An octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units

Abstract

The invention discloses an intelligent control platform for thermal power units with an octopus-shaped architecture. The platform is similar to the biological structure principle of an octopus and adopts a structural framework in which a main brain is connected to multiple expandable tentacles. The platform comprises one or more communication cards, a PLC tentacle controller bidirectionally connected to the communication card via a control bus and used to support multiple control modules or multiple control modules provided by a third party, a main brain server connected to the PLC tentacle controller via a control bus and used to support data services and intelligent computing, and an OPC communication client connected to the main brain server via a control bus and used to establish an OPC connection. The invention can not only cover the application scenarios of future artificial intelligence, big data and cloud platforms, but also has the characteristics of flexible expansion, low cost, easy maintenance, cross-platform and easy transplantation, and can meet the future intelligent control function requirements and information security requirements, so that artificial intelligence and big data technologies can truly play a role in the process control of thermal power units and help the infrastructure construction of smart power stations.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of automatic control of thermal power plants, and in particular to an intelligent control platform for thermal power units with an octopus-type architecture. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, industrial production has begun to accelerate towards digitalization, informatization, and intelligence. Building smart power stations has become an important measure to respond to the country's "Made in China 2025" and "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan", reduce staff and increase efficiency to enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises, and achieve more economical, environmentally friendly, and safe production. However, there are still a series of problems that need to be solved when new control technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence that rely on large amounts of data and calculations are directly applied in the existing mainstream DCS control systems in power stations in my country. Modern high-power thermal power units basically use DCS (Digital Control System) control systems. Conventional DCS technology is already very mature, and is designed with large-scale data parallel acquisition, high-speed and reliable control operations, and multi-type input and output IO access as core functions. Many DCS brands have also emerged in China and have gained a certain market share. However, the technical framework and structure of the DCS system used in China are not suitable for the large-scale promotion and application of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence. The main manifestations are as follows:

[0003] (1) Considering the overall safety of the control system, the computing load and communication load rate of the DCS controller are strictly limited. However, the large-scale parallel computing and data interaction required for artificial intelligence and big data application computing not only do not have sufficient software and hardware to support high-speed parallel computing and communication, but also the artificial intelligence and big data modules are mainly for optimization, and their priority is lower than protection, sequential control and basic analog control. Therefore, a large number of intermediate data points and communications are not suitable for competing with basic control functions for resources;

[0004] (2) Artificial intelligence and big data applications mostly rely on the analysis, calculation and storage of historical data samples. However, the retrieval and query functions supported by the DCS system's historical data are weak, the indexing efficiency is low, and the system is mainly based on query and reporting. It is unable to provide high-performance historical data services through third-party programs. Therefore, the related development and application on the DCS software platform are greatly restricted;

[0005] (3) Artificial intelligence and big data applications often require large-scale algorithm reuse, nesting, and recursion, while DCS control program configuration is mainly based on sequential control and calculation, and algorithm reuse is achieved in the form of modular copies, which is inefficient and makes it difficult for software and hardware to support complex large-scale calculations;

[0006] (4) DCS mainly uses digital and analog quantities sampled at regular intervals and generally does not support the application of other types of data such as streaming media.

[0007] (5) Foreign brand DCSs are generally equipped with data processing and information application platform solutions similar to SIS platforms, but their data processing capabilities and external support capabilities are similar to the current SIS information processing system, and are limited to internal applications of their own brands. They cannot support different DCS systems across platforms, which directly leads to the lack of an open, secure, common, and portable intelligent control platform architecture for DCSs of various brands.

[0008] In summary, the existing DCS system of thermal power units is not suitable for integrating complex artificial intelligence and big data applications, but the artificial intelligence and big data applications integrated on the management platform are mainly for auxiliary decision-making and information integration applications, which are located in the third safety zone. From the perspective of data security, it is not allowed to output control instructions downward to the first safety zone where the DCS is located. Therefore, the intelligent control and big data applications in smart power stations lack a basic platform, which greatly restricts the development and application of technology.

[0009] On the other hand, various optimization control technologies have been applied to the field of thermal power unit control in the form of plug-in controllers. Through these underlying standard control communication protocols, the functions of DCS are expanded in the control safety zone 1 to optimize the local control function. For each additional intelligent control technology application in this expansion form, the power plant needs to add a set of plug-in devices. This not only fails to achieve the coordinated collaboration of various control loops, but also increases the uncertain risk points and maintenance costs of the system while causing repeated waste of communication resources, which also leads to the current situation that power plant users generally do not welcome plug-in controllers. In particular, with the increase in the number of plug-in control modules, the above problems have become particularly prominent, greatly limiting the expansion of control applications in the form of plug-ins. Summary of the invention

[0010] In view of the above problems, the purpose of the present invention is to provide an octopus-shaped architecture intelligent control platform for thermal power units, which can not only cover the application scenarios of future artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud platforms, but also has the characteristics of flexible expansion, low cost, easy maintenance, cross-platform, and easy transplantation. It can meet the future intelligent control function requirements and information security requirements, so that artificial intelligence and big data technologies can truly play a role in the process control of thermal power units and help the infrastructure construction of smart power stations.

[0011] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0012] An octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units, similar to the biological structure principle of an octopus, adopts a structural framework of a main brain connected to multiple expandable tentacles, including one or more communication cards 4, multiple PLC tentacle controllers 6 bidirectionally connected to the communication card 4 through a control bus 5 for supporting multiple control modules or multiple control modules provided by a third party, a main brain server 7 connected to the PLC tentacle controller 6 through the control bus 5 for supporting data services and intelligent computing, and an OPC communication client 9 connected to the main brain server 7 through the control bus 5 for establishing an OPC connection;

[0013] The one or more communication cards 4 are bidirectionally connected with one or more communication controllers 3 in the DCS control system 2 in a one-to-one correspondence, using serial port MODBUS communication or TCP / MODBUS bottom-level communication mode, and the DCS control system side is the master station; the OPC communication client 9 is used to realize one-way data communication with an existing or newly added OPC server 8 exclusively in the DCS control system 2, and the communication adopts the standard OPC protocol, the DCS control system side is the server, and the intelligent control platform side is the client; the data communication between the intelligent control platform and the external SIS system, information and management data platform 11 is provided by the OPC communication client 9, and is safely isolated from the outside world through the one-way network switch 10; the master server 7 is connected to each PLC tentacle controller 6 to coordinate the parameters between each PLC tentacle controller 6; A large amount of real-time measurement point data required for calculation and analysis of the intelligent control platform is asynchronously communicated through the OPC communication between the OPC server 8 and the OPC communication client 9; the necessary key data input points that affect the safety of the control loop required by the control module in each PLC tentacle controller 6 are communicated separately or redundantly through the underlying communication between the communication controller 3 on the DCS control system side and the communication card 4 in the intelligent control platform. At the same time, the output of the closed-loop control instructions required by the control module in each PLC tentacle controller 6 in the intelligent control platform is realized through the underlying control link, that is, the underlying communication between the communication controller 3 on the DCS control system side and the communication card 4 in the intelligent control platform to realize the output of instructions to the DCS control system, and take effect through the original control loop of the DCS control system, and finally realize the control of the unit equipment 1.

[0014] Even if the PLC tentacle controller 6 loses normal communication with the main brain server 7, it can still independently complete simple intelligent control and realize independent optimization functions.

[0015] The single intelligent control loop or the control module that controls a single system object realizes its basic intelligent control function in a separate PLC tentacle controller 6; the required big data and complex intelligent algorithms are realized in the main brain server 7; the main brain server 7 and the PLC tentacle controller 6 realize information exchange through the control bus 5.

[0016] The number of the PLC tentacle controllers 6 can be freely expanded and can be expanded by multiple third parties that follow the intelligent control platform architecture, thereby achieving platformization, sharing and free expansion.

[0017] The control bus 5 adopts TCP / MODBUS protocol.

[0018] The data communication between each PLC tentacle controller 6 and the master server 7 is controlled by the PLC tentacle controller 6 or the master server 7 as the master station, and the other devices that obtain data are slave stations. The device to which the data belongs is responsible for address and communication authority management; the data communication generated by each PLC tentacle controller 6 and the master server 7 depends on the data usage, and the PLC tentacle controller 6 or the master server 7 as the master station or slave station realizes the communication.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of the present invention has the following advantages:

[0020] 1. Important data and instructions are realized through the communication link exclusively owned by the PLC tentacle controller 6 (the underlying communication between the communication controller 3 on the DCS side and the communication card 4 in the intelligent control platform). While realizing the sharing of massive data within the platform, the communication security of important data required by the tentacle controller 6 is guaranteed. In addition, it is convenient for the tentacle controller to be downloaded and debugged without affecting other tentacle controllers. The communication method adopts serial port MODBUS or TCP / MODBUS, which is suitable for almost all mainstream power station DCS systems, and is fully compatible with various current independent external optimization control systems, with good user adaptability and scalability.

[0021] 2. This architecture is equivalent to using a separate main brain server 7 in the control safety zone. Various big data platform solutions can be used internally to support the application of various big data and intelligent algorithms. Different from the data platform 11 in the safety zone 3, it can directly provide advanced algorithms and big data support for each PLC tentacle controller 6, thereby improving the intelligence and performance of each PLC tentacle controller 6, and avoiding the problem that the conventional big data platform is deployed in the safety zone 3 and cannot transmit data to the reverse safety zone 1 (control safety zone).

[0022] 3. Since the main brain server 7 is installed with software such as the operating system, there are risks such as viruses, but it is isolated from the DCS control system through the communication card 4, and the DCS master station reads and writes data from the designated memory area, which has a very low impact on the security of the DCS system.

[0023] 4. The unified OPC communication client 9 and the exclusive OPC server 8 are adopted, which not only ensures the communication capacity and speed, but also provides a unified OPC data communication service for the entire platform, avoiding the establishment of separate communication for each control loop, wasting the DCS system interface and communication load. The OPC protocol supports almost all mainstream power station DCS systems, and the architecture has wide adaptability. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 This is a block diagram of the control platform of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0026] like Figure 1 As shown, the present invention proposes an octopus-type intelligent control platform for thermal power units, which is similar to the biological structure principle of an octopus, and adopts a structural framework of a main brain connected to multiple expandable tentacles, including one or more communication cards 4, multiple PLC tentacle controllers 6 bidirectionally connected to the communication card 4 through a control bus 5 for supporting multiple control modules or multiple control modules provided by a third party, a main brain server 7 connected to the PLC tentacle controller 6 through the control bus 5 for supporting data services and intelligent computing, and an OPC communication client 9 connected to the main brain server 7 through the control bus 5 for establishing an OPC connection.

[0027] In the described octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units, one or more communication cards 4 are bidirectionally connected with one or more communication controllers 3 in the DCS control system 2 in a one-to-one correspondence, using serial port MODBUS communication or TCP / MODBUS underlying communication mode, and the DCS control system side is the master station. The OPC communication client 9 is used to realize one-way communication of data with an existing or newly added OPC server 8 exclusively in the DCS control system 2. The communication adopts the standard OPC protocol, the DCS control system side is the server, and the intelligent control platform side is the client. The data communication between the intelligent control platform and the external SIS system and the information and management data platform 11 is provided by the OPC communication client 9, and is safely isolated from the outside world through the one-way network switch 10. The large amount of real-time measurement point data required for the calculation and analysis of the intelligent control platform is realized asynchronously through the OPC communication between the OPC server 8 and the OPC communication client 9, which is suitable for the current mainstream DCS control systems of various brands and meets the communication rate requirement of 10,000 points / s. Among them, the necessary key data input points that affect the safety of the control loop required by the control modules in each PLC tentacle controller 6 are communicated separately or redundantly through the underlying communication between the communication controller 3 on the DCS control system side and the communication card 4 in the intelligent control platform. At the same time, the output of the closed-loop control instructions required by the control modules in each PLC tentacle controller 6 in the intelligent control platform is realized through the underlying control link, that is, the underlying communication between the communication controller 3 on the DCS control system side and the communication card 4 in the intelligent control platform to realize the output of instructions to the DCS control system, and take effect through the original control loop of the DCS control system, and finally realize the control of the unit equipment 1.

[0028] The octopus-shaped thermal power unit intelligent control platform architecture is similar to the biological structure principle of the octopus. First, each tentacle of the octopus has a separate brain structure, which can independently realize simple intelligent activities, and even the tentacles can still move independently when they are separated from the octopus body to confuse natural enemies. These tentacles correspond to the PLC tentacle controllers 6 in the intelligent control platform of the present invention. The configuration modules and code languages ​​supported by various brands of PLC can be used inside the PLC to compile mainstream intelligent control algorithms for various industrial applications to achieve optimization control of a single object or system. Even if the PLC tentacle controller 6 loses normal communication with the main brain server 7 for some reason, it can independently complete simple intelligent control and achieve independent optimization functions; secondly, the octopus's brain is connected to the brain structure on each tentacle, which can coordinate the actions of each tentacle to jointly complete more complex actions. The main brain server 7 corresponding to the intelligent control platform of the present invention is connected to each PLC tentacle controller 6 to coordinate the parameters between each PLC tentacle controller 6, and can integrate big data and complex intelligent algorithms inside, and has the ability to support each PLC tentacle controller 6 to achieve more advanced intelligent functions; in addition, the intelligent control platform architecture of the present invention can also realize the sharing of various communication resources and interfaces. Specifically, a single intelligent control loop or a control module that controls a single system object realizes its basic intelligent control function in a separate PLC tentacle controller 6; the required big data and complex intelligent algorithms are realized in the master server 7; the master server 7 and the PLC tentacle controller 6 realize information exchange through the control bus 5. The number of PLC tentacle controllers 6 can be freely expanded and can be expanded by multiple third parties that follow the platform architecture, thereby realizing platformization, sharing and free expansion.

[0029] In the octopus-shaped thermal power unit intelligent control platform, the control bus 5 can adopt TCP / MODBUS protocol. The data communication between each PLC tentacle controller 6 and the master server 7 is controlled by the PLC tentacle controller 6 or the master server 7 as the master station, and the other devices that obtain data are slave stations. The device to which the data belongs is responsible for address and communication authority management; the data communication generated by each PLC tentacle controller 6 and the master server 7 can be realized by the PLC tentacle controller 6 or the master server 7 as the master station or slave station depending on the data usage.

Claims

1. An octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units, characterized in that: Similar to the biological structure principle of an octopus, a structural framework of a main brain connected to multiple expandable tentacles is adopted, including one or more communication cards (4), multiple PLC tentacle controllers (6) bidirectionally connected to the communication card (4) through a control bus (5) for supporting multiple control modules or multiple control modules provided by a third party, a main brain server (7) connected to the PLC tentacle controller (6) through the control bus (5) for supporting data services and intelligent computing, and an OPC communication client (9) connected to the main brain server (7) through the control bus (5) for establishing an OPC connection; The one or more communication cards (4) are bidirectionally connected to one or more communication controllers (3) in the DCS control system (2) in a one-to-one correspondence manner, using serial port MODBUS communication or TCP / MODBUS bottom layer communication mode, and the DCS control system side is the master station; an OPC communication client (9) is used to realize one-way data communication with an existing or newly added OPC server (8) exclusively in the DCS control system (2), and the communication adopts the standard OPC protocol, the DCS control system side is the server, and the intelligent control platform side is the client; the data communication between the intelligent control platform and the external SIS system and the information and management data platform (11) is provided by the OPC communication client (9), and is safely isolated from the outside world through a one-way network switch (10); the master server (7) is connected to each PLC tentacle controller (6) to coordinate the communication between each PLC tentacle controller (6) Parameters; a large amount of real-time measurement point data required for calculation and analysis of the intelligent control platform is asynchronously communicated via OPC communication between an OPC server (8) and an OPC communication client (9); wherein the necessary key data input points affecting the safety of the control loop required by the control modules in each PLC tentacle controller (6) are individually or redundantly communicated through the underlying communication between the communication controller (3) on the DCS control system side and the communication card (4) in the intelligent control platform; at the same time, the output of the closed-loop control instructions required by the control modules in each PLC tentacle controller (6) in the intelligent control platform is realized through the underlying control link, i.e., the underlying communication between the communication controller (3) on the DCS control system side and the communication card (4) in the intelligent control platform to realize the output of the instructions to the DCS control system, and take effect through the original control loop of the DCS control system, thereby finally realizing the control of the unit equipment (1).

2. According to claim 1, an octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units is characterized by: Even if the PLC tentacle controller (6) loses normal communication with the main brain server (7), it can still independently complete simple intelligent control and realize independent optimization functions.

3. According to claim 1, the octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units is characterized by: The control loop or control module realizes its basic intelligent control function in a separate PLC tentacle controller (6); the required big data and complex intelligent algorithms are realized in the main brain server (7); the main brain server (7) and the PLC tentacle controller (6) realize information exchange through the control bus (5).

4. According to claim 1, the octopus-shaped intelligent control platform for thermal power units is characterized by: The number of the PLC tentacle controllers (6) can be freely expanded and can be expanded by multiple third parties that follow the intelligent control platform architecture, thereby achieving platformization, sharing and free expansion.

5. The octopus-shaped thermal power unit intelligent control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control bus (5) adopts the TCP / MODBUS protocol.

6. The octopus-shaped thermal power unit intelligent control platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The data communication between each PLC tentacle controller (6) and the master server (7) is carried out by the PLC tentacle controller (6) or the master server (7) to which it belongs as the master station, and the other devices that obtain data are slave stations, and the device to which the data belongs is responsible for address and communication authority management; the data communication generated by each PLC tentacle controller (6) and the master server (7) is realized by the PLC tentacle controller (6) or the master server (7) to which it belongs as the master station or slave station depending on the data usage.

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