Distributed Historian Module for Industrial Automation Controllers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional industrial control system architectures are not equipped to seamlessly exchange data between various components of an enterprise, leading to inefficiencies in data collection and storage, and lack tight integration with standard control systems, making configuration and deployment complex and costly.
Innovation Solution
A distributed and scalable framework that incorporates data historian functionality across organizational levels, using a common data model to facilitate data exchange and integration, with features like automatic configuration, security propagation, and publish-subscribe mechanisms to optimize data collection and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional PC-historians are used for data collection and storage, then data archiving capability is provided, but system integration complexity increases and performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the historian functionality directly into the control system architecture by integrating the historian module with the control processor. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate PC-historian systems and their associated complex network interfaces, while maintaining data archiving capabilities within the unified control system.
Solution Approach 2:
The control processor is designed to perform multiple functions including both real-time control operations and historical data archiving. The historian module shares the control processor's resources and communication infrastructure, allowing a single system to handle both control and data logging functions without requiring dedicated separate hardware.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional PC-historians communicate over standard network interfaces, then data collection from multiple controllers is enabled, but bandwidth consumption increases and collection efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the data collection architecture by implementing local historian modules within each control processor that pre-process and filter data locally. This segmentation allows each controller to manage its own data archiving independently, reducing the need for high-bandwidth network communication while maintaining the ability to collect data from multiple controllers through their respective local historians.
Solution Approach 2:
The local historian module acts as an intermediary between the control processor and the network. It buffers, filters, and pre-processes data before transmission, reducing the bandwidth requirements for network communication while enabling data collection from multiple controllers through standardized interfaces.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual configuration is used for mapping controller tags to historian files, then data collection can be customized, but configuration time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The historian module automatically discovers and configures data collection parameters by interfacing directly with the control processor's data structures. It self-configures tag mappings, data types, and collection frequencies without requiring manual graphical interface configuration, thereby maintaining customization capabilities while eliminating configuration time and reducing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a unified data model and common interface structure between the control processor and historian module. This homogeneous interface allows automatic configuration through standardized data mapping rules, eliminating the need for complex manual customization while still enabling adaptability through programmable parameters.
4Reliability
If data is continuously monitored and stored, then complete historical records are maintained, but storage costs and processing load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The historian module implements selective data collection by monitoring for changes in process variables and only storing data when changes occur. This partial action approach maintains complete historical records of significant events while avoiding unnecessary storage of redundant unchanged data, thereby reducing storage capacity requirements while preserving record completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts data collection parameters based on process conditions. It changes the sampling rate and storage frequency according to the activity level of process variables, storing data at high resolution when changes occur and reducing storage frequency during stable periods, thus maintaining record completeness while optimizing storage utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
A distributed historian framework is provided where historical data is collected in accordance with an organizational model of a hierarchical system that is distributed across various elements of an enterprise. A directory service operates with the organizational model to enable configuration of historian components within the organization and to enable data to be located within the organization. In one aspect, an industrial automation system is provided. The system includes at least one historian component to archive data within an organization. A common data model then exposes functionality and data of the organization to the historian component.