Fisher-rosemount Systems, Inc

J Michael Lucas

Mark J Nixon

Stephen Copps Gilbert

Larry Oscar Jundt

Ken J Beoughter

Terrence L Blevins

Arthur Webb

Gary Keith Law

Stephen Gerard Hammack

Bruce Hubert Campney

Godfrey Roland Sherriff

Robert Burke Havekost

Jian Li

Michael George Ott

Dennis L Stevenson

David R Denison

Paul Richard Muston

Herschel Odis Koska, Ii

James Randall Balentine

Matt Stoner

Edward McDevitt

Wilhelm K Wojsznis

Eric Darrell Rotvold

Ling Zhou

Peter Zornio

Francis De Guzman

Hao Tennyson

Daniel Dean Christensen

Andrew Philip Dove

Alper Turhan Enver

Marty James Lewis

Ryan Gallardo Valderama

Tennyson Hao

Richard Rodriguez

Process control systems for operating process plants are disclosed herein. The process control systems include control modules that are decoupled from the I/O architecture of the process plants using signal objects or generic shadow blocks. This decoupling is effected by using the signal objects or generic shadow blocks to manage at least part of the communication between the control modules and the field devices. Signal objects may convert between protocols used by control modules and field devices, thus decoupling the control modules from the I/O architecture. Generic shadow blocks may be automatically configured to mimic the operation of field devices within a controller executing the control modules, thus partially decoupling the control modules from the I/O architecture by using the shadow blocks to manage communication between the control modules and the field devices.

Architecture-independent process control

Techniques for streaming big data in a process plant are disclosed. Generally, these techniques facilitate storage or communication of process control data, including alarms, parameters, events, and the like, in near real-time. Receivers of big data, such as big data historians or devices requesting specific data, are configured via an initial set of metadata, and thereafter receive updated metadata upon requesting it from the transmitting device, such as when the receiving device encounters an identifier in the data, which identifier was not defined in the metadata previously received.

Streaming data for analytics in process control systems

Techniques for automatically or autonomously performing signal processing-based learning in a process plant are disclosed. Generally, said techniques automatically or autonomously perform signal processing on a real-time signal that is generated based on the process plant controlling a process. Typically, the signal corresponds to a parameter value that varies over time, and the signal is processed as it is generated in real-time during on-line plant operations. Results of the signal processing may indicate characteristics of the signal, and one or more analytics functions may determine the sources of the characteristics, which may include a process element or device, a piece of equipment, and/or an asset of the process plant that is upstream, within the process, of the source of the signal. An autonomous signal processor may be integrated with or included in a process control device and/or a big data node of the process plant.

Automatic signal processing-based learning in a process plant

A user interface system for a process plant includes a graphic display editor to configure a process graphic display having a graphic display element representative of a process plant element of the process plant. The process graphic display is specified via configuration information set forth in a declarative language. A graphics rendering engine generates a depiction of the process graphic display during runtime based on commands derived from the configuration information set forth in the declarative language. The configuration information for the process graphic display may be stored as an object, which, for instance, may include first and second portions to define a graphical parameter and identify a data source, respectively. The graphical parameter may be directed to defining a graphical depiction of the process plant element and, to this end, may be set forth in a formal in accordance with the declarative language. The data source may specify a location or path for data indicative of on-line operation of the process plant element to be displayed via the graphical depiction.

Markup language-based, dynamic process graphics in a process plant user interface

A regional big data node oversees or services, during real-time operations of a process plant or process control system, a respective region of a plurality of regions of the plant/system, where at least some of the regions each includes one or more process control devices that operate to control a process executed in the plant/system. The regional big data node is configured to receive and store, as big data, streamed data and learned knowledge that is generated, received, or observed by its respective region, and to perform one or more learning analyses on at least some of the stored data. As a result of the learning analyses, the regional big data node creates new learned knowledge which the regional big data node may use to modify operations in its respective region, and/or which the regional big data node may transmit to other big data nodes of the plant/system.

Regional big data in process control systems

Flexible configuration of process control systems or plants allows draft changes or modifications to be made to parent process objects, e.g., in a configuration environment, without automatically triggering corresponding instantiations and/or downloads of the parent process objects and/or their derived children objects into a run-time system. Parent objects to which draft changes are allowed may include class objects, instance objects, and/or library objects. One or more modifications to a process object may be saved as a draft, and multiple drafts for a same process object may be saved as different versions. Children objects may indicate the particular version of a parent object draft from which they are derived. A user may indicate that a particular draft or version is to be published or approved. Unpublished or unapproved drafts are prevented from being instantiated in the run-time system, whereas published or approved drafts are allowed to be instantiated.

Method and apparatus for managing process control configuration

A common process control graphical user interface plant operators, plant maintenance personnel, and management is disclosed which provides a real-time interface to both the process and the plant. The common interface is modular in design and is capable of supporting various specializations for each user type. Operator consoles are dedicated to each section of the plant and include additional functions such as maintenance, configuration, simulation and supervisory information. The unified for common graphical interface replaces control room displays filled with single case analog controllers, meters, and digital indicators. The common interface addresses the functions that previously were provided by the panel motor start/stop buttons and status indications, chart recorders, annunciator panels and subsystem interfaces. From a console, operators manage alarms, adjust the process by entering new setpoints or other parameters, 'zoom in' on particular portions of the process for details, and utilize other specialized applications to work with their batch, advanced control, or business applications. The interface will run in both dedicated and non-dedicated modes, will run as a rich client or as part of a browser style interface utilizing web services and will run on workstations, laptops, tablet PC's, handhelds, and smart phones.

Graphic display configuration framework for unified control system interface

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for accessing process control data involve loading a client object and communicating a data access request from the client object to a real object configured to communicate with a server. The real object then communicates a query to the server based on the data access request and obtains process control data from the server in response to the query. The process control data is then mapped from a first data layout associated with a server schema to a second data layout associated with a client schema. The mapped process control data is then communicated to an application.

Methods and apparatus for accessing process control data

Graphical display support is provided within a process plant configuration, monitoring and simulation system to enable graphical displays to be created in a manner in which they are associated with one another in the runtime environment. In particular, a single graphic display editor may be used to create interrelated graphic displays that may be accessed from one another in the runtime environment to provide further information about a process entity within one of the graphic displays, to scroll through adjacent sections of a process plant or to provide different displays for different functions within the process plant, such as for an operator viewing function, a simulation function and a maintenance function. Because the same graphic editor is used to create the graphic displays, the resultant graphic displays may have the same look and feel and may be bound to the runtime environment within the plant in generally the same manner.

Associated graphic displays in a process environment

A method useful for providing a user interface for a process plant includes displaying graphical depictions of process plant elements of the process plant via the user interface. Information is generated for a plurality of content layers of a process graphic display of the process plant elements by processing data regarding operation of the process plant. Content to be displayed via the user interface is determined from the generated information by determining which content layer of the plurality of content layer is to be displayed. In some embodiments, the determination may be made based on a user profile characteristic. The generated information may therefore support multiple views of the process plant via the user interface for a plurality of different types of users of the user interface, and may involve processing data regarding actual and simulated operation of the process plant. As a result, the method may also include determining whether the process plant is currently on-line to further determine the portion of the information to be displayed via the user interface.

Process plant user interface system having customized process graphic display layers in an integrated environment

A service-oriented architecture for process control systems is disclosed. In one example, a method for conveying process control information between a client process and a server process in a process control system establishes a server process including a plurality of process control services, each of which has a corresponding service interface. The example method also establishes a client process having a proxy for each of the plurality of services to which the client process establishes a communicative connection. Additionally, the example method provides port information associated with the service interfaces to the client process to enable the conveyance of process control information between the client process and the server process.

Service-oriented architecture for process control systems

Graphic display configuration framework for unified process control system interface

A system for facilitating configuration of a process plant may include a process graphics editor and a process module editor. The process graphics editor may facilitate creation and/or modification of a graphical representation of physical entities in the process plant. The process module editor may facilitate creation and/or modification of a process module. A process module may include one or more interconnected process objects representative of one or more corresponding physical entities in the process plant. The system may also include a supervisor module communicatively coupled to the process graphics editor and the process module editor. The supervisor module may be capable of detecting changes made to the graphical representation of the physical entities using the process graphics editor. In response to detecting such changes, the supervisor module may instruct the process module editor to make a corresponding change, if any, to a process module.

System for configuring graphic display elements and process modules in process plants

Growing community of inventors

Leicester, United Kingdom

J Michael Lucas