Dynamic facility management system

• US 9,733,639 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2012
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Otani, Tetsuo, Katayama, Shigeki, Kimura, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Kasenge, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stevens, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US14/232,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20150148917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 700 19
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Disclosed is a dynamic facility management system that is able to start quickly and monitor a state when various measuring instruments are attached to or removed from the facility to be securely monitored and maintained. The system includes a sensor as a measuring instrument. A measuring instrument reading device, which is a lower level device, transmits a type of the measuring instrument and a purpose of connecting the measuring instrument to a directory server. The directory server generates an instance by referring to class information and generates and registers a relation instance by referring to an inter-class relationship. The directory server transmits the generated instance to related devices on the basis of an inter-instance relationship, and the directory server exchanges facility management data between instances on the basis of the inter-instance relationship.

Claims

1. A dynamic facility management system comprising:

a measuring instrument that acquires information of a target facility handled by said dynamic facility management system;

a lower level device that performs input/output of signals from/to the measuring instrument directly or through a communication network;

a higher level device that performs input/output of signals from/to the lower level device directly or through a communication network; and

a server that performs input/output of signals from/to the lower level device and the higher level device,

wherein the dynamic facility management system stores;

class information for each class including a class name comprising an item of information of the target facility handled by said dynamic facility management system acquired by the measuring instrument and a name of an instance generated corresponding to the class name;

instance information for each instance including a name of the instance;

an arranged location of the instance, and the class name;

an inter-class relationship including a class name corresponding to higher level facility management data, a class name corresponding to lower level facility management data used to generate the higher level facility management data, how to use the lower level facility management data used to generate the higher level facility management data, and a name of a relation instance generated corresponding to a combination of a class corresponding to the higher level facility management data and a class corresponding to the lower level facility management data; and

an inter-instance relationship for each relation instance including a name of the instance arranged in the higher level device and a name of the instance arranged in the lower level device in the server,

when the measuring instrument is connected to the lower level device or the communication network that performs input/output of signals from/to the lower level device, a) the lower level device transmits a type of the measuring instrument and a purpose of connecting the measuring instrument which is an item of information of the target facility handled by said dynamic facility management system to the server;

b) the server generates an instance by referring to the class information on a basis of the type of the measuring instrument and the purpose of connecting the measuring instrument which is an item of information of the target facility handled by said dynamic facility management system;

c) the server searches the instance information and if the generated instance is not present, the server registers the generated instance and generates and registers a relation instance by referring to the inter-class relationship;

d) the server transmits the generated instance to the lower level device and the higher level device on a basis of the inter-instance relationship; and

e) the server exchanges the higher level facility management data and the lower level facility management data between the instances on the basis of the inter-instance relationship.

2. The dynamic facility management system according to claim 1, wherein

when the measuring instrument is removed from the lower level device or the communication network that performs input/output of signals from/to the lower level device, a) the lower level device transmits a name of the generated instance corresponding to the removed measuring instrument to the server;

b) the server updates the instance information so as to change a state of a predetermined instance to a state in which the higher level facility management data and/or the lower level facility management data is/are not processed and instructs the lower level device to delete an instance corresponding to the removed measuring instrument;

c) the lower level device deletes the instance corresponding to the removed measuring instrument; and

d) the higher level device and the server change a state of the instance corresponding to the removed measuring instrument to a state in which the higher level facility management data and/or the lower level facility management data is/are not processed on the basis of the instance information.

3. The dynamic facility management system according to claim 1, wherein all data of the relation instance are character strings.

4. The dynamic facility management system according to claim 1, wherein the target facility handled by said dynamic facility management system is a circuit breaker in a transformer substation and the measuring device is a sensor that acquires a current passing through the circuit breaker and a palette switch operation signal as the information.