Life Cycle Management System for Intelligent Electronic Devices
First Claim
1. A method of managing a life cycle of a plurality of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), also referred to as assets, in a process plant which in their life cycle go througha. An Engineering phaseb. An Installation/commissioning phasec. An Operational phaseFor an end-user comprising the steps of:
- a. Creating a Device Integration Aspect Object by collecting data such as engineering design data documentation during the engineering phase of the IED'"'"'s development or the plant setup, plant configuration data relating to the set up of the IED or the process plant applicable to the installation/commissioning phase, data from maintenance management software that are integrated with the IED or the process plant applicable to the operational phase and diagnostic data about the health of the device in the process plant applicable to the operational phase;
b. utilizing the Device Integration Aspect Object, in a Life Cycle Management System (LCMS) for managing information from different phases in the lifecycle of the IED or the process plant;
c. performing homogenization and version control checks to help the end user optimize the life of the IED applicable to both the installation/commissioning and operational phases;
d. performing Asset Management, to prolong the life of the asset applicable to the operational phase;
e. supporting a plurality of formats and standards across documentation, maintenance data, diagnostic tools, network protocols, control protocols, Operating System platforms and programming environments to manage the life cycle, applicable to all the phases;
f. performing life cycle management in a location-independent fashion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to the Life Cycle Management System for distributed Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) starting from the design phase to the end of service phase. Hence, it caters to the needs from installation via engineering, installation/commissioning phases, until asset management and remote service support of the devices during the operational phase The increasing decentralization of the involved components via networks, especially via the Internet, is a key criterion and needs to be addressed by the life cycle management. The added value for the customer grows disproportionately with the degree of integration of multiple independent software components into a complex and often highly distributed control system. The architecture of today'"'"'s control systems must be sufficiently flexible to allow customers to regard their plant components from various locations. Additionally, the stability, security and maintainability of such a system is strongly dependent on the homogeneity and interoperability of all involved components.
77 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method of managing a life cycle of a plurality of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), also referred to as assets, in a process plant which in their life cycle go through
a. An Engineering phase b. An Installation/commissioning phase c. An Operational phase For an end-user comprising the steps of: -
a. Creating a Device Integration Aspect Object by collecting data such as engineering design data documentation during the engineering phase of the IED'"'"'s development or the plant setup, plant configuration data relating to the set up of the IED or the process plant applicable to the installation/commissioning phase, data from maintenance management software that are integrated with the IED or the process plant applicable to the operational phase and diagnostic data about the health of the device in the process plant applicable to the operational phase; b. utilizing the Device Integration Aspect Object, in a Life Cycle Management System (LCMS) for managing information from different phases in the lifecycle of the IED or the process plant; c. performing homogenization and version control checks to help the end user optimize the life of the IED applicable to both the installation/commissioning and operational phases; d. performing Asset Management, to prolong the life of the asset applicable to the operational phase; e. supporting a plurality of formats and standards across documentation, maintenance data, diagnostic tools, network protocols, control protocols, Operating System platforms and programming environments to manage the life cycle, applicable to all the phases; f. performing life cycle management in a location-independent fashion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 37, 39)
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17. A Life Cycle Management System to control the Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) in a process plant including a plurality of IEDs that are connected by networks and device-specific protocols, a plurality of computers including communication devices communicating with said computers, computer networks and IEDs, said Life Cycle Management System comprising:
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a. a data-store for storing information relating to the LCMS;
a software object for incorporating information about different Aspects of a device, a plurality of connected computers performing Life Cycle Management;b. data aggregation means to populate said software object, hereby referred to as a Device Integration Aspect Object; c. version control means to ensure compatibility of installed components d. asset management/optimization means to maximize the life of an asset/device; e. means to support a plurality of formats and standards across documentation, maintenance data, diagnostic tools, network protocols, control protocols, Operating System platforms and programming environments; f. location-independent communication means to communicate with the customer as well as device vendors and other parties that assist in maintenance or those that assist in providing information on the various stages in the lifecycle of the product. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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38. (canceled)
- 40. A computer implemented web-centric Life Cycle Management System (LCMS) implemented using client/server technology for providing a Life Cycle Management mechanism for process plants with complex and diverse internal layouts, having a number of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), the LCMS providing an asset management system that takes input about the IEDs aggregated in one or a plurality of software objects, called a Device Integration Aspect Object, combining this information with device or asset performance status or condition reports obtained from either of the process plant or other enterprise software which might be integrated with the process plant for purposes of maintenance, to provide a holistic life cycle management system which extends the on-stream availability of the IEDs, further providing version control to ensure stability of the IEDs within the LCMS and location-independent device health monitoring and repair by device vendors and location-independent asset management and control to the customer who owns the process plant.
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43. (canceled)
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44. A computer implemented web-centric Life Cycle Management System (LCMS) implemented using client/server technology for providing a Life Cycle Management mechanism for process plants with complex and diverse internal layouts, having a number of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), the LCMS providing an asset management system that takes input about the IEDs aggregated in one or a plurality of software objects, called a Device Integration Aspect Object, combining this information with device or asset performance status or condition reports obtained from either of the process plant or other enterprise software which might be integrated with the process plant for purposes of maintenance, to provide a holistic life cycle management system which extends the on-stream availability of the IEDs, further providing version control to ensure stability of the IEDs within the LCMS and location-independent device health monitoring and repair by device vendors and location-independent asset management and control to the customer who owns the process plant, which performs the method of managing a life cycle of a plurality of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), also referred to as assets, in a process plant which in their life cycle go through
a. An Engineering phase b. An Installation/commissioning phase c. An Operational phase For an end-user comprising the steps of: -
a. Creating a Device Integration Aspect Object by collecting data such as engineering design data documentation during the engineering phase of the IED'"'"'s development or the plant setup, plant configuration data relating to the set up of the IED or the process plant applicable to the installation/commissioning phase, data from maintenance management software that are integrated with the IED or the process plant applicable to the operational phase and diagnostic data about the health of the device in the process plant applicable to the operational phase; b. utilizing the Device Integration Aspect Object, in a Life Cycle Management System (LCMS) for managing information from different phases in the lifecycle of the IED or the process plant; c. performing homogenization and version control checks to help the end user optimize the life of the IED applicable to both the installation/commissioning and operational phases; d. performing Asset Management, to prolong the life of the asset applicable to the operational phase; e. supporting a plurality of formats and standards across documentation, maintenance data, diagnostic tools, network protocols, control protocols, Operating System platforms and programming environments to manage the life cycle, applicable to all the phases; f. performing life cycle management in a location-independent fashion.
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Specification