Display system for graphic representation of alarm reports of a technical plant or technical process

• US 9,235,209 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2007
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Technology AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Hollender, Martin, Beuthel, Carsten
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Anil N
• Application Number:
  US11/844,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20080072171A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,063 Days
• Field of Search: 715/772
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user

Abstract

A display system includes a processing device for graphic representation of alarm reports from measured values of a technical plant or process. Measurement points of the measured values each respectively have a hierarchically structured identifier held in the processing device. The processing device decomposes the hierarchically structured identifiers into hierarchical levels of different significance, selects the identifiers of the hierarchical levels with the highest significance, and transmits them to a preconfigured mass alarm display unit. The identifiers of the hierarchical levels with the highest significance can be assigned to a correspondingly identified area within an overview image of the plant or process of the preconfigured mass alarm display unit. The alarm reports which are generated from the measured values can be represented graphically, taking into account the generated assignment of the identifier of the measurement points to the correspondingly identified area within the overview image of the plant or process.

Claims

1. A display system for graphic representation of alarm reports from measured values of a technical plant or technical process in a power system, the display system comprising:

a processing device; and

a mass alarm display unit configured to display an overview image of the technical plant or technical process as a bitmap, wherein;

the measurement points of the measured values each have a hierarchically structured identifier according to a power station identification system, respectively;

the overview image is divided into areas, where a unique area identifier is assigned to each area corresponding to the power station identification system;

the processing device is configured to hold the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points;

the processing device is configured to decompose the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points into hierarchical levels of different significance, select the identifier of the hierarchical level of the measurement point with the currently highest significance, and transmit the selected identifier to the preconfigured mass alarm display unit; and

the mass alarm display unit is configured to assign the selected identifier of the relevant measurement point to the corresponding area identifier within the overview image, generate alarm reports from the measured values, and graphically represent the generated alarm reports by applying computer graphic effects to the corresponding identified area within the overview image.

2. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the mass alarm display unit is configured to represent at least one of mass alarms and process alarms.

3. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the mass alarm display unit is preconfigured so that the overview image, which is represented by means of the mass alarm display unit is divided into areas, and a primary key, which defines the visual effects with which the areas of the plant image make the process states which occur visible, is assigned to each of these areas.

4. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the mass alarm display unit is configured to transmit the visual effects, according to a defined mapping rule, into the corresponding areas of the plant image.

5. The display system according to claim 1, wherein mass alarm display unit is configured to display the overview image of the plant or process as a process-state-driven, dynamically generated, visually sophisticated computer graphic.

11. The display system according to claim 2, wherein the mass alarm display unit is preconfigured so that the overview image, which is represented by means of the mass alarm display unit is divided into areas, and a primary key, which defines the visual effects with which the areas of the plant image make the process states which occur visible, is assigned to each of these areas.

12. The display system according to claim 3, wherein the mass alarm display unit is configured to transmit the visual effects, according to a defined mapping rule, into the corresponding areas of the plant image.

13. The display system according to claim 4, wherein the mass alarm display unit is configured to display the overview image of the plant or process as a process-state-driven, dynamically generated, visually sophisticated computer graphic.

18. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to decompose the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points into hierarchical levels of different significance based on a weighted priority respectively assigned to the corresponding measurement points.

21. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the computer graphic effects are at least one of (i) coloring a black and white image, (ii) representing the areas by adding one of fuzziness, brightness and darkness to the corresponding areas, (iii) morphing and (iv) pattern overlaying.

22. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the overview image is one of (i) an overall image of the technical plant or technical process, and (ii) a representation of a section of the technical plant.

23. The display system according to claim 1, wherein the bitmap is one of a drawing and a photograph of the technical plant.

6. A method of graphic representation of alarm reports from measured values of a technical plant or technical process in a power station, with a processing device, the method comprising:

assigning a hierarchically structured identifier to each of the measurement points of the measured values of the technical plant or technical process according to a power station identification system, respectively, and holding the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points in the processing device;

displaying, by means of a preconfigured mass alarm display unit, an overview image of the technical plant or process as a bitmap;

dividing the overview image into areas, where a unique area identifier is assigned to each area corresponding to the power station identification system;

by means of the processing device, decomposing the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points into hierarchical levels of different significance, selecting the identifier of the hierarchical level of the measurement point with the highest significance, and transmitting the selected identifier to the preconfigured mass alarm display unit;

assigning the selected identifier of the relevant measurement point to the corresponding area identifier within the overview image displayed by the preconfigured mass alarm display unit; and

generating alarm reports from the measured values, and graphically representing the generated alarm reports by applying computer graphic effects to the corresponding identified area within the overview image.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein at least one of mass alarms and process alarms are represented by means of the mass alarm display unit.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the mass alarm display unit is preconfigured so that the plant image which is represented by means of the mass alarm display unit is divided into areas, and a primary key is assigned to each of these areas, the visual effects with which the areas of the plant image make the process states which occur visible being defined taking account of the assigned primary key.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the visual effects are transmitted, according to a defined mapping rule, into the corresponding areas of the plant image.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the overview image of the plant or process is shown on the mass alarm display unit as a process-state-driven, dynamically generated, visually sophisticated computer graphic.

14. The method according to claim 7, wherein the mass alarm display unit is preconfigured so that the plant image which is represented by means of the mass alarm display unit is divided into areas, and a primary key is assigned to each of these areas, the visual effects with which the areas of the plant image make the process states which occur visible being defined taking account of the assigned primary key.

15. The method according to claim 8, wherein the visual effects are transmitted, according to a defined mapping rule, into the corresponding areas of the plant image.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein the overview image of the plant or process is shown on the mass alarm display unit as a process-state-driven, dynamically generated, visually sophisticated computer graphic.

19. The method according to claim 6, wherein the processing device decomposes the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points into hierarchical levels of different significance based on a weighted priority respectively assigned to the corresponding measurement points.

24. The method according to claim 6, wherein the computer graphic effects are at least one of (i) coloring a black and white image, (ii) representing the areas by adding one of fuzziness, brightness and darkness to the corresponding areas, (iii) morphing and (iv) pattern overlaying.

25. The display system according to claim 6, wherein the overview image is one of (i) an overall image of the technical plant or technical process, and (ii) a representation of a section of the technical plant.

26. The display system according to claim 6, wherein the bitmap is one of a drawing and a photograph of the technical plant.

17. A method of graphic representation of alarm reports from measured values in a power station with a processing device, comprising:

assigning a hierarchically structured identifier to measurement points of the measured values according to a power station identification system, respectively, the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points being held in the processing device,

displaying, by means of a preconfigured mass alarm display unit, an overview image of a technical plant or process as a bitmap;

dividing the overview image into areas such that a unique area identifier is assigned to each area corresponding to the power station identification system;

by means of the processing device, decomposing the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points into hierarchical levels of different significance, and selecting an identifier of the hierarchical level of the measurement point having a high significance, and transmitting the selected identifier to the preconfigured mass alarm display unit,

assigning the selected identifier of the relevant measurement point to the corresponding area identifier within the overview image displayed by the preconfigured mass alarm display unit, and

graphically representing alarm reports, which are generated based on the measured values, by applying computer graphic effects to the corresponding identified area within the overview image.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the processing device decomposes the hierarchically structured identifiers of the measurement points into hierarchical levels of different significance based on a weighted priority respectively assigned to the corresponding measurement points.

27. The method according to claim 17, wherein the computer graphic effects are at least one of (i) coloring a black and white image, (ii) representing the areas by adding one of fuzziness, brightness and darkness to the corresponding areas, (iii) morphing and (iv) pattern overlaying.

28. The display system according to claim 17, wherein the overview image is one of (i) an overall image of the technical plant or technical process, and (ii) a representation of a section of the technical plant.

29. The display system according to claim 17, wherein the bitmap is one of a drawing and a photograph of the technical plant.