive) and control to valve (i_vai) or valve position (h_vai). If the pressure difference over the valve is not known, the pressure of the inlet pipes is in most cases sufficient for determining the process state. The condition monitoring database 8 may store, for instance, measurements and diagnostics information the changes of which are observed in order to find out the condition of the valve, such as load factor (LF), deviation (ΔΕ), counters ratio (CR) of reversals to momentum of the valve. The load factor LF describes the required torque with respect to available torque. For example, the load factor value 62% means that 62% of the maximum torque of the actuator are needed for opening the valve. A high load factor indicates a high friction or an undersized actuator. In other words, the load factor of 100% indicates that the actual load may exceed the available torque. In an embodiment of the invention, the load factor LF of the actuator is determined as a variable Dp_actuator/ps, i.e. by dividing the propelling pressure difference of the combination of actuator and valve (pressure difference Dpactuator over actuator piston) by the supply pressure ps. A deviation means a difference or error between the setpoint value and the actual position of the valve. Other examples of feasible performance variables include equilibrium deviation, standard deviation of equilibrium deviation, dynamic state deviation, friction, equilibrium friction, starting load, position of a positioner or a slide valve of a valve controller, standard deviation of slide valve position, number of reversals, ratio of reversals to momentum.

The control room bus/network 2 may be connected to one or more servers, hosts and/or devices in external networks 13, for example the Internet and mobile communications networks via a firewall 12. Connections to the external networks may be Virtual Private Network Connections (VPN) to provide security.

Figure 2 shows an example of a method for an automation system according to an embodiment. The method may be performed in the automation system of Figure 1 . The method may start 202, when the automation system is operation and deployed such that the field devices generate data. The data may be stored in the field devices, in a process database and/or in a condition monitoring database.

The method comprises defining 204 a mapping between device types of the field devices and templates for producing device-specific data on the field devices. The mapping may be defined to properties of the template or the mapping may be maintained separately from the templates. A template may define at least one connection to a field device according to a specific device type. The template may be implemented using computer program code, for example an Extensible Markup Language (XML), scripting languages, snippets and/or other suitable computer program codes.

In an embodiment, a definition of a connection in the template comprises a definition of a communication path to a resource comprising device-specific data. The template may include a plurality of definitions of communication paths to obtain device-specific data from a plurality of sources of device-specific data. The resources comprising device specific data may be databases, field devices or computers.

The template may comprise one or more of a communication path, instructions for algorithm selection and data fusion, action instructions. The communication path may comprise a server name and/or an Internet Protocol address of a server, the latter of which may be used for example separated indirect configuration. The instructions for algorithm selection and data fusion may include instructions on how to process the device-specific data obtained by the template. The processing may be varied for various device types and purposes of use. In one example the instructions are used in condition monitoring of the field devices. The action instructions may cause the device- specific data of the field device to be processed for determining a service operation to be performed and/or scheduling one or more service operations to the field device.

In one example, a definition of a connection comprises computer program code that, when executed, generates an address of a resource comprising device specific data. An example computer program code, e.g. a snippet, may be as follows:

Map valuesMap = HashMapQ;

valuesMap.put("node", "AP01 "); // Process controller node that is connected to fieldbus;

valuesMap. putfdevice", "25HV-100"); // Device unique identifier; String templateString = "${node}:${device}";

StrSubstitutor sub = new StrSubstitutor(valuesMap);

String resolved Address = sub.replace(templateString). A plurality of templates may be defined for various kinds of device types. Preferably, there may be a template to substantially all device types of the automation system. The field devices may be connected by different field bus types. Format of data from a field device may be determined by the type of the field bus that connects the field device to the automation system. Therefore, the template may be specified by the device type as well as the field bus type. The type of the field bus may be for example Hart or Profibus.

The mapping between device types and templates may be generated in initial deployment of the automation system and/or field devices. When a field device is deployed to the automation system, the templates that are currently installed to the automation system may be checked to find a matching template for the field device. If a matching field device is found there may be no need to update, for example to create a new template, the templates for the device types. If no matching template is found, it may be determined that the type of the field device is new in the automation system. Then, a new template may be generated for the new device type.

A tag may be obtained 206. The tag may uniquely identify a device in the automation system. The tag may include an identifier comprising information indicating at least a device type and a field bus of a field device in the automation system. The tag may be referred to as Field Device tag (FD- tag).

The tag may be obtained by a device capable of receiving a data storage medium, where the tag is stored into. Examples of suitable data storage media comprise a memory, an optical code or a near field communications (NFC) tag. The memory may be capable of storing the FD-tag in a digital format that may be read by a computer. The NFC tag refers here to a device including NFC communications circuitry that may be implemented in a sticker for example.

In an embodiment the FD-tag may be a logical name of the device. The logical name may follow a name-based communications protocol. In one example the logical name may be a HART device identifier or a Profibus device identifier. In addition to the logical name, the FD-tag may comprise metadata including but not limited to one or more of a field bus type, a model of the field device, a type of the field device and a serial number of the field device.

In an embodiment the FD-tag may be obtained by reading a data storage, for example a near field communications NFC tag, a memory, or an optical code such as a QR-code, attached to the device. The NFC tag may be read by a mobile device comprising an NFC reader.

The optical code may be a one-dimensional bar code or a two- dimensional bar code such as a QR-code. The optical code may encode the FD-tag for readable by an optical code reader. A mobile device comprising a digital camera and an application for reading optical codes may be used as an optical code reader. The optical code may be visible on a display or a printable surface, for example paper or a device identification plate of a field device.

The memory may be read over a connection to the memory. The memory may be connected over a wireless or wired connection. The memory may store a profile file that includes one or more attributes. The attributes may define corresponding services and characteristics of the services. The profile file or one or more of the attributes may be transferred over the connection to a reader device. The reader device may be a mobile device comprising wireless or wired data communications means for communicating directly or indirectly with the memory. The memory may be included in a field device, whereby data read from the memory may be transferred from the field device to the reader device. The field device may be triggered to transmitted data from the memory by a request for the data received from the reader device.

In one example the field device and the reader device may communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy technology, whereby the profile file may be read by using operations and framework defined by a Generic Profile Architecture (GATT) that is used in the Bluetooth LE technology. In one example an FD-tag for a valve in the automation system may be FV100 that is a name-based device identifier that may be used in HART or Profibus for example.

After the FD-tag is obtained, the field device may be identified in the automation system. Data specific to the field device may be stored to one or more databases in the automation system and/or in the field device. The device-specific data may comprise measurements and data described above in the condition monitoring database and the process database.

A template matching to the device type and field bus identified by the FD-tag may be determined 208. The identified device type may be used to determine a template that matches to the device type and field bus.

In an embodiment, the template corresponding to the device may be determined on the basis of one or more of a position of the device in the industrial automation system, model of the device and/or a serial number of the device. The position of the device, model of the device and serial number may be determined on the basis of the FD-tag. In one example, information of at least one of the position, model and serial number may be derived from the metadata of the FD-tag.

In an embodiment information indicating the device type and field bus may be derived from the FD-tag. In one example, the FD-tag e.g. FV100 as above, may be parsed such that the one or more first characters of the FD- tag identify the device type, and following characters identify the position of the device in the automation system.

The determined template may be executed 210 for obtaining device-specific data of the device.

In an embodiment, the template may comprise device type specific instructions on selecting an algorithm for device-specific data, and execution of the template comprises executing the device type specific instructions for obtaining device-specific data of the device. The algorithm may be used to process the device-specific data, for example.

In an embodiment the template may comprise device type specific instructions on combining device-specific data from a plurality of devices in the industrial automation system, and execution of the template comprises executing the device type specific instructions for obtaining device-specific data of the device. In an embodiment the template may comprise a link to at least one web-shop. The link may a dynamical link or a static link. The dynamic link may be defined by device type specific instructions and/or on the basis of device- specific data of the field device.

The link to the web-shop may be a Hyper-Text-Transfer-protocol

(HTPP) link, whose execution may cause a query to the web-shop. The query may be for one or more products for the field device. The products may be spare parts, for example.

The method ends 212, after the template has been executed.

Figure 3 shows an example of obtaining device-specific data on field devices by a mobile device. The device-specific data may be obtained to a mobile device in an automation system such that steps of the method in Figure 2 are executed. Some of the steps may be executed in the mobile device and some of the steps may be executed by a computer connected to the automation system.

Now referring to both Figures 2 and 3, the mobile device 300 may obtain 206 a FD-tag 302 from a field device 306. The FD-tag may be read from an optical code, NFC tag or a memory as described earlier with Figure 2. The optical code may be a QR-code, for example. The mobile device may be connected 304 to an automation system 308. The automation system may be the automation system of Figure 1 . The connection to the automation system is preferably a secure connection. The security may be provided by authentication of the user to the automation system. In one example the connection to the automation system is a Virtual Private Network connection.

The mobile device may send the FD-tag to the automation system that may define 204 a mapping between device types of the field devices and templates. The automation system may determine 208 a template matching to the field device identified by the FD-tag. The determined template may be executed 210 in the automation system. Execution of the template causes device-specific data of the field device identified by the FD-tag to be received. The device-specific data may be received over the one or more connections defined in the template. The device-specific data may be processed in the automation system according to the instructions defined in the template. The data processing may generate one or more graphs for condition monitoring of the field device and/or action instructions, for example. The processed device- specific data may be sent to the mobile device 300. In an embodiment the mobile device is provided device-specific information of the field device identified by the FD-tag from an external data source 310 to the automation system. The external data source may be a web- shop, for example. A web-shop allows purchasing goods over the Internet 312. The web-shop may be implemented by a computer in the Internet that has one or more lists of goods for sale on web pages. The goods may be field devices or spare parts for the field devices. The web-shop may take orders from the mobile device for one or more of the goods and receive payment of the ordered goods. A query may be generated to the web-shop on the basis of the FD-tag. The query may be formatted as a Hyper-Text-Transfer-Protocol link to the web-shop. Execution of the query may cause obtaining a list of items specific to the field device that may be purchased from the web-shop. The query to the web-shop may be generated on the basis of the template. In an example, the query may comprise names in the address-space of the OPC Unified Architecture. The OPC UA is an industrial M2M communication protocol for interoperability developed by the OPC Foundation. The names may be obtained by reading data directly from the field-device on the basis of information, e.g. FD-tag, obtained from diagnostic sensors installed to the field device.

The query may be executed by the automation system, whereby the results of the query received from the web-shop may be sent to the mobile device as device-specific data over the connection 304 between the automation system and the mobile device. Accordingly, the automation system may be connected to the web-shop over the Internet 312. On the other hand the link may be sent to the mobile device as device-specific data from the automation system, and the query may be executed in the mobile device. The execution of the query in the mobile device may be controlled by the user of the mobile device. In this way the query is executed over a connection 314 between the web-shop and the mobile device, which may be connected by the Internet.

In an embodiment the template matching to the FD-tag may include one or more links to web-shops. Then, a query to a web-shop may be generated to the web-shop identified in the template. The FD-tag may be used as a key to a table, storing data for generating the query on the basis of the FD-tag. Alternatively or additionally to the FD-tag, also a vendor identifier, a device identifier and a serial number may be used as keys to the table. The vendor identifier, device identifier and serial number may be obtained for a HART device from a diagnostic sensor installed to a field device in a runtime system.

The connections between devices in various embodiments may be wired or wireless. Preferably connections to and/or from the mobile device are wireless such that the user of the mobile device may move while carrying the mobile device. Wired connections may be data transfer connections over Internet Protocol connections.

The wireless connection may be data transfer connections over a local area network connection or a cellular network connection. The local area network connection may be implemented according to a wireless communications technology defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of standards. The cellular connection may be implemented according to a wireless communications technology defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, for a data transfer connection in a mobile communications network.

In an embodiment, at least one processor, a memory and a computer program code form an embodiment of processing means for carrying out an embodiment. Embodiments may be implemented in a cloud computing service, a computer and/or a mobile device. A mobile device in various embodiments described herein may be a mobile phone, smart phone or equivalent.

In various embodiments, the processor may be a computer processor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or any other hardware component that has been programmed in such a way to carry out one or more functions of an embodiment.

In various embodiments the memory may include volatile and/or non- volatile memory and typically stores content, data, or the like. For example, the memory may store computer program code such as software applications or operating systems, information, data, content, templates or the like for the processor to perform steps associated with operation of the apparatus in accordance with embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, the memory may be, for example, random access memory (RAM), a hard drive, or other fixed data memory or storage device. Further, the memory, or part of it, may be removable memory detachably connected to the control unit. The optical code may be visible on a display, paper, sticker or any surface capable of being printed on.

According to an embodiment there is provided a computer program embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program comprising program to execute an embodiment.

Embodiments as described may also be carried out in the form of a computer process defined by a computer program. The computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and it may be stored in some sort of carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program. For example, the computer program may be stored on a computer program distribution medium readable by a computer or a processor. The computer program medium may be, for example but not limited to, a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package, for example.

In an embodiment there is provided a computer program product for a computer, comprising program code means, for example software code portions, for performing one or more functions or steps of an embodiment.

It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as the technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1 . A method for an industrial automation system having field devices connected by at least two types of field buses to a process controller, the method comprising:

defining a mapping between device types of the field devices and templates for producing device-specific data on the field devices, a template defining at least one connection to a field device according to a specific device type;

obtaining a tag uniquely identifying a device in the industrial automation system by an identifier comprising information indicating at least a device type and a field bus of a field device in the industrial automation system;

determining a template matching to the device type and field bus identified by the tag; and

executing the determined template for obtaining device-specific data of the device.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier of the device is according to a name-based communications protocol, the method comprising:

identifying the device type of the device on the basis of the device identifier.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein information indicating the device type and field bus is derived from the identifier of the device.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a template corresponding to the device is determined on the basis of one or more of a position of the device in the industrial automation system, model of the device and/or a serial number of the device.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the tag is obtained by reading a data storage, for example a near field communications NFC tag, or an optical code such as a QR-code, attached to the device.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the template further comprises device type specific instructions on selecting an algorithm for device-specific data, and the device type specific instructions on selecting an algorithm are executed for obtaining device-specific data of the device.

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the template further comprises device type specific instructions on combining device-specific data from a plurality of devices in the industrial automation system, and the device type specific instructions on combining device-specific data are executed for obtaining device-specific data of the device.

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the template further comprises a link to at least one web-shop.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein device-specific information of the device is obtained from a data source that is external to the industrial automation system.

10. A system for implementing steps of any one of method claims 1 to 9.

11 . A computer program comprising program code for performing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 when said program is run on a computer.

12. A computer program product comprising program code means stored on a computer readable medium for performing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 when said program product is run on a computer.