Operator Station Alarm Cause Retrieval Through Process Strand Mapping

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Solution Overview

Problem

Complex process engineering plants face difficulties in quickly identifying the causes of alarm surges due to the complexity of procedural connections, which are often lost in simplified plant diagrams, making it hard to evaluate alarm dependencies without additional analysis tools.

Innovation Solution

An operator station server with a computer-implemented process image and visualization service that uses structured and direction-oriented references to derive procedural strands and calculate alarms, allowing operators to navigate through symbolic plant images and identify alarm sources efficiently.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If process diagrams are simplified for operation and monitoring, then ease of operation is improved, but loss of information about process-related relationships occurs

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of monitoringVSAvoidloss of process context
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments alarm information by process engineering strands, separating alarms into distinct process contexts. Each alarm is associated with a specific strand identifier, allowing operators to view alarms in the context of their relevant process sequence without displaying all process details simultaneously. This segmentation enables focused monitoring while preserving access to complete process relationships.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Measurement precision

If additional analysis tools are introduced to identify alarm causes, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprecision of alarm cause identificationVSAvoidcomplexity of analysis tools
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and displays only the relevant process engineering strand information needed for alarm analysis, rather than presenting complete process diagrams or requiring separate analysis tools. By pulling out the specific strand context and alarm sequence information, the system achieves precise alarm cause identification using the existing control system interface without adding complex external analysis tools.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP3953774B1Device for retreiving alarm causes
Publication Date: 2023.03.01 SIEMENS AG
  • EP3953774B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3953774B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3953774B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The invention relates to an operator station server (15, 16) of a control system (14) of a process engineering plant, said server having a computer-implemented process image (21, 30), wherein the computer-implemented process image (21, 30) comprises, for a runtime of the process engineering plant, at least one first computer-implemented process object (22a, 22b, 22c, 31a, 31b, 31c) and a second computer-implemented process object (22a, 22b, 22c, 31a, 31b, 31c) which are each associated with a technical object (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) of the process engineering plant and are operatively connected to same, wherein the two associated technical objects (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) are operatively connected within the process engineering plant. The first process object (22a, 22b, 22c, 31a, 31b, 31c) has a reference (24a, 24b, 24c, 32a, 32b, 32c) to the second process object (22a, 22b, 22c, 31a, 31b, 31c).