Industrial safety monitoring configuration using a digital twin

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12468294-B2
Application number	US-202217937848-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2022
Priority date	Nov 13, 2018
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

An industrial safety zone configuration system leverages a digital twin of an industrial automation system to assist in configuring safety sensors for accurate monitoring of a desired detection zone. The system renders a graphical representation of the automation system based on the digital twin and allows a user to define a desired detection zone to be monitored as a three-dimensional volume within the virtual industrial environment. Users can define the locations and orientations of respective safety sensors as sensor objects that can be added to the graphical representation. Each sensor object has a set of object attributes representing configuration settings available on the corresponding physical sensor. The system can identify sensor configuration settings that will yield an estimated detection zone that closely conforms to the defined detection zone, and generate sensor configuration data based on these settings that can be used to configure the physical safety sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system, comprising:
a memory that stores executable components; and a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising:
a user interface component configured to
render a three-dimensional graphical representation of an industrial automation system based on a digital twin representing the industrial automation system, and
receive, via interaction with the graphical representation, input that adds one or more sensor objects to the graphical representation at specified locations and orientations within the graphical representation, wherein the one or more sensor objects represent respective one or more safety sensors;

a safety zone configuration component configured to record the specified locations and orientations in the digital twin based on the input; and
a safety zone simulation component configured to, for a sensor object of the one or more sensor objects, estimate a level of multipath interference experienced by a safety sensor represented by the sensor object based on analysis of the specified locations and orientations of the one or more sensor objects and physical obstructions defined by the digital twin, wherein
the safety zone configuration component is further configured to, in response to determining that the level of multipath interference exceeds a defined threshold, estimate a realignment of the sensor object that reduces the level of multipath interference and generate a recommendation to apply the realignment to the sensor object.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein
the one or more sensor objects have associated therewith respective sets of object properties representing configuration settings of the one or more safety sensors, and the executable components further comprise a system interface component configured to generate sensor configuration data based on values of the sets of object properties and to configure the one or more safety sensors using the sensor configuration data.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein one of the sets of object properties corresponding to a sensor object, of the one or more sensor objects, comprises at least one of a field of view monitored by the sensor object, a safe distance monitored by the sensor object, a tolerance zone distance associated with the sensor object, a sensor object frame-rate, or a macropixel arrangement.

4 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a digital twin import component configured to import the digital twin into the system, wherein the digital twin is imported as at least one of a digital model from a computer-aided design platform or a digitized model generated based on a digital scanning of the automation system.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein
the user interface component is further configured to receive, via interaction with the graphical representation, input that adds one or more fiducial objects to the graphical representation at specified fiducial marker locations, and the safety zone simulation component is further configured to determine, based on the specified locations and orientations of the one or more sensor objects and the specified fiducial marker locations, an arrangement of the one or more fiducial objects within a field of view of a sensor object of the one or more sensor objects.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the system interface component is further configured to generate, as part of the sensor configuration data, configuration data that programs a safety device corresponding to the sensor object to recognize the arrangement of the one or more fiducial objects.

7 . The of claim 1 , wherein the safety zone simulation component is configured to estimate the level of multipath interference further based in part on ray-tracing analysis performed on the digital twin.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is a subsystem of an industrial controller programming application.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein
the user interface component is further configured to receive, via interaction with the graphical representation, input that defines a three-dimensional detection zone within the graphical representation, the safety zone simulation component is further configured to estimate, based on analysis of the digital twin, an estimated detection zone monitored by the one or more sensor objects, and the safety zone configuration component is further configured to, in response to determining that the estimated detection zone does not match the detection zone defined by the input within a tolerance, set a value of at least one object property of the sets of object properties based on a comparison between the estimated detection zone and the detection zone.

10 . A method, comprising:
rendering, by a system comprising a processor, a three-dimensional graphical representation of an industrial automation system based on a digital twin representing the industrial automation system; adding, by the system, one or more sensor objects representing respective one or more safety sensors to the graphical representation at specified locations and orientations within the graphical representation in accordance with input received via interaction with the graphical interface; recording, by the system, the specified locations and orientation in the digital twin based on the input; estimating, by the system based on an analysis of the specified locations and orientations of the one or more sensor objects and physical obstructions modeled by the digital twin, a level of multipath interference experienced by a safety sensor represented by a sensor object of the one or more sensor objects; and in response to determining that the level of multipath interference exceeds a defined threshold:
estimating, by the system, a realignment of the sensor object that reduces the level of multipath interference, and
generating, by the system, a recommendation to apply the realignment to the sensor object.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein
the one or more sensor objects have associated therewith respective sets of object properties representing configuration settings of the one or more safety sensors, and the method further comprises:
generating, by the system, sensor configuration data based on values of the sets of object properties; and
configuring, by the system, the one or more safety sensors using the sensor configuration data.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the one of the sets of object properties corresponding to a sensor object, of the one or more sensor objects, comprises at least one of a field of view monitored by the sensor object, a safe distance monitored by the sensor object, a tolerance zone distance associated with the sensor object, a sensor object frame-rate, or a macropixel arrangement.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising importing, by the system, the digital twin from a computer-aided design platform.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
adding, by the system, one or more fiducial objects to the graphical representation at specified fiducial marker locations in accordance with input received via interaction with the graphical representation; and determining, by the system based on the specified locations and orientations of the one or more sensor objects and the specified fiducial marker locations of the one or more fiducial objects, an orientation of the one or more fiducial objects within a field of view of a sensor object of the one or more sensor objects.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising generating, by the

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Yates Chris John
• Stankiewicz Maciej
• Alexander Jonathan
• Softley Chris

Classifications

• G05B19/4184

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

• G05B19/048

  Monitoring; Safety · CPC title

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• G05B2219/24008

  Safety integrity level, safety integrated systems SIL SIS · CPC title

• G05B2219/25067

  Graphic configuration control system · CPC title