Operator Station Server Health Index for Stable Redundancy Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing health index calculations for operator station servers in redundant systems fail to account for the duration and severity of alarms, leading to unnecessary redundancy switching and operational interruptions due to sporadic errors, which cannot be diagnosed or rectified effectively.
Innovation Solution
An operator station server calculates a health index based on the duration and severity of generated alarms, considering a specific observation period, to determine the most reliable server for active status and prevent unnecessary switching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If health index is calculated based only on alarm severity without considering duration, then calculation simplicity is maintained, but unnecessary redundancy switching occurs due to sporadic errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of health index calculation by introducing alarm duration as an additional factor alongside alarm severity. The health index is calculated as the sum of severity levels multiplied by their respective durations within an observation period, transforming the calculation from a simple severity count to a time-weighted severity assessment that prevents unnecessary switching due to transient alarms
2Reliability
If redundancy switchover is initiated quickly upon fault detection, then system availability is improved, but operational interruptions occur during switchover period
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by continuously monitoring and calculating the health index of both active and passive operator station servers in advance. This allows the system to proactively identify and switch to a healthier server before faults fully manifest, reducing unplanned interruptions and enabling smoother transitions by having pre-evaluated standby options ready
3Reliability
If operator station clients re-register on other servers frequently, then connection to healthy server is maintained, but operational stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where operator station clients continuously monitor the health indices of available servers and dynamically adjust their connections based on real-time health status. The health index feedback prevents clients from connecting to deteriorating servers and enables intelligent load balancing and failover decisions that maintain both connectivity to healthy servers and operational stability
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an operator station server (OS 1.1, OS 1.2) for a control system (1) of a technical plant, in particular a manufacturing or process plant, which is configured for operating and monitoring the technical plant, on which at least one software component is implemented, wherein the at least one software component is configured to generate an alarm of a certain severity for the duration of an error occurring in the software component. The operator station server (OS 1.1, OS 1.2) is characterized in that it is configured to calculate a health index with respect to itself, which depends on the duration and severity of the generated alarm, and to transmit this health index to components of the control system (1) connected to the operator station server (OS 1.1, OS 1.2).