Source: http://www.google.ca/patents/US8417595
Timestamp: 2018-01-22 04:44:56
Document Index: 507465369

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', '§119', 'Application No. 2009', 'Application No. 2010102701455', 'Application No. 02717514', 'Application No. 02723319', 'Application No. 03743708', 'Application No. 05714115', 'Application No. 02122060', 'Application No. 02805785', 'Application No. 02805854', 'Application No. 200580006879', 'Application No. 2006133968', 'Application No. 2002', 'Application No. 2002', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 2011', 'Application No. 03110485', 'Application No. 200580006879', 'Application No. 2006133970', 'Application No. 03743708', 'Application No. 200410103816']

Patent US8417595 - Economic calculations in a process control system - Google Patents
A process control system includes economic models disposed in communication with process control modules, as well as with sources of economic data such as cost, throughput and profit data, and uses the economic models to determine useful economic parameters or information associated with the actual operation...http://www.google.ca/patents/US8417595?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US8417595 - Economic calculations in a process control system
Publication number US8417595 B2
Application number US 12/779,642
Also published as CN1619447A, CN1619447B, CN101937224A, CN101937224B, CN101937225A, CN101937225B, CN104199300A, CN104199300B, DE102004036300A1, US7720727, US8620779, US20040204775, US20100286798, US20100293019
Publication number 12779642, 779642, US 8417595 B2, US 8417595B2, US-B2-8417595, US8417595 B2, US8417595B2
Inventors Marion A. Keyes, Mark J. Nixon, Terrence Lynn Blevins
Patent Citations (404), Non-Patent Citations (87), Referenced by (10), Classifications (17), Legal Events (2)
US 8417595 B2
A process control system includes economic models disposed in communication with process control modules, as well as with sources of economic data such as cost, throughput and profit data, and uses the economic models to determine useful economic parameters or information associated with the actual operation of the process plant at the time the plant is operating. The economic models can be used to provide financial statistics such as profitability, cost of manufactured product, etc. in real time based on the actual current operating state of the process and the business data associated with the finished product, raw materials, etc. These financial statistics can be used to drive alarms and alerts within the process network and be used as inputs to process plant optimizers, etc. to provide for better or more optimal control of the process and to provide a better understanding of the conditions which lead to maximum profitability of the plant.
1. A system for use in a process plant having a controller coupled to a plurality of field devices, comprising:
a data source device including economic data related to the operation of the process plant;
a diagnostic application stored on a first electronic device and communicatively connected to the controller, wherein the diagnostic application is adapted to collect diagnostic data related to abnormal operating conditions of the operation of the process plant during operation of the process plant;
an economic model incorporating both economic and diagnostic variables stored on a second electronic device and coupled to the data source and to the diagnostic application to receive and use the diagnostic data and the economic data to develop an economic parameter with respect to the operation of the process plant; and
a control application stored on a third electronic device and adapted to use the economic parameter to perform a control activity within the process plant.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control application is an optimizer application that produces a set of control target parameters for use in controlling the process plant to thereby optimize the operation of the process plant based on the economic parameter.
3. The system of claim 2, further including a display application adapted to enable a user to select one or more optimizer factors for use by the optimizer application in producing the set of control target parameters.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control application is a process control routine adapted to be executed on the controller to use the economic parameter to develop a control signal to be sent to one of the plurality of field devices within the process plant to thereby control the operation of the process plant.
5. The system of claim 1, further including a display application coupled to the economic model that is adapted to display the economic parameter to a user.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the display application is adapted to display one or more diagnostic parameters associated with the diagnostic data in conjunction with the display of the economic parameter.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more diagnostic parameters includes parameters associated with the operation of a control loop within the process plant.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more diagnostic parameters includes a variability measure of one or more control signals within the control loop.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more diagnostic parameters includes an operational mode indication of one or more control blocks within the control loop.
10. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more diagnostic parameters includes a limit indication for one or more control signals within the control loop.
11. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more diagnostic parameters includes one or more alarms associated with one or more control blocks within the control loop.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the data source is adapted to communicate with the economic model via a wireless communication channel.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the data source is adapted to communicate with the economic model via a router disposed between the data source and the economic model.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data source is a hand held data source that is adapted to communicate with the router via a wireless communication channel.
15. The system of claim 1, further including an execution engine that executes the economic module during runtime of the process plant to develop the economic parameter for delivery to the control application.
16. A method of assisting performing process plant control, comprising:
collecting, on a regular basis at a service provider site, economic data related to economic factors associated with the operation of a process plant during operation of the process plant using a first data source device;
collecting, on a regular basis at a service provider site, process control data related to abnormal operating conditions of control operations within the process plant during operation of the process plant using a second data source device and wherein the process control data is time-correlated to the collected economic data;
using the model output at the service provider site to determine one or more actions to be performed with respect to the operation of the process plant during operation of the process plant and
17. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 16, further including charging a fee for one or more of running the computer model, using the computer model to determine the one or more actions and providing the indication of the one or more actions to the process plant.
18. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein collecting the economic data and collecting the process control data includes collecting the economic data and the process control data at one or more information servers communicatively connected between first and second data sources and the computer model, and automatically delivering the economic data and the process control data from the one or more information servers to the computer model at the service provider site.
19. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein collecting economic data includes collecting data pertaining to a cost of a material used in the process plant.
20. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein collecting economic data includes collecting data pertaining to a throughput of the process plant.
21. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein collecting process control data includes collecting the process control data at a field device disposed within the process plant.
22. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein collecting process control data includes collecting the process control data at a process controller communicatively connected to one or more field devices disposed within the process plant.
23. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein using the model output includes using the model output to determine an action designed to optimize the operation of the process plant within respect to a particular criteria.
24. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 23, wherein the particular criteria is one of cost or profit.
25. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 23, wherein the particular criteria is throughput.
26. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 23, wherein the particular criteria is consumption of a particular raw material.
27. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein using the model output includes using the model output to determine an action related to alerting to the existence of or correcting a detected problem within the process plant.
28. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 27, wherein the action related to alerting to the existence of or correcting a detected problem includes generating an alarm to be delivered to a user.
29. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein using the model output includes providing information for display to a user to indicate an operation of the process plant.
30. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein using the computer model includes running the computer model to produce a model output indicative of an economic operational parameter associated with one of a number of control loops of the process plant and wherein the one or more actions includes generating a display screen that displays the economic operational parameter associated with the one of the control loops for viewing by a user.
31. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 30, further including displaying other parameters associated with the one of the control loops in conjunction with the economic operational parameter associated with the one of the control loops on the display screen.
32. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 30, wherein the economic operational parameter is indicative of the utilization of the one of the control loops.
33. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 30, wherein the economic operational parameter is indicative of the efficiency of a least a portion of the process plant.
34. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 30, wherein the economic operational parameter is indicative of a product production cost of the process plant.
35. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein the one or more actions includes performing a control function within the process plant.
36. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 17, wherein the one or more actions includes providing a display to enable a user to select a control parameter to be met by a control application based on the model output.
37. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 36, wherein providing the display includes displaying an economic parameter associated with the control parameter selected by the user.
38. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 37, wherein the economic parameter is a savings parameter related to the different costs of operating the plant at different control settings.
39. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 36, wherein providing the display includes enabling the user to select at least one of a throughput parameter and a controlled parameter as the control parameter.
40. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 36, wherein providing the display includes enabling the user to specify one or more economic factors associated with the operation of the process plant for use in computing the economic parameter.
41. The method of assisting performing process plant control of claim 40, wherein the one or more economic factors includes one of a profit per unit factor and a cost per unit factor.
This is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/798,101, entitled “Economic Calculations in a Process Control System” (filed on Mar. 11, 2004) which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/491,066 (filed on Jul. 30, 2003) and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/123,445, entitled “Web-Services Based Communications for Use With Process Control Systems,” (filed on Apr. 15, 2002), and which is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/953,811, entitled “Fusion of Process Performance Monitoring with Process Equipment Monitoring and Control” (filed on Sep. 17, 2001), which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/273,164, entitled “Asset Utilization Expert in a Process Control Plant” (filed Mar. 1, 2001). The entire disclosure of each of these applications is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
A process control system includes economic models disposed in communication with process control modules, as well as with sources of economic data and uses the economic models to determine useful economic parameters or information associated with the actual operation of the process plant at the time the plant is operating. The economic models can be used to provide financial statistics such as profitability, cost of manufactured product, etc. in real time based on the actual current operating state of the process and the business data associated with the finished product, raw materials, etc. These financial statistics can be used to drive alarms and alerts within the process network and be used as inputs to process plant optimizers, etc. to provide for better or more optimal control of the process and to provide a better understanding of the conditions which lead to maximum profitability of the plant.
If desired, the diagnostic applications may support continuous monitoring and detection of abnormal conditions that may exist in control blocks and input/output blocks or other blocks within the process control system. Such a diagnostic application is described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,454, is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. Using this technique, it is possible to identify blocks that contain one or more abnormal conditions for more than a specified percent of time. In addition, the I/O or control blocks that exhibit high variability may be identified.
In general, the data consumers 108-112 are systems or applications that perform activities or functions that consume process control data and/or which convey data or information provided by the data services 102-106 to system users or operators. In this instance, the data consumers 108-112 may be the models 72 of FIG. 2. One or more of the data consumers 108-112 may perform primarily communication functions that can route data or information to system users or operators using a particular communication media and platform. For example, data may be delivered by one or more of the data consumers 108-112 using hardwired or wireless media and using any desired system or hardware platform such as, for example, a laptop, a personal data assistant, email, etc. Alternatively, or additionally, one or more of the data consumers 108-112 may perform primarily user-interactive activities such as, for example, batch definition and campaign management activities and/or may perform other primarily business-related activities such as, for example, order processing activities, accounting activities, product shipping and administration activities, product inventory control activities, quality assurance activities, procurement activities, etc. As with the data services 102-106, the data consumers 108-112 also include respective web services communication interfaces 128-132, which enable the data consumers 108-112 to communicate as web services within the system 100.
The system 100 may use the discovery service 118 to automatically or dynamically establish communications between the information server 114, the data services 102-106 and the data consumers 108-112, without requiring intervention from a system user, or operator, a programmer, etc. By way of example only, at initial start-up or power-up of the system 100, the information server 114 and, in particular the communications engine 140, may communicate with the discovery service 118 to determine what web services are coupled to the network 120 and available for use by the system 100. The communications engine 140 may store available web services and communications interface information pertaining to available web services in the database 138. The information related to available web services may then be automatically and periodically updated by the communications engine 140 no that if a web service becomes unavailable, becomes available, and/or if communications interface information relating to any available web service changes, such information may be reflected in the database 138 for use by the communications engine 140 in routing and scheduling communications.
In one example embodiment, a diagnostics application may be configured to receive and use business or financial data to provide better or more accurate diagnostics for a process control system based on the profitability of the process control system. In particular, the diagnostics engine described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,454, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein, may be used as a diagnostics engine for a process control system. As explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,454, the diagnostics engine may be executed within one of the user interfaces of the process control network and be configured to receive appropriate data from the process control network regarding the on-line operation of the devices, controllers, etc. within the process control system. However, this same diagnostics application may include one or more economic models or be communicatively coupled to such economic models (such as those illustrated in FIG. 2) which determine profitability of the process control network on, for example, an hour, shift, day, week, etc. basis. As described above with respect to FIGS. 2-5, these economic models may be configured to automatically receive business or financial data pertaining to the various costs, charges, sales prices, etc. via the web services application described above. The economic models may also be configured to receive appropriate process control or diagnostics information, such as throughput, flow, utilization, or other measured or determined process parameters, as well as the variability, mode, deviation and status indications described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,454. Of course, any desired or appropriate economic model(s) may be used and be configured to receive any appropriate business and process control data, as well as any other desired data, to perform on-line economic calculations pertaining to the current operation of the process control system. The exact configuration of the economic model will, of course, depend on the nature of the process plant in which these models are being used as well as the type of economic analysis to be performed.
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International Classification G06Q40/00, G06Q10/06, G06Q30/02, G07B17/00, G05B13/04, G05B23/02, G06F17/00, G05B17/02
Cooperative Classification Y02P90/86, G06Q10/063, G06Q40/12, G06Q30/0283, G05B17/02, G05B13/042, G06Q30/0201, G06Q10/06
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:NIXON, MARK;BLEVINS, TERRENCE;KEYES, MARION A.;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040213 TO 20040219;REEL/FRAME:029714/0996