Automatic Sensor Integration in Central Controller
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current industrial systems, particularly bottling plants, face challenges in flexibly integrating and removing sensor devices from central controllers, leading to inefficient adaptation and increased complexity due to the need for manual adjustments and reprogramming of local servers, which hinders short-term changes and product line flexibility.
Innovation Solution
A method for automatic modular integration of sensor devices into a central controller, utilizing a communication module to detect and compare actual sensor devices with predefined ones, allowing for the automatic integration of control modules and recognition modules, enabling flexible adaptation without manual reprogramming, and optimizing the user interface by only integrating relevant components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If sensor devices are manually integrated into the central controller, then the integration process is reliable and controllable, but the adaptation time increases and flexibility decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic self-integration of sensor devices through the central controller. The controller autonomously detects new sensor devices, retrieves their device profiles, and integrates them into the control system without requiring manual configuration or reprogramming, thereby resolving the contradiction between flexibility and time consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Device profiles containing all necessary control modules and configuration data are pre-configured and stored in the central controller before actual sensor device integration. When a sensor device is connected, the controller simply retrieves the matching profile and activates the corresponding control modules, eliminating time-consuming on-site configuration while maintaining full flexibility.
2Manufacturing precision
If individual local servers are manually adapted for each station, then the control precision is maintained, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A universal device profile structure is implemented that can accommodate multiple sensor device types and stations through a standardized format. The central controller uses this universal profile system to manage all sensor devices across different production stations, maintaining precise control while reducing system complexity through standardization.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of manually creating unique configurations for each sensor device, the system uses pre-configured device profiles as templates. When a sensor device is integrated, the controller copies the appropriate profile and activates the necessary control modules, ensuring consistent control precision across all stations while significantly reducing configuration complexity.
3Reliability
If all sensor devices are continuously monitored in the central controller, then the monitoring completeness is improved, but the user interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface dynamically adapts its display based on currently active sensor devices and production requirements. The central controller automatically determines which sensor devices should be visible in the user interface at any given time, providing complete monitoring capability while keeping the interface clean and manageable by showing only relevant devices.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the user interface are optimized for different functions: a comprehensive backend monitoring layer provides complete oversight of all sensor devices for reliability, while a simplified frontend view presents only currently relevant devices to users, reducing perceived complexity while maintaining monitoring completeness.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for automatically modularly integrating sensor devices (16) in a central controller (11) of a network having at least one first server comprising at least one first communication module (12) and the central controller (11) for at least one part of the network. The method comprises at least the following steps: a.) determining the sensor devices (16) actually associated with the at least one first server by the at least one first communication module (12); b.) comparing the determined actual sensor devices (16a, 16b) to a quantity of detectable sensor devices defined in a detecting order and determining matching sensor devices (16a); c.) transmitting data associated with the matching sensor devices from the first communication module (12) to the central controller (11); d.) automatically integrating predefined control modules in the central controller (11) based on the transmitted data, wherein the predefined control modules (16a) are each associated with the data of the matching sensor devices. The invention further relates to a device for performing the method, and to a computer program having program code means for performing all the steps of the method.