Controller process migration to utilize IO pool

Abstract

The present invention discloses a process control system (300), the process control system comprising a first process controller (110a) coupled to a first group of input / output (I / O) modules (235) providing a first channel, the first process controller comprising an I / O software agent (218) coupled to an I / O module pool (120), the I / O module pool comprising a first I / O module and at least a second I / O module that together provide a plurality of merged channels. The first channel and the merged channel are each coupled to a plurality of first processing equipment and a second processing equipment (105a, 105d) respectively through a corresponding field device (108a). The I / O software agent is configured to implement adding the first group of I / O modules to the I / O module pool, coupling a plurality of additional process controllers in a controller pool (110) to the first process controller, and implementing at least one of the following items: i) making any channel in the first group of channels available to any process controller in the process controller of the controller pool, and ii) making any merged channel in the merged channels available to the first process controller.

Description

[0001] Cross-Reference to Co-Pending Applications

[0002] This application has subject matter related to co-pending application No. 16 / 377,237, filed on April 7, 2019, entitled “Control HIVE Architecture Engineering Efficiency for Industrial Automation Systems,” and application No. 16 / 377,239, also filed on April 7, 2019, entitled “I / O Mesh Architecture for Industrial Automation Systems.” Technical Field

[0003] The disclosed embodiments relate to industrial automation systems including process control systems. Background Art

[0004] Processing facilities or industrial plants are often managed using industrial automation systems. Exemplary processing facilities include manufacturing plants, chemical plants, crude oil refineries, and ore processing plants.

[0005] Conventional process control systems typically include multiple controllers, which may include redundant controllers with controller pairs. Each controller includes computing hardware and associated memory that stores the required software for control. The controllers are each coupled to field devices, including sensors and actuators for process equipment in the plant, through one or more dedicated input / output (I / O) modules. Summary of the invention

[0006] This Summary is provided to introduce a brief selection of disclosed concepts in a simplified form, which are further described below in the Detailed Description including the provided figures. This Summary is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0007] The disclosed embodiments of the present invention recognize that for a process control system, a conventional process controller having dedicated I / O modules cannot access I / O modules dedicated to other process controllers in the process control system. Conventional control systems have conventional controller arrangements, and their dedicated I / O modules lack a master control system redesign function, and customers who have deployed such conventional control systems cannot utilize I / O modules dedicated to other process controllers in the process control system.

[0008] Aspects disclosed herein include methods and systems for creating an I / O module pool (or I / O Highly Integrated Virtual Environment (HIVE) commercially available from Honeywell International) from existing conventional I / O modules dedicated to a specific process controller, even though these dedicated I / O modules have not been designed with I / O shared pool (I / O pool) capabilities. I / O pooling is provided herein through an I / O software agent or I / O application (or app) disclosed herein, which heretofore was only known to be implemented through a hardware arrangement that acts as a conduit / pathway for any of the process controllers in a process control system to utilize any of the I / O modules, including those located in remote or centralized I / O cabinets.

[0009] When the I / O software agent is added to the associated memory of what is referred to as a first process controller (which may also be referred to as an existing, original, or legacy process controller), the I / O agent causes the I / O modules previously dedicated to the first process controller to become part of the now larger I / O pool and thus also available to other process controllers in the process control system that may have been configured in the controller pool. Thus, the I / O software agent provides at least one of the following benefits: i) enabling the first (existing) process controller to access any of the I / O modules of the I / O module pool, and ii) enabling process controllers in the controller pool to access previously dedicated I / O modules associated with the first process controller, without requiring the process control system to be redesigned to implement either of these features.

[0010] One disclosed embodiment includes a method of performing process control in a process control system for controlling a process, the method including providing a first process controller coupled to a first set of I / O modules. The first controller includes an I / O software agent coupled to a pool of I / O modules, the first set of I / O modules including a first I / O module and at least a second I / O module. Each I / O module has a plurality of channels, and each channel is connected (e.g., such as wired via a cable) to a different field device, wherein the first set of I / O modules is coupled to a plurality of first processing equipment.

[0011] The I / O software agent enables access to the first set of I / O modules, thereby making them part of the I / O pool. The I / O software agent also enables a plurality of additional process controllers configured together in the controller pool to be coupled to the first process controller, and implements at least one of the following: i) making any of the first channels available to any of the process controllers in the controller pool, and ii) making any of the merged channels available to the first process controller. The I / O software agent may implement both i) and ii), thereby acting bidirectionally. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 A portion of an exemplary process control system including both a process controller pool and an I / O module pool is shown according to an exemplary embodiment, wherein the illustrated process control system may utilize the disclosed I / O software agent.

[0013] Figure 2 The migration / integration process disclosed in the present invention implemented by the I / O software agent disclosed in the present invention is shown, wherein a conventional controller arrangement is shown as a single first controller platform, the single first controller platform includes a primary controller and an optional redundant / backup controller, the optional redundant / backup controller has a plurality of dedicated I / O modules, the conventional controller arrangement is integrated into Figure 1 In a process control system including both a process controller pool and an I / O module pool, an I / O software agent allows other process controllers shown in the process controller pool coupled to a first controller platform to access other dedicated I / O modules of the first controller.

[0014] Figure 3 The I / O software agent disclosed in the present invention is shown according to a conventional control arrangement, wherein again a single first controller platform is shown, the single first controller platform including a primary controller and an optional redundant / backup controller having a plurality of dedicated I / O modules, the conventional control arrangement being integrated into Figure 1 In the process control system shown, the I / O software agent allows the first controller platform to now access any of the merged channels supported by the I / O modules in the I / O module pool.

[0015] Figure 4is a flowchart according to an exemplary embodiment, which shows steps in a process migration method of a process controller to add its first channel in a first group of I / O modules to an I / O module pool that provides merged channels associated with process controllers in a controller pool, and to achieve at least one of the following items: i) making any first channel in the first channel available to any controller in the process controller of the controller pool, and ii) making any merged channel in the merged channels available to the first process controller. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The disclosed embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to represent similar or equivalent elements. The drawings are not drawn to scale, and they are provided only to illustrate certain disclosed aspects. Several disclosed aspects are described below with reference to exemplary applications for illustration. It should be understood that many specific details, relationships, and methods are set forth to provide a complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments.

[0017] The disclosed embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to represent similar or equivalent elements. The drawings are not drawn to scale, and they are provided only to illustrate certain disclosed aspects. Several disclosed aspects are described below with reference to exemplary applications for illustration. It should be understood that many specific details, relationships, and methods are set forth to provide a complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments.

[0018] As used herein, an industrial process facility operates an industrial process involving tangible materials to which the disclosed embodiments are applicable. For example, oil and gas, chemical, beverage, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, petroleum processing, electrical, and water. An industrial process facility is distinct from a data processing system that only performs data manipulation.

[0019] Aspects disclosed herein enable customers with existing process control systems utilizing conventional control system architectures to take advantage of the benefits of I / O module pools and / or process controller pools without having to redesign hardware by migrating to a pooled arrangement in the process. Possible reasons for migrating to a pooled arrangement include the existing controller having access to spare I / O modules, referred to herein as first controllers, that are available for use by process controllers running in the controller pool. Process controllers running in the first controller may use merged channels supported by I / O modules in the I / O module pool in addition to the locally bound (dedicated) channels they currently use imported by the I / O modules.

[0020] Figure 1A portion of an exemplary process control system 100 is shown, according to an exemplary embodiment, the exemplary process control system including a process controller pool 110 and an I / O module pool 120 coupled together via a supervisory communication network 115 (such as an Ethernet network), wherein the process control system 100 may utilize the I / O software agent disclosed herein. Figure 2 The I / O software agent is shown as 218. The supervisory communication network 115 may also include a wired or wireless network.

[0021] The process controller pool 110 is configured to decouple controller software (such as application modules) from controller hardware. Specifically, a controller pool (or HIVE) of controllers isolates (or partitions) software functions (such as control execution) into software modules that can be distributed across process controllers in the controller pool 110 rather than being dedicated to a single controller, and also provides an alternative form of redundancy rather than traditional 1:1 redundancy.

[0022] The I / O module pool 120 is shown to include I / O cabinet housings 130, 131, and 132, each of which includes an I / O communication interface 127a, 127b, 127c, which are also referred to as I / O gateways. Each I / O communication interface 127a-127c has a plurality of associated I / O modules, such as Figure 1 Specifically, I / O cabinet housing 130 is shown as having I / O modules 120a1, 120a2, 120a3, 120a4, 120a5, and 120a6, I / O cabinet housing 131 is shown as having I / O modules 120b1, 120b2, 120b3, 120b4, 120b5, and 120b6, and I / O cabinet housing 132 is shown as including I / O modules 120c1, 120c2, 120c3, 120c4, 120c5, and 120c6.

[0023] Each I / O module has a plurality of I / O channels, which are shown as having three channels for simplicity, including channels a1, a2, and a3 for I / O modules 120a1-120a6, channels b1, b2, and b3 for I / O modules 120b1-120b6, and channels c1, c2, and c3 for I / O modules 120c1-120c6. Each channel is connected to Figure 1Different field devices (including sensors and actuators) are shown, where each of channels a1, a2, a3 is coupled to a single field device 108a1, 108a2, 108a3, channels b1, b2, b3 are each coupled to a single field device 108b1, 108b2, 108b3, and channels c1, c2, and c3 are each coupled to a single field device 108c1, 108c2, and 108c3. Each field device is shown by way of example only, coupled to a different component of the first processing equipment shown as 105a1, 105a2, 105a3, 105b1, 105b2, 105b3, 105c1, 105c2, and 105c3, so that in Figure 1 In the example shown, a single channel controls each component in the plurality of first processing devices. However, channels and field devices known in the art do not necessarily map 1:1 to each other. Figure 1 The first process equipment is shown, because each field device associated with a channel can also control components of the same process equipment.

[0024] Therefore, the multiple process controllers (shown as 110a, 110b, 110c) in the controller pool 110 are effectively configured as a single scalable controller that can run the controller functions of the entire process control system 100. The I / O module pool 120 is used to decouple its I / O modules 120a1-120a6, 120b1-120b6, 120c1-120c6 so that these I / O modules are no longer conventionally dedicated to a specific process controller in the process controllers in the controller pool 110. Therefore, the functions of the I / O module pool 120 are distributed and thus become an extension of the modular equipment. Therefore, any process controller 110a, 110b, 110c in the controller pool 110 can access any channel of the channels supported by any I / O module in the I / O module 120a1-120a6, 120b1-120b6, 120c1-120c6 of the I / O module pool 120.

[0025] Figure 2 The present invention discloses a migration / integration process implemented by an I / O software agent 218 according to a conventional control arrangement, wherein a single first controller platform 210 is shown, the single first controller platform including a primary controller 211 and an optional redundant / backup controller 212, the optional redundant / backup controller having a plurality of dedicated I / O modules 235a, 235b, 235c and 235d collectively referred to as 235, the single first controller platform being integrated into a process control system 200, the process control system including Figure 1 The exemplary process control system 100 includes both the process controller pool 110 and the I / O module pool 120 as described above. The corresponding field devices coupled to the output terminals of the I / O pool 120 are Figure 2 108d, and the corresponding second processing equipment coupled to the field device 108d is shown in Figure 2 The corresponding field devices coupled to the output terminals of the I / O modules 235a-235d are shown collectively as 105d. Figure 2 108a, and the corresponding first processing equipment coupled to the field device 108a is shown in Figure 2 Shown collectively as 105a.

[0026] The I / O software agent 218 is shown as being included as part of the first controller platform 210. The I / O software agent 218 is configured to allow other process controllers 110a, 110b, and 110c in the process controller pool 110 coupled to the first controller platform 210 to access any of the other dedicated channels of the first controller platform 210 supported by the I / O module 235.

[0027] The first controller platform 210 is also shown to include a network communication interface 221, a control execution environment (CEE) of Honeywell International, shown as 'control execution' 222, and an I / O communication interface 223. An I / O software agent 218 may be added to the memory of the first controller platform 210 via a process firmware upgrade, thereby enabling any of the channels supported by the I / O modules in the dedicated I / O module 235 to be used in any of the process controllers 110a, 110b, 110c in the controller pool 110. The first controller platform 210 running the I / O software agent 218 may be a Honeywell International C300 controller, although the same concepts disclosed in the present invention may be applied to other process controllers, such as Honeywell International's Enhanced High Performance Process Manager (EHPM), which is a process connection device that provides supervisory control and sequential operations on an Enhanced Universal Control Network (EUCN), and Honeywell International's Control Edge Unit Operations Controller (UOC), which may also add I / O software agents through the same mechanism.

[0028] Figure 3 The I / O software agent 218 disclosed in the present invention is shown according to a conventional control arrangement, wherein again a single first controller platform 210 is shown, the single first controller platform including a primary controller 211 and an optional redundant / backup controller 212, the redundant / backup controller having a plurality of dedicated I / O modules 235, the conventional control arrangement is integrated into a Figure 1The process control system 100 is shown in the process control system 300. Figure 2 Likewise, the corresponding field devices are collectively shown as 108a and 108d, respectively, and the corresponding first and second processing equipment are again shown as Figure 2 The I / O software agent 218 allows the first controller platform 210 to access any of the channels supported by the I / O modules in the I / O module pool 120, which is again shown as including I / O modules 120a1-120a3, 120b1-120b3, and 120c1-120c3.

[0029] Figure 4 is a flow chart according to an exemplary embodiment, which illustrates steps in a process migration method 400 of a process controller in a process control system that controls a process to add a first channel supported by a first group of I / O modules to a pool of I / O modules that provide merged channels associated with the process controller in a controller pool.

[0030] Step 401 includes providing a first process controller coupled to a first set of I / O modules, the first set of I / O modules collectively providing a plurality of first channels, the first process controller including an I / O software agent coupled to an I / O module pool, the I / O module pool including a first I / O module and at least a second I / O module collectively providing a plurality of merged channels, the plurality of first channels and the merged channels each being coupled to a plurality of first processing equipment and a second processing equipment, respectively, through a corresponding field device. The first process controller may be a redundant process controller to facilitate mid-process migration.

[0031] The dedicated I / O modules associated with the first controller are not yet part of the I / O module pool because it is the I / O software agent disclosed in the present invention that enables these previously specific controller-specific I / O modules to access the I / O pool. The I / O software agent is configured to implement steps 402 to 404 described below. In step 402, the I / O software agent is capable of adding a first group of I / O modules to the I / O module pool. Step 403 includes coupling a plurality of additional process controllers configured together in the controller pool to the first process controller. Step 404 includes an I / O software agent that implements at least one of the following items: i) making any first channel in the first channel available to any process controller in the process controller of the controller pool, and ii) making any merged channel in the merged channel available to the first process controller.

[0032] The I / O software agent can implement both i) and ii), thereby acting bidirectionally. The process control system may include a distributed control system (DCS). The first process controller and the plurality of additional process controllers may each include a redundant process controller. The first process controller, the plurality of additional process controllers, and the I / O pool may all be coupled together via a supervisory communication network. The method may be performed while the process control system is running a process, and the process may involve at least one tangible material. The I / O module pool may also include an I / O communication interface, each of which is associated with a respective one of the first I / O module and the second I / O module.

[0033] The disclosed embodiments of the present invention may be applied to a variety of process control systems, such as chemical, refining, and oil and gas industries. In addition, other applications include renewable energy systems.

[0034] Although various disclosed embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they are presented by way of example only and not limitation. Many changes may be made to the subject matter disclosed herein in accordance with the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. In addition, although specific features may be disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such features may be combined with one or more other features of other implementations as may be desired or advantageous for any given or particular application.

Claims

1. A method for performing process control in a process control system for controlling a process, the method comprising: A first process controller coupled to a first set of input / output I / O modules is provided, the first process controller comprising an I / O software agent coupled to a pool of I / O modules, the first set of input / output I / O modules providing a plurality of first channels, the pool of I / O modules comprising a first I / O module and at least a second I / O module that together provide a plurality of merged channels, the plurality of first channels and the merged channels each being coupled to a plurality of first and second processing equipment configured together for running the process, respectively, through respective field devices that together include sensors and actuators, wherein the I / O software agent is configured to implement: adding the first set of input / output I / O modules to the I / O module pool; coupling a plurality of additional process controllers configured together in a controller pool to the first process controller; as well as At least one of: i) enabling any of the first channels to be used with any of the process controllers in the controller pool, and ii) enabling any of the merged channels to be used with the first process controller. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the I / O software agent implementation includes the i) and the ii).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed while the process control system (300) is running the process, and wherein the process involves at least one tangible material.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the I / O module pool further comprises I / O communication interfaces, each of the I / O communication interfaces being associated with a respective one of the first I / O module and the second I / O module.

5. A process control system configured to control a process, the process control system comprising: a first process controller coupled to a first set of input / output I / O modules, the first set of input / output I / O modules providing a plurality of first channels, the first process controller comprising an I / O software agent coupled to a pool of I / O modules (120); wherein the I / O module pool includes a first I / O module and at least a second I / O module that together provide a plurality of merged channels; The plurality of first channels and the merged channel are each coupled to a plurality of first and second processing equipment configured together for running the process, respectively, through respective field devices that collectively include sensors and actuators; The I / O software agent is configured to: adding the first set of input / output I / O modules to the I / O module pool, coupling a plurality of additional process controllers configured together in a controller pool to the first process controller, and At least one of: i) enabling any of the first channels to be used with any of the process controllers in the controller pool, and ii) enabling any of the merged channels to be used with the first process controller.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the I / O software agent is used to implement the i) and the ii).

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the I / O module pool further comprises I / O communication interfaces, each of the I / O communication interfaces being associated with a respective one of the first I / O module and the second I / O module.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions for implementing an input / output (I / O) software agent, the I / O software agent, when executed by a processor device of a first process controller coupled to a first set of I / O modules in a process control system for running a process, provides a plurality of first channels, each of the plurality of first channels being coupled to a first plurality of processing equipment configured together for running the process through a field device that collectively includes a sensor and an actuator, the I / O software agent being configured to couple to an I / O module pool, the I / O module pool including a first I / O module and at least a second I / O module that collectively provide a plurality of merged channels, each of the plurality of merged channels being coupled to a second plurality of processing equipment through a respective field device, whereby the I / O software agent is configured to: Implement adding the first group of I / O modules to the I / O module pool; coupling a plurality of additional process controllers configured together in a controller pool to the first process controller, and At least one of: i) enabling any of the first channels to be used with any of the process controllers in the controller pool, and ii) enabling any of the merged channels to be used with the first process controller.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the I / O software agent is used to implement the i) and the ii).

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the I / O software agent method is configured to operate while the process control system is running the process, and wherein the process involves at least one tangible material.

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