Big data in process control systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9558220-B2
Application number	US-201313784041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2013
Priority date	Mar 4, 2013
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A big data network or system for a process control system or plant includes a big data apparatus including a data storage area configured to store, using a common data schema, multiple types of process data and/or plant data (such as configuration and real-time data) that is used in, generated by or received by the process control system, and one or more data receiver computing devices to receive the data from multiple nodes or devices. The data may be cached and time-stamped at the nodes and streamed to the big data apparatus for storage. The process control system big data system provides services and/or data analyzes to automatically or manually discover prescriptive and/or predictive knowledge, and to determine, based on the discovered knowledge, changes and/or additions to the process control system and to the set of services and/or analyzes to optimize the process control system or plant.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system for supporting big data in a process control plant, comprising:
a unitary, logical data storage area including one or more data storage devices configured to store, using a common format, data corresponding to at least one of the process plant or a process that is controlled in the process plant, the data including multiple types of data, and a set of types of data including configuration data, continuous data, and event data corresponding to the process; and
one or more data receiver computing devices configured to receive the data from one or more other devices via a process control big data network and to cause the received data to be stored in the unitary, logical data storage area, wherein at least one of the one or more other devices communicates with one or more field devices in the process plant via another communication network different from the process control big data network,
each of the one or more other devices being a respective node of the process control big data network that (i) collects data that is generated by the respective node, (ii) transmits the collected data via the process control big data network to the one or more data receiver computing devices, and (iii) excludes a respective configuration or definition indicating a rate at which the collected data is to be transmitted by the respective node; and
the received data including:
data corresponding to a user input entered at one of the one or more other devices;
data corresponding to the another communication network of the process plant, the another communication network of the process plant supporting at least one of a Wi-Fi protocol, an Ethernet protocol, an IEEE 802.11 compliant protocol, a mobile communication protocol, a short-wavelength radio communication protocol, 4-20 ma signaling, the wired HART® protocol, the FOUNDATION® Fieldbus protocol, the HART® protocol, the WirelessHART® protocol, the PROFIBUS protocol, or the DeviceNet protocol; and
data received from a computing system external to the process plant.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data includes time series data.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein a data entry of the time series data stored in the unitary, logical data storage area includes content of a respective data point of the time series data and a timestamp, the timestamp being indicative of a time of generation of the content of the data point corresponding to the data entry.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the unitary, logical data storage area is further configured to store metadata corresponding to the received data.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the received data is stored using a common structured format, and wherein the metadata is stored using an unstructured format.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data further includes at least one of:
data indicative of a health of a machine included in the process plant,
data indicative of a health of a particular piece of equipment included in the process plant,
data indicative of a health of a particular device included in the process plant, or
data corresponding to a parameter related to safety of the process plant.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the received data further includes data received from another process plant.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data corresponding to the another communication network of the process plant comprises data corresponding to at least one of a performance, a resource, or a configuration of the another communication network.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data storage devices are included in at least one of: a data bank, a RAID storage system, a cloud data storage system, a distributed file system, or other mass data storage system.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least the portion of the received data is streamed over the process control big data network using a streaming service hosted by at least one of the one or more other devices, and wherein the unitary, logical data storage area or at least one of the one or more data receiver computing devices is a subscriber to the streaming service.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more other devices includes:
a field device and a controller that are communicatively coupled to control a process in the process plant, and
at least one of a user interface device or a network management device.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein data received by the respective node is further collected by the respective node and transmitted to the at least one of the one or more data receiver computing devices to be stored at the unitary, logical data storage area.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises a set of request servicer computing devices configured to perform one or more services using at least a portion of the data stored in the unitary, logical data storage area, the one or more services including a computational analysis.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein at least one data receiver computing device and least one request servicer computing device are an integral computing device.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the request servicer computing devices is further configured to determine, based on an execution of the computational analysis, a change to a configured entity included in the process plant.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one of the request servicer computing devices is further configured to at least one of: (i) present the determined change at a user interface, or (ii) automatically apply the change to the configured entity.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the one or more services further include a service to generate a set of definitions corresponding to a set of entities that are able to be instantiated in a runtime environment of the process plant.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the set of entities includes at least one of: a configurable device, a diagnostic application, a display view application, a control model, or a control application.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the set of definitions is generated in an offline environment of the process plant, and wherein the system further comprises a set of scripts to transform at least one definition included in the set of definitions, and to load the transformed at least one definition into the runtime environment of the process plant.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one definition is generated in the offline environment in response to a user input.

21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one definition is generated in the offline environment automatically.

22. The system of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the one or more services is a web service.

23. A method for supporting big data in a process control plant, comprising:
receiving, at one or more data receiver computing devices from each of one or more nodes of a process control big data network, data corresponding to at least one of the process plant or a process controlled by the process plant, wherein at least one of the one or more nodes communicates with one or more field devices in the process plant via another communication network different from the process control big data network,
the data from each node including data that is generated by the each node while the process is being controlled,
the data being received at the one or more data receiver computing devices via the process control big

Assignees

• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Nixon Mark J
• Blevins Terrence
• Christensen Daniel Dean
• Muston Paul Richard
• Beoughter Ken

Classifications

• G06F16/22 Primary

  Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• G05B19/4183 Primary

  characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification · CPC title

• G05B23/0208

  characterized by the configuration of the monitoring system · CPC title

• G05B2219/15052

  Communication processor, link interface · CPC title