Human-machine interface for a control system
Contents
1. 0033 A3D model of plant and process equipment can aid in understanding deficiencies or sub optimal performance when examining the current process By highlighting the equipment directly related to the process at hand e g by making the rest of the 3D model transparent and coding performance levels into different colors can be used to understand the situation and identify bottlenecks This is also an efficient method for communicating and discussing solutions between process control engineers control room and field operators production managers and other involved parties 0034 Electrification and a planned maintenance or upgrade of electrical system on a platform 0035 Task Plan re routing of electrical system around section to be upgraded 0036 Industry Oil amp Gas 0037 Control room operators and service team meet and plan the upcoming maintenance work on the electric system for a section of the plant The 3D model of the platform displays the electric circuitry with the relevant power gen erators in a semi transparent view of the platform The possible re routings can be displayed and the impact can be examined visually for each possibility and all actors can interact with the model to highlight important areas or features directly This creates a simple and unambiguous foundation for discussion and decision making 0038 Safety and a periodical safety check of all valves 0039 Task Control room operators perfor2. The association may be arranged within one or more computer programs by using setpoints by monitoring watchpoints or by other means The data may be arranged based on wire frame data constructs with or without surface rendering techniques 0072 One or more microprocessors or processors or computers comprise a central processing unit CPU per forming the functions of the HMI and or steps of the methods according to one or more aspects of the invention This is performed with the aid of one or more computer programs which are stored at least in part in memory accessible by the one or more processors It is to be understood that the computer programs carrying out meth ods according to the invention may also be run on one or more general purpose industrial microprocessors or com puters or on one or more specially adapted computers or processors FPGAs field programmable gate arrays or ASICs application specific integrated circuits or other devices such as simple programmable logic devices SPLDs complex programmable logic devices CPLDs field programmable system chips FPSCs The computer programs described may also be arranged in part as a distributed application capable of running on several differ ent computers or computer systems at more or less the same time 0073 Apart of the program may be stored in a processor as above but also in a ROM RAM PROM EPROM or EEPROM chip or similar memory means The program in part
3. maintenance history amp repair reports and the like Even though the trend is that parts of such documen tation has become electronically available it is often stored in different systems and at different locations Therefore the field operators either have to plan information gathering for their work tasks in advance or they have to interrupt ongoing tasks in order to find and then access support information and documentation for the installed equipment process or device In addition the process of obtaining information about an alarm or about a device may take considerable time and may require that an operator browses through many databases A considerable amount of time may be necessary to search by name or system identification for information about a device or process In critical or emergency situations it is very important to obtain relevant technical information quickly to avoid material damage to plant to process as well as possible injury to persons in the plant SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0006 A primary aim of the present invention is to pro vide human machine interface of a control system for moni Oct 26 2006 toring and control of a process comprising a computer generated model of the process displaying said process or a part or component of said process wherein in that said model is a 2 D or 3 D model which is arranged to map from a point on the computer generated model to data held by said control system about t
4. of the invention 0052 FIG 2 is a schematic representation of a display of a human machine interface showing a close up and an alarm state according to another embodiment of the invention 0053 FIGS 3a 36 and 3c are schematic representations of a display of a human machine interface each diagram showing a display of one or more selected layers of infor mation according to a third embodiment of the invention 0054 FIG 4 a schematic representation of a display of a human machine interface showing a display of a group of operational or functional data selectable for a selected one or more component parts of the process according to another embodiment of the invention 0055 FIG 5 is a display of a human machine interface showing a location structure which comprises information about the physical location of a selected one or more component parts of the process Oct 26 2006 0056 FIG 6 is a display of a human machine interface showing a part of the HMI display being arranged rotatable about an axis according to another embodiment of the invention 0057 FIG 7 is a display of a human machine interface showing operational facets of a device that are liked to data stored in a control about the selected one or more component parts of the process 0058 FIG 8 is a schematic flowchart for a method to handle an alarm using the HMI to control and monitor a process according to an embodiment of the invention 0059 FI
5. 32 is caused to flash and change colour as suggested in the Figure by ring 9 representing by this feature of the 3 d model that an alarm about the pressuriser has been logged by the control system 0063 Such an alarm in a process may be handled as follows A specialist or expert on the oil platform process has a display of the model showing the oil platform as shown in FIGS 1a 16 or 6 etc The display be a Macro view of the model of the oil platform rotating thus showing a fly around 0064 An alarm is signaled visually on the display and or by a sound signal and the display automatically zooms in through the 3D model to the specific device location of the alarm The expert selects to view the alarm description which has been logged by the software of the control system which is further associated with control system software entities for the and each specific device for example a pop up view when the expert right clicks the image of the device 31 FIG 5 shows a display 1 zoomed in to the process equipment including pressuriser 31 and a computer pointer device 40 a pop up list 41 for the pressuriser The US 2006 0241793 Al pop up list preferably contains a description of the alarm title device nature of alarm most recent occurrence and so on A similar method of use of the HMI is shown as a flowchart in FIG 8 0065 FIG 3a shows a display of the process section of the oil platform in which process equipment pressur
6. G 9 is a schematic flowchart for another use of the HMI to control and monitor a process DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 0060 FIG 1a shows display of an oil platform a process for production or exploration etc for oil and gas The display 1 comprises an oil platform 2 with one or more production areas 4 and a selection menu Sa The display in this example is a 3 D model of an oil platform The 3 D model displayed is a computer generated model that may be manipulated so that the oil platform may be viewed from different angles and at different resolutions or magnifications FIG 15 shows a close up view of the same model of the oil platform 2 and FIG 2 shows a close up of process equipment on a part of the oil platform FIG 5 shows schematically that the 3 d model is rotatable for example about an axis 60 in a direction indicated by arrow 60 0061 The process equipment of the oil platform is moni tored and controlled by a control system The control system comprises information about the process each stage of the process and each separate equipment in the process The information real time historic and documentation is stored accessible from the control system 0062 FIG 2 shows a display comprising the selection menu Sa a tank 30 associated piping 34 a pump 33 a pump motor 32 and a pressuriser 31 Pressuriser 31 is shown to be marked in a particular way 9 shown here by a dashed ring The image of pressuriser
7. US 20060241793A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication 10 Pub No US 2006 0241793 A1 Skourup et al 43 Pub Date Oct 26 2006 54 75 73 21 22 60 HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE FOR A CONTROL SYSTEM Inventors Charlotte Skourup Drammen NO John Pretlove Sandvika NO Kristoffer Husoy Haslum NO Correspondence Address VENABLE LLP P O BOX 34385 WASHINGTON DC 20045 9998 US Assignee ABB RESEARCH LTD Zurich CH Appl No 11 392 664 Filed Mar 30 2006 Related U S Application Data Provisional application No 60 667 080 filed on Apr 1 2005 Publication Classification 51 Int CI G05B 11 01 2006 01 G05B 15 00 2006 01 SR gn 700 83 700 17 57 ABSTRACT A human machine interface of a control system for moni toring and control of a process and including a computer generated model of the process The process or a part or component of the process is displayed such that the model is arranged to map a point on the computer generated model to data held by the control system about the at least one part or component of the process A method to monitor and control a process using the human machine interface and a system including the interface are also described 81 82 84 85 86 87 88 Alarm reported on HMI interface of a process Expert selects go to alarm 83 HMI display view zooms in automatically on alarm Expert activates eg cl
8. ay the at least one part or component by means of any graphic operation or 3D modeling operation from the list of fly through spin ning 3D viewing zooming 31 Acomputer program which when read into a computer or processor will cause the computer or processor to carry out a method according to the steps of claim 20 32 A computer readable medium comprising a computer program which when read into a computer or processor will cause the computer or processor to carry out a method according to the steps of claim 1 33 A control system comprising a human machine inter face of a control system for monitoring and control of a process comprising Oct 26 2006 a computer generated model of said process displaying said process or a part or component of said process and a computer comprising a Human Machine Interface com prising a model of said process arranged in that said model is arranged to map a point on the computer generated model to data held by said control system about the at least one part or component of said process 34 The control system according to claim 33 wherein the human machine interface comprises a model of said process arranged to map known set points in the model to data held by said control system about the at least one part or component of said process 35 The control system according to claim 33 wherein the human machine interface may be displayed and or manipu lated using a portable and or wearable comp
9. cal information send an instruction monitor or con figure that device via the interface provided by the 3 D or 3 D graphic model 0010 According to a second aspect of the invention a human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and control of a process comprising a computer generated model of the process displaying said process or a part or component of said process is described for displaying the control system information to one or more remotely located experts for further interaction via the HMI and for further interaction with an original user or operator 0011 According to a third aspect of the invention a human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and control of a process comprising a computer generated model of the process displaying said process or a part or component of said process which generated display infor mation the operator may use to guide him her through the plant or process to a specific location of the specific equip ment by means of a 2 D model of the plant or layout and or by means of a 3 D model 0012 The general aim of this invention is to provide a fast and efficient way to locate specific process or equipment control data held by a control system The user points to the valve or mixer or press on the model and is routed to the control system information held for that part or device Online real time data setpoints configuration data service history any information ass
10. controls for the CCTV systems commonly used in some industrial installa tions such as oil and gas plants may be integrated into the industrial control system Thus it may be efficiently arranged to access a CCTV system and display pictures and video images for an equipment object or location by arranged the CCTV system as integrated into the industrial control sys tem Thus by operating a control means of the human machine interface or the 3D model described above images from the CCTV system of an equipment object or location selected via the HMI or 3D model may be displayed and or CCTV or other cameras may be controlled by manipulating the 3D representation of the plant 0078 In other words the 2D and 3D interfaces in control rooms can also be used to control the video streams that are already available There are currently several sources of video streams that are presented in the control room and even more that will be available in the future A known example is Closed Circuit TV CCTV which means video cameras that are distributed throughout the plant for sur veillance and overview purposes Another example is wear able cameras that the field operators use in the field for improved communication with control room operators and remote experts These video streams can be called up to view Oct 26 2006 by selecting an object in the 3D or 2D interface and for example choosing to View live video of this object This ope
11. d for manipulation by computer software means to remove a layer of information from the shape of one or more selected parts of said model and display other information about said process 20 A method to monitor and control a process using a human machine interface for a system for monitoring and control the method comprising producing a model of said process with at least one graphic element displaying one or more parts or com ponents of said process selecting a point on the model and mapping the point or data point on the computer gener ated model to data held by said control system about the at least one part or component of said process 21 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing retrieving technical information associated with a device or process displayed or represented by said graphic element and presenting the information on the display 22 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing US 2006 0241793 Al presenting for selection a group of information structures holding operational data about different facets of the at least one part or component of said process 23 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing presenting for selection a list of information sources structures holding real time or historic operational data about different facets of the at least one part or com ponent of said process 24 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing presenting o
12. e in an orientation of one or more selected parts of said model so displayed 3 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged for manipulation by computer software means to change the shape of the displayed image so and rotate said model or selected parts of said model about at least one axis 4 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged for manipulation by computer software means to change the shape of the displayed image and change the scale of the one or more parts of said model so displayed 5 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged changeable with computer software means to present a visual display comprising a zoom in on and or zoom out from one or more parts of said model so dis played 6 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged with computer software means to display show or superimpose technical data or information from any part of said process on the display of the one or more parts of said model 7 The interface according to claim 6 wherein said model is arranged with computer software means to provide an active link for accessing or retrieving technical data or information about any of the one or more selected parts or components of said process displayed by said model 8 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged with computer software means to provide an active link for accessing or retrieving techn
13. e oil and gas platform or at an electrical power transmission or distribu tion installation or substation needs to check on alarms and other events reported by a control system as well as interact with systems or devices in the installed equipment on a daily basis An operator also has to have access to information and documentation about the process es and the installed equip ment However various user interfaces both physical and software interfaces for the installed equipment operating devices and for one or more supervisory control systems and so on are often designed differently so that the field operators have to learn how to use a multitude of different user interfaces The different equipment interfaces may also often be inconsistent with respect to each other 0004 U S Pat No 5 032 978 to Westinghouse entitled Status tree monitoring and display system describes a dis play a display method and an apparatus are disclosed which produce a summary display depicting function states using discrete state bars centered in one window of a two window display The display is presented to solve a problem that in many complex processes the operator is confronted with a vast amount of information that must be analyzed before appropriate action can be taken 0005 The field operator as well as interacting with installed equipment or devices or systems needs access to documentation of some kind which may be a manual historical data
14. ed at least in part as a two dimensional representation of said process arranged for manipulation by computer software means to so as to graphically change an orientation of one or more selected parts of said model 14 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged displayed at least in part as a three dimensional representation of said process arranged for manipulation by computer software means to so as to graphically change an orientation of one or more selected parts of said model 15 The interface according to claim 13 wherein said model is arranged for manipulation by computer software means to so as to graphically change both scale and orien tation of one or more selected parts of said model 16 The interface according to claim 15 wherein said model is arranged so as to graphically change both scale and orientation of one or more selected parts of said model at the same time 17 The interface according to claim 15 wherein said model is arranged so as to change both one or more selected parts of said model and display a moving image of said model in a mode of any from the list of fly through spinning 3D viewing zooming 18 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged for manipulation by computer software means to superimpose a layer of information on top of the shape of one or more selected parts of said model 19 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arrange
15. en an operator wants to view a specific peace of equipment or a plant area she must first select which camera to use then she must know the plant good enough to guide the camera to the correct pan tilt zoom setting to get the equipment into view This is often done by a joystick type control 0081 The limited effectiveness of known CCTV systems is a similar situation to that of the known audio systems Today control room operators field operators back office personnel remote experts and administrative personnel can communicate orally through telephone mobile phones UHF VHF Radio systems and Public Address and Alarm PA amp A systems 0082 In another further preferred embodiment such known audio system or systems in an industrial or oil and gas installation can be connected to the control system and the 3D representation such that these audio systems can be controlled by manipulating the 3D representation of the plant Examples of such use can be to automatically dial a field operator by clicking on the avatar or symbol represent ing the operator in the 3D or 2D interface and also selecting the preferred communication means if more than one is possible Furthermore the operator can also select directly in the 3D interface which areas to dispatch a message over the PA amp A system to This can be very effective and powerful when combined with a 3D representation of a gas leakage for example 0083 In such a situation in
16. formation about which gas detectors have gone into alarm state combined with knowl edge of escape routes and possibly also metrological infor mation can be used to select which areas should be notified with the alarm warning message An advantage of generat ing this information from other non audio information accessed by the HMI or 3D model is that an operator may US 2006 0241793 Al activate communications such as UHF VHF transmissions or loudspeaker announcements for selected areas of the plant by the alarm or event affected without having to have extensive or detailed location knowledge beforehand 0084 It should be noted that while the above describes exemplifying embodiments of the invention there are sev eral variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims 1 A human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and control of a process comprising a computer generated model of said process displaying said process or a part or component of said process wherein said model is arranged to map a point on the computer generated model to data held by said control system about the at least one part or component of said process 2 An The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged for manipulation by computer software means to change the shape of the displayed image and generate a chang
17. he selected at least one part or component of said process control an industrial automation process 0007 A secondary aim of the present invention is to provide graphic information manipulate able by an operator to retrieve examine and use in direct relation to a specific equipment and or device or equipment plant or process by means of selecting and or activating a point on a 2 D or 3 D model of the process which point is mappable via setpoints watchpoints or other data points to execute an instruction to retrieve technical information Another aim is to provide additional information in the form of graphic information manipulate able by an operator to access examine and or carry out control actions for a specific equipment plant device or process 0008 The above and more aims are achieved according to the invention by a human machine interface and a system according to embodiments of the present invention 0009 According to a first aspect of the invention a human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and control of a process or equipment comprising a com puter generated model of the process displayed is described Information data and or instructions for the process or a part or component of said process are provided by manipulating the HMI 2 D or 3 D model Spicial points setpoints or watchpoints in the model are mapped to the control system The operator activates or selects a device and can reteireve techni
18. ical data or real time information about a technical function of one or more selected parts or components of said process 9 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged with computer software means to provide an active link for accessing or retrieving historical technical data or information about a technical function of one or more selected parts or components of said process so displayed 10 The interface according to claim 8 wherein one or more graphic components of said model are arranged with computer software means for displaying a plurality of groups of technical information grouped relevant to a selected function location or other operational facet or of a selected graphic component 11 The interface according to claim 1 wherein the one or more graphic components of said model are arranged with Oct 26 2006 computer software means for displaying technical informa tion relevant to a selected function location or other opera tional facet of the one or more parts of said process 12 The interface according to claim 11 wherein the one or more graphic components of said model are arranged with computer software means for displaying technical informa tion relevant to a selected one or more components grouped into a plurality of functions locations and or operational facets for the selected one or more parts of said process 13 The interface according to claim 1 wherein said model is arranged display
19. icks a part of the model displayed to see a description of the alarm Expert records additional comments as text and or sound voice or screen dumps etc Expert activates eg clicks on a part of the model to select eg service history trends Expert examines retrieved information determines what problem the alarm describes and or which solution s to apply Expert contacts operators s to investigate and or solve alarm Patent Application Publication Oct 26 2006 Sheet 1 of 5 US 2006 0241793 Al AP a ICh LLO F 1 31 9 30 34 3233 5a 31 30 32 33 5b Fig 2 Fig 3a Patent Application Publication Oct 26 2006 Sheet 2 of 5 US 2006 0241793 Al 34 34 9 32 5e Fig 3b Fig 3c Alarm description Fig 4 Fig 5 Patent Application Publication Oct 26 2006 Sheet 3 of 5 US 2006 0241793 Al Trend Manual Service hist Location People Electrical Safaty 1 Fig 6 Patent Application Publication Oct 26 2006 Sheet 4 of 5 US 2006 0241793 Al 81 Alarm reported on HMI interface of a process i 82 Expert selects go to alarm 83 y HMI display view zooms in automatically on alarm Exper activates eg clicks a part of the model displayed to see a description of the alarm 84 Expert records additional comments as text 85 and or sound voice or screen dumps etc Expert activates eg clicks on a part of the 36 model to select eg service history trends Expert examines retrie
20. interaction possibilities can help process control engineers in commu nicating with field operators control room operators sub contractors and other involved parties 0026 Operators in control room supervise field operators 0027 Task Supervise field operators assist and issue work orders when necessary 0028 0029 The presence of field operators and other personnel on the plant floor is often perceived as a stress factor for control room operators This is because the control room operators do not know the exact position and status of these people and direct communication is not always possible A 3D model of the plant with avatars representing the exact Industry Process industry Oct 26 2006 position of all personnel can reduce this stress Furthermore advanced information and communication technology can establish efficient multi modal communication channels quickly The 3D model of the plant can also aid operators in assisting personnel on the plant floor or when communicat ing with external or remote experts The 3D model can give detailed information about the immediate surroundings of the field operator that needs assistance for example by highlighting the electric system pipelines valves pumps or other relevant components 0030 Production managers ensuring high process perfor mance 0031 Task Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in current production system 0032 Industry Oil amp Gas
21. iser 31 pump 32 are shown but the associated electrical system or piping is not shown FIG 36 shows a display of the process section of the oil platform in which the piping 34 is shown but some types of process equipment are not shown The expert selects two additional visualisation layers each in turn piping 34FIG 3b and components 31 etc in the 3 D model By examining the information presented about the electrical piping etc systems the expert can rapidly identify what has happened to cause the alarm and what if anything ought to be done about it now or later 0066 FIG 7 shows schematically a device pressuriser 31 the computer pointer marker 40 and a group of opera tional facets stored in the control system and associated with the pressuriser 31 that have been selected so that the pop up 41 is displayed The expert selects eg right clicks etc on different objects such as pressuriser 31 which results in activating a link or address so that associated device relative information such as trend curves user manual service history e g from 800xA a SAP a SCADA system physical location process location electrical schema piping schema etc is available for viewing or retrieval The expert selects a visualisation layer for example People and selects a field operator located close to the pressuriser He opens a com munication channel such as by picking up a phone and a connection is set up automatically to the field operato
22. m safety check of all valves 0040 Industry Process industry 0041 Emergency teams and a fire on a floor of the plant 0042 Task Assess situation and plan rescue strategy with emergency team 0043 0044 When a fire occurs on the plant floor the firefight ers ambulance and rescue teams need to be informed of information such as the exact location of the fire and of any personnel any dangerous leakages spills or possible can happen and how to access these areas Such information can be presented most efficiently by a 3D model of the plant and or a 2 D model A 2 D model that graphically visualises the floor layout for a given production floor and indicates with for example flashing arrow signs overlaid on the floor of the layout plan the route to the nearest fire exit Such a Industry Process industry US 2006 0241793 Al model provides information that may be understood even in the stress of an emergency situation without any necessity for the viewer to understand or even read text The control room because of the HMI and because of its access to technical process information can also function as a tem porary emergency centre where the emergency teams can get information and also discuss possible solutions or rescue strategies with operators or engineers 0045 Authorities make a Safety inspection e g the Rail road Inspectorate 0046 Task Authorities inspect situation at complex multi track rail statio
23. n the display information of a warning or alarm that has occurred in respect of the at least one part or component of said process 25 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing presenting on the display selection means 5 to receive and or go to the warning or alarm that has occurred in respect of the at least one part or component of said process 26 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing manipulating the model to automatically go to the at least one part or component of said process for which the warning or alarm has been signalled 27 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing manipulating the model to automatically go to the at least one part or component of said process for which the warning or alarm has been signalled 28 The method according to claim 20 further compris ing manipulating the model to add or remove a layer of operational information associated with the at least one part or component of said process for which the warn ing or alarm has been signalled 29 The method according to claim 28 further compris ing manipulating the model to add or remove a layer of operational information associated with the at least one part or component for any from the list of electrical system water utility system location of people alarms process materials fire and or gas leakages 30 The method according to claim 28 further compris ing manipulating the model to displ
24. ns 0047 Industry Railroad 0048 When the proper railroad authorities inspect safety and efficiency considerations of the railroad system a 3D model and or 2 D model can be an efficient means for communication and discussion There are severe restrictions on how trains can change tracks and move about on the track system and in large station areas the situation can be very complex and difficult to grasp A3D model of the tracks and trains can be used to visualize how the trains move between the tracks and to ensure all regulations are followed Certain laws conditions and restrictions can also be visualized directly in the model e g how much space or time must pass between two consecutive trains between two trains on intersecting tracks and so on In certain circumstances 2 D models may also be used 0049 In addition further and advantageous aspects of the invention are described in relation to a graphical user interface a computer program for implementing the method and a computer program product including the computer program BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0050 Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with particular reference to the accompanying drawings in which 0051 FIGS la and 15 are a schematic representations of a display of a human machine interface for monitoring and controlling a process the example shown being of an oil production platform according to an embodiment
25. ociated with that device by the control system may be intuitively found and then retrieved The information obtained may be displayed to a field operator e g an operator a service technician a mainte nance person OEM a process engineer etc or to a remote person expert other operator etc First of all the HMI and the described methods provide relevant information intu itively and quickly to the field operator for monitoring and interaction with the industrial process or device US 2006 0241793 Al 0013 The HMI and system herein is described below in detail with respect to an oil and gas platform The HMI described may be used to interface with the control system for other processes or productions processes or automated equipment Brief examples in the form of scenarios for use of the HMI will now be described 0014 Service Team performs maintenance on platform 0015 Task Service team receives assistance and guid ance by control room operators 0016 Industry Oil amp Gas 0017 When the control room can visualize both plant and process as a 3D model both service personnel and control room operators can get detailed local information about locations equipment and components This provides service personnel with improved and more efficient guidance and assistance from control room operators The exact position of the service team can be viewed by control room operators and a direct communication link with document
26. or in whole may also be stored locally or centrally on or in other suitable computer readable medium such as a magnetic disk CD ROM or DVD disk hard disk magneto optical memory storage means in volatile memory in flash memory as firmware or stored on a data server Other known and suitable media including removable memory media such as Sony memory stick TM and other remov able flash memories used in digital cameras etc phones or removable hard drives etc may also be used The program may also in part be supplied from a data network 10 which may in part or temporarily comprise a public network such as the Internet 0074 Ina further preferred embodiment structured text documents are used to link or provide references to the US 2006 0241793 Al objects and control objects of the interface to objects and control objects held by the control system It is necessary to connect 3D operator interfaces of the models to the control system objects such that the 3D interface can be updated with real time information from the process plant e g the 3D model part representing the object starts blinking when the object is in an alarm situation For this to be possible there must be a link between the control system objects such as the real time measurements from the distributed control system and the 3D objects It is important to find good methods for configuring 3D interfaces otherwise the engineering phase will be much too costl
27. r 0067 Thus an expert or other qualified user may access information rapidly via the interface comprising the model The user may as described above in relation to FIGS 3a b and c add a layer of information or remove a layer of information in order to examine the context of a device or process or of an alarm or other event from the device etc FIG 8 shows in flowchart form how a specialist or expert may use the interface to examine an alarm and gather current and or historic technical information relevant to the alarm 0068 FIG 8 shows then a flowchart wherein an alarm is reported 81 on the display of HMI an expert or other user selects to go to 82 the alarm and the HMI can automatically zoom in 83 on the part of the process where the alarm has come from The expert can retrieve further information about the alarm by clicking on the alarm 84 The expert can record comments 85 text video clip animation clip voice etc via the HMI The expert may then access more infor mation about the process part or device related to the alarm to obtain service history 86 trends performance data pro duction data manuals other documentation and so on The expert may then with access to any of the information in the control system that is associated with the process alarm or device alarm make a judgement 87 and then for example contact staff on site 88 or remote to investigate or otherwise act 0069 FIG 9 is a flowchart showing anothe
28. r use of the HMI An operator may switch from the process control system to the HMI For example as summarised an operator gets a warning 91 on the control system The operator reads the warning 95 and will obtain additional technical data The operator switches 96 to the HMI and model and gathers Oct 26 2006 for example an overview of other active alarms and events After examining the other information on current events the operator may return to the control system 97 signs off that he she has noted the warning and records text voice or other comments in the record for that component 0070 A3 D model may be based on one or more CAD drawings of the plant or process A 3 D or 2 D model may be based in part on electrical piping or wiring schemas or layouts A 3D or 2 D model is preferably layered such that layers of information may be added or stripped Such layers may represent functional groupings such as electrical sche mas process flow physical location utilities and services air water flow and so on The model may be arranged for computer control for operations such as fly through spin ning 3D viewing zooming The 3 D model is somewhat related to the computer generated virtual reality develop ments but applied to solving industrial problems 0071 Data points in the 3 D or 2 D model are associated with devices sensors nodes and so on that are connected to or otherwise controlled by one or more control systems
29. ration automatically selects the camera that can present this object or alternatively the best view if many cameras can view the object and then manoeuvre this camera so that the chosen object is in view 0079 For example when an operator right clicks an object in a process graphic he she can choose to view object in camera which automatically presents a view of the object on a monitor This involves an automatic system for selecting which camera can be used to view the selected object or which has the best view and then manoeuvring the camera pan tilt zoom so the selected object is shown in view Current CCTV systems have separate HMIs most commonly these are separate hardware panels from the rest of the control room equipment This occupies a lot of physical space in control rooms is costly to develop install and maintain and it is difficult for operators to learn and handle many different HMIs and systems in time critical situations 0080 Traditional CCTV systems have separate HMIs most commonly dedicated hardware panels from the rest of the control room equipment The hardware panels inter faces occupy a lot of physical space in control rooms are costly to develop install and maintain and it is difficult for operators to learn and handle many different HMIs and systems in time critical situations Furthermore the interac tion with the cameras requires a great deal of knowledge of plant layout by the operator Wh
30. rein the means for access to oral or audio communication means comprises oral or audio means Public Alarm amp Address devices and or loudspeakers
31. sharing video and sound can be used to transmit information The control room operators can issue work orders to the service team that is closest to the equipment and the work order can be discussed similar to if they were co located The control room personnel can access a 3D model with graphical representations of the service team real time process infor mation historical databases maintenance records proce dure descriptions or manuals and thereby provide better assistance and guidance to service teams 0018 Design and Planning an upgrade of the plant 0019 Task Visualize and simulate operation and inte gration of new system 0020 Industry Process industry 0021 There are often spatial constraints and compatibil ity issues when upgrading or changing process equipment If the control room has access to and maintains an updated version of a 3D model of the process and plant this can be used for planning an upgrade and for examining tenders The 3D model can be examined with and without the suggested upgrade and feasibility compatibility and spatial issues can be discussed and examined visually Both overall compat ibility and detail specific issues can be examined by zoom ing abstraction and by interacting with the virtual model 0022 Process control engineers aid field operators 0023 Task Improve process performance at component level 0024 Industry Process industry 0025 Access to a 3D model with advanced
32. trol of a process comprising a computer generated model of said process displaying said process or a part or component of said process wherein said model is a 3 D model arranged to map a point on the computer generated model to data held by said control system about the at least one part or component of said process 44 Use of a human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and control of a process comprising a computer generated model of said process displaying said process or a part or component of said process for providing and presenting information in a control system of an oil or gas storage treatment or process installation US 2006 0241793 Al 45 Use of a human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and control of a process comprising a computer generated model of said process displaying said process or a part or component of said process for providing and presenting information in a control system of an elec trical generation transmission or distribution installation 46 The control system according to claim 40 wherein the means for control of the video images from the control system comprises means to remotely operate pan tilt zoom controls of a camera Oct 26 2006 47 The control system according to claim 41 wherein the means for access to oral communication means with an operator comprises a UHF VHF radio or phone or portable phone 48 The control system according to claim 42 whe
33. uting device 36 The control system according to claim 33 wherein the known set points in the model are linked or referenced to data held by said control system about the at least one part or component of said process by means of one or more structured text documents 37 The control system according to claim 33 wherein the structured text documents link control system objects to 3D model representations and their physical position orienta tion 38 The control system according to claim 36 wherein at least one structured text document is generated automati cally 39 The control system according to claim 33 further comprising means for selection of a part of a human machine inter face or 3D object and to display one or more visual or video images of a selected object 40 The control system according to claim 39 further comprising means for control of the video images from the control system 41 The control system according to claim 33 further comprising means for access to oral communication means with an operator by selecting a symbol of the a human machine interface or a 3D model control system 42 The control system according to claim 41 further comprising means for access to oral or audio communication means in a given area of an installation by selecting or manipulating a symbol of the a human machine inter face or 3D model control system 43 A human machine interface of a control system for monitoring and con
34. ved information 87 determines what problem the alarm describes and or which solution s to apply Expert contacts operators s to investigate and or solve alarm 88 Fig7 Patent Application Publication Oct 26 2006 Sheet 5 of 5 US 2006 0241793 Al 91 Warning reported in control system of a process 93 Operator selects the warning 95 Operator reads description of warning in control system 96 Operator switches eg clicks to HMI and model to see overview of all alarms and warnings Operator returns to control system signs for warning and records additional comments as text and or sound eg voice 97 Fig 8 US 2006 0241793 Al HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE FOR A CONTROL SYSTEM CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 This application claims priority to U S provisional patent application 60 667 080 filed 1 Apr 2005 TECHNICAL FIELD 0002 The present invention concerns a human machine interface for a system for control and or monitoring of an industrial process automated equipment or a device The invention may be applied in many fields such as oil and gas electricity generation transmission distribution as well as in industry The invention may be applied to monitoring control and or programming of an industrial robot for robotic and automated applications BACKGROUND ART 0003 A technician or a field operator e g in a process plant manufacturing installation at off shor
35. y because every single control system object must be connected to a 3D representation in addition to the 2D representation hence to make each link or reference by means of a manual configu ration would increase the current engineering effort to a great extent 0075 Configuring the interfaces automatically can be done by using a structured text format such as xml extended xml caex other industry accepted XML exten sions to connect the objects in a 3D model of the plant to the corresponding objects in the control system 0076 This is especially advantageous for those cases where part of the engineering is done in CAD programs In these cases there is an existing 3D model of the plant Such 3D model or models can either be used directly or be used as reference for a 3D model that can be at used run time Both the linkage between 3D objects and control system objects as well as the location and orientation of each piece of equipment can be automatically entered into the struc tured text format from these models Thus the information stored in the structured text format can be populated auto matically from engineering tools Another advantage of use of structured text to link 3D models to control object information is that it reduces the time and cost of configuring a system Another advantage is that manual input errors associated with manually configuring links to the 3D model are eliminated 0077 In another preferred embodiment
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