Hierarchical Group Module Instantiation for Industrial Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current module-based engineering systems for industrial plants lack the ability to efficiently reuse and manage complex control loops across multiple levels, limiting their reusability and scalability in automation design.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a group module library navigator, instantiation engine, and update engine allows for the creation and management of group class modules that can be instantiated and updated to generate reusable group application modules, enabling the reuse of complex control loops at higher levels such as equipment and unit modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional module-based engineering systems are used to manage control loops, then basic module reusability is achieved, but the ability to efficiently reuse and manage complex control loops across multiple levels is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a hierarchical module structure where group class modules contain multiple child class modules, and group application modules contain multiple child application modules. This nested structure allows complex control loops to be organized in levels (equipment level, unit level, plant level), enabling efficient reuse at multiple scales while maintaining manageable complexity through clear parent-child relationships and structured composition.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more detailed and specific module structures are created for complex control loops, then reusability across multiple levels is improved, but engineering time for creating and managing these structures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action through the creation of group class modules that serve as pre-configured templates containing multiple child class modules. These group structures are prepared in advance with predefined relationships and configurations, allowing engineers to quickly instantiate complete multi-level control loop structures without creating each component from scratch. The instantiation engine automatically generates the hierarchical structure, significantly reducing engineering time while maintaining detailed and specific module structures for scalability.
3Reliability
If hierarchical group module structures are implemented to enable multi-level reuse, then engineering quality is enhanced, but the complexity of managing group class modules and their relationships increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an instantiation engine as an intermediary component that automatically manages the complex relationships between group class modules and child class modules. This engine handles the instantiation process, generating group application modules from group class modules and child application modules from child class modules, thereby reducing the manual management burden. The engine also provides update propagation mechanisms that automatically synchronize changes across the hierarchical structure, improving engineering quality while reducing the perceived complexity for users.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial plant module-based engineering system includes a group module library navigator that contains: a plurality of group class modules and a respective plurality of child class modules under an associated group class module of the plurality of group class modules. A group module instantiation engine is configured to instantiate the group class module with reflecting a hierarchy of the group class modules to generate, in an application structure navigator, a group application module (group APM) and a hierarchy of the group application module (group APM) from the group class module, and to instantiate the child class module to generate, in the application structure navigator, a child application module (child APM) from the child class module. The group module update engine is configured to update the allocation of each group class module and a respective topology of the complex loops of each group class module.