Controller Engine Instances for Industrial Safety and Redundancy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional industrial controllers are rigid and inflexible, requiring specific hardware and software tailored to a particular control engine, and struggle to ensure data integrity and provide sufficient safeguards in industrial environments, where the separation of control and safety aspects is often restrictive and dependent on each other.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of granular security and redundancy mechanisms, allowing for distinct security levels and separation of control-based entities from safety-based entities, with the ability to generate secondary controller engine instances for fail-safe operations, ensuring independent and separate control and safety functions within the industrial environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional controllers use a one-to-one ratio between controllers and control engines with specific hardware and software tailored to a particular control engine, then control functionality is maintained, but flexibility and adaptability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is divided into multiple controller engine instances (first controller engine instance and second controller engine instance) that can operate independently. This segmentation allows different control functions to be distributed across multiple instances, enabling flexible allocation and assignment of control tasks without requiring complete reconfiguration of the entire controller system.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller is designed to host multiple controller engine instances that can perform different control functions. The first controller engine instance handles control aspects while the second controller engine instance handles safety aspects, allowing a single controller to serve multiple purposes and reducing the need for separate dedicated hardware for each function.
2Reliability
If control and safety aspects are commingled and dependent upon one another in conventional controllers, then integrated control is achieved, but security and data integrity are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The controller engine is segmented into distinct first and second controller engine instances with separate execution spaces. The first instance executes control logic while the second instance executes safety logic, preventing unauthorized access between control and safety functions and ensuring data integrity through isolation.
Solution Approach 2:
A controller instance assignment data structure serves as an intermediary mechanism that manages the relationship between controller engine instances and their assigned control aspects. This intermediary layer enables proper coordination and communication between separated control and safety instances while maintaining their independence and security.
3Reliability
If conventional controllers maintain a one-to-one ratio between controllers and control engines, then control precision is maintained, but redundancy and fail-safe capabilities are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is segmented into multiple controller engine instances where the first instance handles control functions and the second instance handles safety functions. This segmentation enables redundancy because the safety instance can monitor and take over control functions if the control instance fails, providing fail-safe capability without requiring completely separate redundant hardware systems.
Data Source
AI summary
The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that facilitates employing safety within an industrial environment. An enhancing component can implement at least one of a security level, authentication, authorization, or an access right to a validated action to at least one of the controller or the controller engine instance. The enhancing component can further separate two or more entities within the industrial environment, the first entity related to process control and the second entity related to process safety. Additionally, the enhancing component can employ at least one of a backup controller or a backup controller engine instance in the event of at least one of a software error or a hardware error within the industrial environment.