Cloud Safety Control Architecture for Unreliable Industrial Links
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional safety systems for controlling apparatuses or installations are inflexible, which can impact their adaptability and reliability, especially when linked to unreliable cloud connections.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a safety-oriented control system with a cloud-based safety control application that communicates securely with the apparatus or installation via protocols like PROFIsafe, allowing for flexible adaptation and ensuring safety even with unreliable links by maintaining a safe state through redundant processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If safety functions are processed in the cloud, then flexibility and adaptability are improved, but reliability is worsened due to potential communication failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a distributed architecture where safety functions are processed both locally at the installation and remotely in the cloud. Each location has specific quality characteristics: the local processor provides immediate response and high reliability, while the cloud provides flexibility and adaptability. This spatial distribution of functional qualities resolves the contradiction between reliability and flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary safety assessments and risk analyses in the cloud before controlling the installation. By pre-processing safety evaluations and maintaining updated safety models in the cloud, the system ensures flexibility in adapting to new scenarios while the actual control decisions are made with sufficient time margin, preserving reliability.
2Reliability
If a separate safety controller is used, then reliability is improved, but flexibility is worsened due to fixed architecture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal safety control architecture where the same cloud-based safety application can serve multiple different installations and apparatus types. The safety controller is designed to be multi-functional, handling various safety functions across different industrial contexts, thereby achieving flexibility without compromising the standardized safety protocols that ensure reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses virtualized safety control applications that can be copied and deployed across multiple installations. Instead of requiring dedicated hardware safety controllers for each installation, the patent employs software-based safety functions that can be replicated in the cloud, providing flexibility in deployment while maintaining consistent safety standards through identical virtual instances.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cloud connection is made unreliable, then flexibility is improved for temporary replacement, but safety is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements redundant safety processing paths that are prepared in advance. When cloud connection becomes unreliable, the system automatically switches to local safety processing that was pre-configured and validated. This cushioning mechanism ensures that safety functions continue to operate reliably even when the flexible cloud connection is interrupted, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a local safety processor as an intermediary between the cloud-based safety application and the installation. This intermediary maintains the safety function locally, acting as a buffer that preserves safety when cloud communication fails. The intermediary enables temporary replacement scenarios while maintaining safety through local fallback processing.
Data Source
AI summary
A control system for controlling an apparatus or installation, wherein at least one first safety function controls the apparatus or installation, where the control system includes a first safety-oriented control device that is configured to perform the at least one first safety function, where the first safety-oriented control device is also configured as a first safety-oriented control application that is implemented in a cloud, and where the first safety oriented control application and the apparatus or installation are communicatively coupled via a first safety-oriented communication connection.