Computer-implemented method, computer program product and computer-implemented device for selecting value of operating parameter of machine system

Abstract

It is proposed a computer-implemented method for selecting values of operating parameters of a machine system by a user, the method comprising the steps of defining a relevance metric for each operating parameter, ranking the operating parameters in an ascending or descending order of relevance metrics, creating at least one user-defined list, the method includes receiving a list of operational parameters, the list including a subset of operational parameters having a highest relevance metric, displaying the user-defined list to a user, receiving a value of the subset of operational parameters of the user-defined list, where the value is provided by the user, and sending the value of the subset of operational parameters to a machine system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a computer-implemented method for allowing a user to select values ​​for operating parameters of a machine system. The invention also relates to corresponding computer program products and corresponding computer-implemented devices. This invention can be part of a computer-implemented method for controlling a machine system comprising several machines. Background Technology

[0002] Methods for computer-based control of machine systems are known, and the applicant has provided a corresponding computer program product as a Fully Integrated Automation Portal (TIA Portal). It allows users complete access to all digital automation, extending from digital planning through integration engineering, down to the operation of the machine system. The TIA Portal includes a computer program product called Startdrive, which is used to integrate new machines (e.g., drives) into the automation computer program (here, the TIA Portal) of existing machine systems. Startdrive uses the same user interface as the TIA Portal. Therefore, new machines can be quickly integrated into the automation environment and commissioned using the TIA Portal.

[0003] The TIA Portal enables a wide range of applications, particularly for drives. These applications extend from variable-speed axes—such as pumps, fans, mixers, and conveyors—through positioning axes to high-end motion control applications—such as material handling systems, storage and retrieval machines, and packaging machines. Because users always work through the TIA Portal and its user interface, it doesn't matter whether these motion functions are implemented in the machine's controller (e.g., in the drive's controller) or in the machine drive itself. The TIA Portal can, for example, provide motion control, closed-loop control, and diagnostics for drive axes. Users are guided through the parameterization of the controller and drive.

[0004] Users can parameterize their machines via Startdrive, supported by user-friendly wizards and on-screen forms. Each step is structured according to the specific task, particularly through the use of a structured workflow. In particular, parameterizing integrated security features within the machine (such as drives) is possible using graphical on-screen forms. Experienced users can work quickly and efficiently based on a transparent list of parameters.

[0005] The prior art in this field presents the user with a complete list of operating parameters, forcing the user to search for the parameter they want to check and / or adjust. The total number of operating parameters for a machine system can include many parameters, so this entire list of operating parameters can be very long and confusing, and therefore a very time-consuming activity for the user. Summary of the Invention

[0006] One object of the present invention is to reduce the complexity of the list of operating parameters of a machine system presented to the user for inspection and adjustment purposes, thereby saving the user time.

[0007] Another objective of this invention is to provide users with the possibility of quickly and easily adjusting the values ​​of subgroups of operating parameters.

[0008] The first objective is achieved by a computer-implemented method comprising the following steps: defining a relevance measure for each operational parameter, wherein the relevance measure is a prioriation indicator for the operational parameters, and wherein the relevance measure is defined by a user for each operational parameter according to a user requirement regarding the prioriation of the operational parameters; sorting the operational parameters in ascending or descending order of the relevance measure; creating at least one user-defined list comprising a subgroup of operational parameters having the highest relevance measure; displaying the user-defined list to a user; receiving the values ​​of the subgroups of operational parameters in the user-defined list, wherein the values ​​are provided by the user; and sending the values ​​of the subgroups of operational parameters to a machine system.

[0009] Preferably, the user-defined list includes only the subgroup of operational parameters with the highest relevance metric, and excludes other operational parameters.

[0010] This method avoids the problems of existing technologies and thus achieves the objectives of the present invention, whereby the user must select the operating parameters he / she wants to check and / or adjust himself / herself. Operating parameters not in the user-defined list or not adjusted retain their default values. The machine system here is preferably controlled by a fully integrated automation portal (TIAP) including "Sinamics Startdrive," into which the method of the present invention can be embedded.

[0011] Possible operating parameters include the machine's physical parameters, such as the power supply voltage of certain components of the machine or the angular velocity of a part of the machine, as well as parameters related to the machine's control software and embedded machine systems, such as the operating mode of the entire machine or parts thereof, the operating mode of the machine's display, or the address used for data exchange and control signals.

[0012] A measure of relevance can be, for example, a weighted number, which can be determined based on a user-defined scale (e.g., weights between 0 and 10), representing the importance of a particular operating parameter to the user and / or to the machine system. Safety-critical operating parameters (e.g., machine temperature) can therefore, for example, have higher weight values ​​and higher relevance measures than operating parameters required solely for machine configuration purposes.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the user-defined list includes operation parameters more than once.

[0014] This embodiment of the invention helps, and even better achieves, the aforementioned objectives because the situation may be such that a single operating parameter is relevant in more than one viewpoint. These different viewpoints are represented as portions of a user-defined list, where certain operating parameters are grouped, for example, by a set of parameters related to the conveyor belt and a set of parameters related to the drive gear. Of course, some of those parameters, such as the belt speed and the tangential speed of the belt drive cylinder, are the same. If this is the case, the parameter will be listed in more than one portion of the user-defined list and can be operated in all portions listing the parameter. Therefore, in terms of consistency, if a parameter value changes in one of the portions listing it, the parameter value will naturally change in all portions.

[0015] According to one embodiment of the invention, at least one value of a subgroup of operating parameters is pre-filled with default values ​​from a library.

[0016] In this way, the process of receiving parameter values ​​via this method can be further automated and thus accelerated. Furthermore, it avoids situations where parameters remain unset, or in other words, where there are operational parameters for which the method fails to receive their values. Unset operational parameters can lead to serious problems in the machine system, and therefore, this embodiment of the invention enables secure backup.

[0017] In another embodiment of the invention, the method allows the user to manipulate at least one value of a subgroup of operation parameters before providing values ​​for the operation parameters of a user-defined list.

[0018] This embodiment adds several additional benefits in achieving the previously mentioned objectives because it corresponds to a safety feedback loop. The user can check and correct the operating parameters on the user-defined list before they are finally set and sent to the machine system, where they take effect. Furthermore, it allows the user to veto the ongoing assignment of operating parameters by the method.

[0019] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this embodiment achieves another object of the invention, which is that the method allows the use of a single user action to provide values ​​for all operation parameters contained in a user-defined list.

[0020] Therefore, in the end, all the operating parameters and their corresponding values ​​are displayed to the user, who can then select all of those settings simultaneously, for example, by clicking the corresponding button on the monitor. This completes the one-click configuration.

[0021] In this way, the objective of the invention can be achieved even more efficiently, as it further accelerates the process of assigning operation parameters. Advantageously, this embodiment of the invention can be implemented when the operation parameters in the user-defined list are standard parameters that do not vary significantly compared to those of similar machines in a machine system.

[0022] According to different embodiments of the present invention, several user-defined lists that differ from each other in at least one operating parameter are created and stored in a database.

[0023] This embodiment of the invention further reduces the complexity of the operation parameter allocation process. It is possible that there are more than one set of values ​​for which assigning the same subset of operation parameters is meaningful. This could be due to different operating modes of the same machine system, such as producing different types of products using the same machine system. In this case, if the user has a user-defined list for each operating mode, the complexity of the user's operation parameter assignment process can be reduced.

[0024] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the value of at least one operation parameter of a user-defined list is compared with the value of that operation parameter in different operating modes of the machine.

[0025] Therefore, the actual values ​​of machine operating parameters can be compared with any predefined standard values, such as factory values, different user-defined values, online / offline values, etc. Thus, for example, in online and / or offline modes, the actual values ​​(e.g., measured values) of the drive can be compared with the drive's factory values, the drive's user-defined values, and the drive's online / offline values.

[0026] The values ​​to be compared and / or the results of the comparison, such as the difference in values, can be displayed in a user-defined list, preferably near the corresponding operation parameters.

[0027] The present invention also relates to a computer program product that implements the previously described methods in a system including a machine system and a computer of the machine system.

[0028] Therefore, in any case, a computer program product will enable a computer connected to a machine system to... - Define a relevance metric for each operational parameter, where the relevance metric is a priority ranking indicator for the operational parameters, and where the relevance metric is defined by the user for each operational parameter according to user requirements regarding the priority ranking of the operational parameters. - Sort the operating parameters in ascending or descending order of relevance measure. - Create at least one user-defined list that includes subgroups of operational parameters with the highest relevance metric. - Display a user-defined list to the user. - Receives the value of a subgroup of operation parameters from a user-defined list, where the value is provided by the user, and - Send the values ​​of the subgroup of operation parameters to the machine system.

[0029] The present invention also relates to a computer-implemented device adapted to perform any of the methods described in the previously discussed embodiments of the invention.

[0030] The device implements the previously described method in hardware, which makes the method independent of any supporting hardware and thus allows the previously described method to be executed in a closed environment.

[0031] The computer-implemented device includes a machine system and at least one computer connected to the machine system. The computer is connected to at least one display for showing information to a user, i.e., a user-defined list, and is connected to an input device where the user can enter and confirm values ​​of operating parameters. The input device may include, for example, a keyboard and a computer mouse.

[0032] Methods of implementing the present invention In automated computer programs for systems using several machines, such as in a Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) portal, a computer program for debugging, such as Startdrive, is launched. One possible way to implement the invention is to define a relevance measure for each operating parameter of the machine system in a first step, where the relevance measure is a priority ranking indicator for the operating parameters, and where the relevance measure is defined by the user for each operating parameter according to user requirements regarding the priority ranking of the operating parameters. In this first step, the priority ranking of the operating parameters of the machine system is performed based on the user's parameter selection. In this selection, the user defines which operating parameters he or she wants to observe, examine, evaluate, and / or analyze (e.g., through parameter comparison processes, etc.), and in which sequence they are located. Thus, the relevance measure is an indicator assigned to each operating parameter of the machine system, representing the priority and importance of each operating parameter of the machine system in the sequence. Operating parameters that indicate the technical condition of the machine system, such as those used for diagnostic processes of the machine system (the operating parameters being, for example, parameters derived from temperature sensor measurements, etc.), may therefore have high priority and high relevance measures.

[0033] Define a relevance metric for each operating parameter, a user-defined weighted value (e.g., a weight between 0 and 10), which is based on a user-defined scale and represents the importance of a given operating parameter to the user and / or to the machine system, and can be assigned to the operating parameter. Safety-critical operating parameters (e.g., machine temperature) may therefore have a higher weighted value (e.g., 10) and a higher relevance metric than operating parameters required only for machine configuration purposes (e.g., with a weight of 2).

[0034] In the second step, the relevance measure is used as the parameter to sort the operational parameters in ascending or descending order. The next step is to create at least one user-defined list containing subgroups of operational parameters that have the highest relevance measure for the user. Typically, only the parameters with the highest relevance need to be controlled by the user. The method then continues by displaying the user-defined list to the user, allowing the user to examine all displayed parameters and their values. After that, the computer program receives the values ​​of the subgroups of operational parameters from the user-defined list. This is accomplished by sending the values ​​of the subgroups of operational parameters to the machine system.

[0035] Regardless of the use of grammatical terminology, nouns and pronouns relating to persons in this patent application generally do not specify a particular gender.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for allowing a user to select values ​​for operating parameters of a machine system, characterized in that, The computer-implemented method includes the following steps: - Define a relevance metric for each operational parameter, where the relevance metric is a priority ranking indicator for the operational parameters, and where the relevance metric is defined by the user for each operational parameter according to user requirements regarding the priority ranking of the operational parameters. - Sort the operating parameters in ascending or descending order of relevance measure. - Create at least one user-defined list that includes subgroups of operational parameters with the highest relevance metric. - Display a user-defined list to the user. - Receives the value of a subgroup of operation parameters from a user-defined list, where the value is provided by the user, and - Send the values ​​of the subgroup of operation parameters to the machine system.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The user-defined list includes the operation parameters more than once.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, At least one value of a subgroup of operation parameters is pre-populated with a default value from the library.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Before providing the values ​​of the operation parameters from the user-defined list, allow the user to manipulate at least one value of a subgroup of the operation parameters.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, It allows a single user action to provide values ​​for all operation parameters contained in a user-defined list.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Several user-defined lists that differ from each other in at least one operating parameter are created and stored in the database.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The value of at least one operation parameter from a user-defined list is compared with the value of that operation parameter in different operating modes of the machine.

8. A computer program product comprising instructions that cause a computer of a machine system to perform all the steps of the method according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.

9. A computer-implemented apparatus comprising a machine system, the apparatus being adapted to perform the method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.