JP4822066B2 - Field device diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention refers to a diagnostic database that holds data collected by communicating with the field device in an environment in which predetermined maintenance / maintenance is performed by communicating with the field device of the plant according to the operation schedule, and the held data is referred The present invention also relates to a field device diagnosis apparatus including a diagnosis server in which a diagnosis application for executing diagnosis of the field device is installed.

  The present invention is directed to periodic diagnosis in a maintenance / maintenance environment of a field device having a function of communicating with a host device, for example, a field device having a field bus function such as Foundation Fieldbus, HART, or Profibus.

  The fixed period diagnosis function for field devices is often implemented as an extended function of PRM (Plant Resource Manager) for integrated management of field devices. Regarding PRM, there is a technical disclosure in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 2 discloses a technical disclosure of a configuration in which a fixed period diagnosis function for a field device is implemented in a PRM.

  The user wants to know the sign before the field device breaks down and becomes unusable in order to keep the operation rate of the plant appropriate. Therefore, there is a merit in introducing a periodic diagnosis device for field devices, and it is effective as part of maintenance activities.

  On the other hand, in plants, regular maintenance work and maintenance have already been carried out since before the introduction of the periodic diagnosis device, and procedures and know-how are usually accumulated. In particular, plant operation has an appropriate annual schedule for obtaining a high operation rate, and maintenance and maintenance activities are carried out according to the operation schedule.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional field device diagnosis apparatus under a maintenance / maintenance environment. The diagnostic client 1 is a GUI for starting / stopping a diagnostic application installed in the diagnostic server 2 and referring to a message / alarm notified from the diagnostic server 2, and is operated by the user 3.

  The diagnostic server 2 is the core of a diagnostic function that periodically executes the installed diagnostic applications 21 and 22. Each diagnosis application has an application function that implements a diagnosis algorithm and a function that creates a collection definition for collecting diagnosis target data.

  The diagnostic database 4 holds a collection definition 41 created by the diagnostic application, and includes collected data storage means 42 that stores data collected by the data collection unit 5 with reference to the collection definition 41.

  The data collection unit 5 periodically refers to the collection definition 41 held in the diagnosis database 4 and collects parameters from the field device 6 via the field communication server 51. The collected parameters are passed to the diagnostic database 4 and stored.

  The field device 6 connected to the field bus holds parameters to be diagnosed, communicates with the data collection unit 5 via the field bus, and passes the held parameters to the data collection unit 5.

  Next, the installation and operation procedure of the periodic diagnosis application will be described. The user 3 operates the diagnostic client 1 and installs a purchased or created diagnostic application. By the installation work, necessary files and data are stored in the database (not shown) of the diagnostic server 2, and the diagnostic application becomes executable.

  The user 3 selects the installed diagnostic application on the diagnostic client 1 and starts diagnosis. When starting up, the configuration such as “from which field device / what parameter / at what cycle” is configured. This configuration is reflected and held in the collection definition 41.

  After the start-up operation, the diagnosis application resides on the diagnosis server 2 and continues to perform the periodic diagnosis until a diagnosis stop operation is received. When the diagnostic application detects an alarm in the periodic diagnosis, it notifies the diagnostic client 1 of the contents and detailed information. In addition, E-mail etc. are transmitted as necessary. The user 3 refers to the latest result of diagnosis from the diagnosis client 1.

  By executing this procedure, the diagnosis application performs diagnosis at regular intervals. The diagnosis operation is executed with reference to the collected data from the field device at a constant cycle regardless of the operation schedule of the plant.

On the other hand, the plant maintenance staff 7 refers to the operation schedule 8, connects the maintenance / maintenance tool 9 to the data collection unit 5 directly or via a network, and collects necessary maintenance / maintenance data from the field device 6. Perform predetermined maintenance and maintenance work.
JP 2004-029897 A JP 2005-346444 A

  The diagnostic application has an execution cycle set at the time of activation, and performs diagnosis according to the cycle. That is, the schedule determining factor in the field device diagnosis apparatus depends on the communication throughput when the parameters of the field device to be diagnosed are collected at regular intervals. That is, since it is necessary to consider the communication capability as a physical limit, the diagnosis execution schedule is determined based on the communication throughput.

  However, the schedule for executing maintenance / maintenance of the plant is based on the annual operation schedule of the plant and has nothing to do with the communication throughput for the field devices.

  In other words, the operation schedule that has been managed and operated by the user for a long time and the execution schedule of the field device diagnosis apparatus having a fixed period are based on completely different ideas and are not managed in an integrated manner.

  Therefore, when the data collection for the periodic diagnosis and the data collection for maintenance / maintenance are overlapped, if the communication throughput required for the total data collection exceeds the capacity limit of the data collection unit 5, It becomes difficult to collect normal data, and it is difficult to perform periodic diagnosis and maintenance / maintenance work.

  The plant operation schedule incorporates the characteristics and know-how unique to the plant, and does not change significantly after the introduction of the field device diagnostic apparatus. As a convenient way to make this compromise, the user 3 refers to the operation schedule 8 and temporarily stops one or more of the activated diagnostic applications, so that the communication throughput of the collection unit 5 is within the capacity limit. You are performing an operation that you want to maintain.

  Such an operation based on the artificial judgment of the user 3 is cumbersome and burdensome, and since a fine stop operation cannot be performed, the safe side is selected and an unnecessary application is stopped. This is a factor in the decline in operational efficiency.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is a field device diagnostic apparatus capable of automatically adjusting the operating state of a diagnostic application that operates at a fixed period based on an operation schedule of a plant. It is aimed at realization.

In order to achieve such a subject, the present invention has the following configuration.
(1) Referring to a diagnosis database that holds data collected through communication with the field device in an environment in which predetermined maintenance / maintenance is performed by communicating with the field device of the plant according to the operation schedule, and the held data In a field device diagnosis apparatus comprising a diagnosis server installed with a diagnosis application that executes diagnosis of the field device at a fixed period regardless of the operation schedule ,
With reference to the operation schedule , an operation calendar that is generated by planning in advance the operation period from the start operation to the stop operation of the diagnostic application and held in the diagnosis database ;
A diagnostic manager provided in the diagnostic server for referring to the operation calendar and designating the operating period of the diagnostic application;
A field device diagnostic apparatus comprising:

(2) the addition to commanding the start operation and stop operation of the diagnostic application, the field device diagnostic apparatus according to (1) a message, and further comprising a diagnostic client that receives alarm notifications from the diagnostic application.

According to the present invention, the following effects can be expected.
(1) The field device diagnosis apparatus can perform field device maintenance systematically according to the operation calendar while executing the periodic diagnosis according to the communication throughput of the data collection unit.

(2) The user can realize a fixed period diagnosis for predicting a failure of a field device in a form in which the maintenance / maintenance plan that has been implemented before the introduction of the diagnostic device is taken over as it is.

(3) Since the operation calendar can be set in advance by the operation scheduler in consideration of the communication throughput of the data collection unit, it is a field with a fixed period compared to the conventional operation in which the user manually stops more diagnostic applications than necessary. The operational efficiency of device diagnosis can be improved.

(4) The user is freed from the complicated operation of stopping / starting the diagnostic application with reference to the operation schedule, and can concentrate on the original diagnostic operation.

  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 a field device diagnostic apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The same elements as those of the conventional apparatus described with reference to FIG.

  The first of the structural features of the present invention added to the conventional apparatus is the operation scheduler 100. The schedule planner 200 refers to the plant operation schedule 8 existing before the introduction of the diagnostic device, generates an operation calendar 300 and stores it in the diagnosis database 41.

  FIG. 2 is an image diagram showing an example of the generated operation calendar 300. In this example, based on the annual operation schedule, a period of residence in the diagnostic server 2 is designated for each of a plurality of diagnostic applications in units of weeks of each month.

  The second of the structural features of the present invention is a diagnostic manager 400 provided in the diagnostic server 2. The diagnosis manager 400 refers to the operation calendar 300 stored in the diagnosis database 41, makes the diagnosis server 2 resident only for a specified period for each diagnosis application, and automatically sets the operation state of the diagnosis application. adjust.

The schedule planner 200 inputs the following information to the operation scheduler 100 to generate the operation calendar 300.
(1) Date / time and period for periodic diagnosis to be suspended for periodic maintenance / maintenance (2) Date / time and period for increasing the sensitivity of diagnosis until system is stabilized (3) Several times a year Execution date and time for diagnosis (partial stroke test, etc.) that should be done

  When a save operation is performed after the operation calendar is generated, the contents of the operation calendar 300 are stored in the diagnosis database 4. The user 3 notifies the application of the operation calendar 300 to the diagnosis manager 400 of the diagnosis server 2.

  Upon receiving this notification, the diagnostic manager 400 reads the contents of the operation calendar 300 stored in the diagnostic database 4 and performs appropriate handling, that is, adjustment of the operating state, for diagnostic applications executed after the current time.

  On the other hand, the maintenance personnel 7 perform maintenance work and regular maintenance as usual according to the conventional operation schedule 8 of the plant. By executing the diagnosis manager 400 for a diagnostic application that is already in operation, the execution of the fixed period diagnosis is automatically switched, and an efficient fixed period diagnosis that appropriately maintains the communication throughput is realized.

  The operation calendar 300 may include an operation schedule such as fluctuations due to fluid used in the plant and tuning due to temperature in addition to periodic maintenance and maintenance operation schedules.

  In the embodiment, the operation calendar 300 is generated by the operation scheduler 100 and stored in the diagnosis database 4. However, the storage location is not limited to this embodiment, and is stored in a device that can communicate via a network. In addition, the diagnosis manager 400 may be configured to refer to this operation calendar via a network.

  In the embodiment, only the functional configuration of the field device diagnosis apparatus is shown, but it may be implemented as an extended function of PRM (Plant Resource Manager) for integrated management of field devices. Further, it may be connected to a control bus of a distributed control system that controls field devices.

It is a functional block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the field apparatus diagnostic apparatus to which this invention is applied. It is an image figure which shows an example of the produced | generated operation calendar. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structural example of the conventional field apparatus diagnostic apparatus in a maintenance / maintenance environment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Diagnosis client 2 Diagnosis server 21 and 22 Diagnosis application 3 User 4 Diagnosis database 41 Collection definition 42 Collection data storage means 5 Data collection part 51 Field communication server 6 Field equipment 7 Maintenance personnel 8 Operation schedule 9 Maintenance / maintenance tool 100 Operation scheduler 200 Schedule planner 300 Operation calendar 400 Diagnosis manager

Claims (2)

In an environment in which predetermined maintenance / maintenance is performed by communicating with plant field devices in accordance with the operation schedule, a diagnosis database that holds data collected by communicating with the field devices, and the operation schedule with reference to the retained data In a field device diagnosis apparatus comprising a diagnosis server installed with a diagnosis application that executes diagnosis of the field device at a fixed cycle regardless of
With reference to the operation schedule , an operation calendar that is generated by planning in advance the operation period from the start operation to the stop operation of the diagnostic application and held in the diagnosis database ;
A diagnostic manager provided in the diagnostic server for referring to the operation calendar and designating the operating period of the diagnostic application;
A field device diagnostic apparatus comprising: The field device diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a diagnosis client that instructs a start operation and a stop operation of the diagnosis application and receives a message and an alarm notification from the diagnosis application.