Industrial Automation Rules Engine for Device Compatibility Checks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation system design and troubleshooting are hindered by the lack of guidance in preventing incompatible object usage and invalid connections, leading to time-consuming troubleshooting and reliance on expert designers, with manual naming conventions being tedious and prone to error.
Innovation Solution
Implementing AI and machine learning to enforce design rules, suggest compatible components and connections, and automatically update naming conventions, while providing a light engineering client for operators to make minor adjustments and recommendations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If designers manually review previous designs and specifications to ensure compatibility, then design accuracy is improved, but design time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes a database of device compatibility rules, connection protocols, and best practices before the design process begins. During design, these pre-prepared rules are automatically applied to validate device selections and connections, eliminating the need for designers to manually review compatibility specifications for each component.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback to designers as they select devices and create connections, automatically checking compatibility against the rule database and warning of potential issues before they become problems, thereby maintaining high design accuracy without requiring time-consuming manual verification.
2Stability of the object's composition
If designers manually update object names according to naming conventions, then naming consistency is improved, but the process becomes tedious and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically generates and updates object names according to predefined naming conventions when devices are added, removed, or modified in the design. This self-service naming mechanism eliminates manual intervention entirely, ensuring consistent naming across all objects while making the process error-proof and efficient.
3Adaptability or versatility
If designers are free to use any objects without validation, then design flexibility is improved, but system reliability decreases due to incompatible combinations
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary validation layer between the designer's object selection and the final system configuration. This intermediary automatically checks device compatibility, connection validity, and adherence to best practices, allowing designers to freely select from available objects while ensuring that only compatible and reliable combinations are implemented in the final design.
4Measurement precision
If expert designers are required to troubleshoot complex issues, then troubleshooting accuracy is improved, but operational efficiency decreases due to system downtime
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-configures diagnostic rules, troubleshooting procedures, and resolution strategies in the rule database during the design phase. When issues arise during operation, these pre-prepared troubleshooting guides are automatically applied to diagnose and resolve problems quickly, maintaining high accuracy while minimizing downtime and reducing reliance on expert intervention.
Data Source
AI summary
A (GUI) for designing an industrial automation system includes a design window and a first accessory window. The GUI presents a library visualization representative of a plurality of objects within the first accessory window, each object is represented by an icon and corresponds to a respective industrial automation device. The GUI receives inputs indicative of a selection of one or more objects of the plurality of objects from the library, presents the one or more objects in the design window, determines that the one or more inputs do not comply with a set of industrial automation system rules comprising one or more relationships between a plurality of industrial automation devices, and displays a warning message that the one or more inputs do not comply with the set of industrial automation system rules.