SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION DEVICE AWARENESS

• US 20150316909A1
• Filed: 05/01/2014
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Govindaraj, Subbian, Rischar, Charles M., Mansouri, Haithem, Kalan, Michael, Weinhofer, Juergen, Stump, Andrew R., Sinner, William, DeYoung, Daniel S., Kulaszewicz, Frank, Hill, Edward A., Staninger, Keith, Bulho, Matheus
• Granted Patent: US 9,880,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

An industrial automation component that may receive data associated with at least one other industrial automation component in an industrial automation system. The industrial automation component may contextualize the data with respect to the industrial automation system and recognize a relationship between the industrial automation component and the at least one other industrial automation component based on the contextualized data. The industrial automation component may then store the relationship between the industrial automation component and the at least one other industrial automation component in a memory.

Claims

1. An industrial automation component configured to:

receive data associated with at least one other industrial automation component in an industrial automation system;

contextualize the data with respect to the industrial automation system;

recognize a relationship between the industrial automation component and at least one other industrial automation component based on the contextualized data; and

store the relationship between the industrial automation component and the at least one other industrial automation component in a memory.

2. The industrial automation component of claim 1, further configured to contextualize the data with respect to a plurality of hierarchical levels in the industrial automation system.

3. The industrial automation component of claim 2, wherein the plurality of hierarchical levels comprises a plurality of cells within the industrial automation system, a plurality of work areas within the industrial automation system, a plurality of factories in the industrial automation system, or any combination thereof.

4. The industrial automation component of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of cells comprises one or more industrial automation components configured to perform one or more tasks in the industrial automation system, wherein each of the plurality of work areas comprise one or more of the plurality of cells, and wherein each of the plurality of factories comprises one or more of the plurality of work areas.

5. The industrial automation component of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of hierarchical levels comprises a grouping of one or more industrial automation components, wherein the grouping is determined based on a task associated with the one or more industrial automation components.

6. The industrial automation component of claim 1, wherein the data comprises identification information associated with the at least one other industrial automation component.

7. The industrial automation component of claim 6, wherein the identification information comprises at least one serial number associated with the at least one other industrial automation component, at least one product name associated with the at least one other industrial automation component, at least one product class associated with the at least one industrial automation component, at least one capability associated with the at least one industrial automation component, or any combination thereof.

8. The industrial automation control system component of claim 1, wherein the data comprises effectual relationship data that corresponds to the at least one other industrial automation component.

9. The industrial automation component of claim 8, wherein the effectual relationship data comprises one or more effects to at least one operation of the at least one other industrial automation component based on an operation of the industrial automation component.

10. The industrial automation component of claim 1, further configured to:

determine whether the contextualized data is in an acceptable range; and

send one or more commands to the at least one other industrial automation component to adjust one or more respective operations when the contextualized data is not in the acceptable range.

11. The industrial automation component of claim 1, wherein the industrial automation component comprises a controller, an input/output module, a motor control center, a motor, a human machine interface, an operator interface, a contactor, a starter, a sensor, a drive, a relay, a protection device, switchgear, a network switch, or any combination thereof.

12. The industrial automation component of claim 1, wherein the industrial automation component comprises a software-based emulation of a controller, an input/output module, a motor control center, a motor, a human machine interface, an operator interface, a contactor, a starter, a sensor, a drive, a relay, a protection device, switchgear, a network switch, or any combination thereof.

13. The industrial automation component of claim 1, wherein the industrial automation component operates in a cloud-computing system.

14. A controller configured to control one or more operations of one or more industrial automation components in an industrial automation system, wherein the controller is further configured to:

communicatively couple to a network;

broadcast data associated with at least one of the industrial automation components onto the network, wherein the data is configured to enable one or more other industrial automation components communicatively coupled to the network to recognize a presence of the at least one of the industrial automation components.

15. The controller of claim 14, wherein the data comprises identification information associated with the at least one of the industrial automation components.

16. The controller of claim 15, wherein the identification information comprises one or more capabilities for each of the at least one of the industrial automation components.

17. The controller of claim 14, further configured to broadcast the data automatically upon communicatively coupling to the network.

18. The controller of claim 14, further configured to receive a set of data from at least one of the other industrial automation components, wherein the set of data comprises identification information associated with the at least one of the other industrial automation components.

19. The controller of claim 18, further configured to determine a relationship between the at least one of the industrial automation components and the at least one of the other industrial automation components based on the identification information.

20. The controller of claim 18, further configured to determine a relationship between each industrial automation component of the at least one of the other industrial automation components based on the identification information.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions configured to:

receive data associated with one or more industrial automation components in an industrial automation system when the one or more industrial automation components are communicatively coupled to a network; and

recognize a presence of at least one of the industrial automation components based on the data.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the data comprises one or more capabilities that correspond to the at least one of the industrial automation components.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising computer-executable instructions configured to control at least one operation of the at least one of the industrial automation components based on the capabilities of the at least one of the industrial automation components.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising computer-executable instructions configured to contextualize the data with respect to the industrial automation system.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, further comprising computer-executable instructions configured to contextualize the data with respect to a plurality of cells within the industrial automation system, a plurality of work areas within the industrial automation system, a plurality of factories in the industrial automation system, or any combination thereof.

26. An industrial automation device, comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive data associated with one or more industrial automation components in an industrial automation system when the one or more industrial automation components are communicatively coupled to a network;

identify a driver in a database accessible to the processor, wherein the driver is configured to enable the processor to control one or more operations of at least one of the industrial automation components; and

control the one or more operations of the at least one of the industrial automation components using the driver.

27. The industrial automation device of claim 26, wherein the database is stored in a memory accessible by the processor.

28. The industrial automation device of claim 26, wherein the at least one of the industrial automation components comprises a controller, an input/output module, a motor control center, a motor, a human machine interface, an operator interface, a contactor, a starter, a sensor, a drive, a relay, a protection device, switchgear, or a network switch.