Patent Number: 059998946
Section: description

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is seen an exemplary embodiment of a process sequence within a plant component 1 which is part of an entire process of a power station plant that is not shown in greater detail. The plant component 1 includes a pump a.sub.1 connected in a steam line 2, a steam valve a.sub.2 connected upstream of the pump a.sub.1 and a blow-off control valve a.sub.3 in a branch line 8. A flow sensor 12 provided between the pump a.sub.1 and the steam valve a.sub.2 registers the quantity of steam flowing through the steam line 2 per unit time. In addition, a pressure sensor 13 is provided on the pressure side of the pump a.sub.1. The pump a.sub.l is provided with a rotational speed sensor 14. The steam valve a.sub.2 and the blow-off control valve a.sub.3 have respective control and feedback elements 15 and 16. The pump a.sub.1 and the steam valve a.sub.2, as well as the blow-off control valve a.sub.3 are also designated below as parts a.sub.1 to a.sub.3 or merely as parts a.sub.i of the plant. Measured values registered by the sensors 12, 13 and 14, as well as feedback signals output by the feedback elements 15 and 16, are fed in the form of process data PD.sub.i to an automation system 18a and a process control information system 18b. The process data PD.sub.i are pre-processed in automation units of the automation and information system 18a, 18b of the power station plant. If necessary, control signals S.sub.i are output to the plant parts a.sub.i of the plant component l. Converging information about measurement, regulation and control events and about the signal generation is stored in the information system 18b. The power station plant with its plant parts a.sub.i, such as, for example, the pump a.sub.1 and the valves a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 of the plant component l, are automatically controlled through the use of processes running within the automation and information system 18a, 18b. Parameters P.sub.i that are relevant to the plant process and thus also to the process running within the plant component 1 are generated by the automation and information system 18a, 18b and combined into messages M.sub.i, by using the process data PD.sub.i and the control signals S.sub.i. These messages M.sub.i also include identifiers identifying the parts a.sub.i of the plant. The parameters P.sub.i and/or the messages M.sub.i are provided to an analysis module 20. Features m.sub.i characterizing the plant process are furthermore fed to the analysis module 20. These features m.sub.i are status messages, disturbance messages and state messages as well as functional, process-technological and structural details of the parts a.sub.i of the plant or plant components. These details describe the mode of operation of the parts of the plant and their configuration and assignment within the entire plant. Within the analysis module 20, the presence of the features m.sub.i is checked for each part a.sub.i of the plant by using the parameters P.sub.i, or on the basis of the messages M.sub.i for a prescribed time window. For this purpose, a context KT.sub.i is generated for each time window. A unique assignment of features m.sub.i to parts a.sub.i of the plant is carried out in the context, in the form of a matrix 22. Spatial coordinates are assigned to the parts a.sub.i of the plant and/or the features m.sub.i in a positioning module 24 by using information present in the contexts Kt.sub.i. At the same time, in accordance with the principle that "contextual proximity corresponds to spatial proximity" the degree of the correlations between combinations of parts a.sub.i of the plant and between combinations of features m.sub.i is determined. This is done in such a way that, for example, for two parts a.sub.i of the plant, the ratio of the number of features m.sub.i common to them to the number of the features m.sub.i which is exhibited by at least one of the two parts a.sub.i of the plant, is determined. A quantitative measure for the degree of correlation between these two parts a.sub.i of the plant then results from this ratio. If, for example, both parts a.sub.i of the plant exhibit only common features m.sub.i, the two parts a.sub.i of the plant are correlated to a high degree. In contrast, two parts a.sub.i of the plant are not correlated with each other if they differ in all of the features m.sub.i. This quantitative measure of the correlation between two parts a.sub.i of the plant is transformed into a corresponding distance of their spatial coordinates from each other. The correlation of the features m.sub.i with one another is determined in an analogous manner, by making analogous use of the number of the parts a.sub.i of the plant exhibiting them. A graphic representation for the parts a.sub.i of the plant and the features m.sub.i is generated in a graphic module 26 on the basis of this spatial assignment. Firstly, information elements I.sub.i (a.sub.i) (shown in FIG. 3) for the parts a.sub.i of the plant and information elements I.sub.i (m.sub.i) (shown in FIG. 3) for the features m.sub.i are generated by the graphic module 26 and positioned on a display 28 on the basis of the spatial coordinates. The common configuration of the information elements I.sub.i (a.sub.i) and I.sub.i (m.sub.i) is carried out in this case under the following condition: the distance between an information element I.sub.i (m.sub.i) and an information element I.sub.i (a.sub.i) does not exceed a prescribed first limiting value if this part a.sub.i of the plant exhibits this feature m.sub.i, and this distance does not fall below a prescribed second limiting value if this part a.sub.i of the plant does not exhibit this feature m.sub.i. In other words: if a part a.sub.i of the plant exhibits a feature m.sub.i, the information elements I.sub.i (a.sub.i) and I.sub.i (m.sub.i) representing them may not be positioned too far from each other. If, in contrast, a part a.sub.i of the plant does not exhibit a feature m.sub.i, the information elements I.sub.i (a.sub.i) and I.sub.i (m.sub.i) representing them may not be too close. If, for example, a disturbance in a part of the non-illustrated plant connected in the steam line 2 leads to a pressure increase in the steam line 2, the rotational speed of the pump a.sub.1 falls, and the blow-off control valve a.sub.3 opens. The automation system 18a thereupon closes the steam valve a.sub.2 , so that the rotational speed of the pump a.sub.1 normalizes and the blow-off control valve a.sub.3 closes once more. After a subsequent renewed opening of the steam valve a.sub.2 by the automation system 18a, the pressure within the steam line 2 increases once more, so that the process repeats until the disturbance has been eliminated. Process data PD.sub.i describing this process, that is to say the steam quantity registered by the flow sensor 12 and the steam pressure registered by the pressure sensor 13, as well as the pump rotational speed registered by the rotational speed sensor 14, are fed to the process-control information system 18b. Control signals S.sub.i for opening or closing the valves a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 are output by the automation system 18a to the plant component l as a reaction to the process data PD.sub.i entering into the process-control information system 18b. Messages M.sub.i are drawn up from the process data PD.sub.i and the control signals S.sub.i for the purposes of analysis. Such messages M.sub.i are, for example: "time t.sub.1 -plant component 1 - pressure sensor 13 - pressure too high-disturbance-high priority"; "time t.sub.2 -plant component 1 - rotational speed sensor 14 - rotational speed too low-disturbance-high priority"; "time t.sub.3 -plant component 1 - blow-off valve a.sub.3 status signal open"; "time t.sub.3 -plant component 1 - steam valve a.sub.2 -status signal closed"; and so on. Through the use of these messages M.sub.i, features m.sub.i are assigned in the analysis module 20 to the parts a.sub.1, a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 of the plant. In other words, through the use of the messages M.sub.i, the presence of each feature m.sub.i of these parts a.sub.1, a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 of the plant is checked. All of the features m.sub.i belonging to the message component "plant component 1" are thus assigned to each of the parts a.sub.1, a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 of the plant. As a result, the parts a.sub.1, a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 of the plant already agree in a multiplicity of features m.sub.i, so that they are correlated to a high degree. Accordingly, these parts a.sub.1 to a.sub.3 of the plant have closely adjacent spatial coordinates assigned to them in the positioning module 24. A graphic representation, which is drawn up on the basis of this spatial assignment in the graphic module 26, is shown in FIG. 2. As can be seen from FIG. 2, in this case the information elements I.sub.1 (a.sub.1) and I.sub.3 (a.sub.3) and I.sub.i (m.sub.i) to I.sub.3 (m.sub.i) which are assigned to the parts a.sub.1 to a.sub.3 of the plant and the features m.sub.i, are shown together. In order to provide improved clarity, the information elements I.sub.1-3 (m.sub.i) of the features m.sub.i and the information elements I.sub.1-3 (a.sub.1-3) of the parts a.sub.1 to a.sub.3 of the plant exhibiting these features m.sub.i are connected by so-called incidence lines L. The information elements I.sub.i (a.sub.i) are represented in the form of squares or cubes, while the information elements I.sub.1-3 (m.sub.i) of the features m.sub.i are illustrated in the form of circles or spheres. The influence of the parts a.sub.1, a.sub.2 and a.sub.3 of the plant on one another in this case is symbolized by action arrows W. The messages or event messages M.sub.i also exhibit time features. A time correlation of the parts a.sub.i of the plant can be derived on the basis of these time features. For example, two of the above-mentioned messages M.sub.i exhibit the same time feature "T.sub.3 ", so that simultaneity of the associated events is drawn as the conclusion. Information elements I.sub.i (a.sub.i, m.sub.i) which are correlated in time or in another way are represented in the form of a state complex for the purpose of a diagnosis. This is shown in FIG. 3. A state complex of this type has a characteristic pattern according to the type of a disturbance, on the basis of which the type and development of the disturbance over time can be identified. Such a state complex can also be stored as a reference complex which can be used for a comparison with current events.