JP2008009499A - Display unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display unit for issuing a warning when any status to be warned about exists in a control system. <P>SOLUTION: This display unit 20 configured to display a component (HML component) in which a device is integrated into an image on a display picture 28g, and to perform the circumstance display or control operation of the device according to information to be fetched from a programmable logic controller based on the HMI component is provided with: a warning status monitor means 27 for monitoring whether or not the status of the device should be warned from the above mentioned information, and for outputting a monitor output corresponding to the status when the status should be warned; and a warning status notification means 28 for notifying a user that the status of the device is a warning status by a message in response to the input of the monitor output from the warning status monitoring means 27. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a display device that displays an image of a component corresponding to a state of a device on a display screen when a programmable logic controller (PLC) that controls operation of the device is operated based on screen data created by a computer. This display displays an image part (HMI part; HMI is an abbreviation for human machine interface) on which the device is imaged on the display screen, and displays the status of the device and the control operation according to the information fetched from the PLC by this HMI part. Is supposed to do.

  In recent control systems, the PLC is widely used as an apparatus for controlling various target systems. The control instruction to the PLC is constructed so that it can be displayed or operated from a display connected to the PLC or a control host computer connected to the display via a LAN. The display device operates as an HMI of such a control system, displays the status of each device of the target system by an HMI component, notifies the user, and can respond when an operation from the user is received.

  The display device can display the status of the device and control the operation of the device using HMI components arranged on the display screen. There are HMI parts for numerical value setting, numeric keypad, character, figure (meter display, graph display, etc.), touch key, and screen switching key. Screen data for displaying these HMI parts is available. is there.

  This screen data is data for setting the size, color, position, etc. of the HMI component. This screen data is created for each screen. A set of these screen data is stored in the memory of the display. The display unit stores an execution program for executing the screen data in the memory.

  The basic software of the display is, for example, Windows (registered trademark) NT (Microsoft: registered trademark), Windows (registered trademark) CE (Microsoft: registered trademark), etc. The execution program of the display is an application program thereof. is there. The execution program instructs the interface on the PLC side and the host computer side as necessary based on the screen data, communicates with the PLC and other display devices connected to the own device, and acquires the device status, In addition, the HMI component corresponding to each device is displayed on the display screen of the display, and the display state of the HMI component such as shape, color, numerical value, etc. is changed according to the device data acquired via the PLC. The device status can be notified.

  In such a display, whether or not the control system is operating normally can be notified from the output of the PLC by an animated display such as a color change or a shape change by an HMI component that is an imaged component of the device. it can.

  However, in the case of an HMI component, an alarm based on an image display such as a change in color or shape is easily overlooked when the operator leaves the display screen, and many HMI components are arranged without being overlooked. In such a case, it is difficult to confirm a slight color change or shape change.

In addition, although the notification means which notifies the event which should be alert | reported regarding the operating state of PLC to the host computer side is provided on the display side, and the notification means which notifies in response to the notification is provided on the host computer side, The event to be performed is not the state of the device but the state of the PLC, the notification is not an alarm, and the notification destination is also a host computer, not a display installed at the site (Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-117613 A

  In the present invention, when there is a state to be alarmed in the control system from the state of the device, the state can be surely confirmed without being overlooked on the indicator installed in the field. It is possible to alarm in a manner.

  A display device according to the present invention displays a component (HMI component) on which a device is imaged on a display screen, and displays a device status and a control operation according to information fetched from the programmable logic controller by the HMI component. From the information, it is monitored whether the state of the device is a state to be alarmed, and when it is a state to be alarmed, an alarm state monitoring unit that outputs a monitoring output corresponding to the state, and from the alarm state monitoring unit Alarm state notifying means for notifying that the device state is in an alarm state in response to the input of the monitoring output.

  According to the present invention, the PLC transfers information corresponding to the status of the device to the display, and the alarm status monitoring means determines that the status of the device should be alarmed according to the information. Then, the monitoring output corresponding to it is output. Then, when the monitoring output is input, the alarm state notification means can notify the message that the state of the device is in the alarm state. Examples of the message notification mode include a voice message and a text message. In particular, the voice message may simply be a buzzer, or more specifically, if the device is an oil level sensor in the fuel tank, there will be a voice saying "The fuel tank is out of fuel" and the device is powered on. If the sensor is an output voltage, there is a voice saying “Operation is stopped”, and if the device is a motor speed sensor, there is a voice saying “Motor is broken”. In addition, in the case of a text message, it is possible to report the message with text displays such as “the fuel tank is out of fuel”, “the operation is stopped”, and “the motor is out of order”. Therefore, in the present invention, when there is a state to be alarmed in the control system from the state of the device, the state can be surely confirmed without overlooking on the indicator installed in the field. .

  Preferably, the alarm state notification means notifies the alarm state by a voice message performed through a speaker.

  Preferably, the alarm state notification means notifies the alarm state by a text message performed on the display screen.

  Preferably, the alarm state monitoring unit monitors an alarm tag indicating the state of the device in the information received from the PLC, and determines that the state of the device should be alarmed based on the alarm tag, The alarm state notification means outputs that the device state is a state to be alarmed.

  In the above, only one of the voice message and the character message or a combination of them can be used.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when the state which should be alarmed exists in a control system, the indicator which alert | reports reliably without overlooking can be provided.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an entire control system to which a display according to the present embodiment is applied, and FIG. The configuration of the main part of the central control system is shown, and FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the main part of the display. The control system shown in these drawings can be suitably applied to a power control system or the like. 10 is an external PC, 20 is a display, 30 is a PLC, and 40 is a target system. The external PC 10 and the plurality of displays 20 are connected to each other via a common network 50 that can communicate with a common communication protocol, and each of the plurality of displays 20 and the plurality of PLCs 30 can be communicated with each other with a unique communication protocol. Individually connected via a network 60. The common network 50 uses a LAN (Local Area Network), and adopts Ethernet (registered trademark) and TCP / IP as communication protocols in the common network 50. In many cases, the external PC 10 can perform monitoring control or setting of the entire control system from a location farther than the display device 20 as a host computer. The external PC 10 is a personal computer similar to a general general-purpose personal computer.

  The display device 20 includes a memory 21 such as a RAM, a ROM, a flash ROM, and a VRAM, a CPU 22 that is an arithmetic process, a display device 23, an input device 24, and communication devices 25 and 26. The operation of each part is controlled. The display device 20 can perform various types of data processing for the CPU 22 to perform display screen display control, protocol conversion, and data distribution processing. The display 20 can be drawn on the screen using a memory 21 such as a VRAM based on the screen data created by the external PC 10. On the screen of the display device 20, HMI parts and tags are synthesized as image blocks. On the screen of the display device 20, the HMI component and the tag move according to the operation of the input / output devices 40A and 40B in the target system 40, and the operation status of the input and output devices 40A and 40B. Can be visually confirmed by the operator.

  The display 20 monitors whether or not the state of the devices 40A and 40B is a state to be alarmed from information given from the PLC 30, and when it is a state to be alarmed, outputs an alarm output corresponding to the state. A state monitoring device 27 and an alarm state notification device 28 for notifying that the states of the devices 40A and 40B are in an alarm state in response to the input of the monitoring output from the alarm state monitoring device 27 are further provided. The alarm state monitoring device 27 has a software configuration by the CPU 22, but in the embodiment, for the sake of understanding, the alarm state monitoring device 27 is shown as a hardware block in FIG.

  The PLC 30 performs calculation processing of control data to be given to the output device 40B based on a signal input from the input device 40A according to a control sequence, and includes an information processing device 31 therein.

  As the input device 40A, an oil amount sensor 41, an operation sensor 42, a motor rotation speed sensor 43, a temperature sensor, an optical sensor, a push button switch, a limit switch, a pressure switch, and the like are used. As the output device 40B, an actuator 44, a relay 45, and other electromagnetic valves are used. These are arranged in required parts such as a production line.

  Next, the alarm state monitoring device 27 and the alarm state notification device 28 will be described in detail. The alarm state monitoring device 27 monitors information with an alarm tag indicating that the devices 40A and 40B are in a state to be alarmed in the information received from the PLC 30, and sets the alarm tag in the information. When there is the attached information, it is determined that the control system is in a state to be alarmed from the states of the devices 40A and 40B in the target system 40, and the determination result is output to the alarm state notification device 28.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the alarm state monitoring device 27, as shown in FIG. 3, determines the information collection unit 27a that collects device information from the PLC 30, an alarm detection unit 27b, an alarm definition database 27c, and an alarm output unit 27d. With. In the alarm definition database 27c, data such as an alarm tag for identifying an alarm, an alarm name, a reference value for issuing an alarm, and an alarm level indicating the severity of the alarm are stored in association with each other.

  In the alarm detection unit 27b, in order to detect an alarm from the information collected by the information collection unit 27a, the alarm is detected with reference to the alarm definition database 27c, and the alarm corresponding to the detection of the alarm and the recovery from the alarm state. The alarm information is generated with reference to the alarm definition database 27c, and the alarm information is output from the alarm output unit 27d to the alarm state notification device 28, and the alarm history is recorded and made into a database. The alarm information includes, for example, an alarm tag, an alarm name, an occurrence time, a device name that detects an abnormality, and an alarm level. In the alarm history database, for example, an occurrence time, a recovery time, an alarm tag, an alarm name, a name of a device that detects an abnormality, alarm data and its unit, presence / absence of confirmation, and an alarm level are recorded.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the alarm state notification device 28 includes a voice data memory 28a, a voice synthesis IC 28b, a voice output circuit 28c, and a speaker 28d. The voice data memory 28a stores voice message data corresponding to the state of each device in the corresponding address area. For example, in the oil quantity sensor 41, “the fuel tank is insufficient in oil quantity” in the address area a. Voice message data corresponding to “the operation sensor 42”, voice message data corresponding to “stopping operation” in the address area b, and “motor failure” in the address area c in the motor speed sensor 43. The corresponding voice message data is stored. The data in each of these address areas is read according to the alarm output of the alarm state monitoring device 27 and input to the voice synthesis IC 28b by the alarm state monitoring device 27. The voice synthesis IC 28b synthesizes these voice messages and outputs the voice messages to the speaker 28d by the alarm state monitoring device 27 via the voice output circuit 28c. This voice message can be switched to a one-time type, a continuous call type, or the like.

  Referring to FIG. 5, another example of the alarm state notification device 28 of the display device 20 will be described. The alarm state notification device 28 includes a character string data memory 28ea, a display control unit 28f, and a display screen 28g. The character string data memory 28e stores character message data corresponding to the state of each device in a corresponding address area. For example, in the oil amount sensor 41, character message data corresponding to “the fuel tank is short of oil” in the address region d, and in the operation sensor 42, characters corresponding to “operating stopped” in the address region e. In the message data and motor rotation speed sensor 43, character message data corresponding to “the motor has failed” is stored in the address area f. The data in each of these address areas is read by the alarm state notification device 28 and input to the display control unit 28f by the alarm state notification device 28. The display control unit 28f controls display of these character messages on the display screen 28f. This display mode can be displayed in a blinking manner, a special color, or the like.

  FIG. 6 shows a front view of the display device 20, where a voice message A is output from the speaker 28d, and a character message B is displayed on the display screen 28g.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when there is a state that should be alarmed in the control system from the state of the device, the state is surely not overlooked in the indicator installed at the site. Can be confirmed.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various changes or modifications within the scope described in the claims.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the entire control system to which the display according to the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the control system centering on the display. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the alarm state monitoring device in the display. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the alarm state notification device in the display. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another configuration of the alarm state notification device in the display. FIG. 6 is a front view of the display.

Explanation of symbols

10 External PC
20 Indicator 27 Alarm Status Monitoring Device 28 Alarm Status Notification Device 30 PLC
40 devices

Claims (4)

In a display that displays a component (HMI component) in which a device is imaged on a display screen, and displays the status of the device and a control operation according to information fetched from the programmable logic controller by this HMI component.
From the above information, it is monitored whether the state of the device is a state to be alarmed, and when it is a state to be alarmed, alarm state monitoring means for outputting a monitoring output corresponding to the state,
In response to an input of the monitoring output from the alarm state monitoring means, an alarm state notification means for informing a message that the state of the device is in an alarm state;
A display device comprising:   2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the alarm state notification unit is configured to notify the alarm state by a voice message through a speaker.   2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the alarm state notification means notifies the alarm state by a text message performed on a display screen.   The alarm state monitoring means monitors an alarm tag indicating the device state in the information received from the PLC, determines that the device state is to be alarmed based on the alarm tag, and notifies the alarm state 4. The display device according to claim 1, wherein an output indicating that the device state is a state to be alarmed is provided to the means.

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