Patent ID: 12210004

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawings,FIG.1shows in a schematic circuit diagram a data analysis system configured according to the present invention as it is used for monitoring an industrial production site and of different work areas thereof for the presence of inadmissible concentrations of selected gases or gas mixtures. The data are provided by a variety of gas measuring devices2a,2b, which are mounted partly stationarily at different points of the production site, e.g., of a refinery, another plant for producing chemicals or in a mine and are partly carried along by people working at the production site for their safety. The gas measuring devices2aand2bshown inFIG.1are thus both stationary gas measuring devices2band mobile or portable gas measuring devices2a, which can be attached to the protective clothing or to the body of the device user by means of suitable fastening elements10.

While the portable gas measuring devices2acan be used in a flexible manner and are used above all for the protection of the particular gas measuring device user, the stationary gas measuring devices2bcontinually detect the concentration of selected vapors, gases or gas mixtures in an area of the production site in order to ensure that no hazardous vapor or gas concentrations occur in the respective measurement areas and the plants arranged in this area are operated in a trouble-free manner.

Depending on the installation site and the fastening of the gas measuring device2b, the stationary gas measuring devices2btransmit the generated measured data as well as data that contain information concerning the occurrence of alarms or device errors during the measurement time period at first either in a wired or wireless manner to an interface4and from this to a central data processing unit1, which is connected to a central memory5as an intermediate memory and/or as an storage memory. In this connection, the data transmitted via the interface4may be processed immediately after the data transmission, may be transmitted in the already processed or yet unprocessed form to another data processing unit and/or are stored at first in the central memory5.

According to the exemplary embodiment being described here, the central data processing unit1is a part of a control room, from which the production site, especially the different production plants, are monitored and controlled as needed.

The portable gas measuring devices2aused in the data analysis system according toFIG.1can be divided into two classes. On the one hand, there are gas measuring devices2athat are not able to establish a wireless data transmission connection to the central data processing unit1. These gas measuring devices2agenerate an alarm for the device user via an output unit11, e.g., a display element or a speaker, doing so directly upon the detection of an overshooting of a limit (threshold) value for a permissible gas concentration or of an undershooting of a necessary oxygen concentration; the portable gas measuring devices2astore the measured data generated as well as possibly generated data, which contain information on device errors and/or alarms that occurred during the measurement time period, but they do so at first only in an internal memory3, a so-called data logger. The reading out of the internal memory3, i.e., the transmission of the data being stored in this memory to the interface4usually takes place by means of an often stationarily operated read-out device12, to which the mobile gas measuring device2ais connected from time to time, for example, by insertion into a device shell with contacts. The reading out of the stored data frequently takes place during the charging of the battery, the calibration of the internal sensors of the device2aor during other maintenance, cleaning or repair of the gas measuring device2a. In this case the gas measuring device is configured to transmit the data in a wired or wireless manner to an interface either with a suitable interface4being integrated into the read-out device12or the read-out device12being connected in a wireless or wired manner to the interface4, so that the data read from the memory3of the gas measuring device2acan be transmitted via the interface4to the central data processing unit1.

The generation of the data is thus carried out with a time difference before the data transmission, so that the data provided in this manner for the data processing unit1are called historical data.

The second class of mobile gas measuring devices2aused according to the embodiment being described here is that of devices which have been increasingly used include or are associated with a wireless transmission means which establishes a wireless connection to a suitable interface4at least in certain areas of the production site, so that the generated data, especially measured data, are transmitted as current data in real time to the central data processing unit1.

In this connection such mobile gas measuring devices2amay be connected to the interface4for the transmission of data to the central data processing unit1during the entire time during which a device user is moving at the production site, or else that a data transmission connection is either present as a function of the network coverage in certain areas of the production site only or else it is established in a specific manner in selected areas only.

The mobile or portable gas measuring devices2aare, in turn, configured such that, on the one hand, measured data and data that contain information on device errors or alarms that occurred during the measurement time period and contain information on the location of the gas measuring device2aare transmitted to the central data processing unit1via the interface4and, on the other hand, an alarm signal is outputted via an output unit11, e.g., a display element or a speaker, to the device user upon detection of an inadmissible limit value violation. Such an alarm signal is outputted in the form of an alarm sound, of a display on a display unit and/or as a vibration alarm. Additionally, an additional threshold value may be stored in the portable gas measuring device2a, this threshold value being such that a pre-alarm, which preferably has at least one different property than the main alarm, is triggered when this threshold value is violated still before the limit value is reached.

Information on the location of the gas measuring device2acan be generated and added to the transmitted data in this case in different manners, e.g., in an automated manner by means of a gateway, via which data generated by the gas measuring device2aare transmitted; by manual input; by scanning an RFID tag or by analysis of a GPS signal. Likewise, an additional system component, which has a piece of information on the location of the gas measuring device2a, may complement the transmitted data by a piece of location information or even that location information is determined on the basis of known motion information and is added to the transmitted data.

Thus, both stationary and mobile or portable gas measuring devices2b,2aare used in the system shown inFIG.1, and the mobile gas measuring devices2atransmit partly historical data and partly current data via the interface4to the data processing unit1. The composition of the gas measuring devices that are located in the plant may, of course, change at any time. It must be possible for this reason at any time, regardless of the type of the data provided, i.e., regardless of whether the data are historical data or current data, to distinguish the data unambiguously and to put the times of their generation in the correct chronological relationship. It is consequently essential that it be ensured in the data analysis system being described here regardless of whether the data are historical data or current data, the time at which they were generated and the correct chronological sequence of the generation times be taken into consideration during the data processing. The data provided by the different gas measuring devices2a,2bmust therefore be processed such that their information content will not be lost and the correct chronological order of their generation can be taken into consideration.

According to the embodiment shown inFIG.1, this object is accomplished by at least one interface4being provided, which transmits a message to the gas measuring device2a,2bconnected to the interface with the information that the gas measuring device2a,2bin question is connected now to the interface4and with the point in time starting from which a transmission of data to the central data processing unit takes place. The information on the establishment of the connection is, moreover, stored as an identifier in the memory3of the gas measuring device. If historical data have already been stored in this memory3, these are identified such that the point in time starting from which historical data are read out from the memory3of the gas measuring device2a,2bis clearly known. As soon as the connection between the interface4and the gas measuring device2a,2bis severed again, regardless of whether this happens intentionally or unintentionally, the gas measuring device2a,2bgenerates an additional entry in the memory3of the gas measuring device2a,2b, which contains information on the termination of the connection especially based on the time of the termination. An unambiguous ID is preferably added to each entry, so that it can always be distinguished whether the data are already present, and the ID may be a time stamp or a counter. On the one hand, the information on the time of severing or establishment of a connection for the data transmission may be contained in this manner in the data, and, on the other hand, double entries are avoided.

If a connection is established thereafter between the interface4and the gas measuring device2a,2b, especially a mobile or portable gas measuring device2a, it is ensured in this manner that the data that were stored between the two identifiers in the memory3of the gas measuring device2a,2bwill not be transmitted once again to the data processing unit1and they will not be taken into consideration by this for the further processing.

Furthermore, the data analysis system shown schematically inFIG.1is configured such that the different times used by the gas measuring device2a,2bare taken into consideration, and the different times are synchronized with a uniform system time. According to the embodiment shown inFIG.1, the interface4and a data identification unit6are for this purpose a part of a gateway7, which at first supplements the data with a piece of information on the system time, i.e., it adds a so-called time stamp. In order to ensure that a uniform system time is used all the time, the gateway7is synchronized with an existing system time. A gas measuring device2a,2blikewise adds an identifier during a data transmission, which contains information on the gas measuring device time at this time to the transmitted data.

If historical data are now read out from gas measuring devices1, especially from mobile gas measuring devices2a, and are transmitted to the central data processing unit1, the detection times are converted from the gas measuring device time into the system time by means of a compensation unit8, which may be integrated into the central data processing unit1. The processing, analysis and/or the analysis of the transmitted data consequently always take place on the basis of the system time, and this is true regardless of whether the data are current or historical data and whether the respective gas measuring device times are identical to the system time.

It is essential for the system described that a large quantity of data, namely, both historical and current data, are provided for a central data processing and are processed and analyzed there. Based on the large quantity of data, which are available for analyses, statements can be made about existing risks and/or on events that have occurred, for example, leaks or accidents, with a high accuracy and high spatial resolution. However, it should be taken into consideration in this connection that considerable quantities of data must at times be transmitted, stored and/or processed in the system described. It is useful for this purpose to reduce the quantity of the transmitted data to the extent that only the data that are really relevant for the later processing and analysis are transmitted and used later. The gas measuring devices2a,2b, especially the mobile gas measuring devices2a, are configured in this connection such that only defined measured data are stored in the memory3of a gas measuring device2a,2band/or are transmitted to the interface4.

A measured value is preferably only stored and/or transmitted if a decision criterion stored in a control device of the gas measuring device2a,2bis met or not met at least to a degree that can be set. It is advantageously taken into consideration, among other things, by the decision criterion in this connection whether a data connection is present to a central data processing unit and/or to a central memory. Storage and/or transmission of data takes place, for example, only when a measured value is above or below a limit value, when there is a defined time interval between two measurements, when a mobile gas measuring device2ahas been moved over a defined distance and/or when there is a set distance between two measured values recorded consecutively. It is possible in this manner by the use of a compression unit9, taking at least one decision criterion into consideration, to limit a storage and/or transmission of data and/or to delete already stored or transmitted data at least partially in order at least partially to compress the data set in this manner. The setting of the at least one decision criterion, which will be used as the basis for reducing the data that are stored, transmitted and/or processed, can be adapted to the respective operating conditions, especially to the hazard potential, which exists for a gas measuring device user.

Likewise, the properties of the sensors as well as of the measuring methods which are used in a gas measuring device may be taken into consideration. For example, what is significant is not always the deviation of a measured value in relation to a zero point, but, as, e.g., in the case of the oxygen content of 20.9 vol. % in the air, the deviation from a specific value.

Furthermore, the memories3of the gas measuring devices2a,2bare configured such that at least two different memory areas are provided, in which respective data with different information contents are stored. In this case as well information on alarms, error messages or other events may be stored in separate memory areas intended specifically for these purposes. Due to the provision of memory areas thus separated and of a suitably configured actuation of the memories3, it is even possible to read out the memories3of the gas measuring devices2a,2badaptively and thus to carry out the transmission of data to the interface4at defined times and/or to limit it to defined time periods or events. Thus, for example, larger memory areas or memory areas in which less safety-relevant data are being stored at comparatively long time intervals or in case of certain events may be read out only, e.g., at the time of a maintenance or calibration of a gas measuring device2a,2b, whereas smaller memory areas or memory areas containing especially safety-relevant information, e.g., measured values close to a limit value or alarm events, are read out more frequently.

The essential advantage of the data analysis system according to the present invention is that historical as well as current data are available for a data analysis with suitably configured gas measuring devices2a,2band both with at least one correspondingly set-up interface4and a data processing unit1. Based on the system described, it is possible to make available safety-relevant information on the gas concentrations prevailing at a production site and ambient parameters with high accuracy, high spatial resolution and over a comparatively large area. The prevailing overall situation can thus be assessed better and, in particular, a reliable risk assessment can be carried out. The measured concentration of selected gases, the number of alarms that occurred during a measurement period as well the clustering of defined errors are taken into consideration in this connection.

Because of the large quantity of data available, a thorough data analysis is made possible, from which properties and/or the changes in the properties of a gas measuring device2a,2b, which may be due to the fact that gas was admitted to the sensors being used, to environmental conditions prevailing during the measurements and to the age of the sensors, can be inferred with a high probability.

A comparatively large quantity of data can be analyzed precisely due to the suitable identification of the historical and current data generated and provided by the different gas measuring devices2a,2b. It is ensured here by means of the system according to the present invention that a double analysis of data is not carried out, partly because identifications are made in relation to the start and the end of a data transmission or the establishment and the severing of a data connection in the memories3of the gas measuring devices2a,2band, moreover, unambiguous time stamps are added to the respective transmitted data, so that all the data used in a data processing unit1are synchronized with the system time. Likewise, an unambiguous ID can be added to the data in order to make it always possible to unambiguously identify the data.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1Data processing unit2aMobile gas measuring device2bStationary gas measuring device3Memory in the gas measuring device4Interface5Central memory6Data identification unit7Gateway8Compensation unit9Compression unit10Fastening element11Output unit12Read-out device