JP2005352717A - Plant monitoring controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plant monitoring controller allowing expansion of a visual field in monitoring or operation of equipment by 'roughly connecting' relation between a display function and a control function. <P>SOLUTION: Display 19-1, 19-2 wherein each present state of all monitoring objects is monitored is performed on a process monitoring screen 18. When performing prescribed operation to the state display about each the monitoring object, display for operation of the monitoring object is performed. For example, by clicking display of 'in operation' of a pump, display for operating the pump is performed near it. Thereby, flexibility or scalability hindered by integration of both functions in a conventional 'tag' is made to be effective, and the expansion of the visual field to the wider range becomes possible in the monitoring or the operation of the equipment without impairing 'an equipment specialization property' that is a conventional advantage. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a plant monitoring control apparatus in an instrumentation control plant such as a plant for water and sewage, for example, and particularly has a control function, a monitoring function, a data collection function, and a display function, and is capable of monitoring a trend in a steady operation. The present invention relates to a plant monitoring and control apparatus.

  Conventionally, in the instrumentation field using plant monitoring and control devices, the concept of “tag” has been used as an operating method for monitoring and operating each device by an operator. For example, Patent Document 1 describes that data to be controlled is handled as a process tag and the operation state of the controller device is processed as a system tag.

  “Tag” means that, in monitoring, normal / abnormal status signals of each device (pump, valve, etc.) constituting the plant can be monitored in real time and visually. In device operation, for example, operation / stop operation in a pump, The valve is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) provided for the purpose of accurately performing an opening / closing operation or the like.

  Similarly, as a general function provided as a GUI, there is a process flow screen (also called a plant flow screen or simply a graphic screen), but the “process flow screen” only monitors the range in which plant control affects ( The purpose of the tag is to monitor and operate specific equipment (pumps, valves, etc.) that make up the plant. There is a difference between the two.

  In this way, the “tag” monitors and operates the equipment constituting the plant. For example, when considering a pump as a target, the equipment characteristics and operation method of the pump are attributes specialized for a single pump. As a result, one tag must exist for one pump.

  Considering this realization method from the viewpoint of software manufacturing, prepare a template tag for the pump, assign necessary information such as device attributes and I / O signals for input / output to it, and select the target pump. If a tag is saved with the unique name shown, a tag corresponding to a specific pump can be generated.

In addition, by considering in advance the mechanism for setting and importing extended information, even if there is a pump with characteristics that cannot be accommodated by the first template alone, it can be handled and the versatility will be higher. This is true for all tags that monitor / control plant components. Therefore, the attributes (information) unique to each device on the plant for each template that has been broadly considered for pumps, valves, sensors, etc. in advance. ), A method for generating a unique tag from a template tag is generally performed in instrumentation control. In addition, since specific device information can be transmitted and received in a batch by performing transmission in units of tags, the positioning of tags as a unit and method of plant monitoring in the instrumentation control field is extremely important.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-207532

  As described above, the position of the “tag” in the plant monitoring control apparatus in the instrumentation control field is important. If monitoring control of an instrumentation control plant that does not have the concept or mechanism of “tag” is considered, monitoring control may become extremely complicated, and errors will increase, making it an unstable element as a plant monitoring control system. .

  Thus, since the “tag” has an important meaning in the instrumentation control plant, it is fixed depending on the control content, and can be said to be extremely tightly coupled in terms of the relevance to the equipment. This is necessary in order to perform fail-safe processing using “tags” while minimizing erroneous operations / incorrect settings as much as possible when an operator actually operates each device.

  For this reason, the “tag” is a function provided by electrical equipment manufacturers, machine manufacturers, etc. that deliver plant monitoring and control devices and equipment, but the operator is satisfied with only “provided”. The question arises as to whether it is.

  In actual operation plants, there are many cases where it is necessary to change the operation method due to weather or unexpected events, but even in such a case, “the equipment is fixed (extremely mechanical). If there is a change in the operation method that could not have been predicted at the time of the initial introduction of the plant in the surrounding environment, which is constantly changing without any problems or dissatisfaction, Because there is no function that you want to exist as “tags” in the original situation, it is possible to display multiple existing “tags” on the screen and use them to operate. When you stand up, you can see the problems that traditional "tags" contain.

  In other words, the current “tag” can be said to be “the greatest common divisor of a predetermined concept in plant operation” that combines the standpoint of operation / operation of the plant and the know-how (KnowHow) of the machine manufacturer and electrical manufacturer to be provided. . For example, what kind of characteristic information is in a “pump” that is one of the devices that make up a plant, and what kind of mechanism is necessary to perform operations such as operation and stop and operation output The GUI to realize the operator interface for "pump" by the approach from the aspect of equipment characteristics, plant operators, operators, and plant monitoring and control equipment suppliers from the aspect of plant monitoring and control "Tag" is generated as a "tag" that represents a pump in a broad sense, and is merely a template representing a device called a pump in a general sense. In order to have the unique peculiarity of equipment, it is necessary to give equipment characteristic information (XX pump parameters, properties, etc.) to limit the equipment. . In other words, by giving characteristic information as a device to a general “tag” for pumps, “○ pump” is generated in units of “tags”.

  Thus, when specialized in equipment in units of “tag”, for example, when there are 100 pumps, there is one general “tag”, but it is necessary to specialize for each pump. Therefore, 100 “tags” specialized for the device are required. As already described, since “tag” has a function for performing not only monitoring but also control (operation), even if parameter values of other device attributes are the same, one tag as one device attribute The parameter value is “10” for the “No. 1 pump”, but only “15” for the “No. 2 pump”. In addition to the “tag” for the “No. 1 pump”, a new “ It is necessary to separately define and generate a “tag” for “No. 2 pump”. Even if the input / output signals of the “tag” are different, it is naturally necessary to define and generate another “tag” in the same manner.

  Here, the problems of the conventional “tag” are further surfaced. In other words, the “tag” is a GUI specific to a device and has a display function and a control function, so if either one (display function or control function) is different, monitoring control It is necessary to define it as another “tag” having almost the same function as the “tag” already existing in the system. As described above, assuming that 100 pumps exist in the system, one parameter value among the plurality of device attribute parameters constituting the “tag” is equal to the number of pumps (100 in this example). If it is different, 100 “tags” for pumps having the same control function and display function are required. This is also due to the fact that the unit for identifying the device is a “tag”, but it is also a problem that occurs because the display function and the control function are not clearly divided.

  In addition, conventionally, it has been necessary for the operator to clearly understand the correlation by displaying individual plant component devices using “tags”. In addition, in plant trend monitoring, confirmation is made on the plant monitoring screen and trend graph screen. When you try to check the detailed status of each component device, it is necessary to display multiple tags for monitoring and operation, which may cause part of the screen for trend monitoring to be hidden was there. This will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship among valves, ponds, and pumps in a general water and sewage plant monitoring and control facility. In this plant, the pump 2 is operated and the valve 3 is opened so that the pipe 1 is opened. Water begins to flow and water is stored in the pond 4. Before the water level of the pond 4 reaches the upper limit, two operations of the pump are stopped, the valve 3 is closed, and the water distribution from the pipe 1 to the pond 4 is stopped. Reference numeral 5 denotes a sensor for monitoring the water level of the pond.

  In the case of monitoring and controlling such a plant, the valve 3 is first opened to allow water to flow through the pipe 1. At this time, the state of the valve 3 is instantly changed from “fully closed” to “fully open”. However, although there is a time difference depending on the valve characteristics, the state transition takes steps such as “fully closed”, “open”, “half open”, “closed”, and “fully open”. Similarly, the pump 2 does not suddenly reach the expected rotational speed, but the speed increases while drawing a curve according to the QH characteristic, and reaches the expected rotational speed.

  In other words, the operation of each device does not directly operate at the expected value just because there is a request to “pour water into the pond to store water”, but there is a time lag due to the characteristics of each device until the expected operation. Will occur.

  This inevitably affects the fact that “water is stored in the pond”, and each component device from there until the water reaches a certain water flow rate after the water gradually starts to flow into the pond. The characteristic factor, the thickness of the pipe, and the valve / pump and pond position height difference are drawn.

  Conventionally, such trend monitoring has been confirmed on the plant monitoring screen (also called graphic screen) and trend graph screen. However, when the monitoring / operation screen of each component device is displayed, the screen for trend monitoring is displayed. The bad effect that a part is hidden arises.

  That is, in the case of monitoring and controlling such a plant, when using a conventional tag, a pump operation / stop display / operation tag, a valve open / close display / operation tag, a pond water level tag, And tags that indicate abnormalities in each component device (pump failure, pond water level exceeded upper limit, etc.) are required. When such a tag for monitoring and operating each component device is displayed, trend monitoring is required. This causes a bad effect that a part of the screen to be hidden is hidden.

For example, FIG. 6 shows a process monitoring screen 6 in the case of monitoring and controlling such a plant. In this process monitoring screen 6, two systems of a first machine system and a second machine system are displayed on the upper and lower sides, respectively. Has been. On this screen, for example, for Unit 2 system, as shown in the figure, a valve opening / closing display / operation tag 7a, a pump operation / stop display / operation tag 7b, and a tag 7c indicating the water level of the pond are displayed. This causes a problem that a part of the screen is hidden. (For the tag 7c indicating the water level of the pond, the upper limit position of the water level and the current water level state are displayed. The valve opening / closing tag / a tag 7a and the pump operation / stop indication / operation are displayed. As for the tag 7b, the upper two displays are the display of the current operating state (the valve is displayed as “open” or “closed”, and the pump is displayed as “running” or “stopped”). The lower two displays indicate operation buttons for control (valve display for operation "open" or "close", operation for pump, "run" or "stop" Display of operation buttons for the operation of
In order to solve such a conventional problem, the present invention clearly separates the display function and the control function included in the conventional “tag” and “roughly joins” the relationship between the display function and the control function. As a result, the flexibility and scalability that were hindered by the integration of both functions in the conventional “tag” can be enabled, and the “specialization of equipment” that is the conventional advantage is not impaired. Another object of the present invention is to provide a plant monitoring and control apparatus that can expand the field of view in a wider range in monitoring and operation of equipment.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plant monitoring control apparatus for monitoring and controlling monitoring objects constituting a plant, and means for displaying a plurality of monitoring objects so that their mutual relations can be understood. When a predetermined operation is performed on the display of the status of each monitored object in the vicinity of the monitored object displayed by the means and the status of the monitored object displayed by this means, In the vicinity of the display of the state of the monitored object, there is provided a means for performing display for controlling the monitored object.

  According to the present invention, it enables the flexibility and scalability that have been hindered by the integration of both functions in the conventional “tag”, and at the same time detracts from the “equipment specialization” that is the conventional advantage. In addition, the field of view can be expanded in a wider range in monitoring and operation of equipment.

  Hereinafter, one embodiment at the time of applying the plant monitoring control device concerning the present invention to monitoring control equipment of a water and sewage plant is described.

  As described above, in the case of monitoring and controlling the water and sewage plant shown in FIG. 5, when using the conventional tag, the pump operation / stop display / operation tag, the valve open / close display / operation tag, the pond And a tag indicating abnormalities in each component device (pump failure, pond water level exceeded upper limit, etc.). As described above, since it is necessary to display a plurality of tags for monitoring / operation, there is an adverse effect that a part of a screen for trend monitoring is hidden.

  In addition, since each of these component devices operates as a plant while operating alone, there is a correlation between the devices. Therefore, although it is natural to check the status of each component device, it is essential to check whether the flow of a series of plants is normal as correlation information of the device configuration, not as a single device. It can be said that it is monitoring.

  Therefore, the present embodiment enables plant monitoring and control in a more essential sense by providing a monitoring and control mechanism that takes into account the correlation between each component device in advance. This realizes the function that this embodiment intends to provide by providing a reasonable correlation between each component device in addition to monitoring and control that does not impair the characteristics of the device in the same way as a tag. It is a mechanism.

  In other words, this embodiment is particularly suitable for monitoring and control facilities of water and sewage plants in which a plant control device (PLC, etc.), a plant monitoring device (DCS, etc.) and a data collection device are connected by a control LAN and an information LAN. Monitoring function Emphasis is placed on facility monitoring and operation functions, and the display function and the control function are clearly separated, and the relation between the display function and the control function is “roughly coupled”, so that both functions of the conventional “tag” Enables the flexibility and scalability that have been hindered, and expands the field of view in equipment monitoring and operation without compromising the “specialization of equipment” that is the conventional advantage. Therefore, it is possible to quickly respond to the occurrence of an abnormality and to recognize that there is an abnormal trend in advance, thereby preventing the occurrence of an abnormality in advance. It is a plant monitoring control apparatus that is possible.

  That is, in this embodiment, instead of displaying both the current state display and the display for operation on the “tag” of the monitoring object as in the past, the display function and the control function are separated, Displays the current status of all monitored objects, and displays a display for operating the monitored object when a predetermined operation is performed on the status display of each monitored object. I am going to do that.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of the present embodiment.

  As shown in the figure, the plant monitoring control apparatus of the present embodiment includes a display unit 10, a component data unit 11, a calculation unit 12, and a function unit 13, and a LAN (control LAN and information LAN) ( (Not shown). The function unit 13 includes a display update function 14, an interface function 15, a data input function 16, and a data output function 17.

  The component data unit 11 holds display component data for each monitoring object such as a pump, a valve, a pond, and a pipe, for example, and performs a component data reading 21 on the display unit 10. The calculation unit 12 calculates data necessary for display, and performs a data reading process 22 on the display unit 10. The function unit 13 is configured to exchange data with other devices via the LAN and update the display on the display unit 10.

  There are two types of displays 10 a and 10 b in the display of the display unit 10. The display 10a is a display portion that displays the current state such as the number of rotations, opening degree, water level, and flow rate of each monitoring target pump, valve, pond, and pipe. The display 10b is a display portion that displays the current operation state (operating state, open / closed state) of each monitored object such as a pump and a valve, and when a predetermined operation is performed on the display portion, The display for operating each monitoring object is performed.

  FIG. 2 shows a display example of the process monitoring screen 18 displayed on the display unit 10 in the present embodiment. In the process monitoring screen 18, for example, two systems, a first machine system and a second machine system, are displayed above and below, respectively. In the display of each system, pumps, valves, ponds, pipes, and the like, which are monitoring objects, are displayed so as to understand their mutual relationship.

  And in each system | strain, the present conditions, such as a pump, a valve, a pond, and piping which are these monitoring objects, are displayed on the vicinity. For example, for pumps and valves, the indications of “currently operating” and “fully open” indicating the current operating state are displayed in the vicinity of the pumps and valves, and the number of revolutions, opening degree of the pumps, valves, ponds, Numerical data indicating the current state such as the water level and flow rate is also displayed in the vicinity of these monitoring objects. In this way, in each system, displays 19-1 and 19-2 that show the individual current states of all the monitoring objects are performed.

  Further, when an abnormality occurs in the monitored object, the abnormality is displayed near the monitored object. For example, when an abnormality occurs in the flow rate of the piping between the valve and the pond of No. 2 system (for example, the valve is not fully open, the pump speed is reduced, or the piping is clogged) When the flow rate drops below a predetermined amount), as shown in FIG. 3, in the display 21-2 of the process monitoring screen 20, an abnormality display 22 is displayed near the pipe between the valve and the pond.

  Then, a predetermined operation (for example, an operation of placing the cursor on the position and clicking the mouse) is performed on the display of “running” or “fully open” indicating the current operation state of the pump or the valve. In this case, a display for operating the pump or the valve is displayed in the vicinity of the display of “running” or “fully open” (for example, above the display of “running” or “fully open”).

  An example of the display for this operation is shown in FIG. 4A shows a display for operating the No. 2 pump, and FIG. 4B shows a display for operating the No. 2 valve. The display shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B has a similar layout and can be created using a template.

  In the display for the operation of the No. 2 pump in FIG. 4A, a predetermined operation (for example, an operation of placing the cursor at the position and clicking the mouse on the button display of “RUN” or “STOP”) ) Can be used to operate or stop the No. 2 pump, and the number of rotations of the pump can be determined by performing a predetermined operation on the display of the upward or downward triangle on the right side. The operation of raising and lowering can be performed.

  Further, in the display for the operation of the No. 2 valve in FIG. 4B, a predetermined operation is performed with respect to any one of the button display of “full open”, “dimension close”, “half open”, “dimension open”, and “full close”. Can be operated so that the opening of the No. 2 valve is in that state. In addition, since it is not preferable to perform a sudden change in the opening degree from the current state, the button display other than the operable button display is a thin display indicating that the operation is not possible. In addition, an operation for raising or lowering the opening of the valve can be performed by performing a predetermined operation on the display of the upward triangle or the downward triangle on the right side.

  When the operation is finished, the display for these operations is deleted.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in each system, a display that shows the individual current state of all the monitoring objects is performed, and a predetermined operation is performed on the state display for each monitoring object. In addition, display for the operation of the monitoring object is performed. Thus, in this embodiment, the emphasis is placed particularly on the monitoring / operation function of the operation monitoring function facility, and the display function and the control function are clearly separated, and the relationship between the display function and the control function is defined as “rough coupling”. Yes.

  This mechanism enables monitoring and control with an emphasis on plant trend monitoring, rather than monitoring and control operation equipment for each component device alone, so parts that depended on the plant monitoring screen and trend graph screen As a result, the complexity of operations such as screen expansion when an operator performs plant monitoring is reduced, making it easier to use, enabling quick response when an abnormality occurs, and making trend monitoring easier to see. As a result, it is possible to recognize that there is an abnormal tendency in advance, and thus it is possible to prevent the occurrence of abnormality.

  In addition, the display function and control function included in the conventional “tag” are clearly separated, and the relationship between the display function and the control function is “roughly coupled”, so that both functions can be performed in the conventional “tag”. This integration enables the hindered flexibility and scalability, and expands the field of view in the monitoring and operation of equipment without compromising the “specialization of equipment” that is the conventional advantage. It becomes possible.

  In addition, even if the mechanism in this embodiment is used, the adverse effect that a part of the above screen is hidden is not solved, but in this embodiment, it is not a monitoring / control operation by each component device alone, but a plant Since the focus is on trend monitoring, the impact of harmful effects is extremely low.

  In addition, it is possible to create “plant monitoring screen” and “trend graph screen” as trend monitoring functions conventionally used in monitoring and control devices using the mechanism of this embodiment. Since the mechanisms of the monitoring / control devices that have been used can be unified, it is possible to create not only the equipment and plant trend monitoring functions, but also the plant monitoring / control devices themselves using the mechanism of this embodiment.

The figure which shows schematic structure of one Embodiment of the plant monitoring control apparatus which concerns on this invention. The figure which shows the example of a display of the process display screen in one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the other example of a display of the process display screen in one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of the display for operation in one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of the monitoring control equipment of a general water and sewage plant. The figure which shows the example of a display of the conventional process monitoring screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Piping 2 ... Pump 3 ... Valve 4 ... Pond 5 ... Sensor 10 ... Display part 11 ... Component data part 12 ... Calculation part 13 ... Function part 14 ... Display update function 15 ... Interface function 16 ... Data input function 17 ... Data output function

Claims (1)

In a plant monitoring and control apparatus for monitoring and controlling monitoring objects constituting a plant, a means for displaying a plurality of monitoring objects so that their mutual relations can be understood, and the vicinity of the monitoring objects displayed by this means When a predetermined operation is performed on the display of the state of each monitored object and the display of the state of the monitored object displayed by this means, the display of the state of the monitored object is in the vicinity. And a plant monitoring and control apparatus, comprising: means for performing display for controlling the monitoring object.

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