Industrial process control system as a data center for an industrial process plant

Abstract

A distributed control system (DCS) for an industrial process plant includes a data hub that stores a plant information model that includes a description of the physical components, control framework, and control network of the plant using a modeling language. A set of exposed APIs provide DCS applications access to the model and an optional common framework of the data hub that stores the basic structures and functions from which the DCS can automatically generate other structures and functions to populate the model and automatically create various applications and routines used during DCS and plant runtime operations. At initialization, the DCS can automatically sense the I / O type of its interface ports, detect the physical components of the communication connections within the plant, and automatically populate the plant information model accordingly. The DCS can optionally automatically generate related control routines and / or I / O data transfer mechanisms, HMI routines, etc.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application generally relates to industrial process control systems for industrial process plants, and more specifically, to industrial process control systems that serve as data centers for industrial process plants. Background Technology

[0002] Distributed industrial process control systems (such as those used in chemical, petroleum, industrial, or other process plants for manufacturing, refining, converting, generating, or producing physical materials or products) typically include one or more process controllers that are communicatively coupled to the other process controllers via physical layer communication. These physical layers can be analog, digital, or a combination of analog / digital buses, or may include one or more wireless communication links or networks. Field devices, such as valves, valve positioners, switches, and transmitters (e.g., temperature, pressure, level, and flow rate sensors), are located within the process environment of the industrial process plant (hereinafter referred to interchangeably as the "field environment" or "plant environment" of the industrial process plant) and typically perform physical process control functions (e.g., opening or closing valves, measuring process and / or environmental parameters such as flow rate, temperature, or pressure) to control one or more processes executing within the process plant or system. Intelligent field devices (e.g., conforming to well-known...) Field devices using fieldbus protocols can also perform control calculations, alarm functions, and other control functions typically implemented within the controller. Process controllers, also usually located within the plant environment, receive signals indicating process measurement results acquired by field devices and / or other information related to the field devices, and execute control routines or applications that run, for example, different control modules. These different control modules use different control algorithms to make process control decisions, generate process control signals based on the received information, and communicate with field devices (e.g., ...). and The process controller coordinates the control modules or blocks executing within fieldbus field devices. To perform this communication, the control modules in the process controller send control signals to various input / output (I / O) devices, which then transmit these control signals to the actual field devices via dedicated communication lines or links (communication physical layer), thereby controlling the operation of at least a portion of the process plant or system, such as controlling at least a portion of one or more industrial processes running or executing within the plant or system. I / O devices, typically also located within the plant environment, are usually positioned between the process controller and one or more field devices and enable communication between them, for example, by converting electrical signals to digital values ​​and vice versa. Different I / O devices are provided to support field devices using different dedicated communication protocols. More specifically, different I / O devices are provided between the process controller and each field device using a specific communication protocol, such that the first I / O device supports HART field devices, the second I / O device supports Fieldbus field devices, the third I / O device supports PROFIBUS field devices, and so on. As used in this article, field devices, controllers, and I / O devices are often referred to as “process control devices” and are typically located, set up, or installed in the field environment of a process control system or plant.

[0003] Furthermore, information from field devices and process controllers can typically reach one or more other hardware devices, such as operator workstations, personal computers or computing devices, data history repositories, report generators, central databases, or other central management computing devices, via high-speed data channels or communication networks. These are usually located in control rooms or other locations away from the harsh field environments of the plant, for example, in the back-end environment of the process plant. Each of these hardware devices is typically centralized throughout the process plant or a part of it. These hardware devices operate applications that, for example, enable operators to perform functions related to controlling the process and / or operating the process plant (e.g., changing the settings of process control routines, modifying the operation of control modules within controllers or field devices, viewing the current status of the process, viewing alarms generated by field devices and controllers, simulating process operation for training personnel or testing process control software, maintaining and updating configuration databases, etc.). The high-speed data channels used by the hardware devices and process controllers can include wired communication paths, wireless communication paths, or a combination of wired and wireless communication paths, and typically use packet-based communication protocols and time-sensitive communication protocols, such as Ethernet or IP protocols.

[0004] As an example, DeltaV, sold by Emerson Process Management, is... TMThe control system comprises multiple applications, which are stored and executed by various devices located at different locations within the process plant. Configuration applications residing in one or more workstations or computing devices enable users to create or modify process control modules and download these modules to dedicated distributed controllers via high-speed data channels. Typically, these control modules consist of interconnected functional blocks, which can be objects in an object-oriented programming protocol. These blocks perform functions within the control scheme based on their inputs and provide outputs to other functional blocks within the control scheme. Configuration applications also allow configuration engineers to create or modify operator interfaces, which are used by viewing applications to display data to operators and enable them to change settings, such as setpoints, within process control routines. Each dedicated controller, and in some cases, one or more field devices, stores and executes a corresponding controller application that runs the control modules allocated and downloaded to it to implement the actual process control functions. A viewing application, which can run on one or more operator workstations (or on one or more remote computing devices connected to the operator workstations and the data highway), receives data from the controller application via the data highway and displays that data to the process control system designer, operator, or user using the user interface. It can provide any of many different views (e.g., operator's view, engineer's view, technician's view, etc.). A data history database application is typically stored in and executed by a data history database device that collects and stores some or all of the data provided across the entire data highway. A configuration database application can run on another computer attached to the data highway to store the current process control routine configuration and associated data. Alternatively, the configuration database can reside on the same workstation as the configuration application.

[0005] As distributed industrial process control systems evolve over time, different hardware, communication, and networking technologies are developed and added. Therefore, each new generation or iteration of hardware, communication, and / or networking technologies typically must integrate seamlessly with and work on the substantial embedded foundation of process control devices, communication, and networking technologies of previous generations of industrial process control systems. Consequently, today's distributed industrial process control systems can generally support multiple types of analog and / or digital dedicated process control communication protocols, which are supported by different types and / or generations of field devices (e.g., 4-20mA, OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) high-speed channel addressable remote transducers). Fieldbus, PROFIBUS The system can utilize technologies such as HART-IP and supports various common communication and / or data protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, MQTT, AMQP, and / or other types of data packet protocols), at least some of which can conform to one or more IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standards or data network standards. Each of these can be used to transmit and store various types of data related to the operation of an industrial process plant. Furthermore, while industrial process plants are supported by distributed industrial process control systems to control their operational status, they are also supported by other systems to manage the plant, its equipment, and its processes (e.g., Plant Asset Management (PAM) systems, maintenance systems, diagnostic systems, simulation systems, remote monitoring and / or analysis systems, enterprise business systems, etc.). Each system can use its own set of communication and / or data protocols to transmit and store data related to the industrial process plant.

[0006] Therefore, the different fixed networking technologies used by distributed industrial process control systems and other systems supporting industrial plants make scaling up or down the plant difficult, cumbersome, and costly. It also makes it difficult, cumbersome, and costly for industrial process control systems to integrate with other systems in a peer-wise (e.g., horizontal) and / or hierarchical (e.g., vertical) manner (e.g., with systems at different security layers or levels, such as those based on the Purdue model for control hierarchies standardized by the ISA (International Association for Automation), including enterprise systems, remote systems, cloud-based systems, etc.) while maintaining stringent safety requirements. Furthermore, process plant-related data generated from different sources and transmitted via different networks requires extensive data integration for applications to provide actionable information to plant personnel, which in some cases can exhaust processing power and network bandwidth. Summary of the Invention

[0007] Industrial distributed process control systems (DCS) provide a novel data center for industrial process plants. More specifically, this novel process plant data center largely integrates process plant-related data with existing industrial process control systems and other relevant horizontal and / or vertical systems (such as plant asset management (PAM), maintenance systems, diagnostic systems, simulation systems, remote monitoring and / or analysis systems, enterprise business systems, etc.), thereby providing scalability and ease of data integration for industrial process plants, and offering easy access to process plant-related data for application use in a highly secure manner.

[0008] Generally, an industrial process plant data center includes a plant information model, which comprises a representation or description of the physical industrial process plant, the control strategies used by the industrial process plant, and the industrial process control system. All of these are represented and / or described in the plant information model using a modeling language typically used in all descriptions. Furthermore, the process plant data center includes a general framework providing common structures and functions that can be used automatically or manually as building blocks for other structures and functions, as well as applications used by industrial distributed process control systems. In addition, the process plant data center exposes or otherwise provides application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable DCS applications to securely access and / or obtain process plant information, common structures, and / or common functions for application use.

[0009] In one embodiment, an industrial distributed process control system for an industrial process plant is disclosed. The industrial distributed process control system includes a set of pluggable, interchangeable hardware modules, and each pluggable hardware module in the set includes multiple interface ports configured to transmit one or more types of I / O data for industrial process control, one or more processors, and one or more tangible, non-transitory memories.

[0010] One or more tangible, non-transitory memories of each pluggable hardware module store a discovery engine comprising first computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause each pluggable hardware module to automatically sense, upon power-up, the corresponding I / O type of each of the plurality of interface ports included in each pluggable hardware module; bind a corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism corresponding to the corresponding I / O type to each interface port; and discover one or more physical components of the industrial process plant to which each pluggable hardware module is communicatively connected via the plurality of interface ports. The one or more physical components communicatively connected to each pluggable hardware module include corresponding field devices configured to perform physical functions to control industrial processes during operation of the industrial process plant.

[0011] Furthermore, when executed by the one or more processors, the first computer-executable instructions of the discovery engine cause each pluggable hardware module to further populate at least a portion of the DCS's plant information model based on the discovery of the one or more physical components. The plant information model includes a description of the control framework of the industrial process plant and a description of the industrial process plant's control network for controlling the industrial process during runtime operations. The control framework of the industrial process plant defines corresponding logical control identifiers for the control components of the DCS and the hierarchical relationships between the control components, wherein the control components include discovered field devices. The control network includes the discovered field devices, corresponding interface ports via which the field devices are communicatively connected to each pluggable hardware module, and control routines provided at each pluggable hardware module.

[0012] The one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of each pluggable hardware module also store an execution engine including second computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause each pluggable hardware module to execute the control routine and a corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism bound to the corresponding interface port to transfer data between the field device and the control routine, thereby controlling the industrial process.

[0013] In one embodiment, a method for initializing an industrial distributed process control system (DCS) for an industrial process plant is disclosed. The industrial distributed process control system includes a set of pluggable, interchangeable hardware modules. The method includes performing the following operations at each pluggable hardware module: upon power-up of each pluggable hardware module, sensing a corresponding I / O type of each interface port among a plurality of interface ports included in each pluggable hardware module; binding a corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism corresponding to the corresponding I / O type to each interface port via each pluggable hardware module; and discovering one or more physical components of the industrial process plant that are communicatively connected to each pluggable hardware module via the plurality of interface ports. The one or more physical components include field devices communicatively connected to each pluggable hardware module via the respective interface ports, and the field devices are configured to perform physical functions to control industrial processes during operation of the industrial process plant.

[0014] The method further includes each pluggable hardware module populating at least a portion of the DCS's plant information model based on the discovery of the one or more physical components, wherein the plant information model includes a description of the control framework of the industrial process plant and a description of the industrial process plant's control network for controlling the industrial process during runtime operation of the industrial process plant. The control framework of the industrial process plant defines corresponding logical control identifiers for the control components of the DCS and the hierarchical relationships between the control components, wherein the control components include the field devices. The control network includes the field devices, the corresponding interface ports, and control routines provided at each pluggable hardware module.

[0015] Furthermore, the method includes each pluggable hardware module executing the control routine and the corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism bound to the corresponding interface port to transfer data between the field device and the control routine, thereby controlling the industrial process.

[0016] In one embodiment, an industrial distributed process control system (DCS) for an industrial process plant is disclosed. The industrial distributed process control system includes a data center comprising a plant information model stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the DCS. The plant information model uses a modeling language to describe (i) a set of physical components of the industrial process plant, wherein the description of the set of physical components indicates the corresponding locations of the physical component sets and the corresponding physical interconnections between the physical component sets; (ii) a control framework of the industrial process plant, wherein the control framework defines a hierarchical relationship between a set of control components of the DCS and corresponding logical control identifiers of the control component sets, and the control components include at least some physical components in the set of physical components; and (iii) a control network of the industrial process plant for controlling industrial processes during the runtime operation of the industrial process plant, wherein the control network includes at least some control components in the set of control components.

[0017] The data center also includes a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) stored on one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the DCS and exposed to at least one of the control routines or the I / O data transfer mechanisms to provide access to the plant information model via a modeling language, wherein the modeling language includes abstractions of various data formats used by the DCS. The control routines or at least one of the I / O data transfer mechanisms are executed using information obtained from the plant information model in conjunction with corresponding physical components located in the industrial process plant, thereby controlling the industrial process during real-time operation of the industrial process plant. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 An exemplary industrial process plant data center is depicted in an industrial distributed process control system that includes an industrial process plant data ecosystem within a physical industrial process plant.

[0019] Figure 2 A block diagram depicts an exemplary pluggable, interchangeable hardware module, which may be included in... Figure 1 In industrial distributed process control systems.

[0020] Figure 3 An industrial distributed process control system for initializing an industrial process plant (e.g.) is described. Figure 1 The flowchart illustrates an exemplary method of an industrial distributed control system (as depicted in the diagram). Detailed Implementation

[0021] Figure 1 An exemplary industrial process plant data center 10 is depicted within an industrial process plant data ecosystem 12 of a physical industrial process plant 15. For example... Figure 1As shown, the process plant data center 10 includes a plant information model 18, an application programming interface (API) 20, and a common framework 22. The plant information model 18 uses a modeling language to provide a representation, description, or model of the physical industrial process plant 15, and a representation, description, or model of the control framework used by the industrial process plant 15. Generally, the plant information model 18 serves as the basis for describing, referencing, and transmitting physical, logical, and / or control-related information and data associated with the industrial process plant 15 within the plant ecosystem 12. Therefore, the plant information model 18 describes the physical components, control framework, and control network of the industrial process plant in a unified manner using a modeling language. This modeling language extracts information from multiple data sources (e.g., from the physical components themselves, one or more databases associated with the industrial process plant (e.g., configuration database, asset management database, etc.), and / or other data sources) to provide a unified description within the plant information model 18. For example, the DCS 25 can convert or abstract data in various formats obtained from various data sources into a common modeling language used by the plant information model 18, and can use the modeling language to store corresponding information within the plant information model. At least some of the plant information models 18 can be automatically generated and populated during the initialization of the industrial distributed control system (DCS) 25, including the data center 10, and when the DCS 25 is physically connected to the industrial process plant 15, as described in more detail elsewhere in this disclosure.

[0022] The general framework 22 provided by the factory data center 10 includes a set of general structures 22a and a set of general functions 22b, which are typically stored in the memory of the data center 20 sometime before the initialization of the data center 10. The general structures 22a include general structure templates for defining and / or describing various types of physical components (e.g., controllers, sensors, pumps, valves, actuators, safety devices, I / O devices, routers, access points, etc.) corresponding to the industrial process plant 15, and general structure templates for defining and / or describing various types of logic and control components (e.g., blocks, parameters, I / O cards and / or other hardware components, nodes, node subsystems, etc.) corresponding to the industrial process plant 15. The general functions 22b include a set of basic functions used in control and / or I / O data transmission. For example, the set of basic functions may include first-order general control functions and first-order general I / O functions (e.g., first-order general "I / O data transmission function") that can be used directly in process control routines (e.g., process control routines of DCS 25) to control industrial processes. General function 22b may also include second-order or support functions that do not directly perform process control or I / O data transfer, but can otherwise manipulate data generated from industrial process control (e.g., alarms, monitoring, analysis, HMI, trends, etc.). However, in some implementations, the outputs of some general support functions may affect the behavior of process control.

[0023] Data center 10 is included in a distributed industrial process control system (DCS) 25 of the industrial process plant 15, wherein DCS 25 may include a control cluster 28 and an input / output (I / O) cluster 30 (which may be interchangeably referred to herein as “I / O data transmission cluster 30”). Generally, the control cluster 28 and I / O cluster 30 of DCS 25 include corresponding sets of computing modules that operate jointly during the runtime operation of the physical process plant 15 using a plant information model 18 and optionally a general framework 22 to control one or more industrial processes of the industrial process plant 15.

[0024] In embodiments, ecosystem 12 also includes a set of DCS operator user interfaces 32, which typically enables plant operators or users to view, monitor, adjust, and respond to the operational processes of plant 15. The DCS operator user interfaces 32 may include a set of local user interfaces 32a, which executes from computing devices located in a control room or other back-end environment of the physical industrial plant 15, typically isolated from the harsher field environment of the physical plant 15 where physical materials are being processed. Additionally or alternatively, the DCS operator user interfaces 32 may include a set of remote user interfaces 32b, which executes remotely from the industrial process plant 15 (e.g., in or associated with the cloud component 50 of the industrial process plant ecosystem 12). In some embodiments, ecosystem 12 also includes one or more local and / or remote assistance engines 35 that provide intelligent assistance to operator user interfaces 32a, 32b (e.g., operator assistance engines 35a, 35b) and / or to DCS 25 control operations (e.g., control assistance engines 35c, 35d), as described in more detail elsewhere in this disclosure. Although Figure 1 The DCS operator user interface 32a and auxiliary engines 35a, 35d are depicted as separate from the DCS 25, but in some embodiments, at least some of the DCS operator user interface 32a and / or auxiliary engines 35a, 35d are included in the DCS 25.

[0025] A set of APIs 20 of data center 10 is exposed to or otherwise provided to a set of applications 40a, which can use the set of APIs 20 to access plant information 18 and a common framework 22 provided by data center 10 (e.g., by using a common modeling language). For example, application set 40a may be stored in an application library 45 of industrial process plant 15. In some embodiments, one or more third-party extensions 48 may use at least some of the APIs 20 to access plant information 18 and a common framework 22, and applications 40b using third-party extensions 48 may also be stored in the plant application library 45. Some of the applications 40a, 40b stored in library 45 may, for example, have instances executing at control cluster 28, I / O cluster 30, and / or other clusters 31 (e.g., compute cluster 26 of DCS 25). In embodiments, some of applications 40a, 40b may be one or more of DCS operator user interface 32 and / or auxiliary engine 35. In embodiments, some of applications 40a, 40b may be used by other applications 40a, 40b. Additionally or alternatively, applications executing at the DCS computing cluster 26, the DCS operator user interface 32, and / or the auxiliary engine 35 can directly access the plant information model 18 and / or the general framework 22 via the API set 20.

[0026] In an embodiment, the industrial process plant ecosystem 15 includes a plant cloud computing component 50, which can store and / or host at least some applications in a plant application library 45, as indicated by reference numeral 40c. For example, applications 40c residing in and / or executing in the cloud may include one or more applications 40a and / or one or more applications 40b. The plant cloud component 50 can be communicatively connected to any number of user computing devices 52 via one or more networks 55. The one or more networks 55 may include any number of public and / or private communication and / or data networks, and may include any number of wired and / or wireless communication and / or data networks. Similarly, although... Figure 1 Not shown, but the factory cloud component 50 may be communicatively connected to the factory application library 45 and / or other components of the DCS 25 via one or more networks (e.g., network 55). For example, the DCS 25 may include one or more edge gateways through which the factory cloud component 50 is communicatively connected to the DCS 25 and the factory application library 45.

[0027] Thus, at least some of the applications 40c provided by DCS 25 and residing at the factory cloud computing component 50 can be made available, for example, via one or more networks 55 to various user computing devices 52 (e.g., handheld portable mobile devices 52a, laptops or other types of personal computers 52b, vehicle display systems 52c, etc.) so that operators and / or users can remotely monitor and perform functions related to control processes and / or operation processes of factory 15 during runtime operations, and enable other users (e.g., Level 3 and above users) to monitor and adjust corresponding functions based on the runtime operations of factory 15 (e.g., supply chain management, maintenance parts and equipment sequencing, etc.). For example, some of the applications 40c can be downloaded from the factory cloud component 50 to the user computing devices 52, and / or some of the applications 40c hosted at the cloud component 50 can be accessed by various user computing devices 52 via client / server, network services, or other suitable access mechanisms. For example, various DCS operator interfaces 32b and operator assistance engines 35b can be implemented in the application set 40c at the factory cloud component 50 and made available to the user computing device 52 so that the DCS operator interface 32b and operator assistance engine 35b can be conveniently and securely provided at the user computing device 52.

[0028] In this embodiment, at least some applications 40c hosted in the factory cloud computing component 50 can be made available via networks(multiple) 55 to one or more other systems 58 associated with the industrial process plant 15. At least some of these other systems 58 may be physically located at a geographical location physically distant from the industrial process plant 15, and / or at least some of these other systems 58 may be physically located near or even at a physical site of the industrial process plant 15. Other systems 58 may include hierarchical or different-level systems associated with the physical industrial process plant 15 (e.g., systems “vertically integrated” with DCS 25), such as enterprise business systems, systems associated with other plants, third-party vendor systems, etc. Other systems 58 may include peer systems of DCS 25 associated with the physical industrial process plant 15 (e.g., systems “horizontally integrated” with DCS 25), such as asset management, maintenance, diagnostics, simulation, remote monitoring, analytics, and / or other systems. Note that in this embodiment, at least some functionality of the peer systems of DCS 25 may be implemented within the factory ecosystem 12 via applications 40. For example, an analysis system or simulation system can be implemented via a corresponding application 40. However, the peer-to-peer system functionality implemented via application 40 within the factory ecosystem 12 does not preclude other peer-to-peer system functionality from being additionally or alternatively implemented by other computing systems 58 within the ecosystem 12, such as when the other computing systems 58 include legacy systems or embedded peer systems. In practice, in embodiments, at least some peer systems of DCS 25 can be implemented using a combination of application 40 and other systems 58 if desired.

[0029] The following sections provide additional details about the components of the industrial process plant ecosystem 12, as well as their components, functions, behaviors, and uses.

[0030] Data Center

[0031] As described above, the data center 10 of the industrial process plant 15 includes a plant information model 18, an API set 20, and a general framework 22, wherein the general framework 22 includes a general structure set 22a and a general function set 22b. Generally, the platform supporting the data center 10 includes one or more processors, one or more tangible computer-readable storage devices, and computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more tangible computer-readable storage devices. When executed by the one or more processors, the one or more tangible computer-readable storage devices enable the data center 10 to generate, maintain, and update the plant information model 18; provide and optionally modify the general framework 22; and expose, provide, and optionally modify the API set 20. In embodiments, the data center 10 may be configured a priori (e.g., out of the box) to have a preselected set of general structures 22a and general functions 22b and / or a preselected API set 22, which may be used, for example, automatically by the DCS 25 and / or manually with operator or engineer intervention to create other functions and applications of the DCS 25.

[0032] The plant information model 18 of data center 10 serves as the foundation for describing, referencing, and transmitting information and data related to the industrial process plant 15 within the plant ecosystem 12. Plant information model 18 uses a common modeling language to represent or describe the industrial process plant and its components based on various physical and / or logical views or reference frames, such as physical plant descriptions, control strategy or control framework descriptions, and control network descriptions of the industrial process plant 15.

[0033] Specifically, within the plant information model 18, the physical plant description of the physical industrial process plant 15 includes descriptions, representations, or models of the physical components of plant 15 (e.g., instruments, equipment, and other physical equipment of plant 15), their physical locations within plant 15, and their physical interconnections. For example, the physical plant description of plant 15 includes descriptions of field devices installed within plant 15 and their respective connections to networks, power supplies, and each other. This view of plant 15 within the plant information model 18 can be used, for example, to obtain maintenance information and perform causal relationship analysis based on physical interconnections.

[0034] The control strategy or control framework description of plant 15 within plant information model 18 includes descriptions, representations, or models of control components of the industrial process plant 15 from a logical view, such as sites, areas, units, equipment modules, control modules, control elements, etc., and their hierarchical relationships. Control components are defined within the control strategy or framework by their own unique logical control identifiers (e.g., equipment labels, data labels, and / or other types of logical control identifiers). This view of plant 15 can be used to provide a control framework, for example, by organizing controls and defining the scope of names for various control components to more easily understand their roles and relationships relative to process control.

[0035] The control network description of the industrial process plant 15 within the plant information model 18 extends the control strategy by adding descriptions of the interconnections and associations between the control components and other control-related components and equipment within the plant 15. This describes, represents, or models the process control and safety network of the plant 15, as well as other components and equipment included therein. For example, the description of the control network can provide descriptions of configuration stations and / or user interfaces, operator stations and / or user interfaces, hosts, controllers (control and / or safety), I / O devices and / or other transmission mechanisms, smart devices, gateways, routers, etc., their respective logical control identifiers (if any), and their interconnections and associations with various control components to form the control and safety network of the industrial process plant 15.

[0036] In this embodiment, the plant information model 18 also maintains and updates the corresponding states of the physical industrial process plant 15 and its physical components, and maintains / updates the corresponding states (e.g., operational states) of the logic control components and / or at least a portion of the control processes of the plant 15. For example, a common modeling language can be used to maintain and update the physical and / or logical states of the various physical and / or logical components and elements defined within the plant information model 18. Of course, other information describing the physical and / or logical components of the physical process plant 15 and / or related to the physical and / or logical components of the physical process plant 15 can be stored and maintained within the plant information model 18.

[0037] The general framework 22 of data center 10 provides a set of general structures 22a and a set of general functions 22b. Typically, the general structures 22a can provide templates for defining or describing different types of physical and logical components of the industrial process plant 15 and DCS 25, such as instruments, equipment, networking and other types of gear, blocks, parameters, I / O cards and / or transmission mechanisms, subsystems, etc. Similarly, the general functions 22b can provide templates for basic or commonly used functions within the industrial process plant 15, such as I / O data transmission and control functions. For example, general functions 22b may include a set of basic control functions corresponding to advanced control, supervisory control, batch control, simple sequencing, interlocking, safe shutdown, adaptive control, event-based control, reinforcement learning, and / or other control functions. Additionally or alternatively, general functions 22b may include a set of basic I / O data transmission functions, such as analog I / O functions, discrete I / O functions, motion I / O functions, near-infrared (NIR) I / O functions, another type of I / O transmission function, sampling functions, signal conditioning functions, and / or other I / O data transmission functions. Still additionally or alternatively, general functions 22b may include a set of basic support functions, such as those for alarms, history, trends, diagnostics, status monitoring, descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, reinforcement learning, bus / other communication paths, I / O data transfer, user interfaces, etc. Generally, general functions 22b can be used out of the box to perform control, I / O data transfer, and / or support functions, and / or general functions 22b can be used as building blocks and combined in various ways to create more complex control, I / O data transfer, and / or support functions. Therefore, during the configuration of any component of the industrial process plant ecosystem 12 (e.g., control cluster 28, I / O cluster 30, other parts of DCS 25, operator interface 32, auxiliary engine 35, application 40, etc.), various general structures 22a and / or general functions 22b can be combined, scripted, and / or otherwise customized or configured to form various applications 40 and / or functions that will be executed on their respective industrial process plant ecosystem components. The generation and configuration of functions and / or applications 40 performed within the factory ecosystem 12 are described in more detail elsewhere in this document.

[0038] Data center 10 provides access to plant information model 18 and general framework 22 via application programming interface (API) set 20 or other suitable access mechanisms. These access mechanisms may be exposed to or otherwise provided to external applications and processes of data center 10, and use a common modeling language of plant information model 18. In this way, data center 10 protects its content from corruption or attack and makes it easier to maintain the fidelity of its content. Various applications 40 executed throughout the industrial process plant ecosystem 12 can be generated by accessing selected general structures 22a and / or general functions 22b based on information stored in plant information model 18 via API set 20. Advantageously, API set 20 supports third-party extensions 48, enabling third-party applications 40b to be generated based on selected information stored in plant information model 18 and / or based on general framework 22 provided by data center 10.

[0039] Distributed Industrial Process Control System (DCS)

[0040] The DCS 25 of the industrial process plant 15 includes a collection of data center 10 and physical computing modules 26, each of which includes a corresponding processor(s), memory, and interface / networking mechanisms. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the computing modules of DCS 25 include a cluster of control computing modules 28 (e.g., "control cluster" 28), a cluster of I / O computing modules (e.g., "I / O cluster" 30), and a collection of other computing modules 31.

[0041] Control cluster 28 includes a subset of computing modules 26 of DCS 25, wherein this subset is specifically configured to execute or run control routines. Control routines may include one or more functions or applications stored on one or more memories of control cluster 28 and executed by one or more processors of control cluster 28 to perform industrial process control functions. For example, one or more applications 40 executable to perform process control functions may be downloaded from the plant application library 45 to reside on and execute at control cluster 28. Control routines can provide various industrial process control functions, such as advanced control, supervisory control, batch control, simple sequencing, interlocking, safe shutdown, adaptive control, event-based control, reinforcement learning, etc. As described above, to generate the functions and applications 40 of the control routines, selected general structures 22a and general functions 22b can be configured and / or combined relative to the control strategies and control networks defined by plant information model 18 to generate functions and applications that provide first-order control functions, such as those control functions that directly manipulate data generated by field devices and other control components to generate control signals to control the behavior of other control components. Furthermore, some functions and applications 40 executed by control cluster 28 can be configured based on general structure 22a and function 22b to perform second-order control functions, which can influence the behavior of first-order control functions (e.g., monitoring functions, analysis functions, etc.) and / or otherwise relate to first-order process control, such as alarm functions, trend functions, etc. For example, at control cluster 28, second-order predictive analytics can act in real-time on information generated by various devices and / or by first-order control functions during the operation of plant 15 to monitor whether the process is predicted to exceed permissible limits. When the process is predicted to exceed permissible limits, the second-order predictive analytics can generate appropriate control signals and send them to various other control routines executed at cluster 28, thereby automatically keeping the process within permissible limits. In another example, at control cluster 28, second-order condition monitoring can detect that the process has entered a different state, and upon detection, the second-order condition monitoring can automatically generate appropriate control signals to various other control routines executed at cluster 28 to return the process to the previous state.

[0042] Similarly, I / O cluster 30 includes a subset of computing modules 26 specifically configured with an I / O data transfer mechanism, which may include one or more applications, modules, algorithms, and / or functions stored on one or more memories of I / O cluster 30 and executed by one or more processors of I / O cluster 30 to perform the I / O data transfer mechanism. For example, one or more applications 40 executable to perform the I / O data transfer mechanism can be downloaded from the factory application library 45 to reside at I / O cluster 30 and execute thereon. However, unlike control cluster 28, I / O cluster 30, or the applications executing thereon, are bound to various types of physical I / O and sampling ports or interfaces of DCS 25 (e.g., one or more physical ports and / or physical interfaces, each configured to support one or more types of I / O, such as analog, discrete, motion, near-infrared (NIR), APL Ethernet, non-APL Ethernet, serial, motion, Railbus, HART, WirelessHART, fieldbus, Profibus, etc., not individually in... Figure 1 As described herein, various networks and physical devices of the physical process plant 15 can communicate with the DCS 25 via these physical I / O and sampling ports or interfaces. For ease of reading and not for limitation, such I / O and sampling ports and / or interfaces are collectively referred to herein and interchangeably as “I / O ports,” “I / O interface ports,” “interface ports,” or “I / O physical interfaces.” In any case, to generate I / O data transmission mechanisms and applications 40 that can be executed at the I / O cluster 30, selected general structures 22a and general functions 22b associated with I / O transmission can be configured and / or combined with the description of the plant 15 (e.g., physical description, control strategy description, and control network description) provided by the plant information model 18. Similarly, at least some bindings between I / O data transmission mechanisms and physical I / O ports can be automatically determined by the DCS 25 based on information stored in the plant information model 18.

[0043] Generally, in order to generate control routines and / or I / O data transfer mechanisms executed by the control cluster 28 and the I / O cluster 30, selected general structures 22a and general functions 22b of the framework 22 can be configured (e.g., combined in a desired manner) and populated or scripted using specific component and / or element names, parameter values, etc. (e.g., based on information provided by the plant information model 18). At least some applications 40 can be automatically configured, generated, and / or created by the DCS 25 and assigned to the corresponding computing modules 26, as described in more detail elsewhere in this disclosure. Thus, during the runtime operation of the industrial process plant 15, the control cluster 28 and the I / O cluster 30 execute their respective modules, routines, mechanisms, and / or functions, and I / O can be streamed between the modules of the control cluster 28 and the I / O cluster 30, thereby controlling the processes within the industrial plant 15.

[0044] Based on the above description, scaling of the control cluster 28 and the logical functionality of the I / O cluster 30 (e.g., expanding and / or shrinking the logical functionality provided by the control cluster 28 and / or I / O cluster 30) can be easily achieved by adding or removing computing modules to meet the computing, functionality, bandwidth, response time, and / or other performance requirements of the control cluster 28, I / O cluster 30, and / or DCS 25. For example, at startup of DCS 25, at least a majority of the computing modules of DCS 25 can be included in a pool of general-purpose computing modules 31, and because computing modules are needed to execute various control routines and / or I / O data transfer mechanisms, various computing modules in pool 31 can be allocated to operate as part of the control cluster 28 and / or I / O cluster 30. For example, additional general-purpose computing modules 31 can be added to control cluster 28 and / or I / O cluster 30 to support the scaling up of DCS 25, and various computing modules included in control cluster 28 and / or I / O cluster 30 can be deactivated and returned to pool 31 to support the scaling down of DCS 25.

[0045] Furthermore, and advantageously, during runtime operation, DCS 25 can dynamically balance the load of compute modules in each cluster 28, 30 through the (re)distribution of functions, modules, and / or other control and / or I / O logic operations (and in some implementations, in an aggregated manner between compute modules in both clusters 28 and 30 or across both clusters 28 and 30) to distribute the workload more evenly among the physical compute modules. For example, DCS 25 can automatically allocate various control routines to execute on physical compute modules with higher availability, such as when adding additional compute modules, when removing existing compute modules, or at any time during the runtime operation of DCS 25. Thus, in some cases, a single compute module can operate simultaneously as part of both control cluster 28 and I / O cluster 30.

[0046] The logical control functions provided by the control cluster 28 of DCS 25 may include, for example, first-order control functions such as advanced control, supervisory control, batch control, simple sequencing, interlocking, safe shutdown, adaptive control, event-based control, reinforcement learning, etc. As described above, such control functions can be implemented at the control cluster 28 by configuring and combining control strategies and control systems defined by information provided by the plant information model 18. Furthermore, some control routines executed by the control cluster 28 can be configured to also include one or more other types of second-order control functions (e.g., monitoring functions, analysis functions, etc.) that can affect the control executed by the control routines.

[0047] The logical I / O functions provided by the I / O cluster 30 of DCS 25 can include I / O transfers to and from various types of physical I / O and sampling ports, such as analog, discrete, motion, near-infrared (NIR), etc. In some embodiments, I / O cluster 30 also provides signal conditioning. Similar to logical control functions, logical I / O functions can be implemented at I / O cluster 30 by configuring selected general structures 22a and general functions 22b regarding I / O or data transfer requirements based on the plant information model 18 to generate I / O data transfer mechanisms executed by I / O cluster 28. For example, at least some I / O data transfer mechanisms can be bound to (e.g., assigned to or associated with) physical I / O ports of DCS 25.

[0048] Computing modules 31 of DCS 25 not assigned to function as part of control cluster 28 or I / O cluster 30 may be idle, designated and configured as hot standby for other computing modules, or assigned to perform other functions to support DCS 25 during the operation of industrial process plant 15. For example, various physical computing modules 26 may be configured to manage, provide, and / or host plant application library 40, provide or host operator user interface 32, provide or host auxiliary engine 35, and / or other functions. At least some computing modules 26 of DCS 25 may be pre-configured (e.g., out of the box) to provide automatic discovery of I / O ports and devices communicating with DCS 25, and to provide generation of plant information model 18 and any optional additional functions and applications corresponding to plant information model 18, as described elsewhere in this disclosure. At least some of the computing modules 26 can be configured a priori (e.g., out of the box) as administrators or managers of computing modules 26, and thus can be configured to perform functions such as monitoring available resources and the status of computing modules 26, (re)assigning various functions to various computing modules, etc.

[0049] Operator Interface

[0050] As described above, the DCS operator user interface 32 (which may also be interchangeably referred to herein as human-machine interface 32 or HMI 32) enables operators or users to view and perform functions related to controlling the process and / or operating the process plant 15 during runtime operation, such as changing settings, modifying the operation of control modules within controllers and / or field devices, viewing the status and / or condition of processes and their components, viewing alarms, and responding to various runtime events. For example, the operator user interface 32 may also include an intelligent interface that allows operators to search or query the DCS 25 to obtain required information, and how information is filtered, grouped, sorted, and / or rearranged visually and / or audibly presented by the operator user interface 32. In embodiments, the operator user interface 32 may provide operators with the ability to verbally query, guide, and / or intelligently converse with the DCS 25 via the operator interface 32 (hands-free) to perform desired functions related to controlling the process and / or operating the process plant 15. In embodiments, some investigative functions, such as diagnostics and / or analysis, may be initiated and monitored through the operator user interface 32.

[0051] like Figure 1As shown, one or more operator user interfaces 32a can be executed at a local computing device (e.g., operator station) located on-site or near the industrial process plant 15, for example, in the environment of the back-end plant 15 or at the same security level as DCS 25 (e.g., Level 2 or Level 3 of the Purdue model). For example, some local operator user interfaces 32a can be downloaded from library 45 to be executed at a local computing device or operator station. Additionally or alternatively, some local operator user interfaces 32a can be hosted on-site by one or more designated computing modules 26, and the local computing device can access the hosted user interfaces 32a (e.g., as a website, service, etc.).

[0052] Additionally or alternatively, one or more operator user interfaces 32b may be provided remotely via the factory cloud component 50 and one or more personal computing devices (e.g., mobile devices 52a, laptops or tablets 52b, vehicle displays 52c, etc.). For example, some remote operator user interfaces 32b may be downloaded from the factory cloud component 50 to execute on the remote computing device 52. Alternatively or additionally, some remote operator user interfaces 32b may be hosted by the factory cloud component 50, and the remote computing device 52 may access the hosted remote user interfaces 32b (e.g., as a website, service, etc.). Different operator interfaces 32a, 32b can be implemented by configuring a common structure 22a and common functions 22b based on information provided by the plant information model 18 (e.g., by generating operator user interface views and functions using a set of APIs 20). In some scenarios, the DCS 25 automatically generates, creates, and / or configures one or more of the operator interfaces 32a, 32b based on information stored in the plant information model 18, as described in detail elsewhere in this disclosure. The configured operator interfaces 32a, 32b are stored in the plant application library 40 for access by various components of the DCS ecosystem 12, such as the plant cloud component 50, the local DCS operator interface 32a, etc.

[0053] auxiliary engine

[0054] The auxiliary engines 35 may include operator auxiliary engines 35a and 35b and control auxiliary engines 35c and 35d. Generally, when an operator enters queries and command sequences, operator auxiliary engines 35a and 35b can monitor operator actions at the DCS operator user interface 32 and can predictively warn the operator (e.g., via the DCS operator user interface 32 in a visual and / or audible manner) when a set of actions planned by the operator will cause the process to deviate from acceptable operational boundaries and / or will result in alarms, malfunctions, or other undesirable situations. In some embodiments, operator auxiliary engines 35c and 35d may also provide additional information to help the operator identify and / or perform alternative or mitigating actions. For example, operator auxiliary engines 35a and 35b may warn the operator of a predicted flare, and may provide the operator with key factors that help predict flares and / or even specific mitigating actions for the operator to take, thereby preventing the flare from occurring. In some embodiments, operator assistance engines 35c, 35d can initiate dialogue with the operator (e.g., visually or audibly) to obtain additional information to better advise the operator on alternative or mitigating actions. In some cases, if the operator does not respond to a warning, control assistance engines 35c, 35d can automatically take at least some specific mitigating actions, for example, to at least bring the process into a safe operating state. Control assistance engines 35c, 35d (e.g., the availability of control assistance engines 35c, 35d) can be activated or deactivated (e.g., individually or in groups). For some control assistance engines 35c, 35d, trigger conditions for performing automated control assistance can be defined a priori (and in some cases, trigger conditions can be adjusted or modified). For example, trigger conditions can be defined to activate various operator assistance functions 35 based on specific events, specific states, specific risk levels, predicted impacts, etc.

[0055] Automatically generated

[0056] As described above, DCS 25 automatically generates and populates at least some of the plant information model 18, and in some embodiments, additional control, I / O, HMI, and / or other functions are also automatically generated during initialization, when physical connections with equipment located in the industrial process plant 15 are completed, when another I / O port is added to DCS 25, when another device is added to the physical plant 15, and / or in other scenarios. For example, during DCS 25 initialization or startup, DCS 25 can automatically discover or sense the number and type of different physical I / O ports already included in DCS 25. Based on the sensed I / O ports and their corresponding I / O types, DCS 25 can automatically generate corresponding representations of the sensed ports and their corresponding I / O types, and store the generated representations in the description of the physical plant 15 in the plant information model 18 of data center 10 (e.g., in the description of the physical plant 15 and / or in the description of the control network), for example, by using a common modeling language. The DCS 25 can automatically generate representations of sensed I / O ports and their corresponding I / O types using one or more out-of-the-box general structures 22a corresponding to I / O ports and / or I / O types. Further, based on the sensed I / O types, the DCS 25 can automatically generate one or more corresponding I / O data transfer mechanisms to support data transfer to / from the sensed I / O ports. In some embodiments, at least some of the I / O data transfer mechanisms required to support data transfer on the sensed I / O ports may already be included out of the box in the DCS 25, for example, as I / O data transfer functions included in the general framework 22. In some embodiments, the DCS 25 can automatically generate additional I / O data transfer mechanisms to support data transfer on the sensed I / O ports by configuring and / or combining various general functions 22b, which are included out of the box. In embodiments, the automatically generated additional I / O data transfer mechanisms may be stored as an application 40. After DCS 25 automatically generates one or more I / O data transfer mechanisms, in one embodiment, DCS 25 can instantiate the I / O data transfer mechanism into a corresponding I / O container, and the I / O container can be assigned to one or more computing modules of I / O cluster 30 for activation (e.g., "spinning up") and execution or running during the runtime operation of factory 15.

[0057] Additionally, DCS 25 can automatically sense any devices, instruments, and / or equipment of plant 15 that are communicatively connected to I / O ports, and can automatically generate and store their respective representations in plant information model 18. In an exemplary configuration, devices, instruments, and / or equipment of industrial process plant 15 can be physically connected to the I / O ports of I / O cluster 30 via one or more high-speed Ethernet connections 60 (e.g., 100M Gigabit Ethernet, etc.), which may include Advanced Physical Layer (APL) transport technologies supporting one or more protocols, thereby enabling inherently safe connections of field devices, other devices, and various other instruments and / or equipment located in remote and hazardous locations (e.g., the field environment of process plant 15). Therefore, DCS 25 can use the discovery mechanism provided by one or more protocols supported by the APL of Ethernet connection 60 to automatically sense any devices (e.g., field devices, and optionally other devices, instruments, and / or equipment located in the field environment of plant 15) that are communicatively connected to the I / O ports. DCS 25 can generate and store corresponding representations of sensed devices and / or equipment in the plant information model 18 (e.g., in the description of the physical plant 15 and / or in the description of the control network) using a common modeling language. For example, DCS 25 can automatically generate representations of sensed devices, instruments, and / or equipment using one or more out-of-the-box generic structures 22a corresponding to the devices, instruments, and / or equipment.

[0058] Based on the sensed I / O ports and connected devices of plant 15, DCS 25 can automatically generate control applications, control routines, control modules, control or functions, and / or control algorithms specific to the type of connected device. For example, different control routines, application modules, blocks, and / or algorithms can be generated for different field devices (e.g., actuators, sensors, measuring devices, etc.) using one or more out-of-the-box general-purpose functions 22b associated with process control functions. Generally, and as previously described, control routines or applications can execute one or more different control modules, each of which can use different control algorithms or logic to receive input from the running industrial process plant, make process control decisions based on the received input, generate process control signals based on the decisions to control other devices, and coordinate with control modules or blocks that are running or executing in other process control devices (e.g., field devices) to control the running industrial process. However, for ease of reading herein and not for limiting purposes, the term "control routine" is used herein to generally refer to control routines and / or applications, control modules, control or function blocks, and / or control modules.

[0059] In some scenarios, automatically generated control routines may initially be configured with placeholders for specific logical control identifiers (e.g., device tags, data tags, and / or other types of logical control identifiers) for the device and / or equipment associated with it. At some point during DCS 25 configuration, the user can assign specific logical control identifiers to the corresponding devices and / or equipment (e.g., via the DCS 25 configuration user interface). Figure 1 (Not shown in the diagram), and the assigned control identifier can replace or fill the corresponding placeholders in different control routines. In other cases, some sensing devices and / or sensing equipment themselves may have prior knowledge of logical control identifiers or multiple identifiers, through which they are respectively identified to the control network of plant 15, and their corresponding logical control identifiers or multiple identifiers can be automatically provided to plant information model 18 during the discovery process. In these cases, plant information model 18 can automatically include the provided corresponding control identifiers in different automatically generated control routines corresponding to these devices / equipment. In other scenarios, a mapping server (e.g., a DNS server or similar server) can provide the corresponding logical control identifiers of various devices / equipment to plant information model 18 during the discovery process, and plant information model 18 can automatically include the provided corresponding control identifiers in different automatically generated control routines corresponding to various devices / equipment. In any case, DCS 25 can store the generated control routines as application 40, and DCS 25 can store indications of logical control identifiers (e.g., provided by the user during configuration or by the device, equipment and / or mapping service) that have been assigned to the corresponding devices and / or equipment in the plant information model 18 (e.g., in the description of the control strategy and / or in the description of the control network).

[0060] After DCS 25 automatically generates (and populates with logical control identifiers if necessary) one or more control routines, DCS 25 can instantiate the populated one or more control routines into the corresponding control containers. The control containers can be assigned to one or more computing modules of the control cluster 28 for activation (e.g., "spin on") and execution or running during the runtime operation of the factory 15.

[0061] Additionally, in embodiments, human-machine interface (HMI) graphics and / or display views (e.g., presented on one or more DCS operator interfaces 32) can also be automatically generated as information is populated into the plant information model 18. The DCS 25 can automatically generate HMI graphics and / or views based on the plant information model 18 using one or more out-of-the-box general-purpose structures 22a and / or functions 22b of the data center 10. For example, the DCS 25 can automatically generate HMI graphics and / or display views specific to various types of sensing devices and / or sensing equipment, such as when devices / equipment are sensed and added to the representation of the physical plant 15 in the plant information model 18. For example, when a temperature sensor is detected, the DCS 25 can automatically generate a temperature display view. Additionally or alternatively, for example, when control routines are automatically generated and added to the control strategy stored in the plant information model 18, the DCS 25 can automatically generate HMI graphics and / or views specific to various types of control routines, and / or when various devices, equipment, control routines, etc., are discovered and / or generated, the DCS 25 can automatically generate HMI graphics and / or views specific to various control-related functions (e.g., alarms, alerts, safety algorithms / modules, etc.). Furthermore, in some implementations, more complex HMI graphics and / or views can be automatically generated, for example, based on multiple control routines, based on control routines and additional general functions 22b, based on analysis performed on data generated by control components, etc. Generally, HMI graphics and / or views can be automatically generated based on any information and / or combinations of information stored in the plant information model 18 of the DCS 25. Placeholders for logical identifiers of some automatically generated HMI graphics and / or views, various devices, equipment, etc., may be initially used and subsequently populated with specific logical identifiers (e.g., in a manner similar to that discussed above for control routines). For some automatically generated HMI graphics and / or views, the entire set of HMI graphics and / or views may be automatically generated without any user input, for example, based solely on information included in plant information model 18, which may have already been populated with logical identifiers associated with the generated HMI graphics and / or views. In any case, when DCS 25 automatically generates (and populates) a collection of HMI graphics and / or views, DCS 25 can instantiate the populated collection of HMI graphics and / or views, for example, as application 40; as a module executed at DCS operator user interface 32; and / or as an HMI container, which can be assigned to one or more computing modules for execution / running (e.g., at control cluster 28, at operator user interface 32, at other computing modules 31, at factory cloud computing component 50, and / or at any other suitable computing location within ecosystem 12).

[0062] Although the initialization or startup of DCS 25 and the automatic generation of the plant information model 18 and related control and HMI functions / applications have been discussed so far, those skilled in the art will understand that similar techniques can be applied after DCS 25 has been initialized and the physical configuration of DCS 25 and / or plant 15 has changed, such as when additional physical I / O ports are added to DCS 25, additional physical devices and / or equipment are added somewhere within industrial process plant 15, and so on.

[0063] Furthermore, although the automatic generation of the plant information model 18 and related control and HMI functions / applications has been discussed so far regarding the connection of the physical plant 15 to the physical I / O ports of the DCS 25 via an Ethernet transmission medium with APL, those skilled in the art will understand that any or all techniques can be readily applied to other types of transmission media that physically interconnect at least a portion of the DCS 25 and the physical industrial process plant 15 with or without I / O ports and with or without APL.

[0064] Furthermore, regarding security, the trust chain extends from the initial startup of the computational modules supporting the factory information model 18 through applications, devices, and / or nodes joining the ecosystem 12, to the final execution of the application itself. Additionally or alternatively, the data center 10 may use one or more security applications or mechanisms to protect the content of the factory information model and / or access to it. For example, one or more security applications or mechanisms may be provided to the data center 10 a priori or out-of-the-box, and therefore may be stored on the memory of the data center 10 prior to initialization.

[0065] Features, applications and live migration

[0066] As previously described, applications and functions 40a, 40b can be generated using one or more general structures 22a and / or general functions 22b, and some applications 40b can be further generated based on one or more third-party extensions 48. Applications / functions 40a, 40b can be stored in the plant application library 45. Some applications 40 can be automatically generated by DCS 25, for example, by using the general framework 25 and the plant information model 18, and some applications 40 can be generated at least partially manually, for example, via operator or user interface 32. Examples of possible applications may include, for example, operator applications, configuration applications, I / O data transfer applications, search applications, another type of user interface application, process control applications, diagnostic applications, operator-oriented auxiliary applications, control system-oriented auxiliary applications, component verification applications, condition monitoring applications, remote monitoring applications, maintenance applications, descriptive analytics applications, predictive analytics applications, machine learning applications, or decision support applications. Alternatively or alternatively, possible applications may include OT (operational technology) layer applications provided by the industrial distributed process control system, IT (information technology) layer applications provided by the enterprise of the process control system, another type of application provided by the industrial distributed process control system, user interface applications, cloud computing applications, decision support applications, another type of analysis applications, applications executed on mobile devices, applications executed on another system of the enterprise, or applications provided by and on third-party systems.

[0067] Instances of applications 40a and 40b can be retrieved from library 45 to execute on various components of the plant ecosystem 12, such as at control cluster 28, I / O cluster 30, DCS operator user interface 32a, as part of auxiliary engine 35, and in plant cloud computing component 50, and optionally at associated remote user equipment 52. Similarly, although not shown, general function 22b can also be retrieved and executed on various components of the plant ecosystem 12.

[0068] Generally, the applications and functions 40 provided within the factory ecosystem 12 can be encapsulated in a platform-neutral manner so that they can run on various types of operating systems (e.g., Windows, Linux, etc.). Referring to the control cluster 28 as an illustrative but non-limiting example of the execution environment within the ecosystem 12, applications 40 and / or functions 22b can be encapsulated as appropriate containers (e.g., by...). A container (provided by computer software) or a corresponding participant (such as a participant provided by Akka.NET) is assigned to execute at control cluster 28. For example, control cluster 28 may execute or run one or more control containers or participants, one or more alarm containers or participants, one or more security containers or participants, etc. For ease of discussion, the entity into which applications and / or functions can be encapsulated is generally referred to herein as a “container,” but it should be understood that any suitable encapsulation technique can be used to encapsulate applications and functions in a platform-neutral manner (including participants and / or other technologies).

[0069] Furthermore, since control cluster 28 includes multiple computing modules 26, each container allocated to control cluster 28 can also be assigned to execute or run on one or more specific computing modules of control cluster 28. Therefore, containers can be allocated (and in some cases, dynamically allocated or migrated in real-time during the runtime operation of plant 15) to computing modules with available computing power and / or resources. In practice, control-related containers do not need to be allocated to execute or run only on computing modules of control cluster 28, but can be allocated to execute or run on any computing module of any cluster or processing environment provided by one or more components of plant ecosystem 12, which has available computing power and / or resources, such as I / O cluster 30, cluster 32a supporting the DCS operator user interface, standby cluster 31, etc. Typically, but not necessarily, at least for security and performance reasons, application 40 and / or function 22b can be allocated to execute on local computing modules, for example, on computing modules of ecosystem components not located in cloud component 50 and / or not otherwise remotely located away from process plant 15 (e.g., at Purdue model security levels 2 or 3). In embodiments, the allocation and migration of application 40 and / or function 22b to various computing modules can be achieved using software-defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), and / or other technologies that allow the full switch stack, address allocation, and routers to be fully defined in software.

[0070] The real-time migration or dynamic allocation of applications and / or functions (e.g., applications and / or functions are encapsulated or implemented in containers) to corresponding computing modules can be triggered or otherwise automatically executed. For example, during the operation of industrial process plant 15, DCS 25 can monitor the available and / or used computing resources at each computing module and can dynamically allocate / redistribute applications and / or functions to other computing modules as conditions of various computing modules change or are expected to change. For example, DCS 25 can reactively and / or preventively perform dynamic load balancing of computing modules used at specific components of ecosystem 12, such as at control cluster 28 or I / O cluster 30, and / or across or among multiple components of ecosystem 12, such as balancing or equalizing the load of all computing modules used across both control cluster 28 and I / O cluster 30. In some cases, the live migration or dynamic allocation of applications and / or functions (e.g., applications and / or functions are encapsulated or implemented in containers) to the corresponding compute modules can be triggered by manual operator actions, such as when a specific compute module needs to be offline for routine maintenance and / or upgrades. For example, an operator can select the controller to be offline for routine maintenance and / or upgrades, and based on the operator's selection, any applications and / or functions executing on the selected controller can be automatically and in real-time migrated to other compute modules (compute modules of control cluster 28, other components of DCS 25, or other components of ecosystem 12) for seamless continuation of execution, such as a "bumpless" transfer. In embodiments, combined with live migration, automatic load balancing of compute modules that remain in use can be automatically performed.

[0071] In practice, DCS 25 can provide a seamless transfer of functionality (and in particular, a seamless transfer of control and I / O functionality), enabling DCS 25 to maintain high availability during the operation of industrial process plant 15. For example, control cluster 28 may include standby controllers arranged in a one-to-one or one-to-many configuration (which may be implemented via corresponding applications and / or functions). When a switch of control functionality from the active controller to the standby controller is required, the standby controller can be activated (e.g., one or more containers into which standby controller functionality can be “spin-on”) and synchronized with the active controller to provide a live migration or seamless transfer to the standby controller. Alternatively, in some cases, the standby controller can run in the background to track the runtime behavior of the corresponding active controller so that when real-time control functionality is switched from being provided by the active controller to being provided by the standby controller, no or minimal synchronization is required.

[0072] Plug-in DCS hardware module

[0073] In this embodiment, the DCS 25 may be implemented using one or more general-purpose (e.g., interchangeable), scalable, plug-and-play DCS hardware modules. A single general-purpose, scalable, plug-and-play DCS hardware module may be used as a standalone unit to serve as the DCS 25, or it may be combined with other general-purpose, scalable, plug-and-play DCS hardware modules to scale up to the required size of the DCS 25 (e.g., to achieve the required capacity, performance level, feature set, etc.). Such general-purpose, scalable, plug-and-play DCS hardware modules are interchangeably referred to herein as "pluggable DCS hardware modules," "pluggable DCS modules," or "pluggable hardware modules."

[0074] Figure 2 A block diagram illustrating an exemplary pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is shown. For example, the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 may be included in service or support... Figure 1 The DCS 25 of the industrial process plant 15, or may be included in other DCSs that serve or support other industrial process plants. Figure 2 As shown, the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is a hardware module including a physical housing 202 surrounding its internal components 205-230, which provides a standardized set of DCS interfaces, functions, and features. However, in some embodiments of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200, the housing 202 may be omitted.

[0075] An exemplary pluggable DCS hardware module 200 includes a standard set of standard interface ports 205a, 205b, and 205n, at least some of which are configured to send and receive standard I / O data types to / from the pluggable DCS hardware module 200. For example, the set of interface ports 205a-205n may include Ethernet APL ports and / or other types of ports that support the transmission of different types of I / O data to / from the field environment of an industrial process plant, such as analog I / O, discrete I / O, motion, NIR, serial ports, non-APL Ethernet, Wi-Fi, serial ports, Railbus, HART, WirelessHART, fieldbus, Profibus, etc. The set of interface ports 205a-205n can support various transmission media used in process control networks, such as two-wire and / or four-wire buses, optical links, wireless communication, high-speed Ethernet ports supporting APL, Ethernet without APL, etc. Generally, the set of interface ports 205 is configured to support one or more industrial control protocols, such as 4-20mA, fieldbus, Profibus, HART, WirelessHART, HART-IP, OPC UA, etc. Furthermore, the interface ports 205 of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 may include one or more networking ports configured to support other types of common data and communication transmission protocols, such as IP or other packet-based communication protocols, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., thereby allowing the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 to communicate with other pluggable DCS modules 200, industrial process plants 15 (or their components), and / or other systems and devices.

[0076] An exemplary pluggable DCS hardware module 200 also includes one or more processors 208 and one or more tangible, non-transitory memories 210. In one embodiment, the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 includes one or more computing modules that include one or more processors 208 and one or more memories 210. Data center 212 and corresponding computer-executable instructions for discovery engine 215 and execution engine 218 are pre-stored on one or more memories 210 of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200. That is, data center 212, discovery engine 215, and execution engine 218 can be loaded or stored on one or more tangible memories 210 of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 before the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is initially booted up in the field at industrial process plant 15. Figure 2 As shown, data center 212 includes a general framework 220, a collection of APIs 222, and a storage area for a plant information model 225 for an industrial process plant supported by pluggable DCS hardware modules 200. Data center 212 can be similar to Figure 1Data center 10. Therefore, the general framework 220 may include a standard set of general structures and a standard set of general functions, wherein the standard set of general functions may include control, I / O, HMI, and analysis functions. The set of APIs 222 can use the common modeling language of the general framework 220 and the plant information model 225, and the set of APIs 222 can be exposed for use by other applications.

[0077] During the initialization of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200, one or more processors 208 can execute computer-executable instructions, including those in the discovery engine 215, to enable the DCS module 200 to automatically generate a description of the industrial process plant supported by the pluggable DCS hardware module 200. For example, the discovery engine 215 can sense the number and type of I / O ports 205 already included in the pluggable DCS hardware module 200, and can use API 222 and the general framework 220 to generate descriptions of the sensed I / O types and I / O ports, for example, in a manner similar to that described above. The discovery engine 215 can then populate the plant information model 225 with the generated descriptions of the sensed I / O types and I / O ports (e.g., by using a common modeling language and optionally by using some general structures from the general structures provided by the general framework 220).

[0078] Furthermore, the discovery engine 215 can detect or discover a collection of physical components or devices in the industrial process plant that the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is communicatively connected to via I / O ports 205, or when connected to one or more I / O ports 205. For example, for a sensed APL port, the discovery engine 215 can use a packet protocol discovery mechanism to discover one or more devices communicatively connected to the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 via the APL port. The discovered or detected devices are typically physically located within the industrial process plant and may include various field devices (e.g., actuators, sensors, measuring devices, pumps, heaters, etc.) and / or other types of process control devices that the plant will use to perform physical functions to control industrial processes. In some configurations, the discovered or detected devices may include physical industrial controllers, such as process controllers or safety controllers. In some configurations, the discovered or detected devices may include I / O devices, such as I / O cards and / or I / O orchestration cabinets. In some arrangements, the discovered or detected devices may additionally include networking devices such as routers, adapters, etc. In practice, in some embodiments, the discovered or detected devices may include devices from other systems associated with the industrial process plant (e.g., asset management systems, analytics systems, etc.). Such other systems may typically be at a similar security level to the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 (e.g., Purdue model level 3 or 4), but this is not required.

[0079] Regardless, the discovery engine 215 can use API 222 and the general framework 220 to generate descriptions of physical devices detected or discovered within the physical plant description of the plant information model 225, and, if appropriate, within the control strategy / control framework description and / or control network description of the plant information model 225, for example, in a manner similar to that described elsewhere in this disclosure. Therefore, the discovery engine 215 populates the plant information model 225 with physical descriptions and, optionally, logical descriptions of the detected or discovered physical devices. For example, for discovered field devices, the discovery engine 215 uses the corresponding physical description of the field device, the corresponding logical description of the field device as a control component of the plant, and the description of the field device in relation to other control network components of the plant.

[0080] The discovery engine 215 can automatically generate control routines of the appropriate type based on the type of discovered device, for example, in a manner similar to that described elsewhere in this disclosure. For instance, different control routines can be generated for different field devices (e.g., actuators, sensors, measuring devices, etc.) using one or more out-of-the-box general functions related to process control functions (e.g., the general framework 220). In some scenarios, the discovery engine 215 can also automatically generate corresponding HMI / display views corresponding to the discovered device, for example, in a manner as described above. The generated control routines and generated HMI / display views can be stored in the memory 210 of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200. During operation of the industrial process plant, the processor 208 of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 can execute computer-executable instructions, including those of the engine 218, to execute the control routines, HMI / display views, various general functions, and / or other applications and / or functions stored in the pluggable DCS hardware module 200, thereby controlling the industrial processes of the plant and providing other functions related to controlling and operating the industrial process plant.

[0081] Of course, in addition to performing the discovery action during the initialization of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200, the discovery engine 215 can be triggered to perform discovery actions at other times during the operation of the industrial process plant. For example, during operation, if the discovery engine 215 senses that an additional interface port has been added to the pluggable DCS hardware module 200, the discovery engine 215 can initiate discovery logic to add the description of the additional interface port and any devices communicatively connected to the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 via the additional interface port. Similarly, during operation, if the discovery engine 215 discovers or detects that an additional device has been added (e.g., via a sensed interface port), the discovery engine 215 can initiate discovery logic, for example, in a manner similar to that described above, to add the description of the additional device and any control policies associated with the type of the additional device.

[0082] Therefore, in some implementations, a single pluggable DCS hardware module 200 can be used out of the box and self-configured upon initialization to act as a DCS for a smaller industrial process plant (e.g., DCS25). Additional I / O ports can be added to the single pluggable DCS hardware module 200 if needed and as required, to provide an maximal number and / or type of additional I / O interfaces. Additionally or alternatively, additional computing modules can be added to the out-of-the-box single pluggable DCS hardware module 200, for example, to provide maximal additional computing resources as needed. Generally, the maximum size of the single pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is limited by hardware constraints, such as the physical size of the housing 202, the number of possible physical ports 205, the number of possible connections for additional computing modules, etc.

[0083] Advantageously, in other cases, multiple pluggable DCS modules 200 can be interconnected to collectively serve as the DCS of a larger industrial process plant (e.g., DCS 25). In these larger configurations, each pluggable DCS hardware module 200, via its respective discovery engine 215, can discover other pluggable DCS modules 200 to which it is communicatively connected, and various devices located in the industrial process plant that are communicatively connected to each pluggable DCS module 200. For example, a first pluggable DCS hardware module 200 can discover a second pluggable DCS hardware module 200 during initialization. Alternatively, after the first pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is initialized and configured, it can discover the second pluggable DCS hardware module 200 when a communication connection is established between the first and second pluggable DCS modules. In one embodiment, the multiple pluggable DCS modules 200 can, in a sense, operate as a collection of separate switches networked together, each switch using its own computing and hardware resources to manage a collection of process plant devices that are communicatively connected via its I / O ports. In another embodiment, the multiple pluggable DCS modules 200 can operate collectively as a single logical DCS 25, for example... Figure 1 The DCS25 can share computing and hardware resources to jointly manage all equipment in an industrial process plant, which are connected to the logical DCS25 via various I / O ports of various modules 200. Of course, hybrid implementations, including individual module management and collective module management, are also possible.

[0084] As described above, during operation of the industrial process plant to which the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 is communicatively connected, one or more processors 208 of the hardware module 200 can execute computer-executable instructions, and the execution engine 218 includes computer-executable instructions to enable the DCS hardware module 200 to control at least a portion of the industrial process of the industrial process plant. Specifically, the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 may include one or more control routines 228 and one or more I / O data transfer mechanisms stored on one or more of its memories 210, each of which can be executed by one or more processors 208, for example, via the execution engine 218. Of course, other runtime routines and algorithms (not shown) may additionally or alternatively be executed by one or more processors 208 via the execution engine 218, such as the general functions of the general framework 220, various supporting functions, routines, algorithms, and / or applications, such as HMI / display views, diagnostics, analysis, etc.

[0085] In any case, for illustrative purposes, the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 can, for example, communicate with field devices located in the field environment of the process plant via a specific interface port 205a. Through the discovery engine 215, the plant information model 225 can use a modeling language to sense, discover, generate, and store descriptions of control loops, including field devices, interface port 205a, and specific control routines 228. In embodiments, the specific control routines 228 may have been automatically generated based on one or more general control functions included in the general framework 220, for example, in a manner similar to that described above. Furthermore, via the discovery engine 215 as previously described, interface port 205a can be bound to a specific I / O data transfer mechanism 230. Therefore, during the operation of the industrial process plant, the execution engine 218 can cause the specific control routines 228 and the specific I / O data transfer mechanism 230 executed at the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 to transfer process data between the control routines 228 and the field devices, thereby executing the control loops described in the plant information model 225 to control the industrial process. In an embodiment, control routine 228 can be implemented in the control computing module cluster of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 (e.g., Figure 1 The control cluster 28) executes or runs, and / or the I / O data transfer mechanism can be executed or run in the I / O computing module cluster of the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 (e.g., ...). Figure 1 Execute or run at I / O cluster 30).

[0086] Figure 3 Describes an automated initialization physical industrial process plant (e.g.) Figure 1 A block diagram of an exemplary method 300 of an industrial distributed process control system (DCS) in a physical process plant (15). In an embodiment, at least a portion of method 300 may be derived from... Figure 1 The DCS 25 execution, and / or at least a portion of method 300, can be performed by Figure 2 One or more pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules 200 are used for execution. In embodiments, method 300 may include additional or alternative blocks besides those discussed in this disclosure.

[0087] An industrial distributed process control system initialized by exemplary method 300 includes a collection of one or more pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules (e.g., one or more DCS hardware modules 200). Generally, a corresponding instance of method 300 can be executed by each of the DCS hardware modules in this collection.

[0088] At block 302, method 300 includes automatically detecting or sensing the corresponding I / O type of each of a plurality of interface ports included in a set of pluggable DCS hardware modules included in the DCS. 302 can detect or sense the corresponding I / O type of the interface port when the pluggable DCS module is powered on or restarted, and / or when an additional interface port is added to the pluggable DCS hardware module. As used herein, the “I / O type” of an interface port can refer to various types of I / O data transmitted via the interface port, various types of transport mechanisms supported by the interface port, and / or various types of data protocols used by the medium for transmitting I / O data via the interface port, etc. Therefore, exemplary I / O types of interface ports may include, for example, analog I / O, discrete I / O, serial, motion, near-infrared, Railbus, Wi-Fi, Ethernet without an advanced physical layer, Ethernet with an advanced physical layer, HART, WirelessHART, fieldbus, and Profibus. Of course, other I / O types of interface ports are also possible.

[0089] At block 305, method 300 includes binding a corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism for each interface port, corresponding to the corresponding I / O type, to each interface port via each pluggable DCS hardware module. Generally, during plant operation, the corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism can transmit received I / O data (if necessary) via the interface port and transfer the received I / O data to applications, such as control routines executed at the pluggable DCS hardware module. Similarly, during plant operation, the corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism can translate data received from control routines and transfer the translated data to equipment installed in the industrial process plant via each interface port.

[0090] At block 308, method 300 includes automatically discovering one or more physical components of an industrial process plant to which each pluggable DCS hardware module is communicatively connected via multiple interface ports. The one or more physical components include field devices communicatively connected to each pluggable DCS hardware module via corresponding interface ports, and the field devices are configured to perform physical functions to control the industrial process during runtime. In some configurations, the one or more physical components include physical process controllers and / or physical safety controllers. In some embodiments, the one or more physical components include physical I / O devices disposed between the corresponding interface ports and the field devices, thereby enabling the field devices and control routines to transmit process data to control the industrial process during runtime.

[0091] In an exemplary scenario relating to automatic discovery 308, method 300 may further include detecting, via at least one of a plurality of interface ports, that a specific physical component has been newly connected (e.g., a communication connection) to the pluggable DCS hardware module, for example, when an additional field device is added to the factory and powered on. In these scenarios, method 300 may include automatically initiating discovery of the newly connected specific component (block 308) upon detection of a new communication connection to the pluggable DCS hardware module.

[0092] At block 310, method 300 includes automatically populating at least a portion of the DCS's plant information model, such as plant information models 18 and 225, based on the discovery of one or more physical components for each pluggable DCS hardware module. The plant information model includes a description of the control framework of the industrial process plant and a description of the control network used to control the industrial processes during runtime operation of the industrial process plant, wherein both descriptions are represented or defined in the plant information model using a common or identical modeling language. The control framework defines the corresponding logical control identifiers of the control components of the DCS and the hierarchical relationships between the control components (including field devices). The control network includes field devices, corresponding interface ports, and control routines provided at each pluggable DCS hardware module, as well as other control components (and optionally networked components) used in process control within the industrial process plant. Therefore, the plant information model, when populated, stores descriptions of control loops and other control-related components, entities, and combinations / groups thereof used to control the industrial processes within the industrial process plant.

[0093] In some embodiments, the plant information model also includes a description of one or more physical components to which the pluggable DCS hardware module is communicatively connected, the corresponding locations of the one or more physical components within the industrial process plant, and the corresponding interconnections between the one or more physical components. Typically, one or more physical components are located in the field environment of the industrial process plant; however, in some configurations, at least one physical component may be located elsewhere, such as in a back-end environment or a remote environment of the industrial process plant. In any case, the plant information model can represent or define the description of one or more physical components of the industrial process plant, along with their associated locations and interconnections, using a common or identical modeling language used to represent the control framework and control network of the industrial process plant.

[0094] In some embodiments, a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) is provided in conjunction with the plant information model. This set of APIs can be exposed to functions and applications, enabling them to access information stored in the plant information model. Therefore, the set of APIs can be implemented using the same or common modeling language used to define or represent the information stored in the plant information model.

[0095] At block 312, method 300 includes executing control routines by each pluggable DCS hardware module and corresponding I / O data transfer mechanisms bound to the respective interface ports to transfer data between field devices and control routines during operation of the industrial process plant, thereby controlling the industrial process. In other words, block 312 includes executing a control loop during operation of the industrial process plant to control the industrial process, the control loop including field devices, corresponding interface ports, and control routines.

[0096] In some embodiments, the DCS includes an initial set of control functions that are stored in the memory of a set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules before the DCS is initialized or powered on. The initial set of control functions may include, for example, adaptive control functions, event-based control functions, advanced control functions, supervisory control functions, batch control functions, sequential functions, interlocking functions, safe shutdown functions, status detection functions, real-time virtualization controllers, and / or backup virtualization controllers. In these embodiments, method 300 may include ( Figure 3 (Not shown in the diagram) Based on the initial set of control functions and the plant information model, control routines corresponding to field devices are automatically generated (and / or other control routines executed by the DCS are automatically generated). For example, various initial control functions can be combined and configured with logical control identifiers, parameters, and values ​​from the plant information model to generate control routines.

[0097] The DCS can assign various control routines, which it has automatically generated, to execute on corresponding pluggable DCS hardware modules. For example, the DCS can encapsulate a specific control routine into a container and assign that container to run on a specific pluggable DCS hardware module. Alternatively, instances of the control routine can be provided to specific pluggable DCS hardware modules for execution. The DCS can reassign control routines or containers to corresponding pluggable DCS hardware modules during operation in an industrial process plant, for example, automatically based on the load, size, performance metrics, and / or faults of one or more DCS hardware modules in a set. For example, this change could be a detected change or a predicted change. In this way, advantageous features such as automatic load balancing across DCS hardware modules and / or real-time migration of various control routines can be achieved.

[0098] In some embodiments, the DCS includes an initial I / O data transfer function set, which is stored in memory as a set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules before the DCS is initialized or powered on. The initial I / O data transfer function set may include, for example, analog I / O functions, discrete I / O functions, motion I / O functions, near-infrared (NIR) I / O functions, another type of I / O transfer function, sampling functions, and / or signal conditioning functions. In these embodiments, method 300 may include ( Figure 3 (Not shown) At least some of the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanisms are automatically generated based on the initial I / O data transmission function set and the plant information model, corresponding to the interface ports of various pluggable DCS hardware modules of the DCS. For example, various initial I / O data transmission functions can be combined and configured with logical control identifiers, parameters, and values ​​from the plant information model to generate I / O data transmission mechanisms.

[0099] The DCS can assign various I / O data transfer mechanisms, which it has automatically generated, to execute on corresponding pluggable DCS hardware modules. For example, the DCS can encapsulate a specific I / O data transfer mechanism into a container and assign that container to run on a specific pluggable DCS hardware module. Alternatively, instances of the I / O data transfer mechanism can be provided to specific pluggable DCS hardware modules for execution. The DCS can reassign the assignment of I / O data transfer mechanisms or containers to corresponding pluggable DCS hardware modules during runtime operations in an industrial process plant, for example, automatically based on changes in load, size, performance metrics, and / or failures of one or more DCS hardware modules in the set. For example, the change could be a detected change or a predicted change. In this way, advantageous features such as automatic load balancing across the set of DCS hardware modules and / or real-time migration of various I / O data transfer mechanisms can be achieved.

[0100] In some embodiments ( Figure 3 (Not shown in the diagram), the DCS includes an initial set of supporting functions, which are stored in the memory of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules before the DCS is initialized or powered on. The initial set of supporting functions may include functions not directly used in process control, but which can manipulate data generated by the industrial process plant during runtime process control to produce outputs that provide information and / or may influence various control routines. Examples of supporting functions include (but are not limited to) signal processing functions, alarm functions, historical functions, trend functions, diagnostic functions, descriptive analysis functions, predictive analysis functions, machine learning functions, reinforcement learning functions, bus functions, and user interface functions. In these embodiments, method 300 may include ( Figure 3(Not shown) Additional support functions are automatically generated based on the initial set of support functions and the plant information model. For example, trend functions, alarm functions, and user interface functions can be combined to generate additional support functions to monitor the outputs of various control components defined in the plant information model. In some arrangements, the outputs of the initial support functions and / or the outputs of the additional, automatically generated support functions can be provided as inputs to the control routines running in the industrial process plant, thereby influencing the behavior of direct process control. For example, an analysis routine can generate a control signal when a certain threshold is reached, which is provided to one or more control routines to automatically adjust the process.

[0101] Any or all of the initial control function set, initial I / O data transfer mechanism set, and initial support function set can be stored a priori in the set of pluggable DCS hardware modules, for example, before the DCS and / or each pluggable DCS hardware module is initialized. For example, the initial control function set, initial I / O data transfer mechanism set, and initial support function set can be stored in the general framework of the DCS, such as... Figure 1 The general framework 22 or Figure 2 A general framework. Furthermore, a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) can be provided by the pluggable DCS hardware module 200 and exposed to other functions and applications, enabling them to access the initial control function set, I / O data transfer mechanisms, and / or supporting functions. In an embodiment, the set of APIs for accessing the general framework can be a set of APIs for accessing the plant information model. Thus, the set of APIs can be implemented using the same or common modeling language used to define or represent information stored in the plant information model. For example, the set of APIs could be a set of APIs 20 or 222.

[0102] The collection of DCS functions and applications that provide access to the plant information model and / or a general framework may include, for example: Figure 2 The discovery engine 215, execution engine 218, control routine 228, or I / O data transfer mechanism 230, and / or Figure 1Any routines, mechanisms, algorithms, containers, etc., running or executed on or executed on the control cluster 28, I / O cluster 30, and / or other computing cluster 31. In some configurations, the DCS also includes one or more security applications that protect the contents of the plant information model and / or access to the plant information model. Typically, such security applications may be stored on the memory of the set of pluggable DCS hardware modules before the initialization or power-on of the DCS and / or each pluggable DCS hardware module. In some embodiments, the applications and functions of the DCS that provide access to the plant information model and / or the general framework may include, for example, an operator assistance engine and / or a control assistance engine 35. Alternatively or additionally, the set of functions and applications of the DCS that provide access to the plant information model and / or the general framework may include applications and functions 40 stored in a plant application library (e.g., library 45), wherein the applications stored in the plant application library may include applications that have been automatically generated by the DCS (e.g., in the manner described above), applications that have been manually generated via user interfaces 32a, 52, applications including third-party extensions 40b, etc.

[0103] As described above, in the embodiments, the DCS may include multiple pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules. Thus, in these embodiments regarding auto-discovery 308, method 300 may further include the first pluggable DCS hardware module detecting the second pluggable DCS hardware module of the DCS when a communication connection is established between the first pluggable DCS hardware module and the second pluggable DCS hardware module. In these configurations, multiple pluggable DCS hardware modules can cooperate to distribute the storage of information, data, functions, etc., among the multiple pluggable DCS hardware modules. For example, multiple pluggable DCS hardware modules may distribute the storage of a factory information model, a general framework, a set of APIs exposed to applications and functions, one or more control routines, one or more I / O transfer mechanisms, a factory application library, one or more applications (e.g., operator interfaces, auxiliary engines, etc.) in their respective memories. However, not all information requires distributed or non-distributed storage. In an exemplary configuration, the plant information model can be stored in a first pluggable DCS module, a backup copy of the plant information model can be stored in a second pluggable DCS module, instances of some control routines can be stored in two or more pluggable DCS modules, and operator interface applications can be distributed and stored throughout the entire set of pluggable DCS modules. Furthermore, the DCS (e.g., via one or more pluggable DCS hardware modules) can automatically redistribute information, data, functions, applications, etc., among the set of pluggable DCS hardware modules in response to changes in one or more pluggable DCS hardware modules (e.g., changes in load, size, or performance metrics, occurrence of failure, planned maintenance, etc.). For example, the DCS can perform automatic redistribution based on predicted or detected changes.

[0104] When implemented in software, any applications, modules, etc., described herein may be stored in any tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as on a disk, on a laser disk, on a solid-state storage device, on a molecular memory storage device or other storage medium, in the RAM or ROM of a computer or processor, etc. Although the exemplary systems disclosed herein are disclosed to include software and / or firmware and other components executing on hardware, it should be noted that such systems are merely illustrative and should not be considered limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of these hardware, software, and firmware components may be specifically embodied in hardware, specifically embodied in software, or embodied in any combination of hardware and software. Therefore, while the exemplary systems described herein are described as being implemented in software executing on the processor of one or more computer devices, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the examples provided are not the only way to implement such systems.

[0105] Therefore, although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples, these examples are for illustration only and not for limiting the invention. However, those skilled in the art can make changes, additions or deletions to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0106] Specific features, structures, and / or characteristics of any particular embodiment may be combined in any suitable manner and / or with any suitable combination with one and / or more other embodiments, including the use of selected features with or without corresponding use of other functions. Furthermore, numerous modifications may be made to adapt particular applications, situations, and / or materials to the basic scope or spirit of the invention. It should be understood that other variations and / or modifications to the embodiments of the invention described and / or illustrated herein are possible in accordance with the teachings herein and should be considered part of the spirit or scope of the invention. Certain aspects of the invention are described herein as exemplary aspects.

Claims

1. An industrial distributed process control system (DCS) for an industrial process plant, the DCS comprising a set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module in the set comprising: Multiple interface ports, the multiple interface ports being configured to transmit one or more types of I / O data for industrial process control; One or more processors; One or more tangible, non-transitory memories; A discovery engine, comprising first computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more tangible, non-transitory memories, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module to automatically perform the following operations: When each of the pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules is powered on, the corresponding I / O type of each interface port included in the plurality of interface ports is sensed; Bind the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism corresponding to the corresponding I / O type to each interface port; Discover one or more physical components of the industrial process plant that are communicatively connected to each of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules via the plurality of interface ports, the one or more physical components including field devices configured to perform physical functions to control industrial processes during the operation of the industrial process plant; Based on the discovery of the one or more physical components, at least a portion of the factory information model of the industrial distributed process control system is populated, the factory information model comprising: A description of the control framework for the industrial process plant, wherein the control framework defines the corresponding logical control identifiers of the control components of the industrial distributed process control system and the hierarchical relationships between the control components, the control components including the field devices; and Description of the control network of the industrial process plant, the control network being used to control the industrial process during the operation of the industrial process plant, the control network including the field devices, the field devices being communicatively connected to the respective interface ports of each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module, and control routines provided at each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module. as well as An execution engine, comprising second computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more tangible, non-transitory memories, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module to execute the control routine and the corresponding I / O data transfer mechanism bound to the corresponding interface port for transferring data between the field device and the control program, thereby controlling the industrial process.

2. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, Each of the pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules in the set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules is encapsulated in a corresponding housing.

3. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 1-2, wherein, Each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module is configured to detect, via at least one of the plurality of interface ports, that a specific physical component among the one or more physical components has been recently communicated to each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module, and wherein the discovery of the specific physical component is automatically initiated by the industrial distributed process control system based on the detection of a new communication connection.

4. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 1-2, wherein, The plurality of interface ports include at least one of the following: advanced physical layer port, analog I / O port, discrete I / O port, serial port, motion port, near-infrared port, Railbus port, Wi-Fi port, Ethernet port, HART port, WirelessHART port, fieldbus port, or Profibus port.

5. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, One or more physical components discovered include at least one physical process controller.

6. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system also includes an initial control function set, which is stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module set prior to the initialization of the industrial distributed process control system; and The industrial distributed process control system is configured to automatically generate control routines corresponding to the field devices based on one or more control functions included in the initial control function set and the factory information model.

7. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 6, wherein, The set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules comprises multiple pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and the industrial distributed process control system is further configured to automatically assign the control routine to execute on a specific pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module among the multiple pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

8. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 7, wherein, The control routines are encapsulated in a container, which is assigned to execute on the specific pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module.

9. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 8, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system is also configured to automatically reassign the container into which the control routine is encapsulated to execute on another pluggable DCS hardware module based on a change in at least one of the load, size, performance metric, or failure of at least one of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

10. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 9, wherein, The changes mentioned are predicted changes.

11. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 6-10, wherein, The initial set of control functions includes one or more of the following: adaptive control functions, event-based control functions, advanced control functions, supervisory control functions, batch control functions, sorting functions, interlocking functions, safe shutdown functions, status detection functions, real-time virtualization controllers, or backup virtualization controllers.

12. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The discovered physical components also include physical I / O devices disposed between the respective interface port and the field device, wherein the field device transmits process data to the control routine via the physical I / O devices to control the industrial process during the runtime operation.

13. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein: The industrial distributed process control system further includes an initial I / O data transmission function set, which is stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module set before the initialization of the industrial distributed process control system. The initial I / O data transmission function set includes one or more of the following: analog I / O functions, discrete I / O functions, motion I / O functions, near-infrared (NIR) I / O functions, sampling functions, or signal conditioning functions; and The corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism is based on the initial I / O data transmission function set.

14. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 13, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system is configured to automatically generate at least some of the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanisms corresponding to the plurality of interface ports based on the sensed I / O types corresponding to the initial I / O data transmission function set and the set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

15. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 14, wherein, The set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules comprises multiple pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and the industrial distributed process control system is further configured to automatically assign at least some of the generated I / O data transmission mechanisms to be executed on the corresponding pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

16. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 14, wherein, At least some of the generated I / O data transmission mechanisms are encapsulated in corresponding containers, which are assigned to be executed on the corresponding pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

17. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 15-16, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system is also configured to reassign one or more of the generated I / O data transmission mechanisms to different pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules based on changes in at least one of the load, size, performance metrics, or faults of at least one of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

18. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system also includes an initial support function set, which is stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules prior to the initialization of the industrial distributed process control system. Each of the initial set of support functions operates on at least some of the data generated by the set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules during the runtime operation of the industrial process plant. as well as The initial set of supported functions includes at least one of the following: signal processing function, alarm function, historical function, trend function, diagnostic function, descriptive analysis function, predictive analysis function, machine learning function, reinforcement learning function, bus function, or user interface function.

19. The industrial distributed process control system of claim 18 further includes a support function generation routine, the support function generation routine being stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and automatically generating additional support functions based on the initial set of support functions and the plant information model.

20. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 18-19, wherein, The control routine is configured to receive as input the output of at least one of the initial set of support functions or the output of an additional support function, which has been generated based on the initial set of support functions and the plant information model.

21. The industrial distributed process control system of claim 1 further includes a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) exposed to a set of applications, the set of APIs providing the set of applications with access to the factory information model.

22. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 21, wherein, The application set is stored in the application library of the industrial distributed process control system, and corresponding instances of at least some of the applications in the application set reside in a cloud computing component corresponding to the industrial process plant. The corresponding instances of the at least some of the applications in the application set residing in the cloud computing component can be accessed by one or more remote user interfaces associated with the industrial distributed process control system.

23. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 21-22, wherein, At least one of the following conditions must be met: The first application in the application set is provided by a third party; or The second or more applications in the application set are provided by the industrial distributed process control system, and the second or more applications include at least one of the following: operator application, configuration application, I / O data transmission application, search application, process control application, diagnostic application, operator-oriented auxiliary application, control system-oriented auxiliary application, component verification application, condition monitoring application, remote monitoring application, maintenance application, descriptive analysis application, predictive analysis application, machine learning application, or decision support application.

24. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 21-22, wherein, The application set includes at least one of the following: OT (Operational Technology) layer applications provided by the industrial distributed process control system, IT (Information Technology) layer applications provided by the enterprise of the industrial distributed process control system, user interface applications, cloud computing applications, decision support applications, applications executed on mobile devices, applications executed on another system of the enterprise, or applications provided by and executed on a third-party system.

25. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The plant information model also includes descriptions of the one or more physical components of the industrial process plant, the respective locations of the one or more physical components within the industrial process plant, and the corresponding interconnections between the one or more physical components.

26. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The factory information model uses a modeling language to store information, including a description of the control framework and a description of the control network; and The set of application programming interfaces (APIs) provides the set of applications for the industrial distributed process control system with access to the information stored in the plant information model using the modeling language.

27. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 26, wherein, The plant information model also uses a modeling language to store descriptions of the one or more physical components of the industrial process plant, the respective locations of the one or more physical components within the industrial process plant, and the corresponding interconnections between the one or more physical components.

28. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 26-27, wherein, The modeling language includes abstract concepts of data provided to the factory information model by different data sources using different data formats.

29. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 28, wherein, The different data sources include at least one of the following: at least one discovered physical component, the configuration database of the industrial process plant, or the asset management database of the industrial process plant.

30. The industrial distributed process control system of claim 1, further comprising one or more security applications stored together with the plant information model, the one or more security applications protecting at least one of the following: the content of the plant information model or access to the content of the plant information model.

31. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules includes multiple pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and wherein, when a communication connection is established between a first pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module and a second pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module, the discovery engine of the first pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module automatically discovers the second pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module.

32. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 31, wherein, At least one of the following is stored in a distributed manner in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the plurality of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules: (i) the factory information model, or (ii) a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) exposed to a set of applications to provide the set of applications with access to the factory information model.

33. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 32, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system is further configured to automatically redistribute the storage distribution of the plant information model or at least one of the application programming interface set among the plurality of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules in response to a change in at least one of the load, size, performance metric, or fault corresponding to at least one of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

34. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 33, wherein, The change is either a predicted change or a detected change.

35. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules includes only a single pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module, wherein the entire plant information model is stored on one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the single pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module.

36. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The total number of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules in the set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules is consistent with the expected size of the industrial distributed process control system.

37. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 1, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system can be scaled by adding additional pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules or removing existing pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules.

38. A method for initializing an industrial distributed process control system (DCS) in an industrial process plant, the industrial distributed process control system comprising a set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and the method comprising performing the following operations at each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module: When each of the pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules is powered on, the corresponding I / O type of each interface port included in the plurality of interface ports included in each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module is sensed by each of the pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules. Each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module binds the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism corresponding to the corresponding I / O type to each interface port; Each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module discovers one or more physical components of the industrial process plant that are communicatively connected to each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module via the plurality of interface ports. The one or more physical components include field devices that are communicatively connected to each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module via corresponding interface ports, and the field devices are configured to perform physical functions to control industrial processes during the operation of the industrial process plant. Each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module populates at least a portion of the factory information model of the industrial distributed process control system based on the discovery of one or more physical components, the factory information model comprising: A description of the control framework for the industrial process plant, wherein the control framework defines the corresponding logical control identifiers of the control components of the industrial distributed process control system and the hierarchical relationships among the control components, the control components including the field devices; and Description of the control network of the industrial process plant, the control network being used to control the industrial process during the operation of the industrial process plant, the control network including the field devices, the corresponding interface ports, and control routines provided at each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module; as well as The industrial process is controlled by each of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules executing the control routines and the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanisms bound to the corresponding interface ports to transmit data between the field devices and the control routines.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising: Each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module detects via at least one of the plurality of interface ports that a specific physical component among the one or more physical components is most recently communicatively connected to each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module; and Based on the detection of new communication connections, the discovery of the specific physical component is automatically initiated.

40. The method according to any one of claims 38-39, wherein, The plurality of interface ports include at least one of the following: advanced physical layer port, analog I / O port, discrete I / O port, serial port, motion port, near-infrared port, Railbus port, Wi-Fi port, Ethernet port, HART port, WirelessHART port, fieldbus port, or Profibus port.

41. The method according to claim 38, wherein, Discovering the one or more physical components includes discovering at least one physical process controller.

42. The method according to claim 38, wherein: The industrial distributed process control system also includes an initial control function set, which is stored in a set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules before the industrial distributed process control system is powered on. The method further includes: each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module automatically generating the control routine corresponding to the field device based on the factory information model and one or more control functions included in the initial control function set.

43. The method of claim 38, further comprising: The control routine is encapsulated in a container by each of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and executing the control routine includes running the container.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising: Based on a change in at least one of the load, size, performance metrics, or failure of at least one of the pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules in the set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules, the container is reassigned to run on another pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module.

45. The method according to claim 42, wherein, The initial set of control functions includes one or more of the following: adaptive control functions, event-based control functions, advanced control functions, supervisory control functions, batch control functions, sorting functions, interlocking functions, safe shutdown functions, status detection functions, real-time virtualization controllers, or backup virtualization controllers.

46. ​​The method according to claim 38, wherein, Discovering the one or more physical components includes discovering physical I / O devices disposed between the respective interface port and the field device, wherein the field device transmits process data to the control routine via the physical I / O devices to control the industrial process during the runtime operation.

47. The method of claim 38, wherein: The industrial distributed process control system also includes an initial I / O data transmission function set, which is stored in the pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module set before the industrial distributed process control system is initialized. This initial I / O data transmission function set includes one or more of the following: analog I / O functions, discrete I / O functions, motion I / O functions, near-infrared (NIR) I / O functions, sampling functions, or signal conditioning functions; and The corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism for the field device is based on the initial I / O data transmission function set.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising: Each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module automatically generates at least some of the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanisms corresponding to the multiple interface ports based on the initial I / O data transmission function set and the sensed I / O type.

49. The method according to claim 38, Also includes: Each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module encapsulates the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism for the field device into a container; and Specifically, executing the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism for the field device includes running the container.

50. The method of claim 38, wherein: The industrial distributed process control system also includes an initial support function set, which is stored in the pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module set before the industrial distributed process control system is initialized. Each support function in the initial set of support functions operates on at least some of the data generated by the set of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules during the runtime operation of the industrial process plant; and The initial set of supported functions includes at least one of the following: signal processing function, alarm function, historical function, trend function, diagnostic function, descriptive analysis function, predictive analysis function, machine learning function, reinforcement learning function, bus function, or user interface function.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module automatically generates additional support functions based on the initial set of support functions and the factory information model.

52. The method according to any one of claims 50-51, wherein, Executing the control routine includes receiving, at the control routine, at least one of the outputs of at least one of the initial support function set or the outputs of an additional support function, the additional support function having been generated based on the initial support function set and the plant information model.

53. The method of claim 38, further comprising: Expose a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) to a collection of applications, thereby providing the collection of applications with access to the factory information model via the set of APIs.

54. The method of claim 53, further comprising: The application set is stored in the application library of the industrial distributed process control system.

55. The method of claim 53, further comprising: At least some instances of applications from the application set stored in the application library of the industrial distributed process control system are provided to the cloud computing component corresponding to the industrial process plant for access by one or more remote user interfaces associated with the industrial distributed process control system.

56. The method according to any one of claims 53-55, wherein, At least one of the following conditions must be met: The first application in the application set is provided by a third party; or The second or more applications in the application set are provided by the industrial distributed process control system, and the second or more applications include at least one of the following: operator application, configuration application, I / O data transmission application, search application, process control application, diagnostic application, operator-oriented auxiliary application, control system-oriented auxiliary application, component verification application, condition monitoring application, remote monitoring application, maintenance application, descriptive analysis application, predictive analysis application, machine learning application, or decision support application.

57. The method according to any one of claims 53-55, wherein, The application set includes: OT (operational technology) layer applications provided by the industrial distributed process control system, IT (information technology) layer applications provided by the enterprise of the industrial distributed process control system, user interface applications, cloud computing applications, decision support applications, applications running on mobile devices, applications running on another system of the enterprise, or applications provided by and running on a third-party system.

58. The method according to claim 38, wherein, The plant information model also includes descriptions of one or more physical components of the industrial process plant, the respective locations of the one or more physical components within the industrial process plant, and the corresponding interconnections between the one or more physical components.

59. The method according to claim 58, wherein: Populating at least a portion of the plant information model includes: using a modeling language to populate the description of the control framework, the description of the control network, and the description of the one or more physical components; The modeling language includes abstract concepts of data provided to the factory information model from different data sources using different data formats; and The method also includes exposing a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) to provide the set of applications of the industrial distributed process control system with access to information stored in the plant information model using the modeling language.

60. The method of claim 38, wherein, Each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module also includes a set of security applications that are stored in each pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware module before it is powered on. The one or more security applications protect at least one of the following: the content of the plant information model or access to the content of the plant information model.

61. The method according to claim 38, wherein, The set of pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules comprises multiple pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware modules, and the method further includes: when a communication connection is established between each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module and another pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module, each pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module discovers the other pluggable and interchangeable DCS hardware module.

62. The method of claim 61, further comprising: The plurality of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules include at least one of the following: (i) the plant information model, (ii) a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) exposed to a set of applications to provide the set of applications with access to the plant information model, (iii) the corresponding I / O transfer mechanism, or (iv) a set of control routines, the set of control routines including control routines corresponding to the field devices.

63. The method of claim 38, further comprising: In response to a change in at least one of the load, size, performance metric, or fault corresponding to at least one of the plurality of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules, the distribution of at least one of (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) among the plurality of pluggable, interchangeable DCS hardware modules is automatically redistributed.

64. An industrial distributed process control system (DCS) for an industrial process plant, the industrial distributed process control system comprising: Data center, the data center includes: A plant information model, stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the industrial distributed process control system, is described using a modeling language for the following: The industrial process plant is a collection of physical components, and the description of the physical component collection indicates the corresponding locations of the physical component collection and the corresponding physical interconnections between the physical component collections; The control framework of the industrial process plant defines the hierarchical relationships between the sets of control components of the industrial distributed process control system and the corresponding logical control identifiers for the sets of control components. Furthermore, each control component includes at least some physical components from the set of physical components. The control network of the industrial process plant, used to control the industrial process during operation of the industrial process plant, the control network including at least some control components from the set of control components; and A set of application programming interfaces (APIs) stored on one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the industrial distributed process control system and exposed to at least one of the control routines or I / O data transfer mechanisms of the industrial distributed process control system, so as to provide access to the process plant information model via the modeling language for at least one of the control routines or the I / O data transfer mechanisms. The modeling language includes abstract concepts of multiple data formats utilized by the industrial distributed process control system, and At least one of the control routines or the I / O data transmission mechanisms is executed together with the corresponding physical components located in the industrial process plant to control the industrial process by utilizing information obtained from the plant information model during real-time operation of the industrial process plant.

65. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 64, wherein, At least some of the descriptions of the physical component set, the control framework, and / or the control network indicate data provided to the data center by at least one physical component in the physical component set or by one or more databases associated with the industrial process plant; and The data center will transform or abstract the provided data into the modeling language.

66. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 64-65, wherein, The set of application programming interfaces is also exposed to the set of applications of the industrial distributed process control system, thereby providing the set of applications with access to the factory information model.

67. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 66, wherein, The application set is stored in the application library of the industrial distributed process control system, and corresponding instances of at least some of the applications in the application set reside in a cloud computing component corresponding to the industrial process plant. The corresponding instances of the at least some of the applications in the application set residing in the cloud computing component can be accessed by one or more remote user interfaces associated with the industrial distributed process control system.

68. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 66, wherein, Meet at least one of the following: The first application in the application set is provided by a third party; or The second or more applications in the application set are provided by the industrial distributed process control system, and the second or more applications include at least one of the following: operator application, configuration application, I / O data transmission application, search application, process control application, diagnostic application, operator-oriented auxiliary application, control system-oriented auxiliary application, component verification application, condition monitoring application, remote monitoring application, maintenance application, descriptive analysis application, predictive analysis application, machine learning application, or decision support application.

69. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 66, wherein, The application set includes at least one of the following: OT (operational technology) layer applications provided by the industrial distributed process control system, IT (information technology) layer applications provided by the enterprise of the industrial distributed process control system, cloud computing applications, applications executed on mobile devices, or applications provided and executed by a third-party system.

70. The industrial distributed process control system of claim 64, further comprising one or more security applications or security mechanisms stored together with the plant information model, the one or more security applications or security mechanisms protecting at least one of the following: the content of the plant information model or access to the content of the plant information model.

71. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 64, wherein, The data center also includes a general framework that has been stored in one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the industrial distributed process control system prior to the initialization of the data center. The general framework includes a set of general structures and a set of general functions; and The industrial distributed process control system automatically generates at least one of the control routines or the I / O data transmission mechanism based on the general framework and the factory information model.

72. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 71, wherein: The general structure set includes a set of templates for definitions corresponding to the types of physical components and control components; and The general function set includes a set of functions utilized in process control and / or I / O data transmission.

73. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 72, wherein, The set of functions used in process control includes one or more of the following: adaptive control functions, event-based control functions, advanced control functions, supervisory control functions, batch control functions, sequencing functions, interlocking functions, safe shutdown functions, status detection functions, virtualized real-time controllers, or virtualized standby controllers.

74. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 72-73, wherein, The set of functions used in I / O data transmission includes one or more of the following: analog I / O functions, discrete I / O functions, motion I / O functions, near-infrared (NIR) I / O functions, sampling functions, or signal conditioning functions.

75. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 72, wherein, The general function set also includes a support function set that operates on data generated by the industrial distributed process control system when controlling the industrial process, and wherein the support function set includes at least one of the following: signal processing function, alarm function, historical function, trend function, diagnostic function, descriptive analysis function, predictive analysis function, machine learning function, reinforcement learning function, bus function, or user interface function.

76. The industrial distributed process control system of claim 75 further includes a support function generation routine, the support function generation routine automatically generating additional support functions based on an initial set of support functions and the plant information model.

77. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 75-76, wherein, The control routine is configured to receive as input the output of at least one of the initial set of supporting functions or the output of an additional supporting function, which has been generated based on the initial set of supporting functions and the plant information model.

78. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 64, It also includes a set of interface ports that communicatively connect the industrial distributed process control system to the industrial process plant; and in, During the initialization of the industrial distributed process control system, the industrial distributed process control system automatically senses the corresponding I / O type of each interface port in the interface port set, and binds the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism corresponding to the corresponding I / O type of each interface port to each interface port.

79. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 78, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system automatically generates at least a portion of the corresponding I / O data transmission mechanism based on one or more general I / O data transmission functions, which are stored in the one or more tangible, non-transitory memories of the industrial distributed process control system before the data center is initialized.

80. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 78-79, wherein, The interface port set communicatively connects one or more physical components, including at least one field device, located in the field environment of the industrial process plant, to the industrial distributed process control system; and The industrial distributed process control system automatically discovers at least some of the physical components among the one or more physical components via the set of interface ports, and stores the corresponding descriptions of the at least some of the physical components among the one or more physical components in the factory information model using the modeling language.

81. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 80, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system automatically generates at least a portion of the description of the control framework of the factory information model based on the corresponding descriptions of at least some of the discovered physical components.

82. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 81, wherein, The industrial distributed process control system also automatically generates at least a portion of the description of the control network of the factory information model based on at least a portion of the automatically generated description of the control framework.

83. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 64, wherein, Based on the first information stored in the factory information model, the industrial distributed process control system automatically generates second information and stores the generated second information in the factory information model.

84. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 64 further includes a set of computing modules, wherein the control routine and the I / O data transmission mechanism are executed on the set of computing modules.

85. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 84, wherein, At least one of the following conditions must be met: The control routine is encapsulated in a first container, which is assigned to run on a first computing module in the set of computing modules; or The I / O data transfer mechanism is encapsulated in a second container, which is assigned to run on a second computing module in the set of computing modules.

86. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 84-85, wherein, The control routines are included in a plurality of control routines, which are executed on the set of computing modules.

87. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 84-85, wherein, The I / O data transfer mechanism is included in multiple I / O data transfer mechanisms, which are executed on the set of computing modules.

88. The industrial distributed process control system according to any one of claims 84-85, wherein: The control routines are included in a plurality of control routines that are executed on the set of computing modules; The I / O data transfer mechanism is included in multiple I / O data transfer mechanisms executed on the set of computing modules; and The industrial distributed process control system is further configured to automatically redistribute the distribution of at least one of the plurality of control routines or the plurality of I / O data transmission mechanisms in the set of computing modules in response to a change in at least one of the load, size, performance metric, or failure of at least one computing module included in the set of computing modules during the operation of the industrial process plant.

89. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 88, wherein, The changes mentioned are predicted changes.

90. The industrial distributed process control system according to claim 88, wherein, The change mentioned is the detected change.

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