Process control loop analysis system

• US 6,847,850 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2002
• Issued: 01/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric Systems USA, Inc. (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Invensys Systems Incorporated (Invensys PLC)
• Inventors: Grumelart, Alain
• Primary Examiner(s): Knight, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): BARNES-BULLOCK, CRYSTAL JOY
• Application Number:
  US10/138,922
• Publication Number:
  US 20030014130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 700/12, 700/19, 700/20, 700/32, 700/47, 700/48, 700/49, 700/9, 700/10, 700/37, 700/117, 700 42- 44, 702/187, 702/179, 702/180, 327/378, 327/362, 327/513, 327/518, 318/561, 706/903, 706/906
• US Class Current: 700/37
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 21/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0216 Human interface functionality, e.g. monitoring system providing help to the user in the selection of tests or in its configuration
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/906 Process plant
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

The system and method disclosed herein allow a user to retrieve data from various process control loops and organize that data in dynamic manner to allow for multiple types of data analysis. A user may associate individual process control loops into groups and analyze the data and impact of select process control loops in those groups. Since the associations of process control loops into groups can be done dynamically, the user is able to easily reconfigure groups (i.e. add or remove process control loops) and redo the analysis. Another feature is the storage of both the data retrieved and the results of the analysis so that comparisons can be performed and reports can be generated.

Claims

1. An apparatus for evaluating real-time process control data comprising:

a process control system configured to operate on the process control data and to identify the process control data as coming from the process control system for output as identified process control data;

a data historian configured to determine an interface for communicating with the process control system, based on the identified process control data, and operable to collect the identified process control data from the process control system, using the interface, and to further identify the identified process control data as coming from the data historian for output as historian-specific process control data; and

a loop analysis processor connected to the historian and configured to receive the historian-specific process control data and to thereby evaluate the process control data with respect to the process control system and the data historian.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the interface includes a configurable interface that allows the data historian to communicate with a plurality of process control systems that are each operable to output their respective identified process control data according to a different data format, and wherein the data historian is operable to re-format at least a first one of the different data formats into a second data format that is compatible with the loop analysis processor, for inclusion in the historian-specific process control data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the interface includes a plurality of configurable interfaces that allows the data historian to simultaneously communicate with a plurality of process control systems that are each operable to output their respective identified process control data according to a different data format, and wherein the data historian is operable to re-format at least a first one of the different data formats into a second data format that is compatible with the loop analysis processor, for inclusion in the historian-specific process control data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the data historian includes multiple configurable interfaces that allow the data historian to collect data from multiple process control systems.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loop analysis processor includes a data collection module configured to interface with the data historian to retrieve the historian-specific process control data from the data historian.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loop analysis processor includes a configurator module operable to configure the data historian to re-format the identified process control data from a first data format to a second data format that is compatible with the loop analysis processor, such that the process control data is included within the historian-specific process control data in the second data format.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the configurator module sends requests for historian-specific process control data from the loop analysis processor to the data historian.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loop analysis processor includes a database for storing the historian-specific process control data collected by the data historian.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the loop analysis processor includes a data collection module configured to retrieve the historian-specific process control data from the data historian and store the historian-specific process control data in the database.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the loop analysis processor includes a performance evaluator module configured to receive the historian-specific process control data from the database and to analyze the historian-specific process control data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the performance evaluator module analyzes process control data representing multiple control loops associated with the process control system.

12. A method for evaluating real-time process control data from a first process control loop comprising:

configuring a data historian to communicate with a first process control system based on the identified process control data from the first process control system that is associated with the first process control loop;

collecting the identified process control data from the first process control system;

associating the identified process control data with the data historian, to thereby obtain historian-specific process control data;

storing the historian-specific process control data in a database; and

retrieving the stored historian-specific process control data for evaluation thereof using a loop analysis process.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein configuring the data historian includes selecting a first configurable interface within the data historian to communicate with the first process control system, based on the identified process control data.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising configuring the data historian to communicate with a second process control system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein configuring the data historian to communicate with a second process control system includes selecting a second configurable interface within the data historian to communicate with the second process control system.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein configuring the data historian includes selecting a configurable interface within the data historian to communicate with the first process control system and at least one other process control system.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein configuring the data historian includes selecting multiple configurable interfaces within the data historian to communicate with the first process control system and at least one other process control system.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein retrieving the stored historian-specific process control data further comprises retrieving the stored historian-specific process control data using a data collector module associated with the loop analysis process and storing the historian-specific process control data in a database associated with the loop analysis process.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein evaluating the historian-specific process control data further comprises selecting a subset of the historian-specific process control data and analyzing the subset using a performance evaluator module associated with the loop analysis process.

20. The method of claim 12 further comprising interfacing with the data historian using a configurator module associated with the loop analysis process to enable communication between the data historian and the loop analysis process.