US 12,276,970 B2
Systems and methods for controller diagnostics and service
Mallikarjun Kande, Solon, OH (US); and David Mielnik, Painesville, OH (US)
Assigned to ABB Schweiz AG, Baden (CH)
Appl. No. 17/436,037
Filed by ABB Schweiz AG, Baden (CH)
PCT Filed Mar. 2, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/020678
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 2, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/180803, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 10, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/813,013, filed on Mar. 2, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0171368 A1, Jun. 2, 2022
Int. Cl. G05B 19/418 (2006.01); H04L 67/025 (2022.01)
CPC G05B 19/4184 (2013.01) [H04L 67/025 (2013.01); G05B 2219/24048 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A distributed control system for an industrial plant, the distributed control system comprising:
a diagnostic engine;
a plurality of computing resources configured to generate diagnostic parameters for transmission to the diagnostic engine, wherein the plurality of computing resources comprises a plurality of controllers configured to manage an operation of the industrial plant and a plurality of communication modules;
a first communication link operatively coupling the plurality of computing resources to one another via the plurality of communication modules;
a second communication link operatively coupling the plurality of computing resources to the diagnostic engine; and
a remote connection operatively coupling the diagnostic engine to a remote computing resource,
wherein at least one of the plurality of controllers is configured to generate the diagnostic parameters that identify communication faults between one or more of the plurality of controllers and one or more of the plurality of communication modules and/or between the one or more of the plurality of communication modules and the first communication link,
wherein the diagnostic engine is configured to locally observe the diagnostic parameters of the plurality of computing resources via the second communication link,
wherein the remote computing resource is configured to initiate an operation of the diagnostic engine via the remote connection and further configured to evaluate the diagnostic parameters remotely, and
wherein the operation of the diagnostic engine is configured to implement a diagnostic protocol, wherein the diagnostic protocol is configured to:
identify, based on the diagnostic parameters, the communication faults between the one or more of the plurality of controllers and the one or more of the plurality of communication modules and/or between the one or more of the plurality of communication modules and the first communication link; and
transmit, in response to identifying the communication faults, the diagnostic parameters to at least one of the plurality of computing resources to implement one or more operations that (i) re-route functions in the industrial plant, (ii) shut down functions in the industrial plant, (iii) shut down one or more subnets of the first and second communication links, and/or (iv) shut down the industrial plant.