Methods and apparatus to configure process control systems based on generic process system libraries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9720396-B2
Application number	US-201414286436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2014
Priority date	May 23, 2014
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to configure process control systems based on generic process system libraries are disclosed. An example method includes instantiating an instance of a generic process system library. The instance is associated with items of equipment and corresponding process signals of a process control system. The generic process system library comprises at least one of generic process graphic data or generic control strategy data corresponding to the items of equipment and the corresponding process signals of the process control system. The example method further includes configuring the instance of the generic process system library by incorporating process-specific data associated with the operation of the process control system with the at least one of the generic process graphic data or the generic control strategy data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
instantiating an instance of a generic process system library, the generic process system library being a fillable template including representations of interconnected equipment items included in a process control system, the equipment items generating corresponding process signals, the generic process system library comprising generic process graphic data and generic control strategy data, the generic process graphic data including graphical representations of the equipment items and graphical representations of the corresponding process signals arranged in a hierarchy, the generic control strategy data including generic placeholders arranged in the hierarchy;
requesting process specific data associated with the operation of the process control system to modify the generic placeholders;
determining whether the process specific data received are sufficient to modify the generic placeholders; and
configuring the instance of the generic process system library by incorporating the process specific data with the generic placeholders to generate a process specific control strategy from the generic control strategy data and to generate a process specific graphic from the generic process graphic data, the process specific data including specific tag name data used to modify generic tag names for the equipment items to specific tag names and specific process variables of the equipment items used to modify generic process signal fields to specific process signals, the specific tag names being assigned to the graphical representations of the equipment items and the specific process signals being assigned to the graphical representations of the corresponding process signals.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring the instance by:
defining the specific tag names and the specific process signals of the equipment items based on the generic tag names and the generic process signal fields respectively and a value to be assigned by a user when instantiating the instance; and
binding the instance to the equipment items based on the specific tag names and the specific process signals.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the equipment items and the process signals correspond to an area within the process control system, a first one of the generic placeholders comprising an area identifier to identify the area within the process control system and a second one of the generic placeholders comprising a loop prefix identifier to identify a loop associated with the area within the process control system.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
displaying the process specific graphic; and
displaying the specific tag names and the specific process signals in the process specific graphic.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
removing the specific tag names from the process specific graphic; and
displaying descriptive labels indicative of the equipment items in place of the removed specific tag names, the descriptive labels defined by the generic process system library.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process specific control strategy is associated with at least one of the equipment items and at least one of the process signals.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process control system corresponds to a safety instrumented system and the process specific control strategy includes a safety instrumented function.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the instance of the generic process system library by incorporating the process specific data associated with the operation of the process control system with the generic placeholders includes assigning an input to one of the generic placeholders, the input to define a path to a source of data from the process control system.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting at least one of the specific tag names associated with the instance, the process specific graphic associated with the instance, or the process specific control strategy associated with the instance; and
updating the instance based on the at least one of the adjusted specific tag name, the adjusted process specific graphic, or the adjusted process specific control strategy.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generic process graphic data and the generic control strategy data are structured within the generic process system library according to a hierarchical relationship of the equipment items and the process signals of the process control system.

11. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed cause a machine to at least:
instantiate an instance of a generic process system library, the generic process system library being a fillable template including representations of interconnected equipment items included in a process control system, the equipment items generating corresponding process signals, the generic process system library including generic process graphic data and generic control strategy data, the generic process graphic data including graphical representations of the equipment items and graphical representations of the corresponding process signals arranged in a hierarchy, the generic control strategy data including generic placeholders arranged in the hierarchy;
request process specific data associated with the operation of the process control system to modify the generic placeholders;
determine whether the process specific data received are sufficient to modify the generic placeholders; and
configure the instance to operate the equipment items of the process control system by incorporating the process specific data with the generic placeholders to generate a process specific control strategy from the generic control strategy data and to generate a process specific graphic from the generic process graphic data, the process specific data including specific tag name data used to modify generic tag names for the equipment items to specific tag names and specific process variables of the equipment items used to modify generic process signal fields to specific process signals, the specific tag names being assigned to the graphical representations of the equipment items and the specific process signals being assigned to the graphical representations of the corresponding process signals.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the machine to:
define the specific tag names and the specific process signals based on the generic tag names and the generic process signal fields respectively and a value to be assigned by a user when instantiating the instance; and
bind the instance to the equipment items based on the specific tag names and the specific process signals.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the machine to:
display the process specific graphic; and
display the specific tag names and the specific process signals in the process specific graphic.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions to configure the instance to operate equipment items of the process control system by incorporating process specific data with the generic placeholders further cause the machine to associate the process specific control strategy with at least one of the equipment items and at least one of the process signals.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the machine to:
adjust at least one of the specific tag names associated with the instance, the process specific graphic as

Assignees

• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Law Gary
• Hieb Brandon
• Ramachandran Ram
• Naidoo Julian Kevin
• Jundt Larry Oscar
• Denison David R
• Lucas John Michael
• Enver Alper

Classifications

• G05B19/0426

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title

• G05B19/042 Primary

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B19/056 Primary

  Programming the PLC · CPC title

• G05B19/41885

  characterised by modeling, simulation of the manufacturing system · CPC title

• G05B2219/32129

  Select program for specified machine from library, file server · CPC title