JP2006059045A - Management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a management system realizing (1) reduction in an engineering time, (2) simplification of an engineering procedure, reduction of engineering error, (3) simplification of reflection of correction to an engineering station from an apparatus management device, and (4) reduction of knowledge required respectively for engineering and the like in an engineering station and engineering of the apparatus management device. <P>SOLUTION: This management system is provided with the engineering station communicating with an apparatus in a plant for constructing a control system and the apparatus management device communicating with the apparatus for performing maintenance. The management system is also provided with an integrated database storing data common between the engineering station and the apparatus management device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an engineering station that communicates with equipment existing in a plant to construct a control system, and a management system that includes equipment management equipment that communicates with equipment and performs maintenance.

  The subject of the present invention is the integration of common information between the engineering station and the equipment management apparatus.

  FIG. 2 shows a conventional management in which a device management apparatus is applied to a field bus system that controls a field device compliant with a field bus (for example, Foundation field bus: FF-H1) standard in an engineering environment of an existing distributed control system. It is a functional block diagram of a system.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes a host device having an operation monitoring function in the distributed control system, and is connected to the control bus 2. Reference numeral 3 denotes a control device connected to the control bus 2, which communicates with the host device 1 and is in charge of control of plant equipment.

  An interface card 4 has a gateway function for connecting the control device 3 and the field bus 5 of the FF-H1 standard. Reference numerals 61, 62,..., 6 n are plant devices that are connected to the fieldbus 5 and conform to the FF-H1 standard.

  7 is an engineering station, which is connected to the control bus 2 and communicates with plant equipment 61, 62,... 6n via the host device 1 and the control device 3. 8 is an equipment management device that is connected to the control bus 2 and communicates with the equipment 61, 62,. 9 is a general-purpose communication bus represented by Ethernet (registered trademark), to which a host device 1, an engineering station 7, and a device management device 8 are connected and can communicate with a host device (not shown). It is said. Hereinafter, an outline of functions of the engineering station 7 and the device management apparatus 8 will be described.

  In the engineering station 7, reference numeral 71 denotes a system construction means having various builders, and function blocks having various functions mounted on the devices 61, 62,... A function block assigned with a tag name assigned to the faceplate block mounted on is generated, and a control loop is constructed by combining these function blocks to establish a higher-level device 1, control device 3, devices 61, 62,. Download to.

  Reference numeral 72 denotes parameter management means, which determines whether the parameters set in the function blocks of each device when the control loop constructed by engineering is downloaded to the devices 61, 62,. Then, it is determined and determined whether the value is set in advance by the device vendor or the correction value set in the device management apparatus described later.

  73 is a communication path management means, which includes a device ledger in which engineering is executed and managed by tag names are arranged in a logical and spatial hierarchy, and devices capable of communicating in units of projects and plants. It has a function to grasp and display.

  Reference numeral 74 denotes an engineering database, which holds data generated as an engineering result in the engineering station 7.

  In the device management apparatus 8, reference numeral 81 denotes a field communication server, which communicates with the devices 61, 62,... 6n connected to the field bus and executes data acquisition and maintenance data download. This server may be configured to be connected to the control bus 2 as a device independent of the device management device 8.

  82 is a maintenance management means that assigns and identifies a device ID to a device that can communicate, and performs maintenance information management, maintenance inspection work, maintenance inspection result recording and reporting, and the like. In maintenance information management, device registration data managed in the device ledger is related to device registration data in the engineering station 7. The specific content of maintenance management is disclosed in detail in Non-Patent Document 1.

  Reference numeral 83 denotes parameter management means for executing parameter adjustment (display / comparison / setting of parameter values) by a remote calibration function for fieldbus-compatible equipment as maintenance inspection work. Data by this function is related to the parameter management data in the engineering station 7 described above.

  84 is an alarm management means, which is a remote equipment monitoring function which is also executed as a maintenance inspection work. With this function, the device status (normal / abnormal, parameter) is confirmed immediately when an alarm is generated, and the impact on the plant operation, countermeasures, parts replacement, information on the presence / absence of replacement devices, etc. are executed. Data by this function is related to necessary data associated with equipment replacement and re-engineering executed at the engineering station 7.

  85 is a communication path management means, which includes a device ledger in which communication-established devices to be managed are logically and spatially arranged, and grasps and displays devices that can communicate in units of projects and plants. To do.

  Reference numeral 86 denotes a device management database, which holds data generated as an engineering result in the device management apparatus 8.

  Although the engineering station 7 and the device management apparatus 8 in the distributed control system described above both communicate with fieldbus devices, they are completely separate components and require separate engineering.

  In particular, in the case of a system using a field bus, engineering using the function of the engineering station is necessary, and adjustment of the equipment using the function of the equipment management apparatus is indispensable, and both have a cooperative relationship.

The engineering collaboration procedure for equipment using conventional functions is as follows.
(1) Engineering the equipment with the function of the engineering station 7.
(2) Download the engineering result of the engineering station 7 to the device (setting various data for the device).
(3) The device management apparatus 8 reads device information via communication (registers in the database), and manually corrects it as necessary.
(4) The device is adjusted by the function of the device management apparatus 8.
(5) Necessary corrections are made to the device information and the block connected to the device by the function of the engineering station 7.

  FIG. 3 is a transition diagram showing a flow of operation through cooperation between the system construction and the device management apparatus in the fieldbus system. The equipment ordering / adjustment / installation in step S1 and the system design / offline engineering work in step S2 proceed independently and in parallel.

  In step S3, these operations are combined, and downloading to the device is executed. In step S4, device adjustment such as parameter determination is performed. Steps S3 and S4 are startup steps.

  In step S5, trial operation / actual operation of the downloaded control loop is executed, and system maintenance is executed in step S6.

  The device management apparatus is set up to acquire device data through a determined communication path and register it in the device ledger after start-up when engineering is completed. In the device maintenance period after the device adjustment in step S4, it cooperates with the engineering station to support maintenance work.

  Prior art documents related to an equipment management apparatus that performs maintenance by communicating with equipment existing in a plant include the following.

Yokogawa Technical Report Vol.45 No.3 (2001) “Integrated Equipment Management Package“ PRM ””

JP 2004-29897 A

  Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a technical disclosure of a device management package PRM (Plant Resource Manager) that performs maintenance management of devices by communicating with field devices compliant with the Foundation fieldbus standard (FF-H1) existing in a plant. .

  In Patent Literature 1, equipment management is performed using a device management apparatus that manages equipment existing in a plant, and a equipment management apparatus that manages a facility including the plant, with a wider range than the equipment management apparatus. There is a technical disclosure about the management system.

  In this management system, by associating the hierarchy of the plant managed by the equipment management device with the hierarchy of the equipment system managed by the equipment management device, the equipment management device and the equipment ledger of the equipment management device are synchronized, and the equipment management device and equipment The theme is to prevent double management of information between management devices.

  As described above, the engineering station and the device management apparatus are completely different components and require separate engineering. In addition, the database for holding the data generated by each is also different.

  For this reason, although the engineering station and the equipment management apparatus work on the same equipment, so-called double engineering, which must be engineered separately, occurs.

As a specific problem in this regard,
(1) Because of double engineering, it places an extra burden on the user.
(2) Requires knowledge of both engineering station and equipment management device.
(3) Data cannot be easily reflected on the engineering station after correction by the device management device.
It can be said that.

In order to construct a system including fieldbus devices, “device adjustment” is indispensable, and adjustment can be performed using a device management apparatus. Nevertheless, since it takes time to set up the device management device in the current management system, the device management device is set up at the final step of startup.
Specific issues in this regard include
(1) Since communication is used during engineering (device registration) of the device management apparatus, a communication path to the device must be established.
(2) Since communication is used to register a device to be managed, data acquisition takes a very long time.
It can be said that.

Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is the engineering of the engineering station and the equipment management device.
(1) Shortening of engineering time (2) Simplification of engineering procedures and reduction of engineering mistakes (3) Simplification of reflection of correction from equipment management equipment to engineering station (4) Reduction of knowledge regarding individual engineering It is to provide a realized management system.

In order to achieve such an object, the configuration of the present invention is as follows.
(1) In a management system comprising an engineering station that establishes a control system by communicating with equipment existing in a plant, and an equipment management apparatus that performs maintenance by communicating with the equipment,
A management system comprising an integrated database for storing data common to the engineering station and the device management apparatus.

(2) The integrated database acquires and holds the data generated by the engineering station and the data generated by the device management apparatus, and cross-references the held data from the engineering station and the device management apparatus. The management system according to (1), which is possible.

(3) The management system according to (1) or (2), wherein the data held in the integrated database is registration data of the device.

(4) The management system according to (1) or (2), wherein the data held in the integrated database is a parameter set in the device.

(5) The management system according to (1) or (2), wherein the data held in the integrated database is alarm data notified from the device.

(6) The management system according to (1) or (2), wherein the data held in the integrated database is maintenance data used for maintenance of the device.

(7) The device management apparatus performs setup with reference to device registration data in the integrated database at the completion of engineering of the engineering station. (7) According to any one of (1) to (6), Management system.

(8) The management system according to any one of (1) to (7), wherein the device management apparatus communicates with the device via at least one of a field communication server and an OPC server.

(9) The management system according to any one of (1) to (8), wherein the device is a device that conforms to at least one of a Foundation fieldbus standard, a PROFIBUS standard, and a HART communication standard.

(10) An interface for writing data from the engineering station to the integrated database, an interface for writing data from the data to the integrated database to the engineering station, and an interface for writing data from the device management apparatus to the integrated database The management system according to any one of (1) to (9), further comprising an interface unit that functions as at least one of interfaces for writing data from the integrated database to the device management apparatus.

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects.
(1) When engineering at the engineering station is completed, the device management apparatus can be set up (without waiting for establishment of a communication path).

(2) Since the device data generated at the engineering station can be directly reflected on the device management apparatus, engineering errors of the device management apparatus can be reduced.

(3) Since the communication is not used at the time of setting up the device management apparatus, the setup time of the device management apparatus can be greatly shortened (about 1/10).

(4) Data can be easily reflected on the engineering station after adjustment in the device management device, and errors such as forgetting re-engineering can be greatly reduced.

(5) Engineering-related work can be simplified, and time for start-up and the like can be greatly shortened and mistakes can be reduced.

(6) Complex engineering work is simplified. In other words, it is possible to easily set up without knowledge of individual engineering.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the present invention management in which a device management apparatus is applied to a field bus system that controls a field device conforming to a field bus (for example, Foundation field bus: FF-H1) standard in an engineering environment of an existing distributed control system. It is a functional block diagram of a system. The same elements as those in the conventional system described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, the characteristic part of the present invention will be described.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an integrated database, which is connected to the control bus 2 and the general-purpose communication bus 9 and communicates with the engineering station 7 and the device management apparatus 8 to store data common to both companies.

  The integrated database 100 acquires and holds data generated by the engineering station 7 and data generated by the device management apparatus 8. This retained data can be referred to from the engineering station 7 and the device management apparatus 8.

  In the integrated database 100, 101 is a device registration data holding unit that acquires and holds data such as tag names, types, vendors, revisions, and the like of devices registered in the system construction at the engineering station 7.

  By referring to this data when the engineering is completed, the device management apparatus 8 acquires the device data to be managed in an extremely short time compared to the acquisition of device data using the conventional communication path, and stores its own device ledger. This makes it possible to make a large amount of time for engineering the device management apparatus 8.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes a parameter data holding unit which holds the parameter adjustment result by the maintenance inspection work of the device management apparatus 8 in time series in addition to the parameters determined at the engineering time in the engineering station 7. By referring to this during system maintenance by the engineering station 7, reference data for parameter correction can be obtained.

  Reference numeral 103 denotes an alarm data holding means, which is an equipment state (normal / abnormal, parameter) at the time of an alarm acquired by a remote equipment monitoring function executed as a maintenance inspection work of the equipment management apparatus 8, and an influence on plant operation. Time, coping method, parts replacement, presence / absence information presenting data of replacement equipment are held in time series. This data is referred to as necessary data associated with equipment replacement and re-engineering executed at the engineering station 7.

  A maintenance data holding unit 104 holds the contents of maintenance management executed by the equipment management device 8 in time series, and is referred to as necessary data accompanying equipment replacement and re-engineering executed at the engineering station 7 together with alarm data. Is done.

  A common database 105 holds data acquired from the engineering station 7 and the device management system 8 in the integrated database 100, and has a server function for referring to the held data from the outside.

An interface unit 106 functions as at least one of the following interfaces.
(A) Interface for writing data from the engineering station 7 to the integrated database 100 (b) Interface for writing data from the integrated database 100 to the engineering station 7 (c) Writing data from the device management apparatus 8 to the integrated database 100 (D) Interface for writing data from the integrated database 100 to the device management apparatus 8

  The interface unit 106 may not be provided in the integrated database 100. You may provide in the engineering station 7, the apparatus management apparatus 8, or other places.

  According to the present invention, the device management apparatus 8 can refer to the device registration data holding means 101 in the integrated database at the time of setup, but other field buses that are not managed by the engineering station 7 by the function of the field communication server 81 as in the prior art. It is possible to acquire data by communicating with a device. Furthermore, although not shown, it is also possible to acquire data of a device that does not conform to the fieldbus standard via an OPC server having a general-purpose data collection interface.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the devices 61, 62,... 6n are shown as devices that conform to the Foundation fieldbus standard (FF-H1), but the present invention conforms to other standards (PROFIBUS, HART, etc.). The present invention can be applied universally to devices having a communication function.

  If the present invention described above is applied, common data required between related components, such as a device management apparatus that maintains a distributed control system and its control target devices, is aggregated in an integrated database. By providing an interface for accessing the database, it is possible to support cooperation between different types of components and improve the operation efficiency of the system.

It is a functional block diagram of this invention management system which applied the apparatus management apparatus to the fieldbus system. It is a functional block diagram of the conventional management system which applied the apparatus management apparatus to the fieldbus system. It is a transition diagram which shows the flow of the operation | movement by cooperation with the system construction and apparatus management apparatus in a fieldbus system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host apparatus 2 Control bus 3 Control apparatus 4 Interface card 5 Field bus 61, 62, ... 6n Equipment 7 Engineering station 71 System construction means 72 Parameter management means 73 Communication path management means 74 Engineering database 8 Equipment management apparatus 81 Field communication server 82 Maintenance management means 83 Parameter management means 84 Alarm management means 85 Communication path management means 86 Device management database 9 General-purpose communication bus 100 Integrated database 101 Device registration data holding means 102 Parameter setting data holding means 103 Alarm data holding means 104 Maintenance data holding means 105 Common database

Claims (10)

In a management system comprising an engineering station that establishes a control system by communicating with equipment existing in a plant, and an equipment management apparatus that performs maintenance by communicating with the equipment,
A management system comprising an integrated database for storing data common to the engineering station and the device management apparatus.   The integrated database acquires and holds data generated by the engineering station and data generated by the device management apparatus, and the stored data can be referred to from the engineering station and the device management apparatus. The management system according to claim 1.   The management system according to claim 1, wherein the data held in the integrated database is registration data of the device.   The management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the data held in the integrated database is a parameter set in the device.   The management system according to claim 1, wherein the data held in the integrated database is alarm data notified from the device.   The management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the data held in the integrated database is maintenance data used for maintenance of the equipment.   The management system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the device management apparatus executes setup with reference to device registration data in the integrated database at the completion of engineering of the engineering station.   The management system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the device management apparatus communicates with the device via at least one of a field communication server and an OPC server.   9. The management system according to claim 1, wherein the device is a device that conforms to at least one of a Foundation fieldbus standard, a PROFIBUS standard, and a HART communication standard. An interface for writing data from the engineering station to the integrated database, an interface for writing data from the data to the integrated database to the engineering station, an interface for writing data from the device management apparatus to the integrated database, the integration The management system according to claim 1, further comprising an interface unit that functions as at least one of interfaces for writing data from a database to the device management apparatus.

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