Rule-Based Asset Grouping for Dynamic Industrial Plant Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing asset management systems in industrial plants require significant manual effort to maintain up-to-date group memberships for assets, which is error-prone and inefficient, especially with large numbers of assets and frequent changes.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that automatically assigns assets to groups based on predefined rules related to asset properties and location, allowing for dynamic and flexible group management, enabling collective actions on assets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If assets are manually assigned to groups to enable collective management actions, then asset management efficiency is improved, but manual effort and error-proneness increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables assets to automatically determine their own group memberships by evaluating rules against their properties. Each asset independently assesses which rules it satisfies and joins corresponding groups without manual intervention, eliminating the need for operators to manually assign and update group memberships across thousands of assets
Solution Approach 2:
Rules are pre-configured with conditions that define group membership criteria. These rules are established in advance and automatically evaluated against asset properties, allowing the system to proactively determine group assignments before management actions are executed, rather than requiring reactive manual updates
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual group assignment is used to manage assets, then collective actions can be performed on groups, but keeping group memberships up-to-date becomes error-prone and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors asset properties and automatically re-evaluates rule conditions when properties change. This feedback mechanism ensures that group memberships are dynamically updated to reflect current asset states, maintaining accuracy without manual intervention and preventing outdated assignments from causing errors
Solution Approach 2:
Group memberships are made dynamic rather than static. Assets automatically join or leave groups based on real-time evaluation of rule conditions against their properties. This dynamic approach ensures group memberships always reflect current asset states, eliminating the reliability issues associated with static manual assignments
3Adaptability or versatility
If assets are assigned to multiple groups based on multiple rules, then flexible asset management is achieved, but complexity in tracking memberships increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the complex task of group membership management into independent, manageable rule evaluations. Each rule represents a discrete condition that an asset can independently assess, breaking down the complexity into small, traceable units rather than requiring tracking of complex interdependent relationships
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing assets configured to interact with an industrial process includes obtaining properties and/or a location for each asset, providing rules stipulating that the asset is to be assigned to a group in response to a condition regarding at least one of its properties and/or location being met; determining rules from the set of rules whose conditions are met by a particular asset; assigning the particular asset to one or more groups based on the so-determined rules; and applying a collective actuating and/or configuring action to all assets belonging to at least one particular group.