JP2000181694A - Method and device for retrieving control program design example - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a design example retrieval system which accurately and also simply retrieves a control examples in which time sequential changes of a control operation by a control program are similar. SOLUTION: This control program design example retrieving device 2 consists of a means 5 which inputs the time sequential changes of physical value about a control object as a time chart showing the change of the physical value along the time base, a simulation device 7 which operates the time sequential changes of the physical value about the control object from a control program extracted from a database 1, a device 8 which prepares a time chart from simulation results, a means 4 which decides the similarity of both time charts and a device 3 which outputs the control program to be an object when similarity is high as control program design example data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a design of a control program for controlling physical attributes of a mechanical device such as a position and a speed of a target object. And a method and apparatus for searching.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a new design is made, it is often the case that the design is made with reference to similar cases designed in the past. The same is performed in the design of the control program. Therefore, there is a method for improving design efficiency by using a database in which past design cases are accumulated.

[0003] The most common method for searching a database is a method called a keyword search, and this method is also the mainstream for searching for conventional design cases. In the keyword search, character information of search target data is compared with a search key to search for matching or similar data. To improve search accuracy in keyword searches,
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-219989, there is a method of searching for an appropriate case by combining a plurality of keyword items.

On the other hand, in the case of a database of non-character information such as an image that does not include character information, such as a product design, a search is performed based on the similarity of images using, for example, images themselves as search keys instead of keywords. Will be
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-17982, there is a method in which accuracy is improved by combining a search using an image in which a feature of a shape is patterned and a keyword search using an attribute value of an object.

[0005] Further, there is a method in which a database designer sets in advance keywords representing the characteristics of a case, tags the case, and performs a keyword search for the tag to search for the case. In this case, by searching for tags instead of cases themselves, it is possible to create a database of character information and image information in the same framework, even if the cases themselves do not explicitly include information that is a search key. Applicable. On the other hand, because the database designer interprets the selection of the keyword to be used as a tag, if the keyword selection criteria do not match between the designer and the searcher, the search intended by the searcher can be performed. There is a problem that can not be correctly.

In the case of a design example of a control program, for example, in a control program for controlling a target object and realizing a target operation such as automatic operation of a production facility, character information such as the specification of the facility and the attributes of products and materials is used. And a chart containing character information called a program design drawing. Conventionally, keyword searches are predominant, in which cases in which the configuration, specifications, etc. of the devices match are regarded as reusable similar cases.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
There is a method as described in No. 4681. In this method, a program algorithm is represented using a diagram such as a data flow diagram, and a program is searched for based on the similarity of the data flow diagram. By using a data flow diagram, a search key can be set without keywordizing a function of a program.

[0008]

The method of using a keyword for searching a case of a control program design drawing has many problems as follows. Because only character information such as equipment specifications, products, and material attributes suitable for keyword search are searched, the searched control program design drawings mainly satisfy the constraints of the equipment that implements control. , The control realized there is how the device should work,
There is no guarantee that the original control purpose is met.

Further, since a plurality of control programs are designed for one device or facility in accordance with the control purpose, it is not possible to search a design drawing of the control program for the purpose of use only by the configuration and specifications of the device. Even if a keyword indicating a characteristic of the content of the control program is tagged, it is not enough to search the control program design drawing. The purpose of the control is a time-series change such as the position or shape of the control target, and the purpose of the control program is to realize the time-series change. Keywords have a limited ability to describe their temporal and spatial attributes. In particular, it cannot accurately describe a continuously changing state, such as a change in the trajectory or speed of a machine.

When a data flow diagram is used for searching a case of a control program design drawing, it is premised that a diagram of a program to be searched is characteristic for a function realized by the program. If programs that implement different functions have similar diagrams, they cannot be searched using this method. However, the design drawing of the control program is also a kind of diagram combining graphic elements. In a control program that includes a lot of descriptions of interlocks and sequence operations, the functions are determined by the signals and numerical values assigned to the structures, rather than the structures.

In order to obtain a design example of a highly reusable control program, it is necessary to be able to accurately and easily search for a design example that matches the original purpose of the control. Rather than the time and
An important issue is to be able to search for cases where the information on spatial changes match or are similar.

Incidentally, when documenting the specification of what kind of control is to be realized by a control program, it is often the case that the movement of the controlled object is represented by a time chart. This is because the use of a time chart makes it possible to easily grasp time-series changes in physical attributes such as the position, speed, and shape of the control target. For example, before designing an interlocking control program, create a time chart of the operation of interlocking devices, check the specifications, design a program from there, or explain the function of the control program It is often done to use a time chart. The present invention has been made by paying attention to the characteristics of a time chart, which can easily and intuitively express the functions of a control program.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, to enable a simple and intuitive expression of a time-series change of a physical quantity relating to a control target to be used as a search condition. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus capable of easily and accurately searching for a design example of a control program along the same.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which achieves the above object, provides a method for retrieving a desired design case from a plurality of control programs stored in a design case database. The method is characterized by inputting time-series data, and using the temporal change as a search condition, searching the plurality of control programs for design cases that match or have high similarity to the search condition.

The time-series data is input as a time chart that is represented graphically with time and one or more physical quantities as axes.

Further, a time chart representing a desired control operation is input as a search condition, while a control operation of a control program extracted from the database is simulated, and a time chart of a design example is created from the simulation result. The two time charts are compared to determine the similarity, and when it is determined that the match or the similarity is high, the target control program is output.

The comparison between the two time charts is performed by normalizing the domain of the time axis of the time chart and the value range of the physical quantity. Thereby, it is possible to search for a similar case corresponding to the search condition.

In the simulation, equipment data and a control program corresponding to the equipment data are extracted from the database, and the control program is converted into a simulation program and executed by associating the data with the equipment data and operation model of a plant model to be designed. I do.

The search apparatus for a control program design case to which the method of the present invention is applied inputs a design case database storing a plurality of control programs in control function units and a time chart representing a desired control operation as search conditions. Input means for performing, a simulation means for calculating a time-series change of a physical quantity relating to a controlled object from a control program extracted from the database, and a time chart creating means for creating a time chart from the simulation result. A similarity determining means for determining the similarity; and an output device for outputting a control program targeted when the similarity is high as design case data.

Further, the invention is characterized in that it is provided with tagging means for adding a time chart created by the time chart creating means to a control program as a search tag.

When a tagged time chart is stored in the control program stored in the database, it is possible to determine the similarity between the two time charts without the simulation.

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to accurately and easily search for a design example that matches the original purpose of control.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a design example search device according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a control program design example search system according to the first embodiment. The design case search device 2 is composed of a computer device, connects a database 1 storing past design cases including control program design drawings, and stores control program design drawings matching or similar to search conditions specified by the user in the database 1. And outputs it to the design case data output device 3.

The search device 2 generates a design case extracting device 6 for extracting a design case from the database 1, and generates a time chart showing a time-series change of a physical quantity related to a control target from data included in the design case by simulation. A control program simulation device 7, a time chart generation device 8 for converting the result of the simulation into a time chart format, a time chart input device 5 for inputting a time chart representing the contents of control intended by the user, generated from a design example A similarity determination unit 4 for determining the similarity between the time chart and the time chart input from the input device 5.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the design case database. One of the design cases 1 to n stored in the database 1 is the equipment data 10 of the target plant.
And a set 11 of a plurality of control program design drawings. The equipment data 10 is information such as specifications of equipment, products, and materials used in the plant and layout of installation.
The control program design diagram 11 is a combination of graphic elements including characters expressing a control program according to the purpose of each device.

Since a control program is designed for one device or one device composed of several devices in accordance with the control operation, the control program design diagram 11 corresponding to one device is plural. . On the other hand, the control program for realizing the desired operation is one module (1
It is difficult to search only from the equipment configuration and equipment specifications.

The design case extracting device 6 extracts, from the database 1, equipment data relating to a desired facility of one design case and a design drawing of one or a plurality of control program modules applied to the facility. The simulation device 7 simulates the operation of each control program based on the facility data and the data of the program design drawing input from the extraction device 6, and outputs a simulation result to the time chart generation device 8.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the control program simulation apparatus. The simulation device 7 is composed of a simulation model 12 of the target plant to be designed this time, equipment data 13 extracted by the extraction device 6, a linker 15 for coupling a control program design drawing 14 of one module, and a simulation engine 16 for executing a simulation. Is done. The simulation model 12 includes equipment data 17 of a plant to be designed and an operation model 18 corresponding to the data.

When using the design example search device 2, the user first inputs a time chart showing a control operation to be realized using the input means 5. FIG. 4 shows an example of an input screen in the time chart input device.

The user draws a time chart with an arbitrary accuracy using an editor provided by the input device 5. If you select New time chart creation 19 on the input screen, the axis of the time chart consisting of two axes, the time axis and the physical quantity, and the mandatory items that must be entered, the name 20 of the device to be controlled and the vertical axis An input box 21 for the name of the physical quantity to be displayed is displayed. Further, a physical quantity designated on the vertical axis, that is, a change 22 of the speed in the illustrated example, is drawn along the axis. The graph is freely drawn using an input device such as a mouse as a curve, a straight line, or a combination thereof. If necessary, an auxiliary line 23 is drawn from each point of the graph to form a numerical value input frame 24, and a specific time and physical quantity at that time are added.

In such a time chart, an arbitrary number of time charts are drawn and input for physical quantities considered to be important for the same or different controlled objects.
By expressing it as a time chart, the user can intuitively express the time-series change of the position, speed, and other physical quantities of the control target with arbitrary accuracy.

If the user can clearly define the details of the chronological change, the user draws an accurate time chart,
By specifying specific numerical values for all points that become points, it is possible to search for the optimal case. On the other hand,
Even in the very early stages of design, where only a summary of the change can be determined, drawing the summary on a time chart makes it possible to search for the most useful design example at that time.

For example, when the details of the time-series change can be defined, an auxiliary line is drawn on the time axis or the speed axis from an arbitrary point of the time chart 22 on the input screen of FIG. Is specified. Thereby, the time chart 22
In addition to the tendency of the speed change specified by the form, a program example having a high degree of similarity including specific numerical values of speed and acceleration can be searched. On the other hand, when only the outline of the change can be defined, a specific numerical value is not specified in the time chart 22, and a program that realizes a control with a similar tendency of the change even if the specific speed specification of the device is different. Make it searchable.

FIG. 5 shows a flow of processing from the input of the search condition by the user to the execution of the search. When the search condition is input as a time chart (s11), the search device 2 accesses the database 1 to access the equipment data 13 relating to the device specified by the user (the lifter 20 in the example of FIG. 4),
Then, the control program design drawing 14 of one or a plurality of modules related thereto is acquired (s12). The extracted control program design drawing 14 is connected to the simulation model 12 one module at a time (s13).

The connection with the simulation model 12 is based on the items included in the equipment data 13 extracted from the database 1 and the equipment data 17 of the simulation model 12.
Are compared to adjust the setting value in the corresponding control program, the connection relation of the referenced signal, and the like.

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the simulation model and data extracted from the database. Linker 15
Is the equipment data 17 of the simulation model 12,
The contents of the equipment data 13 extracted from the design case are compared and collated, and a correspondence 33 between the two equipment data is set. The correspondence relationship 33 is a correspondence between data names included in two pieces of equipment data mapped from item names such as “initial position” and “speed rating” and attributes of items such as “running area detection”. Is used to replace the set value or signal name appearing in.

The control program design diagram 14 applied to the extracted facility data 13 refers to the signals and set values 34 included in the facility data. The linker 15 replaces or adjusts the signals and set values on the design drawing 14 with the signals of the equipment data 17 of the simulation model 12 based on the correspondence 33, and generates a control program 35 for simulation.

For example, the signal name "L0" in the control program design drawing 14 is replaced with "N1" of the equipment data 17 of the simulation model 12 based on the correspondence 33 of the equipment data, and "E1-low speed forward" , "E1-high speed forward" are replaced with "A1-low speed forward" and "A1-high speed forward", respectively, to become the control program 35. At this time, the parameters “1000” and “8000” regarding “L0” are also replaced with the parameters “100” and “500” of “N1” based on the correspondence 33. The generated control program 35 is further coupled to the operation model 18 such as a mechanical device in a reference relation 36, and is converted into a code that can be simulated.

The control program 35 combined with the simulation model and converted into a code that can be simulated is supplied to the simulation engine 16 to execute the simulation (s14).

In the simulation, for example, calculation of speed and position based on the operation model 18 is executed by a trigger "A1-low speed forward", and data corresponding to the low-speed traveling portion 56 of the time chart 55 shown in FIG. Desired. Further, the state of the signal “N1” is calculated from the position calculation result, and when the signal “N1” is established, the time T
The trigger "A1-low speed forward" is released at the boundary, and the speed and the position are calculated by an operation model corresponding to the trigger "A1-high speed forward", and the data corresponding to the high-speed running portion 57 of the time chart 55 are obtained. Is required. In this way, the operation of the device corresponding to the operation command is simulated one after another, and the states of the signals included in the control program 35 are sequentially updated.

After the control program 35 generated for the simulation has been executed to the end, each data of the obtained simulation result is input to the time chart creating unit 8, and the time chart showing the operation of the searched control program is inputted. It is created (s15). Further, the similarity between the time chart created from the design example by simulation and the time chart input by the user as a search condition is obtained (s16).

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the processing for obtaining the similarity. If the input time chart is a graph including a specific numerical value, it is determined whether or not the time chart completely matches including the numerical value (s161). Here, if the time charts completely match (s162), the case is an attempt to realize exactly the same control, and the case is determined to be the case with the highest similarity (s163) and output.

If the input time chart does not include a specific numerical value or does not completely match the case, the axes of both time charts are normalized (s1).
64). For example, when the time axis and the physical quantity axis do not include specific numerical values in the user input, the normalization is performed so that the time width of the time chart of the user input matches the time width of the time chart obtained by the simulation. Then, the time axis and the axis of the physical quantity are enlarged or reduced at the same ratio. The similarity between the two normalized time charts is calculated, for example, from the area surrounded by a line obtained by overlapping the two time charts (s165).

FIG. 9 shows an area surrounded by a line obtained by superimposing two time charts. Solid line time chart 1
And the area S surrounded by the dotted time chart 2 is the sum of the areas S1 and S2 of the hatched portions. The area S becomes smaller as the change tendency of the time chart is more similar,
Assuming that the similarity is 1 / (1 + S), the similarity can be defined in the range of 0 to 1, with the similarity of the homologous time chart being 1.

As another search method with further relaxed conditions, there is a similarity calculation method emphasizing qualitative changes. FIG. 10 shows a processing flow of another similarity calculation. Here, the comparison is made by taking the tendency of the differential value without comparing the absolute amount of the change of the physical quantity (s21). In this case, the time chart does not need to be continuously differentiable, and it is sufficient that the time chart is divided into sufficiently small time sections and the difference between the physical quantities at the start point and the end point of the section can be calculated.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a time chart of a change in the position of the apparatus. The derivative of the time chart 47 is obtained as in the time chart 48. The obtained differential value is divided into a plurality of levels according to the range of the value (s22), and a series of indices indicating the tendency of increase or decrease is obtained from the level change (s22).
23). In FIG. 11, the differential values are represented by + high, + low, 0, -l
Divided into 5 levels of ow and -high, and "+ low⇒ + high⇒
An index series 49 indicating the tendency of increase / decrease of “+ low → 0 → + low → 0 → −low → −high → −low → 0” is obtained.

The similarity of the index series expressing the similarity of the time chart by the increase / decrease tendency is obtained by, for example, Equation 1 (s
24).

[0048]

## EQU1 ## Similarity = (Nc × Nc) / (Ns1 × Ns2) where Ns1, Ns2: lengths of series s1, s2, Nc:
This is the length of the subsequence c common to s1 and s2.

If the time chart obtained from the simulation result does not show a control program that completely matches the time chart input by the user, other control programs and control program design drawings included in other design examples are used. It is taken out in the same way and simulated, the similarity with the time chart input by the user is calculated, and the process is repeated until the control program design drawing with a higher similarity does not exist in the database 1 (s
17). As a result, the control program design drawing in which the obtained time chart with the highest similarity is obtained is transferred to the output device 3 as a search result (s18).

The search result indicates whether the search was performed based on an exact match including a specific numerical value, or whether the similarity was determined by normalization, or whether the similarity was determined based on the similarity of an index series indicating a tendency to increase or decrease. Is presented to the output device 3 together with the basis of the similarity determination, and gives a clue to know the similarity of the control program design drawing of the search result.

Alternatively, when outputting a search result example, a time chart used for comparing similarities and a time chart used as a search condition are superimposed and displayed as shown in FIG. May be intuitively grasped by the user.

As a simulation model, not a model of a plant to be designed but a general-purpose model that can be customized, and a simulation model based on the equipment configuration of a past design case is generated from equipment data of a design case. Used for simulation. According to this, even before the details of the equipment specifications of the plant to be designed this time are determined, since only the operation of the control target can be imagined and a past design example similar to that can be searched, It becomes possible to know what specifications and equipment have been realized in the past, so that past design examples can be used for drafting a concrete plan of the equipment configuration.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment, a time chart showing the operation of the control program is generated by the simulator. In the second embodiment, when a certain control program is a search target and a time chart is generated, the generated time chart is tagged with a design drawing of a corresponding control program module in a database, and the time chart is generated. Make it available.

FIG. 12 shows the configuration of a control program design case search system according to the second embodiment, in which a design case tagging means 50 is added to the system of FIG. When a time chart of the control program extracted from the database 1a is generated,
Regardless of the similarity with the input time chart used as the search key, the generated time chart is associated as a search tag with the design drawing of the corresponding control program module on the database 1a and added to the database 1a.

As the format of the tag, the time chart may be stored as a graphic as it is, or compressed image data such that the original time chart can be restored with a certain accuracy or higher, a mathematical expression for drawing the time chart, and the like. If the time chart is stored as an approximate expression or data for drawing a time chart under a predetermined rule, the data amount can be reduced.

FIG. 13 shows the structure of a design case database with tag data. In the database 1a, the control program once searched for is stored as tagged data 51 of the time chart, and the control program which has never been searched for is the untagged data 52.
Is stored as

If the tag-added control program design drawing 51 is to be searched again, instead of performing a new simulation, the time chart generated in the previous simulation is taken out from the attached tag data 51a and used. When a control program without a tag is to be searched, a simulation is executed as in the first embodiment to obtain a time chart.

According to the configuration of the second embodiment, every time the search for the control program related to various devices is repeated,
In the design examples stored in the database 1a, the ratio of control programs with tags gradually increases, and accordingly, the frequency of executing simulations decreases, so that there is an effect that search efficiency is improved.

Next, as a development of the first and second embodiments,
A configuration of the third embodiment that does not use the simulator of the control program when executing the search will be described. FIG. 14 shows the configuration of a control program design example search system according to the third embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the corresponding time chart is tagged for each module of the control program included in the design example stored in the database 1b.
That is, the control program design drawings 51 stored in the database 1a all have the tag data 51a of FIG. In this case, the time chart given as a tag may be generated from the result calculated by another simulator, or the time chart included in the design document of the control program may be taken in by a device such as a scanner.

When searching for a design example, the user must first
A time chart representing a desired control operation is input in exactly the same procedure as in the embodiment. At the time of retrieval, instead of simulating the operation of the control program of the retrieved case, the tag data extraction means 53 extracts the time chart assigned to the module of the control program, compares it with the time chart specified by the user, and Calculate the similarity.

In the configuration according to the third embodiment, tag data that can be interpreted as a time chart is added in advance to each control program design drawing of a design case on the database, so that the case search can be performed at high speed. .

As a fourth embodiment, the control simulator used at the time of searching for a case in the first embodiment is:
Used when storing design cases, and store design cases using time charts as tags. FIG. 15 shows the configuration of a control program design case search system according to the fourth embodiment.

In this embodiment, a design case data input device
When storing facility data and control program design drawings in the database 1 c from 54, a time chart is generated for each module of the control program using the simulation device 7 and the time chart generation device 8, and the time chart is generated via the tagging means 50. And adds it as a tag of each control program design drawing and registers it in the database 1c. The design case data input device 54 is means for converting data such as CAD used to create a book related to the design into a format that can be interpreted by the search device 2c and the design case database 1c.

In the configuration of this embodiment, a time chart of control is automatically given when storing a case. Therefore, similarly to the third embodiment, a design case database with a high search efficiency and a tag is provided. There is an effect that it can be automatically constructed.

[0066]

According to the present invention, the function of the control program stored as a design example, that is, the time-series change of the device operated by the control program is represented in a graph (time chart). Since the search key is used, there is an effect that an example of the control program that meets the purpose of the control to be designed can be searched with high accuracy.

Further, a desired time-series change is input in a time chart, and the similarity of the design case to the time chart generated from the control program is searched for, so that the search key of the desired case is intuitive. This has the effect of making it easy to search.

Further, a time chart expressing the chronological change is added as a search tag to a control program stored as a design example, and similarity is directly searched for from a desired input time chart, so that efficiency is improved. There is a searchable effect.

Further, according to the present invention, a control program of a design case is simulated with a desired design model to generate a time chart, and the generated time chart is tagged to the control program of the case. With this function, the present invention can be applied to the search of the conventional design case database, and has an effect that search tags can be multiplied while searching.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a control program design example search system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a design case database.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration and a processing operation of a control program simulation device.

FIG. 4 is an input screen 1 of a time chart serving as a search condition.
Explanatory drawing showing an example.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a search process of a control program design example according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a link relationship between a simulation model and design case data.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a simulation for calculating a time-series change of a physical quantity of a control program converted from design case data.

FIG. 8 is a processing flowchart of similarity calculation of a time chart.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing how to compare two time charts.

FIG. 10 is a processing flowchart of similarity calculation with relaxed conditions.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing data conversion for calculating the similarity of a time chart.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a control program design example search system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a design example stored in a database according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of a control program design example search system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram of a control program design example search system according to a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a, 1b, 1c ... design case database, 2, 2
a, 2b, 2c: design case search device, 3: design case data output device, 4: similarity determination means, 5, time chart input means, 6, 6a, 6b, 6c: design case extraction device,
7: Control program simulation device, 8: Time chart creation device, 9: Design case data, 10: Facility data, 11: Control program design drawing, 12: Simulation model, 13: Database facility data, 14: Database control program Design drawing, 15… Linker, 16… Simulation engine, 17… Plant equipment data, 18…
Operation model, 35 ... Control program for simulation,
50: Means for tagging design cases, 51, 52: Control program (design drawing), 51a: Tag data, 53: Tag data extraction device, 54: Design case data input device.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) G06F 15/403 350C (72) Inventor Takaho Kasahara 7-2-1, Omikamachi, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd. Electric Power Company・ Electrical Development Division (72) Inventor Toshiaki Niibori 5-2-1 Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Omika Plant, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Haruya Tobita 5-2-2 Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. 1 Inside Hitachi, Ltd. Omika Plant (72) Inventor Katsuhide Kitagawa 5-2-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Pref. Inside Hitachi Company, Ltd. Omika Plant F-term (reference) 5B075 ND20 ND35 NK10 NK25 PP03 PP12 PP30 PQ02 PQ14 PQ69 PQ74 PR06 QM08 5B076 DD06 5H004 GA30 GB20 KA65 KC25 KC28 KD52 KD54 KD56 MA27

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A method for searching for a desired design case from a plurality of control programs stored in a design case database, wherein a time change of a physical quantity related to a control target is input as time-series data, and the time change is searched. A search method for a control program design case, wherein a search is made for a design case that matches or has high similarity to the search condition from the plurality of control programs as a condition. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the time-series data is input as a time chart that is graphically represented with time and at least one physical quantity as axes. 3. A method for searching for a desired design example from a plurality of control programs stored in a control function unit in a design example database, wherein a time chart representing a desired control operation is inputted as a search condition. Then, the control operation of the control program extracted from the database is simulated, a time chart of a design example is created from the simulation result, the two time charts are compared to determine the similarity, and the match or similarity is high. A control program design method, comprising: outputting a target control program when it is determined that: 4. The control program design example search method according to claim 3, wherein the comparison between the two time charts is performed by normalizing and comparing a definition area of a time axis of the time chart and a value range of a physical quantity. 5. The control program according to claim 3, wherein the simulation retrieves facility data and a corresponding control program from the database and associates the facility data with a facility model and an operation model of a plant model to be designed. Search method for control program design examples that convert and execute a simulation program. 6. A control program design case search apparatus for searching a desired control case from a design case database storing a plurality of control programs in control function units, wherein a time chart representing a desired control operation is inputted as a search condition. Input means for performing, a simulation means for calculating a time-series change of a physical quantity relating to a controlled object from a control program extracted from the database, and a time chart creating means for creating a time chart from the simulation result, similarities of both time charts. A search device for a control program design case, comprising: a similarity determination means for determining similarity; and an output device for outputting a control program targeted when the similarity is high as design case data. 7. The control program design example according to claim 6, further comprising tagging means for adding a time chart created by the time chart creating means to a target control program as a search tag. Search device. 8. A control program design case retrieving apparatus for retrieving a desired control case from a design case database storing a plurality of control programs for each control function unit, wherein a time chart representing a desired control operation is inputted as a search condition. Inputting means, design case extracting means for extracting a time chart tagged for each control program of the database, and similarity determining means for determining the similarity of both time charts by the search condition and the tagging. And a control program design case search device, comprising: an output device for outputting a control program targeted when the similarity is high as design case data. 9. The control program design example search device according to claim 6, further comprising a display unit for displaying the two time charts in a contrasting or superimposed manner.