Patent Description:
Today in plant process automation alarm setpoints are calculated or determined assuming a worst case scenario with regard to the alternation rate for a process variable, like for example if in a tank reaching a level L(trip) causes an automatic shutdown action ,e.g. stop all inflow, the alarm setpoint L(alarm) is calculated in such a way that even with maximum speed of increase (maximum alternation rate) of the level and/or the respective process variable, so that the operator still has enough time to avoid the trip. This situation is disclosed in <FIG> which is taken from IEC <NUM> disclosing the common alarm handling situation in plant process automation.

<CIT> discloses an arrangement for operation of a field device for determination or monitoring of a physical or chemical process parameter, comprising a sensor, a measuring/regulating/control unit, a memory unit, an analytical unit and a display unit, whereby given graphical structures may be represented on the display unit in the form of symbols.

Disadvantageously, even in case if the rate of change is lower than the maximum alternation rate of the respective process variable and accordingly the rate of change of a respective level is lower than the worst case scenario, wherein the alarm setpoint could be much closer to the consequence threshold still giving the operator sufficient time to react, the present or real rate of change is not taken into account and the once defined alarm setpoint may not be adapted.

Thus, today there is no dynamic feedback adaption of alarm setpoints in plant process automation, and accordingly a more realistic and more efficient assessment and handling of alarms in process plant automation and/or accordingly a more precise assessment of alarms is not available and/or not possible.

Thus the object of the invention is to provide a more realistic and efficient alarm handling possibility in plant process automation.

This object is solved by an alarm handling system in plant process automation according to the features of claim <NUM>. Further embodiments as well as an alarm handling method are disclosed in further claims and the following description.

The alarm handling system in plant process automation according to the invention comprises a data processing device comprising.

Accordingly the alarm handling system and in particular the prediction device may provide and ensure a dynamic alarm feedback according to the alternating rate of at least one process variable and a countdown timer and/or trend determination for at least one correlated setpoint or threshold, which means correlated to said at least one process variable.

The prediction can be based on a simple linear interpolation with the current rate of change, but could also be based on more complex prediction models based on historical data, e.g. Hidden Markov Models.

The only additional required configuration parameter is the consequence threshold related to an alarm, which should be available anyhow as it is important for the calculation of the alarm setpoint. If the prediction and indication should be limited to the information if and/or when the alarm will return-to-normal even this additional required configuration parameter can be omitted.

Advantageously the approach according to the invention generates the same alarms as the current state of the art approach and does not add risk or significant complexity but allows a more realistic and efficient handling as well as a more sophisticated assessment of alarms.

In a further embodiment a configuration learner device is provided, wherein alarm configuration information, like for example suitable and/or appropriate process variables, corresponding alarm set point and consequence thresholds are derived and/or determined from historical data, in particular stored on at least one historical database, including for example alarm logs and process measurements.

In a further embodiment a prediction model learner is provided, wherein a prediction model applied and executed that takes the current process signal values as input values which are processed to predict future values and/or a trend for one or more process variable values.

In a further embodiment the processing predictor device is executing and/or performing the prediction taking into account the most recent readings from the signal and predicting future values and checking if and when a cross consequence threshold or alarm set point and threshold respectively is reached and/or crossed.

In a further embodiment an alarm display device is provided, which is presenting alarm messages in list form and which is updated periodically or event triggered.

In a further embodiment the predicted information like duration and/or date and/or time is disclosed and/or shown together with the correlated alarm and/or alarm message.

The operator can use said information to better assess and prioritize which alarm is most critical for the plant and/or which alarm is to act upon first to avoid any damages or disturbances for the respective process.

In a further embodiment the prediction device processes at least one of the following configuration parameters, in particular provided by the alarm configuration device: the alarm limit, the related trip limit, wherein often these are "Hi" and "HiHi" alarms, and the related process signal, which can be shown as an option in the 800xA alarm list already today.

In a further embodiment in case when even the alarm set points and the related process signal are not readily available, e.g. hard-coded in legacy controllers, historical process measurements and alarm and event logs could be leveraged by a configuration learner device and /or a prediction model learner device to re-engineer the alarm set points in an automated and data driven fashion.

Moreover, the object of the invention is also solved by an alarm handling method according to the features of claim <NUM>.

The alarm handling method in plant process automation according to the invention stepwise comprises.

In a further embodiment alarm configuration information, like for example suitable and/or appropriate process variables, corresponding alarm set point and consequence thresholds are derived and/or determined from historical data, in particular stored on at least one historical database, including for example alarm logs and process measurements.

In a further embodiment a prediction model is provided or created and/or applied and executed that takes the current process signal values as input values which are processed to predict future values and/ or a trend for one or more process variables.

In a further embodiment the prediction takes into account the most recent readings from the signal and predicting future values and checking if and when a cross consequence threshold or alarm set point and threshold respectively is reached and/or crossed.

In a further embodiment alarms and/or alarm messages are displayed in list form and are updated periodically or event triggered.

In a further embodiment at least one of the following configuration parameters, the alarm limit, the related trip limit, wherein often these are "Hi" and "HiHi" alarms, and the related process signal, which can be shown as an option in the 800xA alarm list already today, is processed.

In a further embodiment in case when even the alarm set points and the related process signal are not readily available, e.g. hard-coded in legacy controllers, historical process measurements and alarm and event logs could be leveraged to re-engineer the alarm set points in an automated and data driven fashion.

The claimed invention and advantageous embodiments are disclosed and explained in more detail according to several figures and execution examples.

In <FIG> a state of the art scenario is presented, wherein in plant process automation alarm setpoints are calculated assuming a worst case scenario with regard to the maximum alternation rate for a process variable, like for example if in a tank reaching a level L(trip) causes an automatic shutdown action ,e.g. stop all inflow, the alarm setpoint L(alarm) is calculated in such a way that even with maximum speed of increase (maximum alternation rate) of the level and/or the respective process variable, so that the operator still has enough time to avoid the trip. This situation is taken from IEC <NUM>. Accordingly in <FIG> all the possible elements related to an implementation of an alarm handling system are disclosed. <FIG> shows a diagram wherein the y-axis refers to a process variable and the x-axis to the time. For the exemplary process variable an alarm setpoint and a consequence threshold are defined. When the measures process variable value reaches and/or crosses the alarm setpoint am alarm is generated. According to known systems and methods on the basis of a maximum alternating rate of said process values periods and instances of time are determined defining the allowable response time, process dead time, time when the process variable crosses the consequence threshold, process response delay delay time and deadband delay, when the process variable returns to normal values and normal scenario.

Disadvantageously in most cases the measured alternating rate differs from the defined maximum alternating rate thus the calculated and/or determined instances of time are overly pessimistic and/or not correct.

Assuming that not solely one specific process variable and alarm has to be handled but at least from ten up to several hundred alarms have to be handled this may lead to an incorrect and faulty ranking of said alarms, which may lead to misdiagnoses and finally dysfunction of the whole plant or facility.

In <FIG> an alarm handling system for a plant process automation facility according to the invention is presented comprising a data processing device with at least one interface, accessing and/or processing one or more process signals and determining corresponding process variable values.

Furthermore, an alarm configuration device <NUM> is provided accessing and/or providing alarm configuration information comprising at least one setpoint <NUM> for one or more determined process variables <NUM>. A prediction device <NUM> is provided determining and processing the current rate of change of at least one process variable to to predict the period until the at least one of the determined process variables will reach or cross the respective setpoint, in particular a consequence threshold <NUM>, and/or to predict at which date and/or time the at least one of the determined process variables <NUM> will reach or cross the respective setpoint <NUM>, wherein the prediction device is further configured to determine a change of said current rate of change and to execute the prediction on an event triggered basis, when a change of said current rate of change is detected, wherein the prediction is based on a simple linear extrapolation with the current rate of change.

Advantageously, the approach according to the invention generates the same alarms as the current state of the art approach and does not add risk or significant complexity but allows a more realistic and efficient handling as well as a more sophisticated assessment of alarms.

Moreover, a configuration learner device <NUM> is provided, wherein alarm configuration information, like for example suitable and/or appropriate process variables, corresponding alarm setpoints and consequence thresholds are derived and/or determined from historical data, in particular stored on at least one historical database <NUM>,<NUM>, including for example alarm logs and process measurements.

Additionally, a prediction model learner <NUM> may be provided, wherein a prediction model is applied and executed that takes the current process signal values as input values which are processed to predicts future values and/ or a trend for one or more process variable values.

Thus, in case when even the alarm set points and the related process signal are not readily available, e.g. hard-coded in legacy controllers, historical process measurements and alarm and event logs can be leveraged by the configuration learner device <NUM> and /or a prediction model learner device <NUM> to re-engineer the alarm set points <NUM> in an automated and data driven fashion.

The predictor device <NUM> is executing and/or performing the prediction taking into account the most recent readings from the signal and predicting future values and checking if and when a cross consequence threshold or alarm set point and threshold respectively is reached and/or crossed.

An alarm display device <NUM> is provided, which is presenting alarm messages in list form comprising trend indicators for specific process variables and alarms and/or setpoints, wherein the presentation and the respective alarm information is updated, wherein the predicted information like duration and/or date and/or time is disclosed and/or shown together with the correlated alarm and/or alarm message, as disclosed in <FIG>, periodically and/or event triggered and/or by request. Also a prioritization matrix, as disclosed in <FIG>, may be provided and presented.

In <FIG> an alarm handling system means are provided, by which stepwise.

For example, in case of a high filling level alarm:
Supposing that a container must not overflow in any case, the filling height is calculated in such a way for the triggering of the alarm that at a maximum filling speed the operator disposes of a certain minimum response time, e.g. three minutes. The required response time is usually covered by the alarm priority, e.g. priority "red" (high) because a quick reaction is necessary and the potential damage quite high. If the alarm is triggered, the assigned priority is based on the highest assumed filling speed. The actual filling speed however may be much lower in that specific case, insofar the indicated priority is considered "wrong" It is important to know that from the alarm it cannot be deduced what may be the possible time period until the overflow happens, which however is very important for the operator.

In the simplest case it could be evaluated as follows: t(overflow) = h(current distance from the edge) / v(current filling speed).

It would also be interesting to indicate this time in the alarm.

If the plant operator needs to decide on which of the two alarms of equal priority should be handled first, the invention actually helps to identify the more "acute" alarm.

In <FIG> an exemplary prioritization matrix for alarm assessment and handling is presented. It shows the current state of the art how static off-line configuration of alarm priority is currently done. The table of consequences on the left shows an example how four different levels of potential damage can be defined. The first row shows the most severe potential consequences in case the operator does not react to the alarm. In this example this means either that at least one person will die, or that more than fifty barrel of crude oil will be released into the ocean or that a financial damage bigger than five million euro will occur. In addition to these four levels of severity, the matrix on the right introduces three time ranges in which the operator has to react (immediate, prompt, soon). The matrix determines the priority for the operator: for example an alarm requiring immediate response and most severe potential consequences gets the priority "emergency". If such an alarm occurs, the operators know that they should focus on this alarm first.

Claim 1:
Alarm handling system in plant process automation with a data processing device comprising
• at least one interface (<NUM>), configured to access and/or to process one or more process signals and determining corresponding process variables (<NUM>),
• an alarm configuration device (<NUM>), configured to access and/or to provide alarm configuration information comprising at least one setpoint for one or more determined process variables,
• a prediction device (<NUM>) configured to determine and process a current rate of change of at least one of the determined process variables,
and further configured:
- to predict the period until the at least one of the determined process variables will reach or cross the respective setpoint;
- and/or to predict at which date and/or time the at least one of the determined process variables will reach or cross the respective setpoint;
wherein the prediction device is further configured to determine a change of said current rate of change and to execute the prediction on an event triggered basis, when a change of said current rate of change is detected;
wherein the prediction is based on a simple linear extrapolation with the current rate of change.