Technical Plant Control System With Visualization State Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control systems for technical plants lack efficient mechanisms for operators to share and reproduce the actual state of their visualizations, hindering collaboration and complex analysis tasks such as root cause analysis and anomaly detection.
Innovation Solution
A control system that captures and stores the current visualization state of a first operator, allowing it to be assigned and retrieved by a second operator, enabling the reproduction of the visualization with all inputs and settings, even across different locations and devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If operators manually recreate visualizations when switching between tasks or locations, then collaboration and knowledge sharing are improved, but time loss and operational efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates digital copies of the visualization state (including all displayed objects, their configurations, and parameter settings) and stores them in a database. When an operator needs the same visualization at a different time or location, they can retrieve the stored copy and restore it immediately without manual recreation, thus preventing information loss and eliminating time waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically saves the visualization state in advance during normal operation. When an operator switches tasks or locations, the previously saved visualization state is already available for immediate restoration, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual recreation and ensuring information is preserved before the operator leaves the current context.
2Ease of operation
If operators share visualization configurations manually, then collaboration is improved, but device complexity and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables operators to independently save, retrieve, and restore visualization states without requiring assistance from system administrators or complex configuration procedures. The automatic saving and retrieval mechanisms work in the background, allowing operators to collaborate efficiently through simple interface interactions while the system handles the complexity internally.
Solution Approach 2:
The visualization state management system serves multiple functions: it automatically saves states during operation, stores them in a database, retrieves them upon request, and restores them to the display. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate manual processes into a single integrated system, improving ease of operation without proportionally increasing perceived complexity.
3Measurement precision
If detailed visualization states are stored and restored, then analysis precision for complex tasks is improved, but data storage requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and stores only the essential elements of the visualization state that are necessary for accurate restoration, such as the configuration of displayed objects, their parameter settings, and hierarchical relationships. By extracting only the critical data elements rather than storing complete redundant copies, the system maintains high restoration accuracy while minimizing data storage requirements.
Data Source
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AI summary
A control system (50) according to the invention for a technical installation (100), in particular a manufacturing or process installation, comprises at least one operator station server (52) and at least one operator station client (51) connected to the operator station server, wherein the operator station server (52) is designed to transmit visualization information to the operator station client (51), and wherein the operator station client (51) is designed to generate a visualization (1) for an operator of the technical installation (100) on the basis of the visualization information. During runtime of the technical installation (100), the control system (50) is designed to capture, at at least one first point in time, at the instigation of a first operator (01), a current state of the visualization (1) of an installation state that is generated at this point in time by a first of the operator station clients (51) and to store it in a first memory (58). In this case, inputs by the first operator (01) are also captured and stored for the purpose of generating the current state of the visualization (1). The control system (50) is also designed to receive from the first operator (01), via the first operator station client (51), information relating to at least one second operator (02) as the receiver for the stored state of the visualization (1) and to hereby assign the state of the visualization (1) that is stored in the first memory to this second operator.