Integrated Node for Industrial Data Acquisition and Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional automation systems for industrial processes, especially those using intelligent field devices, face complexity and logistical challenges due to the need for multiple hardware components, diverse communication protocols, and increased power and space requirements, leading to data collection conflicts and intolerance to network and host failures.
Innovation Solution
An integrated node that combines the functions of controller units, communication networking devices, and data storage servers, supporting multiple communication protocols and interfaces, providing a single point of control with synchronized timestamps to reduce hardware components and simplify support models, while ensuring data integrity and failure recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple hardware components (controller units, database servers, communication devices) are deployed to support intelligent field devices, then data collection capability and system functionality are improved, but device complexity and support model complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple previously separate hardware components (controller units, database servers, communication devices) into a single integrated node. This integration maintains the data collection capabilities while reducing the number of discrete components and simplifying the support model, directly resolving the technical contradiction between versatility and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated node is designed to perform multiple functions that were previously distributed across different hardware components. It can act as a controller, database server, and communication device simultaneously, providing universal functionality that reduces system complexity while maintaining adaptability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple hardware components are deployed to support diverse communication protocols, then communication versatility is improved, but hardware requirements and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated node incorporates multiple communication interfaces and protocol support within a single hardware platform. This universal design allows the system to support diverse communication protocols without requiring separate hardware components for each protocol, thereby reducing the quantity of hardware while maintaining communication versatility.
3Productivity
If multiple controller units are used to collect data from remote subsystems, then data collection coverage is improved, but data collection conflicts and timing synchronization problems occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent consolidates multiple controller units into a single integrated node that collects data from all remote subsystems. This unified approach eliminates data collection conflicts between multiple controllers while maintaining comprehensive coverage, as there is only one point of data aggregation.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated node implements timestamp synchronization mechanisms that provide feedback on timing information. This ensures that data collected from multiple remote subsystems is properly time-stamped and synchronized, maintaining data collection consistency and reliability across the entire system.
4Reliability
If conventional automation systems are used with multiple hardware components, then system functionality is achieved, but tolerance to network and host failures is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated node combines previously distributed critical functions into a single robust unit. This consolidation improves failure tolerance by reducing the number of potential failure points in the system architecture, while the integrated design maintains all necessary functionalities within the unified structure.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
Integrated nodes, such as programmable logic controllers, computer program products, computer readable media, and computer implemented methods are provided to allow a remote host to interface with a plurality of remote subsystems to thereby define an integrated node, and to provide for data acquisition, verification, and conditioning. An exemplary programmable logic controller includes a data acquirer configured to periodically acquire time-stamped data from each of the plurality of remote time-synchronized subsystems and archive the time-stamped data using the database server module, a data verifier configured to detect out-of-bounds measurements in the time-stamped data and to substitute the out-of-bounds measurements with new measurements, and a data reconciler configured to determine an operating state of the plurality of remote time-synchronized subsystems and to reconcile the plurality of verified measurements.