Method and management system for controlling, monitoring and regulating complex industrial processes in particular, such as in a nuclear power plant

• US 5,634,039 A
• Filed: 02/01/1995
• Issued: 05/27/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Framatome ANP GmbH, Lothar Simon
• Original Assignee: Lothar Simon, Siemens AG
• Inventors: Simon, Lothar, Erdmann, Jochen
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US08/381,736
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 364/550, 364/551.01, 364/571.03, 364/423, 364/146, 364/150, 364/188, 364/492, 395/80, 395/85, 395/86, 395/88, 395/93, 395/906, 395/907, 395/914, 395/915, 395/500
• US Class Current: 703/18
• CPC Class Codes: G21D 3/00 Control of nuclear power plant control of nuclear reaction in general G21C7/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 30/00 Energy generation of nuclear origin
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 30/30 Nuclear fission reactors
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/907 Power plant
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/915 Power plant

Abstract

A method is provided for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, especially complex industrial processes, such as plant management in failure mode situations in a nuclear power plant. Robots provided as a computation program and human operators interact with sensors and actuators being coupled to a process and procuring process information or influencing the process. Information is collected about how the values of the process parameters are developed and what actions are triggered by the robots and the human operators in a log, by recording both a history of plant performance and an action history in the log. A set of specifications of activities is supplied which indicate what actions in what types of situations can be triggered, for referring the types both to the process history and the action history, and each of which contain one set of references to information on executing the actions being directed to the robots or the human operators. The types of situations are compared with a current situation indicated by the applicable log, it is ascertained whether or not the given situation corresponds to a type, and action possibilities are derived therefrom, in a comparison unit. A management system with a display device, for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, has at least one digital computer with a computation program forming robots.

Claims

1. A method for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, which comprises the steps of:

a) interacting at least one of robots provided as a computation program and human operators, with sensors and actuators being coupled to a process and procuring process information for influencing the process;

b) collecting information about how values of process parameters are developed and what actions are triggered by the robots and the human operators in a log, by recording both a history of plant performance and an action history in the log;

c) making up the log from events being created by noting down actions;

d) logically interlinking sets of conditions each pointing to a presence of one type of event in the log or defining such a type of event, by means of the situation types contained in sequence descriptions;

e) checking for the presence of an event type described by each condition of a situation type in the log, and using the logical linkages of the conditions to automatically make statements as to the possibility of corresponding actions in the current situation predetermined by the log, with the comparison unit;

f) supplying a set of specifications of activities;

f1) indicating what actions in what types of situations can be triggered, for referring the types both to the process history and the action history, and

f2) each specification containing one set of references to information on executing the actions being directed to at least one of the robots and the human operators; and

g) linking supplementary background information to execution information in such a way that at least one of the robots and the human operators reaches the background information while taking the execution information as a point of departure, and

h) comparing the types of situations with a current situation indicated by the applicable log, ascertaining if the current situation corresponds to a type of situation, and deriving action possibilities therefrom, in a comparison unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises the steps of controlling, monitoring and regulating complex plant management processes in failure mode situations in a nuclear power plant.

3. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises the steps of:

a) making up the log from events being created by noting down actions;

b) logically interlinking sets of conditions each pointing to a presence of one type of event in the log or defining such a type of event, by means of the situation types contained in sequence descriptions;

c) checking for the presence of an event type described by each condition of a situation type in the log, and using the logical linkages of the conditions to automatically make statements as to the possibility of corresponding actions in the current situation predetermined by the log, with the comparison unit; and

d) linking supplementary background information to execution information in such a way that at least one of the robots and the human operators reaches the background information while taking the execution information as a point of departure.

4. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises a step of representing information for the human operators about the action possibilities ascertained by the comparison unit in a predetermined current situation with the aid of action diagrams graphically describing a course of a task.

5. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises the step of making up the log with a list of events being ordered in accordance with notation times.

6. The method according to claim 5, which further comprises the step of providing each event with the following entries:

a time at which the event was noted in the log;

a time period during which the event took place;

an agent being at least one of a human operator and a robot having triggered an action and caused the event to be noted;

an activity to which the action belongs;

a phase in which the execution of the activity occurred and which records the type of action;

plant parameters about which the activity has optionally become aware; and

a value of the parameter being found by the action.

7. The method according to claim 6, which further comprises the step of providing each event with an entry containing comments that at least one of the human operator and the robot made for triggering the action.

8. The method according to claim 5, which further comprises the steps of defining the applicable situation type by a set of conditions being linked together inferentially, providing each of the conditions with an identification part and a qualification part, and providing each part with a set of predicates each defining one type of event.

9. The method according to claim 8, which further comprises the steps of filtering the events corresponding to the event type out of the log by means of the comparison unit with the predicates listed in the identification part of a condition and the predicates defining a type of event;

isolating the chronologically most recent of the events; and

checking the isolated event along with the predicates listed in the qualification part of the condition as to whether or not it meets the thereby-defined event type, if so marking the condition as "correct", and if not marking the condition as "incorrect".

10. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises the step of associating an activity with the following execution phases:

"not done" , "begun", "recognized" and "completed" or "compensated for" or "discontinued", designating the situations in which the transitions can occur between the phases as follows;

"not done" begun, detected completed and begun or detected discontinued, by situation types, and appending the situation types being bundled into a sequence description, to a specification of the activity.

11. The method according to claim 10, which further comprises the steps of entering the actions at transitions between the execution phases into the log and entering a "recognized" event into the log with a description of the current status of the current value of a plant parameter as obtained by means of the activity.

12. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises the step of indicating at least one of a more-complex activity and a set of detail activities in a specification of an activity.

13. A method for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, which comprises the steps of managing processes of a power plant, by:

a) interacting at least one of robots provided as a computation program and human operators, with sensors and actuators being coupled to a process and procuring process information for influencing the process;

b) collecting information about how values of process parameters are developed and what actions are triggered by the robots and the human operators in a log, by recording both a history of plant performance and an action history in the log, entering relevant sensor data being available on-line about robots, into the log; and

encompassing contents of a high-quality operational handbook for the task of the robots and human operators being demarcated by specifications of the activities, with memorized execution and possibly background information,

c) supplying a set of specifications of activities;

c1) indicating what actions in what types of situations can be triggered, for referring the types both to the process history and the action history, and

c2) each specification containing one set of references to information on executing the actions being directed to at least one of the robots and the human operators; and

d) comparing the types of situations with a current situation indicated by the applicable log, ascertaining if the current situation corresponds to a type of situation, and deriving action possibilities therefrom, in a comparison unit.

14. The method according to claim 13, which further comprises the step of managing processes of a nuclear power plant with steps a and b.

15. A method for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, which comprises the steps of:

a) interacting at least one of robots provided as a computation program and human operators, with sensors and actuators being coupled to a process and procuring process information for influencing the process;

b) collecting information about how values of process parameters are developed and what actions are triggered by the robots and the human operators in a log, by recording both a history of plant performance and an action history in the log;

c) coordinating each robot through a data line and coordinating each of the involved human operators through a work station with another of the at least one of the robots and human operators, for the execution of a task by a plurality of at least one of the robots and human operators, by entering indications about actions they trigger into the common log or calling up memorized information, for making the at least one of the human operators and robots mutually aware of particular action possibilities being relevant to them,

d) supplying a set of specifications of activities;

d1) indicating what actions in what types of situations can be triggered, for referring the types both to the process history and the action history, and

d2) each specification containing one set of references to information on executing the actions being directed to at least one of the robots and the human operators; and

e) comparing the types of situations with a current situation indicated by the applicable log, ascertaining if the current situation corresponds to a type of situation, and deriving action possibilities therefrom, in a comparison unit.

16. A method for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, which comprises the steps of:

a) interacting at least one of robots provided as a computation program and human operators, with sensors and actuators being coupled to a process and procuring process information for influencing the process;

b) collecting information about how values of process parameters are developed and what actions are triggered by the robots and the human operators in a log, by recording both a history of plant performance and an action history in the log;

c) supplying a set of specifications of activities;

c1) representing activities of a so-called "event-oriented" kind of procedure, for reproducing a task sequence essentially on the action history, with a flow chart, and

c2) representing activities of a so-called "protection goal-oriented" kind of procedure, for reproducing a task sequence supported essentially on the plant history by means of a table linking plant statuses and respective activities being suitable as a reaction to them;

c3) indicating what actions in what types of situations can be triggered, for referring the types both to the process history and the action,

c4) modeling the "event-oriented" or "safeguard-oriented" task sequence with the sequence descriptions associated with the specifications of the activities;

c5) supplying execution information associated with the specifications of the activities or background information linked therewith with contents of so-called "event-oriented" or "safeguard-oriented" operational handbooks and making it accessible off-line to a human operator for information search purposes;

c6) each specification containing one set of references to information on executing the actions being directed to at least one of the robots and the human operators; and

d) comparing the types of situations with a current situation indicated by the applicable log, ascertaining if the current situation corresponds to a type of situation, and deriving action possibilities therefrom, in a comparison unit.

17. The method according to claim 16, which further comprises the step of supplying the execution information or background information with the contents of so-called "event-oriented" or "safe-guard-oriented" operational handbooks for nuclear power plants.

18. A management system with a display device, for controlling, monitoring and regulating processes in industrial plants, comprising:

a) at least one digital computer having a computation program forming robots;

b) sensors and actuators interacting with said robots, being coupled to an industrial plant process and procuring process information or influencing the process;

c) an input/output unit for human operators;

d) a comparison unit;

e) a data line connected to said comparison unit;

f) a log module having a first data memory with an input side being connected to said robot for data entry and being connected to said input/output unit for human operators, said log module having an output side connected through said data line to said comparison unit, said log module collecting information about how values of process parameters develop and what actions are triggered by said robots and the human operators and logging a history of process performance and an action history;

g) a second data memory for sequence descriptions or situation types having an output side connected to said comparison unit, for storing a set of specifications in memory, the specifications each containing a sequence description defining what actions can be triggered in what types of situations; and

h) said comparison unit having means for comparing the situation types from said second data memory with a current situation logged by said log module, for comparing the types with both the history of the process performance and the action history of said robots and the human operators, for permitting a determination as to if the current situation matches one of the situation types, and for deriving action possibilities therefrom.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein said sensors and actuators are coupled to complex industrial nuclear power plant processes in failure mode situations and procure information for influencing those processes.

20. The system according to claim 18, including a third data memory communicating with said robots and with said input unit for the human operators, said third data memory containing a set of information for carrying out activities to be selected by the human operators and said robots through references and to be shown on viewing devices of a display device for the human operators and being available through a data line for said robots.

21. The system according to claim 20, including a fourth data memory for activities to be executed dependent on the type of situation, said fourth data memory communicating with or being integrated with said second data memory for sequence descriptions.

22. The system according to claim 21, including a data memory having explanatory information, said fourth data memory having an "activities" content including specifications of "activities", as well as "partial objects", "device objects" and "material objects", wherein the "partial objects" represent formal specifications of parts of the plant, the "device objects" represent formal specifications of devices required for executing activities, and the "material objects" represent formal specifications of materials to be used during the execution of activities, being coupled with the explanatory information in said data memory.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein said data memory having explanatory information is a fifth data memory for supplementary information, said fifth data memory communicating with said third data memory for the execution information.

24. The system according to claim 23, including a sixth data memory for action possibilities, and an output data line of said comparison unit through which said sixth data memory communicates with said comparison unit, for showing the action possibilities contemplated for the human operators and said robots on a screen or calling up the action possibilities through a data line.

25. The system according to claim 23, including a sixth data memory for action possibilities, and an output data line of said comparison unit through which said sixth data memory is integrated with said comparison unit, for showing the action possibilities contemplated for the human operators and said robots on a screen or calling up the action possibilities through a data line.