Unified Process and Power Controller With a Common Control Strategy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional combined controllers experience excessive control latency and round trip time due to the need for direct parallel hardwiring, gateways, and intersystem cabling, and require separate control strategies for process and electrical domains.
Innovation Solution
A unified controller that integrates process and electrical control namespaces within a single database, supporting asynchronous operation and multiple protocols, enabling seamless data exchange and reduced latency through a common control strategy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If gateways and protocol converters are used to integrate process and electrical control systems, then system compatibility is improved, but device complexity and integration costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges process control and electrical control functionalities into a single unified controller. The controller integrates multiple protocol support (Modbus, IEC 61850, BACnet) and control strategies (PID, sequence control, interlocking) within one device, eliminating the need for separate gateways and protocol converters. This consolidation reduces integration complexity while maintaining compatibility across different control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified controller is designed as a multi-functional device that can handle both process control tasks (PID control, analog I/O) and electrical control tasks (relay control, digital I/O, sequence control). It universally supports multiple communication protocols and can operate in various control modes, replacing multiple specialized devices with a single versatile controller.
2Reliability
If direct parallel hardwiring is used to combine process and electrical control schemes, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity and installation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical hardwiring connections with digital communication protocols. Instead of using physical parallel hardwiring to connect process and electrical control systems, the unified controller uses software-based communication over standard Ethernet networks, supporting protocols like Modbus TCP, IEC 61850, and BACnet. This substitution eliminates complex physical wiring while maintaining system reliability through robust digital communication and error handling.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional combined controllers are used to integrate process and electrical control, then functional integration is improved, but control latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The unified controller internally segments and prioritizes different control tasks and communication protocols. It uses a multi-threaded architecture that handles process control, electrical control, and various protocol communications concurrently with optimized scheduling. This segmentation allows critical control functions to execute with minimal latency while other less time-sensitive operations proceed in parallel, resolving the latency issue despite functional integration.
Data Source
AI summary
A high availability controller for combining and unifying aspects of a process controller and an electrical controller. A unified namespace combines a process domain namespace and a power domain namespace in a common database of the controller without altering either. The unified namespace maps source device names of the power domain and unique process control names of the process domain. A common record set of sequence of events (SOEs) for the process domain and the power domain is generated and SOEs arising from the power domain are incorporated into the common record set. The controller performs process control and monitoring along with electrical control signaling and monitoring within a single control strategy directly from the controller.