JPH03257509A - Plant operation control device and its display method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a plant operation and control device, and particularly to a plant operation and control device that is suitable for beginners and unskilled persons to operate a plant in an easy and accurate manner. Regarding the display method.

[Conventional technology]

During the initial stages of plant operation or during operations under abnormal conditions that occur only occasionally, operators operate the plant while referring to the operating manual.

However, carrying out the actual operations with a paper manual in hand means that the operator's attention is divided between the plant and the manual, which can lead to operational errors. It is very troublesome to search for desired information in the manual when an emergency operation is required. Recently, manuals have become electronic and can be viewed on a display, but if you try to refer to the manual while actually driving, you will encounter almost the same problems as with paper manuals.

On the other hand, many systems have a driving guidance function that displays the next operation the operator should perform in the form of a message on the display and guides the operator. You cannot drive with guidance alone.

Furthermore, creating easy-to-understand driving guidance requires a large amount of program development, resulting in an expensive system. Furthermore, in large-scale system development, the basic designer and program developer are separated, so the contents of the driving guidance may differ from the designer's intentions, resulting in incorrect guidance.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, the system is designed on the premise that the act of referring to a manual and the act of operating the plant are independent acts. For this reason, it is difficult to refer to the manual when operating the plant, and a problem arises in that operations may be performed without reference to the manual.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system that enables plant operations to be performed in accordance with the operation manual and error-free operation.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to display a plant operation manual on a display device and execute a certain step of the operating procedure described in the operation manual by simply specifying the step using the specifying means. By configuring the plant operation command to be automatically output to the plant to be controlled, the plant operation command can be distantly related.

Furthermore, the above object is achieved by displaying a plant operation manual on a display device and executing a block with a sequence diagram described in the operation manual by simply specifying the block using a specifying means. A distant relation can also be achieved by configuring a configuration in which plant operation commands corresponding to the indicated operating equipment are automatically output to the plant to be controlled.

Furthermore, the purpose of the display direction is to display a plant operation manual on a display device, select an operation step in the operation manual, and automatically output an operation command corresponding to the operation step to the plant. By displaying the steps separately from other steps, or by displaying the plant operation manual on the display device and selecting the operation step in the operation manual, the operation command corresponding to the operation step is automatically issued. By displaying the operation step that can be or should be selected next when the output is output to the plant and distinguishing it from other operation steps, distant relatives can be displayed.

[For production]

A driver's manual is something that beginners and non-experts always refer to. In addition to showing the operating procedures of the plant in the form of flowcharts and the like, this operation manual contains many written explanations, and a lot of useful information for unskilled users is described systematically and item by item. Therefore, as long as this operation manual is followed, even unskilled personnel can operate the plant with confidence. Therefore, in the present invention, the electronic driving operation manual has been further devised so that by specifying a step in the displayed operation procedure, the corresponding operation command is automatically output. You can easily operate the plant without being conscious of plant operation, and the operation is in accordance with the operation manual.
Erroneous operations are eliminated.

In addition, when displaying, the step for which an operation command has been output, the next step to be specified, etc. can be differentiated and displayed, making it possible to guide the user to the procedure according to the manual, further avoiding the occurrence of erroneous operations. .

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a display, 2 is a keyboard, 3 is a mouse, 4 is a plant operation processing device, and 5 is a plant to be operated. Furthermore, 401 is an interaction processing unit that processes manual display processing and operator input;
A storage device 403 stores a manual 404 and operation command information 405. As is well known, the mouse 3 has a function of controlling the position of a cursor 101 (arrow) on the screen.

The mouse 3 is equipped with a button 301. When the user presses the button 301, that information (commonly called an "event") is communicated to the software within the computer.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which a manual 404 is displayed on the display 1. In the middle of this manual 404, operating procedures at the time of plant startup are described. Each rectangle surrounded by a rectangle represents each step of the operation. The manual 404 is basically document information and is composed of text, figures, tables, and the like. Therefore, this manual information is created using a document editing function such as a word processor, but the method of editing and storing document information is well known and is not directly related to the essence of the present invention, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

FIG. 3 shows operation command information 405 corresponding to each step in FIG. COMI, C0M2, etc. in FIG. 3 are names representing operation steps, and are hereinafter referred to as "operation item names." The part following the operation item name represents a specific operation command (operation command in this embodiment). For example, the operation command information for C0M1 is “Master switch (m
aster 5w1ch) on (power on)
It represents the command "Do whatever you want."

FIG. 4 shows how the plant is started using the manual shown in FIG. 2. Use mouse 3 for operation instructions
Do this using That is, when the operator uses the mouse 3 to move the cursor 101 on the screen to a target step and presses the mouse button 301, the event is transmitted to the interaction processing unit 401. The interaction processing unit 401 proceeds with the process assuming that the operation step under the cursor 101 has been selected. For example, if you move the cursor over the first step (more precisely, inside the rectangle surrounding it) and press mouse button 301, the corresponding COM
Take out the operation command of I (Fig. 3) and send it to plant 5.
send to Plant 5 completes processing for that operation command.
, the dialogue processing unit 401 reads the manual 40.
4. Highlight the rectangle of the first step to clearly indicate that it has been executed. Next, when the second operation step is selected with the cursor 301 (the state shown in FIG. 4), the process from sending the command (C0M2) to receiving the completion signal and inverting the rectangle is performed in the same way as in the first step. In the same manner, the process proceeds by selecting each step in the manual.

Next, a method of associating the operation steps described in the manual with the items of the operation command will be explained using FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the correspondence between each operation step in the manual and the operation item name in the operation information.

Furthermore, position information indicating where each operation step is described in the manual is also stored. One row of this table represents one correspondence. When the user presses a mouse button and an event is input to the interaction processing unit, the interaction processing unit compares the cursor coordinate values with the position information of each operation step and determines which operation step rectangle the cursor is currently in. conduct. Next, the operation item name is extracted from the operation step to which the cursor belongs. The operation item name represents the item of the operation command to be actually processed.

According to the embodiments described above, a command to actually operate the plant is issued by directly operating the manual, so the operator can concentrate his attention on the manual. Therefore, unlike in the past, the operator's attention is no longer divided between plant operation and manual reference, and the operator can perform correct operations according to the manual.

In the above embodiments, the explanation has been given on the assumption that the operator instructs the operating steps on the manual in an orderly manner. Normally, as shown in FIG. 2, the order of plant operating procedures is maintained in the document, so there is no particular problem with this. However, if the process branches out in various ways or spans multiple pages, there is a risk that the operation target will be selected incorrectly. FIG. 6 shows a manual display screen according to an embodiment when the operation branches. Similar to FIG. 4, steps that have already been processed are highlighted. On the other hand, the step displayed in halftone represents the next operation step that is allowed to be selected. Operation command information is sent to the plant only when the operator instructs any operation step of this halftone.

The mechanism for realizing such processing is basically the same as that shown in Fig. 2, but the correspondence table shown in Fig. 7 is used in place of the correspondence diagram of the manual and operation command information shown in Fig. 5. The correspondence diagram holds pointer information to the next operation step in addition to the information in FIG. In this figure, the "next step name" represents the next operation step that is allowed to be selected. For example, the first line in FIG. 7 indicates that after the operation step (stop) 1 is executed, the operation step (step) 2 should be executed next.

Similarly, "selected step name" is used to represent a set of operation steps that are candidates when there are multiple possibilities of operation. For example, "5tep 6" is stored in the second line as the selected step name. This includes operation step (step) 3 as well as operation step (st
ep) 6 indicates that it is a candidate for selection. That is, immediately after executing operation step 2, the interaction processing unit 401 displays operation step 3 and operation step 6 in halftone as next step candidates (the state shown in FIG. 6).

On the other hand, in the case of operation step 1, since the "selected step name" is blank, there are no other candidates, and only step 2 is displayed in halftone.

According to this embodiment, since the next operation step to be executed is clearly indicated on the manual, operational errors are further reduced. Of course, if you select something other than the next candidate, you can immediately see from the above correspondence diagram that it cannot be selected, so you can easily ignore the input or issue a warning to the operator.

The above examples focused on the use of manual information and operation command information by operators, but process functions are not constant and often change.
When the functions of the system are changed in this way, it is naturally necessary to change the operation manual and update the operation command information. The embodiment shown in FIG. 8 is intended to deal with such a case. In Figure 8, the first
Items with the same numbers as in the figure have the same functions.

Furthermore, in FIG. 8, 410 is an interaction processing unit, 411
412 represents a manual editing processing section, and 412 represents an operation command information editing section. The function of the dialogue processing unit 410 is almost the same as that of the dialogue processing unit 401 in FIG. It also has a function to call 412.

9 and 10 show examples of display displays according to this embodiment. FIG. 9 shows a screen during manual editing, and FIG. 10 shows a screen for editing operation command information.

A mode menu for switching between three modes is displayed at the top of each screen. By selecting the mode menu, the user (the person making changes to the system) can edit the manual or the operation command information, or the operator can actually switch to the mode of online plant execution control. be able to. Dialogue processing unit 41
0 also manages this mode switching. The user moves the cursor 101 to the mode menu item "Manual Edit"
When the user moves over the mouse button 301 and presses the mouse button 301, the interaction processing unit/110 activates the manual editing processing unit 411 in response to the event. The manual editing section 411 then starts editing the document information and updates the manual data 404. The screen shown in FIG. 9(a) shows the state in the middle of this editing process. As mentioned above, this editing process is a document data editing process, and since it is well known, a detailed explanation will be omitted, but only the tag adding function, which is a function unique to the present invention, will be explained.

In general, a manual includes a section that describes the operating method and a section that does not directly relate to the operation, such as how to maintain the device. The tag addition function is a function for attaching a name (the name of the operation step in the dialog diagrams of FIGS. 5 and 7) to the part where the operation method is described. To use this tag addition function, first select the item "Tag" from the manual editing menu in Figure 9 (a). Specify the rectangle of the operation step to be named next with the cursor. (
An input field like b) will be displayed. If the operation step has not been given a name, the 1 name column will be displayed blank, so enter an appropriate name from the keyboard 2. If a name has already been assigned, that name will be displayed in the name field. If you want to change the name, enter the new name from Keyboard 2. The above is an overview of the tag addition function.

When the "operation command information editing" mode is selected from the mode menu of FIG. 9, the interaction processing section 410 calls the operation command information editing section 412 and starts editing the operation command.

Since the operation command information is text information as shown in FIG. 3, the operation command information editing section 412 has the function of a text editor for editing character strings. Figure 10 (
a) represents a situation in which the operation command information 405 is read out from the storage device 403 and edited. This editing function itself is well known in text editors and the like, and is not directly related to the present invention, so a description thereof will be omitted.

- When the street editing is completed, if you select "Correspondence table J" from the menu items at the right end of the screen in FIG. 10(a), the operation command information editing section 412 will display the Display the correspondence diagram with the manual and start defining the correspondence between the manual and operation command information.

In this correspondence diagram, darkly highlighted items of operation command information are items newly added as operation commands, and items displayed in light halftones represent deleted items. Naturally, the operation step name and position information corresponding to the newly added item are blank at this stage.

When the user wants to associate this additional item with the operation step on the manual, the user uses the mouse 3 to specify the item "generation" displayed at the bottom of the correspondence diagram. Next, select one of the additional items in the correspondence diagram (Figure 10(b), line 3
), move the cursor over the corresponding operation step, and press the mouse button 301. At this time,
The operation command information editing unit 412 sets the operation step name and its position information in the blank column of the correspondence table. This operation step name is defined in the tag information section.

Similarly, select "Delete" in Figure 10(b) and select the corresponding line (
When the 5th line in FIG. 10(b) is specified, that line is deleted from the corresponding diagram.

If the position of an existing operation step in the manual is changed, it is necessary to update the position information in the correspondence table. In this case, after specifying the menu item ``position update'' in FIG. 10(b), specify the operation step on the manual. Then, the operation command information editing unit 412 selects a row with that operation step name from the correspondence table, and updates it in the correspondence diagram with position information of a rectangle surrounding the operation step.

Sometimes the order of the operating steps on the manual is changed. This means that the relationship "primary step name" in the back of FIG. 7 must be corrected.

To make this correction, first select the menu item "link update" in FIG. 10(b). Next, select the field ``Name of the primary step that calls the correspondence diagram'' (see Figure 7),
Enter the name of the new called operation step from the keyboard 2. By repeating this operation for other lines, a new operation procedure is established.

If a selection item for candidate selection is added or deleted in the manual, select "Selection step name J" in the corresponding diagram in Figure 7.
column needs to be updated. In this case as well, "Update link"
After specifying , rewrite the selected step name displayed in the selected step name.

The above-mentioned functions allow the data of the correspondence diagram to be updated, and the "link confirmation" shown in FIG. 10 provides means for confirming the correspondence between the processing procedure of the correspondence diagram and the processing procedure of the manual. When you select "Link confirmation", the first step of the operation on the manual is highlighted. If you press "1st" here, the item to be highlighted on the manual is determined based on the "next step name" information in the correspondence diagram and is highlighted.

If this is the second step in the manual, it can be confirmed that the next step information in the correspondence chart is correct. If completely different information is displayed in reverse video, there is an error in the 5-correspondence chart. By repeating this process, you can check whether the procedure in the correspondence diagram matches the operation steps in the manual.

Similarly, the selected step is highlighted in halftone based on the "selected step name" information of the correspondence diagram, and it is confirmed whether the selected item matches the correspondence diagram and the manual. Furthermore, if you want to select one of these items and check whether the subsequent processing steps match the correspondence diagram and the manual, specify "Move selection." This-
Each time an item is specified, it is highlighted, indicating that it has been selected. If you specify ``Primary'' in this state, you can confirm the subsequent steps.By repeating steps 6 and above, you can confirm that the steps in the manual and the correspondence diagram match.
When a conflict is detected, corrections can be made immediately.

In the manner described above, it is possible to update the manual, update the operation command information, and update the correspondence between the two. Furthermore, when the mode menu "online execution" in FIG. 1O is selected, the interaction processing unit 410 starts a mode in which a plant command is sent from the manual according to the operator's manual designation. The functions of this interaction processing section 410 are similar to those described in FIG.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the manual and operation command information can be easily changed even in a system that undergoes many functional changes, and a plant operation system that is tough against system changes can be constructed.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the actual plant operation commands are associated with the operating procedures in the plant operation manual and stored in the storage device, and the plant operation commands are automatically transferred to the plant according to the operation step instructions in the operator's manual. The system has the advantage that even beginners can operate the plant without any errors.

There has been a technology to display driving guidance on a display device, but conventional driving guidance systems store emergency operation procedures corresponding to the cause of the accident in a storage device in the event of an accident or the like in a plant. The purpose is to support the operator by displaying the corresponding emergency operation procedures from the storage device when an accident occurs. Therefore, in conventional driving guidance systems, what is displayed is only data indicating operating procedures and no other data.

In this case, the driving guidance system becomes a system that can only be used by experienced people, and is not of much use value for beginners and unskilled people. There is also a driving operation manual. In recent years, when the computerization of operation manuals has progressed, as described in the example, by specifying the steps that indicate the operating procedures in the operation manual, which is mostly explanatory documents, it is possible to If commands for actually operating the plant are automatically output, the plant can be operated without errors while reading other explanatory documents, and even unskilled personnel can operate the plant easily and accurately. This is a very effective technique in terms of ease of use in recent years, when the number of skilled workers is decreasing. In the explanation of the embodiment, actual operation commands are output by specifying each step of the flowchart showing the operation procedure, but for example, the system diagram displayed in the middle right of the display screen in By specifying the operating device with a cursor, an operation command can be output to the operating device. For example, specifying the "right servo valve" in Figure 2 so that the valve opening command for this valve is output is the same as specifying the step in question to output the valve opening command. This is possible using similar technology.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, even a beginner or an unskilled person can operate the plant easily and reliably.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows the constituent countries of a plant operation and operation device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 shows a page of a computerized operation manual, and Figure 3 shows actual plant operations. An explanatory diagram of instructions. Fig. 4 is a screen display state diagram when a certain step in the operating procedure of the driving operation manual is specified, Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the correspondence between each operating step of the driving operation manual in Fig. 4 and the operation command, and Fig. 6 The figure is a screen display state diagram when a certain step on another page of the driving operation manual is specified, Figure 7 is a diagram of the correspondence between each operation step of the driving operation manual in Figure 6 and the operation command, and Figure 8 is the invention of the present invention. FIG. 9(a) is a block diagram of a plant operation device according to another embodiment of the present invention. (b) is a diagram of the change editing screen of the operation manual, No. 10
Figures (a) and (b) are diagrams of operation command editing screens. 1...Display device, 2...Keyboard, 3.
・Mouse, 4... Plant operation operation processing device, 5...
・Operation target plant, 101...Mouse cursor, 3
01... Mouse button, 401, 410... Dialogue processing unit, 403... Storage device, 404... Electronic driving operation manual information, 405... Operation command information, 41
1...Manual editing processing unit, 412...Operation command editing unit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In addition to documents describing the operation of the plant, an operation manual that describes the operation procedures, each operation command of the plant, and a storage device that stores each operation procedure and each operation command in association with each other; , a display device that displays the driving operation manual;
a selection means for selecting a step in the operation procedure of the operation manual displayed on the display device; and an operation command corresponding to the step selected by the selection means is read from the storage operation device and automatically applied to the plant to be controlled. 1. A plant operation and operation device comprising a plant command means for outputting an output. 2. The plant operating device according to claim 1, wherein the display device includes means for distinguishing and displaying selected and unselected steps. 3. The plant operation control device according to claim 1, wherein the display device includes means for displaying the next step to be selected or the next selectable step in a manner distinguishing it from other steps. 4. In claim 1, the storage device includes an operation information definition section that defines an operation instruction for an arbitrary step of the operation procedure when the selection means selects the step, and an operation instruction defined in the operation information definition section. 1. A plant operation and operation device comprising: a storage section that stores information. 5. In claim 4, when defining the operation command information, there is provided a means for embedding a tag that creates a link with the operation command information in the operation manual and detecting correspondence with the plant command information using this tag. A plant operation device characterized by: 6. The plant operation and operation device according to claim 1, further comprising means for editing the operation procedures of the plant operation and operation manual and editing the plant operation instructions. 7. The plant operation and operation device according to claim 6, further comprising means for verifying the correspondence between the editing of the operating procedure and the editing of the plant operation command. 8. In addition to documents describing the operation of the plant, an operation manual that describes the system diagram of the operating equipment, each operating command of the plant, and a storage device that stores each operating equipment and each operating command in association with each other; a display device that displays an operating manual; a selection device that selects the order of operating devices in the driving operation manual displayed on the display device; and reading out an operating command corresponding to the operating device selected by the selecting device from the storage device. 1. A plant operation and operation device comprising: plant command means for automatically outputting a command to a plant to be controlled. 9. If you want to display a plant operation manual on a display device and execute a certain step of the operating procedures described in the operation manual, you can simply specify the step using the specifying means, and the plant corresponding to the step can be displayed. A plant operation and control device characterized in that an operation command is automatically output to a plant to be controlled. 10. If you want to display a plant operation manual on a display device and execute a block with a sequence diagram described in the operation manual, simply specify the block with the specifying means and the operation equipment indicated by the block will be executed. A plant operation and control device characterized in that a corresponding plant operation command is automatically output to a plant to be controlled. 11. A storage device for a plant operation and operation device, characterized in that a plant operation manual and operation commands provided corresponding to the operation procedure steps described in the operation and operation manual are stored. 12. A storage device for a plant operation and operation device, characterized in that a plant operation manual and operation commands provided corresponding to each block of a sequence diagram described in the operation and operation manual are stored. 13. When a plant operation manual is displayed on a display device, an operation step in the operation manual is selected, and an operation command corresponding to the operation step is automatically output to the plant, the display of the operation step can be changed to another. 1. A display method for a plant operation control device, characterized in that the display method is differentiated from steps. 14. Display the plant operation manual on the display device, select the operation step in the operation manual, and when the operation command corresponding to the operation step is automatically output to the plant, the next selection can be made or should be selected. A display method for a plant operation and operation device, characterized in that an operation step is displayed in a manner that distinguishes it from other operation steps. 15. The method for displaying a plant operation and operating device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that blocks of a sequence diagram are used instead of operation steps. 16. When editing an operating procedure in a plant operation manual and an operating command related to the operating procedure, a table describing the correspondence between the operating procedure and the operating command is displayed on the display screen. How to display the plant operation control device.