Plant-Automation Relationship Mapping for Reusable Project Structures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional industrial automation solutions fail to provide flexible and consistent management of relationships between plant or model entities and their corresponding automation structures, limiting reusability and network-based service feasibility.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that parses information from plant structures and automation projects, identifies relationships using predefined rules and naming conventions, and generates a graphical user interface to represent a hierarchical structure of entities, enabling efficient handling and updating of these relationships.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional engineering tools are used to generate automation projects from plant models, then automation projects can be created, but the relationships among entities and automation structures become inflexible and hard to reuse
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a relationship management system that acts as an intermediary layer between plant models and automation projects. This system automatically establishes and manages relationships among entities using predefined rules, naming conventions, and reference data, thereby decoupling the rigid conventional engineering tools from the flexible relationship definitions. The intermediary enables automatic generation of consistent relationships while maintaining adaptability through configurable rules and conventions.
2Ease of operation
If manual methods are used to manage relationships between plant entities and automation structures, then relationships can be established, but consistency and management efficiency are poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the relationship management system continuously monitors and validates relationships among plant entities and automation structures. By using predefined rules and naming conventions, the system provides automatic feedback on relationship consistency, identifying and correcting inconsistencies. This feedback loop ensures high reliability and consistency in relationship management while reducing manual effort through automated validation and update propagation.
Solution Approach 2:
The relationship management system enables self-service by automatically establishing, updating, and maintaining relationships without requiring manual intervention. The system uses predefined rules and reference data to autonomously generate consistent relationships, update them when plant models or automation projects change, and ensure their validity. This self-service capability improves both ease of operation and consistency simultaneously.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional solutions are used to create automation structures, then projects can be developed, but the solutions lack feasibility with respect to network-based services
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enhances universality by designing the relationship management system to handle multiple types of entities (plant objects, automation objects, network services) and their interrelationships through a unified framework. The system uses generic rules, naming conventions, and reference data that can be applied across different automation contexts and network service scenarios. This multi-functional approach enables the same system to support both traditional automation project development and modern network-based services, improving adaptability without sacrificing development ease.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure discloses a method comprising parsing information associated with a plant structure and an automation project associated with an industrial plant. The plant structure comprises a list of a plurality of entities associated with the industrial plant and the automation project comprises functional specification corresponding to the plurality of entities. The method also comprises identifying a set of relationships among the plurality of entities based on the parsed information and one or more of a set of predefined rules, naming conventions, and reference data. The method further comprises generating a user interface representing a hierarchical structure of the plurality of entities and the corresponding set of relationships in a graphical manner. Each of the plurality of entities is associated with the corresponding functional specification.