WO2012080995A1

WO2012080995A1 - Web-based data acquisition system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2012080995A1
Application number: PCT/ID2011/000008
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ricky Gondosubroto
Original assignee: Ricky Gondosubroto
Priority date: 2010-12-13
Filing date: 2011-11-30
Publication date: 2012-06-21

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method of web-based data acquisition and control for use with industrial machines, processes and equipments. In the present system a remote terminal unit (10) acts as a web client, whereas a data collecting computer unit (20) acts as a web server. The data collecting computer unit (20) includes a web server (26), a database (22) and a hypertext processor application program (24). The remote terminal unit (10) actively accesses the computer unit (20) and sends data regarding the operation conditions of an industrial machine to the computer unit (20) only if there is a change in the conditions. By this client and server communication's principle, the communication bandwidth for data acquisition and control can be used efficiently. Any new remote terminal units added to the system will be regarded by the system merely as new web clients with different identities. Therefore in such a case there will be no substantial adjustments or settings required at the data collecting computer unit side of the system.

Description

WEB-BASED DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM AND METHOD

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method for getting data from an industrial infrastructure and controlling the functioning of the infrastructure. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a system and method of data acquisition and control which is applied to industrial processes, machines and equipments over a telecommunication network.

Background of the Invention

Data acquisitions and controls for industrial equipments, including machines and devices used in manufacturing, production and assembly (fabrication) processes have an essential role in determining qualities, efficiencies and the amount of time required to complete every stage involved in the industrial process. The data acquired and visualized on a real-time basis from the whole industrial processes in a factory/plant , allow all parties to whom the data may concern, from operators to top level managements, to promptly recognize any abnormalities. And in response to the data, the persons may take any necessary measures to overcome the situation whereby the downtime can be reduced to minimum and the production efficiencies and competitiveness may be maintained on increased. The records of production data are also very useful for further analysis required in implementing continuous improvement in order to give the company a competitive edge in the future. Automatic controls using feedbacks from previous obtained data to operate the machines, processes and equipments will also significantly increase the productivity of the industrial infrastructure. An industrial process generally consists of a number of stages, each of which is performed by a particular machine or tool (40a, 40b or 40c) as illustrated in the block diagram of Figure 1 incorporated herein as part of this patent specification. The tasks (stages) to be performed by the machines or tools (40a, 40b or 40c) may be independent from each other, or may be interdependent and occur sequentially.

The data obtainment from, and the control of, the whole operations of machineries such as mentioned previously are well known among experts in this field. One of systems used for this purpose is SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system. The SCADA system is designated a reference numeral (200) in Figure 1. The SCADA (200) generally consists of a human- machine interface (HMI) (210), a historical database for keeping data history (220) , a database for data collecting (230) . The data indicating the status of the machine, process or equipment (40a, 40b and 40c) are obtained by HMI server (210) from respective conventional remote terminal units (100) . Each conventional remote terminal unit (100) may be in the form of a programmable logic controller (PLC) provided in its corresponding machine or equipment and each has already been equipped with a computer connection that enables it to be used as a remote terminal unit, or as other conventional remote terminal unit added to the machine or equipment. The data obtained using this system is displayed on a graphical user interface (300) . In order to enable online monitoring, for example through an internet network (250), of how the controlling is performed, the SCADA system (200) can be provided with a web interface (240) . The SCADA system usually uses some software's bearing commercial trademarks. These softwares are of licence types, which are relatively high in price.

Besides using relatively high price softwares, the SCADA system as referred to above has the following disadvantages. The human-machine interface server (210) acts as a client, whereas each PLC or conventional remote terminal unit (100) acts as a server. In this way the human-machine interface server (210) must periodically and continually access (poll) all the conventional remote terminal units (100) to monitor in a real time basis any occurrence of data change and make some settings or adjustment (overriding) as required according to the data change. If for example there is an increase in the number of machines, processes and equipments in the system in order for increasing the production level, the usage of data bandwidth on this data acquisition and control communication will become inefficient and slower. Furthermore, the addition of one or more new machines and PLCs or conventional remote terminal units (100) to the system will make it necessary to make some adjustment or settings on the side of the human-machine interface server (210) in order to accommodate the new equipment (s) .

Accordingly, there is a need for a data acquisition and control system for use in industrial infrastructures wherein the aforementioned disadvantages of conventional system and method could be overcome. Particularly, there is a need for a low cost but faster and more flexible system and method of data acquisition and control for use in industrial infrastructures.

Summary of the Invention

The objective of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the system and method of data acquisition and control for use in industrial infrastructures as described above. The objective can be achieved by the present invention by providing a system of web-based data acquisition and control, wherein the system comprises:

a) one or more industrial machines or equipments each having its own programmable logic controller, or each being controlled by a relay logic or controlled manually,

b) one or more remote terminal units each located on one of the industrial machines and provided with

bl) a microcontroller device having a capability to control and manipulate registers like what a programmable logic controller would do, and equipped with a data sending register and a data receiving register,

b2) an ethernet port connectable to a data collecting computer,

b3) a digital input port for receiving digital input signals representing, among other things, the operation condition of the industrial machine, the notification that a product has been completed, supporting calls to maintenance technician or supervisor, and other information, b4) an analog input port having a function to receive data in the form of analog signals,

b5) a digital output port for outputting digital data, control activations and operation indicators of the industrial machine status and other information, and

b6) a serial port having a function to send a suitable information regarding the operation condition of an industrial machine status to a 7-segment display device or a dot-matrix display device, or to receive serial data inputs, c) a data collecting computer which includes at least a web server serving the remote terminal units, a hypertext processor application program associated with a script page for use in inputting, requesting and processing data regarding the operation condition or the operation indicator of an industrial machine, and a database,

wherein each of those remote terminal units acts as a web client and actively accesses the script page stored in the web server in order to send data to be processed by the hypertext processor application program and then to receive response data as a reply from the web server.

In one embodiment of the web-based data acquisition and control system according to the present invention the database is a MySQL server, the web server is an Apache HTTP Server and the server-side scripting language is PHP Hypertext Preprocessor which all is free software.

In another embodiment of the invention, the system is further provided with a computer unit for data visualization connectable by wire or wireless to the data collecting computer unit, wherein the data visualization computer unit includes at least one web browser and one display device and also uses PHP AJAX to display the information on an online basis.

The data collecting computer unit and the data visualization computer unit may be in the form of a personal computer, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a PC tablet or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) unit.

In addition, the invention is also providing a method for use in implementing the system of web-based data acquisition and control according to said above embodiments of the present invention.

Since the remote terminal unit(s) is programmed in such a manner that it will be sending data to the data collecting computer unit only if there is a change in the operation data of the industrial machine being controlled by the unit(s), the usage of communication bandwidth for getting data and control will become more efficient and faster.

With such a client-server communication principle between remote terminal unit and data collecting computer unit, the addition of one or more new remote terminal units would be easier to handle without having to undertake any substantial adjustments or settings at the side of data collecting computer unit, and the new remote terminal unit (s) would be regarded by the system merely as one or more additional access by one or more web clients having different identities (IDs) .

Furthermore, as this system is using web protocol, a reliable and easy control system could be obtained. Furthermore, since the system uses free softwares, the cost of the system also becomes less expensive compared to conventional data acquisition and control systems using commercially licensed softwares.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Below is provided a brief description of the drawings used herein to show the advantages of the present invention and illustrate how the invention is put into practice, wherein:

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional system of data acquisition from industrial machines .

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system of web-based data acquisition according to one embodiment of the present invention implemented in industrial machines.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the details of web-based data acquisition system according to the present invention. Detailed Description of the Invention

Herein below is provided a detailed explanation of the present invention with references to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the embodiments of the invention as shown in the drawings and the description to follow are presented only as examples of illustrating the invention, not to put limitations to this invention. The scope of this invention itself is defined in one or more claims presented after the Detailed Description of the Invention in this specification.

One example of the embodiment of web-based data acquisition and control system according to the present invention, which is applied in a number of machines or industrial equipments, is shown in Figure 2. Various type of machines or equipments commonly used in industry, such as machines equipped with programmable logic controllers, machines controlled with logic relays or machines controlled manually, may be used with this invention. Examples of machines or industrial equipments as mentioned above include a computer numerical control machine, a cutting machine, a plastic molding machine and so on. Surely this invention can be used in controlling one or more machines. However, for the sake of illustrating the invention, there are shown only three industrial machines (40a, 40b and 40c) in Figure 2.

Each of the machines (40a, 40b and 40c) is connected to one respective remote terminal unit (10) already provided with a programmable logic capability. With this programmable logic capability, each remote terminal unit (10) is able to control the operation of its respective machine (40a, 40b or 40c) according to certain commands designated to the machine and is also capable to display information regarding the machine's operation condition, for example on a 7-segment display device or a dot-matrix display device (14) . Each of those remote terminal units (10) is also provided with an ethernet port (designated as reference numeral 13 in Figure 3) to establish a full- duplex communication (sending and receiving data in the same time) with the data collecting computer unit (20) .

The data collecting computer unit (20) mainly functions to serve the remote terminal units (10), i.e. to present, request and process data relating to the operation of the machines (40a, 40b or 40c) each controlled by its respective remote terminal unit (10) . The data collecting computer unit (20) according to the present invention is designed to have a capability to communicate through a telecommunications network, for example through an internet network. In relation to this, the data collecting computer unit (20) will include at least a web server (26) , a hypertext processor application program (24) provided with a script page, and a database (22) . The data collecting computer unit (20) can be accessed by a data visualization computer unit (30) through an internet network (50) . Accordingly, the data visualization computer unit (30) should be equipped with, among other things, a display device (32), a web browser (34) like Mozilla Firefox for example, which is able to support Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XMLHTTP) (33) and/or Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) program (35) to display information on an online basis.

The data collecting computer unit (20) and the data visualization computer unit (30) may be in the form of a personal computer, such as a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet PC or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in each of which has been installed a web browser and a Hypertext Preprocessor suitable for an online access through the internet. According to this embodiment of the invention, the softwares used for the web server (24) and for the hypertext processor application program (24) used with the data collecting computer unit (20) are all free softwares and this makes the system according to this invention becoming much less expensive compared to conventional systems using commercially licensed softwares. As one example, the web server (24) may use Apache, the database may use MySQL and the hypertext processor application program (24) may use Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) .

The components or features of the web-based data acquisition and control system according to the present invention will be explained herein below in more detail with reference to Figure 3.

Each remote terminal unit (10) attached to an industrial machine consists of

a) a microcontroller device (12) having a data receiving register (12a) and a data sending register (12b), wherein the microcontroller has a programmable logic capability so that it is able to control and manipulate the registers like what a small programmable logic controller normally would do, b) an ethernet port (13) which is connectable to a data collecting computer unit (20) and is able to establish a full-duplex communication between the remote terminal unit (10) and the data collecting computer unit (20),

c) a digital input port (15) having a function to receive input in the form of digital input signals representing among other things the operation condition of the industrial machines (40a, 40b or 40c) , information that a product has been completed, supporting calls to maintenance technician or supervisor, and other information, d) an analog input port (17b) having a function to receive data in the form of analog signals,

e) a digital output port (11) for outputting digital data, control activations and operation indicators of the industrial machine status (40a, 40b or 40c) and other information, and

f) a serial port (17a) having a function to send suitable information regarding the operation condition of the industrial machine status (40a, 40b or 40c) to a 7-segment display device or a dot-matrix display device, or to receive serial data inputs.

The digital signal input supplied to the digital input port (15) includes signals, for example, representing conditions as follows: a condition indicating that the machine is not in operation (idle) , a condition indicating that the machine is in operation (running) , a condition indicating that the machine has malfunction (fault), a product has been completed by the machine, and information regarding a model being processed by the machine (40a, 40b or 40c), or supporting calling signal to maintenance technician or supervisor. The digital signal output from the digital output port (11) may comprise, for example, control activations and operation indicators of the machine (40a, 40b or 40c) and other information.

The data collecting computer unit (20) at least includes a web server (26) having a function to serve the remote terminal units (10), a hypertext processor application program (24) provided with a script page, and a database (22) . The communication between the data collecting computer unit (20) and the remote terminal unit (10) takes place according to the principle of client/server through the ethernet port (13) and data channels (10a, 10b) . By this principle, the remote terminal unit (10) will serve as a client, whereas the data collecting computer unit (20) will serve as a server. The web server (26) provides a script page created by the hypertext processor application program (24) . The script page is provided for use in inputting, requesting and processing the data regarding the operation condition or operation indicator of the industrial machine (40a, 40b or 40c) . The database (22) has a function to store all the data and their changes that occurrred during the process of controlling the machine operations (40a, 40b or 40c) . As described previously, the data comprise signals that may represent a condition where a machine is not in operation, a condition where a machine is in operation, a condition where a machine is in malfunction, a product has been completed by a machine, information regarding the model being processed by a machine, and/or a supporting calling signal to maintenance technician or supervisor. In accordance to this invention, the microcontroller device (12) is programmed in such a manner that the remote terminal unit (10) will serve as a web client and actively access the web server (26) at the data collecting computer unit (20) in order to send the latest operation data of the machine (40a, 40b or 40c) and receives response data, as a reply from the server, which is then propagated to the machine (40a, 40b or 40c) for activating control as required.

The data visualization computer unit (30) is connectable by wire or wireless to the data collecting computer unit (20) . However, it is preferred that the two computer units are connected to each other by an internet network (50) . Therefore, in addition to have a display device (32) the computer unit (30) should also have a web browser (34), like Mozilla Firefox, that supports Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) AJAX (33) and/or Cascading Style Sheet (35) to enable displaying information on online basis from the web server (26) located on the data collecting computer unit (20) .

Below will be explained how the web-based data acquisition and control system according to the present invention will work.

The microcontroller device (12) at the remote terminal unit (10) is programmed in such a way that it propagates to the corresponding data sending register (12b) signals representing the operation condition and the activation of the machine (40a, 40b, 40c) and other information as described previously. In this embodiment of the invention, a signal designating that a product has been completed by a machine is used as actual counter. A signal having a value of 0 at the data sending register (12b) , for example, represents a condition where a product has not been completed (finished) by a machine (40a, 40b or 40c) while signal of value 1 represents a condition where a product has been completed. The remote terminal unit (10) is programmed in such a manner that if there is no change in status value at the corresponding data sending register (12b) the remote terminal unit (10) will not send any data to the data collecting computer unit (20) . Conversely, if there is a change in the status value at the corresponding data sending register (12b) , the new value will immediately be sent to the data collecting computer unit (20) .

At the time of sending the data, the remote terminal unit (10) will act as a web client and accesses a PHP script for processing a form (or a page) already prepared in the web server (26) and provides the name of the corresponding remote terminal unit (10) and the content of the data sending register (12b) undergoing a change as a parameter. The PHP Script will process the content of the data sending register (12b) which it has received and stores the content in the database (22) . Afterwards the PHP script will give a return value to the corresponding remote terminal unit (10) . The return value will be written to the data receiving register (12a) . The return value may, for example, include values used in representing or commanding the turning-on or turning-off of indicator lamps, representing the name of the model currently being processed by the machine, representing actual counter, representing planning counter and so on. The values or these representations could be displayed on a 7-segment display device or a dot-matrix display device (14) . The remote terminal units (10) will then control the operation of their respective industrial machines (40a, 40b or 40c) on the basis of the return value.

Considering the description and the accompanying drawings set out above, the data obtainment that would normally be rather complex and require expensive application softwares when using conventional systems is now becoming easier and less expensive by using the system as proposed in the invention wherein free standard application softwares are used instead of those commercially licensed softwares.

Incorporating a web protocol in the system according to the present invention allows data acquisition and control system to perform with a good reliability and a good tolerance to any possible interruption in the communication network used in the system. Additionally, using a web protocol allows the data acquisition and control system according to the invention to be deployed from a quite far distance provided there is an internet connection at the sites. Accordingly, the invention is also very suitable for use in a remote sensing context

The web protocol that is based on text file allows a standard PLC having an ethernet connection to be programmed and functioned as a web client. Accordingly, various types of PLCs can be connected to the system according to this invention to gain data and thereby act as the remote terminal unit according to the present invention. For any industrial machine or equipment which is not able to be functioned as a web client, a remote terminal unit (10) can be attached or installed to it so that the machine or equipment can be connected to this system and thereby data can be obtained from the machine or equipment in a standard form.

Since each remote terminal unit (10) acts as a web client which actively send its data to the web server (26) , and differs from the SCADA system which would normally be carried out in a top-down way because all things should be designed in detail from the start, the present system is now able to be implemented in a bottom- up way, wherein the addition of one or more remote terminal units (10) will be easily handled. Viewing from the data collecting computer unit (20) side of the system, the additional remote terminal units (10) will be regarded as new web clients each with a different machine's or equipment's identification accessing the server (the data collecting computer unit) , sending input data and receiving output data as a reply.

The remote terminal unit (10) can be programmed to enable it to send its data to the web server (26) only whenever there is a change in its status (this is different from the conventional SCADA system wherein the server will periodically poll each remote terminal unit) . As a result, the use of communication bandwidth becomes efficient, and thus the system still has a high performance even though there are many remote terminal units (10) connected or added to the system.

Additionally, the processing of the data received from the remote terminal unit (10) that would normally be complicated and require a knowledge of software application for data acquisition used with conventional system such as SCADA, now becomes easier to do with the system according to the invention since the present system uses script programming which is a standard for web programming.

In the foregoing, the embodiments of the invention has been previously described by referring to some examples of embodiments including parts, components, features or characteristics as specified in the outset paragraphs. However, the embodiments as described above are not intended to make limitation to the scope of the present invention. After reading the above description the person skilled in the art will be surely able to make any modifications or variations to the exemplary embodiments without having to depart from the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention itself is defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A system of web-based data acquisition and control, wherein the system comprises:

a) one or more industrial machines or equipments (40a, 40b and/or 40c) each having its own programmable logic controller, or each being controlled by a relay logic or controlled manually,

b) one or more remote terminal units (10) each located on one of the industrial machines (40a, 40b or 40c) and provided with

bl) a microcontroller device (12) having a capability to control and manipulate registers like what a programmable logic controller would do, and equipped with a data sending register (12b) and a data receiving register (12a) ,

b2) an ethernet port (13) connectable to a data collecting computer (20),

b3) a digital input port (15) for receiving digital input signals representing, among other things, the operation condition of an industrial machine

(40a, 40b or 40c) , information that a product has been completed by the industrial machine, supporting calls to maintenance technician or supervisor, and other information,

b4) an analog input port (17b) having a function to receive data in the form of analog signals, b5) a digital output port (11) for outputting digital data, control activations and operation indicators of the industrial machine status (40a, 40b or 40c) and other information, and

b6) a serial port (17a) having a function to send a suitable information regarding the operation condition of the industrial machine status (40a, 40b or 40c) to 7-segment display device or dot- matrix display device, or to receive serial data inputs,

c) a data collecting computer (20) which includes at least a web server (26) serving the remote terminal units (10), a hypertext processor application program (24) associated with a script page for use in inputting, requesting and processing data regarding the operation condition or the operation indicator of an industrial machine (40a, 40b or 40c), and a database (22),

wherein each of those remote terminal units (10) acts as a web client and actively accesses the script page stored in the web server (26) in order to send data to be processed by the hypertext processor application program (24) and then receives response data as a reply from the web server (26) .

2. System of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in claim 1 wherein the remote terminal units (10) each provided in one of the respective industrial machines (40a, 40b or 40c) and the data collecting computer unit (20) are situated in positions far away from each other with a distance of up to several kilometers .

3. System of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the database (22) is a MySQL server and the web server (26) is an Apache HTTP Server and the server-side scripting language is PHP Hypertext Preprocessor which all are free softwares.

4. System of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in one of claims 1 to 3 is further provided with a computer unit for data visualization (30) connected by wire or wireless to the data collecting computer unit (20) , wherein the data visualization computer unit (30) includes at least one web browser (34) and one display device (32) and also uses a PHP AJAX to display information on an online basis.

5. System of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the data collecting computer unit (20) and the data visualization computer unit (30) are in the form of personal computers, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a PC tablet or a Personal Digital Assistant unit.

6. A method of web-based data acquisition and control for use in implementing the system as claimed in preceding claims, wherein the method comprises:

a) the microcontroller device (12) sends signals representing the operation condition and the activation of the machine (40a, 40b, 40c) as well as other information to the data sending register (12b) provided in the remote terminal unit (10),

b) the remote terminal unit (10) accesses the web server (26) if only there is a change of status value in its corresponding data sending register (12b) and thereby requests a PHP script to process a form already generated in the web server (26) ,

c) the remote terminal unit (10) provides the name of the remote terminal unit (10) and the content of the data sending register (12b) undergoing a change of status value,

d) the PHP script processes the content of the data sending register (12b) previously received and stores the processed data into the database (22) and subsequently presents "return values" to the remote terminal unit (10) , wherein the return values including the values used for representing or commanding the turning-on of certain indicators, a name of the model being processed by the machine, the actual counter, the plan counter and so forth, e) writes the return values into the data receiving register ( 12a) ,

f) the remote terminal unit (10) controls the operation of the industrial machine (40a, 40b or 40c) in accordance with the return values.

7. Method of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in claim 6 wherein the return values as referred to in said above step d) are displayed on the 7- segment display device or dot-matrix display device.

8. Method of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in claim 6 or 7 wherein said providing the name and said providing the data as referred to in said above step c) are based on the content of the script determined by the hypertext processor application program (24) in the web server (26).

9. Method of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in one of the claims 6 to 8 wherein said providing the name and said providing the data as referred to in said above step c) can be implemented with computers which might be in the form of a personal computer provided with a web browser and connected through an internet network to the data collecting computer unit (20) .

10. Method of web-based data acquisition and control as claimed in one of the claims 6 to 9 wherein the overall of the data obtainment and controlling activities can be conducted online by using a computer unit which might be in the form of a personal computer provided with a web browser and connected through an internet network to the data collecting computer unit (20) .