Systems and methods for virtually tagging and securing industrial equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10025300-B2
Application number	US-201715798063-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2017
Priority date	Mar 27, 2015
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium may include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, may receive a first set of data associated with a user, receive a second set of data associated with one or more lockout procedures performed by the user, receive a request to actuate a locking mechanism of an electronic lock configured to prevent a machine in an industrial automation application from being operational, and send a signal to the electronic lock to actuate the locking mechanism when the second set of data indicates that the lockout procedures have been performed by the user and the data corresponds to an authorized user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to:
receive a set of user data associated with a user that accesses an electronic lock;
receive a request to actuate a locking mechanism of the electronic lock configured to prevent a machine in an industrial automation system from being operational;
actuate the locking mechanism in response to the request and the set of user data corresponding to an expected set of data;
store a log of the request and the set of user data; and
send the log to a cloud-based computing system.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the locking mechanism is actuated in response to correspondence between the set of user data and the expected set of data indicating that the user is an authorized user.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the log comprises location information associated the electronic lock, a time at which the locking mechanism is actuated, or both.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the location information based on a beacon coupled to the electronic lock.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the set of user data comprises an employee identification number, a user name, a password, a single sign-on (SSO), or any combination thereof.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are configured to cause the processor to:
receive a second request to deactivate the locking mechanism; and
deactivate the locking mechanism based on a whether an authorized user count for deactivating the locking mechanism is less than a threshold.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are configured to cause the processor to send the authorized user count to the cloud-based computing system.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are configured to:
receive a set of equipment data from industrial automation equipment; and
send the set of equipment data to the cloud-based computing system.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, are configured to send a signal to industrial automation equipment in response to the set of user data, wherein the signal is configured to cause the industrial automation equipment to be placed offline.

10. A system, comprising:
an electronic lock;
a first processor configured to store data related to one or more operations of the electronic lock;
a power source; and
a locking mechanism of the electronic lock configured to physically lock out a machine from being operational; and
a cloud-based computing system comprising a second processor configured to receive the data from the first processor, wherein the data comprises one or more credentials of a user that operated the electronic lock.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first processor is configured to cause the locking mechanism to actuate in response to one or more steps of a lockout-tagout procedure being performed, wherein information related to whether the one or more steps are performed is received via the cloud-based computing system.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first processor is configured to cause the power source to supply current to a magnet to attract or repel an adjustable feature to lock or unlock the locking mechanism.

13. The system of claim 10 , comprising industrial automation equipment configured to operate based on one or more signals received via the first processor.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the data comprises location information associated the electronic lock, a time at which the locking mechanism is actuated, a list of users that actuated the locking mechanism, or any combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first processor is configured to:
store a record of times the electronic lock is locked and unlocked;
store an identity of a user who operated the electronic lock at the respective times; and
transmit the record of times and the identity of the user who operated the electronic lock at the respective times to the cloud-based computing system.

16. An electronic lock configured to physically lock out a machine from being operational, comprising:
a locking mechanism;
a processor configured to record a list of users that actuated and attempted to actuate the locking mechanism; and
a transceiver configured to send data associated with the locking mechanism to a cloud-based computing system, wherein the data comprises the list of users.

17. The electronic lock of claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to record one or more times when the locking mechanism was locked and unlocked, one or more identities of users that operated the locking mechanism, or both.

18. The electronic lock of claim 16 , wherein the locking mechanism is actuated based on whether an actuation signal is sent from a second processor of a computing device to the processor in response to the second processor determining that one or more steps of a lockout-tagout procedure have been performed and a user requesting to lock the electronic lock is an authorized user.

19. The electronic lock of claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to control an operation of industrial automation equipment communicatively coupled to the processor.

20. The electronic lock of claim 19 , wherein the operation comprises placing the industrial automation equipment offline.

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Michalscheck Jimi R
• Michalscheck Kelly A
• Korpela Jessica L
• Reissner Kyle K
• Vasko David A
• Jauquet John J
• Ericsson Matthew R
• Wilber Andrew

Classifications

• G07C9/28

  the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence · CPC title

• G07C3/00

  Registering or indicating the condition or the working of machines or other apparatus, other than vehicles · CPC title

• G05B2219/50193

  Safety in general · CPC title

• F16K37/0025

  Electrical or magnetic means (F16K37/0075 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B19/4184

  characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system · CPC title