JP2000207011A - Plant monitor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute operation confirmation of a screen program in a short time if at least one controller exists. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a database 14 managing a control number with a logical number and a table 15 which converts the logical numbers of controllers 21 to 2n and can simply perform operation confirmation on a screen program only by rewriting the table even when the number of actually available controllers is different from (smaller than) the number of controllers defined by the program.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a plant system using a distributed control system (DCS).
In particular, the present invention relates to a plant monitoring device that exchanges plant data with a controller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional plant monitoring apparatus. That is, the plant monitoring device 1
1, CRT driving means 12, memory 13 for storing a screen program, database 1 for storing TAGNO information
4, a data setting means 16, a data collection / display means 17, a data communication means 18 and the like, and are connected to a plurality of controllers 21 to 2n via a control local area network (control LAN) 3 to exchange data with each other. Send and receive.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a screen, a screen program, and TAGNO information of a plant monitoring device. That is, in the plant monitoring apparatus, the following definition is defined in the screen program in order to display or set the plant data in the controller on the monitoring screen as shown in FIG. First, according to the TAGNO definition, “designation of controller number and physical address inside the controller” of the plant data is assigned to “TAGNO” which is a logical character string as shown in FIG. This is TAGN
The O information is stored in the database 14. The absolute address on the memory of the controller is indicated by the physical number of the controller and the address in the controller. Next, a character string defined by the TAGNO definition is defined in the screen program, for example, as shown in FIG.
At this time, the screen is composed of a still picture 7 (c) and an operation picture 7 (d).
Is programmed to be displayed.

The above method is often used because it is possible for a screen creator (user) to define a character string that is easy to understand without being conscious of an actual address in the controller that is difficult to understand. However, when confirming the operation of the screen program (collecting and displaying plant data and confirming data settings, etc.), especially in the initial stage, it is not possible to use all of the controllers defined in the screen program without mounting them. Not exclusively. Therefore, the test and the confirmation are performed by the currently connected or usable controller.

FIG. 8 shows an example of TAGNO information (n shown in FIG. 6) when the number of controllers is reduced, that is, when the number of available controllers does not match the number of operating units registered in advance in the program (usually, the number of controllers decreases). An example in which only one of the controllers, for example, the controller 21 can be connected or used). With respect to an unconnected controller, the screen cannot be tested or confirmed, or the test has been partially performed while redefining the controller in the TAGNO definition in order to perform one test. Therefore, there is a problem that the time required for changing the definition (particularly, the time required to convert a physical address including a controller number into a logical address (this is called compilation)) is increased, and the test efficiency of the screen program is reduced.
In the former case (when the test is not performed), the test cannot be performed until all controllers are completed.
This means that there is a lot of “waiting time” that cannot be tested, and there is much waste. Since the test is performed after all the controllers are connected, there is no guarantee that the time required for the actual test (test time that is absolutely necessary) can be ensured. In many cases, a test must be performed.

[0006]

The above is summarized as follows. a) When the test is not performed: Wait time is wasted. It is difficult to adopt such a method in order to comply with the delivery date of the post-process (shipment). b) When performing a test It takes a long time to change the definition of TAGNO and compile it. This is because two operations of definition change and compilation are required, and the score of TAGNO is generally large (for example,
Often 10,000 or more). Further, in this time, as the number of TAGNOs increases, the number of accesses to a hard disk (HDD) or the like tends to increase, which tends to take time. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the need for a long time for changing and compiling the TAGNO definition.

[0007]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of controllers that exchange data with the plant monitoring device are managed by logical numbers. A database and a conversion table for converting the logical number of each controller into a physical number are provided. When the number of usable controllers is smaller than the number of operating units registered in advance, the physical number of the unusable controller on the conversion table is used. Is replaced with the physical number of a usable controller, thereby enabling the operation confirmation of the monitoring screen. According to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one of data collection / display from the controller and data setting for the controller can be performed to confirm the operation of the monitoring screen (the second aspect of the present invention).

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. As is clear from the figure, a logical number / physical number conversion table (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a table) 15 for the controller as shown in FIG. Figure 2
The feature is that the controller number is changed to one that stores the controller number as a logical number as shown in FIG. The physical numbers (1 to N) in FIG. 2 indicate that arbitrary numbers 1 to N can be given, and the “*” mark in FIG. 2B indicates that the numbers can be arbitrarily defined. Then, the controller 21 of FIG.
Assuming that physical numbers 1 to n as shown in FIG. 2 are given to the table 15, for example, the table 15 can be defined as shown in FIG. 3A, and the TAGNO information is the same as in FIG. For example, it can be defined as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the data collection / display operation in FIG. That is, in collecting and displaying data from the controller, the data collecting and displaying means 17 is provided with the TA in the screen program.
The GNO collection destination (address information) is extracted (referred to) from the TAGNO information database, and then the conversion table 15 is referenced (referred to) to change the controller number (logical) as address information to a physical number. Thereafter, the controller is specified by the controller number and the internal address obtained by referring to the table, and the plant data is collected via the data communication means 18 (
), And is displayed on the CRT screen 11 via the CRT driving device 12 (see).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the data setting operation in FIG. When an operator or the like sets data, the data setting means 16 obtains a TAGNO from the setting data (see), and obtains a controller number (logic) and an internal address from the TAGNO information (see). Next, a controller number (physical) is obtained with reference to the conversion table 15 (reference), requested to the data communication means 18 (reference), and transmitted to the controller (setting)
(See).

The above is the operation in the case where the number of usable controllers matches the number of operating units registered in advance in the program. Here, when the number does not match, especially when the number of controllers is small, for example, as shown in FIG. When only one of the n controllers 21 can be connected or used, the contents of the conversion table 15 are changed to those shown in FIG.
By making the change as shown in (c), the operation of the screen program can be confirmed using only the connected controller 21 in the same manner as described above. in this case,
Only the contents of the conversion table 15 are changed, for example, from FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C, and the TAGNO information and the screen program do not need to be changed. As described above, the operation confirmation of the screen program can be performed in a short time by using at least one controller, but any one or both of the data collection / display operation and the data setting operation can be performed. Of course.

[0012]

According to the present invention, since the logical / physical conversion table of the controller number is provided,
Even without changing the GNO information or the screen program, it is possible to confirm the operation of the program (monitoring screen program) without changing the contents of the above-mentioned table (no compilation work required) and without requiring a long time. Benefits are obtained. At this time, at least one controller is sufficient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a table and TAGNO information.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a specific setting example of a table and TAGNO information.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a collection / display operation in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a setting operation in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional example of a plant monitoring device.

FIG. 7: Plant monitoring screen, screen program and TA
It is explanatory drawing of GNO information.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an example of TAGNO information when the number of controllers is reduced.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Plant monitoring apparatus, 11 ... CRT, 12 ... CRT drive means, 13 ... Screen program memory, 14 ... TAG
NO information memory (database), 15: logical / physical conversion table of controller number, 16: data setting means, 17: data collection / display means, 18: data communication means, 21 to 2n: controller, 3: control LAN.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plant monitoring apparatus is provided with a database for managing each of a plurality of controllers that transmit and receive data to and from each of the controllers by using a logical number, and a conversion table for converting a logical number of each controller into a physical number. When the number of usable controllers is smaller than the number of operating units registered in advance, the physical number of the unusable controller on the conversion table is rewritten with the physical number of the usable controller, thereby confirming the operation of the monitoring screen. A plant monitoring device characterized by being enabled. 2. The plant monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of data collection / display from a controller and data setting for the controller is performed to confirm the operation of the monitoring screen.