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CN-121995815-A - Migration of control logic types in a distributed control system

CN121995815ACN 121995815 ACN121995815 ACN 121995815ACN-121995815-A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to migrating control logic types in a Distributed Control System (DCS). The present disclosure relates to migrating a control logic type from a legacy engineering tool (2 a) to a modern engineering tool (2 b) in a DCS (1) controlling equipment (11) in an industrial plant (10). Comprising obtaining a control logic type of a legacy format from a legacy engineering tool, reformatting the control logic of the control logic type into a modern format compatible with a modern controller (5 b), copying graphical instructions of the control logic type, updating a list of attributes of the control logic type such that a format of a corresponding communication address field associated with each listed attribute is changed from the legacy format to the modern format compatible with the modern controller, and associating the reformatted control logic, the copied graphical instructions, and the updated list of attributes with the migrated control logic type in the modern engineering tool library.

Inventors

  • Stefan Achim Sauerberg
  • Jeffrey E. Hardin
  • Hans Tildekvist
  • Nicholas Jihden

Assignees

  • ABB瑞士股份有限公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20251029
Priority Date
20241105

Claims (12)

  1. 1. A method of migrating a control logic type (22) from a conventional engineering tool (2 a) to a modern engineering tool (2 b) in a distributed control system DCS (1), which DCS controls equipment (11) in an industrial plant (10), Wherein the control logic type (22) of the legacy engineering tool (2 a) comprises an attribute list (31) of identifiers (41) of attributes of a first type of device among controlled devices (11) in the industrial plant, graphical instructions (32) for graphical windows (63) associated with the first type of device and based on at least some of the listed attributes, and control logic (33) for controlling the first type of device using the listed attributes; Wherein the legacy engineering tool (2 a) is operable to configure a respective instance of the control logic type (22) for the device (11) of the first type controlled by a legacy controller (5 a), and Wherein the modern engineering tool (2 b) is operable to configure a respective instance of the control logic type (22) for the first type of the device (11) controlled by a modern controller (5 b); The method comprises the following steps: -obtaining (S1) said control logic type (22) in a legacy format from a library (21) of said legacy engineering tool (2 a); -reformatting (S2) the control logic (33) of the control logic type (22) obtained (S1) into a modern format compatible with the modern controller (5 b), while keeping the identifier (41) of the attribute unchanged; copying (S3) the graphics instructions (32) of the control logic type (22) obtained (S1); Updating (S4) the list of attributes (31) such that the identifier (41) of the listed attributes is unchanged but the format of the respective communication address field (42) associated with each listed attribute is changed from a legacy format to a modern format compatible with the modern controller (5 b), and -Associating (S5) the control logic (33) reformatted (S2), the graphic instructions (32) replicated (S3) and the list of attributes (31) updated (S4) with the migrated control logic type (22) in the library (21) of the modern engineering tool (2 b).
  2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the modern format of the address field (42) complies with the open platform communication OPC unified architecture UA specification.
  3. 3. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the legacy format of the address field (42) complies with OPC classical specifications, e.g. OPC data access DA, and/or with manufacturing message specification MMS.
  4. 4. A migration tool (3), comprising: Processing circuitry (51) -A storage device (52) storing instructions (53) executable by the processing circuitry (51), whereby the migration tool (3) is operable to perform the method according to any one of the preceding claims.
  5. 5. A computer program product (52) comprising computer-executable components (53) for causing a migration tool (3) to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-3 when the computer-executable components are run on processing circuitry (51) comprised in the migration tool (3).
  6. 6. A distributed control system, DCS, (1) for controlling devices (11) in an industrial plant (10), the DCS comprising: -a connectivity service (61) holding, for each of the devices (11), a respective list (31) of identifiers (41) of the attributes (43) of the device, each attribute in each of the lists (31 a, 31 b) being associated with an address (71) for obtaining a current value of the attribute; At least one operator human machine interface, HMI, (62), each of the at least one operator HMI being arranged for presenting a respective graphical window (63) for each of the devices via which an operator (64) can monitor the device, and -A plurality of controllers (5), each controller being arranged to control at least one of the devices (11), at least one of the plurality of controllers being a legacy controller (5 a) arranged to communicate with the connectivity service (61) via a legacy communication protocol (65), and at least one of the plurality of controllers being a modern controller (5 b) arranged to communicate with the connectivity service (61) via a modern communication protocol (66); Wherein each of the graphical windows (63) is based on information about respective values of at least some listed attributes (43) of the devices (11) of the graphical window, wherein the operator HMI (62) is configured to update the graphical window (63) by sending an attribute request (67) to the connectivity service (61) for a first one (43) of the attributes on which the graphical window is based, the attribute request comprising a device ID (81) identifying the devices (11) in the graphical window (63) and an identifier (41) of the first attribute, and Wherein the connectivity service (61) is configured to, in response to receiving the attribute request (67): Among the list (31) of attributes (43), determining a list of attributes of the device (11) identified by the device ID (81) in the attribute request (67), -Finding the identifier (41) of the first attribute (43) in the determined list (31), Obtaining the current value of the first attribute by communicating with the controller of the plurality of controllers (5) controlling the identified device (11) by means of the address (71) associated with the first attribute (43) in the determined list (31), wherein if the controller is a legacy controller of the at least one legacy controller (5 a) then communication is via the legacy communication protocol (65), and if the controller is a modern controller of the at least one modern controller (5 b) then communication is via the modern communication protocol (66), and -Transmitting information about the current value of the obtained first attribute (43) to the operator HMI (62).
  7. 7. DCS according to claim 6, wherein the legacy communication protocol (65) complies with the open platform communication OPC classical specification, such as OPC data access DA, and/or with the manufacturing message specification MMS.
  8. 8. DCS according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the modern communication protocol (66) complies with the OPC unified architecture UA specification.
  9. 9. A method performed by a connectivity service (61) in a DCS (1), the method comprising: -receiving (S11) an attribute request (67) from an operator HMI (62) in the DCS, the attribute request comprising a device ID (81) identifying a device (11) of a graphical window (63), wherein the operator HMI is arranged to present the graphical window to the device, and an identifier (41) of a first attribute (43) of a plurality of attributes of the device on which the graphical window is based; Among the lists (31) of attributes (43) maintained by the connectivity service (61), wherein each of the lists is related to a respective device (11) controlled by the DCS (1), determining (S12) a list of attributes of the device identified by the device ID (81) in the received (S11) attribute request (67); -finding (S13) the identifier (41) of the first attribute (43) in the determined (S12) list of attributes (31), wherein each listed attribute (43) is associated with an address (71) for obtaining a current value of the attribute; -obtaining (S14) the current value of the first attribute (43) by communicating with a controller of the plurality of controllers (5) controlling the identified device (11) by means of the address (71) associated with the found (S13) identifier (41), wherein the communication is via a conventional communication protocol (65) if the controller is a conventional controller (5 a), and wherein the communication is via a modern communication protocol (66) if the controller is a modern controller (5 b), and -Transmitting (S15) information about the current value of the obtained (S14) first attribute (43) to the operator HMI (62).
  10. 10. A connectivity service (61), comprising: Processing circuitry (72), and -A storage device (73) storing instructions (74) executable by the processing circuitry (72), whereby the connectivity service (61) is operable to perform the method according to claim 9.
  11. 11. A DCS (1), comprising: The connectivity service (61) of claim 10; At least one operator HMI (62), and A plurality of controllers (5).
  12. 12. A computer program product (73) comprising computer-executable components (74) for causing a connectivity service (61) to perform the method according to claim 9 when the computer-executable components are run on processing circuitry (72) included in the connectivity service.

Description

Migration of control logic types in a distributed control system Technical Field The present disclosure relates to migrating control logic types from traditional engineering tools to modern engineering tools in a Distributed Control System (DCS) controlling equipment in an industrial plant. The present disclosure also relates to connectivity services in DCS that communicate with legacy controllers and modern controllers. Background When updating the DCS of an industrial plant from a traditional system to a modern system, such an update typically requires that the entire system, including all parts such as the controller, engineering tools and operator HMI, be updated simultaneously, which is rather expensive and time consuming. For example, US2022/100527 discloses an updateable and backward compatible Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) whose instruction set library may be partitioned to limit updates to instruction set libraries used only by the PLC. Disclosure of Invention It is an object of the present invention to facilitate the introduction of modern controllers in existing plants without the need to exchange existing legacy controllers and/or human-machine interfaces (HMI) at the operator side in the plant. By copying the graphics instructions without reformatting, and by updating the attribute list with the same identifier (but with corresponding communication address fields in a new, modern format), control logic types can be migrated from a legacy engineering tool to a modern engineering tool while still being compatible with existing operator HMIs. By means of the connectivity service, both legacy and modern controllers in the same plant can handle requests from operators. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for migrating a control logic type from a legacy engineering tool to a modern engineering tool in a Distributed Control System (DCS) that controls equipment in an industrial plant. The control logic types of conventional engineering tools include a list of attributes of attribute identifiers of a first type of device present among controlled devices in an industrial plant, graphical instructions for graphical windows associated with the first type of device and based on at least some of the listed attributes, and control logic for controlling the first type of device using the listed attributes. The legacy engineering tool can be used to configure a corresponding instance of the control logic type for a first type of device controlled by the legacy controller. Modern engineering tools can be used to configure respective instances of control logic types for a first type of device controlled by a modern controller. The method includes obtaining a control logic type in a legacy format from a library of legacy engineering tools. The method also includes reformatting the control logic of the obtained control logic type into a modern format compatible with modern controllers while leaving the identifier of the attribute unchanged. The method further includes copying the obtained graphics instructions of the control logic type. The method further includes updating the list of attributes such that identifiers of the attributes listed therein remain unchanged, but the format of the corresponding communication address field associated with each listed attribute is changed from a legacy format to a modern format compatible with modern controllers. The method further includes associating (or including) the reformatted control logic, the replicated graphical instructions, and the updated property list with the migrated control logic type in the modern engineering tool library. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a migration tool comprising processing circuitry and storage storing instructions executable by said processing circuitry, whereby said migration tool is operable to perform embodiments of a method for migrating control logic types according to the present disclosure. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer-executable components for causing a migration tool to perform embodiments of a method for migrating control logic types according to the present disclosure when the computer-executable components are run on processing circuitry comprised in the migration tool. According to another aspect of the present invention, a distributed control system for controlling equipment in an industrial plant is provided. The DCS includes a connectivity service that maintains, for each of the devices, a respective list of identifiers of the attributes of the device, each attribute in each of the lists being associated with an address for obtaining a current value of the attribute. The DCS further comprises at least one operator human-machine interface (HMI), each of the at least one operator HMI being arranged for presenting a respective graphical window for each