WO2013098626A1

WO2013098626A1 - A system and a method for performing engineering for industrial automation system

Info

Publication number: WO2013098626A1
Application number: PCT/IB2012/002770
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sanjay Ghosh; Srini Ramaswamy; Aparajithan VAIDYANATHAN; Seshadhri SRINIVASAN; Deepak KARUNAKARAN; Jithendrian SUNDARAVARADAN
Original assignee: Abb Research Ltd.
Priority date: 2011-12-26
Filing date: 2012-12-21
Publication date: 2013-07-04

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for performing engineering in an industrial automation system. The system comprising one or more components pertaining to a plurality of devices, at least one data center, a remote workstation or the like and a communication network to establish communication thereto. The components are arranged to form a cloud infrastructure having one or more tier for performing engineering holistically or part thereof. The invention also relates to a method for performing engineering in an industrial automation system with the system of the invention.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an industrial automation system, and more particularly to a system and a method for performing engineering based on cloud computing.

BACKGROUND

Industrial automation system like Distributed Control System (DCS) and many other, either alone or in combination constitute an integral part of variety of industries that include but not limited to process industry, manufacturing, oil, gas, petrochemical, mining, paper etc. The industrial automation system involves engineering that relates to but not limited to activities such as commissioning, engineering, maintenance, troubleshooting, that needs to be performed with single occurrence or multiple occurrences in an industrial automation system. Such engineering in respect of a particular industry differ from each other marginally or majorly with regard to tools, domain specific software libraries, configuration, data etc. Practically it is not viable to maintain the required or all the information or data that is required for these engineering in a personal computer or handheld device, for an industry. Owing to this, the field personnel rely upon the support from the experts provided remotely. This indeed consumes more time and does not really support or complement globalization of activities.

Moreover, the exchange of data and storing of such data or information or of the knowledge pertinent thereto are confined to a particular industry or to an activity, and of the visualization of the same are not feasible in the present context. Also, multiple parallel activities running at different locations lack appropriate support in terms of data or expertise or the like. The limitations arising from the availability of site personnel, expertise and of the data at a given point of time becomes challenging and especially for critical activities this becomes further more challenging.

Currently, each industry or groups thereunder, develop and maintain its own industrial automation system and requires to undergo changes either minor or sometimes even major when it needs to be upgraded or to meet a specific or different purpose or objective.

Hence, there is a need for a solution that performs engineering and having capability to serve a variety of industries at any given time more effectively and dynamically and also online as needed. The invention is aimed at providing a system and method to cater to such needs as described herein before.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a system for performing engineering that cater to a variety of engineering activities in relation to a variety of industry.

It is another object of the invention to provide a system for performing engineering online or on demand.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a system for performing engineering seamlessly and collaboratively and remotely.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a system for performing engineering with more efficiency and reduced delays and errors.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for performing engineering in accordance with the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly the invention provides a system for performing engineering in an industrial automation system. The system comprising one or more components pertaining to a plurality of devices, atleast one data center, a remote workstation or the like and a communication network to establish communication thereto. The one or more components are arranged to form a cloud infrastructure having one or more tier for performing engineering holistically or part thereof.

Accordingly the invention also provides a method for performing engineering in an industrial automation system with the system of the invention. The method of the invention comprises the steps of establishing a cloud infrastructure having one or more components pertaining to a plurality of devices, atleast one data center, a central workstation or the like and a communication network arranged thereto to form the said cloud infrastructure. Providing one or more tier in the said cloud infrastructure with information and / or data pertinent to one or more engineering activities or of the engineering thereof holistically or part thereof, and performing one or more engineering referring to one or more tier of the cloud infrastructure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 depicts a system having an architecture illustrating a cloud infrastructure for engineering, and

Fig. 2 shows a tiered structure of cloud infrastructure for industrial automation system in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is described further with reference to a non-exhaustive exemplary embodiment and in reference to Figs. 1 and 2.

In Figs. 1 and 2, a system (100) having a cloud infrastructure (101) comprising a plurality devices (102), data center (103) and a remote workstation (104), and communicably connected by a communication network, is shown. The plurality of devices (102) includes but not limited to personal computers, handheld devices, etc. The data center (103) includes but not limited to servers, databases, repositories, communication gateways etc. The central workstation (104) includes but not limited to expert opinions, software support, tool support, library updates, data references etc.

The cloud infrastructure (101) has a tiered arrangement to include one or more tiers (201, 202a ... 202n). Each of the tiers (201, 202a ... 202n) corresponds to a particular engineering or to that of engineering pertinent to a particular industry such as steel, chemical, cements, paper, oil etc. Also, it is arranged to accommodate data or information, software, services, libraries etc that are common in one or more tiers. Here represented with a single tier (201). Accordingly, the other tiers (202a ... 202n) correspondingly contain data or information corresponding to engineering activities or of a particular industry or of groups thereunder or combination thereof.

The data or information referred here above relates to that of engineering activities and of the engineering thereof that includes but not limited to commissioning, engineering, configuring, maintenance, troubleshooting, remote diagnostics etc. These services can be provided online and on demand and is sharable, or otherwise.

The cloud infrastructure (101) has all the tools and information or data required for engineering referred herein belonging to a particular industry or need in relation to an engineering activity or of the service thereof. The information or data in the cloud infrastructure (101) may be a preloaded or predefined, or may be uploaded on the run. Such information or data includes but not limited to configuration data, knowledge base, instructions etc, that are made available online to the site personnel or to the corresponding user. The cloud infrastructure (101) may be set up as a permanent or temporary structure, and may be fixed or flexible. For instance, for industrial automation system this could be made available during engineering activities like commissioning, engineering, maintenance, troubleshooting. It becomes possible to perform engineering with tiered configuration where the engineering can be performed based on a specific requirement or industry or of the service accordingly, with all the information available across various tiers therein. This is available online and can be seamlessly accessed in a collaborative manner. The experiences from the services may be shared or appropriate upload or upgrades can be effected to the cloud infrastructure (101) that becomes available for that instant or for future. The past historical data or information or experiences can be learnt coextensively. This accounts to improving the efficiency, capability to provide service, expandability, performing concurrent activities / services, ease of performing engineering.

The cloud infrastructure (101) having tiered configuration provides flexibility to choose the tier that may be required for the engineering and subscription may be made with those tiers. The generic information or data may be stored in a base level tier while the specific or custom or related data or information may be stored accordingly in other tiers.

During the engineering, the data or information pertaining to engineering like configuration etc., may be uploaded into the cloud if not contained therein, and later retrieved for performing that service or activity and uploading or upgrading the data or information contained therein after the successful performance of the engineering activity or of the service. This provides a common platform for maintaining knowledge base and retrieving information from the same when required.

Also, the cloud infrastructure (101) provides concurrent services, by which, for instance, configuration of devices can be carried out simultaneously on the devices with the information or data available in the cloud as against configuring the devices in a sequence. Similarly, troubleshooting of one or more devices can be performed remotely and simultaneously by the remote workstation (104).

With the cloud infrastructure (101), the user has the option to choose certain data or information from the set containing several data or information relevant to that service. This becomes important when the service is rendered for a particular industry and is based upon the parameters involved. The knowledge base or information or data can be constantly or instantaneously updated so as to accommodate complete and updated information or data, and can be done by the user manually or can be rendered automatic.

Through the invention, remote diagnostics and simulation of devices before actually performing engineering can be realized. The efficiency in the performance of engineering, hosting information or data, speediness in providing service, quality of service can be improved at large.

Only certain features of the invention have been specifically illustrated and described herein, and many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. The invention is not restricted by the preferred embodiment described herein in the description. It is to be noted that the invention is explained by way of exemplary embodiment and is neither exhaustive nor limiting. Certain aspects of the invention that not been elaborated herein in the description are well understood by one skilled in the art. Also, the terms relating to singular form used herein in the description also include its plurality and vice versa, wherever applicable. Any relevant modification or variation, which is not described specifically in the specification are in fact to be construed of being well within the scope of the invention. The appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes which fall within the spirit of the invention. Thus, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restricted. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and all changes that come within the meaning and range and equivalence thereof are intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A system for performing engineering in an industrial automation system, the system comprising one or more components pertaining to a plurality of devices, atleast one data center, a remote workstation or the like and a communication network to establish communication thereto, wherein the said one or more components are arranged to form a cloud infrastructure having one or more tier for performing engineering holisticaily or part thereof.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said plurality of devices includes one or more personal computers, hand held devices or the like.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said communication network includes one or more communication gateways.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said data center includes one or more servers, databases or the like.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said remote workstation is provided for enabling one or more components relating to expert opinions, firmware support, tool support, library updates, data references etc.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the said tier of the said cloud infrastructure has information and / or data pertinent to one or more engineering activities or of the said engineering thereof.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 or 6, wherein the said engineering includes one or more of commissioning, engineering, configuring, maintenance, troubleshooting etc.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 or 7, wherein the said tier corresponds to a particular engineering or industry or group thereunder involving its corresponding engineering activities or combination thereof.

9. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the said information and / or data includes one or more of configuration data, knowledge base, instructions, upgrades, models, libraries, function block etc that are preloaded or instant.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said cloud infrastructure is provided for maintaining knowledge base and retrieving information from the same when required.

11. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the said cloud infrastructure is permanent or temporary, and fixed or flexible.

12. A method for performing engineering in an industrial automation system with the system as claimed any one of the preceding claims, wherein the said method comprising the steps of:

establishing a cloud infrastructure having one or more components pertaining to a plurality of devices, atleast one data center, a central workstation or the like and a communication network arranged thereto to form the said cloud infrastructure; and

providing one or more tier in the said cloud infrastructure with information and / or data pertinent to one or more engineering activities or of the said engineering holistically or part thereof; and

performing one or more of the said engineering referring to the said one or more tiers of the said cloud infrastructure.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the said engineering include one or more of commissioning, engineering, configuring, maintenance, troubleshooting etc.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, the method further comprising uploading or updating the information and / or data pertinent to the said engineering, in the said cloud infrastructure.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein performing engineering online or remotely or on demand.