MODULE AND CONTROLLER OPERATION FOR INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEMS

• US 20080082186A1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kalan, Michael D., Hood, Gavan W., Chand, Sujeet, Hall, Kenwood H., D'Mura, Paul R., Plache, Kenneth S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,912,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/83
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25451 Connect module to bus using interface with adaptive logic

Abstract

A controller and module for an industrial automation system is provided. A logical module employs resources and logic to expose functionality of the module while providing generic interfaces to external components of the module. A controller is operable with the logical module to provide interactions with components that are at, above, or below a layer associated with the controller.

Claims

1. A controller for an industrial automation system, comprising:

a logical module that employs resources and logic to expose functionality of the module while providing generic interfaces to external components of the module; and

a controller that is operable with the logical module to provide interactions with components that are at, above, or below a layer associated with the controller.

2. The system of claim 1, the controller is operable with an enterprise module to interact with a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) layer of an enterprise.

3. The system of claim 1, the controller communicates with at least one other controller and associated logical module to form a control application.

4. The system of claim 1, the controller is operable with a device module that interacts with I/O devices.

5. The system of claim 1, the logical module includes standard module behaviors and attribute patterns that are represented using common data model representations for module classes, module templates, and module inheritance.

6. The system of claim 5, the logical module classes and templates are maintained in libraries which facilitate access to desired system functionality.

7. The system of claim 1, the resources have various states associated therewith including S88 state classifications.

8. The system of claim 1, the logical module includes one or more attributes, the attributes include one or more properties, the properties include faults, status, and module availability.

9. The system of claim 8, the attributes include one or more command interfaces that are associated with one or more verbs.

10. The system of claim 1, the logical module is an instance that executes as part of a scan cycle for the controller.

11. The system of claim 10, the logical module is managed by a control module task in the controller.

12. The system of claim 1, the logical module employs local data mapping for functions resident on the controller and message data mapping for functions remote to the controller.

13. The system of claim 1, the logical module interfaces to the controller, to a third party device, to proxy logic, and to an MES application via a library template.

14. The system of claim 13, the library templates supports remote web language applications including Java.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising components for adjusting a time for a routine to execute.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component to order a set of routines for the logical module.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a component for group the set of routines with at least one other routine.

18. A computer readable medium having a data structure stored thereon to facilitate module interaction with an industrial controller, comprising:

a first data field to specify resources to perform one or more actions;

a second data field to specify logical sequences to execute the actions; and

a third data field that interfaces the resources and the logical sequences to a control layer that is internal or external to an industrial controller.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising a component to link the industrial controller to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) layer of an enterprise.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising a messaging service to link the industrial controller to external components.

21. A method to facilitate module and controller interactions, comprising:

defining resources and logic for a module;

determining at least one standard interface to interact with the module; and

executing the module on a controller to facilitate interactions with one or more communications layers external to the controller.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising linking the controller to layers that are above or below a layer associated with the controller.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising linking the controller to layers that are common to a layer associated with the controller.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising partitioning a module into one or more routines.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising configuring an order of execution for the routines.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising configuring one or more rules that specify when the routines execute.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising configuring one or more groups, the groups specifying one or more routines.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising reading module inputs, reading configuration data, reading interlock conditions, executing control algorithms, triggering alarms or events, or writing to output modules.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising executing at least one state sequence.

30. A modular system for an industrial controller, comprising:

means for specifying at least one resource that defines a control system action;

means for generating logic that performs the control system action; and

means for interfacing to the resource and the logic to facilitate controller interactions with a Manufacturing Execution System layer of an enterprise.