JP2010191571A - Simulator construction device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To construct a simulator, using a comparatively easy operation. <P>SOLUTION: This simulator construction device includes an interface specification information storage part 17a storing interface specification information; an interface pattern information storage part 17b storing interface pattern information; a simulator interface information storage part 17c storing simulator interface information; a classification code setting part 11a extracting a classification code corresponding to a pattern of an interface signal, included in the interface specification information, based on the interface pattern information, and making the interface specification information storage part 17a storing the classification code; an interface signal information extracting part 11b extracting interface signal information associated with the classification code, based on the simulator interface information; and an interface changeover part 11c rewriting input/output destination information, based on the interface signal information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a simulator construction device.

  In general, when manufacturing a control device that controls plant equipment and delivering it to a customer, the control device provider should operate normally before connecting to the actual plant equipment and starting actual operation. It is often the case that an operation test is performed using a simulator that simulates plant equipment on a computer.

  Thus, in order to test the operation of a control device using a simulator, in order to establish communication between the control device and the simulator, interface signals with individual plant devices to be controlled are transferred to the simulator for each plant device. It is necessary to switch the connection to the interface signal.

  However, extracting the interface signals that need to be switched to the simulator from all the interface signals of the target plant equipment and switching them to the interface signals with the simulator is quite cumbersome and troublesome for the operator. A considerable amount of time was spent building the test environment.

  Moreover, in order to increase the effect of the operation test by the simulator, it is necessary to match the response of the individual plant equipment by the simulator with the response of the actual plant equipment. Setting detailed specification information for each simulator to the simulator is a cumbersome and time-consuming work, and as a result, this has been a factor of reducing the test accuracy by the simulator.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, a simulation for verifying a virtual sequence control system composed of an execution model, a controlled object model, and a PLC sequence program file by a test program is executed, and the result of the simulation is stored in a predetermined state of the CRT display device. And a verification support system that performs debugging on the display area.

JP-A-8-54907

  However, in the verification support system described in Patent Document 1, since the simulation result is displayed in the display area and debugging is performed on the display area, the interface signal switching operation is performed based on the input operation by the operator. As a result, the connection switching operation is still cumbersome and time-consuming, and a considerable amount of time was spent building the test environment.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a simulator construction apparatus that constructs a simulator with a relatively simple operation.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first feature of the simulator construction device according to the present invention indicates an interface signal for communicating with a plant device or a simulator for simulating the plant device, and an input / output destination of the interface signal. Input / output destination information is associated and stored as interface information, and is a simulator construction device connected to a control device that controls the plant equipment or the simulator based on the interface information, and is included in the interface information An interface specification information storage unit that stores interface specification information in which interface signals and input / output destination information are arranged for each classification of the plant equipment, and a classification that indicates the classification of the plant equipment for each pattern of the interface signal Related code Therefore, an interface pattern information storage unit for storing interface pattern information, the interface signal for communicating with the simulator, the input / output destination information, and the classification code are associated with each other and stored as simulator interface information. Based on the interface information storage unit and the interface pattern information, the classification code corresponding to the interface signal pattern included in the interface specification information is extracted, and the extracted classification code is extracted from the interface signal and the input / output The classification code setting means stored in the interface specification information storage unit in association with the destination information, and the classification code stored by the classification code setting means based on the simulator interface information is Included in the interface information based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extracting means and the interface signal information extracting means for extracting the interface signal and the input / output destination information linked together as interface signal information There is provided interface switching means for rewriting the input / output destination information from a code indicating the plant equipment to a code indicating the simulator.

  In order to achieve the above object, a second feature of the simulator construction device according to the present invention is that the simulator interface information storage unit communicates with the simulator, the interface signal, the input / output destination information, and the classification. The code and parameters necessary for the simulator to execute simulation are associated and stored as simulator interface information, and the interface signal information extracting means is stored by the classification code setting means based on the simulator interface information The interface signal, the input / output destination information, and the parameter associated with the classified code are extracted as interface signal information, based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit, A parameter setting means for setting the parameters to the serial simulator is to further comprise.

  According to the simulator construction device of the present invention, a simulator can be constructed by a relatively simple operation.

It is a whole lineblock diagram showing the whole plant composition to which the simulator construction device concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention was applied. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the simulator construction apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the interface specification information stored in the interface specification information storage part with which the simulator construction apparatus concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention is provided. It is the figure which showed an example of the interface pattern information which the interface pattern information storage part with which the simulator construction apparatus concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention is provided memorize | stores. It is a figure showing an example of simulator interface information which a simulator interface information storage part with which a simulator construction device concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention is provided memorizes. It is the figure which showed typically the structure of CPU with which the simulator construction apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention is provided. It is a flowchart which shows the effect | action of the simulator construction apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which demonstrated typically the structure of the simulator construction apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the simulator interface information which the simulator interface information storage part with which the simulator construction apparatus concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention is provided memorize | stores. It is a flowchart which shows the effect | action of the simulator construction apparatus based on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
An overall configuration of a plant to which the simulator construction device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described.

≪Overall structure≫
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a plant 10 to which a simulator construction device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a plant 10 to which the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment is applied includes a simulator construction device 1, a plant device 2, a control device 3, and a simulator 4.

  The plant equipment 2 is various plant equipment in an actual plant, and includes an actuator that is a control target of the control device 3, a sensor that detects a process value that indicates a process state such as equipment movement, temperature, and pressure.

  The control device 3 controls the plant equipment 2 or the simulator 4. Moreover, the control apparatus 3 has memorize | stored the interface information with which the interface signal for communicating with the plant apparatus 2 or the simulator 4 and the input / output destination information which shows the input / output destination of an interface signal were linked | related. The control device 3 controls either the plant equipment 2 or the simulator 4 by establishing communication with either the plant equipment 2 or the simulator 4 based on the stored interface information.

  The input / output destination information is set to any one of “I / O” which is a code indicating the plant device 2, “SIM” which is a code indicating the simulator 4, and “PLC” which is a code indicating the control device 3. Is done. For example, when “I / O” is set as input / output destination information, the control device 3 accepts an interface signal from the plant equipment 2 and when “SIM” is set as input / output destination information, the control device 3 3 accepts an interface signal from the simulator 4.

  The simulator 4 performs simulation of the plant equipment 2. More specifically, various simulation values are supplied to the control device 3 as a response to the control signal by executing arithmetic processing using the dynamic characteristic model based on the control signal supplied from the control device 3.

  The simulator construction device 1 is connected to the control device 3 and the simulator 4, and establishes communication between the control device 3 and the simulator 4 and quickly constructs a simulator test environment without complicated operations by the user. To do.

<< Configuration of simulator construction device 1 >>
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the simulator construction device 1 includes a CPU 11, a memory 12, an interface unit 14, an input unit 15, an output unit 16, and a hard disk 17.

  The memory 12 is composed of a volatile semiconductor or the like, and the CPU 11 temporarily stores various programs such as an OS (Operating System) and a simulator construction program, and various data necessary for executing these programs.

  The interface unit 14 is a communication interface such as a network card. By connecting to the control device 3 and the simulator 4 through the interface unit 14, various data is transmitted and received between the control device 3 and the simulator 4.

  The input unit 15 includes an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard, generates an input signal by a user operation, and supplies the input signal to the CPU 11.

  The output unit 16 includes an image output device such as a liquid crystal display, and displays a screen or the like based on an output signal supplied from the CPU 11.

  The hard disk 17 includes an interface specification information storage unit 17a, an interface pattern information storage unit 17b, and a simulator interface information storage unit 17c.

  The interface specification information storage unit 17 a stores interface specification information in which interface signals and input / output destination information included in the interface information stored in the control device 3 are arranged for each classification of the plant equipment 2.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of interface specification information stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a included in the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the column name “equipment name” (reference numeral 101), the column name “interface signal” (reference numeral 102), the column name “input / output destination information” (reference numeral 103), and the column name “classification code”. "(Reference numeral 104) is associated and stored as interface specification information. The equipment name 101, the interface signal 102, and the input / output destination information 103 indicate that the equipment name, the interface signal, and the input / output destination information included in the interface information are classified according to the user operation. The classification code 104 is stored in association with the equipment name 101, the interface signal 102, and the input / output destination information 103 by a classification code setting unit 11a of the CPU 11 described later.

  The interface pattern information storage unit 17b associates a classification code for each interface signal pattern and stores it as interface pattern information.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of interface pattern information stored in the interface pattern information storage unit 17b included in the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the column name “interface signal” (reference numeral 201), the column name “input / output destination” (reference numeral 202), and the column name “classification code” (reference numeral 203) are associated with each other to form an interface pattern. It is stored as information.

  The simulator interface information storage unit 17c associates an interface signal for communicating with the simulator 4, input / output destination information, and a classification code, and stores them as simulator interface information.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of simulator interface information stored in the simulator interface information storage unit 17c included in the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the column name “classification code” (reference numeral 301), the column name “interface signal” (reference numeral 302), and the column name “input / output destination” (reference numeral 303) are associated with each other, and the simulator interface It is stored as information. Here, the interface signal 302 and the input / output destination 303 for communicating with the simulator 4 are referred to as interface signal information.

  The CPU 11 performs central control of the simulator construction device 1. Further, the CPU 11 includes a classification code setting unit 11a, an interface signal information extraction unit 11b, and an interface switching unit 11c in terms of its functions.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the CPU 11 provided in the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Based on the interface pattern information stored in the interface pattern information storage unit 17b, the classification code setting unit 11a extracts a classification code corresponding to the interface signal pattern that matches the interface signal pattern included in the interface specification information. The extracted classification code is stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a in association with the interface signal and the input / output destination information.

  Based on the simulator interface information stored in the simulator interface information storage unit 17c, the interface signal information extraction unit 11b outputs an interface signal and input / output destination information associated with the classification code stored by the classification code setting unit 11a as an interface signal. Extract as information.

  Based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11b, the interface switching unit 11c obtains input / output destination information associated with an interface signal for controlling the plant equipment 2 from a code indicating the plant equipment 2. Rewrite the code to show the simulator 4.

<< Operation of simulator construction device 1 >>
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the simulator construction device 1 according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the CPU 11 of the simulator construction device 1 generates interface specification information (step S101). Specifically, based on the operation signal supplied from the input unit 15 by the user's operation, the CPU 11 extracts the equipment name, interface signal, and input / output destination from the interface information stored in the control device 3. Then, interface specification information is generated by rearranging interface signals and input / output destinations for each equipment name, and the generated interface specification information is stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a. At this time, no classification code is input.

  Next, the classification code setting unit 11a of the CPU 11 determines the interface signal included in the interface specification information stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a based on the interface pattern information stored in the interface pattern information storage unit 17b. A classification code corresponding to the pattern of the interface signal that matches the pattern is extracted (step S102). For example, “position detection sensor”, “motor operation command”, “motor speed reference”, “motor speed record” which are patterns of the interface signal 102 classified into the equipment name 101 included in the interface specification information shown in FIG. ”,“ Manual operation (forward rotation) ”, and“ manual operation (reverse rotation) ”are extracted from the interface pattern information stored in the interface pattern information storage unit 17b shown in FIG. “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, and “AA”, which are classification codes 203 associated with the extracted interface signal pattern, are extracted.

  Next, the classification code setting unit 11a stores the extracted classification code in the interface specification information storage unit 17a in association with the interface signal and the input / output destination information (step S103). Specifically, the classification code setting unit 11a sets “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, “AA”, which are the classification codes 203 extracted in step S102, to the classification code 104. Are stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a in association with the equipment name 101, the interface signal 102, and the input / output destination information 103.

  Next, the control device 3 is designed and manufactured (step S104). For example, a control program or the like executed by the control device 3 is created by a user operation, and the created control program is installed in the control device 3 to manufacture the control device 3.

  Next, the interface signal information extraction unit 11b of the CPU 11 extracts the classification code stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a in step S103 (step S105).

  Then, the interface signal information extraction unit 11b extracts the interface signal and input / output destination information associated with the classification code extracted in step S105 as interface signal information based on the simulator interface information (step S106). For example, the interface signal information extraction unit 11b is the interface signal 302 associated with the classification code 301 that matches the classification code 104 “AA” extracted in step S105 from the simulator interface information illustrated in FIG. “Position detection sensor”, “Motor operation command”, “Motor speed reference”, “Motor speed record”, and “SIM”, “PLC”, “PLC”, and “SIM” which are input / output destination information 303, Extracted as interface signal information.

  Next, the interface switching unit 11c of the CPU 11 converts the input / output destination information associated with the interface signal for controlling the plant device 2 based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11b, to the plant device. The code indicating 2 is rewritten to the code indicating the simulator 4 (step S107). For example, the interface switching unit 11 c is a code indicating the simulator 4 from “I / O” which is a code indicating the plant equipment 2 among the input / output destination information included in the interface information stored in the control device 3. Rewrite as “SIM”.

  Thereby, the control apparatus 3 controls the simulator 4 by establishing communication with the simulator 4 based on interface information.

  As described above, according to the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the classification code setting unit 11a is based on the interface pattern information stored in the interface pattern information storage unit 17b. A classification code corresponding to the pattern of the interface signal included in the information is extracted, the extracted classification code is associated with the interface signal and the input / output destination information, and stored in the interface specification information storage unit 17a, and the interface signal information extraction unit 11b extracts the interface signal and the input / output destination information associated with the classification code stored by the classification code setting unit 11a as interface signal information based on the simulator interface information stored in the simulator interface information storage unit 17c. The interface switching unit 11c converts the input / output destination information associated with the interface signal for controlling the plant device 2 based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11b into a code indicating the plant device 2 Therefore, the communication between the control device 3 and the simulator 4 can be established and the operation test environment of the simulator 4 can be quickly constructed without complicated operations by the user.

<Second Embodiment>
In the first embodiment, the control device 3 and the simulator 4 are rewritten by rewriting the input / output destination information associated with the interface signal for controlling the plant device 2 from the code indicating the plant device 2 to the code indicating the simulator 4. The plant 10 to which the simulator construction device 1 that establishes communication with the plant is applied has been described as an example.

  In the second embodiment, a plant to which the simulator construction device 1A for setting the parameters of the simulator 4 is further applied will be described as an example.

≪Configuration≫
The overall configuration of the plant to which the simulator construction device 1A according to the second embodiment of the present invention is applied is that of the plant 10 to which the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is applied. Since it is the same as the whole structure, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Similar to the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the simulator construction device 1A according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a CPU 11A, a memory 12, an interface unit 14, and an input unit 15. The output unit 16 and the hard disk 17A are provided, and the memory 12, the interface unit 14, the input unit 15, and the output unit 16 are respectively provided in the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Since it is the same as the structure to which the same code | symbol was attached | subjected, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a simulator construction device 1A according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The hard disk 17A includes an interface specification information storage unit 17a, an interface pattern information storage unit 17b, and a simulator interface information storage unit 17d. Here, the interface specification information storage unit 17a and the interface pattern information storage unit 17b have the same configurations with the same reference numerals provided in the hard disk 17 of the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Since there is, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The simulator interface information storage unit 17d associates an interface signal for communicating with the simulator 4, input / output destination information, a classification code, and parameters necessary for the simulator 4 to execute a simulation, as simulator interface information. Remember.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of simulator interface information stored in the simulator interface information storage unit 17d included in the simulator construction device 1A according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the column name “classification code” (reference numeral 301), the column name “interface signal” (reference numeral 302), the column name “input / output destination” (reference numeral 303), and the column name “parameter” ( 304) is associated with each other and stored as simulator interface information. Here, the interface signal 302 and the input / output destination 303 for communicating with the simulator 4 are referred to as interface signal information.

  Here, the parameter 304 is a setting value necessary for the simulator 4 to execute the simulation. For example, when the simulator 4 has a cylinder dynamic characteristic model, the inner diameter of the cylinder is set by this parameter. The In the example illustrated in FIG. 9, the parameter 304 is associated with two parameters of the parameter 1 and the parameter 2 for one interface signal 302. However, the number of parameters is not limited to two, but may be one or three or more.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the CPU 11A includes a classification code setting unit 11a, an interface signal information extraction unit 11d, an interface switching unit 11c, and a parameter setting unit 11e in terms of its functions. Here, the classification code setting unit 11a and the interface switching unit 11c are the same as the configurations with the same reference numerals provided in the CPU 11 of the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Omitted.

  The interface signal information extraction unit 11d extracts, as interface signal information, an interface signal, input / output destination information, and parameters associated with the classification code stored by the classification code setting unit 11a based on the simulator interface information.

  The parameter setting unit 11e sets parameters in the simulator 4 based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11d.

<< Operation of simulator construction device 1 >>
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the simulator construction device 1A according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  Here, the processing of steps S101 to S105 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 is the processing of steps S101 to S105 in the flowchart showing the operation of the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. Since it is the same, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As illustrated in FIG. 10, the interface signal information extraction unit 11d of the CPU 11A displays the interface signal, input / output destination information, and parameters associated with the classification code extracted in step S105 based on the simulator interface information. (Step S206). For example, the interface signal information extraction unit 11d is the interface signal 302 associated with the classification code 301 that matches the classification code 104 “AA” extracted in step S105 from the simulator interface information illustrated in FIG. “Position detection sensor”, “Motor operation command”, “Motor speed reference”, “Motor speed record”, and “SIM”, “PLC”, “PLC”, and “SIM” as input / output destination information 303, The parameters 304 “12.125”, “600”, and “1.275” are extracted as interface signal information.

  Next, the interface switching unit 11c of the CPU 11 converts the input / output destination information associated with the interface signal for controlling the plant device 2 based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11d, into the plant device. The code indicating 2 is rewritten to the code indicating the simulator 4 (step S207). For example, the interface switching unit 11 c is a code indicating the simulator 4 from “I / O” which is a code indicating the plant equipment 2 among the input / output destination information included in the interface information stored in the control device 3. Rewrite as “SIM”.

  Thereby, the control apparatus 3 controls the simulator 4 by establishing communication with the simulator 4 based on interface information.

  Next, the parameter setting unit 11e sets parameters in the simulator 4 based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11d (step S208). For example, the parameter setting unit 11 e sets “12.125” to the simulator 4 as the parameter 304 related to the “position detection sensor” that is the interface signal 302.

  As described above, according to the simulator construction device 1A according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the simulator interface information storage unit 17d communicates with the simulator 4, the interface signal, the input / output destination information, and the classification code. And the parameters necessary for the simulator 4 to execute the simulation are stored as simulator interface information, and the interface signal information extraction unit 11d is stored by the classification code setting unit 11a based on the simulator interface information. The interface signal associated with the classification code, the input / output destination information, and the parameter are extracted as interface signal information, and the parameter setting unit 11e is based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction unit 11d. Since the parameters are set in the emulator 4, in addition to the effects of the simulator construction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the user can appropriately set the parameters of the simulator 4 without performing the parameter input operation of the simulator 4. Can be set to

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,1A ... Simulator construction apparatus 2 ... Plant equipment 3 ... Control apparatus 4 ... Simulator 10 ... Plant 11, 11A ... CPU
11a: Classification code setting unit 11b, 11d ... Interface signal information extraction unit 11c ... Interface switching unit 11e ... Parameter setting unit 12 ... Memory 14 ... Interface unit 15 ... Input unit 16 ... Output unit 17, 17A ... Hard disk 17a ... Interface specification Information storage unit 17b ... Interface pattern information storage unit 17c ... Simulator interface information storage unit 17d ... Simulator interface information storage unit

Claims (2)

An interface signal for communicating with a plant device or a simulator for simulating the plant device, and input / output destination information indicating the input / output destination of the interface signal are associated and stored as interface information, and based on this interface information A simulator construction apparatus connected to a control apparatus for controlling the plant equipment or the simulator,
An interface specification information storage unit that stores interface specification information in which the interface signal and input / output destination information included in the interface information are arranged for each classification of the plant equipment;
An interface pattern information storage unit that associates a classification code indicating the classification of the plant equipment and stores it as interface pattern information for each pattern of the interface signal;
A simulator interface information storage unit that associates the interface signal for communicating with the simulator, the input / output destination information, and the classification code, and stores it as simulator interface information;
Based on the interface pattern information, the classification code corresponding to the interface signal pattern included in the interface specification information is extracted, and the extracted classification code is associated with the interface signal and the input / output destination information. Classification code setting means to be stored in the interface specification information storage unit,
Interface signal information extracting means for extracting the interface signal and the input / output destination information associated with the classification code stored by the classification code setting means as interface signal information based on the simulator interface information;
Based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extraction means, the interface switching means for rewriting the input / output destination information included in the interface information from a code indicating the plant equipment to a code indicating the simulator;
A simulator construction device comprising: The simulator interface information storage unit
Associating the interface signal for communicating with the simulator, the input / output destination information, the classification code, and a parameter necessary for the simulator to execute simulation, and storing it as simulator interface information,
The interface signal information extraction means includes
Based on the simulator interface information, the interface signal associated with the classification code stored by the classification code setting means, the input / output destination information, and the parameter are extracted as interface signal information,
The simulator construction device according to claim 1, further comprising parameter setting means for setting the parameter in the simulator based on the interface signal information extracted by the interface signal information extracting means.

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