Field Unit Priority Routing Under Limited Power Supply
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Solution Overview
Problem
Field devices with multiple functional units face challenges in energy management, particularly when retrofitting, upgrading, or replacing units, as existing solutions require significant adaptation to ensure energy supply constraints are met, especially under safety and explosion protection requirements.
Innovation Solution
Assigning priorities to functional units, where a higher-priority unit influences the energy consumption of lower-priority units by routing their energy supply through it, allowing the higher-priority unit to control energy access and consumption, thereby simplifying the integration of new or upgraded units without extensive changes to the field device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple functional units are integrated into a field device to enhance functionality, then the device's capability and versatility are improved, but the total energy consumption exceeds the maximum supply capacity available from the energy supply
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic energy management by enabling functional units to switch between active and inactive states based on operational requirements. The control unit dynamically activates or deactivates individual functional units or their sub-functions to match the actual energy demand with the limited energy supply capacity, resolving the contradiction between maintaining high functionality and staying within energy constraints
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by enabling only the necessary subset of functional units to operate at any given time rather than all units simultaneously. The system provides excessive capability potential through multiple functional units but activates only the required portion based on current process needs, thereby maintaining versatility while controlling energy consumption within available limits
2Reliability
If conventional energy management solutions are used in field devices, then energy supply constraints are addressed, but significant adaptation effort is required when retrofitting, upgrading, or replacing functional units
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the field device into independent, modular functional units that can be individually activated or deactivated. Each functional unit is designed as a self-contained module with standardized interfaces, allowing them to be retrofitted, upgraded, or replaced without requiring system-wide adaptations. The control unit manages energy distribution to these segmented modules based on their individual energy consumption characteristics
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universal energy management through a centralized control unit that can manage multiple types of functional units with different energy requirements. The control unit provides multi-functional capability by adapting its energy distribution strategy to various functional unit configurations, enabling the same energy management system to work with different combinations of functional units without requiring unit-specific adaptation logic
Data Source
AI summary
A field device includes functional units and an energy supply, wherein the sum of consumed energy of all functional units is greater than the maximum energy suppliable to the field device from the energy supply, where priority is assignable to at least two functional units, a higher priority functional unit influences the energy consumption of a lower priority functional unit such that the total energy consumption from the energy supply by all functional units is not greater than the maximum energy suppliable to the field device from the energy supply, and a line to the energy supply thereof passes through the higher priority functional unit to influence the energy consumption of the lower priority functional unit, such that functional units can be flexibly retrofitted, upgraded, or replaced, and the complexity involved in adapting the energy management of the functional units can be kept low.