Method and apparatus for performing a function in a process plant using monitoring data with criticality evaluation data
15 claims: 12 independent, 3 dependent
- 1プロセスプラント内のエンティティを監視する方法であって、 前記プロセスプラント内の動作中の前記エンティティのステータスに関するエンティティステータスデータを収集する工程と、 前記エンティティが前記プロセスプラント内の他のエンティティおよび/または動作に影響を与えるような、前記プロセスプラント内の前記エンティティの重要性を評価する故障防止計画の定量化の結果からなる、前記プロセスプラント内の前記エンティティの重要性に関する重要度データを収集する工程と、 前記プロセスプラント内の前記エンティティに関連付けられた修正措置のステータスに係る修正措置データを収集する工程と、 前記エンティティステータスデータ、前記重要度データおよび前記修正措置データをコンピュータシステムで受ける工程と、 前記エンティティステータスデータと前記重要度データと前記修正措置データをデータベースに格納することで、前記プロセスプラント内のさらなる修正措置を含むコンピュータに実装された機能を実行するためにこれらをコンピュータシステム上で同時に利用可能にする工程と、 前記プロセスプラント内の前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために、格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程と を含む、方法。
- 2前記エンティティステータスデータを収集する工程が、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記プロセスプラント内の前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記装置データおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程 を含む、前記プロセスプラント内の装置のステータスに関する装置データを収集する工程、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記プロセスプラント内の前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記プロセス制御データおよび格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、前記プロセスプラント内のプロセス制御アクティビティのステータスに関するプロセス制御データを収集する工程と、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記プロセスプラント内の前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記プロセス性能データおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、前記プロセスの性能に関するプロセス性能データを生成するためにプロセス性能監視を実行する工程と、のうちの1つ以上 を含む、請求項1記載の方法。
- 3前記エンティティステータスデータが、 前記エンティティに関する診断データ と、 前記エンティティに関するオンライン監視データと、 前記エンティティの問題に関するアラートデータと、 前記エンティティのステータスに関するユース指標と、のうちの1つ以上 を含 み、 前記ユース指標が、 前記エンティティの健全性を示す健全性指標と、 前記エンティティの相対的な性能を示す性能指標と、 前記エンティティのパラメータの偏差の量を示す変動性指標と、 前記エンティティの利用の程度を示す利用率指標と、のうちの1つ以上を含 む、請求項1記載の方法。
- 4前記プロセスプラント内の前 記機 能が 、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記診断機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程 を含む、診断機能と、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、プロセス制御パラメータを変更するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、プロセス制御機能と、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記エンティティステータスデータおよび前記重要度データを用いて表示端末を通じて表示スクリーンを作成するとともに表示するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、閲覧機能と、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記保守機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、保守機能と、 前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記プロセスプラント内の意思決定を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、意志決定機能と、のうちの1つ以上 を含む、請求項1記載の方法。
- 5前記診断機能が、装置監視診断機能、プロセス制御診断機能およびプロセス性能診断機能からなる群のうちの少なくとも1つを含む、請求項 4 記載の方法。
- 6前記 コンピュータに実装された機能 を実行するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、 前記エンティティを解析するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程 と、 前記エンティティ以外に前記プロセスプラントの特徴を解析するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程と、 自動化されたプロセスを開始させるために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程と、 前記エンティティの制御を最適化するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程と、 前記エンティティのパラメータを調節するために格納された前記エンティティステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程と、のうちの1つ以上 を含む、請求項 4 記載の方法。
- 7プロセスプラント内のプロセス制御システムであって、 前記プロセスプラント内の動作中の装置のステータスに関する装置ステータスデータを収集する装置監視デバイスと 、 前 記プロセスプラント内の前記 装置 の重要性に関する重要度データを格納するように構成されたデータベースと、 ここで、前記重要度データは、エンティティが前記プロセスプラント内の他のエンティティおよび/または動作に影響を与えるような、前記プロセスプラント内の前記装置の重要性を評価する故障防止計画の定量化の結果からなる、 前記プロセスプラント内の前記エンティティに関連付けられた修正措置のステータスに係る修正措置データを格納するように構成されたデータベースと、 前記重要度データ、前記装置ステータスデータおよび前記修正措置データを受け取るソフトウェアのルーチンを実装する、前記データベースに作用可能に結合されたコンピュータシステムとを備え、 前記装置ステータスデータ、前記重要度データおよび前記修正措置データが、前記データベースに格納されることで、前記プロセスプラント内のさらなる修正措置を含む前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために、これらのデータが前記 ソフトウェアのルーチンに対し 同時に利用可能にされており、 前記ソフトウェアのルーチンは前記プロセスプラント内の前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために、格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる、システム。
- 8前記装置ステータスデータが、 前記装置に関する診断データ と、 前記装置に関するオンライン監視データと、 前記装置の問題に関するアラートデータと、 前記装置のステータスに関するユース指標と、のうちの1つ以上 を含 み、 前記ユース指標が、 前記装置の健全性を示す健全性指標と、 前記装置の相対的な性能を示す性能指標と、 前記装置のパラメータの偏差の量を示す変動性指標と、 前記装置の利用の程度を示す利用率指標と、のうちの1つ以上を含 んでなる、請求項 7 記載のシステム。
- 9前記プロセスプラント内 の機 能が 、 前記ソフトウェアルーチンが、診断機能を実行するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと格納された前記重要度データを 組み合わせ る診断ルーチン を含む、診断機能と、 前記ソフトウェアルーチンが、プロセス制御パラメータを変更するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いるプロセス制御ルーチンを含む、プロセス制御機能と、 前記ソフトウェアルーチンが、格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いて表示端末を通じて表示スクリーンを作成するとともに表示するように構成される、閲覧機能と、 前記ソフトウェアルーチンが、前記保守機能を実行するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる保守ルーチンを含む、保守機能と、 前記ソフトウェアルーチンが、前記プロセスプラント内の意志決定を実行するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる意志決定ルーチンを含む、意志決定機能と、のうちの1つ以上 を含んでなる、請求項 7 記載のシステム。
- 10前記意志決定ルーチンが、 前記装置を解析するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる解析ルーチン と、 前記装置以外に前記プロセスプラントの特徴を解析するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる解析ルーチンと、 自動化されたプロセスを開始するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いるオートメーションルーチンと、 前記装置の制御を最適化するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる最適化ルーチンと、 前記装置のパラメータを調節するために格納された前記装置ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる調節ルーチンと、のうちの1つ以上 を含んでなる、請求項 9 記載のシステム。
- 11プロセスプラント内において複数の下位レベルエンティティを有するエンティティを監視する方法であって、 前記複数の下位レベルエンティティの動作中に前記複数の下位レベルエンティティの各々のステータスに関するステータスデータを受信する工程と、 前記複数の下位レベルエンティティ間における各下位レベルエンティティに対する重要性に関する重要度データを受信する工程と、 ここで、前記重要度データは、前記下位レベルエンティティが前記プロセスプラント内の他のエンティティおよび/または動作に影響を与えるような、前記プロセスプラント内の前記複数の下位レベルエンティティの各々の重要性を評価する故障防止計画の定量化の結果からなる、 前記プロセスプラント内の前記エンティティに関連付けられた修正措置のステータスに係る修正措置データを収集する工程と、 受信された前記ステータスデータと受信された前記重要度データと前記修正措置データとをデータベースに格納することで、前記プロセスプラント内のさらなる修正措置を含むコンピュータに実装された機能を実行するためにこれら のデータを同 時に利用可能にする工程と、 前記プロセスプラント内の前記コンピュータに実装された機能を実行するために、格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程と を含む方法。
- 12前記機能が 、 前記機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる 工程 が、前記エンティティの表現を表示する工程と、前記エンティティのステータスに関するステータスデータを前記エンティティの表現の近くに表示する工程 を含む、閲覧機能と、 格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることが、前記エンティティに関する診断機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、診断機能と、 機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記エンティティに関するプロセス制御パラメータを変更するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、プロセス制御機能と、 機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、下位レベルエンティティに関する保守機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、保守機能と、 機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程が、前記プロセスプラント内の意思決定を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いる工程を含む、意志決定機能と、のうちの1つ以上 を含む、請求項 11 記載の方法。
- 13前記診断機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることが、前記複数の下位レベルエンティティのうちの少なくとも1つに関する診断機能を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることを含む、請求項 12 記載の方法。
- 14前記エンティティのプロセス制御パラメータを変更するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることが、下位レベルエンティティのプロセス制御パラメータを変更するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることを含む、請求項 12 記載の方法。
- 15前記意志決定を実行するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データ用いることが、 下位レベルエンティティを解析するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いること と、 前記エンティティを解析するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることと、 下位レベルエンティティの制御を最適化するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることと、 前記エンティティの制御を最適化するために格納された前記ステータスデータおよび格納された前記修正措置データのうち少なくとも1つと共に格納された前記重要度データを用いることと、のうちの1つ以上 を含む、請求項 12 記載の方法。
Independent claims15
68 paragraphs, as filed
The present invention generally relates to a process control system within a process plant, and more particularly to monitoring assets within a process plant.
Process control systems used in chemical processes, petroleum processes or other processes are with at least one host or operator workstation via an analog bus, a digital bus, or a combined analog bus / digital bus bus. , One or more centralized process control devices or decentralized process control devices communicably coupled to one or more process control / measurement devices such as field devices. These field devices are, for example, valves, valve positioners, switches, transmitters, sensors (eg, temperature sensors, pressure sensors and flow rate sensors), etc., which perform in-process functions such as opening and closing valves and measuring process parameters. It has become like. The process controller receives signals that represent process measurements or process variables and / or other information about those field devices created or associated with the field device, and uses this information to execute control routines, and It is designed to generate control signals. These control signals are transmitted to the field device through one or more buses to control the operation of the process. Information from these field devices and controllers is typically made available to one or more applications running on the operator workstation, which allows the operator to view the current status of the process, of the process. It is possible to perform desired operations related to the process, such as changing behavior.
A typical process control system has multiple process control and measurement devices such as valves, transmitters, sensors, etc. connected to one or more process controllers, which the process controller can control during the operation of the process. Although it is designed to run controlling software, there are many other assistive devices necessary or related to running a process. For example, these additional devices include power supply equipment, power generation / distribution equipment, rotating equipment such as turbines, etc., which are installed in multiple locations within a typical plant. This additional device does not necessarily create or use process variables and, in most cases, is neither controlled nor coupled to a process controller for the purpose of affecting process behavior. However, this device is important for the proper operation of the process and is ultimately necessary.
In addition, many process plants have other computers coupled to the process plant to run applications related to business or maintenance functions. For example, some plants may have computers that run applications related to ordering raw materials, replacement parts, or plant devices, applications related to forecasting sales and production demands, and so on. Similarly, in most process plants, especially those that utilize smart field devices, these devices are in the plant regardless of whether they are process control / measurement devices or other types of devices. It has an application that is used to assist in the monitoring and maintenance of. For example, the Asset Management Solution (AMS) application sold by Fisher Rosemount enables communication with field devices to check and track the operational status of the field devices. It will be possible to store data related to the field device of. An example of such a system is disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,960,214 entitled "Integrated Communication Networks Used in Field Device Management Systems." In some cases, the AMC application communicates with the device to change parameters within the device, to force the device to run itself, for example, a self-calibration routine or a self-diagnosis routine, and It may also be used to obtain information about the status or health of the device. This information may be stored and used by maintenance personnel to monitor and maintain these devices. For example, AMS Device Manager (AMS Device) sold by Fisher Rosemount Systems. Manager) manages and performs online monitoring of devices such as valves, transmitters, etc. in the process plant to provide online monitoring data, diagnostics, alerts, etc. for various assets in the process plant. It is designed to do. Similarly, there are other types of applications that are used to monitor other types of devices such as rotating devices, power generating and supplying devices. For example, the AMS Machinery Manager sold by Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc. analyzes and manages rotating equipment in addition to pumps, motors and other equipment in the process plant. These other applications are typically available to maintenance workers and are used to monitor and maintain devices in process plants.
Judging from the fact that a typical process plant can easily provide hundreds of thousands of interconnected assets, some assets are more important to the processes within the plant or to the plant itself. For example, strategically used valves or transmitters can affect the operation of the entire process within a process plant as much as or more than a rotating device. An importance assessment service, such as the Fault Prevention Plan, provided by CSi Systems in Knoxville, Tennessee, to assess the various assets in the plant and determine their impact on other operations in the plant. It is provided. The resulting valuation provides information about the importance of each asset in the plant. Specifically, maintenance priority indicators are provided to quantitatively measure the importance of an asset to the loop, subunit, unit, area or plant to which the asset belongs. Such information is very useful in planning plant operations, such as procedures for dealing with individual asset failures.
Also, typical process plants provide maintenance systems and maintenance applications such as Computer Maintenance Management systems work / parts purchase order creation routines and other maintenance applications. These can be used to create work and parts purchase orders in response to detection of problems with plant assets. These purchase orders can be tracked to monitor the execution and completion of maintenance activities. Such maintenance systems and maintenance applications further have data on the assets in the plant, including procedures for maintaining and repairing the assets.
<p num="0007"><patcit num="1"><text>U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,214</text></patcit></p>
<p num="0008"> However, in a typical plant or process, process control activity, device / equipment maintenance activity, monitoring activity, and importance assessment activity. The roles of tees and business activities are divided according to where these activities take place and the workers who normally perform these activities. Moreover, different people involved in these different roles typically utilize different tools, such as different applications, running on different computers to fulfill these different roles.</p><p num="0009"> A large number of data analysis tools and other detection and diagnostic tools available in the process control environment, either on the plant itself or through an external service company or consultant, are available to maintenance workers and useful to process operators and business people. There is a lot of information related to the condition and performance of the device. Similarly, there is a great deal of information about the current operational status of process control loops and other routines that are available to process operators and can be useful to maintenance workers or business people. In addition, importance information can be useful to everyone in the plant. For example, maintenance workers find information about the importance of individual assets to be very helpful in creating, directing, and prioritizing work and parts purchase orders. However, traditionally, these functions have been separated so that status information, importance information and corrective action information generated or collected in one functional area is not used at all or is sufficient in other functional areas. Was not used, resulting in the use of assets in the process plant in a less optimal state as a whole.</p>
<p num="0010"> Process control systems include data collection and distribution systems that collect and store data from a variety of data sources, with each data source first having its own claimable way to acquire or create data. Is used. The data collection and distribution system then makes the stored data available in any desired way to other applications related to or provided in the process control system or applications related to the data source itself. To do. In this way, applications use data from a wide variety of data sources to improve their understanding or insight into the current operational status of the plant and to complete maintenance decisions about the plant. Is possible. Therefore, to explore a better picture or condition of the process control plant or to take better corrective action within the plant, from a different collection system such as status information, importance information and corrective action. Applications that combine or use data may be provided. For example, information or data about the status of various devices or other entities in the plant can be collected. Similarly, importance information regarding the importance of a device or entity may be collected, and information regarding the status of corrective actions related to the device or entity may be collected.</p><p num="0011"> Status data and importance to use the disclosed data acquisition and distribution systems to improve and perform functions within the plant, including, for example, monitoring, diagnostics, maintenance, decision making, analysis, control and optimization. Data may be combined. In addition, status data and corrective action status data may be combined to improve and implement corrective actions within the plant using the disclosed data collection and distribution system. In addition, status and corrective action data may be combined with importance data to improve and implement corrective actions within the plant. Similarly, upon detecting a problem, such systems and methods may automatically place or change replacement parts orders, work orders or other corrective actions. Of course, the combination of status data, severity data and / or corrective action data provides various and more complete information about the status of assets in the process control plant for all areas of the process plant. There are many other types of applications that can help There are many.</p>
<figref num="1">It is the schematic of the process plant which displays an example of the hierarchical structure of the equipment and instruction introduced in a process plant.</figref><figref num="2">It is a data and information flow diagram related to the asset monitoring and maintenance system in the plant in Fig. 1.</figref><figref num="3">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information, importance information and corrective action information for high priority assets.</figref><figref num="4">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information, importance information and corrective action information of lower level entities.</figref><figref num="5">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information, importance information and corrective action information of lower level entities.</figref><figref num="6">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information, importance information and corrective action information of lower level entities.</figref><figref num="7">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information, importance information and corrective action information of lower level entities.</figref><figref num="8">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information of a higher level entity.</figref><figref num="9">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information of a higher level entity.</figref><figref num="10">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view status information, importance information and corrective action information of a lower level entity within a higher level entity.</figref><figref num="11">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view alert information.</figref><figref num="12">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow a user to view audit trail information of historical matters.</figref><figref num="13">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow the user to view various levels of status information within the plant.</figref><figref num="14">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow the user to view various levels of status information within the plant.</figref><figref num="15">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow the user to browse various data sources within the plant.</figref><figref num="16">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow the user to browse various data sources within the plant.</figref><figref num="17">It is an example of a graphic display screen that can be provided by a graphical user interface to allow the user to browse various data sources within the plant.</figref>
Referring to FIG. 1, the process plant 10 comprises a plurality of business computer systems and other computer systems interconnected to a plurality of control and maintenance systems by one or more communication networks. The process plant 10 includes one or more process control systems 12 and 14. The process control system 12 may be a conventional process control system such as a PROVOX system or RS3 system or other DCS. The other DCSs referred to herein have an operator interface 12A, which is coupled to controller 12B, then controller 12B is coupled to input / output (I / O) card 12C, and then this input. The output (I / O) card 12C is coupled to various field devices such as analog field devices and fast addressable remote transmitter (HART) field devices 15. The process control system 14, which may be a distributed process control system, comprises one or more operator interfaces 14A coupled to one or more distributed controllers 14B via a bus such as an Ethernet® bus. ing. For example, controller 14B may be a DeltaV® controller sold by Fischer-Rosemount Systems, Inc. in Austin, Texas, or any other desired controller. It may be a type of controller.
The control device 14B is, for example, a HART field device, a Fieldbus fillered device, or of the PROFIBUS® protocol, WORLDFIPR® protocol, Device-Net® protocol, AS-Interface protocol, and CAN protocol. It is connected via an I / O device to one or more field devices, such as other smart field devices or non-smart field devices, including field devices that use either. As is known, the field device 16 may provide the controller 14B with analog or digital information related to process variables and other device information. The operator interface 14A can store and execute tools that can be used by process control operators to control the behavior of processes, including, for example, control optimizers, diagnostic experts, neural networks, tuners, and so on.
In addition, AMS devices sold by Fisher Rosemount Systems. A maintenance system, such as a computer that runs an AMS application or other device monitoring and communication application, such as a manager, connects to process control systems 12, 14 or individual devices within the process control system to perform maintenance and monitoring activities. Can be done. For example, the maintenance computer 18 may have any desired communication line or network (wireless network) to communicate with device 15, possibly reconfigure device 15, or perform other maintenance activities on device 15. Or it can be connected to controller 12B and / or device 15 via a mobile device network). Similarly, maintenance applications, such as AMS applications, are implemented in one or more of the user interfaces 14A associated with the distributed process control system 14 to perform maintenance and monitoring functions, including data collection related to the operational status of device 16. And can be performed by these.
The process control plant 10 is also connected via a specific permanent or temporary communication link (eg, a portable device connected to, reads, and removed from a bus, wireless communication system, or rotating device 20). Connected to maintenance computer 22 It is also equipped with various rotating devices 20 such as turbines and motors. The maintenance computer 22 is, for example, RBMware (RBMware, a registered trademark) sold by CSI Systems in Knoxville, Tennessee, AMS Machine Nari Manager sold by Fisher Rosemount Systems, or other known applications. It is possible to execute such a known monitoring / diagnostic application 23 to diagnose, monitor and optimize the operating state of the rotating device 20. The maintenance worker determines the performance of the rotating device 20 in the plant 10, determines the problem with the rotating device 20, and determines when or necessary the rotating device 20 needs to be repaired or replaced. Therefore, application 23 is often used.
Similarly, the power generation / distribution system 24 having the power generation / distribution device 25 related to the plant 10 executes the power generation / distribution device 25 in the plant 10 and monitors its operation, for example, via a bus. Connected to your computer. The computer 26 may run known power control and diagnostic applications 27, such as those provided by Liebert and ASCO or other companies, to control and maintain the power generator and distributor 25.
A computer system 30 is provided that is communicably coupled to a computer or interface associated with various functional systems within plant 10. These functional systems include maintenance and business functions implemented on process control functions 12, 14, computers 18, 14A, 22, and 26. Specifically, the computer system 30 is communicably connected to the conventional process control system 12 and the maintenance interface 18 associated with this control system to the process control and / or maintenance interface 14A of the distributed process control system 14. It is connected and connected to the rotating device maintenance computer 22 and the power generation / distribution computer 26. Bus 32 is used for all of these connections. Bus 32 may utilize a desired or appropriate local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) protocol for communication. Alternatively or in addition to this, computer system 30 process control system 12, distributed process control system 14, maintenance interface 18, process control and / or maintenance interface 14A, rotating equipment maintenance computer 22 and / or power generation and distribution. Computers 26 may be coupled to each other over the Internet and communicate according to an Internet compatible protocol. Therefore, plant 10 may be provided with browsing and control functions by one or more remote facilities for browsing and controlling various systems, computers and routines within plant 10.
In addition to the above, the remote monitoring facility may be communicably coupled to Plant 10 via the Internet for further access to analytical and diagnostic resources. In one embodiment, plant 10 may be coupled to a failure prevention planning system. This failure prevention planning system includes analysis of assets in various plants and prioritizes assets according to their importance to the plant or systems within the plant to provide importance data.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the computer 30 is also connected to the business system computer and the maintenance planning computers 35, 36 via the same or different network bus 32, and these computers are, for example, integrated core business. Planning (ERP), Enterprise Resource Planning (MRP), Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) including work order creation and tracking tools such as SAP and Maximo sold by Fisher Rosemount Systems, Accounting Reporting and Production Customer ordering system, maintenance planning system, parts / replenishment / raw material ordering application, production planning application, etc. It is possible to run other desired business applications. An example of a work purchase order and parts purchase order creation and tracking tool was filed on February 28, 2002 and is a US patent entitled "Automatic Work Purchase Order / Parts Purchase Order Creation and Tracking". It is disclosed in Application No. 10 / 086,159. This document is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In addition to the plant-wide LAN37 and corporate WAN38, the computer 30 is also connected to a computer system 40 that enables remote monitoring of the plant 10 or communication with the plant 10 from a remote location, for example, via a bus 32. ..
In one embodiment, communication via bus 32 is performed using the XML / XSL protocol. Here, the data from individual computers such as computers 12A, 18, 14A, 22, 26, 35, 36 are wrapped in an XML / XSL wrapper and sent to an XML / XSL data server that can be installed in computer 30, for example. To. Since XML / XSL is a descriptive language, this server can handle any type of data. On the server, this data is encapsulated in a new XML / XSL wrapper, if necessary. That is, this data is mapped from one XML / XSL schema to one or more XML / XSL schemas on the other. These other schemas are created for each of the receiving applications. Thus, each data originator can wrap the data using a schema that is easy for the originator's device or application to understand or use, and the receiving application will each be the receiving application. This data can be received in another schema that is used in or is easy for the receiving application to understand. The server is configured to map from one schema to the other depending on the source and destination of the data. If desired, the server may also perform certain data processing functions or other functions based on the receipt of data. Before the system described in this specification operates, the rules of the mapping function and the processing function are set and stored in the server. In this way, data can be transmitted from any one application to one or more other applications.
Generally speaking, the computer 30 stores and executes the asset utilization expert 50. Asset Utilization Expert 50 uses data and other information generated by process control systems 12, 14, maintenance systems 18, 22, 26, and business systems 35, 36, as well as data analysis tools performed in each of these systems. Collect the generated information. The Asset Utilization Expert 50 may be based on, for example, the OZ Expert System currently provided by NEXUS. However, the Asset Utilization Expert 50 can be any other desired type of expert system, including, for example, any type of data mining system. For an example of an asset utilization expert, U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,532 granted to Eryurek et al. (Issued November 2, 2004), which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. It is disclosed in.
Asset Utilization Expert 50 acts as a data and information exchange in Process Plant 10 to coordinate the distribution of data or information from one functional area, such as a maintenance area, to the other, such as a process control area or business functional area. Is possible. Asset Utilization Expert 50 may also use the collected data to generate new information or data. These new information or data can be distributed to one or more of the computer systems associated with the various functions within the plant 10. In addition, Asset Utilization Expert 50 may run or monitor other applications that utilize the collected data to generate new types of data used within Process Control Plant 10.
Specifically, the Asset Utilization Expert 50 may or may be equipped with index generation software 51. The indicator generation software 51 relates to indicators related to devices such as process control / measurement devices, power generating devices, rotating devices, units, areas, etc., or process control entities such as loops in plant 10. Create an index.
These indicators can then be sent to the process control application to assist in optimizing the process control and to provide the business person with more complete or more understandable information about the operation of the plant 10. Can be sent to business software or business applications. The Asset Utilization Expert 50 also provides maintenance data (eg, device status information) and business to the Control Expert 52 associated with, for example, Process Control System 14 to assist the operator in performing control activities such as control optimization. Data (eg order schedules, timeframes, etc.) can also be sent. The control expert 52 may be mounted, for example, on the user interface 14A, or, if desired, on another computer associated with the control system 14 or within the computer 30.
In one embodiment, Control Expert 52 was issued, for example, to Schleiss et al. (October 2, 2001), US Pat. No. 6,298,454 and Schleiss et al. It may be the control expert described in US Pat. No. 6,633,782, published in al.) (October 14, 2003). These documents are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. However, these control experts may further incorporate and use data regarding the status of the device or other hardware within the process plant 10 in the decisions made by the control expert. Specifically, traditionally, software control experts have typically used only process variable data and certain limited device status data to make decisions or make recommendations to process operators. Since the asset utilization expert 50 provides communication regarding device status information as provided by the computer systems 18, 14A, 22, 26 and the data analysis tools performed therein, the control expert 52 is in the process of making that decision. Device status information such as health information, performance information, utilization information and variability information can be received and incorporated along with variable information.
In addition to the above, the asset utilization expert 50 can provide the business systems 35 and 36 with information related to the device state and the execution state of the control activity in the plant 10. Here, for example, a work purchase order creation application or program 54, such as a computer maintenance management system, can automatically create a work purchase order and request parts based on a problem detected in plant 10. Yes, or here you can request replenishment based on the work being done. Similarly, when the asset utilization expert 50 detects a change in the control system, the business systems 35, 36 may execute an application that performs planning and replenishment request, for example, using program 54. Similarly, changes such as customer orders can be entered in business systems 35 and 36. This data is sent to the Asset Utilization Expert 50 and sent to the Control Routine or Control Expert 52 to bring about control changes, such as starting to make a newly ordered product or within business systems 35, 36. You can make changes that have been made. Of course, if desired, each computer system connected to bus 32 gets the appropriate data from other applications in the computer and has an application inside it that acts to send this data to, for example, the Asset Utilization Expert 50. May have in.
In addition, the Asset Utilization Expert 50 can send information to one or more optimizers 55 within the plant 10. For example, a control optimizer 55 can be implemented on computer 14A, which can execute one or more control optimization routines, and so on. In addition to or in place of this, computer 30 or other computer can store and execute the optimizer routine 55, and the asset utilization expert 50 can send the required data. An example of an asset optimizer is the AMS optimizer sold by Fisher Rosemount Systems. If desired, the plant 10 may have a model 56 that models a particular feature of the plant 10. These models 56 may be run by a control expert or other expert, such as Asset Utilization Expert 50 or Control Expert 52, to perform modeling functions. The purpose of modeling will be described in more detail herein. However, generally speaking, it is used within plant 10 to detect defective sensors or other defective equipment as part of the optimizer routine 55 to determine device parameters, area parameters, unit parameters, loop parameters, etc. Model 56 can be used to generate indicators such as performance and utilization indicators to be performed, to perform performance or condition monitoring, and for many other applications. Model 56 is located in Teeside, England (MDC Technology located in Teeside,) It can be a model created and sold by MDC technology in England), or it can be any other desired type of model. Of course, there are many other applications that can be installed in plant 10 and that can use data from the Asset Utilization Expert 50, and the systems described herein are limited to those specifically mentioned herein. It is not something that is done. Overall, however, Asset Utilization Expert 50 optimizes the use of all assets within Plant 10 by enabling data sharing and asset coordination across all functional areas of Plant 10. I am assisting you to do so.
The Asset Utilization Expert 50 receives the data at the same time as the data is generated or at a specific periodic time through the bus 32 or any other communication network within the process control plant 10. Then, on a regular or as-needed basis, the Asset Utilization Expert 50 redistributes this data to other applications or uses this data to benefit the various control or operating conditions of Process Plant 10. Generate other information and provide it to other functional systems in plant 10. Specifically, the Asset Utilization Expert 50 is a performance indicator, utilization indicator, health indicator associated with one or more of the devices, units, loops, areas, or other entities within Process Plant 10. And data can be supplied to force the indicator generation routine 51 to create a set of comprehensive indicators, such as variability indicators. These indicators will be described in more detail herein.
The model leverages many new types of data or information for business, process control, and asset maintenance and monitoring applications. Specifically, the model can be used to perform performance monitoring and generate performance indicators that indicate the relative performance of devices, units, areas, etc. within the plant. This figure of merit can be a measure of an entity's performance relative to the entity's potential performance. Although it is possible to create and run device and unit models, performance evaluation and optimization criteria for these types of entities by creating and running similar models for process control entities such as loops, units, etc. May be provided. In some cases, models may be used to measure or indicate the health of a particular device or the health of other entities and to provide health indicators that represent these entities. For example, the error measurements of some input and output sensors obtained by regression analysis used in a model are these devers. It can be used as a health index for chairs or converted into a health index for these devices. In addition, information that is not normally available to the process control device, such as model parameters and measurements of virtual sensors based on these models, can be provided to the process control device or business person for use in multiple ways.
In addition to performance and health indicators, the Asset Utilization Expert 50 can assist the indicator creation routine 51 in creating other types of indicators such as utilization and volatility indicators. A variability indicator is the degree to which any signal transmitted to a device, loop, unit, etc., any signal delivered from them, or any other parameter associated with them fluctuates with the expected variation of this signal or parameter. Shown in comparison with degree. The data required to generate this volatility index can be collected by the Asset Utilization Expert 50 and provided to the index generation routine 51 at any desired or convenient time. Of course, the normal variation of a signal or parameter can be set by a manufacturer, engineer, operator, or maintenance worker familiar with the entity, or a statistical measure associated with that entity or other similar entity in the plant. It can be based on (eg, mean, standard deviation). This normal or predicted deviation can be stored by or updated within the indicator generation routine 51 or the indicator grand total routine 60.
Utilization indicators, in any form, track or reflect the utilization of individual devices, units, loops, or other entities, and these entities are overused or based on previously determined benchmarks or driving goals. It can provide some indication of underuse. Utilization indicators can be generated based on the measured utilization of the actual device. For example, a device is measured in terms of how often it is used in a process or how often it is left idling, and this metric is compared to the desired frequency of use for that entity. It can be determined whether the entity is overused or underused. Utilization indicators can identify devices, units, loops, etc. that are not used or should be used, in other words, overused and therefore overused. In some cases, utilization indicators may be based on business decisions made regarding the proper or desired use of a device.
Also, generally speaking, one or more of the computers in the plant 10 can store and execute one or more user interface routines 58. For example, computer 30, user interface 14A, business system computer 35, or other computer may execute user interface routine 58. Each user interface routine 58 can receive information from asset utilization expert 50, AMS application, maintenance computer 18, business computer 35,36, failure prevention plan evaluation, etc., and the same set or different sets of data can be received from each user interface routine 58. Can be sent to. Any one of the user interface routines 58 can provide different types of information to different users using different screens. For example, one of the user interface routines 58 sets or optimizes constraints for use in a standard control routine or control optimization routine by providing a control operator or business person with a screen or a set of screens. It may allow the control operator or business person to select variables. User interface routine 58 also provides the user with information about device state, control loop state, unit state, etc., such as status and severity, when other software in process plant 10 has detected this information. It is possible to provide control guidance tools that can be retrieved and easily browsed for information about problems with these entities. In addition, the control guidance tool allows the operator or other person to detect or predict problems with plant assets, including maintenance and corrective actions provided by CMMS, such as work orders, parts orders or other corrective actions. It is possible to view and change the status of maintenance actions related to resolving.
User interface routine 58 is also model-generated performance monitoring in collaboration with performance monitoring data or asset utilization expert 50 provided or generated by maintenance programs such as tools 23, 27, AMS applications, or other maintenance programs. The data can be used to provide a performance monitoring screen. Of course, user interface routine 58 provides access to some or all functional areas of plant 10 to any user, allowing users to modify choices or other variables in these areas. sell.
With reference to FIG. 2, a data flow diagram showing a portion of the data flow between the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 and another data tool or data source is shown. Specifically, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 is a multiplexer, transmitter, sensor, portable device, control system, radio frequency (RF) transceiver, online control system, web server, historian, control module or process control plant 10. Other control applications within, interfaces such as user interfaces and I / O interfaces, buses (eg Fieldbus buses, HART buses and Ethernet® buses), data servers such as valves, transceivers, sensors, servers and controllers. Monitoring information can be received from multiple data acquisition devices or data sources such as other plant assets such as process instruments, rotating devices, electrical equipment, power generators, variable speed drivers, etc. This data can have any desired form based on how other functional systems generate or use the data. In addition, this data can be transmitted to the Asset Utilization Expert 50 using any of the desired or appropriate communication protocols and communication hardware, such as the XML protocol described above. However, generally speaking, plant 10 is configured such that the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 automatically receives certain types of data from one or more data sources.
In addition, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 is described in typical maintenance data analysis tools available today, performance tracking tools such as those attached to devices, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,298,454 and 6,633,782 above. Information is being received from data analysis tools such as performance tracking tools for process control systems, such as those that have been used. In addition, these data analysis tools include, for example, root cause applications that detect the root cause of certain types of problems, event detection applications such as those described in US Pat. No. 6,017,143, as used herein. A regulatory loop diagnostic application, such as that described in US Pat. No. 6,397,114 (issued March 28, 2002), issued to Elurek et al. Impulse pipe clogging detection applications, such as those disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,654,697 (issued November 25, 2003), issued to Elurek et al., Which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Includes pipe blockage detection application, device status application, online device monitoring application, device configuration application, device storage, historian and information display tools, online monitoring tools such as AMS Device Manager and AMS Machinery Manager, Explorer application, Audit Trail application It can be. Monitoring and analysis data, including the youth indicators mentioned above, may be further received from the Asset Utilization Expert 50.
In addition, the Asset Monitoring and Maintenance System 60 provides CMMS and other work purchase order creation routes. Maintenance data about maintenance activity within process plant 10 can be received from maintenance application 66, including Chin 54. For example, the Asset Monitoring and Maintenance System 60 is a maintenance application 66 that includes purchase order details such as work purchase order application, purchase order status, personnel, parts, asset maintenance procedures, and the date and time the purchase order was created. Data related to work purchase orders and parts purchase orders created by can be received. Further information received by the Asset Monitoring and Maintenance System 60 may include details regarding asset issues and expected issues, alerts or alarms that have prompted the purchase order.
In addition, the Asset Monitoring and Maintenance System 60 is a process control data analysis tool such as Advanced Control Expert 52, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein, to Wojsznis et al. Blevins et al. (Blevins et al.), As described in US Pat. No. 6,721,609 (issued April 13, 2004), and expressly incorporated herein by reference. In addition to model predictive control process routines, tuning routines, fuzzy logic control routines, and neural network control routines, such as those described in US Pat. No. 6,445,963 (issued September 3, 2002) issued in et al.). As set forth herein by reference in US Pat. No. 5,680,409 issued to Quin et al., Which can be incorporated herein by reference herein. Data and any information can be received from such virtual sensors.
In addition, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 is an oil associated with online vibrating equipment, RF radio sensors, portable data collection units, rotating equipment, all of which can be associated with detecting problems or status of rotating equipment in process plant 10. Information can be received from data analysis tools associated with rotating devices such as analyzers, thermography, ultrasonic systems and laser alignment balancing systems. These tools are currently known in the art and are not described further herein.
In addition, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 receives data related to power management and power equipment supplies, such as applications 23, 27 of Figure 1, which may include tools to monitor and analyze any desired power management and power equipment. Can be done. Additional data sources from which the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 can receive data are control routines, optimizations that are installed on the process controller or the interfaces associated with these controllers and can provide process control data in addition to the data described above. Includes an optimizer 55 that can provide data, a model 56 that can provide the indicators and process performance data mentioned above, a business application 64, and so on.
In addition, asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 may receive importance data from failure prevention plan assessment 68, which may be provided within plant 10 or through a database as a remote service. In general, failure prevention plan evaluation is such that an asset has a hierarchical structure composed of other assets. For example, various devices or devices in a process plant may be divided into physical and / or logical groups and interconnected to create a logical process such as a control loop. Similarly, control loops may be interconnected with other control loops and / or devices to form subunits. A subunit may be interconnected with another subunit to form a unit, or this unit may be interconnected with another unit to form an area. Generally, a process plant contains an interconnected area, and generally a business entity contains an interconnectable process plant. Therefore, the process plant contains multiple levels of hierarchies in which the assets are interconnected, and the business enterprise is interconnected. Can include process plants that are With this configuration, users can view and manage plant 10 and system and asset maintenance activities within that plant 10. Corresponding importance data is relevant to the importance of assets within plant 10 and can be useful when viewing status information and making maintenance decisions.
Importance data may be provided as a result of onsite evaluation by service personnel, such as the defect prevention planning service provided by the CSi system in Knoxville, Tennessee. This involves assessing various assets within the plant and determining their impact on other operations within the plant, including process control operations, business functions, maintenance functions, and so on. For example, a device (eg, a strategically placed valve) is considered to be more important for larger loops, subunits, units, areas, etc., of which the device is a part. If this device fails, it will have a greater impact on loops, subunits, units, areas, etc. than if other devices (eg, rotating devices) fail. Therefore, such devices should take precedence over other devices. And other devices can have varying degrees of importance within a loop, subunit, unit or area. The on-site evaluation concludes that such equipment is of great importance as it has a significant impact within the plant. Importance data for a device can be expressed as a quantitative interpretation, such as a maintenance priority indicator, reflecting the fact that the device has greater importance than other devices.
In one embodiment, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 will use the data received from the data sources described above to monitor the status of different assets within plant 10 or business entities at different tier levels. ing. Specifically, by collecting asset status and importance data from disparate sources to a common source, the Asset Monitoring and Maintenance System 60 loops, subunits, units, areas to different users. It is possible to browse the status information and importance data of the equipment in order to improve the understanding of the importance of the equipment to the plant, etc. The asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 allows users to view assets at different tier levels, allowing users to view loop status and its importance, subunit stators and their importance, and more. Can be done. This allows the user to make more informed decisions in response to the status of various assets.
In addition, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 can provide data to integrated line-of-business planning tools such as business solutions or tools commonly used in business computers 35, 36. These applications include production planning, production planning tools that control material resource planning, work purchase order creation tools 54 that automatically create parts purchase orders, work purchase orders or replenishment purchase orders used in business applications. Can be included. Of course, the creation of parts purchase orders, work purchase orders and replacement purchase orders may be completed automatically by the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 as described below, which requires repair of an asset. Will reduce the time required to recognize that it will take time to obtain the parts needed to take corrective action on maintenance issues.
The asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 can also provide information to the maintenance system application 66. The maintenance system application 66 not only promptly alerts maintenance workers of problems, but also takes corrective action, such as ordering parts needed to solve the problem. In addition, a new model 56 can be generated with a type of information that was previously unavailable for a single system but is now available for the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60. Of course, as is clear from Figure 2, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 not only receives information or data from data models and analysis tools, but also comprehensive operations. It also receives information from tools, maintenance tools, and process control tools, and also provides information to those tools. For example, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 is a plant to improve diagnostics, analysis, optimization, maintenance decisions, business decisions, process control decisions, etc. for any hierarchical level within process plant 10. Data can be returned to Control Expert 52, Asset Utilization Expert 50, Business Application 64, Optimizer 55, Maintenance System 66, Control Routine 62, Model 56 and other systems within 10. For example, Asset Utilization Expert 50, Optimizer 55, Control Expert 52, Control Routine 62 and Process Control Operators improve their optimization decisions within Plant 10 by improving their understanding of the status of the plant's assets with respect to materiality. Can be done. Similarly, maintenance systems 66, work purchase order creation routines 54 and maintenance workers improve maintenance decisions such as the order in which assets are repaired or maintained, work purchase order or parts purchase order creation and wise decisions, and more. sell. Business applications 64 and business personals can use data from asset monitoring and maintenance systems 60 to improve business decisions regarding production, replenishment orders, and so on.
In addition to the above, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 monitors (and actually executes) corrective actions in plant 10, including corrective actions provided by CMMS, work order creation routine 54, maintenance system application 66, and so on. Can). As mentioned above, maintenance workers can improve decisions about which asset to repair, including work purchase order and parts purchase order priorities, to repair a problem with an asset. In addition, maintenance workers or other users view the status of work purchase orders and parts purchase orders created by CMMS, work purchase order creation routine 54, maintenance system application 66, etc., and such purchase order status. Can make decisions based on. Created but not yet signed work purchase orders or parts purchase orders accelerate the order of critical assets with poor status or schedule requests to the importance of the corresponding asset, based on the importance of the asset. It may be given new priorities to rebuild on the basis. In addition, purchase order details, including adding parts or ordering different parts, adding work, changing the frequency of maintenance activities, assigning additional or different maintenance workers to repairing an asset, are the status and importance of the asset. Can be modified by the user based on gender. Thus, users can better optimize maintenance activity within plant 10 as well as track maintenance activity within plant 10, and loops, subunits, units, areas or plants rather than based solely on asset status. Maintenance activities can also be directed based on the importance of the asset to.
In one embodiment, the above activities include monitoring an existing purchase order or other maintenance activity, modifying an existing maintenance activity, initiating a new maintenance activity, reprioritizing the maintenance activity, and so on. It may be equipped with an expert engine that may have a set of rules that use status data, maintenance data and / or severity data to perform. In one embodiment, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 may resemble a work purchase order creation routine 54. Therefore, for critical assets that show poor status, the problem will be automatically analyzed, the cause will be determined, and a solution will be provided. This solution may be based on maintenance procedures previously created and received by CMMS or other maintenance application 66. Therefore, the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 assigns individual maintenance workers to the problem, orders individual parts, etc. to solve the problem, and conveys the order to the appropriate person, supplier, etc. Appropriate work purchase orders and / or parts purchase orders can be automatically generated for the details of the problem, including. Alternatively, a work purchase order or parts purchase order previously created by CMMS or the work purchase order creation routine 54 is an asset to provide the best response to problems in plant 10 and to better utilize maintenance resources. Automatically modified by monitoring and maintenance system 60 May be good.
In addition, one or more coordinated user interface routines 58 provide assistance and visualization to operators, maintenance workers, business people, etc. in the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 and others in plant 10. You may communicate with the application. Operators and other users can perform predictive control, change plant 10 settings, view help within plant 10, or use the information provided by the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60. Coordinated user interface routines 58 may be used to perform other related activities. As mentioned above, user interface routine 58 provides an operator guidance tool that receives information from the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60, which is used to view the status of processes or devices within the process, view the status of corrective actions. It may be used by an operator or other user to assist in performing many functions, such as initiating a new corrective action, modifying an existing corrective action, and so on. In addition, User Interface Routine 58 retrieves data from or from any of the tools within the other parts of Process Plant 10, for example through Asset Utilization Expert 50 and Fault Prevention Plan Evaluation 68. Can be used to For example, a manager may want to know what is happening in a process, or may need higher-level information related to process plant 10 to make strategic plans.
User Interface Routine 58 provides a graphical user interface (GUI), which is integrated with the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 described herein and is provided by the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60. It facilitates the interaction between the user and the monitoring and maintenance functions. However, before discussing the GUI in more detail, it should be recognized that the GUI can have one or more software routines implemented using any suitable programming language and programming technique. Further, the software routines that make up the GUI may be stored and processed in a single processing station or unit such as a workstation, controller, etc. in the plant 10, or the software routine of the GUI may contain multiple processing units. It may be stored and executed in a way that it is used and distributed. These processing units are communicatively coupled within the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60. For example, the user interface routine 58 and GUI may be incorporated as part of a web-based software routine. This web-based software routine allows users to view status, importance and maintenance data through network connections such as plant-wide LAN37, the Internet or other communication systems, thereby allowing users to view devices, loops, units, areas, Allows the status, importance and any relevant corrective actions for, etc. to be viewed far away from the location where this device, loop, unit, area, etc. are installed or far away from Process Plant 10. For example, these reports or summaries can be sent to telephones, pagers, emails, and so on. This can be especially useful when reporting speed is important (eg, device failure alerts). Pagers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, email addresses, laptop computers An example of a method and system that could allow a user to view data to a computer, desktop computer, or other type of device or hardware platform through a communication system was filed on April 15, 2002, "Process Control." It is disclosed in US Patent Application No. 10 / 123,445 entitled "Web Services-Based Communications Used in Systems". This document is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Although preferred but not necessary, GUIs can be implemented using well-known graphical windowed structures and appearances. Here, multiple graphical devices linked to each other A user or page has one or more pull-down menus that allow the user to navigate through those pages in the desired way and browse and / or search for certain types of information. The features and / or functions of the Asset Monitoring and Maintenance System 60 described above can be viewed, accessed and invoked via one or more corresponding pages, views or display screens in its GUI. In addition, the various display screens that make up the GUI are logically linked to each other, allowing users to quickly and intuitively navigate through all display screens to search for specific types of information or monitor assets. And can access and / or call certain functions of maintenance system 60.
Generally speaking, the GUI described herein provides an intuitive graphical drawing or display screen for business entities, process plants 10, process control areas, units, loops, devices, and the like. Each of these graphical display screens may have numerical and descriptive status and importance information associated with a view displayed by the GUI. For example, a display screen that draws a process control area may be a set of indicators that reflect the status of that area (ie, some part of the process control system at some level in the device hierarchy) and the maintenance priority or importance of that area. It is possible to provide a quantitative representation of. In contrast, a display screen that draws a device can provide a set of status and performance indicators for that particular device. In any case, the user has a problem with any of the devices, loops, etc. drawn within any view, page or display screen using the status and importance information displayed within that display screen. It is possible to quickly evaluate whether or not to do so and evaluate the optimal response to the problem.
In addition, the GUI described herein may provide maintenance information to the user, either automatically or in response to the user's request. This maintenance information may be provided by any part of the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60. Similarly, the GUI can display alarm information, process control information, and the like, which information may also be provided by the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60. In addition, the GUI may provide users with messages about problems that have occurred or may occur within plant 10. These messages describe the problem, suggest promising changes that can be made to avoid the current problem, or promising changes that can be made to avoid potential problems, and to resolve or avoid the problem. It may have graphical information, and / or textual information, such as describing a possible action plan.
Figure 3 provides users with status data, severity data, and corrective action data to quickly analyze assets within a business entity or plant 10 that are determined to have a high priority over maintenance activities. This is an example of a graphic display screen description that can be provided by a GUI. As shown in Figure 3, the GUI graphically presents assets with high priority for maintenance activity. Specifically, the GUI provides 100 details about an asset, including an alphanumeric identifier (eg, CR-2000) that uniquely identifies the asset in the plant. For each asset, a corresponding asset description, asset type, manufacturer and model may be provided within the display screen.
For each asset, the importance of the asset as provided by the failure prevention plan evaluation is displayed. As shown in Figure 3, importance is provided as a quantitative number 102, but it goes without saying that letter-numerical representations of different degrees of importance, different colors or shapes, or Expressions of various importance, such as other visual representations, may be used. Ideally, an expression should be provided that allows the user to immediately confirm the importance of the asset.
Similarly, the status of each asset is displayed as a quantitative value 104 with colors and shading to immediately confirm the status of the device. As an example, the soundness index values of assets with high priority are displayed. However, if desired, different status information may be displayed for any asset, examples of which are provided throughout this specification. As is clear from the display screen shown in Figure 3, the user is in need of urgent medical attention, that is, any asset in plant 10 may cause any problems and / or need prompt corrective action. You can quickly determine what you are doing. Not all assets have poor soundness, but a criticity value of 102 indicates that they are poor, even if the soundness is relatively small. Assets to optimize this loop, subunit, unit, area or plant because may have a significant impact on the loops, subunits, units, areas or plants that make up part of it. It may suggest that maintenance is required.
A summary of additional status information 106 for the asset is displayed, including information indicating the various diagnoses or analyzes performed on the asset (eg, oil analysis, ultrasound analysis, vibration analysis, infrared thermography analysis, calibration, etc.). .. It goes without saying that various other graphical drawings may be used, but the status or result of each analysis may be drawn using alphanumeric and / or color / shading associated notation. As mentioned above, purchase orders such as work purchase orders and parts purchase orders may be created by CMMS or the work purchase order creation routine 54. If present, the purchase order status 108 for each asset is displayed.
As evidenced by browsing the GUI in Figure 3, the user is given a plant-wide view of the asset, sequentially browsing the lower level entities within the plant, and the status for each of these different entities or views. Information is given. Thus, for example, a user can view a view of a plant and view status information for that plant. The user then looks at one asset by selecting one of the assets in the plant view, and status information about that asset, such as that asset is a device, loop, subunit, unit, area, and so on. You can browse whether or not. The user may use the mouse to click on the asset or its alphanumeric identifier to request the next window or pop-up window to display the status information for that asset, or via the keyboard. You may enter the alphanumeric identifier. For example, the user can display the status information of an area by clicking on the area with the mouse. Similarly, by clicking on a unit in the displayed area, you can view the status information of various units. Similarly, you can view status information such as loops, subunits, devices, etc. by focusing on these various entities from the view of one entity where these lower level entities are located. In this way, the user quickly finds the cause of a problem or potential problem at any point or level in the plant, finds maintenance activity in the plant at any level, and has high priority in the plant at any level. Assets can be identified.
Each asset, status information, description, importance information and corrective action listed on the display screen may be arranged to allow the user to request more detailed information about that status information and / or entity. .. For example, these listed assets, status information, descriptions, importance information and related corrective actions may be user-selectable icons similar to hyperlinks on web pages. This icon is linked to other reports that provide more detailed information related to the selected entity or status information. User action or request (eg phosphorus) In response to (click), the display screen in Figure 3 may be modified with more detailed information, or instead, report more detailed status information about the selected asset or view. A new window may appear. For example, the user may select one of the high priority assets to view the high priority issues in plant 10, or the user may select the plant wide view ("Dashboard". Is labeled). Further options include an audit trail of events within the plant, all active alerts within plant 10, a list of all assets within plant 10, and browse / search capabilities to find specific assets. Figures 4-8 are graphics that may be provided by the GUI to allow the user to view more information about the high priority assets listed on the display screen of Figure 3 (eg CR-2000). This is a specific example of drawing a display screen. Obviously, this GUI allows the user to navigate between various assets within Process Plant 10 to view various status, importance and maintenance information about this plant and about the assets of this plant. Thereby, it is possible to provide an integrated report on all assets in the process plant 10. As shown in FIGS. 4-8, the user is provided with a tree-level view 200 of various assets in process plant 10. Tree-level view 200 allows users to easily navigate to view status, importance, and maintenance information for various assets within Process Plant 10. In this example, the tree-level view 200 is arranged according to different status information about the assets in plant 10, different plants in business entities, and selected assets (for example, compressor results). .. However, the tree level view 200 may be arranged in any desired manner according to the user's preference. Therefore, the tree-level view 200 is placed at various levels within the process plant 10, the assets within the plant 10, the data source used to provide the information displayed by the GUI, or any other desired structure. May be done.
Alongside the tree-level view 200, there are more details about the selected asset. For example, FIG. 4 shows a summary of the compressor CR-2000 with details about the operating period and efficiency during that operating period. Similar to Tree Level View 200, the summary may be user configurable to list various status, importance or maintenance information about the selected asset. For example, the display screen of FIG. 4 allows the user to view the operating period associated with the compressor CR-2000 and a summary of efficiency data during this operating period. Depending on the user's action or request (for example, clicking a link), the display screen in Figure 4 replaces the graphical display of efficiency (Figure 5) or polytropic efficiency (Figure 6) during the indicated reporting period. May be done.
Each listed asset or status information, user request (e.g., clicking on the alphanumeric identifier) in response to the squirrel each asset that is collected by, for example, dynamic link are associated with such data sources May be made available to the user to present further details about the asset using, and status information regarding details related to the compressor CR-2000, as shown in FIG. It may be displayed in the summary. Then any or all of the details about the compressor CR-2000, including identification information (eg name, location, manufacturer, model), calibration status, analysis, duration of operation, efficiency, etc., are in the same window or separate. May be displayed in the window of. In addition, a photo 210 of the physical device or its graphical representation may be given to provide a clear visual representation of the asset in question. The physical device is displayed side by side with a graphical meter or Gage 212 (eg, a pie chart) that allows the user to quickly determine the status (eg, health) associated with the asset. In addition, importance information, maintenance status and data sources are provided. Needless to say, the status information, importance information or corrective action information displayed is not limited to any type, quantity or level of detail. On the contrary, the information that may be displayed may be modified according to the needs and / or preferences of the user, as described in more detail below.
As shown in FIG. 8, by selecting the corresponding enterprise view from the tree level view 200, the user may request information summarizing the plants in the business enterprise and the GUI may display it. Therefore, each summary of plant 10 can be a display screen that includes the corresponding operating period, assets, asset details, and so on.
Figures 9 to 17 show further drawing of the graphic display screen that can be provided by the GUI in response to the user's request to further view status information, importance information and maintenance information for different assets at different levels of Process Plant 10. This is a specific example. For example, when responding to a user's request to view a plant-wide view (dashboard) from the display screen in Figure 3, the tree-level view 300 clearly follows different levels within plant 10 and also It is displayed and arranged according to various data sources. Therefore, menu 300 allows the user to easily navigate to view status information about different levels and entities within plant 10, such as different devices, loops, units, areas, etc., including status information about plant 10. Can be done. The menu 300 may be arranged according to the type of information that can be viewed, or may be arranged according to any other desired structure.
Figure 9 is a display that can be provided by the GUI to allow users to view a summary of Plant 10 including plant assets, active alerts, severity-based active alerts, information about recent events and comprehensive metrics. This is an example of screen drawing. Each of these display screens can be user-configured to select different views such as plant-wide alerts, assets, and events, other than indicators. The user can click on a given asset, event, alert, etc. with the mouse to request the corresponding information. In this way, the user can view additional details about any aspect of the plant 10.
Above the list of plant 10 status information is a user selectable icon that responds to user actions that provide more detailed status information. These user-selectable icons (or "tabs") are along the top of the display screen to reflect a summary view of the available information and to allow you to navigate between the available status information. Is arranged. For example, as shown in Figure 10, the user can browse all the assets in plant 10 by selecting the Assets tab. The resulting display screen has a list of all assets in plant 10 and the corresponding status information, importance information and related corrective actions.
As shown in Figure 11, the user can view all current alerts or events associated with Plant 10 by selecting the Active Alerts tab. The resulting active alert information display screen will show alerts such as date / time, asset identifier, alert severity, asset importance, location, etc., in addition to each of the assets currently in question. It is possible to list the details about. Any or all of the details regarding active alerts related to the asset (eg, CR-2000) may be displayed on the display screen shown in Figure 7 above. These details include status information (for example, maintenance), degree of current status of the asset (for example, severity, urgency, etc.) and description (for example, currently operating outside the defined limits). Was given You may also have more recommended actions to take in case.
As shown in FIG. 12, a history summary or audit trail may be displayed in response to a user requesting an "event history". In this embodiment, the history for all assets in plant 10 is displayed to allow the user to quickly evaluate the progress of each status of the assets and the corresponding history. The history summary may be used to display the history of all entities in a given location, the history of individual entities, the history of certain types of failures, and so on. Each entry in the history may be further selectable by the user to display details about the individual event. Some specific examples of the details that may be listed may include the date and time of the event, the type of event, the summary of the event, the location of the event, and so on.
The tree level view 300 allows the user to view information about the various levels and data sources within plant 10 as well as each level or data source. For example, referring to FIGS. 14-17, the user can use the tree-level view 300 to see an area within plant 10 (Figure 14), a specific data source (Figure 15), and a data source by location (Figure 15). 16 and Figure 17) can be viewed. Each corresponding view has a summary of status information for each selected view, such as the corresponding asset, alert, event, and so on. As is clear from each display screen, the tabs described above are provided to display asset information, alert information and event history information as desired by the user.
Although it is stated that the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 and other process elements are preferably implemented by software, they may be implemented by hardware, firmware, etc., and others related to process control system 10. It may be carried out by the processor of. Accordingly, the elements described herein may be implemented by a standard multipurpose CPU or, if desired, by specially designed hardware or firmware such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or other hardwired device. .. When implemented by software, software routines can be stored in any computer-readable memory, such as magnetic disks, laser disks, or other storage media, in computer RAM or ROM, in any database, and so on. Similarly, the software allows the user via any known or desired transmission method, including, for example, a computer-readable disk or other transmittable computer storage mechanism, or a communication channel such as a telephone line, the Internet, wireless communication, etc. Or it can be transmitted to a process control plant (use of communication channels such as telephone lines, internet, wireless communication, etc. is considered to be the same or compatible with providing this software via a transmittable storage medium. There is). Also, although the asset monitoring and maintenance system 60 is described as being a rule-based expert, other types of expert engines may be used as well, including expert engines using other known data mining techniques.
Therefore, although the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, these examples are intended for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the invention, but of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes, additions or deletions may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the technical concept and scope.
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| JP9305218A | Cites | Japan |
| JP2005346567A | Cites | Japan |
| JP2002342412A | Cites | Japan |
| JP2000330627A | Cites | Japan |
20 members in 5 offices
Priority claims5
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| 24138405 | United States of America | A | |
| 24138405 | United States of America | A | |
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Members20
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|---|---|---|---|
| US2006229848A1 | United States of America | A1 | |
| US2006241907A1 | United States of America | A1 | |
| WO2007040776A1 | World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) | A1 | |
| WO2007040785A2 | World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) | A2 | |
| WO2007040785A3 | World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) | A3 | |
| EP1929387A2 | European Patent Office (EPO) | A2 | |
| EP1932068A1 | European Patent Office (EPO) | A1 | |
| CN101273314A | China | A | |
| CN101278246A | China | A | |
| JP2009510600A | Japan | A | |
| JP2009510601A | Japan | A | |
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| JP5468261B2 | Japan | B2 | |
| JP2015172968A | Japan | A | |
| US9201420B2 | United States of America | B2 | |
| EP2998810A1 | European Patent Office (EPO) | A1 | |
| JP5965026B2This record | Japan | B2 |
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Numbers
- Publication
- 5965026
- Publication, DOCDB
- 5965026
- Publication, EPODOC
- JP5965026B
- Application
- 111853
- Application, DOCDB
- 2015111853
- Application, EPODOC
- JP20150111853
Titles2
- Japanese
- エンティティ監視方法、プロセス制御システムおよび表示システム
- English
- Entity monitoring method, process control system and display system
Classification
- IPC, 1
- G05B23 02
