Dynamic Voting Configuration for Industrial Automation Safety

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional industrial automation systems lack the ability to visually represent and dynamically adjust safety and availability metrics based on configured redundancy, relying on fixed voting schemes that do not account for specific industrial automation environments or real-time events.

Innovation Solution

An optimization component generates a voting configuration that allocates available redundancy to optimize safety and availability levels, which can be visualized through a graphical user interface, allowing for customization and dynamic adjustment based on input data from industrial automation devices and real-time events, mitigating common mode failures and enabling fault tolerance.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If fixed voting schemes are used in conventional industrial automation systems, then safety and availability are provided through redundancy, but the systems lack the ability to visually represent and dynamically adjust safety and availability metrics based on specific industrial automation environments or real-time events

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to dynamically adjust safety and availability metricsVSAvoidcomplexity of visualizing and managing safety and availability levels

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically adjusts voting configurations based on real-time events and environmental conditions. The optimization component continuously monitors system state and modifies redundancy allocation to balance safety and availability requirements, transforming static fixed voting schemes into adaptive dynamic configurations that respond to changing operational contexts

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The graphical user interface uses visual representations with different colors and graphical indicators to display safety and availability levels. This visual encoding makes complex metrics easily observable and understandable, allowing operators to quickly assess system state without interpreting raw data, thereby reducing the perceived complexity while enhancing adaptability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #32Color changes

2Loss of information

If conventional fixed voting schemes are used, then redundancy is provided, but users cannot visually observe levels of safety and availability associated with a particular voting relationship

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevisibility of safety and availability levelsVSAvoidcomplexity of generating and displaying visualizations

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system replaces physical inspection methods with electronic visualization through a graphical user interface. The optimization component generates visual representations of safety and availability metrics by processing data from industrial automation devices, substituting manual assessment with automated graphical display that makes invisible metrics observable and understandable

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The graphical user interface acts as an intermediary between the complex voting configuration system and human operators. It translates raw voting data and safety metrics into intuitive visual formats, bridging the gap between complex system operations and human comprehension without requiring operators to directly interact with complex configuration parameters

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Adaptability or versatility

If redundancy is configured to provide safety and availability, then fault tolerance is achieved, but the system cannot be customized to specific industrial automation environments or dynamically adjusted based on real-time events

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecustomization to specific environments and real-time eventsVSAvoidconsistency of safety and availability

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The optimization component implements continuous feedback loops by monitoring real-time events from industrial automation devices and adjusting voting configurations accordingly. This feedback mechanism ensures that redundancy allocation remains optimized for current operational conditions while maintaining consistent safety and availability through automated adjustment rather than manual reconfiguration

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary configuration of voting schemes during system design and setup, pre-establishing multiple voting configurations that can be selected based on different operational modes. This preliminary action allows the system to be customized for specific industrial automation environments before deployment, while real-time event detection enables dynamic switching between pre-configured schemes to maintain reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS7539550B2Safety versus availability graphical user interface

Publication Date: 2009.05.26 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECH INC

AI summary

The claimed subject matter provides industrial automation systems and/or methods that visualize availability and safety levels. An optimization component can generate a voting configuration that provides an optimized combination of a safety level and an availability level based upon available redundancy. Additionally, a graphical user interface can present a visualization of the safety level and the availability level.