Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Alexander Pelzer

Jan Götz

Jürgen Reichmann

Jan Goetz

The process control unit is configured to execute a plurality of control processes, wherein a first control process executed on the process control unit is configured such that there is no provision for direct exchange of process variables with a second control process, but rather this exchange takes place via an interposed association module. An association specification is used to ascertain the control process(es) to which the process variable needs to be handed over. One advantage includes the increased flexibility in the exchange of process variables, which now takes place in the individual control processes by an association module. Restarts of the process control unit and associated production losses advantageously become unnecessary. Additional resources in the process control unit or in an engineering system may be reduced or avoided. The decreased complexity means that the control systems and engineering systems are developed more easily and hence also more quickly.

Process control unit and method for interprocess exchange of process variables

An automation network provides packet-based communication between the host and a client, wherein the client determines output values from the host in the event of errors in the communication between the host and the client, where the determination of output data can be performed in a separate local processing module in accordance with a less complex method than on the host, such that it becomes possible to perform complex open-loop and closed-loop control tasks on the host even in the case of mobile clients or other clients that are difficult to wire.

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Fürth, Germany

Alexander Pelzer