Automation Object Hierarchies for Cross-Device Configuration Propagation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face inefficiencies due to the need for separate configuration tools for disparate aspects, leading to a piecemeal design approach that requires significant testing and debugging to ensure proper integration.
Innovation Solution
An integrated development environment (IDE) is introduced that supports integrated, multi-discipline programming of control, visualization, and other aspects of industrial automation systems using a common design environment and data model, leveraging automation objects as building blocks and enabling hierarchical linkages for consistency and updates across projects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If separate configuration tools are used for different aspects of automation systems, then each tool can be specialized and simple, but the overall system complexity increases and integration becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate configuration tools into a single integrated development environment that can configure controllers, HMI devices, and analytics devices through a unified interface. This merging eliminates the need for multiple disparate tools and reduces the complexity of integrating configurations across different devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The development environment is designed to be universal, supporting configuration of multiple device types (controllers, HMI, analytics) and programming languages (IEC 61131-3, C++, C#) within a single platform. This multi-functionality allows users to perform diverse configuration tasks without switching between specialized tools.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate configuration tools are used for each device type, then each tool can be optimized for its specific purpose, but integration and consistency across devices become difficult to ensure
Solution Approach 1:
By merging configuration capabilities for controllers, HMI devices, and analytics devices into a single integrated environment, the system ensures that all device configurations are created and modified within the same platform, guaranteeing consistency and proper integration across the entire automation system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs automatic propagation mechanisms that provide feedback when configurations are modified. When a controller configuration changes, the system automatically updates associated HMI displays and analytics configurations, ensuring consistency across all devices and eliminating manual synchronization errors.
3Productivity
If piecemeal design approach is used with separate tools, then each component can be developed independently, but significant testing and debugging is required to ensure proper integration
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated development environment merges configuration, programming, and testing capabilities into a single unified platform. This allows developers to work on controller logic, HMI displays, and analytics configurations simultaneously with automatic linkage, eliminating the need for extensive integration testing that would be required with separate tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides automatic feedback and propagation when configurations are modified. Changes in controller logic automatically update HMI displays and analytics configurations, providing real-time verification of integration correctness and eliminating manual testing and debugging efforts.
4Ease of operation
If manual updates are performed for each device configuration, then each device can be customized precisely, but the effort and time required for updates increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automatic feedback propagation mechanisms that detect configuration changes and automatically update all dependent devices. When a controller configuration is modified, the system automatically propagates these changes to HMI displays and analytics configurations, eliminating manual update efforts while maintaining precise customization.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes preliminary linkages and associations between device configurations during the initial setup phase. By pre-defining the relationships between controllers, HMI devices, and analytics components, the system enables automatic propagation of future changes without requiring manual intervention for each update.
Data Source
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AI summary
An industrial integrated development environment (IDE) provides a development framework for designing, programming, and configuring multiple aspects of an industrial automation system using a common design environment and data model. Projects creating using embodiments of the IDE system can be built on an object-based model rather than, or in addition to, a tag-based architecture. To this end, the IDE system can support the use of automation objects that serve as building blocks for this object-based development structure. These automation objects represent corresponding physical industrial assets and have associated programmatic attributes relating to those assets, including data logging and device configuration parameters. Functional relationships between automation objects can be defined to yield object hierarchies, and object attributes can be propagated across objects up and down the hierarchy.