WO2014139768A1

WO2014139768A1 - Network system and method for retrieving and displaying network information or documentation regarding network components in an industrial process environment

Info

Publication number: WO2014139768A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/053210
Authority: WO
Inventors: Elmar Mangold
Original assignee: Stego-Holding Gmbh
Priority date: 2013-03-14
Filing date: 2014-02-19
Publication date: 2014-09-18
Also published as: DE102013102635A1

Abstract

A method for retrieving and displaying network information regarding network components (3) in an industrial process environment is described, in which method an identification device (5) of a network component is read out by means of a mobile terminal, network information is retrieved from a local storage element (11) and circuit diagram information, maintenance information, set-up information, network information, network diagram information, network component information and documentation are displayed. A corresponding network system (1) for use in an industrial process environment is also described, said network system comprising a plurality of network components (3), at least one identification device (5) mounted on a network component (3), at least one local storage element (11) for storing network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) regarding the network components (3), and at least one mobile terminal (9) for reading out the at least one identification device (5).

Description

NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING AND PRESENTING NETWORK INFORMATION OR DOCUMENTATION OF NETWORK COMPONENTS IN AN INDUSTRIAL PROCESS ENVIRONMENT

description

The invention relates to a network system according to the preamble of

Claim 1 and a method for calling and representing

Network information relating to a plurality of network components in a network system according to the preamble of claim 15.

In an industrial process environment, a plurality of plant or network components is usually arranged, which may be electrical, hydraulic, mechanical or pneumatic components. A network component can be any component of a (process) plant, in particular an industrial process, for example valves, sensors, adjusting screws, belts, motors or switching elements, to name but a few. In an industrial process environment, it is often necessary for an operator to have information, such as. Eg the position of the network component in the schematic of the whole network,

Maintenance information, fault diagnostics, adjustment instructions or the like information required. The corresponding information is usually available only in paper form and must be laboriously selected and recorded by the user, which is not only time consuming, but also contains sources of error. Furthermore, a complete and previously very time-consuming documentation in increasingly complex systems with a variety of network components is necessary. For example, if an operator wishes to view a rung in the immediate vicinity of a network component through a particular network component in the industrial process environment, it must first look in the schematic for the corresponding one

Locate the network component and identify the associated rungs. Often, documentation is not available at the site of the plant and must be organized in advance.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a network system which is suitable for use in an industrial process environment is suitable and which enables a reliable and time-saving provision of information relating to one or more network components in the network system.

To solve the above object, a network system with the features of claim 1 is proposed. The network system is used

in particular for use in an industrial process environment and comprising: a plurality of network components; at least one

Identification means attached to a network component; at least one local storage element for storing

Network information about the network components; and at least one mobile terminal for reading the at least one identification device.

Unlike in the prior art are in the inventive

Network System Network information about the network component is not stored in hard copy but in a local storage device. The

Identification device, which is attached to a network component, allows an operator, by means of a mobile terminal the

Identification device read and call in this way network information about the network component from the local memory element. The operator thus only needs the mobile terminal and can, with the help of each network component, which is provided with an identification device, the corresponding network information of the

Get network component from the local storage element. Characterized in that the memory element is formed locally and thus at the place of

Network components is not just a compact

Given network system, which combines all the components in one place, but which is also accessible at any time for an operator and possibly changed.

It is preferably provided that the identification device is detectable by means of electromagnetic waves and in particular optically. The

Identification device may be formed, for example, as an RFID code, barcode, QR code or as a font. Each identification device is preferably assigned to exactly one network component and comprises an identifier which identifies exactly one network component uniquely in the network. To the

Reading this unique identifier from the identification device can Mobile terminal preferably have a camera that includes a bar code and / or QR code reading device. Additionally or alternatively, the mobile terminal may include an RFID reader. It is crucial that the mobile terminal can read the identification device and thus the unique identifier of the network component. The identification device or the identification may preferably include a reference to an associated circuit diagram or an associated parts list. The component names and their

Identification is unique for each circuit diagram so that the component can be uniquely assigned to a circuit diagram or a parts list. In addition, if a network component is removed, replaced or replaced or added, the history of the circuit diagram or bill of materials can be recorded and organized. In this way, double assignments of identifiers are reliably avoided.

The network components are arranged in particular in / on a system, in / on a machine or in / at least one control cabinet. It is conceivable, in principle, that the network components of the network system over several cabinets or other localities of an industrial

Distribute process environment. The local storage element is preferably located near or at the location of the network components. Unless the

Network components are arranged in a cabinet, the local memory element is preferably in the cabinet or on the

Switch cabinet arranged. Incidentally, the storage element may be mounted in or on any, in particular easily accessible part, a system or machine.

For visualization of stored in the local storage element

Network information is preferably at least one display element, in particular therefore provided a conventional display. The display element may be part of the mobile terminal. But it is also conceivable that the

Display element is part of a workstation computer. The network information may include any information regarding the network components and their properties and networking in the network system. For example, the network information may be circuit diagram information and / or

Maintenance information and / or adjustment plan information and / or error plan information and / or network component information and / or

Documentation on the network components include. For example, you can for a particular component in the network information about the manufacturer, log information on maintenance actions or the like actions, a specific temperature as a setting hint, the date of the last and / or a planned action and other information stored and displayed.

It is also conceivable, for example, to save a contact person with an associated e-mail address for a specific component.

Ultimately, the network information may include all the information previously available to an operator in paper form

Network component can be provided. In addition, the information can be prepared and displayed by the electronic storage in any form that exceeds the paper form by far. Especially with increasingly complex systems with a large number of components, important information and correlations in paper form can often no longer be recorded and presented properly.

Thus, the invention is particularly advantageous because it allows the operator / maintenance personnel the possibility of navigating in the system or in the

Network, similar to a navigation system on a city map, offers. The user of this system is given the opportunity to organize and read in clear form the complete technical documentation that was created for his system up to the component level. The system can be used particularly advantageously in the maintenance area of a process plant, whereby the written documentation of each action is made possible.

In addition, the actions or the documentation can be sorted or bundled for logging and are thus easier to find again. In addition, the user can attach and manage his pictures, documents and declarations of conformity at the component level as in an "Explorer".

In order on the one hand to match a read identifier of an identification device with network information in the local memory element and to display the corresponding associated network information on a display element of the mobile terminal or a workstation computer, it is preferably possible to have at least one communication connection between the local memory element, the mobile terminal and a

Workstation computer or the like information processing device form. This communication connection (s) can or can be formed wired or wireless. In order to display the network information visually on the display element, and to provide the operator with a selection of existing network information, an information processing device is preferably provided which provides corresponding functionalities for processing and displaying the information by means of a computer program. This information processing device may comprise, for example, a microprocessor and may be either part of the mobile terminal, a workstation computer or the like computing device.

To solve the above object, a method having the features of claim 15 is also proposed. The method is for calling and displaying network information relating to a plurality of

Network components in a network system, especially in an industrial process environment. The method comprises the following steps: reading an identification device which is attached to a network component by means of a mobile terminal; Calling from

Network information from a local storage element that has a

read identifier of the identification device are assigned, and displaying the network information on a display element. With regard to the advantages of the method according to the invention, reference is made to the network system according to claim 1.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing.

Show it:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a network system according to the

Invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a reading plan of a

Network component in the network system according to the invention, and

Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of a maintenance assistant

with respect to a network component in the network system according to the invention. Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a network system 1 according to the invention. The network system 1 comprises a plurality of network components 3, four of which are shown purely by way of example in FIG. The

Network components 3 are networked together and thus form

between them current or signal paths. The number of

Network components 3 is arbitrary and here is purely exemplary four. Also, as explained in the introduction, in the network system according to the invention, any type of network component 3 can be provided for a very wide variety of production processes, processing processes or the like, industrial processes.

Each of the network components 3 of the network system 1 is in each case provided with an identification device 5, which assigns the respective network component 3 a unique identifier. The identification device 5 can

For example, be designed as a font, as RFID code, as a barcode or QR code. Also conceivable are other coding options. The decisive factor is that the identification device and the unique identifier defined therein can be easily read by a suitable device and can uniquely identify a component. In the simplest case, the identification devices 5 may be simple stickers, for example a single one

Plastic material that can be produced with suitable printers. Theoretically conceivable, however, are also active identification devices 5, which send a signal to corresponding detection devices, such as an im

The following explained in more detail mobile terminal, send. In this way, network components with the aid of the identification device could virtually "log in" to a nearby mobile terminal.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG

Network system, the network components are in one

Switching cabinet 7 is arranged. In principle, however, are also conceivable

Embodiments in which the network components over several

Cabinets 7 are distributed or arranged outside of cabinets within the process environment. The invention is therefore not limited to the integration of the network system in one or more cabinets. Rather, the network system according to the invention in many others

Application areas and in particular in or on many different systems or machines are used. The system can be used wherever the user in a complex system with several Components should be navigated and managed using stored information, hint codes and readers.

For reading the identification device is a mobile terminal. 9

provided, which is presently designed in the form of a portable device.

Theoretically, it is also conceivable that a mobile phone is used as a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal 9 can in this way of a

Operator moving in the process environment. The mobile terminal 9 is tuned to the identification device 5 such that it is able to read the code of the identification device 5 and thus the unique identifier of the associated network component 3. If the identification device 5 thus has, for example, a barcode, the mobile terminal 9 is designed to read a barcode. The same applies if the identification device comprises, for example, a QR code or an RFID code. It can also be provided that in one

Process environment Network components with different types of

Identification devices are provided, which thus have different coding types. The mobile terminal 9 can be designed in this case so that it can read different coding types. For example, it can also be provided that it can recognize writing with the aid of optical character recognition (abbreviation OCR = Opticai Character Recognition). In the case of optical coding, the mobile terminal 9 advantageously has a camera. In the case of RFID coding, the mobile terminal 9 has a

corresponding transmitter and receiver for transmitting and receiving the respective frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. It is understood that several mobile terminals are advantageously provided for several users of a system.

At the location of the network components 3 is also a local memory element 11, for example in the form of a hard disk or a solid state memory

intended. In the present embodiment, the storage element 11 is attached to the cabinet 7. Prinzipiel l, however, it may be provided at any location in or on a system. It is thus at the place of

Network components 3 provided. In the memory element 11 are

Network information regarding the network components 3 stored. It is ultimately a database containing a large number of

Information regarding the network components 3 in the network system 1 includes. For example, the memory element 11 can store a circuit diagram and / or a parts list of the existing and, in particular, interconnected network components 3, each of them

Network component 3 is assigned a unique identifier in the memory device 11, which corresponds to the coding of the physically attached to the network component 3 identification device 5. Both

In particular, network information can therefore be a circuit diagram, an adjustment plan, fault plan, maintenance plan or documentation of the network system and the network components. This list is by no means exhaustive. Rather, the network information may include all the information and links of the network components that were previously available in paper form. In addition, in particular also information can be stored, which can not be readily processed in paper form.

For the creation of the network system 1 according to the invention, it is therefore necessary to first provide all the network components 3 in the network system 1 with an identification device 5 and thus with a unique coding or identifier. The network components 3 must then be transmitted by means of the unique identifier in an electronic circuit diagram or assigned to this. In addition, all others must

Information that would otherwise be present in paper form to the individual network components 3, are recorded. The corresponding information is then stored in the local memory element 11 at the location of the network components 3. If necessary, the operator can access the memory element 11 and supplement or change corresponding information. Corresponding actions are advantageously stored in a history.

The compact network system 1 according to the invention makes it possible for an operator with a mobile terminal 9 to read in the identification device 5 of a specific network component 3 for which he wants information. The mobile terminal 9 then detects the identification device 5 and reads out the corresponding coding or identification. About a corresponding

Communication link K with the local memory element 11, which can be wireless or wired, the coding and the resulting identifier is compared with the network information stored in the memory element 11. Once stored to the associated network component 3 Network information are found, these are supplied to an information processing device and finally displayed on a display element 13. Alternatively or additionally, it may be provided that the mobile terminal 9, the identifier via a communication link K to a

Information processing device sends, which in turn queries the data belonging to the identifier (network information) from the memory element 11 via a further communication link K.

The display element 13 is preferably a conventional display which can be embodied either in the mobile terminal 9 or alternatively or additionally in an information processing device which is formed, for example, by one or more work station computers 15. One or more corresponding information processing devices may be provided at any point in the system. To display the requested network information on the display element 13 provides an intelligent software, the network information prepared so that they can be selectively viewed by the operator and in particular also further processed, for example, sent and / or printed.

As a result, for example, graphical user interfaces (GUI) as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be displayed, which allow the operator to selectively access information such as a schematic 17, a section of a rung 19, a map 21, and ancillary information 30 to display a particular network component 3. For example, the representation can be made in such a way that an operator has a detail of a current path between a network component 3a and a

Network component 3b can be displayed in sections, where the section can zoom in and out. It is also conceivable that a user can display a history of a circuit diagram or parts list belonging to a network component.

Accordingly, a suitable intelligent computer program also makes it possible to process all of the network information that can be maintained so that, for example, a maintenance assistant according to FIG. 3 can be displayed. Corresponding filters and tabs of a user-friendly graphic

User interface allows the operator, for example, a complete list of network components 3 in the network system, as well as corresponding properties of the respective network components.

The computer program can be stored in a memory of the information processing device and executed by a microprocessor or a corresponding computer unit, which can be provided for example in the mobile terminal or in another workstation in the process environment. It can also be present on several computer units in order to access it at different locations of a process plant. It is crucial that the local memory element 11 all

Network information about the network components 3 and their

Networking among each other, which then of a suitable

Computer program can be processed and displayed.

Overall, the present invention provides a favorable compact

Network system, which provides in a plant, in particular in an industrial process environment, the quick access to all information related to one or more in particular linked together

Network components are present. This not only saves time for an operator in the process environment, but also sources of error that can result from erroneous reading of a paper-based schematic or the like information source are avoided.

Furthermore, the user can be navigated through the environment using the network system. By digitally storing and providing the data, which are uniquely linked via identification devices with the

Network components, will provide an optimal overview of the

Network components offered, which is not only beneficial for maintenance purposes, but increases the overall system security. Another special advantage is the possibility to carry out all actions related to the

Network components are made, such. B. component change, etc., to record and organize.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 network system

3 network component

3a network component 3b network component

3xy network component

5 identification device

7 control cabinet

9 Mobile terminal

11 Local storage element

13 indicator

15 workstation computers

17 circuit diagram

19 current path cutout

21 Overview plan

23 additional information

25 Maintenance Assistant

K communication connection

Claims

claims

Network system (1), in particular for use in an industrial process environment, comprising:

a plurality of network components (3);

at least one identification device (5) connected to a

Network component (3) is attached;

at least one local memory element (11) for storing network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) via the

Network components (3), and

at least one mobile terminal (9) for reading out the at least one identification device (5).

2. Network system according to claim 1,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the network components (3) are formed pneumatically, hydraulically, mechanically or electrically.

3. Network system according to claim 1 or 2,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the identification device (5) is designed as an RFID code, barcode, QR code or as a font.

4. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

each identification device (5) is associated with exactly one network component (3).

5. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the network components (3) are arranged in at least one control cabinet (7).

6. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the local memory element (11) is arranged at the location of the network components (3), in particular in / on a system, in / on a machine or in / on the control cabinet (7).

7. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the mobile terminal (9) comprises a camera, in particular an RFID code and / or bar code and / or QR code reading device.

8. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

at least one display element (13) for visualizing the

Network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) is provided.

9. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the display element (13) part of the mobile terminal (9) or a

Workstation computer (15) is.

10. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the network information schematic information (17) and / or

Maintenance information (25) and / or adjustment plan information and / or error plan information and / or network components information (23) and / or documentation of network components (3) include.

11. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

the local memory element (11) is preferably wireless

Communication connection with the mobile terminal (9) and

in particular with the display element (13).

12. Network system according to one of the preceding claims,

d a d u rc h e ke n ze i c h n et that

an information processing device is provided, which can prepare the network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) by means of a computer program and display it visually on the display element (13).

13. A method for calling and displaying network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) with respect to a plurality of network components (3) in a network system (1), in particular in an industrial

Process environment, comprising the following steps:

reading out an identification device (5) which is connected to a

Network component (3) is mounted by means of a mobile terminal (9);

calling network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) from a local memory element (11) associated with a read identifier of the identification device (5), and

displaying the network information (17, 19, 21, 23, 25) on a display element (13).