Modular process control system
AssigneeFisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc.
InventorsMark J. Nixon, Anthony Amaro, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one aspect, a micro-service control architecture provides a modular, flexible platform for designing, diagnosing, updating and/or expanding process control systems. Each service is containerized to provide portability and isolation from other components of the process control system. In another aspect, a function block diagram includes a “shadow” block that acts as an interface to an external, custom calculation engine, thereby enabling the custom calculation engine to operate synchronously with respect to other function blocks of the function block diagram.
Claims34
A method of implementing a modular control system architecture, the method comprising:
- deploying a plurality of containerized, independently-executable control system services configured to execute different functions associated with a process control system that implements a physical process in a field environment of a process plant, each of the plurality of control system services providing a respective interface that defines interactivity with other control system services, wherein the respective interfaces of the plurality of control system services are respective application programming interfaces (APIs), and wherein all interdependencies between the plurality of control system services are marginalized to the respective APIs of the plurality of control system services;
- controlling, monitoring and/or analyzing the physical process, at least in part by exchanging messages between the plurality of control system services via a service message bus, the exchanged messages conforming to the respective interfaces of the plurality of control system services;
- and
- implementing a decentralized discovery procedure, at least in part by:
- for each service of the plurality of control system services, notifying, by a respective physical device that hosts the service, all other services of the plurality of control system services that the service is available.
A process control system comprising:
- a plurality of physical devices, including one or more field devices configured to perform physical operations within a physical process in a field environment of a process plant, wherein the physical process is implemented by the process control system;
- and
- one or more communication networks that communicatively couple at least some of the plurality of physical devices to each other and support a service message bus,
- wherein
- one or more devices of the plurality of physical devices collectively host a plurality of containerized, independently-executable control system services configured to execute different functions associated with the process control system, each of the plurality of control system services providing a respective interface that defines interactivity with other control system services, wherein the respective interfaces of the plurality of control system services are respective application programming interfaces (APIs), and wherein all interdependencies between the plurality of control system services are marginalized to the respective APIs of the plurality of control system services,
- the process control system controls, monitors and/or analyzes the physical process the physical process at least in part by the plurality of control system services exchanging messages via the service message bus, the exchanged messages conforming to the respective interfaces of the plurality of control system services, and
- for each service of the plurality of control system services, the respective device that hosts the service notifies all other services of the plurality of control system services that the service is available.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.