DISTRIBUTED INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND ANALYTICS PLATFORM

• US 20170102694A1
• Filed: 09/23/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Enver, Alper Turhan, Nixon, Mark John, Bell, Noel Howard, Kidd, Joshua Brian, Muston, Paul R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,386,827 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4184 characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41875 characterised by quality surveillance of production
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31343 Design of factory, manufacturing system control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31395 Process management, specification, process and production data, middle level
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32191 Real time statistical process monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/12 Usage or charge determination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A system for monitoring and analyzing data in a distributed process control system is provided. The system includes a user interface having a set of user controls for selecting and configuring data blocks to create a data diagram representing a data model. The data blocks are associated with data operations, such as data analytics functions, and may be configured by the user for particular instances of general blocks. The data blocks are interconnected by wires conveying outputs or inputs of the blocks, which may also connect data sources to the data blocks. The data sources may include on-line data (i.e., data streams) or off-line data (i.e., stored data) from the process control system. Additional user controls may be used to evaluate the data diagram or convert the data diagram from an off-line to an on-line version.

Claims

1. A performance monitoring and analytics system for industrial process control, the system comprising:

a platform including a set of user controls and a canvas via which a user is able to create a data diagram that is representative of a data model and compile the data diagram to execute on an input data set to generate output data, the input data set comprising time-series data resulting from an on-line process plant controlling a process, wherein;

the data diagram comprises a set of data blocks interconnected by a set of wires via which data is transferred between data blocks;

each data block of the set of data blocks corresponds to a respective data operation and includes an input connector via which respective input data is received at the data block and at least one output connector providing respective output data resulting from the data block performing a respective data operation on the respective input data;

the input data set is received at the input connector of a first data block of the set of data blocks,

the respective data operation of at least one data block of the set of data blocks includes a data analytic function, and

a first portion and a second portion of the data diagram are asynchronously and separately compilable and executable.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each data block is asynchronously and separately compilable.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the output data generated by the data model comprises at least one value that is descriptive or characteristic of the input data set.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the output data generated by the data model comprises at least one predictive value.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one predictive value is indicative of a predicted level of performance of at least a portion of the on-line process plant, is indicative of a predicted fault or failure of at least a portion of the on-line process plant, or is indicative of a predicted interval of time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the output data generated by the data model comprises at least one value that is prescriptive and corresponds to a change to the on-line process plant, wherein the change to the on-line process plant comprises a change to at least one of:

a set point, a value, a control loop, a configuration, a process model, a connection, a component, or a piece of equipment.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of user controls includes a first user control to access a data block definition library storing a plurality of data block definitions corresponding to a plurality of data operations, and wherein each of one or more of the data blocks of the set of data blocks of the data diagram is a particular instance of a particular data block definition stored in the data block definition library.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the particular instance of the particular data block definition comprises an assigned name or identity of the particular instance.

9. The system of claim 7, where the particular instance of the particular data block definition comprises a user modification to a value of a property of the particular data block definition.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of user controls includes a first user control to access a data block definition library storing a plurality of data block definitions corresponding to a plurality of data operations, and wherein each of at least some of the data block definitions stored in the data block definition library includes one or more respective properties.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein a value of at least one of the one or more respective properties is a default value.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein one or more of the one or more respective properties is an optional property.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein a second user control, when activated, causes an evaluation of at least a part of the data diagram.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least the part of the data diagram is selected by the user.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the evaluation of the at least the part of the data diagram comprises a compilation of the at least the part of the data diagram and an execution of the compilation of the at least the part of the data diagram.

16. The system of claim 1,

wherein the set of data blocks of the data diagram comprises one or more of the following:

a data source data block, a filter data block, a transformers data block, a visualizations data block, a data consumer data block, or another type of data block; and

wherein at least one of;

the respective data operation of the data source data block corresponds to obtaining the input data set;

the respective data operation of the filter data block comprises filtering the respective input data of the filter data block;

the respective data operation of the transformers data block comprises at least one of;

cleaning the respective input data of the transformers data block, manipulating contents of the respective input data of the transformers data block, aligning the contents of the respective input data of the transformers data block, or performing one or more analytic techniques on the respective input data of the transformers data block;

the respective data operation of the visualizations data block comprises presenting a particular visual representation of the respective input data of the visualizations data block on a user interface of the platform;

or

the respective data operation of the data consumer data block comprises performing an action on the output data of the data model, the action corresponding to a consumer of the output data of the data model.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the consumer of the output data of the data model comprises at least one of:

an analytics application, another type of application, a distributed data engine (DDE), a data historian, a file, a database, the user interface of the platform, or another user interface.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the another type of data block comprises an explore data block;

the explore data block includes a first input connector to receive a predicted value from a first other data block and a second input connector to receive an actual value from a second other data block; and

the respective operation performed by the explore data block comprises a comparison of the predicted value and the actual value.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one wire of the set of wires of the data diagram connects a respective data block to an off-line data source in which the time-series data is stored, the off-line data source comprises at least one of:

a file, a process control database, and analytics database, or another type of database.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein each data block of the data diagram includes an indication of a respective block state of the respective data block, an indication of an identity of the respective data block, and an indication of a result of an evaluation of the respective data block, and wherein the evaluation of the respective data block comprises a compilation of the respective data block and an execution of the compilation of the respective data block.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the indication of the result of the evaluation of at least one data block of the set of data blocks comprises one or more graphical visualizations.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the indication of the result of the evaluation of at least one data block of the set of data blocks comprises a respective set of computed statistics.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein each data block of the data diagram performs a time alignment of respective received input data of the respective data block.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the respective output data provided by each data block of the data diagram includes at least one of:

a single data value, a set of data values, or another data diagram.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the data diagram is an off-line data diagram, and

a third user control, when activated, causes a transformation of the off-line data diagram of the data model into an on-line data diagram of the data model, the on-line data diagram of the data model configured to communicatively connect to the on-line process plant.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein a set of data blocks and a set of wires of the on-line data diagram is different from the set of data blocks and the set of wires of the off-line data diagram.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein:

an activation of a fourth user control causes a deployment of the on-line data diagram, and

the deployment of the on-line data diagram comprises a compilation of the on-line data diagram and an execution of the compilation of the on-line data diagram to generate an on-line data analytics module of the data model.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the on-line data analytics module is executed by one or more distributed data engines (DDEs) of a plurality of DDEs of a data analytics network of the on-line process plant.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the configuration of the on-line data diagram to communicatively connect to the on-line process plant comprises a binding of the on-line data diagram to a live data source that generates the time-series data resulting from the on-line process plant controlling the process.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the platform automatically binds the on-line data diagram to the live data source.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the on-line data diagram is bound to the live data source based upon an activation of a fifth user control.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the live data source is a process control device operating to control the process.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the process control device operates to control the process by receiving an input signal, determining an output signal based on the received input signal, and transmitting the output signal over a process control communication network to another process control device.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the process control device operates to control the process by receiving an input signal and performing a physical function corresponding to a flow of the on-line process plant based on the received input signal.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the time-series data generated by the live data source comprises a continuous data stream that is continuously received at an on-line data analytics module in real-time via a data analytics network of the on-line process plant, the on-line data analytics module generated from a compilation of the on-line data diagram of the data model.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the data analytics network is overlaid over all process control communication networks of the on-line process plant.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the continuous data stream is continuously received at the on-line data analytics module from a distributed data engine (DDE) of a plurality of DDEs of the data analytics network.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein the on-line data analytics module continuously performs, in real-time, one or more analytics functions on the continuously received data stream, and generates, in real-time, a continuous output.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the continuous output generated by the on-line data analytics module comprises one or more predictive values.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the continuous output generated by the on-line data analytics module is displayed in real-time on a user interface as a graphical visualization.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the continuous output generated by the on-line data analytics module is displayed in real-time on a user interface in conjunction with a stream of actual values.

42. The system of claim 38, wherein an indication of an accuracy of the data model is displayed on a user interface in conjunction with the continuous output of the on-line data analytics module corresponding to the data model, and wherein the accuracy of the data model is based on a comparison of the continuous output of the on-line data analytics module and one or more actual values generated by the on-line process plant.

43. The system of claim 38, wherein the one or more analytics functions performed on the continuous data stream comprise a predictive analytics function or a prescriptive analytics function.

44. The system of claim 38, wherein the continuously received data stream is cleaned prior to the on-line data analytics module performing the one or more analytics functions thereon.

45. The system of claim 38, wherein at least some of the contents of the continuously received data stream are manipulated prior to the on-line data analytics module performing the one or more analytics functions thereon.

46. The system of claim 38, wherein the on-line data analytics module continuously performs, in real-time, the one or more analytics functions on the continuously received data stream and another data stream, and wherein the another data stream is generated by at least one other data source as a result of the on-line process plant controlling the process.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the online data analytics module time-aligns the continuously received data stream and the another data stream.

48. The system of claim 35, wherein the continuous data stream is a selected data stream based on a user selection.

49. The system of claim 35, wherein the continuous data stream is generated based on a query issued by the on-line data analytics module indicating one or more particular portions of data that is generated in real-time by the live data source and that is to be included in the continuous data stream.

50. A system for monitoring operation of a process plant that is operating to control a process, comprising:

a data analytics module bound to a continuous data stream having contents that are generated (i) in real-time by a data source included in the process plant while it is operating to control the process, and (ii) as a result of the operations to control the process; and

a user interface displaying a continuous output generated in real-time by the data analytics module operating in real-time on the continuous data stream, the continuous output including a continuous update of one or more predicted values.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the one or more predicted values are indicative of a predicted performance of at least a portion of the process plant, a predicted fault or failure of at least a portion of the process plant, or a predicted time interval corresponding to at least a portion of the process plant.

52. The system of claim 50, wherein the data source is a process control device operating to control the process by receiving an input signal, determining an output signal based on the received input signal, and transmitting the output signal over a process control communication network to another process control device.

53. The system of claim 50, wherein the data source is a process control device operating to control the process by receiving an input signal and performing a physical function corresponding to a flow of the process plant based on the received input signal.

54. The system of claim 50, wherein the continuous update of the one or more predicted values is presented in conjunction with a continuous update of one or more actual values generated by the process plant while controlling the process in the process plant, the one or more actual values corresponding to the one or more predicted values.

55. The system of claim 50, wherein the user interface further displays an indication of an accuracy of the data analytics module, the indication of the accuracy based upon a comparison of the one or more predicted values and one or more actual values generated by the process plant while controlling the process.

56. The system of claim 50, wherein the operation of the data analytics module on the continuous data stream includes performing at least one data analytic function on the continuous data stream, including at least one of:

a descriptive analytic function, a predictive analytic function, or a prescriptive analytic function.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein the operation of the data analytics module on the continuous data stream includes at least one of:

a cleaning of the continuous data stream prior to performing the at least one data analytic function or a manipulation of the contents of continuous data stream prior to performing the at least one data analytic function.

58. The system of claim 56, wherein the at least one data analytic function is performed on the continuous data stream and on at least one other data stream, wherein the contents of the at least one other data stream are generated by at least one other data source as a result of the operations to control the process in the process plant.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the data analytics module aligns the continuous data stream and the at least one other data stream in time.

60. The system of claim 50, wherein the continuous data stream is a selected data stream, and wherein the selected data stream is based on a user selection.

61. The system of claim 50, wherein the continuous data stream is generated based on a query issued by the data analytics module.

62. The system of claim 60, wherein the query issued by the data analytics module indicates one or more particular portions of data that is generated in real-time by the data source and that is to be included in the continuous data stream.

63. The system of claim 50, wherein the data analytics module is executed by one or more distributed data engines (DDEs) of a data analytics network of the process plant.

64. The system of claim 50, wherein the data analytics module is an on-line data analytics module transformed from an off-line data analytics module that was created by a user via a data analytics user interface application.

65. The system of claim 64, wherein:

the on-line data analytics module is a compilation of an on-line data diagram displayed on the user interface;

the off-line data analytics module is a compilation of an off-line data diagram displayed on the user interface; and

the on-line data diagram is a transformation of the off-line data diagram.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the off-line data diagram comprises a respective set of data blocks interconnected by a respective set of wires via which data is transferred between data blocks.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the data source is an on-line data source, and at least one wire of the respective set of wires of the off-line data diagram interconnects a respective data block to an off-line data source.

68. The system of claim 66, wherein:

the respective set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram comprises one or more of a data source data block, a filter data block, a transformers data block, a visualizations data block, a data consumer data block, or another type of data block; and

each data block of the respective set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram includes an input connector via which respective input data is received at the data block, and at least one output connector via which the data block provides respective output data resulting from the data block performing a respective operation on the received, respective input data.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein at least one of:

the respective operation of the data source data block corresponds to obtaining the received, respective input data of the data source data block from an off-line data source;

the respective operation of the filter data block comprises a filtering technique;

the respective operation of the transformers data block comprises at least one of;

cleaning the received respective input data of the transformers data block, manipulating contents of the received respective input data of the transformers data block, aligning the contents of the received respective input data of the transformers data block, or performing one or more analytic techniques on the received respective input data of the transformers data block;

the respective operation of the visualizations data block comprises presenting a respective visual representation of the received respective input data of the visualizations data block on the user interface;

or

the respective operation of the data consumer data block comprises performing an action on an output of the off-line data analytics module, the action corresponding to a consumer of the output of the off-line data analytics module.

70. The system of claim 66, wherein:

each data block included in the set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram is a particular instance of a respective data block definition stored in a data block definition library that is accessible to the data analytics user interface application, and

each data block of the off-line data diagram includes at least one of;

an indication of a respective block state, an indication of an identity of the particular respective instance of the respective data block definition, or an indication of a result of an evaluation of the respective data block.

71. The system of claim 70, wherein:

the evaluation of the respective data block comprises a compilation of the respective data block and an execution of the compilation of the respective data block,

each data block of the off-line data diagram performs a time alignment of respective received input data of the each data block, or

the indication of the result of the evaluation of at least one data block of the set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram comprises one or more graphical visualizations or a respective set of computed statistics.

72. The system of claim 71, wherein a first portion and a second portion of the off-line data diagram are asynchronously and separately evaluated, wherein the respective evaluation of each of the first portion and the second portion comprises a respective compilation and execution.

73. The system of claim 72, wherein each data block included in the set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram is asynchronously and separately evaluated.

74. The system of claim 66, wherein at least one data block of the set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram is an explore data block that receives a predicted value from a first other data block and receives another value from a second other data block, and performs an operation to generate a comparison of the predicted value and the another value.

75. The system of claim 74, wherein the on-line data analytics module excludes the explore data block of the off-line data analytics module.

76. The system of claim 65, wherein at least one data block of the off-line data diagram includes a respective set of properties, wherein at least one property included in the respective set of properties of the at least one data block includes a default value, and wherein at least one property included in the respective set of properties of the at least one data block includes a value modified by a user, thereby configuring the at least one data block as a particular instance of a particular data block definition stored in a data block definition library that is accessible to the data analytics user interface application.

77. The system of claim 66, wherein a first data block of the set of data blocks included in the off-line data diagram is configured based on output data generated by an evaluation of a second data block of the set of data blocks included in the off-line data diagram, wherein the evaluation of the second data block comprises a compilation of the second data block and an execution of the compilation of the second data block.

78. The system of claim 66, wherein the set of data blocks of the off-line data diagram includes a data block comprising a particular data block instance that has been configured from a data block definition, and wherein a respective identity of the particular data block instance is provided during configuration.

79. The system of claim 65, wherein the on-line data diagram comprises a respective set of data blocks interconnected by a respective set of wires via which data is transferred between data blocks.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein the respective set of data blocks and the respective set of interconnecting wires of the on-line data diagram is different than a respective set of data blocks and a respective set of interconnecting wires of the off-line data diagram.

81. The system of claim 79, wherein at least one wire of the respective set of wires of the on-line data diagram associates a respective data block and the data source, so that a compilation of the respective data block included in the on-line data analytics module causes the respective data block to receive the continuous data stream having the contents that are generated by the data source.

82. The system of claim 79, wherein:

the respective set of data blocks of the on-line data diagram comprises one or more of a data source data block, a filter data block, a transformers data block, a visualizations data block, a data consumer data block, or another type of data block; and

each data block of the respective set of data blocks of the on-line data diagram includes an indication of an identity of the each data block, an input connector via which the each data block receives respective input data, and one or more output connectors via which the each data block provides respective output data resulting from performing a respective operation on the received respective input data.

83. The system of claim 82, wherein at least one of:

the respective operation of the data source data block corresponds to obtaining the received, respective input data of the data source data block from the data source;

the respective operation of the filter data block comprises a filtering technique;

the respective operation of the transformers data block on the received respective data of the transformers data block comprises at least one of;

cleaning the received respective input data of the transformers data block, manipulating contents of the received respective input data of the transformers data block, aligning the contents of the received respective input data of the transformers data block, or performing one or more analytic techniques on the received respective input data of the transformers data block;

the respective operation of the visualizations data block interface comprises presenting a respective visual representation of the respective received input data of the visualizations data block on the user interface;

or

the respective operation of the data consumer data block comprises providing at least some of the continuous output of the on-line data analytics module to a data consumer.

84. The system of claim 83, wherein the data consumer comprises a distributed data engine (DDE) of a plurality of DDEs in a data analytics network of the process plant.

85. The system of claim 79, wherein each of at least some of the respective set of data blocks of the on-line data diagram respectively performs a time alignment of respective received input data.

86. The system of claim 65, wherein the data analytics user interface application performs at least one of:

the compilation of the on-line data diagram into the on-line data analytics module, the compilation of the off-line data diagram into the off-line data analytics module, or the transformation of the off-line data diagram into the on-line data diagram.

87. The system of claim 64, wherein the on-line data analytics module is bound to the continuous data stream via a distributed data engine (DDE) of a plurality of DDEs in a data analytics network of the process plant.

88. The system of claim 87, wherein the distributed data engine provides, to the on-line data analytics module, the continuous data stream having the contents generated in real-time by the data source.

89. The system of claim 87, wherein the continuous data stream corresponding to the data source is received at the on-line data analytics module and corresponds to a subscription of the on-line data analytics module to data that is generated by the data source and that is published.

90. The system of claim 89, wherein the data that is generated by the data source and that is published comprises data that is generated by the data source and that is published by the data source.

91. The system of claim 89, wherein the data that is generated by the data source and that is published comprises data that is generated by the data source and that is published by a distributed data engine (DDE) corresponding to the data source.

92. The system of claim 64, wherein the continuous data stream corresponding to the data source is received at the on-line data analytics module in response to a query issued by the on-line data analytics module.

93. The system of claim 92, wherein the query is issued by the on-line data analytics module to multiple data sources included in the process plant.

94. The system of claim 64, wherein the data analytics user interface application performs the transformation of the off-line data analytics module into the on-line data analytics module.

95. The system of claim 64, wherein the data analytics user interface application manages the execution of the on-line data analytics module, and wherein the data analytics user interface application causes the continuous output of the execution of the on-line data analytics module to be displayed on the user interface.

96. The system of claim 64, wherein:

the on-line data analytics module is included in a plurality of on-line data analytics modules that are bound to one or more continuous data streams having contents that are generated by one or more data sources; and

the user interface displays respective continuous output generated in real-time by each of the plurality of on-line data analytics modules.

97. The system of claim 50, wherein the data analytics module is an on-line data analytics module transformed from a first off-line data analytics module corresponding to a first off-line data diagram, and the user interface further displays an indication of a status of an evaluation of a second off-line data diagram corresponding to a second off-line data analytics module.

98. The system of claim 97, wherein the evaluation of the second off-line data diagram comprises a compilation of the second off-line data diagram.

99. The system of claim 97, wherein the evaluation of the second off-line data diagram comprises an execution of code corresponding to the second off-line data diagram.