Industrial IDE Object Model for Consistent Automation Configuration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems require integrated development environments (IDEs) that can efficiently design, program, and configure multiple aspects of automation systems using a common design environment and data model, addressing the piecemeal design approach and integration challenges of disparate system aspects.
Innovation Solution
An integrated development environment (IDE) that supports a common design environment and data model for industrial automation systems, utilizing automation objects with programmatic attributes, and a project generation component to create system project data defining industrial control programs, visualization applications, or device configuration data, facilitating integrated multi-discipline programming and consistency across projects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If multiple separate design tools are used for different automation system aspects, then each tool can be optimized for its specific function, but the integration and consistency between different system aspects deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate design tools into a single integrated development environment that can design controllers, HMI applications, and configure devices simultaneously. This unified IDE uses a common data model to represent all automation system elements, ensuring consistency across different system aspects while maintaining the specialized design capabilities for each component type.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated development environment is designed to perform multiple functions within a single system. It can create control programs, design HMI applications, configure industrial devices, and generate deployment artifacts all through one unified interface, eliminating the need for multiple separate tools while maintaining specialized design capabilities for each automation component.
2Ease of manufacture
If separate design environments are used for control programs and HMI applications, then each environment can be optimized for its specific discipline, but the development time and integration effort increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges control program development and HMI application design into a single integrated environment. The common data model allows both disciplines to access and modify the same system representation, enabling simultaneous development without the time loss associated with switching between separate tools and manually integrating changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically generating deployment artifacts and configuring devices based on the unified design. When changes are made in the integrated environment, the system automatically updates all relevant components and generates the necessary deployment packages, eliminating the time-consuming manual integration process that would otherwise be required.
3Reliability
If a unified data model is used across all automation system aspects, then consistency and integration are improved, but the complexity of the development environment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the unified data model into distinct object types representing different automation system elements such as controllers, HMI applications, and industrial devices. Each object type maintains its specific properties and relationships, allowing the complex unified model to be managed through organized, discrete components that can be independently configured and modified.
Solution Approach 2:
The common data model acts as an intermediary layer between the integrated development environment and the diverse automation system components. It provides a standardized representation that simplifies the interface between different disciplines while maintaining the ability to represent complex system relationships, thereby managing complexity rather than increasing it.
4Adaptability or versatility
If changes are made manually in separate tools, then each tool can be updated independently, but the propagation of changes across the system becomes error-prone and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated development environment implements feedback mechanisms that automatically detect changes made in any part of the system and propagate them throughout the unified data model. When a modification is made to controllers, HMI applications, or device configurations, the system automatically updates all related components and notifies the user of the changes, ensuring consistency without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically generating and updating deployment artifacts before deployment occurs. Changes made in the integrated environment are pre-processed to update all necessary components and generate the appropriate deployment packages, eliminating the time-consuming and error-prone manual change propagation process.
Data Source
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AI summary
An industrial integrated development environment (IDE) provides a development framework for designing, programming, and configuring multiple aspects of an industrial automation system using a common design environment and data model. Projects creating using embodiments of the IDE system can be built on an object-based model rather than, or in addition to, a tag-based architecture. To this end, the IDE system can support the use of automation objects that serve as building blocks for this object-based development structure. Project data models defining collections of automation objects and their functional relationships can be stored in a model library for selective inclusion in system projects.