Economic calculations in process control system
First Claim
1. A system for use in a process plant, comprising:
- a first data source including economic data related to economic factors associated with the operation of the process plant;
a second data source including process control data related to control operations within the process plant;
a model that models the operation of the plant using the economic data and the process control data and that produces a model output;
an application that uses the model output to perform a function with respect to the operation of the process plant; and
an information server communicatively connected between the first and second data sources and the model, the information server including a router and a scheduler adapted to establish different schedules for delivery of information from the first and the second data sources to the information server based on different user profiles or different user configurations stored concurrently on the information server and associated with different users;
wherein the first and the second data sources are adapted to automatically send the economic data and the process control data to the information server, as prescribed by the scheduler, via first and second messages and wherein the router is adapted to process the first and second messages to determine that the economic data and the process control data contained within the first and second messages is to be sent to the model and to automatically deliver the economic data and the process control data to the model.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A process control system includes economic models disposed in communication with process control modules, as well as with sources of economic data, such as cost, throughput and profit data, and uses the economic models to determine useful economic parameters or information associated with the actual operation of the process plant at the time the plant is operating. The economic models can be used to provide financial statistics such as profitability, cost of manufactured product, etc. in real time based on the actual current operating state of the process and the business data associated with the finished product, raw materials, etc. These financial statistics can be used to drive alarms and alerts within the process network and be used as inputs to process plant optimizers, etc. to provide for better or more optimal control of the process and to provide a better understanding of the conditions which lead to maximum profitability of the plant.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for use in a process plant, comprising:
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a first data source including economic data related to economic factors associated with the operation of the process plant; a second data source including process control data related to control operations within the process plant; a model that models the operation of the plant using the economic data and the process control data and that produces a model output; an application that uses the model output to perform a function with respect to the operation of the process plant; and an information server communicatively connected between the first and second data sources and the model, the information server including a router and a scheduler adapted to establish different schedules for delivery of information from the first and the second data sources to the information server based on different user profiles or different user configurations stored concurrently on the information server and associated with different users; wherein the first and the second data sources are adapted to automatically send the economic data and the process control data to the information server, as prescribed by the scheduler, via first and second messages and wherein the router is adapted to process the first and second messages to determine that the economic data and the process control data contained within the first and second messages is to be sent to the model and to automatically deliver the economic data and the process control data to the model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification