Smart process objects used in a process plant modeling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9904263-B2
Application number	US-1430704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2004
Priority date	Oct 22, 2002
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

Smart process objects, which have both graphical and simulation elements, may be used to create one or more graphic displays and one or more process simulation modules, each having elements which may communicate with one another and with devices within a process plant to model and depict the operation of a process plant. The smart process objects may include one or more device objects, which represent physical devices within the process plant, and may include one or more smart connection objects which represent and model the flow of a material, such as a gas, a liquid, a composition of solid, electricity, etc., through a connection between entities within the process plant. The smart process objects may also include one or more smart stream objects, which also may represent and model the flow of a material at a particular point in the process plant. The smart device, connection, and stream objects may be interconnected to model the flow of material through the actual physical devices within the process plant thereby enabling enhanced simulation and modeling capabilities with the smart connection and stream objects providing a convenient manner of enabling different entities and sections of a process model to be tied to one another.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system including an object entity within an object oriented programming environment for programming functionality including controlling a field device within a process plant and a display of the process plant, the system comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable memory; and
a connection object stored on the non-transitory computer readable memory and executable on a processor, the connection object representing a physical connection entity of a plurality of connection entities that connects process entities within the process plant and including:
a data portion that includes (i) connection parameter data related to a connection by the physical connection entity between process entities and (ii) one or more data inputs or outputs that communicate with other objects representing process entities connected to the physical connection entity to receive a representation of a stream of material from an upstream process entity and to provide a modified representation of the stream of material to a downstream process entity, the connection parameter data indicative of a connection type, a connection status, a type of flow through the physical connection entity, or a nature of the flow through the physical connection entity;
a graphic representation for use in a control display, the graphic representation pictorially depicting the physical connection entity; and
a method portion that includes one or more methods, which when executed on the processor, perform functions that represent material flow through the physical connection entity using at least one of the connection parameter data and the one or more data inputs or outputs for the physical connection entity corresponding to the connection object;

wherein an instance of the connection object is included within the control display, the control display is communicatively coupled to a control module, the control module controls the field device associated with the physical connection entity.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a type of the stream of material from the upstream process entity is the same as a type of the stream of material at the downstream process entity.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the type of the stream of material is a gas.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the type of the stream of material is electricity.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the type of the stream of material is a fluid.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more methods performs a conversion on units of the material flowing through the physical connection entity.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more methods includes an algorithm for modeling the flow through the physical connection entity.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the algorithm for modeling the flow through the physical connection entity includes an algorithm to estimate a speed of the flow through the physical connection entity or a transport delay.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the algorithm for modeling the flow through the physical connection entity determines an amount of time for the material to flow through the physical connection entity.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connection parameter data includes friction coefficients, whether the flow is turbulent or non-turbulent, or a direction of the flow through the physical connection entity.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the graphic representation pictorially depicting the physical connection entity is presented in a control display with an indication of a direction of the flow through the physical connection entity.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein an indicator is overlayed on the graphic representation in the control display to represent a current status of the physical connection entity.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the current status of the physical connection entity includes whether the material is currently flowing through the physical connection entity.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connection object includes one or more predefined data displays associated with the graphic representation that indicate connection parameter data to be displayed as part of the graphic representation within a display when the connection object is executed on the processor.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connection object further includes a tag for providing communication with the connection object when the connection object is executed on the processors.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the tag includes an alias that is filled in or provided during runtime of the connection object.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connection object includes a link documentation for the physical connection entity corresponding to the connection object.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connection object is associated with the upstream process entity and the downstream process entity connected to the physical connection entity.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data inputs includes a data input that is a property of the material flowing from the upstream process entity, the property is provided as an input to the one or more methods, and the one or more methods provide an adjusted value for the property to the downstream process entity.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the physical connection entity is at least one of: a pipe, a duct, a conduit, a conveyor, or wiring.

Assignees

• Blevins Terrence
• Nixon Mark
• Lucas Michael
• Webb Arthur
• Beoughter Ken
• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Blevins Terrence
• Nixon Mark
• Lucas Michael
• Webb Arthur
• Beoughter Ken

Classifications

• G05B17/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• G05B19/41885

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

• Y02P90/26

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F30/00

  Computer-aided design [CAD] · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

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