Safety versus availability graphical user interface

• US 7,539,550 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rollins, George E., Schuster, George K., Delcher, Ray C., Jones, Derek W., Galera, Richard, Dogul, James E., Nair, Suresh R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kosowski; Alexander J
• Application Number:
  US11/360,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,188 Days
• Field of Search: 700/83, 700/17, 700/28, 700 99-100, 715/700, 702181-184
• US Class Current: 700/83
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 9/03 with multiple-channel loop, i.e. redundant control systems

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides industrial automation systems and/or methods that visualize availability and safety levels. An optimization component can generate a voting configuration that provides an optimized combination of a safety level and an availability level based upon available redundancy. Additionally, a graphical user interface can present a visualization of the safety level and the availability level.

Claims

1. An industrial automation system that visualizes availability and safety levels, comprising:

an optimization component that generates a voting configuration that provides an optimized combination of a safety level and an availability level based upon available redundancy, the optimization component evaluates the safety level by summing probabilities of failure associated with each device; and

a graphical user interface that presents a visualization of the safety level and the availability level, the graphical user interface displays a graph that depicts the availability level of a safety function against the safety level by employing a movable marker that indicates the availability level.

2. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface employs the visualization to model at least one of a current condition, a trend, an adjustment, and historical data.

3. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface utilizes the visualization to obtain runtime feedback.

4. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface utilizes safety integrity levels as provided by IEC 61508.

5. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface continuously monitors at least one of the safety level and the availability level.

6. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface obtains a periodic notification associated with a change in at least one of the safety level and the availability level.

7. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface receives information utilized to generate the visualization in response to at least one of a time-out and a request.

8. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface displays event related information pertaining to at least one of a fault and a remediation related to the fault.

9. The system of claim 1, the bar graph includes disparate sections related to various states of a process.

10. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface maintains a log of operational devices.

11. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface displays an event window that presents data associated with events, times at which the events occurred, and transitions that resulted due to the events.

12. The system of claim 1, the graphical user interface receives a user input and alters the optimized combination based on the user input.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a monitor component that detects a failure associated with an industrial automation device.

14. The system of claim 13, the monitor component provides data related to the failure to the graphical user interface to enable generating the visualization, the data includes at least one of a type of failure, a device associated with the failure, a process associated with the failure, and a time of the failure.

15. The system of claim 13, the monitor component yields a response to the detected failure and provides data related to the response to the graphical user interface.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising an initialization component that generates an initial voting configuration at a time of setup and provides the initial voting configuration to the graphical user interface, the graphical user interface employs the initial voting configuration to yield the visualization.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising a dynamic configuration component that adjusts the optimized combination to generate an updated voting configuration based at least in part upon a monitored real time event.

18. The system of claim 17, the graphical user interface modifies the visualization according to the adjusted combination associated with the updated voting configuration.

19. A method that facilitates visualizing an optimized utilization of redundancy in an industrial automation environment, comprising:

determining an optimized combination of a safety level and an availability level based at least in part upon an amount of available redundancy, wherein the safety level is evaluated by summing probabilities of failures with each device; and

displaying a visualization comprising a graph that employs a movable marker and announces the safety level and the availability level related to the optimized combination.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising computing at least one of the safety level and the availability level during system configuration time.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving data that comprises at least one of a voting configuration, information associated with a safety function, a list of associated devices, availability versus safety integrity levels per device, and descriptions of modifications to a process corresponding to changes in integrity levels; and

generating the visualization based at least in part upon the received data.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising computing at least one of the safety level and the availability level during run-time.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving an implicit message from an industrial automation device that includes information utilized to compute at least one of the safety level and the availability level.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving an explicit message from an industrial automation device that includes information utilized to compute at least one of the safety level and the availability level.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising displaying information associated with monitored events.

26. The method of claim 25, displaying information that relates to at least one of an occurrence of a fault, a remediation associated with the fault, an addition of redundancy, a removal of redundancy, a change in safety level, a change in availability level, and a time corresponding to the event.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving data related to the monitored event in response to at least one of a time-out and a request.

28. The method of claim 19, displaying the visualization further comprises displaying a bar graph that depicts the availability level by way of an indicator versus the safety level.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising moving the indicator to visualize a change associated with at least one of the safety level and the availability level.

30. The method of claim 19, displaying the visualization further comprises displaying an event window that includes information associated with a monitored event and a corresponding change to a voting configuration.

31. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving a user input and modifying at least one of the safety level and the availability level based at least in part on the user input.

32. A system that depicts availability and safety related to an industrial automation environment, comprising:

means for evaluating safety level by summing probabilities of failure associated with each device;

means for optimizing an allocation of an amount of available redundancy to provide a balance between safety and availability; and

means for displaying the optimized allocation by graphically representing a safety level and an availability level and by employing a movable marker that indicates the availability level.