Fisher-rosemount Systems, Inc

Deborah R Colclazier

Julian Kevin Naidoo

Gary Keith Law

Sergio Diaz

Larry Oscar Jundt

Kent Allan Burr

Daniel R Strinden

Neil J Peterson

Cristopher Ian S Uy

Michael George Ott

Aaron C Jones

Karen Johnson

Alper Turhan Enver

Prashant Joshi

Robert G Halgren, Iii

Doyle Eugene Broom

David Mark Smith

Wade C Stewart

Kenneth Marks

David M Hyde

A system and method for enabling access to information included in a safety requirement specification (SRS) for a process plant, the process plant controlled by a process control system including displaying, in a user interface, a cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of elements including a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of the corresponding condition. The system and method further including receiving, via the user interface, a selection of an element of the set of elements, and, in response to receiving the selection: (i) accessing, from the SRS, a set of information associated with the element of the set of elements, and (ii) displaying the set of information in the user interface.

System and method for providing interlinked user interfaces corresponding to safety logic of a process control system

The described techniques enable a skid communicator tool to quickly change network settings to those required by a particular skid or network in a process control environment with which a user of the tool wishes to establish communication. These techniques are helpful because skids and networks in process control environments often require different network settings for any device attempting to communicate with the skids or network, and a user often must manually load these network settings every time she wants to communicate with a different network or skid. By contrast, the techniques enable the skid communicator tool to seamlessly connect to, disconnect from, and reconnect to any of the skids or other networks requiring different network settings with minimal input from the user, thus enabling a user to easily move through and interact with different areas, units, or equipment of the process control environment.

Quick connection techniques for skid communicator tool

A method for efficiently managing configuration of modular control systems includes Detecting a communicative coupling between a workstation and a modular control system, determining whether an active project stored in a memory of the workstation matches a saved project stored in a memory of the modular control system, where each of the active project and the saved project includes a respective coordinated set of data for controlling operation of the modular control system, and when the active project and the saved project do not match, (i) determining whether the active project is correct for the modular control system, and (ii) when the active project is incorrect the modular control system, automatically providing, via an interactive user interface, a control for transferring at least a portion of the saved project from the memory of the modular control system to the active project in the memory of the workstation.

Assistant application for a modular control system

Disclosed herein are techniques for automatically distributing device identification amongst components of a process control loop in a process plant while the loop is communicatively disconnected from the plant's back-end environment or control room. A field device's identification is stored in a memory of a component of the loop (which may be the field device or a proxy) and is used for commissioning the field device. While the loop remains disconnected, the field device's identification is distributed to the memory of another component of the loop and used for commissioning a portion of the loop including the field device and the another component. Additional distribution to other components for commissioning other loop portions is possible. Distribution may be triggered by the completion of certain commissioning activities, the establishment of communicative connections between components, and/or other conditions. Other parameters and/or information descriptive of the field device may be similarly distributed.

Automatic distribution of device parameters for commissioning portions of a disconnected process control loop

Techniques for assessing and managing versions of a configuration file associated with a modular control system of a process plant are described. According to certain aspects, systems and methods device may access data associated with multiple versions of a configuration file, including a computing device version and a control version, as well as a last backup instance of the configuration file. The systems and methods may compare the versions and determine any discrepancies between the versions, including which of the versions is the most recent. The systems and methods may present information associated with the comparison to enable a user to select which of the versions may be need to be updated, resolved, or provided to the controller so that the modular control system may be properly configured.

Systems and methods for assessing configuration files associated with a process control system

An I/O-abstracted configuration is defined for a field device that has not yet been assigned or allocated to communicate via a particular I/O device or I/O network within a plant, and this configuration is stored in a device placeholder object in a back-end environment of the plant. Thereafter other objects, modules, applications, user interfaces, etc., that are to execute in the back-end environment of the plant to communicate with the field device during on-line operation of the plant may be designed, built, configured, and tested using the device placeholder object without any actual communications with the field device and without assigning the device placeholder object to a particular I/O channel or I/O network. A commissioning system which may create and store one or more device placeholder objects in a database within the back-end environment of the plant includes an execution engine that executes one or more other back-end environment objects to be commissioned and tested, and a communication interface that determines, from the device placeholder object if a field device is in an I/O-unallocated device state. If so, the communication interface uses the configuration data stored in the device placeholder object to verify that the form, format, and configuration of the object being tested is correct to properly communicate with the field device. Moreover, a simulation engine can generate simulated device signals to enable further testing of the object.

Configuration in process plant using I/O-abstracted field device configurations

A system tag identifying a device of a process control loop is determined/derived from a unique identifier of the device while the loop is communicatively disconnected from a process plant's back-end environment or control room. The system tag may be stored at the device itself or at a proxy that is disposed in the field of the process plant (e.g., at another component of the loop). One or more commissioning activities that include the device are performed in the field using the device's system tag, and at least some of the field commissioning activities may be automatically triggered based on the derivation of system tag. Upon the loop being communicatively connected to the back-end environment of the plant, the device's system tag known to the loop in the field is synchronized with the device's system tag known to the back-end of the process plant.

Determining device system tags for commissioning portions of a disconnected process control loop

A method for configuring a process control system includes coupling an I/O module to a PLC coupled to field devices. For each field device, the PLC has registers storing data of values associated with the field device. The PLC is configured such that each field device is associated with a PLC control tag, and each control tag is associated with tag parameters corresponding to the registers for the field device. The method includes configuring the I/O module to associate the tag parameters with corresponding controller parameters such that, for each control tag, there is a set of controller parameters associated with the tag parameters for the control tag. The method includes instantiating an integration object and associating the integration object with one of the control tags. The integration object configures itself, according to the set of controller parameters that is associated with the tag parameters for the control tag, as an analog input function block, a discrete input function block, an analog output function block, or a discrete output function block.

Smart function block for integration of PLCS into a control system and methods for the same

A modular control system includes a modular controller that implements control logic of the modular control system, where the controller is built natively on a platform of a distributed control system, equipment configured to perform a physical function in a process plant according to the control logic, and a configuration database storing configuration parameters of the modular control system. In a first mode of operation, the modular control system operates as a standalone module, and in a second mode of operation, the modular control system operates natively as one or several nodes of a distributed control system.

Systems and methods for merging modular control systems into a process plant

During commissioning activities of a process plant, a device placeholder object that stores an I/O-abstracted configuration of a particular field device within the plant is created and stored in a device in the back-end environment of the plant and a further configuration file is stored in or for the particular field device in the field equipment environment of the plant. The device placeholder object, which will eventually be associated with the particular field device, and the field device configuration file are used to perform separate commissioning activities in each of these plant environments before the field devices are configured to communicate with a process controller via a particular I/O network within the plant. Thereafter, a binding application performs a discovery process to detect the I/O communication path through which each field device is connected to the back-end environment. The discovery process traverses through the I/O network as built, and autosenses the devices within the I/O network until this process discovers a device placeholder object or a configuration file for a particular field device. The binding application then determines if the information within these two device configuration files match, and if so, binds the field device to the back-end by storing the detected communication path for the particular device in a configuration database, such as in the device placeholder object for the particular field device. If the configuration information in the device placeholder object does not match the configuration file for a discovered field device, the binding application may perform a reconciliation procedure to determine the correct configuration information for the particular field device.

Binding of devices in a process plant using I/O-abstracted field device configurations

An I/O-abstracted configuration is defined for a field device that has not yet been assigned or allocated to communicate via a particular I/O device, and the field device (and optionally portions of the process control loop of which the field device is a part) is commissioned based on contents of its I/O-abstracted configuration. The field device's I/O-abstracted configuration is stored in an instance of a device placeholder object, which may be common to multiple types of devices and multiple types of I/O. A property of the device placeholder object may be exposed based on the value entered for another property, and the device placeholder object may store abstracted values as well as explicit or discrete values that are descriptive of the field device and its behavior. Upon I/O-assignment or allocation, values held in the device's I/O-abstracted configuration may be transferred to or otherwise synchronized with the device's as-built configuration.

I/O-abstracted field device configurations

Techniques for automatically testing an entire process control loop, such as after components and portions of the loop have been commissioned separately, or after run-time operation begins, enable the process control loop to be tested without an operator in a back-end environment of a process plant coordinating with an operator in a field environment of the process plant to supply inputs and/or generate various conditions at the loop. Instead, a single operator performs a single operation to initiate an automatic loop test, or in some implementations, no user input is needed to initiate and/or perform the automatic loop test. Automatic loop testing includes automatically causing a field device to operate in a plurality of test states and determining whether resultant loop behaviors are expected behaviors. Multiple loops may be tested concurrently or distinct in time. An automatic loop test result is generated and may be presented via a user interface.

Automatic loop testing for a process control loop

The present invention is directed to an analysis tool for aiding in the design of a process control system which conforms to a standard protocol. Such a tool advantageously allows the efficient design of a process control system while ensuring that the physical characteristics of the system conform to the standard.

Growing community of inventors

Round Rock, TX, United States of America

Deborah R Colclazier