A COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM DESIGNING AND ESTIMATING OF ELECTRICAL AND/OR FLUID-BASED NETWORKS

Abstract: A computerized system for designing and estimating an electrical and/or fluid-based network, whose particularity consists of the fact that it comprises : a) first computerized means for acquiring and managing data related to an electrical and/or fluid-based network. The first computerized means comprises one or more first configurable processing environments for processing said data and storing virtual data structures; b) second computerized means for processing data related to said electrical and/or fluid-based network. The second computerized means adopts processing procedures that are configured according to object-oriented processing models and that establish dependency links among said virtual data structures; c) third configurable computerized means for managing a user interface.

Description: A COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM DESIGNING AND ESTIMATING OF ELECTRICAL AND/OR FLUID-BASED NETWORKS DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to a computerized system, which is suitable for implementing methods for designing and estimating electrical and/or fluid- based networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computerized system, which allows achieving a faster execution of calculations and an effective management of considerable amounts of data, which can also be performed remotely. Various methods are known in the state of the art for designing and estimating electrical and/or fluid-based networks. The expression "electrical and/or fluid-based network" is to be understood in its broadest sense: for example, this term can describe the electrical network of an industrial plant or a gas distribution network or civil waterworks. Known design and estimation methods generally require the acquisition of large amounts of data, followed by the processing of the acquired data in order to perform basic design, cost assessment and executive design activities. Clearly, these stages are generally implemented with the aid of automatic processing systems, which adopt various computerized systems. One of the main characteristics of these computerized systems, which are widely known and used, is the fact that they have a processing topology, which adopts a centralized computer structure, which is suitable to manage both data processing and the user interface. It is known that one of the main drawbacks of centralized computer structures of this kind is their poor flexibility. These computer structures are in fact generally conceived to perform the design and estimation of a specific class of electrical and/or fluid-based networks. Accordingly, they are scarcely adaptable or re-configurable if different kinds of requirement arise. Furthermore, in this kind of processing topology, the processing flow is interrupted whenever it is necessary to provide the user with the partial results and/or the choices required to continue the processing. This fact, obviously, entails a considerable slowing of data processing. This is particularly disadvantageous, since the networks to be designed are often very large and require the processing of very large amounts of data. The slowing of the processing speed entails that, in order to achieve satisfactory performances, it is necessary to provide oversized processing devices, with consequent high installation and management costs. Furthermore, this kind of processing topology makes it very difficult to provide connections to remote users: this prevents flexible management of the design and estimation methods so as to better meet the requirements of the client. The aim of the present invention is to provide a computerized system for implementing methods for designing and estimating electrical and/or fluid- based networks, which is highly flexible and configurable according to the requirements of the electrical and/or fluid-based network, which should be designed and estimated. Within the scope of this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a computerized system, which allows achieving a high degree of separation between the data processing function and the user interface function. Another object of the present invention is to provide a computerized system, which allows easy connection to remote users. Another object of the present invention is to provide a computerized system, which does not directly affect the overall processing speed of the data processing systems. Another object of the present invention is to provide a computerized system, which is easy to implement and allows achieving relatively low installation and operating costs for the data processing systems. Thus, the present invention provides a computerized system for designing and estimating an electrical and/or fluid-based network, characterized in that it comprises: a) first computerized means for acquiring and managing data related to an electrical and/or fluid-based network, said first computerized means comprising one or more first configurable processing environments for processing said data and storing said data according to virtual data structures; b) second computerized means for processing data related to said electrical and/or fluid-based network, said second computerized means adopting processing procedures that are configured according to object-oriented processing models and that establish dependency links among said virtual data structures; c) third configurable computerized means for managing a user interface. Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the computerized system according to the present invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic view of the general structure of the computerized system according to the present invention: Figure 2 is a schematic view of a virtual data structure used by the computerized system according to the invention; Figure 3 is a schematic view of the structure of computerized means included the computerized system according to the present invention; Figure 4 is a schematic view of the structure of additional computerized means included in the computerized system according to the present invention. The general structure 1 of the computerized system according to the present invention is now described with reference to Figure 1. The structure 1 provides first computerized means 2 for acquiring and managing data related to an electrical and/or fluid-based network. The first computerized means 2 comprises one or more first configurable processing environments, which are suitable to execute a first processing of the acquired data and to store the acquired data according to virtual data structures 5. Each one of said virtual data structures 5 comprises one or more virtual nodes 50 for managing commonly required operations, such as for example acquiring and/or storing and/or writing and/or deleting and/or providing information related to the stored data. An example of the virtual data structures 5 that can be included in the first computerized means 2 is described with reference to Figure 2. Thus, for example, the node VNODE DATA can contain the list of the nodes 50 that constitute the virtual data structure 5. The node LINKED NODE can contain information for identifying, given a reference node, the correlated nodes according to a predefined relation. The node VNODE ATTRIBUTE can comprise all the information related to the relevant attributes of the virtual data structure 5. The node VNODE BLOCKS can be used to extend the information storage capability. As mentioned, one of the particularities of the processing environments is the fact that they can be configured according to the requirements of the application. For example, the processing environments can have various levels of management of data. Therefore, further a "physical" management level, understood as a set of information tables, there can be a "virtual" management level, understood as a configured set of virtual data structures 5 such as those described, and a "logical" management level, understood as a structured set of functional data, such as for example plant data or catalog data or configuration data. By virtue of the links that are set among the various nodes 50 of the described virtual data structures 5, it is furthermore possible to trace the dependency links that are established among the virtual data structures 5. For example, it is possible to trace a dependency link between a plant part (represented by one or more virtual data structures) and its documentation or the list of its components or the project to which it belongs. This allows to provide very easy management of stored data, since each one of the described management levels can be configured according to the requirements. The first computerized means 2 can be advantageously constituted by one or more commercially available databases, such as for example the Oracle DBMS version 8.x database. They can also be replicated locally so as to have multiple data sources, which are geographically spaced but mutually consistent. The computerized system, according to the invention, furthermore provides second computerized means 3 for processing data related to the system to be designed and estimated. The second computerized means 3 adopts processing procedures that are configured according to object-oriented processing models and that establish dependency links among the virtual data structures 5. This is particularly advantageous, since it allows performing data processing by introducing the dependency links among the various parts that compose a project. For example, taking as reference the virtual structure 5 of Figure 2, which can represent a component of a project, the activation of processing extends from the node VNODE also to the nodes listed in the LINKED NODE and from each one of the nodes 50 to the other linked nodes. Accordingly, the processing activation for one component can cause successive processing on the linked nodes, until a complete cycle of calculations that are required by the logic systems for designing and estimating the various parts of the electrical and/or fluid-based network has been performed. The configurability of the processing models furthermore allows the processing procedures to perform batch-type or single-item processing. In practice, if for example an electrical network comprises a large number of devices having similar characteristics, the processing procedures do not process the data of each device by process the data related to the entire set of devices, as if it were a single object. This solution is particularly advantageous, since it entails a considerable optimization of processing resources and times. The second computerized means 3 can be physically constituted by one or more computers connected to each other in a network or ring structure. With reference now to Figure 3, the second computerized means can comprise first processing means 6, which are suitable to manage the processing procedures used. The processing means 6 can advantageously comprise computer programs, written for example by means of a programming language such as Visual C++. The second computerized means 3 can furthermore comprise second processing means 7 for managing communication between the processing procedures in progress and third processing means 8 for supporting the processing procedures. This solution is particularly advantageous, since the processing means 7 and 8 allow segregating the processing procedures in progress. The requests that arrive from the user therefore does not interrupt the processing flow but are managed by the processing means 7 and 8. Preferably, the third processing means 8 comprise fourth processing means 14 for interfacing the processing procedures in progress with the computerized means 2. Accordingly, they allow executing a processing of the stored data and in particular of the virtual data structures 5 stored in the databases comprised within the computerized means 2, so as to establish dependence links among these virtual data structures 5. The processing means 14 can be constituted, for example, by an interface of the OCI (Oracle Computer Interface) type. The third processing means 8 can furthermore comprise fifth processing means 15 for interfacing the processing procedures in progress with the third computerized means 4 of Figure 1. The processing means 15 can be constituted, for example, by an interface of the TCP/IP type, which can be configured for example with a FORTH programming language. It is therefore possible to configure one or more HTML pages, which can be accessed by the user by browsing. The means 15 are particularly advantageous, since they allow providing a remote connection between the user and the processing means 6. Sixth processing means 16 for interfacing the processing procedures in progress with the operating system in use can furthermore be comprised within the third processing means 8. The sixth processing means can be constituted by groups of libraries required for the correct execution of the processing procedures or by programs written, for example, by using the SQL programming language. The operating system used can be one of the commercially known operating systems, such as for example the Windows NT (R) operating system. As shown in Figure 1 , the computerized system according to the invention provides for third computerized means 4 for user interface management. With reference to Figure 4, the third computerized means 4 preferably comprise seventh processing means 21 for supporting the editing and/or transmission of data to the processing procedures. The third computerized means 4 can further comprise eighth processing means 22, which are suitable to support the interactive reception and/or presentation of data processed by the processing procedures. The processing means 21 and/or 22 preferably comprise one or more graphical media in order to further facilitate interaction between the user and the data processing means. These graphical media can be advantageously constituted by dedicated icons and windows, available for example in the form of toolbars, or by dedicated external programs. Preferably, the processing means 21 and/or 22 can comprise a browsing structure, which allows managing design according to Internet- and/or Intranet- type criteria. The processing means 21 and/or 22 might comprise one or more HTML pages generated by means of a FORTH language programming. Advantageously, it is also possible to provide ninth configurable processing means 25, which are suitable to manage services for interfacing with the operating system in use. Further, it is possible to provide tenth configurable processing means 26, which are suitable to manage one or more auxiliary computer systems, such as for example external design tools or libraries. The configurable processing means 26 can comprise, for example, one or more SW programs, which allows to managing, transparently from the user's viewpoint, external design programs and/or data. This allows performing a virtual modulation, according to the different operating requirements, of the computing potential of the computerized system according to the invention. In practice it has been found that the computerized system according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects. The adopted structure allows performing substantially in parallel the management of the processing procedures and the management of the user interface. This fact considerably increases the processing speed obtainable on the same devices. The processing speed in fact depends exclusively on the specifications of the processing devices used. The adopted structure furthermore also allows easily establishing remote links between the user and the processing means, for example by means of an Internet and/or Intranet link. This allows to drastically increase the flexibility of the implemented design and estimation methods while reducing the costs for installation and management of the processing systems used. The characteristics of configurability and flexibility of the computerized system according to the invention allow building up large and distributed design and estimation networks (also known as "groupware systems"). This can be achieved by connecting, for example with parallel/series methods, multiple computerized systems according to the invention. In practice, from the HW/SW viewpoint, design activity is fully scalable according to the requirements. Finally, it has been found that the computerized system according to the invention can be easily implemented on computer laptops or servers simply by modifying some HW/SW configuration parameters. The computerized system thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept. All the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A computerized system for designing and estimating an electrical and/or fluid-based network, characterized in that it comprises: a) first computerized means for acquiring and managing data related to an electrical and/or fluid-based network, said first computerized means comprising one or more first configurable processing environments for processing said data and storing virtual data structures; b) second computerized means for processing data related to said electrical and/or fluid-based network, said second computerized means adopting processing procedures that are configured according to object-oriented processing models and that establish dependency links among said virtual data structures; c) third configurable computerized means for managing a user interface. 2. The computerized system according to claim 1, characterized in that said virtual data structures comprise one or more virtual nodes for acquiring and/or storing and/or writing and/or deleting and/or supplying information related to said data. 3. The computerized system according to one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that said first processing environments can be configured according to predefined levels of management of said data. 4. The computerized system according to claim one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that said processing procedures can be configured according to a batch and/or single-item processing model. 5. The computerized system according to one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that said second computerized means comprise: - first processing means for managing said processing procedures; second processing means for managing communication between said processing procedures; - third processing means for supporting said processing procedures. 6. The computerized system according to claim 5, characterized in that said third processing means comprises: - fourth processing means for interfacing said processing procedures with said first computerized means; - fifth processing means for interfacing said processing procedures with said third computerized means; - sixth processing means for interfacing said processing procedures with the operating system in use. 7. The computerized system according to one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that said third computerized means comprises: - seventh configurable processing means for supporting the editing and/or transmission of data to said processing procedures; - eighth configurable processing means, which are suitable to support the reception and/or presentation of data processed by said processing procedures; - ninth configurable processing means, which are suitable to support communication with the operating system being used; - tenth configurable processing means, which are suitable to manage one or more auxiliary computer systems. 8. The computerized system according to claim 7, characterized in that said seventh and/or eighth processing means use remote communications protocols. 9. The computerized system according to claim 7, characterized in that said seventh and/or eighth processing means use computerized graphical media. 10. A computerized network for designing an electrical and/or fluid-based system, characterized in that it comprises a computerized systems according to one or more of the previous claims. 11. A computerized network for designing an electrical and/or fluid-based system, characterized in that it comprises, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of parallel/series mutually connected computerized systems, according to one or more of the claims from 1 to 9.

Inventors: GORLA FAUSTO, TORMENE GUIDO, GORLA, FAUSTO, TORMENE, GUIDO
Applicants: ABB RICERCA SPA, GORLA FAUSTO, TORMENE GUIDO, GORLA, FAUSTO, TORMENE, GUIDO
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G06F17
IPC codes: G06F17