JP2001069257A - Method for detecting abnormality of communication line - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the reliability of an online monitoring system by detecting an abnormality at an early stage when the abnormality takes place in the communication line of the online monitoring system. SOLUTION: In an online monitoring system where monitoring object devices 2 such as a boiler and water treatment equipment are connected to a controller 4 for a modem through 1st communication lines 3, a modem 6 is connected to the controller 4 and an integrated managing device 8 is connected to the modem 6 through a 2nd communication line 7, the controller 4 detects the abnormality of either or both of the lines 3 and 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for detecting an abnormality in a communication line in an online monitoring system for a boiler, a water treatment device, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A system for online monitoring of equipment to be monitored such as a boiler and a water treatment apparatus has been implemented.
This online monitoring system has a configuration in which the monitoring target device provided at the facility site is connected to a comprehensive management device provided at a management base via a modem controller and a modem via a communication line. . The management base can always grasp the latest operation status of the monitored device based on the operating information sent from the monitored device. Further, when an abnormality occurs in the monitored device, the information is sent to the general management device, and at the management base, an instruction to the facility site regarding abnormality countermeasures, a secondment of a maintenance staff to the facility site, etc. Can immediately take appropriate action.

[0003] In the online monitoring system, it is important to surely send the operation information of the monitored device to the comprehensive management device. For that purpose, it is necessary that the communication line is functioning normally. However, when an abnormality such as a disconnection occurs in the communication line, the abnormality is not immediately detected, and when an abnormality occurs in the monitored device and an attempt is made to transmit abnormality information to the general management device, When it is determined that communication is not possible, an alarm is first issued on the monitored device side.

Therefore, there is a case where a considerable time delay occurs between the occurrence of an abnormality in the communication line and the detection of the abnormality, during which time the operating condition of the monitored device cannot be grasped at the management base. become. In addition, the contents of the abnormality of the monitored device need to be communicated to the management base by a person in charge of management of the facility site, a delay in abnormal measures due to a delay in communication, and operation information of the monitored device when an abnormality occurs. Is not accurately transmitted, and problems such as taking time to respond occur.

[0005]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to detect an abnormality in a communication line of an online monitoring system at an early stage and to improve the reliability of the online monitoring system. is there.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is to connect a device to be monitored such as a boiler or a water treatment device to a first communication line. And a modem connected to the modem controller via a second communication line, and an integrated management device connected to the modem via a second communication line. An abnormality in one or both of the communication line and the second communication line is detected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a communication confirmation signal is transmitted from the modem controller to the monitored device at predetermined time intervals, and in response to the communication confirmation signal, the monitored device transmits the communication confirmation signal to the modem controller. An abnormality of the first communication line is detected depending on whether a communication response signal is returned to the first communication line.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the presence / absence of a dial tone is detected at predetermined time intervals by the modem controller via the modem, and the abnormality of the second communication line is detected based on the presence / absence of the dial tone. It is characterized by:

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a configuration in which a plurality of the monitoring target devices are installed and these monitoring target devices are connected to each other by the first communication line, signals are transmitted and received between the monitoring target devices. Is detected by the modem controller, and an abnormality of the first communication line is detected based on whether or not the signal is transmitted and received within a predetermined time.

Further, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration in which a data management device is connected to the modem controller via the first communication line, a signal between the monitored device and the data management device is provided. Is detected by the modem controller, and an abnormality of the first communication line is detected based on whether or not the signal is transmitted and received within a predetermined time.

[0011]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present invention is embodied in an on-line monitoring system for monitoring target devices such as a boiler and a water treatment device. The boiler includes a steam boiler, a hot water boiler,
There are a heat medium boiler and the like, and the water treatment device includes a water softening device, a degassing device, a filtering device, a pure water device and the like.

[0012] The online monitoring system connects the monitored device provided at the facility site to a modem controller via a first communication line, connects a modem to the modem controller, and connects a second modem to the modem. It has a configuration in which a comprehensive management device is connected via a communication line. One or more monitoring target devices are installed, and when a plurality of monitoring target devices are installed, the respective monitoring target devices are connected to each other by the first communication line. The general management device is provided at a management base remote from the site of the facility, and a public telephone line, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) or the like is used as the second communication line.

An abnormality such as a disconnection in the first communication line and the second communication line is detected by the modem controller as follows.

First, detection of an abnormality in the first communication line will be described. As one method for detecting an abnormality in the first communication line, a communication confirmation signal is transmitted from the modem controller to the monitored device at predetermined time intervals. Then, in response to the communication confirmation signal, a communication response signal is returned from the monitored device to the modem controller. Therefore, the abnormality of the first communication line is detected depending on whether or not this communication response signal is returned. That is, if the first communication line is normal, the communication response signal is returned.If the first communication line is abnormal, the communication response signal is not returned. An abnormality in the line can be detected.

As another method for detecting an abnormality in the first communication line, transmission and reception of signals between a plurality of monitoring target devices installed in a plurality of units are detected by the modem controller. That is, the transmission and reception of the signal are periodically performed between the monitored devices depending on the type of the monitored device or as necessary. Therefore, the abnormality of the first communication line is detected based on whether or not the signal is transmitted and received within a predetermined time. Therefore, the time is counted from the previous transmission / reception of the signal. If the next signal is transmitted / received within the predetermined time, it is determined that the signal is normal. If the next signal is not transmitted / received within the predetermined time, it is determined that the signal is abnormal.

Further, in a configuration in which a data management device is connected to the modem controller via the first communication line, transmission and reception of signals between the monitored device and the data management device are periodically performed. Done. Therefore, the modem controller detects whether or not the signal is transmitted / received within a predetermined time, thereby detecting an abnormality of the first communication line. That is, the time is counted from the previous transmission / reception of the signal. If the next signal is transmitted / received within the predetermined time, it is determined that the signal is normal. Here, the data management device has a function of storing operation data of the monitored device and outputting a daily report, a monthly report, and the like as necessary.

Next, detection of an abnormality in the second communication line will be described. As one method of detecting an abnormality of the second communication line, the presence / absence of a dial tone, that is, a "two" sound signal is detected by the modem controller at predetermined time intervals via the modem. . An abnormality in the second communication line is detected based on the presence or absence of the dial tone. Therefore, if there is the dial tone, it is determined that the second communication line is normal, and if there is no dial tone, it is determined that the second communication line is abnormal. In this case, the abnormality of the modem can also be confirmed.

It is preferable that the abnormality detection of the first communication line and the second communication line is performed by detecting the abnormality of both communication lines, but it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which only one of the abnormality detection is performed. . Also, a plurality of abnormality detection conditions may be set for each of the communication lines, and an abnormality may be determined when any one of the abnormality detection conditions is met.

As described above, according to the above configuration, when an abnormality such as disconnection occurs in the first communication line or the second communication line, it can be detected immediately. Therefore, when an abnormality occurs, a signal indicating a communication line abnormality is sent from the modem controller to the general management device,
At the facility site, an indication of a communication line abnormality or an alarm output is sent to the modem controller or the monitored device to notify the abnormality of the communication line, and the repair work can be performed immediately. In this way, even if an abnormality occurs in each of the communication lines, it can be detected and repaired immediately, and the monitoring of the monitoring target device can be continuously performed online with almost no interruption. The reliability of the monitoring system is significantly improved.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the schematic configuration of the online monitoring system in the first embodiment is as follows. A plurality of monitored devices 2, 2,... Are provided in the facility site 1, and each of these monitored devices 2
Are connected to each other by a first communication line 3. A boiler, a water treatment device, or the like is provided as each of the monitoring target devices 2, and in the illustrated embodiment, three monitoring target devices 2 are provided. And each said monitoring target apparatus 2 has
A modem controller 4 is connected via the first communication line 3. Furthermore, this modem controller 4
Is connected to a modem 6 via a connection line 5, and a general management device 8 is connected to the modem 6 via a second communication line 7. This comprehensive management device 8 is provided at a management base 9 remote from the facility site 1.

At the management base 9, the latest operation status of each of the monitored devices 2 can be constantly grasped based on the operating information sent from each of the monitored devices 2 to the comprehensive management device 8. It has become. Therefore, when the abnormality occurrence information is sent from each of the monitoring target devices 2, it is possible to immediately perform an appropriate response such as an instruction to the facility site regarding a countermeasure for anomaly and a secondment of the maintenance staff to the facility site. It has become. The integrated management device 8 at the management base 9 is connected to the plurality of facility sites 1 (not shown), and manages the monitoring target devices 2 at the plurality of facility sites 1.

The modem controller 4 controls the modem 6 to perform communication control. The modem controller 4 has a function of detecting an abnormality such as a disconnection in the first communication line 3 and the second communication line 7. It also has. Here, as the first communication line 3, for example, a twisted pair cable is used, while as the second communication line 7, for example, a public telephone line is used.

The procedure for detecting an abnormality in the first communication line 3 and the second communication line 7 in the online monitoring system having the above configuration will be described with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, a procedure for detecting an abnormality in the first communication line 3 will be described with reference to FIG. First, step S1
Then, a communication confirmation signal is transmitted from the modem controller 4 to each of the monitored devices 2. Each of the monitored devices 2 returns a communication response signal to the modem controller 4 in response to the communication confirmation signal. Therefore, the presence or absence of this communication response signal is determined in step S2,
If there is no communication response signal, the process proceeds to step S3.
In this step S3, the modem controller 4
The comprehensive management device 8 installed at the management base 9
To the first communication line 3 that an abnormality has occurred. The transmission of the communication confirmation signal is repeated every predetermined time, for example, every 3 to 5 seconds.

On the other hand, in each of the monitored devices 2,
It is determined whether or not the communication confirmation signal is sent at every predetermined time (not shown). That is, when the next communication confirmation signal is not sent even after the set time has elapsed from the transmission from the previous communication confirmation signal, the fact that an abnormality has occurred in the first communication line 3 is reported to each of the monitored devices 2. Is displayed. Therefore, also at the facility site 1, the manager in charge of each of the monitored devices 2 can immediately know the abnormality of the first communication line 3.

Next, the procedure for detecting an abnormality in the second communication line 7 will be described with reference to FIG. First, step S1
Then, the modem controller 4 confirms the presence or absence of a dial tone via the modem 6. Here, the dial tone is a signal of a "two" sound that is heard when a telephone receiver is picked up. If it is determined in step S2 that there is no dial tone,
The process proceeds to step S3, where the modem controller 4 displays that an abnormality has occurred in the second communication line 7. The confirmation of the presence or absence of the dial tone is repeatedly performed at predetermined time intervals, for example, at several tens of minutes. Further, the display indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the second communication line 7 can be performed by each of the monitored devices 2.

An initialization signal is transmitted from the modem controller 4 to the modem 6 periodically, for example, about every 30 minutes. Therefore, when transmitting the initialization signal, the modem 6 sends the modem controller 4
It is also possible to determine whether or not the modem 6 is abnormal by judging whether or not a response signal is returned.

Next, a second embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described. Here, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Now, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a data management device 10 is provided in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment. The data management device 10 is connected to the modem controller 4 via the first communication line 3 at the facility site 1. And
The data management device 10 is provided at predetermined time intervals, for example, three times.
A data request signal is sent to each of the monitored devices 2 every second, and a data return signal from each of the monitored devices 2 is received, and the operation data of each of the monitored devices 2 is stored. Therefore, the data management device 10 outputs a daily report and a monthly report on the operation status of each monitoring target device 2.

The procedure for detecting an abnormality in the first communication line 3 in the online monitoring system having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the second embodiment, the transmission and reception of the signal between the data management device 10 and each of the monitoring target devices 2 is detected, and the first communication is performed based on whether or not the signal is transmitted and received within a predetermined time. An abnormality of the line 3 is detected.

First, in step S1, counting of an interval from the time when the signal is transmitted / received to the time when the next signal is transmitted / received is started. And step S
At 2, it is determined whether or not the count time has exceeded a set time. This set time is set to, for example, about 10 seconds. If the count time has not exceeded the set time, the process proceeds to step S3. In this step S3, it is determined whether or not the next signal has been transmitted / received. If the signal has not been transmitted / received, the process returns to step S2, and if the signal has been transmitted / received, the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, the counting of the interval ends, and the counting time is reset. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S2 that the set time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S5, where the modem controller 4 sends an error to the general management device 8 to the first communication line 3. Report that

Here, the transmission and reception of the signal can also detect the transmission and reception of the signal between the respective monitoring target devices 2.
For example, when a plurality of water treatment devices are installed as the respective monitoring target devices 2, one of the water treatment devices detects the amount of water supply, and this water treatment device sends a signal regarding the amount of water supply to another water treatment device. May be transmitted. In this case, the transmission and reception of the signal between the respective monitoring target devices 2 is detected, and the abnormality of the first communication line 3 is detected.

On the other hand, the abnormality detection of the second communication line 7
This is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

[0034]

According to the present invention, when an abnormality such as a disconnection occurs in the first communication line or the second communication line, the abnormality can be immediately detected and repair work can be performed. Therefore, monitoring of the monitoring target device online can be continuously performed almost without interruption, and the reliability of the online monitoring system can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for detecting an abnormality of a first communication line in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an abnormality detection procedure of a second communication line in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for detecting an abnormality of a first communication line in a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Monitored equipment 3 First communication line 4 Modem controller 6 Modem 7 Second communication line 8 General management device 10 Data management device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring target device 2 such as a boiler or a water treatment device.
Is connected to the modem controller 4 via the first communication line 3, the modem 6 is connected to the modem controller 4, and the general management device 8 is connected to the modem 6 via the second communication line 7. In the online monitoring system, a method for detecting an abnormality in a communication line, wherein the modem controller 4 detects an abnormality in one or both of the first communication line 3 and the second communication line 7. 2. A communication confirmation signal is transmitted from the modem controller 4 to the monitoring target device 2 at predetermined time intervals,
2. An abnormality in the first communication line 3 is detected by determining whether a communication response signal is returned from the monitored device 2 to the modem controller 4 in response to the communication confirmation signal. The method for detecting an abnormality of a communication line according to the above. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the presence / absence of a dial tone is detected at predetermined time intervals by the modem controller via the modem, and an abnormality of the second communication line is detected based on the presence / absence of the dial tone. Claim 1
The method for detecting an abnormality of a communication line according to the above. 4. In a configuration in which a plurality of monitoring target devices 2 are installed and these monitoring target devices 2 are connected to each other by the first communication line 3, transmission and reception of signals between the monitoring target devices 2 are performed by the modem. 2. The communication line abnormality detection method according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality is detected in the first communication line 3 based on whether the signal is transmitted and received within a predetermined time by the controller 4 for use. 5. In a configuration in which a data management device 10 is connected to the modem controller 4 via the first communication line 3, the monitoring target device 2 and the data management device 1 are connected.
2. A transmission / reception of a signal between 0 and 1 is detected by the modem controller 4, and an abnormality of the first communication line 3 is detected based on whether the transmission / reception of the signal is performed within a predetermined time. The method for detecting an abnormality of a communication line according to the above.