Intelligent industrial automation control system integrated device

Abstract

The invention discloses an intelligent industrial automation control system integrated device which comprises a data center, and the data center reads a plurality of to-be-read data sources in an industrial automation control system and communicates with application programs needing to read the data sources in the industrial automation control system to transmit data. The application program does not directly load the data source, but is loaded by the device. The interaction between the original application and the data source is provided by the device, and the interaction mode is changed from original module loading to gRPC communication, so that process isolation is realized, the application is not directly influenced by the exception of the data source module, and the application is not fatally influenced by the exception such as crash of the device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of industrial automation, and in particular to an intelligent industrial automation control system integration device. Background Art

[0002] In the field of industrial automation technology, industrial control system applications need to read various data sources to obtain information to achieve automated control of industrial production or to provide feedback to operators for regulation. In the prior art, when an application needs to access a data source, it is often directly connected to the data source.

[0003] The invention patent with application publication number CN116438493A discloses a system and corresponding method for providing a configuration for data extraction from an automation system (100). The system includes a signal selection agent (200), which is configured to: receive a user selection of at least one module of the automation system (100); generate a user interface (212) for display to the user, the user interface identifies one or more selectable signals associated with the selected module and displays one or more guide elements (214-218), the one or more guide elements including data mined from a data source (202-206) related to the automation system (100) for guiding the user in the selection of relevant signals; receive a user selection of one or more selectable signals among the selectable signals; and automatically generate a configuration for data extraction based on the selected signals. Summary of the invention

[0004] When industrial control system applications read data sources, they often connect the applications to the data sources. The applications directly access the interfaces of the data sources. Interface call exceptions may cause the applications to time out or crash directly, greatly reducing the security of the applications. Data source exceptions usually require restarting the applications, resulting in increased operating costs.

[0005] To solve the above problems, the solution of the present invention is: an intelligent industrial automation control system integration device, including a data center, which reads multiple data sources to be read in the industrial automation control system, and communicates and transmits data with applications in the industrial automation control system that need to read the data sources.

[0006] As a further improvement of the present invention, the data center includes a health detector, which scores each connected data source and sends the score to the redundant controller. The redundant controller selects one or more data sources for reading and writing according to the scores of each data source calculated by the health detector and the redundant switching scheme.

[0007] As a further improvement of the present invention, the data center also includes a read-write bit number scheduler, which processes the request for reading and writing bits and passes the instruction to the read-write bit number controller for execution. When the read-write bit number controller fails to read or write, the read-write bit number scheduler performs different subsequent processing according to the external configuration to ensure that the reading and writing are normal or an error is returned after a certain number of failures.

[0008] As a further improvement of the present invention, the data center also includes a guard module, which controls the device to automatically start the device after the device loses power or goes offline.

[0009] As a further improvement of the present invention, the data center and the application communicate through the gRPC protocol, and the process of the application and the data source is isolated. The data center reads the bit number data of the data source and provides the application with a bit number access related interface through the gRPC service.

[0010] As a further improvement of the present invention, when an application needs to read or write a bit number, the data center reads and writes data from the data source through an interface provided by the data center, and then returns the read data or write result to the application.

[0011] As a further improvement of the present invention, the application program may be deployed on a Windows or Linux system, and the data source may be deployed on a Windows system.

[0012] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: (1) Implement a device that connects to a data source downward and to an application upward, with the process of the device and the application isolated, so that a timeout or crash of the data source interface call will not affect the normal operation of the application; (2) A redundant controller is implemented in the device, which can freely access the data source and is compatible with various redundant switching schemes to achieve redundant switching in various scenarios. The execution of read and write bit numbers and the implementation of redundant switching schemes are optimized through various controllers; (3) A read-write bit number scheduler is implemented in the device, and the application only needs to consider communicating with the device and does not need to consider failure rewriting; (4) The device comes with a guard component. If a data source error occurs, there is no need to restart the application, only the device. (5) Implement a device that has no platform restrictions on applications. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 It is a redundant framework diagram of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 2 A framework diagram for executing bit number reading and writing in the present invention.

[0015] Figure 3 The figure is a flow chart of the process of using the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Embodiment 1: An intelligent industrial automation control system integration device includes a data center, which reads multiple data sources to be read in the industrial automation control system, and communicates with the application program that needs to read the data source in the industrial automation control system to transfer data. The application program no longer directly loads the data source, but is loaded by the device. The original interaction between the application and the data source is provided by the device, and the interaction mode is changed from the original module loading to gRPC communication, thereby realizing process isolation, and the abnormality of the data source module no longer directly affects the application, and the abnormality such as the crash of the device will not have a fatal impact on the application.

[0017] In industrial automation, data sources are an extremely critical link, which provides basic information for automation systems and data analysis. Through real-time data processing technology, real-time monitoring and control of each link in the production process can be achieved; through offline data analysis technology, historical production data can be analyzed and summarized to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the production process; using IoT sensors and data analysis technology, equipment health can be monitored in real time, potential failures can be identified in advance, and predictive maintenance can be achieved; by integrating real-time data from suppliers and internal teams, logistics can be optimized, supply and demand can be balanced, and order fulfillment efficiency can be improved; using IoT devices and machine learning algorithms to collect real-time data, by continuously monitoring manufacturing and production processes, anomalies can be detected, quality problems can be identified, and corrective measures can be taken quickly. Therefore, the control programs of many industrial automation control systems need to read a variety of data sources. In existing technologies, applications are often directly connected to data sources, which will lead to the following problems: (1) The application directly accesses the data source interface. Interface call exceptions may cause the application to time out or crash directly, greatly reducing the security of the application. (2) It is not suitable for connecting to multiple data sources at the same time and cannot meet various redundancy scenarios; (3) The tag reading and writing mechanism is usually implemented in the application, but the tag reading and writing usually requires multiple scheduling to normally write the tag to the system; (4) Due to direct access to the data source, data source anomalies usually require restarting the application, resulting in increased operating costs; (5) The OPC protocol is used between the application and the data source. OPC is a Windows system protocol, which limits the application to be deployed only on Windows.

[0018] Therefore, this embodiment is used as an intermediary device, which is connected to the data source downward and to the application upward. The process between the device and the application is isolated, so that the interface call timeout or crash of the data source will not affect the normal operation of the application; the data center reads the content of the data source, and then communicates with the application to transmit data, and the data center is isolated from the application process, which ensures the security of the application and avoids the application crash caused by interface call exceptions.

[0019] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the data center includes a health detector, which scores each connected data source and sends the score to the redundant controller. The redundant controller selects one or more data sources for reading and writing based on the scores of each data source calculated by the health detector and the redundant switching scheme. The present invention supports simultaneous access to multiple data sources, and the redundant controller (Redun Data Source Controller) selects which data source to use, depending on the score from the health detector (Health Check Controller) and the redundant switching scheme configured externally. Figure 1 As shown, the health detector detects different data sources to collect scoring indicators. According to the scoring indicators and the external redundant switching scheme, it decides to use one or more data sources and transmits commands to the redundant controller. The health detector will select one or more data sources that meet the score requirements for reading and writing; or when one of the data sources is in a weak network, offline, etc., it will automatically switch to another data source with a higher score; the redundant controller accesses the data source. The redundant controller and the health detector realize the adaptation of accessing multiple data sources at the same time to meet the work of multiple redundant scenarios. The external redundant switching scheme is a data source access scheme for different application scenarios and server pressures. It is used to manage the number of data source access and reading and writing. It can be set in advance and switched in real time at different times and application scenarios to ensure that the industrial automation control system accurately responds to different production situations.

[0020] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the data center also includes a read-write bit number scheduler, which processes requests for read-write bit numbers and passes the instructions to the read-write bit number controller for execution. When the read-write bit number controller fails to read or write, the read-write bit number scheduler performs different subsequent processing according to the external configuration to ensure that the reading and writing are normal or an error is returned after a certain number of failures. The behavior after the read-write failure is determined according to the external configuration to ensure that the reading and writing are normal or an error is returned after a certain number of failures. The bit number is the bit number in the industrial production process, which refers to the data monitoring point of the industrial automation control system. Figure 2As shown, the tag access scheduler is responsible for the scheduling of tag access, the tag access controller is responsible for the specific execution, and the redundant controller provides the target data source selection. In the previous technology, the tag access mechanism is usually implemented in the application, but the tag access usually requires multiple scheduling to write the tag to the system normally. The tag access scheduler and the tag access controller can make the tag access function independent of the application and directly connected to the data source. The tag can be read and written without the OPC protocol for the original application and data source docking, making the tag access more convenient.

[0021] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the data center also includes a guard module, which controls the device to automatically start the device after the device loses power or goes offline, thereby ensuring real-time response of the industrial automation control system. Moreover, due to process isolation, restarting the device will not cause a crash on the application side.

[0022] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the data center and the application communicate through the gRPC protocol, and the process of the application and the data source is isolated. The data center reads the bit number data of the data source and provides the bit number access related interface for the application through the gRPC service. gRPC is a high-performance, open source remote procedure call (RPC) framework that uses Protocol Buffers developed by Google as the interface definition language, which can connect and call services between different systems across languages ​​and platforms.

[0023] When the application needs to read and write a bit number, the data center reads and writes the data from the data source through the interface provided by the data center, and then returns the read data or write results to the application. The specific process is as follows: Figure 3 shown.

[0024] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the application can be deployed on a Windows or Linux system, and the data source is deployed on a Windows system. In the past, the OPC protocol was used between the application and the data source. OPC (OLE for Process Control) is to establish an interface standard for communication between industrial control system applications and to establish a unified data access specification between industrial control equipment and control software. OPC uses the COM interface to define the format and transmission method of data, and realizes data exchange and sharing through the COM mechanism. This COM-based communication method enables devices and systems from different manufacturers to be seamlessly integrated together to achieve interoperability between devices. However, OPC is a protocol for the Windows system, which limits the application to be deployed only on Windows. The present invention avoids the limitations of the OPC protocol, and after reading the data source, the data interaction between the application and the present invention is realized through gRPC communication, so that the application does not need to be limited to the Windows system.

[0025] Example 2: In industrial automation, data sources are an extremely critical link, which provides basic information for automation systems and data analysis. Through real-time data processing technology, real-time monitoring and control of each link in the production process can be achieved; through offline data analysis technology, historical production data can be analyzed and summarized to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the production process; using IoT sensors and data analysis technology, equipment health can be monitored in real time, potential failures can be identified in advance, and predictive maintenance can be achieved; by integrating real-time data from suppliers and internal teams, logistics can be optimized, supply and demand can be balanced, and order fulfillment efficiency can be improved; using IoT devices and machine learning algorithms to collect real-time data, by continuously monitoring manufacturing and production processes, anomalies can be detected, quality problems can be identified, and corrective measures can be taken quickly. Therefore, the control programs of many industrial automation control systems need to read a variety of data sources.

[0026] In order to better read the data source, this embodiment designs an intelligent industrial automation control system integration device, including a data center, which reads multiple data sources to be read in the industrial automation control system, and communicates with the application program that needs to read the data source in the industrial automation control system to transfer data. The data center includes a data server, which reads, writes and processes the data source. The application program no longer directly loads the data source, but calls the data interface of the data source through the data server to add the data, and then realizes the data interaction between the data center and the application program through gRPC communication. Compared with the prior art, the interaction between the original application and the data source is provided by this device, and the interaction mode is changed from the original module loading to gRPC communication, thereby realizing process isolation, and the abnormality of the data source module no longer directly affects the application, and the abnormality such as the crash of this device will not have a fatal impact on the application.

[0027] This embodiment is an intermediary device that is connected to the data source downward and to the application upward. The device and the application process are isolated, so that the interface call timeout or crash of the data source will not affect the normal operation of the application. In the prior art, since the application is directly connected to the data source and the application is directly connected to the interface of the data source, an interface call exception may cause the application to time out or directly crash, which greatly reduces the security of the application. Due to the direct access to the data source, the data source exception usually requires restarting the application, resulting in increased operating costs. This embodiment reads the content of the data source through the data center, and then communicates with the application to transmit data. The data center is isolated from the application process, which ensures the security of the application and avoids the application crash caused by interface call exceptions.

[0028] As a further improvement of the present embodiment, the data center includes a health detector, which scores each connected data source and sends the score to the redundant controller. The redundant controller selects one or more data sources for reading and writing based on the scores of each data source calculated by the health detector and the redundant switching scheme. The present invention supports simultaneous access to multiple data sources, and the redundant controller (Redun Data Source Controller) selects which data source to use, depending on the score from the health detector (Health Check Controller) and the redundant switching scheme configured externally. In the prior art, applications are often directly connected to data sources, so it is not suitable for simultaneous access to multiple data sources and cannot meet a variety of redundant scenarios.

[0029] The specific redundancy control method of this embodiment is as follows: Figure 1 As shown, the health detector detects different data sources to collect scoring indicators. According to the scoring indicators and the external redundant switching scheme, it decides to use one or more data sources and transmits commands to the redundant controller. The health detector will select one or more data sources that meet the score requirements for reading and writing; or when one of the data sources is in a weak network, offline, etc., it will automatically switch to another data source with a higher score; the redundant controller accesses the data source. The redundant controller and the health detector realize the adaptation of accessing multiple data sources at the same time to meet the work of multiple redundant scenarios. The external redundant switching scheme is a data source access scheme for different application scenarios and server pressures. It is used to manage the number of data source access and reading and writing. It can be set in advance and switched in real time at different times and application scenarios to ensure that the industrial automation control system accurately responds to different production situations.

[0030] The redundant switching solution of this embodiment is shown in the following table: Strategy Configuring Data Sources Simultaneous connections Read at the same time Write at the same time Cold Multiple one one one Warm Multiple Multiple one one Hot Multiple Multiple Multiple Multiple In the Cold solution, multiple data sources can be configured, but only one data source can be connected at the same time, and only one data source can be read and written at the same time. This strategy is used when large-scale control is not required, which can reduce the pressure on the data server to read and communicate. In the Warm solution, multiple data sources can be configured and connected, but only one data source can be read and written at the same time. This strategy can reduce the pressure on the data server when monitoring production. In the Hot solution, multiple data sources can be connected, read and written at the same time. In a production environment where real-time control of multiple targets is required, this strategy is required to cooperate with the data source to read information and pass it to the application side to achieve real-time regulation of multiple targets.

[0031] In the prior art mode where the application program is directly connected to the data source, the bit number reading and writing mechanism is usually implemented in the application, but the bit number reading and writing usually requires multiple scheduling to normally write the bit number to the system, so the bit number reading and writing efficiency is low. In this embodiment, the data center also includes a read-write bit number scheduler, which processes the request to read and write the bit number and passes the instruction to the read-write bit number controller for execution. When the read-write bit number controller fails to read or write, the read-write bit number scheduler performs different subsequent processing according to the external configuration to ensure that the reading and writing are normal or an error is returned after a certain number of failures. The behavior after the read-write failure is determined according to the external configuration to ensure that the reading and writing are normal or an error is returned after a certain number of failures. The bit number is the bit number in the industrial production process, which refers to the data monitoring point of the industrial automation control system. Such as Figure 2 As shown, the tag access scheduler is responsible for the scheduling of tag access, the tag access controller is responsible for the specific execution, and the redundant controller provides the target data source selection. In the previous technology, the tag access mechanism is usually implemented in the application, but the tag access usually requires multiple scheduling to write the tag to the system normally. The tag access scheduler and the tag access controller can make the tag access function independent of the application and directly connected to the data source. The tag can be read and written without the OPC protocol for the original application and data source docking, making the tag access more convenient.

[0032] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the data center also includes a guard module, which controls the device to automatically start the device after the device loses power or goes offline, thereby ensuring real-time response of the industrial automation control system. Moreover, due to process isolation, restarting the device will not cause a crash on the application side.

[0033] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the data center and the application communicate through the gRPC protocol, and the process of the application and the data source is isolated. The data center reads the bit number data of the data source and provides the bit number access related interface for the application through the gRPC service. gRPC is a high-performance, open source remote procedure call (RPC) framework that uses Protocol Buffers developed by Google as the interface definition language, which can connect and call services between different systems across languages ​​and platforms.

[0034] As a further improvement of this embodiment, when the application needs to read and write the bit number, the data center reads and writes the data of the data source through the interface provided by the data center, and then returns the read data or write result to the application. The specific process is as follows Figure 3 shown.

[0035] As a further improvement of this embodiment, the application can be deployed on a Windows or Linux system, and the data source is deployed on a Windows system. In the past, the OPC protocol was used between the application and the data source. OPC (OLE for Process Control) is to establish an interface standard for communication between industrial control system applications and to establish a unified data access specification between industrial control equipment and control software. OPC uses the COM interface to define the format and transmission method of data, and realizes data exchange and sharing through the COM mechanism. This COM-based communication method enables devices and systems from different manufacturers to be seamlessly integrated together to achieve interoperability between devices. By connecting different devices and sensors to the OPC server, real-time data can be collected and transmitted to the OPC client for monitoring and analysis. However, OPC is a protocol for the Windows system, which limits the application to be deployed only on Windows. The present invention avoids the limitations of the OPC protocol, and realizes data interaction between the application and the present invention through gRPC communication after reading the data source, so that the application does not need to be limited to the Windows system.

[0036] The above specific embodiments are only preferred implementations of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the specific implementation structure and implementation scope of the present invention. In fact, some equivalent changes can also be made according to the shape, structure and design purpose of the present invention. Therefore, all equivalent changes made according to the shape, structure and design purpose of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention, that is, these equivalent changes should be protected by the present invention.

Claims

1. An intelligent industrial automation control system integration device, characterized in that: It includes a data center, which reads a plurality of data sources to be read in the industrial automation control system, and communicates and transfers data with an application program in the industrial automation control system that needs to read the data source.

2. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The data center includes a health detector, which scores each connected data source and sends the score to the redundant controller.

3. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 2 is characterized in that: The redundant controller selects one or more data sources for reading and writing according to the scores of each data source calculated by the health detector and the redundant switching scheme set externally.

4. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The data center also includes a read-write bit number scheduler, which processes requests for read-write bit numbers and passes instructions to the read-write bit number controller for execution.

5. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 4 is characterized in that: When the read / write bit number controller fails to read or write, the read / write bit number scheduler performs different subsequent processing according to the external configuration to ensure that the reading and writing are normal or an error is returned after the failure exceeds the set number of times.

6. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The data center also includes a guard module, which controls the device to automatically start the device after the device loses power or goes offline.

7. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The data center and application communicate via the gRPC protocol, and the processes of the application and data source are isolated.

8. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1 or 7, characterized in that: The data center reads the bit number data of the data source and provides a bit number access related interface for the application through the gRPC service.

9. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the application needs to read or write a bit number, the data center reads and writes data from the data source through an interface provided by the data center, and then returns the read data or write result to the application.

10. The intelligent industrial automation control system integration device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The application program may be deployed on a Windows or Linux system, and the data source is deployed on a Windows system.

Images