COMMISSIONING FIELD DEVICES IN A PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM SUPPORTED BY BIG DATA

• US 20160216706A1
• Filed: 01/26/2015
• Published: 07/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Christensen, Daniel Dean, Beoughter, Ken J., Blevins, Terrence L., Nixon, Mark J., Muston, Paul R., Wojsznis, Wilhelm K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,588,514 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25061 Configuration stored in central database
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25066 Configuration stored in each unit
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25068 Check correct configuration of device
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31395 Process management, specification, process and production data, middle level
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning

Abstract

Techniques for determining device-specific information such as commissioning data, location information, images, and other data descriptive of a process device installed in a plant include obtaining the device-specific information at a local device during the process device'"'"'s commissioning. Based on this information, the local device determines the relative order of the process device within a process flow, and may determine a process element alignment map indicating the activation order of a plurality of process elements within the flow. A user may modify the map at the local device. The map is transmitted to a process control big data network for use in discovery and learning analytics. The device-specific information and/or the map may be utilized to generate, at the local device, representations/views of the process flow, which may include real-time operational data. A user may zoom in or out on these views for more or less detail.

Claims

1. A method of determining process element alignment in a process, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a local device in conjunction with commissioning a field device installed in a process plant, identification information of the field device and an indication of a relative process order of the field device with respect to another process device to be used to control the process in the process plant; and

providing the identification information and the indication of the relative process order of the field device for use in generating a process element alignment map of the process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the local device is a wireless commissioning device in physical proximity to the field device, and the method further comprises verifying, at the local device and based on the obtained identification information, that the field device is an expected field device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the identification information and the indication of the relative order of the field device for use in generating the process element alignment map comprises providing the identification information and the indication of the relative order of the field device to a node of a big data network servicing the process plant.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the identification information of the field device comprises obtaining data stored at the field device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein obtaining the data stored at the field device includes at least one of:

obtaining data stored at a physical tag or label attached to an exterior of the field device;

or

obtaining data from a memory included in the field device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the indication of the relative order of the field device with respect to the another process device is based on at least one of:

an order in which the identification information of the field device and identification information of the another process device are obtained at the local device;

or

an indication of a placement of at least some of the obtained identification information of the field device on an image or representation of the environment in which the field device is located.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the indication of the relative order of the field device with respect to the another process device comprises at least one of:

obtaining, via a position sensor included in the local device, data indicative of an absolute location of the field device;

obtaining, via a camera interface included in the local device, an image of field device situated in an environment;

or

obtaining, via a user interface included in the local device, the indication of the relative order of the field device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein obtaining the indication of the relative order of the field device comprises:

obtaining the image of the field device situated in the environment; and

determining the relative order of the field device based on at least one of;

a location of the another process device indicated in the image of the field device situated in the environment;

or

the image of the field device situated in the environment and another image including the another process device situated in an overlapping environment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the identification information of the field device and the indication of the relative order of the field device with respect to the another process device comprises:

obtaining respective identification information of each of a plurality of field devices; and

obtaining the relative order of each of the plurality of field devices based on user selections of the respective identification information.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, at the local device, the indication of the relative order of the field device with respect to the another process device; and

receiving, via a user interface of the local device, a modification to the relative order.

11. The method of claim 1,

further comprising displaying, at the local device, the indication of the relative order of the field device with respect to the another process device, and receiving an indication of an approval of the relative order;

and

wherein providing the indication of the relative order of the field device for use in generating the process element alignment map comprises providing the indication of the relative order of the field device for use in generating the process element alignment map upon receiving the indication of the approval of the relative order.

12. An apparatus for aligning process elements in a process, the apparatus comprising:

a memory storing respective data for each field device included in a plurality of field devices for controlling at least a portion of the process in a process plant, the respective data for the each field device including respective identification information of the each field device and a respective indication of a relative order of the each field device with respect to at least one other field device within a flow of the process;

an alignment generator configured to generate, based on the stored respective data of the plurality of field devices, a representation of an order of the plurality of field devices within the flow of the process, the generated representation being at least a portion of a process element alignment map of the process; and

a display on which the at least the portion of the process element alignment map is presented.

13. The apparatus of claim 12,

further comprising a device verifier configured to verify, during a commissioning of the each field device and based on the respective identification information of the each field device, that the each field device is an expected field device;

and

wherein the respective indication of the relative order of the each field device is obtained in conjunction with the commissioning of the each field device.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus is included in a wireless commissioning device that obtains the relative order of the each field device.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising at least one of a user interface, a camera interface, at least one communication interface, or a position sensor via which at least some of the respective data for the each field device is obtained.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the respective identification of the each field device includes data stored on at least one of:

a tag attached to the each field device or a memory included in the each field device.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the respective indication of the relative order of the each field device is determined based on at least one of:

an image, an indication of an absolute location of the each field device, or an indication of a process element that is upstream or downstream of the each field device.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

the display is further configured to display indications of the respective data for the plurality of field devices; and

the alignment generator is configured to generate the at least the portion of the process element alignment map based on a user selection of at least a portion of the indications of the respective data for the plurality of field devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the user selection is an ordered selection.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the alignment generator is configured to automatically generate the at least a portion of the process element alignment map based on the stored relative orders of the plurality of field devices and without using any real-time user input.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the alignment generator is further configured to modify the at least the portion of the process element alignment map based on an indication of a modification to the at least the portion of the process element alignment map received at a user interface.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus further includes a communication interface via which the at least the portion of the process element alignment map is transmitted to a node of a process control big data network supporting the process plant.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the plurality of field devices control the at least the portion of the process by using a process control communication network included in the process plant.

24. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

the memory is a first memory,

the apparatus further comprises an analytics routine stored on the first memory or on a second memory, and

the analytics routine operates on the at least the portion of the process element alignment map to generate learned knowledge.

25. A method of determining process element alignment in a process, the method comprising:

obtaining, from a local device used to commission field devices installed in a process plant, respective identification information and indications of respective relative orders of a plurality of field devices within a flow of the process within the process plant;

generating, based on the obtained respective identification information and the obtained indications of the respective relative orders of the plurality of field devices, at least a portion of a process element alignment map of the process, the at least the portion of the process element alignment map including an indication of an order of the plurality of field devices within a flow of the process; and

presenting a pictorial representation of the at least the portion of the process element alignment map on a display, the pictorial representation indicating the process flow through the plurality of field devices.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising presenting a non-pictorial representation of the at least a portion of the process element alignment map on the display, the non-pictorial representation including a respective indication of the process flow.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising allowing a user to switch between viewing the pictorial representation and viewing the non-pictorial representation.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

receiving a modification to one of the pictorial representation or the non-pictorial representation; and

automatically updating the other one of the pictorial representation or the non-pictorial representation with the modification.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein receiving the modification comprises receiving the modification at a user interface.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a selection of a particular field device indicated on the pictorial representation; and

in response to receiving the indication of the selection, presenting, on the display, at least some of the respective identification information of the particular field device that was obtained by the local device in conjunction with a commissioning of the particular field device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein:

the respective identification information that was obtained in conjunction with the commissioning of the particular field device includes an image of the particular field device installed in the process plant, and

presenting the at least some of the respective identification information of the particular field device on the display comprises presenting the image of the particular field device installed in the process plant on the display.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising presenting, on the display in conjunction with the at least some of the respective identification information of the particular field device, a real-time value generated at the particular field device while the particular field device operates to control the process.

33. The method of claim 25, further comprising one of:

(i) receiving an indication to zoom in on a first portion of the pictorial representation, and in response to receiving the indication to zoom in, presenting an enlarged representation of the first portion on the display, the enlarged representation including additional information corresponding to one or more field devices indicated in the first portion;

or

(ii) receiving an indication to zoom out on the pictorial representation, and in response to receiving the indication to zoom out, reducing a size of the pictorial representation presented on the display and omitting, from the reduced-sized pictorial representation, at least some of previously displayed information corresponding to the one or more field devices.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein:

obtaining the respective identification information and the indications of respective relative orders of the plurality of field devices comprises obtaining a plurality of images of the plurality of field devices installed in the process plant, the plurality of images obtained by the local device during commissioning of the plurality of field devices;

the method further comprises combining at least some of the plurality of images into a panoramic image; and

presenting the pictorial representation of the at least the portion of the process element alignment map comprises presenting at least a part of the panoramic image.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein presenting the pictorial representation of the at least the portion of the process element alignment map on the display comprises presenting the pictorial representation of the at least the portion of the process element alignment map on a display of the local device.