JP2003271202A - Process controller system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a process controller system capable of transferring tracking data properly even if the size of a tracking buffer is small, without affecting executing time of a process controller even if a transfer error occurs. <P>SOLUTION: An arithmetic processing unit 15a of a process controller 11a in an on-line system divides tracking data, and writes into two partitioned tracking buffers 22a1, 22a2 alternately when the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of one of the two partitioned tracking buffers 22a1, 22a2. A tracking interface 14 transfers the tracking data written into the two partitioned tracking buffers 22a1, 22a2 to a process controller 11b in a standby system. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process controller system for transferring tracking data from an active process controller of two redundant process controllers to a standby process controller every cycle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a process controller for controlling a plant process is often configured in a duplicated manner in order to improve reliability. When two process controllers are duplexed as a duplex system, when the operating process controller becomes abnormal, it is switched to the standby process controller for operation.
It is necessary that the switched standby process controller has control data (tracking data) necessary for controlling the process.

Therefore, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-22414, between the duplicated process controllers, during normal operation, tracking is performed from the active process controller to the standby process controller every cycle. I am trying to transfer data. As a result, the control data of the process controllers of both systems are made the same.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a process controller system having two duplicated process controllers. The process controller system has an active system process controller 11a and a standby system process controller 11b, and the process controller 11a, 11b controls the operating state of the plant 12. That is, normally, the operating system process controller 11a controls the operating state of the plant 12, and when the operating system process controller 11a becomes abnormal, the standby system process controller 11b is switched to the standby system process controller 11b. Controls the operating state of the plant 12.

Each of the process controllers 11a and 11
Reference numeral b includes power supply modules 13a and 13b, tracking interfaces 14a and 14b for exchanging tracking data and duplex control information, and arithmetic processing units 15a and 15b for performing plant control arithmetic operations. The arithmetic processing units 15a and 15b are each composed of a plurality of CPU modules 16a, 16b and 16c.

Each process controller 11a, 11
Tracking interfaces 14a and 14b are connected to the track b via the tracking bus 17, and operate as a process controller 11a for the active system and a process controller 11b for the standby system, respectively.

Further, each process controller 11
a and 11b are connected to the expansion buffer modules 20a and 20b of the expansion unit 19 by I / O buses 18a and 18b, and the expansion buffer modules 20a and 20b are connected to the plant 12 via the input / output modules 21a and 21b.
And data is input and output. The expansion unit 19
Also, a power supply module 13c is provided.

In the tracking data transfer process in such a process controller system, the active process controller 11a and the standby process controller 11b are connected through the tracking bus 17,
The operating system process controller 11a collects the tracking data and transfers the tracking data to the tracking buffer of the standby system process controller 11b, and the standby system process controller 11b reads the tracking data from the tracking buffer and distributes the memory. Each of the process controllers 11a and 11b performs this process for each cycle of execution control.

[0009]

However, since the tracking amount for each fixed period is limited by the size of the tracking buffer, only tracking data of a fixed size can be transferred. Conversely, considering the case where the amount of tracking data is large, a tracking buffer commensurate with the size is required.

Further, the writing and transfer of the tracking data to the tracking buffer are controlled by the process controller 11a of the operating system, and if an error occurs during the transfer of the tracking data, the process controller 11a of the operating system performs retry processing. The processing of writing or transferring the tracking data must be performed again, which greatly affects the execution time of the operating process controller 11a.

That is, since the writing and transfer of the tracking data to the tracking buffer is processed by the arithmetic processing unit 15a of the active system process controller 11a, the burden on the arithmetic processing unit 15a of the active system process controller 11a is large. In particular, when the tracking data transfer is abnormal, control of the plant 12 may be hindered. For example, it is conceivable that the execution time of the process control is longer than the normal execution time, and that all the processes are not completed within the determined time.

An object of the present invention is to provide a process controller system which can properly transfer tracking data even if the tracking buffer size is small and does not affect the execution time of the process controller even when an error occurs in the tracking data transfer. Is to provide.

[0013]

A process controller system according to a first aspect of the present invention transfers tracking data from a process controller of an active system of two redundant process controllers to a process controller of a standby system every cycle. However, in the process controller system that makes the control data of both systems the same, the tracking data is written when the tracking data is transferred 2
A divided tracking buffer, and an arithmetic processing unit that divides the tracking data and alternately writes the divided tracking data into the two divided tracking buffers when the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of one divided two tracking buffer. And a tracking interface for transferring the tracking data written in the two-divided tracking buffer to the standby process controller.

In the process controller system according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of one tracking buffer divided into two, the processing unit of the process controller in the active system performs tracking. The data is divided and written into the divided tracking buffer alternately. Also,
The tracking interface transfers the tracking data written in the two-divided tracking buffer to the standby process controller. Since the tracking data is transferred by the tracking interface, the load on the arithmetic processing device is reduced. Further, since the tracking buffer is divided into two, the tracking data of the other tracking buffer can be transferred while the tracking data is being written in one of the tracking buffers, and the transfer efficiency of the tracking data can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the process controller system according to the first aspect of the present invention, further comprising a transmission buffer into which the tracking data of the tracking buffer divided into two is divided and written in block units. The tracking data is transferred to the process controller of the standby system in units of divided blocks, and if a transfer error of the tracking data occurs, a retry process is performed in units of the divided blocks.

In the process controller system according to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the operation of the invention of claim 1,
The tracking data of the tracking buffer divided into two is written in the transmission buffer in units of blocks. The tracking interface transfers tracking data to the standby process controller in block units written in the transmission buffer. And
When a transfer error of tracking data occurs, a retry process is performed for each divided block. Therefore,
The retry processing can be performed without affecting the execution of the process control in the arithmetic processing unit.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of tracking data transfer processing by a process controller in an operating system of a process controller system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
That is, the processing unit 15a of the operating process controller 11a and the tracking interface 14a
2 shows a tracking data transfer process between and.

The tracking interface 14a is provided with a tracking buffer 22a in which tracking data is written when the tracking data is transferred. This tracking buffer 22a is divided into two, and the divided tracking buffers 22a1,
It has two areas 22a2.

The arithmetic processing unit 15a of the process controller 11a of the operating system is provided with one tracking buffer 22a in which the tracking data to be transferred is divided into two.
If the capacity is larger than 1 or 22a2, the tracking data is divided into two and the tracking buffer 22 is divided into two.
Alternately write to a1 and 22a2. Then, the tracking interface 14a alternately transfers the tracking data written in the two-divided tracking buffers 22a1, 22a2 to the standby process controller 11b.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the arithmetic processing unit 15a of the process controller 11a of the active system determines whether or not the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of one of the two divided tracking buffers 22a1 and 22a2. The data is divided from the beginning of the data, and the tracking buffer 22a in the first half of the tracking interface 14a is divided.
The tracking data is written in 1 (S1). Then, a data transmission request is issued to the tracking interface 14a (S2).

Next, the operating system process controller 11
The arithmetic processing unit 15a of a writes the remaining divided tracking data into the tracking buffer 22a2 in the latter half of the tracking interface 14a (S3), and requests the tracking interface 14a for data transmission (S4).

On the other hand, the tracking interface 14
a starts transmitting the tracking data in the tracking buffer 22a1 to the standby process controller 11b (S5). Then, the data transmission completion signal is received from the standby system process controller 11b (S6), and the process controller 11a recognizes that the tracking data has been transmitted by the completion of the data transmission.

Similarly, for the tracking buffer 22a2, the tracking interface 14a starts transmitting the tracking data of the tracking buffer 22a2 to the standby process controller 11b (S).
7). Then, the data transmission completion signal is received from the standby system process controller 11b (S8), and the process controller 11a recognizes that the tracking data has been transmitted by the completion of the data transmission.

FIG. 2 shows an operating system process controller 1.
It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the arithmetic processing unit 15a of 1a. First, the arithmetic processing unit 15a determines whether or not there is tracking data to be transferred (S
1) If there is tracking data to be transferred, it is determined whether or not the transmission of the tracking data in the tracking buffer 22a1 is completed (S).
2). When the transmission is completed, it is judged whether or not the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a1 (S3), and when it is larger than the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a1, the tracking data is stored in the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a1. The data is divided into smaller data (S4), and the divided data is written in the tracking buffer 22a1 (S5). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3 that the data is smaller than the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a1, the process proceeds to step S5. Then, the transmission request is output to the tracking interface 14a (S6).

Similarly for the tracking buffer 22a2, it is determined whether or not there is tracking data to be transferred (S7). When the tracking data is divided in the process of step S4, there is tracking data to be transferred.

If there is tracking data to be transferred, it is judged whether or not the transmission of the tracking data in the tracking buffer 22a2 is completed (S
8) If the transmission is completed, it is determined whether or not the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a2 (S9), and if it is larger than the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a2, the tracking data is transferred to the tracking buffer. The data is divided into data smaller than the capacity of 22a2 (S10), and the divided data is written in the tracking buffer 22a2 (S11). On the other hand, if the data is smaller than the capacity of the tracking buffer 22a2 in the determination of step S9, the process proceeds to step S11.

Then, the tracking interface 1
A transmission request is output to 4a (S12), and it is determined whether the tracking data has been transmitted (S13).
If the transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step S1 to repeat the process until the transmission of the divided tracking data is completed.

FIG. 3 shows the tracking interface 1.
It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of 4a. The tracking interface 14a is activated by the transmission request from the processing device 15a shown in FIG. 2 in steps S6 and S12. When the transmission request is received from the processing device 15a, the tracking interface 14a waits for tracking data from the corresponding tracking buffers 22a1 and 22a2. It is sequentially transmitted to the process controller 11b of the system (S1), it is determined whether the transmission of the tracking data is completed (S2), and when the transmission is completed, the process controller 11a of the operating system is notified of the completion of the transmission (S3). . The arithmetic processing unit 15a and the tracking interface 14a repeatedly execute this processing until the transmission of all tracking data is completed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the processing unit 15a writes the tracking data to the tracking buffers 22a1 and 22a2 and makes a transmission request, and the tracking data is transmitted by the tracking interface. 14a, the next tracking buffer 22a is provided during the transmission of the tracking data by the tracking interface 14a to the standby process controller 11b.
It is possible to write tracking data to 2. Therefore,
The waiting time until the completion of transmission to the standby system process controller 11b can be suppressed to the minimum, and the tracking data can be properly transferred to the standby system process controller 11b.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a tracking data transfer process between an active process controller and a standby process controller of the process controller system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. That is, the process of transferring tracking data between the active tracking interface 14a and the standby tracking interface 14b is shown.

Operating system tracking interface 1
4a is provided with a transmission buffer 23, and the standby tracking interface is provided with a reception buffer 24. The transmission buffer 23 has a tracking buffer 22a divided into two when transmitting tracking data.
The tracking data from Nos. 1 and 22a2 are divided into blocks and written, and transmitted to the reception buffer 24 of the standby tracking interface 14b.

Standby system tracking interface 1
In 4b, the tracking data received by the reception buffer 24 is divided into two tracking buffers 22b1,
Save it in 22b2. Then, when a tracking data transfer abnormality occurs, the fact that the abnormal block unit data has become abnormal is transmitted to the tracking interface 14a of the operating system. The tracking interface 14a performs a retry process of retransmitting the tracking data again from the abnormal block unit.

Next, the operation will be described. In addition, here
The case where the tracking data is divided into blocks of data D1 to Dn and transmitted from the transmission buffer to the reception buffer, and an abnormality occurs during transmission and reception of the data D3 on the way will be described.

It is assumed that the active tracking interface 14a receives a transmission request for the tracking buffer 22a1 from the arithmetic processing unit 15a. Then,
The active tracking interface 14a extracts tracking data in block units from the tracking buffer 22a1 and stores the data D1 in the transmission buffer 23.
Write and send. Hereinafter, similarly, the data D2, D3 ...
To send. In this way, since the transmission buffer 23 is smaller than the tracking buffer 22a1, the data transmission is divided.

Standby tracking interface 1
In 4b, the data D1, D2, D3 ... Are received by the reception buffer 24, and the tracking buffer 22b1 of its own is received.
Save it to.

If an abnormal reception of the data D3 is detected during this reception, the tracking interface 14b notifies the active tracking interface 14a of the abnormal reception of the data D3 as an abnormal notification signal D3F. The tracking interface 14a of the operating system, which receives the abnormality notification signal D3F, transmits data again from the data D3. Then, the tracking interface 14b that has received all the data D1 to Dn notifies the working tracking interface 14a of the reception completion signal E of the tracking data from the tracking buffer 22a1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the active tracking interface 14a when an abnormality occurs in the transmission of tracking data. It is determined whether or not a reception abnormality of the data Di is received as the abnormality notification signal DiF from the standby tracking interface 14b (S1), and if the abnormality notification signal DiF is not received, the next block of the tracking data is detected. The data is written to the transmission buffer 23 (S2), and a data transmission request is made to the standby tracking interface 14b (S3). Then, it is determined whether or not the tracking data has been transmitted (S4), and if the transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step S1.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that the abnormality notification signal DiF is received, the data Di of the tracking data block i designated by the abnormality notification signal DiF is written in the transmission buffer 23 (S5), and the standby tracking is performed. The transmission request of the data Di to the interface 14b is requested (S3). Then, it is determined whether or not the tracking data has been transmitted (S4), and if the transmission has not been completed, the process returns to step S1.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the standby tracking interface 14b when an abnormality occurs in the transmission of tracking data. When the data Di is received from the standby tracking interface 14b (S1), it is determined whether the data Di is normal (s2). If it is normal, the data Di is stored in its own tracking buffers 22b1 and 22b2 (S3).

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is an abnormality, the abnormality notification signal D is sent to the working tracking interface 14a.
iF is output (S4). Then, it is determined whether or not all the tracking data have been received (S5), and when the reception is completed, the reception completion signal E is output to the tracking interface 14a of the operating system (S6).

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the tracking data is divided into blocks that can be stored in the transmission buffer 23 and transmitted. Therefore, when the reception abnormality is notified, It will be retransmitted from the beginning of the block unit. Therefore, in the case of abnormal reception, it is not necessary to transmit the tracking data from the beginning, and it is possible to transmit from the abnormal block portion.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It becomes possible to transfer tracking data of a size larger than that of the tracking buffer to the process controller of the standby system with a minimum waiting time until completion of transmission. Further, if an abnormality occurs during transfer of the tracking data, it is possible to perform retry processing at the time of abnormality without affecting the execution of the process control of the arithmetic processing unit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a tracking data transfer process performed by an operating process controller of a process controller system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the arithmetic processing unit of the operating system process controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the tracking interface according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a tracking data transfer process between an active process controller and a standby process controller of the process controller system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing contents of a tracking interface of an operating system when an abnormality occurs in transmission of tracking data according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of processing contents of a tracking interface of a standby system when an abnormality occurs in transmission of tracking data according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a process controller system having two duplicated process controllers.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Process controller, 12 ... Plant, 13 ...
Power supply module, 14 ... tracking interface, 15 ... arithmetic processing unit, 16 ... CPU module, 1
7 ... Tracking bus, 18 ... I / O bus, 19 ... Expansion unit, 20 ... Expansion buffer module, 21 ... Input / output module, 22 ... Tracking buffer, 23 ... Transmission buffer, 24 ... Reception buffer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A process controller system in which tracking data is transferred from a process controller of an operating system of two redundant process controllers to a process controller of a standby system for each cycle, and control data of both systems are made the same, When the tracking data to be transferred when the tracking data is transferred is divided into two parts, and the tracking data to be transferred is larger than the capacity of one divided tracking buffer, the tracking data is divided into two parts. And a tracking interface for transferring the tracking data written in the divided tracking buffer to the process controller of the standby system. Process controller system. 2. A transmission buffer in which tracking data of a tracking buffer divided into two is divided and written in block units is provided, and the tracking interface transfers the tracking data to a process controller of a standby system in divided block units. The process controller system according to claim 1, wherein when a tracking data transfer abnormality occurs, a retry process is performed in units of divided blocks.