Industrial Machine State Proxy for Low-Load Data Collection
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Solution Overview
Problem
In manufacturing sites with multiple industrial machines, constant data collection is necessary for management, but existing methods struggle to reduce communication load, especially when data collection timings clash.
Innovation Solution
A data collection device that collects data from industrial machines and responds on their behalf to inquiries from other devices, using state correlation information to infer the machine's state and reduce direct network communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data collection is performed constantly via network for managing multiple industrial machines, then data availability for management is improved, but network communication load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The data collection device performs preliminary data collection from industrial machines and stores it locally before other devices need to access it. This allows the device to respond to data requests without requiring real-time network communication with the machines, thereby reducing network load while ensuring data availability for management purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The data collection device acts as an intermediary between industrial machines and other devices needing data. It collects and caches data from machines, then provides this cached data to requesting devices, eliminating the need for direct network communication between machines and all potential data consumers, thus reducing overall network communication load.
2Loss of energy
If trigger control is used to acquire information only when needed, then communication load is reduced, but constant data collection for management becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary data collection at regular intervals and stores this data locally in the data collection device. This preliminary action ensures that data is available for constant management monitoring while reducing communication load by only actively collecting data when needed rather than maintaining continuous real-time connections.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuous real-time data collection, the system implements periodic data collection where the data collection device periodically retrieves data from industrial machines. This periodic approach maintains data availability for management while significantly reducing network communication load compared to continuous collection.
3Ease of operation
If multiple devices collect data simultaneously from the same industrial machines, then data access is improved, but communication load cannot be reduced due to timing clashes
Solution Approach 1:
The data collection device serves as a central intermediary that all devices access for their data needs. Instead of multiple devices simultaneously querying industrial machines (causing timing clashes), they all query this single intermediary device which has already collected and cached the data, eliminating communication conflicts while maintaining easy data access.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple data access requests into a single data collection operation. By having one data collection device collect and store data that serves multiple downstream applications, the system eliminates redundant simultaneous data collection attempts from multiple devices, reducing communication load while maintaining data accessibility for all users.
Data Source
AI summary
A collection device includes a state correlation information storage unit that stores state correlation information indicating correlative relationships between control information relating to control of an industrial machine and environment information relating to the environment of the industrial machine, a control information acquisition unit that acquires control information from the industrial machine, an environment information acquisition unit that acquires environment information relating to the environment of the industrial machine, a state inference unit that infers the current state of the industrial machine on the basis of the control information, the environment information, and the state correlation information, and a proxy response unit that responds to an inquiry from another device on behalf of the industrial machine on the basis of the inferred state of the industrial machine.