SELF SENSING COMPONENT INTERFACE SYSTEM

• US 20090204232A1
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yegorov, Aleksey, Guru, Arun K., Schmidt, Robert Harris
• Granted Patent: US 8,571,904 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

The subject innovation provides for systems and methods to optimize control systems for networked industrial sensors or devices and methods for self sensing, communicating with, monitoring of, controlling and optimizing utilization of networked industrial sensors and related control systems primarily in an industrial automation environment. The invention provides self-sensing and communication with sensors, and integration of control methods and strategies with decision support and logistics systems, to optimize specifically defined operational and performance objectives.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates optimizing industrial business operations, comprising:

a compliance component that receives signals relating to the compliance of a device with the industrial business operations;

a component that at least determines if a signal received by the compliance component indicates compatibility with the industrial business operations;

a component that generates a signal dependant on the at least determination of compatibility;

a compatibility flag signal generating component wherein a determination of non-compatibility generates a signal indicating that the related industrial business operation should halt; and

the compatibility flag signal generating component wherein a determination of compatibility generates a signal indicating that the related industrial business operation should continue.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that generates a polling signal to solicit a generation of a device signal to be received by the compliance component.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the component that generates the polling signal generates a waveform signal as a polling signal.

4. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

a monitoring component for monitoring the polling signal;

wherein a signal that is received by the compliance component being sufficiently similar to the polling signal generated indicates that a dry contact device is generating the signal received by the compliance component; and

wherein a signal that is received by the compliance component not being sufficiently similar to the polling signal generated, and wherein the polling signal is sufficiently similar to the polling signal monitored by the monitoring component, and wherein the signal that is received by the compliance component is not a digital low signal, indicates that a dry contact device is not generating the signal received by the compliance component.

5. The system of claim 4,

wherein the signal that is received by the compliance component not being sufficiently similar to the polling signal generated, and wherein the polling signal is sufficiently similar to the polling signal monitored by the monitoring component, and wherein the signal that is received by the compliance component is a digital low signal, indicates that the compliance component is open circuited.

6. The system of claim 4,

wherein the signal that is received by the compliance component not being sufficiently similar to the polling signal generated, and wherein the polling signal is not sufficiently similar to the polling signal monitored by the monitoring component, and wherein the signal monitored by the monitoring component is a digital low signal, indicates that the compliance component is short circuited to a ground rail.

7. The system of claim 4,

wherein the signal that is received by the compliance component not being sufficiently similar to the polling signal generated, and wherein the polling signal is not sufficiently similar to the polling signal monitored by the monitoring component, and wherein the signal monitored by the monitoring component is a digital high signal, indicates that the compliance component is short circuited to a power rail.

8. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

a monitoring component for monitoring the polling signal;

wherein a signal that is received by the compliance component is determined to be related to an Output Signal Switching Device.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a component that receives data relating to diagnostics and prognostics of a subset of devices that are part of the industrial business operations;

a component that receives data relating to at least two of the following business related concerns;

inventory, processes, accounting, finance, manufacturing, and maintenance;

an optimization component that analyzes the device data and the business concern data; and

a regulating component that facilitates regulating the industrial business operations and business concerns based at least in part as a function of the analyzed data.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a host computer that executes the optimization component.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a host computer that executes the regulating component.

12. The system of claim 9, at least a subset of the components being executed in a distributed fashion across portions of the system.

13. The system of claim 9, the optimization component performing the analysis based in part upon at least one of:

asset management and real options analysis as a factor.

14. The system of claim 9, at least a subset of the devices and/or components being represented by intelligent agents.

15. The system of claim 9, at least a subset of the machines and/or components being physically located remote from one another.

16. A computer readable medium storing the components of claim 9.

17. A method of determining a service/maintenance window based at least in part on one of:

determining device non-compliance, device failure, device degradation, device approaching MTBF, availability of a sufficiently improved device, expected other maintenance on the industrial business operations, and business concerns.

18. A method of predicting device failure based at least in part on one of:

real-time device data, historical device failures in situ, device manufacturer claimed MTBF, historical device failures in other in situ industrial business operations.

19. A method of updating compliance data by at least one of:

receiving updated data from disparate device manufacturers, accessing disparate device manufacturer websites via the internet, using web crawlers to seek out device compliance data on other websites.

20. A method of determining compliance data by operating an unknown compliance device in situ were a redundant compliant device is present and “

learning”

the compliant signal for the unknown compliance device by correlating signals with the redundant compliant device.