System and method for batch process control with diverse distributed control system protocols

• US 20070283030A1
• Filed: 05/30/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Hogan, Michael, Xu, Yingnian, Deininger, Thomas A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A system and method for batch process control with diverse distributed control system (DCS) protocols is disclosed. A run-time extension acts as an adaptation layer that allows a single batch manager to supervise controllers utilizing diverse DCS protocols. The run-time extension receives commands transmitted from the batch supervisor in a first DCS protocol, translates the commands to a second DCS protocol utilized by a controller, and transmits the translated command to the controller to control various equipment associated with the controller. A database automation object (DBA) inputs configuration information from controllers utilizing diverse DCS protocols, extracts equipment information from the configuration information, generates protocol translation logic based on the configuration information, and translates recipe and formula information included in the configuration information into a common format.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a command associated with equipment information in a first distributed control system (DCS) protocol;

translating said command into a second DCS protocol based on a controller associated with said equipment information; and

transmitting the translated command to said controller in said second DCS protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first DCS protocol is an S88 compatible protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said second DCS protocol is a native protocol of a legacy DCS system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of translating said command into a second DCS protocol comprises:

executing pre-configured protocol translation logic associated with said controller.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said pre-configured protocol translation logic is stored in an intermediate, persistent configuration format.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of executing pre-configured translation logic associated with said controller comprises:

simultaneously executing at least two run-time adaptation layers in a coordinated manner for implementing fail-over redundancy.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said equipment information comprises a data tag associated with said first DCS protocol, and said step of receiving a command comprises:

receiving a value for said data tag associated with said first DCS protocol.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of translating said command into a second DCS protocol comprises:

determining a value for at least one data tag associated with said second DCS protocol based on the value of said data tag associated with said first DCS protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining said controller associated with said equipment information in response to receiving said command; and

determining a second DCS protocol associated with said controller prior to translating said command into said second DCS protocol.

10. A method comprising:

detecting a change in first distributed control system (DCS) protocol information at a controller; and

updating second DCS protocol information based on detecting the change in said first DCS protocol information at said controller.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

presenting said second DCS protocol information to a batch manager.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of updating said second DCS protocol information comprises:

executing pre-configured protocol translation logic associated with said controller to translate said first DCS protocol information to said second DCS protocol.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said second DCS protocol is an s88 compatible DCS protocol.

14. A method of configuring a distributed control system (DCS) having a plurality of controllers utilizing diverse DCS protocols, comprising:

extracting configuration information associated with said diverse DCS protocols from the plurality of controllers;

generating protocol translation logic associated with each of said plurality of controllers based on said configuration information, said protocol translation logic for translating between each of said diverse DCS protocols and a uniform DCS protocol; and

transmitting said protocol translation logic to a gateway device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

mapping said configuration information into equipment information in said uniform DCS protocol; and

storing said equipment information in a database.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting said equipment information in said uniform DCS protocol to a batch manager.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said equipment information is an s88 physical model.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said protocol translation logic comprises at least one state machine for translating commands in said uniform DCS protocol to at least one of said diverse DCS protocols.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said protocol translation logic comprises at least one state machine for translating status information in at least one of said diverse DCS protocols to said uniform DCS protocol.

20. A method comprising:

extracting recipe and formula information from a plurality of controllers utilizing diverse vendor-specific batch supervision applications;

translating said recipe and formula information to a uniform recipe model; and

storing the translated recipe and formula information for use within at least one second batch supervision application.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said the uniform recipe model is consistent with an S88 standard.

22. The method of claim 21, in which concordance between recipes and formulas in the diverse vendor-specific batch supervision applications is preserved when the recipe information is translated to the at least one second batch supervision application.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a command associated with equipment information in a first distributed control system (DCS) protocol;

means for translating said command into a second DCS protocol based on a controller associated with said equipment information; and

means for transmitting the translated command to said controller in said second DCS protocol.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said first DCS protocol is an S88 compatible protocol.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said second DCS protocol is a native protocol of a legacy DCS system.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said means for translating said command into a second DCS protocol comprises:

means for executing pre-configured protocol translation logic associated with said controller.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

means for determining said controller associated with said equipment information in response to receiving said command; and

means for determining a second DCS protocol associated with said controller prior to translating said command into said second DCS protocol.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

means for detecting a change in second DCS protocol information at said controller; and

means for updating first DCS protocol information in response to detecting the change in said second DCS protocol information at said controller.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

means for presenting said first DCS protocol information to a batch manager.

30. An apparatus for configuring a distributed control system (DCS) having a plurality of controllers utilizing diverse DCS protocols, comprising:

means for extracting configuration information associated with said diverse DCS protocols from the plurality of controllers;

means for generating protocol translation logic associated with each of said plurality of controllers based on said configuration information, said protocol translation logic for translating between each of said diverse DCS protocols and a uniform DCS protocol; and

means for transmitting said protocol translation logic to a gateway device.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

means for mapping said configuration information into equipment information in said uniform DCS protocol; and

means for transmitting said equipment information in said uniform DCS protocol to a batch manager.

32. A computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions defining steps comprising:

receiving a command associated with equipment information in a first distributed control system (DCS) protocol;

translating said command into a second DCS protocol based on a controller associated with said equipment information; and

transmitting the translated command to said controller in said second DCS protocol.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein the computer executable instructions defining the step of translating said command into a second DCS protocol comprises computer executable instructions defining the step of:

executing pre-configured protocol translation logic associated with said controller.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein the computer executable instructions further defines the steps of:

determining said controller associated with said equipment information in response to receiving said command; and

determining a second DCS protocol associated with said controller prior to translating said command into said second DCS protocol.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein the computer executable instructions further define the steps of:

detecting a change in second DCS protocol information at said controller; and

updating stored first DCS protocol information based on detecting the change in said second DCS protocol information at said controller.

36. A computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions for configuring a distributed control system (DCS) having a plurality of controllers utilizing diverse DCS protocols, the computer executable instructions defining steps comprising:

extracting configuration information associated with said diverse DCS protocols from the plurality of controllers;

generating protocol translation logic associated with each of said plurality of controllers based on said configuration information, said protocol translation logic for translating between each of said diverse DCS protocols and a uniform DCS protocol; and

transmitting said protocol translation logic to a gateway device.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the computer executable instructions further define the steps of:

mapping said configuration information into equipment information in said uniform DCS protocol; and

transmitting said equipment information in said uniform DCS protocol to a batch manager.

38. A distributed control system (DCS) comprising:

a batch manager configured to transmit commands in a first DCS protocol;

a run-time extension configured to translate said commands into a second DCS protocol; and

at least one controller configured to receive translated commands in said second DCS protocol from said run-time extension, and to control designated equipment in response to said translated commands.

39. The DCS of claim 38, further comprising:

a database automation object configured to extract equipment information in said second DCS protocol from said at least one controller and to generate equipment information in said first DCS protocol based on said equipment information in said second DCS protocol.

40. The DCS of claim 39, wherein said equipment information in said first DCS protocol is stored at said batch manager.

41. The DCS of claim 39, wherein said database automation object is configured to generate protocol translation logic for translating between said first and second DCS protocols and said protocol translation logic is executed in said run-time extension.

42. The DCS of claim 38, wherein said run-time extension is configured to detect changes in information associated with said at least one controller in said second DCS protocol and to update information associated with said at least one controller in said first DCS protocol in response to said changes.