DATA PIPELINE FOR PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM ANAYTICS

• US 20160098037A1
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Zornio, Peter, Nixon, Mark J., Wojsznis, Wilhelm K., Muston, Paul R., Rotvold, Eric D., Blevins, Terrence L., Law, Gary K., Lucas, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,168,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0421 Multiprocessor system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4185 characterised by the network communication
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41855 by local area network [LAN], network structure
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25232 DCS, distributed control system, decentralised control unit
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31094 Data exchange between modules, cells, devices, processors
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31124 Interface between communication network and process control, store, exchange data
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31211 Communicate diagnostic data from intelligent field device controller to central
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31324 Distributed real time knowledge, database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33333 Network multiprocessing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A data pipeline is used as a fundamental processing element for implementing techniques that automatically or autonomously perform signal processing-based learning in a process plant or monitoring system. Each data pipeline includes a set of communicatively interconnected data processing blocks that perform processing on one or more sources of data in a predetermined order to, for example, clean the data, filter the data, select data for further processing, perform supervised or unsupervised learning on the data, etc. The individual processing blocks or modules within a data pipeline may be stored and executed at different devices in a plant network to perform distributed data processing. Moreover, each data pipeline can be integrated into one or more higher level analytic modules that perform higher level analytics, such as quality prediction, fault detection, etc. on the processed data. The use of data pipelines within a plant network enables data collected within a plant control or monitoring system to be processed automatically and used in various higher level analytic modules within the plant during ongoing operation of the plant.

Claims

1. A plant communication system for use within a process plant environment that implements a process, comprising:

a process control network including a multiplicity of process control devices disposed within the process plant to control the process and a process control communication network communicatively coupled to the multiplicity of process control devices, wherein one or more of the multiplicity of process control devices collects or generates process control data;

a further plant communication network including a plurality of processing devices communicatively coupled together by a further plant communication network link, wherein at least one of the plurality of processing devices on the further plant communication network is communicatively connected to the process control communication network; and

a distributed data pipeline including a series of data processing modules communicatively connected together in a particular communicative order to perform processing on process control data in the particular communicative order such that the data pipeline includes one or more upstream data processing modules coupled to a set of downstream data processing modules, wherein each of the set of downstream data processing modules within the data pipeline process data received from one or more upstream data processing modules within the data pipeline, and wherein at least one of the one or more upstream data processing modules of the data pipeline is disposed in one of the multiplicity of process control devices connected to the process control communication network and at least one of the downstream data processing modules of the data pipeline is disposed in one of the plurality of processing devices on the further plant communication network.

2. The plant communication system of claim 1, further including a database communicatively coupled to one of the downstream data processing modules of the data pipeline for storing the data generated by the one of the downstream data processing modules of the data pipeline and making the stored data available to other applications via the further plant communication network.

3. The plant communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the upstream data processing modules is disposed in the process control network and collects raw process control data for processing by the data pipeline, and further including a database communicatively coupled to the process control communication network for independently storing the collected raw process control data.

4. The plant communication system of claim 3, wherein the database is disposed in one of the processing devices coupled to the further plant communication network.

5. The plant communication system of claim 1, wherein the further plant communication network is a big data communication network.

6. The plant communication system of claim 1, wherein the further plant communication network comprises a plurality of different communication networks coupled together.

7. The plant communication system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of different communication networks includes a first plant based communication network and a second cloud based communication network.

8. The plant communication system of claim 6, wherein the data pipeline includes at least one different data processing module stored in a processing device within each of the plurality of different communication networks.

9. The plant communication system of claim 6, wherein at least one of the plurality of different communication networks is a wireless communication network.

10. The plant communication system of claim 1, wherein the process control communication network comprises a plurality of different control communication networks communicatively coupled together.

11. The plant communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the data processing modules is a data collection module that obtains data from a data source within the process control network.

12. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a data cleaning module that cleans data obtained from the data source within the process control network.

13. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a data alignment module that time aligns data from multiple data sources within the process control network.

14. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a sensitivity data analysis module that determines the sensitivity of data to a particular event within the plant.

15. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a causality analysis module that determines a causal relationship between data from a data source and an event within the plant.

16. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a learning module that performs supervised learning on the data.

17. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a learning module that performs unsupervised learning on the data.

18. The plant communication system of claim 11, wherein one of the data processing modules is a data presentation module that presents data generated within the data pipeline to a user.

19. The plant communication system of claim 1, wherein the data pipeline includes one or more data collection modules that collect process data from the process control network, one or more intermediate data processing modules that process the data collected by one or more of the data collection modules or another intermediate data processing module, and one or more end-use data processing modules that store output data generated by the one or more intermediate data processing modules or the one or more end-use data processing modules in a manner that can be accessed by one or more other applications.

20. The plant communication system of claim 19, wherein one or more of the data processing modules of the data pipeline is intermittently connected within the data pipeline.

21. The plant communication system of claim 20, wherein one of the one or more intermittently connected data processing modules is a data display module that displays data produced within the data pipeline to a user.

22. The plant communication system of claim 20, wherein one of the one or more intermittently connected data processing modules is disposed in a handheld device that is intermittently connected to the further plant communication network.

23. The plant communication system of claim 19, wherein the output data is simultaneously accessible by two or more other applications.

24. The plant communications system of claim 1, wherein one of the multiplicity of process control devices is a process controller that executes one or more control routines at a controller execution rate, and wherein the process control data collected by the one or more upstream data processing modules of the data pipeline disposed in one of the multiplicity of process control devices collects process control data at a rate greater than the controller execution rate.

25. The plant communications systems of claim 24, wherein two or more of the data processing modules within the data pipeline process collected data at a rate greater than the controller execution rate.

26. A plant control and communication system for controlling a process within a plant, comprising:

a multiplicity of process control devices disposed within the plant to control the process including a process controller that executes to control the process at an execution rate;

a plurality of data processing devices disposed within the plant;

one or more communication networks that communicatively couple the multiplicity of process control devices and the plurality of data processing devices;

one or more data sources disposed within the plant distributed among the multiplicity of process control devices that collect raw data from the process control devices within the plant at a collection data rate greater than the execution rate of the controller;

a database communicatively coupled to the one or more communication networks for storing the collected raw data from the one or more data sources at the collection data rate; and

a data pipeline disposed in the one or more of the plurality of processing devices within the plant, the data pipeline including a series of data processing modules communicatively connected together in a particular communication order, wherein at least one of the data processing modules of the data pipeline performs a data processing operation on raw data from one of the one or more data sources, and at least another one of the data processing modules performs data processing on data received from one of the data processing modules within the data pipeline, and wherein at least two of the data processing modules operate at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller.

27. The plant control and communication system of claim 26, wherein the at least two of the data processing modules operate at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller by communicating data between the two data processing modules at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller.

28. The plant control and communication system of claim 26, wherein the at least two of the data processing modules operate at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller by performing processing on data at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller.

31. The plant control and communication system of claim 26, wherein the series of data processing modules communicatively connected together in a particular communication order within the data pipeline includes an end-use data processing module downstream in the particular communication order from an upstream data processing module within the data pipeline, and wherein the database stores the data produced by the end-use data processing module.

32. The plant control and communication system of claim 26, wherein the plant includes two or more communication networks that communicatively couple the multiplicity of process control devices and the plurality of data processing devices, and wherein the data pipeline includes data processing modules in devices that are distributed across each of the two or more communication networks.

38. The plant control and communication system of claim 26, wherein the one or more communication networks is a process control network and wherein one of the data processing modules is a data selection module that obtains data from a data source within a process control network.

45. The plant control and communication system of claim 26, wherein the data pipeline includes one or more data collection modules that collect process data, one or more intermediate data processing modules that process the data collected by one or more of the data collection modules or another intermediate data processing module, and one or more end-use data processing modules that store output data generated by the one or more intermediate data processing modules in a manner that can be accessed by one or more other applications.

46. The plant control and communication system of claim 45, wherein one or more of the data processing modules of the data pipeline are configured to be intermittently connected within the data pipeline.

47. The plant control and communication system of claim 46, wherein one of the one or more intermittently connected data processing modules is disposed in a handheld device that is intermittently connected to the further plant communication network.

29. (canceled)

30. (canceled)

33. (canceled)

34. The plant control and communication system of claim 33, wherein the two or more communication networks includes at least one process control communication network and one other plant communication network.

35. The plant control and communication system of claim 34, wherein the other plant communication network is a big data communication network.

36. (canceled)

37. (canceled)

39. (canceled)

40. (canceled)

41. (canceled)

42. (canceled)

43. (canceled)

44. (canceled)

48. A process plant communication system for use within a process plant environment that implements a process, comprising:

a process control network including a multiplicity of process control devices disposed within the plant to control the process and a process control communication network communicatively coupled between the multiplicity of process control devices, wherein one or more of the multiplicity of process control devices collects or generates process control data;

a further plant communication network including a plurality of processing devices communicatively coupled together by a further plant communication network link, wherein at least one of the plurality of processing devices on the further plant communication network is communicatively connected to the process control communication network;

a plurality of distributed data pipelines, each data pipeline including a series of different data processing modules communicatively connected together to perform processing on process control data in a particular sequence, wherein each data pipeline includes one or more data collection modules that collect process data from the process control network, one or more intermediate data processing modules that process the data collected by one or more of the data collection modules or another intermediate data processing module, and one or more ending data processing modules that produce data pipeline output data using data generated by the one or more intermediate data processing modules, and wherein at least two data processing modules of each data pipeline are located in different devices within the process control communication network and the further plant communication network; and

a set of higher level analytic applications that are communicatively connected within the further plant communication network, wherein each of the set of higher level analytic applications subscribes to data generated by the ending data processing module of one or more of the distributed data pipelines.

49. The process plant communication system of claim 48, wherein one of the set of higher level analytic applications intermittently connects to one or more of the distributed data pipelines.

50. The process plant communication system of claim 48, wherein the data processing modules of one of the distributed data pipelines processes data and communicates data within the one of the distributed data pipelines during on-line operation of the process.

51. The process plant communication system of claim 48, wherein one of the higher level analytic applications subscribes to data from two or more of the distributed data pipelines.

53. The process plant communication system of claim 48, further including a database communicatively coupled to one of the distributed data pipelines.

54. The process plant communication system of claim 53, wherein the database is a big data machine database.

55. The process plant communication system of claim 48, wherein the process control network includes two or more communication networks that communicatively couple the multiplicity of process control devices together, and wherein one of the distributed data pipelines includes data processing modules in devices that are distributed across each of the two or more communication networks.

56. The process plant communication system of claim 48, wherein the further plant communication network includes two or more communication networks that communicatively couple the multiplicity of data processing devices together, and wherein one of the distributed data pipelines includes data processing modules in devices that are distributed across each of the two or more communication networks.

59. The process plant communication system of claim 48, wherein one of the data processing modules of one of the distributed data pipelines is a data cleaning module that cleans data obtained from a data source within the process control network.

60. The process plant communication system of claim 59, wherein another one of the data processing modules in the one of the distributed data pipelines is a data alignment module that time aligns data from multiple data sources within the process control network.

61. The process plant communication system of claim 59, wherein another one of the data processing modules in the one of the distributed data pipelines is a sensitivity data analysis module that determines the sensitivity of data to a particular event within the plant.

62. The process plant communication system of claim 59, wherein another one of the data processing modules in the one of the distributed data pipelines is a causality analysis module that determines a causal relationship between data from a data source and an event within the plant.

64. The process plant communication system of claim 59, wherein another one of the data processing modules in the one of the distributed data pipelines is a data presentation module that presents data generated within the one of the distributed data pipelines to a user.

52. (canceled)

57. (canceled)

58. (canceled)

63. (canceled)

65. A method of processing data in a plant having a process control network including a multiplicity of process control devices disposed within the plant to control a process and a process control communication network communicatively coupled between the multiplicity of process control devices, wherein one or more of the multiplicity of process control devices collects or generates process control data, and including a further plant network including a plurality of processing devices communicatively coupled together by a further plant communication network link, the method comprising:

storing a distributed data pipeline within the process control network and in the further plant network, wherein storing the distributed data pipeline includes storing a series of data processing modules that are configured to be communicatively connected together in a particular order to perform processing on process control data in various different ones of the process control devices and processing devices;

collecting data at one or more of the data processing modules of the data pipeline during on-line operation of the process control network;

processing the collected process data in the data processing modules of the distributed data pipeline during on-line operation of the process control network;

storing the processed data developed by the data processing modules of the distributed data pipeline in a computer memory device; and

using the data developed by the data processing modules of the distributed data pipeline in a further application executed on a further processing device.

66. The method of processing data of claim 65, wherein storing the processed data developed by the data processing modules of the distributed data pipeline in a computer memory device includes storing the processed data in a big data machine.

67. The method of processing data of claim 65, wherein storing the distributed data pipeline within the process control network and in the further plant network includes storing at least one of the data processing modules within one of the multiplicity of process control devices and includes storing another one of the data processing modules in one of the processing devices of the further plant network.

68. The method of processing data of claim 65, wherein storing the distributed data pipeline within the process control network and in the further plant network includes storing at least one of the data processing modules in a device within a first plant sub-network of the further plant network and storing another one of the data process modules in a second plant sub-network of the further plant network.

70. The method of processing data of claim 65, wherein collecting data at one or more of the data processing modules of the data pipeline during on-line operation of the process control network includes collecting data at a rate faster than an exaction rate of a controller used within the process control network to perform on-line process control.

78. The method of processing data of claim 65, wherein the data pipeline includes one or more data collection modules that collect process data from the process control network, one or more intermediate data processing modules that process the data collected by one or more of the data collection modules or another intermediate data processing module, and one or more end-use data processing modules that store output data generated by the one or more intermediate data processing modules or the end-use data processing modules in a manner that can be accessed by one or more other applications.

79. The method of processing data of claim 78, wherein one of the data processing modules of the data pipeline is intermittently connected within the data pipeline.

80. The method of processing data of claim 79, wherein the intermittently connected data processing module is disposed in a handheld device that is intermittently connected to the further plant communication network.

69. (canceled)

71. (canceled)

72. (canceled)

73. (canceled)

74. (canceled)

75. (canceled)

76. (canceled)

77. (canceled)

81. A method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant having a process control network with a multiplicity of process control devices that operate to control the process and having a process communication network having a multiplicity of processing devices communicatively coupled together, comprising:

storing a set of data processing modules within different ones of the multiplicity of process control devices and the processing devices;

communicatively interconnecting the data processing modules in a fixed manner to create a set of three or more data processing modules communicatively connected in series; and

configuring the set of three or more data processing modules connected in series to perform specific types of data processing on data collected in the plant including;

configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules within process control devices within the process control network as data collection modules to collect raw process data;

configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules as intermediate process modules to communicate with one or more data collection modules and to process the raw process data collected by the data collection modules to create intermediate process data; and

configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules as end-use process modules to communicate with one or more of the intermediate data processing modules to process the intermediate process data to generate end-use process data, including configuring one or more of the end-use data processing modules to provide the end-use process data to one or more subscribing applications communicatively connected to the process communication network.

82. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 81, wherein configuring the one or more of the series of data processing modules stored within process control devices within the process control network as data collection modules includes configuring the one or more of the series of data collection modules to collect the raw process data at a rate faster than a controller execution rate of a process controller that performs process control within the process control network.

83. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 82, wherein configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules as intermediate data process modules includes configuring the one or more intermediate data process modules to process the raw process data at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller.

84. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 82, wherein configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules as end-use process modules includes configuring the one or more of the end-use process modules to process the intermediate process data at a rate faster than the execution rate of the process controller.

85. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 81, wherein storing a set of data processing modules within different ones of the multiplicity of process control devices and the processing devices includes storing some of the data processing modules in the process control network devices and others of the data processing modules in the process communication network devices.

86. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 81, wherein storing a set of data processing modules within different ones of the multiplicity of process control devices and the processing devices includes storing different data processing modules to perform processing on process data in a particular sequence, wherein the stored set of data processing modules includes one or more upstream data collection modules that collect process data from the process control network, one or more intermediate process modules communicatively connected downstream from the one or more data collection modules or one or more other intermediate process modules that process the data collected by one or more of the data collection modules or another intermediate process module, and one or more end-use process modules communicatively coupled downstream from the one or more intermediate process modules that produce the end-use data using the intermediate data from the one or more intermediate process modules.

87. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 86, wherein configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules to process the process data to generate intermediate process data includes configuring the one or more intermediate process modules to receive data from two or more upstream data processing modules and to combine the data from the two or more upstream data processing modules to create the intermediate process data.

88. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 86, wherein configuring one or more of the series of data processing modules to generate intermediate process data includes configuring the one or more intermediate process modules to provide the intermediate process data to two or more downstream data processing modules.

90. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 86, wherein configuring one or more of the end-use process modules to process the intermediate process data to generate end-use process data includes configuring the one or more end-use process modules to provide end-use data to an intermittently connected application.

91. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 86, wherein configuring the set of three or more data processing modules connected in series to perform specific types of data processing on data collected in the plant includes configuring two of the data processing modules to be intermittently communicatively connected together.

93. The method of configuring a data processing pipeline within a process plant of claim 81, wherein storing the set of data processing modules within different ones of the multiplicity of process control devices and the processing devices includes storing one of the data processing modules of the data pipeline in a process control field device, storing one of the data processing modules in a process controller, and storing one of the data processing modules in a regional big data analytics machine.

89. (canceled)

92. (canceled)

94. (canceled)