JP2011186517A - External indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an external indicator allowing collection of alarm information from field apparatuses each having a different way of display of failure or an alarm, and allowing unification of the display of the failure or the alarm. <P>SOLUTION: The external indicator communicating with ta plurality of field apparatuses via a field bus connected with the field apparatuses each having a different display form of the alarm, collecting alarm information from each of the field apparatuses, and displaying it in a lump includes: an alarm information collection means sequentially accessing the field apparatuses to collect the alarm information; an apparatus alarm database holding data formats of the alarm information of the plurality of field apparatuses and unified alarm display information to the data formats; an alarm collation means collating accordance of the data format held in the apparatus alarm database with the data format of the collected alarm information; and a display content determination means reading the unified alarm display information from the apparatus alarm database to the alarm collated with the accordance, and making it be displayed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an external indicator that communicates with the field device via a field bus to which a plurality of field devices having different alarm display forms are connected, collects alarm information from each field device, and displays the information collectively.

  FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram for explaining an alarm display form by a conventional external indicator. A plurality of field devices 21 to 24 are attached to the pipe 10 through which the process fluid F flows.

  These field devices have a digital communication function, communicate with the host device 40, the device management tool 50, and the external indicator 60 through the field bus 30 or the gate (not shown), and measure process data and processes. Send alarm information that occurs at.

  Field devices 21 (PT100) and 22 (PT200) are differential pressure / pressure transmitters, and are field devices that measure a differential pressure generated in an orifice plate attached to the pipe 10. The field device 23 (TT200) is a field device that measures the temperature of the process fluid using a thermocouple, and these transmit measurement data and alarm information to the host device via the fieldbus 30.

  The field device 24 (PT400) is, for example, a wireless battery-driven differential pressure transmitter, and transmits measurement data and alarm information to a host device via a gateway (not shown).

  Each of the field devices 21 to 24 incorporates an internal indicator composed of an LCD or the like, and a worker gives a message indicating a measured value, device failure information diagnosed by the device self-diagnosis function, a process abnormality, etc. Alternatively, the remaining amount of battery can be read.

  The field bus 30 is configured by a digital transmission path such as Foundation Fieldbus or PROFIBUS, a 4-20 mA analog transmission path with redundant digital signals, such as BRAIN / HART communication, or an industrial wireless transmission path.

  The host 40 is a host control device such as a distributed control system or a PLC, and receives process values from the field devices 21, 22, 23, etc. via the field bus 30, and sends them to a control device (not shown) such as a valve. Process amount is transmitted by operating amount.

  The host 40 also has a function of monitoring and recording field device failure information and process abnormal states sent from the field devices 21, 22, 23, etc. via the field bus 30. Alternatively, the failure state of the field device 24 sent via the wireless gateway can be viewed.

  The device management tool 50 is composed of, for example, a handheld terminal such as BRAIN TERMINAL and a field-type PC equipped with a device management tool such as FieldMate using FDT / DTM technology.

  The user can set / check the TAG number, the measurement range, the measurement unit, and the like of the field devices 21 to 24, for example, PT100, PT200, TT200, PT400, etc., using the device management tool 50.

  In addition, the device management tool 50 can display information indicating a failure state of the device and a process abnormal state diagnosed by the self-diagnosis function of each of the field devices 21 to 24.

  The device management tool 50 stores DD (Device Description) defined by each communication standard such as Foundation Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, HART communication, and the like. The DD is prepared for each type of device, and the correspondence between the parameter / command number of the device, the digital information transmitted by the device and the character string indicating the abnormal state corresponding to the number, etc. is written. This file consists of tens of thousands of lines.

  The DD is generally distributed from the manufacturer in the form of a program such as a binary file or installed in the device management tool 5. The user cannot change the contents of the DD.

  The external indicator 60 is a field-type indicator that receives a digital signal on the fieldbus 30 and displays the measurement values and alarm information of any one or more of the field devices 21 to 24. When the field devices 21 to 24 are difficult to access by workers, for example, when they exist in a high place or a dangerous atmosphere, the field devices 21 to 24 are installed to read the display of the field devices 21 to 24 in an easily accessible place.

  The external indicator 60 allows the worker to read the display of a plurality of field devices at a single place without visiting a plurality of places in a relatively safe place. When the fieldbus 30 is, for example, Foundation Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, or a wireless digital transmission line, the field devices 21 to 24 periodically, for example, Foundation Fieldbus uses publisher / subscriber type synchronous communication, and PROFIBUS uses Data Exchange, etc. By reading the information distributed to the fieldbus 30 by this method, the measurement data and alarm information of each field device can be displayed.

  For example, if the external indicator 60 has a Foundation Fieldbus Client-Server function, a PROFIBUS MS2 communication function, and a HART command response communication function, and the DD is installed in the external indicator 60 Based on the DD information, one-to-one communication with the field device 21 indication 24 is performed, the parameters representing the self-diagnosis information of each field device are accessed, and the acquired information is collated with the information described in the DD. , DD can be displayed as a self-diagnosis result of each field device.

  In the lower area of FIG. 5, a table for displaying the failure state of the device diagnosed by the self-diagnosis function of the field devices 21 to 24 and the process abnormal state on a built-in indicator such as an LCD of each field device. Examples AL1 to AL7 are shown.

  Display examples AL1 and AL2 are examples of display on the built-in indicator of failure of the sensor part of the field device 21 which is a differential pressure / pressure transmitter and an alarm outside the measurement range of the pressure value in the pipe 10, respectively. It is represented by symbols consisting of letters and numbers such as ERR.01, WRN.30.

  In the field device 21 (PT100), if a sensor part failure occurs alone, only AL1 is displayed or, for example, a sensor part failure and an alarm outside the measurement range of the pressure value in the pipe 10 occur simultaneously. If so, AL1 and AL2 can be displayed alternately. The user can know the contents of the failure or alarm represented by this symbol and the countermeasures by looking at the instruction manual of the field device 21.

  The display examples AL3, AL4, and AL5 are a sensor unit failure and a pressure value in the pipe 10 of the field device 22 (PT200) which is a differential pressure / pressure transmitter supplied from a manufacturer different from the manufacturer of the field device 21. Alarms outside the measurement range and alarms outside the zero adjustment range are displayed on the built-in indicator, `` F-01 ''-`` Sensor '' and `` W-01 PV '' respectively. -Lim '', '' W-10 ZERO, etc. are represented by symbols consisting of letters and numbers.

  Display example AL6 shows the display contents of the built-in indicator at the time of circuit failure of the field device 23 (TT200), which is a temperature transmitter, and indicates the failure with the character string “Alarm A / D Fail”. ing.

  The display example AL7 is a screen showing a failure state of the field device 24 (PT400) which is a wireless differential pressure transmitter. In order to indicate that the remaining amount of the battery is small and prompts future battery replacement, The strings "AL.70" and "low power" are displayed.

Patent Document 1 discloses an alarm display device that displays an alarm generated in a plant.

JP-A-5-174274

The conventional apparatus has the following problems.
(1) As shown in display examples AL1 to AL7, the display of the built-in indicator of the self-diagnosis result of the field device is various. This is because, for example, the display contents of each field device are limited due to restrictions such as the limitation of the display area that comes from the size of the housing and the energy limitation that comes from use in the hazardous area. This is due to the fact that it is greatly restricted and that the restrictions differ somewhat from device to device.

  For example, when the field device 21 is smaller and cheaper than the field device 22, the field device 22 can display the diagnosis result over two lines of about 5-6 characters, whereas the field device 21 has about 5-6 characters 1 Sometimes only lines can be displayed. When the field device 23 which is a temperature transmitter has a relatively large casing as compared to the field devices 21 and 22, the display content may be about two lines of about 10 characters.

(2) Another problem is that failure or alarm display methods differ depending on the field device supplier. For example, the field device 21 (PT100) uses the symbol “ERR” at the time of failure in the display example AL1 and the symbol “WRN” for process abnormality in the display example AL2, whereas the field device 21 In the field device 22 (PT200) made by a manufacturer different from that used in the display example AL3, the symbol “F-” is used at the time of failure. The display contents differ for each manufacturer even in the same failure.

  The same applies to the device pipeline tool 50, and the character string indicating the abnormal state based on the installed DD often has different contents depending on the manufacturer and the field device.

  In the external indicator 60, for a user who visits the site and looks at the instructions of the field devices 21 to 24 for maintenance and inspection, the field indicator is in spite of the occurrence of a similar failure or alarm event. Differences in the way of failure or alarm for each device or manufacturer of a device tend to be complicated and confusing when recognizing and responding to the failure, resulting in increased work and misjudgment.

  In recent years, with the intelligentization of field devices, the number of alarms issued from field devices has increased, but this is called “alarm flooding”, and maintenance / patrol work tends to increase. .

  In this way, the failure or warning method differs for each field device and shield device manufacturer, which is a problem for users, and NAMUR (NAMUR is an international user association of the process industry international user association of From the automation technology in process industries (http://www.namur.de/start.html), the guideline NAMUR recommend NE107 recommends the following four categories of alarm classification for field devices.

(1) Failure: (Output is invalid due to failure)

(2) function check (Output is temporarily invalid due to a setting error or other internal work)

(3) Out of specification (state in which measurement values include uncertainty due to out of specification range such as ambient environment and process)

(4) Maintenance required: (Current output is normal, but there is a possibility that the function may be restricted in the future)

  In recent years, some field devices that have been developed and put on the market follow the alarm category corresponding to this NAMUR, but NAMUR is not enforced by laws and regulations. Not. Moreover, this category does not apply to the vast number of field devices already installed.

  The object of the present invention is to collect alarm information from field devices that have different ways of displaying faults and alarms for each field device or for each field device manufacturer, and to unify the display of faults and alarms that can be set by the user. To realize an external indicator.

In order to achieve such a subject, the present invention has the following configuration.
(1) In an external indicator that communicates with the field device via a field bus to which a plurality of field devices having different alarm display forms are connected, collects alarm information from each of the field devices, and displays them collectively.
Alarm information collecting means for sequentially accessing the field devices and collecting alarm information;
A data format of alarm information of the plurality of field devices and a device alarm database holding unified alarm display information for the data format;
Alarm collating means for collating the data format of the collected alarm information with the data format stored in the device alarm database;
Display content determination means for reading out and displaying the unified alarm display information from the device alarm database for the alarm that has been matched,
An external indicator characterized by comprising:

(2) The device alarm database stores, as the unified alarm display information, a first label display content of a higher concept and a second label display content of a lower concept, and the external instruction according to (1) Total.

(3) The first label display content is display content that conforms to the display recommended by NANUR, and the second label display content is display content arbitrarily set by the user. External indicator.

(4) A maintenance function for the device alarm database is provided in a device management tool that is connected to the fieldbus and supports downloading and calculating operation parameters for the field device. (1) to (3) External indicator according to any of the above.

(5) The external indicator according to (4), wherein the device management tool uploads and manages information stored in the device alarm database.

(6) The external indicator according to any one of (1) to (5), wherein the field device is a device compliant with a fieldbus standard.

According to the external indicator of the present invention, the following effects can be expected.
(1) To provide a display function that can be set by the user and unified with the display of faults and alarms for field devices with different fault and alarm display methods depending on the field device or field device manufacturer. Can do.

(2) It is possible to reduce the user's confusion and complexity at the site where alarm floods occur, easily classify / organize information on failures / alarms, and take corrective actions according to the contents.

It is a functional block diagram which shows one Example of the external indicator to which this invention is applied. It is a table which shows the example of a structure of an apparatus alarm database. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of this invention external indicator. It is a display screen explaining the alarm display form by this invention external indicator. It is a functional block diagram explaining the alarm display form by the conventional external indicator.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an external indicator to which the present invention is applied. The same elements as those of the conventional configuration described with reference to FIG.

  The external indicator 100 to which the present invention is provided is connected to the field bus 30 and communicates with the field devices 21 to 24, the host 40, and the device management tool 50, similarly to the external indicator 60 shown in FIG.

  The external indicator 100 includes an alarm information collection unit 101, a unified alarm display unit 102, a device alarm database 103, and a display unit 104. The unified alarm display unit 102 includes functions of an alarm collating unit 105 and a display content determining unit 106. The function of receiving and displaying the process value from the field device is the same as that of the external indicator 60 of the prior art.

  The alarm information collecting means 101 is a communication means, and is connected to the field bus 30 and is composed of, for example, a communication modem that transmits and receives digital signals such as Foundation Fieldbus and PROFIBUS. Alarm information is collected by sequentially accessing a plurality of field devices connected to the bus 30.

  The unified alarm display unit 102 includes an alarm collating unit 105 and a display content determining unit 106. These functions are composed of a microprocessor, RAM, and the like. The device alarm database 103 includes a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM or a flash ROM. The display means 104 is composed of an LCD or the like, and displays the process value and alarm information received from the field device to the user in a unified display form.

  FIG. 2 is a table showing a configuration example of the device alarm database. The data D1 is the access order number of the field device that is the target of alarm display, and the data D2 is information for specifying the field device that is the target of display. For example, the PD-TAG or Node address of the Foundation Fieldbus selected by the user , Stores information such as PROFIBUS node address.

  The data D3 and D4 are data formats unique to the alarm information of each field device. The data D3 is a parameter number or data type indicating alarm information for each field device. For example, the parameter indicating the alarm information such as Foundation Fieldbus Index number, data type, PROFIBUS Slot and Index number is specified. It is information to do.

  Data D4 indicates valid values that the alarm parameter can take. Each value corresponds to one piece of alarm information. Data D5 and data D6 indicate character string data to be displayed on the display means 104.

  The contents of the data D1 to D6 can be arbitrarily added / changed by the user using the device management tool 50 connected to the fieldbus 30. In addition, the device management tool 50 can upload and manage information stored in the device alarm database 103.

  The parameters indicating the alarm information of the data D3 and D4 and the valid values that can be taken by the alarm parameters are generally described in the instruction manual of the field device, and the user can use the device management tool 50 in accordance with this. Can be set using.

  The display character strings of the data D5 and the data D6 can be arbitrarily set by the user, and the character string to be displayed on the display unit 104 can be set using the device management tool 50. These character strings can be set as character strings according to the user culture, such as instruction manuals for field devices and recommended character strings of NAMUR NE107.

  The character string of the data D5 and D6 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes, as unified alarm display information, a first conceptual label display content D5 and a second conceptual label display content D6. The first label display content D5 is display content that complies with the display recommended by NANUR, and the second label display content D6 indicates display content that is arbitrarily set by the user.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the alarm collating unit 105 periodically registers the devices registered in the alarm database 103 at predetermined time intervals via the communication unit of the alarm information collecting unit 101 based on the information of the data D2 and D3. To the field device on the fieldbus 30, a parameter read request having alarm information is transmitted, and a read response corresponding to the request is received.

  Transmission / reception of the Read request / Read response can be realized by using, for example, the Client / Server communication function of Foundation Fieldbus, the MS2 communication function of PROFIBUS, or the like implemented in the alarm information collecting unit 101.

  The alarm collating unit 105 further collates the received Read response result with the bit assignment of the data D4 to determine whether there is a valid alarm. If there is a valid alarm, the display content determining unit 106 confirms the collation result. And send a display request.

  The display content determination unit 106 receives the collation result of the alarm collation unit 105 and the display request, receives the label display content of the data D5 and D6 from the device alarm database 103, and transmits it to the display content determination unit 106.

  The display content determination unit 106 transmits the character string data of the data D5 and D6 received from the device alarm database 103 and the device information of the data D1 to the display unit 104 such as an LCD for display.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the external indicator of the present invention, and shows a flow until the external indicator 100 collects alarm information of the field device and displays it on the display means 104.

  The start step S1 corresponds to when the external indicator 100 is turned on or reset. In step S <b> 2, the unified alarm display unit 102 accesses the device alarm database 103 and acquires the maximum number Na of alarm information registered in the device alarm database 103.

  The unified alarm display unit 102 may access the device alarm database 103 by sequentially directly accessing a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM or a flash ROM, or in step S2, the RAM built in the unified alarm display unit 102. The entire contents of the device alarm database 103 may be copied and referenced.

  In step S <b> 3, the alarm display counter No is initialized to 1 so that the head of the data stored in the device alarm database 103 is indicated. In Step S4, if the alarm display counter is smaller than Na, go to Step S5. If it is Na or more, there are no more alarms to be displayed, or all alarms registered in the device alarm database 103 are displayed. Return to S3.

  In step S5, the alarm collating means 105 reads the designated parameter of the field device designated by the data D2 and D3 in the alarm display counter No. row of the device alarm database 103.

  In step S6, the alarm collating means 105 compares the read result in step S5 with the alarm bit assignment of the data D4 to confirm whether there is valid data, and the display content determining means 106 determines whether there is valid data and the data D4. Send the valid data described in.

  In step S7, when the display content determination means 106 receives the presence of valid data from the alarm collating means 105, the label first label display content D5 transmitted to the display means 104 according to the valid data similarly received from the alarm collating means 105. And the character string described in the 2nd label display content D6 is acquired, the acquired character string is transmitted to the display means 104, a display is implement | achieved by step S8, and it progresses to step S9.

  On the other hand, when the display content determination means 106 receives no valid data from the alarm collation means 105, it skips to step S9. In step S9, the alarm display counter is incremented by one, and the process returns to step S4.

  FIG. 4 is a display screen for explaining an alarm display form by the external indicator of the present invention. (A) shows the alarm information AL1 ′ of the field device 21 device displayed by the external indicator 100 from the collation result between the alarm information read from the field device 21 (PT100) and No. 1 in the device alarm database 103 of FIG. And AL2 ′, the display contents of the alarm display information AL1 and AL2 (see FIG. 5) displayed on the display of the field device 21 are replaced with the unified display.

  In the first line of the alarm information AL1 ′, a character string acquired from the first label display content D5, which is “F: Failure” recommended by NAMUR NE107, is displayed. In the second line, the tag “PT100” of the data D1 is displayed.

  In the third and fourth lines, the character string “Sensor Fail” acquired from the second label display content D6 is displayed. That is, the alarm display contents AL1 and AL2 displayed on the field device 21 are displayed on the external indicator 100 by replacing them with AL1 ′ and AL2 ′ in a unified display.

  Similarly, in FIG. 4B, the alarm display contents AL3, AL4, AL5 (see FIG. 5) displayed on the field device 22 (PT200) are replaced with AL3 ′, AL4 ′, AL5 ′ in the external indicator 100. Is displayed.

  Similarly, in FIG. 4C, the alarm display content AL6 (see FIG. 5) displayed on the field device 23 (TT200) is displayed in place of AL6 ′ on the external indicator 100. Similarly, in FIG. 4D, the alarm display content AL7 (see FIG. 5) displayed on the field device 24 (PT400) is displayed on the external indicator 100 in place of AL7 ′ and unified display.

  When a plurality of alarms are generated in a plurality of devices, the external indicator 100 alternately displays AL1 ′ → AL2 ′ → AL3 ′ → AL4 ′ → AL5 ′ → AL6 ′ → AL7 ′ for each field device. May be repeated, and AL1 ′ → AL3 ′ → AL6 ′ → AL4 ′ → AL2 ′ → AL4 ′ → AL7 ′ etc. are displayed alternately for each category (1) to (4) of alarm such as NAMUR NE107. It may be repeated.

21, 22, 23, 24 Field device 30 Field bus 40 Host 50 Device management tool 100 External indicator 101 Alarm information collecting means 102 Unified alarm display section 103 Device alarm database 104 Display means 105 Alarm collating means 106 Display content determining means

Claims (6)

In the external indicator that communicates with the field device via a field bus connected to a plurality of field devices having different alarm display forms, collects alarm information from each field, and displays them collectively.
Alarm information collecting means for sequentially accessing the field devices and collecting alarm information;
A data format of alarm information of the plurality of field devices and a device alarm database holding unified alarm display information for the data format;
Alarm collating means for collating the data format of the collected alarm information with the data format stored in the device alarm database;
Display content determination means for reading out and displaying the unified alarm display information from the device alarm database for the alarm that has been matched,
An external indicator characterized by comprising:   2. The external indicator according to claim 1, wherein the device alarm database holds, as the unified alarm display information, a first label display content of a higher concept and a second label display content of a lower concept.   3. The external indicator according to claim 2, wherein the first label display content is display content that conforms to a display recommended by NANUR, and the second label display content is display content arbitrarily set by a user. .   4. A maintenance function for the device alarm database is provided in a device management tool connected to the field bus and supporting the download of operation parameters for the field device. External indicator.   5. The external indicator according to claim 4, wherein the device management tool uploads and manages information held in the device alarm database.   The external indicator according to claim 1, wherein the field device is a device that complies with a fieldbus standard.