Method for analyzing malfunctions in a system of process automation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11550312-B2
Application number	US-201716348963-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2017
Priority date	Nov 11, 2016
Publication date	Jan 10, 2023
Grant date	Jan 10, 2023

Abstract

The invention comprises a method for analyzing malfunctions and/or changes of device statuses in a system of automation technology, wherein the system has a plurality of field devices communicating with one another directly via a communication network and being designed to issue an appropriate diagnostic notice depending on a malfunction or a change of a device status in the system. The diagnostic notices are transmitted to a data bank and stored in same. The method comprises: reading the diagnostic notices from the data bank; filtering the read diagnostic notices using at least one selection criterion; linking the filtered diagnostic notices using time stamps; defining time intervals; grouping the diagnostic notices linked using the time stamps into the defined time intervals which correspond to their respective time stamps; and evaluating the grouped diagnostic notices with regard to defined abnormalities.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for analyzing malfunctions and changes in device statuses in a system of automation technology, wherein the system includes a plurality of field devices, wherein the field devices communicate with one another directly via a communications network or via a communications unit, and the field devices are designed to issue an appropriate diagnostic notice depending upon a malfunction or a change in a device status in the system, and wherein the diagnostic notices are transmitted to a data bank and stored therein, the method comprising:
reading the diagnostic notices from the data bank;
filtering the read diagnostic notices according to a time period;
filtering the read diagnostic notices using a selection criterion;
linking the filtered diagnostic notices using time stamps, wherein a time stamp contains a date of occurrence of a malfunction contained in the corresponding diagnostic notice;
dividing the time period into time intervals of equal time;
grouping the linked diagnostic notices into the time intervals that correspond to their time stamps;
creating a heat map from the grouped diagnostic notices,
wherein along a first axis of the heat map is the plurality of field devices and along a second axis of the heat map are time intervals, whereby a grid is defined by the first and second axes, and
wherein the creating of the heat map includes marking each occurrence of a diagnostic notice in the grid of the heat map at an intersection of a field device that issued the diagnostic notice and a time interval in which the diagnostic notice was issued; and

evaluating the grouped diagnostic notices via evaluating the heat map with regard to defined abnormalities.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
creating a proposal for correcting a cause of the malfunctions and the changes in the device statuses, wherein the proposal is based on the evaluation of the grouped diagnostic notices.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a computer unit evaluates the diagram using algorithms implemented on the computer unit, including algorithms for image or pattern recognition and algorithms for cluster detection.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the diagnostic notices are generated within a field device upon occurrence of at least one of the following malfunctions or changes in device statuses of the respective field device:
a communications error of the respective field device;
insufficient power supply or shutdown, or restart of the respective field device;
a maintenance requirement of the respective field device;
a measurement error generated by the respective field device;
an error of at least one electronic component of the respective field device;
an error of at least one software component of the respective field device;
exceeding defined measuring ranges; and
falling below the defined measuring ranges.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the read diagnostic notices are filtered based upon at least one of the following selection criteria:
the device type of the field devices;
the type of malfunction, or the change in the device status;
the system sector in which the respective field devices are integrated;
the respective communications unit with which the respective field devices communicate;
a respective communications structure of the field devices;
environmental influences which act on the corresponding field devices;
an operating period of the respective field devices;
an age of the field devices;
a serial number and a range of serial numbers;
a product batch of the field devices;
components of a supplier used for the system; and
the respective communications unit with which the respective field devices communicate.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the grouped diagnostic notices are evaluated with regard to at least one of the following abnormalities:
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices of one or more of the field devices during one of the predetermined time intervals;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a specific device type of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a respective communications structure of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a respective communications protocol of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to process parameters of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a process medium with which the corresponding field devices come into contact;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to positions of the corresponding field devices in the system;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to environmental influences on the corresponding field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to the age of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to an installation height of the corresponding field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a type of installation of the corresponding field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a version number of firmware of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a version number of a communications protocol of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices based upon material properties of the field devices;
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to a power supply of the field devices; and
increasing occurrence of diagnostic notices with regard to maintenance and exchange plans of the field devices.

Assignees

• Endress Hauser Process Solutions Ag

Inventors

• Mayer Michael
• Pflug Jan

Classifications

• G05B23/0272 Primary

  Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

  Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] · CPC title

• G05B23/0264

  Control of logging system, e.g. decision on which data to store; time-stamping measurements · CPC title