JP2000047860A - Program design equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To design a program for a controller for a plant control, it is necessary for a designer to grasp the status of the plant to be controlled in his / her head or on paper and to proceed with the design work. Accordingly, there is a problem that design errors increase. SOLUTION: In a control program design device of a plant control controller, a plant configuration diagram screen 11 for enabling operation of devices constituting a plant and displaying a status output thereof, a device and instruction model database 15, The simulation engine 13 calculates and displays a new state of the plant based on the model database information based on the state of the plant at that time and the operation information on the devices and the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a program designing apparatus for designing a program for a controller for controlling a plant or the like, and more particularly to a program for assisting a designer in designing a program and automatically creating a program from a design result. Related to design equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A controller for controlling a plant or the like includes:
A control program is required to operate this. Heretofore, it has been customary for a designer to manually design a program after grasping various program design items such as the operation of a control target, its control conditions, and the timing of each operation. At this time, the relation between a certain operation and the next operation is represented graphically, and based on this, a program is created using a language (for example, ladder, text type language, etc.) that directly describes the processing contents of the controller. I was

[0003] As an automatic program creating apparatus for assisting the creation of the above-mentioned programs to achieve the automation, there is, for example, an "automatic program creating apparatus for a programmable controller" described in JP-A-63-106004. In this automatic program creation device, the operation specifications to be controlled are analyzed by analyzing the input operation specification description items, and a process for identifying a control target operation unit, a control condition and an operation command is performed.
The processing flow specified from the identification result is automatically converted into an existing programming language.

[0004]

Since the conventional automatic program creating apparatus is configured as described above, the operating specification created by the designer after completing the design work is given as an input. It did not support the designer's creative thinking during the design process.
Therefore, the work of designing the controller control program itself by the designer has been left as a manual work. The designer had to simulate the situation of the plant to be controlled in his head or on paper, and proceed with the program design by sequentially grasping the operation of the equipment and the events caused thereby. Therefore, as long as the above-mentioned program design method is adopted, the amount of information to be stored and organized by the brain of the designer becomes enormous with the expansion of the plant to be controlled and the complexity of the control processing, There has been a problem that the efficiency of the design work is reduced, the difficulty is increased, and the product quality is reduced due to a design error.

[0005] In addition, the operation of converting the design result into an operation specification description that can be input to the automatic program creation device is performed manually in accordance with the operation of converting the design result into a program language. There was a problem that was bad.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a program designing apparatus for supporting a designer's thinking work in a program designing process of a controller for controlling a plant or the like. .

Another object of the present invention is to provide a program design apparatus which automatically converts a design result of a program of a controller for controlling a plant or the like into a program language to improve program development efficiency.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A program design apparatus according to the present invention enables operations on equipment constituting a plant to be designed and operations on commands related to plant control to be performed on a screen. A plant configuration diagram screen capable of displaying the status output of corresponding devices and instructions, a device and an instruction model database describing the specifications of the devices constituting the plant and the instructions related to the plant control, and the state of the plant at that time And the operation information for the equipment or the command, calculate a new state of the plant based on the information of the equipment and the instruction model database, update the state output of the equipment and the instruction, and newly display on the plant configuration diagram screen. Simulation means for displaying a simple plant state, the plant configuration diagram screen, Equipment and instruction model database, and is obtained by so and a design device controller that performs control to link the simulation means.

[0009] A program design apparatus according to the present invention comprises a device icon on a plant configuration diagram screen representing a device constituting a plant, and a command icon representing a command related to plant control. The icon has an operation terminal for instructing an operation for a device or an instruction, and a display terminal for displaying a status output for the device or the instruction and instructing a confirmation.

[0010] A program design apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a sequence program screen on which a processing procedure for plant control corresponding to a design operation performed on a plant configuration diagram screen is schematically displayed. is there.

[0011] A program designing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with automatic program creating means for converting a schematic processing procedure created on a sequence program screen into a control program executable in a controller. is there.

[0012] In the program design apparatus according to the present invention, execution of instruction input by a designer to an operation terminal associated with a device icon or a command icon is expressed as a step on a sequence program screen. In this case, the instruction input by the designer to the display terminal associated with is displayed as a transition on the sequence program screen.

[0013] In the program design apparatus according to the present invention, the simulation means executes the processing procedure for plant control displayed on the sequence program screen on the plant configuration screen or the sequence program screen based on the equipment and the instruction model database. Means for executing a simulation.

The program design apparatus according to the present invention lists a conditional description obtained by inputting an instruction to a display terminal in a plant configuration screen to set a conditional part in the program. In addition, a transition condition definition screen for defining a logical operation between these conditional descriptions is provided.

The program designing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with means for designating a program control structure by a designer when the use of a program structure such as a conditional branch or a parallel branch is required. .

The program designing apparatus according to the present invention prevents a control program from being created even when a device icon or a command icon is operated on a plant configuration diagram screen, and forcibly changes the state of the plant. Means.

The program designing apparatus according to the present invention connects an actual plant and the program designing apparatus, and displays actual data of the actual plant operating based on the created control program on a plant configuration diagram screen. The progress of the control program being executed by the controller is displayed on the sequence program screen.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Embodiment 1 FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a program design device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a program design apparatus, 11 is a plant configuration diagram screen for arranging equipment and sensors of a plant to be controlled and specifying the structure of the plant, and 12 is a schematic diagram showing a control flow of a program for the plant. A simulation program (simulation means) having a function of calculating the next state of the plant based on an operation request of a designer on the plant configuration diagram screen 11; and 14, a program design device. 1 is a design device control unit for controlling each component in the device 1. Reference numeral 15 denotes a device and an instruction model in which specification information and the like on a device and an instruction as a basis of the operation when the next state is calculated by the simulation engine 13 are stored. Database, 1
6 is a sequence design control screen for selectively displaying basic procedural processing in sequence design, 17 is a transition condition definition screen for defining a condition part in program design, and 18 is for customizing the function of an instruction. A tag parameter setting / display screen for setting and displaying a parameter set of the device, 19 is a device selection screen on which devices that can be arranged on the plant configuration screen 11 are selectable, and 20 is a plant configuration screen 11 A device specification definition screen 21 for defining the specification of the placed device is a plant hierarchy display screen 21 for hierarchically expressing the structure of the plant configured on the plant configuration diagram screen 11.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a design procedure when implementing instrumentation control design of a plant using the program design apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 to 11
Is a plant configuration diagram screen 1 in each design process when implementing the instrumentation control design of the MN mixed reactor system using the program design apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure which shows the display content of a 1st etc. display screen. Since there are many items to be displayed, they will not be described here.
In the description of the operation, the contents of the display items will be described as appropriate.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a conversion rule from an instruction input to a terminal arranged on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to a program component in a sequence program.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when the designer controls the program structure to have a branch in the sequence design. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a part of the contents described in the device and instruction model database. In the figure, the description items accompanying the AG and the TIC both indicate model information related to the instruction. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a sequence design control screen 16 in which basic procedural processing in sequence design is displayed in a selectable manner.

Next, the operation will be described. First, FIG.
The overall design procedure when implementing the instrumentation control design of a plant using the program design apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, an equipment configuration diagram screen on which equipment groups constituting a plant to be controlled are arranged is created (step ST1). Next, an instrumentation design such as arrangement of sensors and actuators, which are devices for realizing instrumentation control, and setting of specifications is performed (step ST).
2). Next, a feedback loop design for instrumentation control is performed (step ST3). Here, the feedback loop design means arranging various controllers for performing feedback control and setting specifications thereof. Finally, a sequence design for instrumentation control is performed (step ST4). The sequence design is to execute sequence control such as operation instruction for equipment and instructions and state confirmation. Hereinafter, a design operation using the program design apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described along each design procedure constituting the instrumentation control design.

Here, a specific example is set to explain each design work in the instrumentation control design, and a design for designing a plant that implements the instrumentation control that meets the conditions shown in the example. The procedure will be described sequentially. The specific specifications of the example are defined as follows. "First, the two reactants M and N are supplied to the MN mixing reactor.
The contents in the mixing reactor are heated, stirred, and taken out of the mixing reactor as a product after the temperature is lowered. In the heating step, the mixture is heated by flowing steam through the mixing reactor to promote the reaction of the raw materials. Then, after stirring for a set time, the temperature of the mixing reactor is lowered to the set temperature. The temperature of the mixing reactor is controlled by a temperature controller cascaded with the steam flow controller. "

First, the creation of a plant equipment configuration diagram screen of the MN mixed reactor system will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, the equipment to be installed is appropriately arranged. Specifically, the MN mixing reactor 3
0, a motor 31 for rotating the impeller in the MN mixing reactor 30, a raw material M tank 32, a raw material N tank 33, a pipe 34 for feeding the raw material M from the raw material M tank 32 to the MN mixing reactor 30, and a raw material N A pipe 35 for sending the raw material N tank 33 to the MN mixing reactor 30, a pipe 36 for sending steam to the MN mixing reactor 30, and a pipe 37 for sending out the product from the MN mixing reactor 30 are arranged as a group of equipment constituting the plant. . Further, a charging system 38, a heat treatment system 39, and an extraction system 40 are defined as subsystems for implementing the example instrumentation control.

Next, the instrumentation and control equipment configuration of the MN mixed reactor system is designed to determine the general specifications of the equipment. FIG. 4 includes a plant configuration diagram screen 11, a device selection screen 19, a device specification definition screen 20, and a plant hierarchy display screen 21. Device selection screen 1
At 9, the Valve symbol 41 is selected and placed on the steam pipe 36 of the heat treatment system 39. By the above-described operation, the arranged Valve 42 becomes the steam pipe 3
6 and the plant hierarchy display screen 21
Is displayed in the heat treatment system of No. 43. Further, the general specification of the Valve is set by the specification definition window 20. By the above setting, Spec_sheet is displayed in the heat treatment system on the plant hierarchy display screen 21 as being attached to the Valve. The above procedure is repeated to complete the instrumentation control device configuration and device specifications of the MN mixed reactor system.

Next, a feedback loop is designed. FIG. 5 includes a plant configuration diagram screen 11, a tag parameter setting / display screen 18, and a plant hierarchy display screen 21. Instructions for feedback control are arranged on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, and data transmission / reception between these instructions and parameters are set to design a feedback loop. In this way, by arranging the instruction for the device itself on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 and making it an operation target, it is possible to integrate the feedback loop design and the subsequent sequence design.

There are two methods for arranging instructions (icons) on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. In the first method, instructions related to each device are listed on the plant hierarchy display screen 21. The required command is selected from the command group and is arranged on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. In the second method, instructions are registered in the program design apparatus 1 in advance, a list of the registered instructions (not shown in FIG. 5) is displayed, and necessary instructions are selected from these instruction groups. In this embodiment, the former method is adopted.

In this embodiment, an instruction TIC belonging to the temperature sensor TT in the heat treatment system on the plant hierarchy display screen 21 is selected, and the TIC is arranged on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 as indicated by reference numeral 45. To connect to the already placed devices or instructions. Then, the instruction TI
The tag parameter for C is set by the tag parameter setting / display device 18. Here, the tag parameter is a parameter set for customizing the function of the command, and is set, for example, as a set of parameters given as a gain, a time constant, a filter coefficient, and the like in PID control. Then, the above procedure is repeated to complete the feedback loop design of the MN mixed reactor system.

Next, a sequence design is performed. By operating devices or commands on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 and virtually operating the plant, sequence design is executed. On the plant configuration diagram screen 11, a result of a simulation performed based on an operation model set in a device or an instruction corresponding to the operation is displayed.

FIGS. 6 to 8 show the sequence design work for each stage. That is, in these figures,
An example of display of a plant configuration diagram screen 11 and a display of a sequence program screen 12 schematically showing a processing flow of a program for controlling a plant defined on the screen are shown in stages. In these figures, a transition condition definition screen 17 used in sequence design,
An example of the display of the tag parameter setting / display screen 18 is also shown as needed.

The sequence program screen 12 is composed of a bold-line rectangle indicating a step, a thin-line rectangle indicating a transition, and arcs, branches and junctions connecting the rectangles. In this embodiment, only the conditional branch and the corresponding merge are shown in the branch and the merge, but the parallel branch and the corresponding merge are generally used.
A parallel branch differs from a conditional branch in that two processing flows generated by the branch are executed in parallel.

The representation format of the embodiment is SFC (Sequ
Although it is partially different from the general expression form of the “entral FunctionChart”, the basic meaning is the same. That is, steps represent processing, transitions represent conditions, and the processing proceeds along the connection of arcs. A description of a process and a description of a condition are attached to each of the steps and transitions of the SFC. The grammar of these descriptions is adapted to the C language.

An icon (hereinafter, referred to as a device icon) and a command (hereinafter, referred to as a command icon) representing a device and a command (hereinafter referred to as a command icon) arranged on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 are composed of a device and a command constituting the plant. Is modeled as having an operation terminal and / or a display terminal in order to operate on the program design apparatus 1. However, in the drawings for describing this embodiment, in order to avoid complicating the drawings, the above terminals may not be shown in some cases when not referred to in the description.

In FIG. 6, an actuator group such as Valve 42 and motor 31 and FT (flow rate sensor) 5
1, TT (temperature sensor) 52, LT (level sensor) 5
3, TIC (temperature controller) 45, FI
Control calculation function group such as C (flow controller) 54, Tim
er_xxx (timer_xxx) 55, Timer_y
A device group such as yy (timer_yyy) 56 that assists the sequence progress is arranged as a device icon and a command icon. In addition to the equipment icon and the instruction icon, a facility group having no operation terminal and display terminal, such as a raw material M tank 32, a raw material N tank 33, and a MN mixing reactor 30, is also arranged to facilitate understanding of the plant configuration. Is being planned. Although not used in FIG. 6 as the device icon and the instruction icon, a button group, a display group, and the like are also provided.

In this embodiment, in the case of a four-terminal configuration, an icon design in which an operation terminal is disposed above the device icon and the instruction icon and a display terminal is disposed below the icon is adopted, and a two-terminal configuration is adopted. In the case of, an operation terminal is arranged on the left side of the device icon and the instruction icon, and an icon design in which a display terminal is arranged on the right side is adopted. The operation terminals of the device icon and the instruction icon correspond to operations that can execute the device and the instruction. The plant configuration diagram screen 1 is displayed when the designer clicks with a mouse, for example.
By executing the instruction input to the operation terminal on 1, the designer has simulated the instruction to execute the specific operation defined for the operation terminal with respect to the device and the instruction. In the command icon described as the TIC 45 in FIG. 6, a circle marked with "set" disposed on the left side of the command icon is an operation terminal.

The display terminals of the equipment icon and the instruction icon correspond to an output indicating the state of the equipment and the instruction (hereinafter, referred to as a state output), and the designer instructs the display terminal on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. By performing the input, the designer has observed or confirmed a particular status output of the device and the instruction. There are two types of display terminals, which will be described below. As an example of the first mode,
A square arranged on the right side of the command icon of the TIC 45 shown in FIG.
In this case, when an instruction is input to the square labeled “display”, the tag parameter setting / display device 18 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed, and the status output is listed in the window. Executing the instruction input to the status output list means that the status of the specified list item has been confirmed. As an example of the second mode, “running” and “s” are arranged below the instruction icon indicated by AG57 shown in FIG.
two squares with the notation “topped”. In this case, "running" is a white square and "s
“topped” is a black square, and AG57 is “runn”.
This is not the state of “ing” but the state of “stopped”. Executing the instruction input to the display terminal means that it has been confirmed that “it is not in the running state” and “it is in the stopped state”, respectively. Here, AG is given as an instruction icon for standardizing the operation of the motor and the state caused by the operation without depending on the specific hardware structure of the motor. For example, it can be considered to correspond to a device driver or the like for a motor.

Regarding sequence design, first, a case of designing a simple sequential operation of a plant using the program design apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. When “design start” is instructed on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. 15, a “start” step ST11 in FIG. 6 is created by the design device control unit 14 and displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

In a normal sequence design, an instruction is input to a display terminal of a device icon or a command icon on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, and a state output is observed. Then, based on the judgment on the observation result, an instruction is input to the operation terminal of the desired device icon or command icon, thereby instructing the operation to be performed for the desired device or command. By repeating the above procedure, a control program for the plant is designed, and the program is automatically created from the design results.

Specifically, in order to control the MN mixed reactor system, after the start, "before supplying the two reactants M and N, a preset temperature (xx1
) Until the MN mixing reactor is preheated. " To do so, "1 in the tag parameter for the TIC
It is necessary to perform an operation of “setting a set value SV, which is one of the two parameters, to a preset temperature (xx1)”. On the plant configuration diagram screen 11 of FIG.
When an instruction is input to the operation terminal, a tag parameter setting / display screen 18 is displayed. By inputting the value “xx1” for the SV item in the tag parameter,
The operation of “setting the SV value to xx1” is performed. The operation information as described above is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11. The design apparatus control unit 14 displays “s” on the sequence program screen 12 in FIG.
et (TIC.SV:=xx1) "is created, and the immediately preceding transition ST12 is performed.
And step ST13 are connected by an arc. Note that the condition description "1" described in the transition ST12
Means that the condition is always satisfied. In the syntax rules of the SFC, steps and transitions are set alternately, so that such a transition described in “1” is created.

As shown in FIG. 12, an instruction input to the operation terminal is converted into a sequence program step. At the same time, this operation information is displayed on the plant configuration diagram screen 11.
Is input to the simulation engine 13. Based on the operation information and the current state of the plant, the simulation engine 13 creates a new plant based on the information of the equipment and instruction model database 15 which lists the specifications of the equipment and instructions shown in FIG. And outputs new information to the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to update the status of the device icons and instruction icons on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. As already described, the form of the display terminal is 2
Since there are different ways, the appearance of the updated state of the device icon and the instruction icon is different correspondingly. In the command icon of the TIC 45 shown in FIG. 6 as a first example, a square that is arranged on the right side of the command icon and is labeled “display” is a display terminal.
In this case, when an instruction is input to the square with “display”, the tag parameter setting / display screen 18 shown in FIG.
Is displayed and the updated status output is listed. From this display, the PV item which is the process value is changed to the value “x”.
x1 ”. TIC4 in this case
The instruction model information set for No. 5 is that "the PV value as the process value is equal to the SV value as the set value." In the instruction icon of AG57 shown in FIG. 6 as a second example, “running” and “s” arranged below the instruction icon are shown.
The square with the notation “topped” is the display terminal. In this case, the monochrome of the display terminal is determined according to the updated status output. That is, when the AG 57 changes from the “stopped” state to the “running” state, the “running” display terminal changes to a black square, and the “stopped” display terminal changes to a white square.

As shown in FIG. 12, an instruction input to the display terminal is converted into a sequence program transition. On the plant configuration diagram screen 11 in FIG. 7, the display terminal belonging to the TIC 45 is operated to display the tag parameter setting / display device 18. The value for the PV item of the tag parameter setting / display device 18 is “xx
1 ". Then, by selecting this PV item, “the PV value is xx1 (preset value)”.
Is confirmed (observed). Such confirmation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11, and the expression “TIC.PV = xx1” is displayed on the transition condition definition screen 17. On the transition condition definition screen 17, one or more expressions displayed on the transition condition definition screen 17 are edited by using a logical operation symbol or the like by a similar operation to create a conditional description of the transition. From the condition description, the design device control unit 14 determines “TIC.PV = xx1” shown in FIG.
Create a transition ST14 given as
The immediately preceding step ST13 and the transition ST14 are connected by an arc and displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

FIG. 8 shows a sequence program screen 12 generated by the program designing apparatus 1. As described above, there are two types of display terminals,
Differences from the above transition creation process will be described below. As shown in FIG. 12, execution of an instruction input to the display terminal is converted into a transition in a sequence program. By operating the “time_up” display terminal attached to Timer_xxx55 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 in FIG.
It is confirmed that “Timer_xxx is in the time_up state”. This confirmation information is the plant configuration diagram screen 1
1 is input to the design device control unit 14, and the expression “Time” is displayed on a transition condition definition screen 17 not shown in FIG.
r_xxx. "Time_up" is displayed. And
On the transition condition definition screen 17, the same operation is performed to display the transition condition definition screen 17.
One or more expressions are edited using logical operation symbols or the like to create a conditional description of the transition. From the conditional description, the design device control unit 14 determines “Time
r_xxx. A transition ST16 given as "Time_up" is created, the immediately preceding step ST15 and the transition ST16 are connected by an arc, and displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

Next, the branch in the sequence processing will be described. The branch of the process is, apart from the instruction input for the device or the instruction on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, the start of the branch for creating the branch structure of the program on the sequence design control screen 16, the restart of the branch, the branch of the branch. This is realized by a selection operation for termination or the like. FIG. 13 shows an operation procedure of a sequence design operation for a portion where the operation procedure of the controller branches.

First, when "start of branch" is selected on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. 15, a conditional branch symbol 60 is additionally displayed on the sequence program screen 12 as shown in FIG. At this time, the design device control unit 14 stores the state of the plant at the time of starting the branch in preparation for the restart of the branch.

When the conditional branch symbol 60 is displayed, a series of design operations is performed for each branch condition. An instruction is input to a display terminal of the TIC 45 labeled "display" on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 in FIG. 9, and a tag parameter setting / display screen 18 not shown in FIG. 9 is opened to check the process value PV. . This confirmation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11.
The design device control unit 14 takes in the state of the confirmed instruction into a transition condition definition screen 17 (not shown in FIG. 9), and displays “TIC.P” on the transition condition definition screen 17.
V = xxx ". Then, the display is appropriately edited on the transition condition definition screen 17 to create the transition condition “TIC.PV> xxx”. In this way, when the transition condition is determined, the design device control unit 14 creates a transition ST20 described as “TIC.PV> xxx” and sets the condition branch symbol 6
0 and the transition ST20 are connected by an arc, and displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

Next, as a control of the MN mixed reactor system, after confirming that “TIC.PV> xxx”, “manually set the mode of the flow controller FIC”
Perform the operation. On the plant configuration diagram screen 11, FIC5
An instruction is input to the set operation terminal of No. 4 and the tag parameter setting / display device 18 not shown in FIG. 9 is displayed to perform an operation of setting the MODE item to the value “MAN”. This operation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11. The design device control unit 14 creates a step ST21 described as “set (FIC. MODE: = MAN)”, connects the immediately preceding transition ST20 and the step ST21 with an arc, and displays it on the sequence program screen 12. At the same time, the operation information is also input to the simulation engine 13 from the plant configuration screen 11. The simulation engine 13 calculates a new state of the plant from the operation information and the current state of the plant based on the information of the equipment or the instruction model database 15 shown in FIG. The state of the device icon or the instruction icon on the diagram screen 11 is updated.

After design of a series of control processes for one branch condition is completed, when “restart branch” is instructed on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. The symbol 61 is additionally displayed, and the plant configuration diagram screen 11 is returned to the plant state stored at the time of starting the branch.

Next, a series of control processes for the other branch condition are designed. On the plant configuration diagram screen 11,
An instruction is input to a display terminal of the TIC 45 labeled “display”, and a tag parameter setting / display screen 18 not shown in FIG. 9 is opened to check the process value PV. This confirmation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11. The design apparatus control unit 14 takes in the state of the confirmed instruction into a transition condition definition screen 17 not shown in FIG. 9 and displays the state on the transition condition definition screen 17 as “TIC.PV = xxx”. Then, this display is appropriately edited on the transition condition definition screen 17, and the transition condition “xxx> =
TIC. PV> yyy "is created. As described above, when the transition condition is determined, the design device control unit 14 creates a transition ST22 described as “xxx> = TIC.PV> yyy”, and connects the conditional branch symbol 60 and the transition ST22 by an arc. Then, it is displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

After the design of a series of control operations for the other branch condition is completed, "complete branch" is selected on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. The above is the design work when the operation procedure of the controller is branched.

The above three operations for generating a branch structure of a program are merely examples, and it is possible to generate a branch structure by another operation. However, since a branch structure cannot be generated by “input of instructions for plant equipment or instructions on the plant configuration diagram screen”, it is necessary to establish some operation method other than the above.

In the above-described example of creating a branch structure of a program, the initial states of a plurality of branches are the same. However, in many cases, the initial states of a plurality of branches are different, and branching is performed based on the fact that the initial states are different. Is usually set. Such an example will be described later in a second embodiment. Therefore, in performing the sequence design, when the branch is restarted, a means for changing the state of the plant is required so that a program is not generated by an instruction input to a device or an instruction. In this embodiment, after selecting "start of plant state change" on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. 15 and changing the state of the display terminal of the equipment icon or the instruction icon, the sequence design control screen 16 Use to select "Complete change of plant status". As an operation for changing the state of the display terminal of the device icon or the instruction icon, for example, an instruction is input to the start operation terminal of the AG 57 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 shown in FIG.
7 is changed to a state of “running”.

Although the case of the conditional branch is as described above, the sequence design is basically performed similarly in the case of the parallel branch. In the case of the parallel branch described as described above, the difference is that the processing contents are executed in parallel, and that the SFC grammar differs between the conditional branch and the parallel branch.

In the SFC transition, a plurality of status outputs for a device or an instruction can be confirmed and listed, and a condition part can be constructed by defining a logical operation between the plurality of status outputs. is there. The setting of such a condition section will be described in detail in the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 10, the response to the alarm processing is performed, for example, by setting the tag parameter setting /
The alarm processing routine name "zzz" is registered in the ALM item on the display screen 18, and the alarm processing routine "zzz" is executed in the same procedure as the sequence design described above.
This is realized by designing a program.

The processing for the abnormal processing is performed in the same manner as the processing for the alarm processing. However, instead of registering the abnormality processing routine name in the ALM item, first, FIG.
The program of the abnormal processing sequence is designed as shown in FIG. Further, the present invention is realized by employing calling means such as calling an abnormal processing sequence from a program part for detecting an abnormal state in a program of a normal sequence.

The plant configuration diagram screen 11 of the program design apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention has display means in the form of an indicating instrument in addition to operation terminals and display terminals for devices or instructions. Using this indicating instrument type display means,
Data about plant equipment or instructions given as a result of simulating plant operation controlled by a program is displayed to a designer. Further, the plant configuration diagram screen 11 and the sequence program screen 12 can also display actual operation data of the actual plant controlled by the controller based on the generated program and the status of the program being executed by the controller.

As described above, when the program designer accesses the plant configuration diagram screen 11 and operates the target plant, the simulation engine 13 uses the instruction model database 15 based on the equipment describing the specifications of the plant equipment or the instruction and the instruction model database 15. The simulation of the plant state change is executed, and the result is displayed on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. At the same time, a processing procedure corresponding to this operation is generated, and the processing procedure is graphically displayed on the sequence program screen 12.
When the sequence design is completed, an executable program is automatically generated for the controller from the design result. Therefore, the program designer simulates the above operation on the plant configuration screen 11 to
A control program corresponding to the operation can be created while confirming a desired plant operation.

In the above description of the embodiment of the present invention, the overall design procedure shown in FIG. 2 is an example for explaining the position of the sequence design, and is implemented by another design procedure. In the aspect, the embodiment of the above-described sequence design can be similarly applied.

Although the program is generated as SFC, the expression format of the generated program is not essentially limited to SFC. Equivalent conversion from the SFC expression format to a structured text format, instruction list, ladder diagram, functional block diagram, and other various expression formats is possible.

Further, the operation model is not limited to the finite state machine model that can be represented by a state transition diagram, but may be any form capable of expressing the relationship between an instruction input to a device or an instruction and a state output. Applicable. Also, referring to the equipment and instruction model information, based on the relation between the equipment or the instruction in the plant and the operation that can be performed on the equipment or the instruction, the design apparatus controls the rule for automatically generating the transition condition during the progress of the sequence. With the provision of the unit 14, it is possible to automatically generate the transition condition generated from the instruction input of the display terminal in the embodiment of the present invention using the rule.

Finally, the embodiment of the present invention has been described with respect to the case where an instrumentation control program for controller control is designed. However, by operating the design object on the screen on which the design object is displayed, It is applicable to a wide range of applications related to program design such that a program is generated.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the equipment which configures the plant and the instruction related to the equipment are arranged, and the operation of the equipment and the instruction can be performed and the status output can be displayed. Configuration diagram screen 11
And an equipment and instruction model database 15 describing specifications of equipment and instructions, a simulation engine 13 for calculating a new plant state and displaying the new plant state on a plant configuration diagram screen 11, and controls these. Since it is configured to include the design device control unit 14, even if the program designer does not know in advance the overall design items such as the plant structure and the plant functions, the target device for performing the desired plant operation is not required. Alternatively, the operator can easily find the command and the operation to be performed on the target device or the command from the plant diagram screen 11 and observe the operation of the device or the command and the event caused thereby while observing the entire plant on the plant diagram screen 11. It is possible to perform program design by grasping sequentially, so designers in the program design process Since many parts of the thinking work is mechanically behalf, an effect that thinking work of the designer is strong support.

Since not only the equipment constituting the plant but also the instructions related to the equipment are operated, the feedback loop design for setting the relation between the equipment-related instructions and the equipment itself and the subsequent sequence design Can be integrated.

Further, on the plant configuration diagram screen 11,
Since the equipment icon and the instruction icon are provided and the equipment icon and the instruction icon are provided with the operation terminal and the display terminal, the equipment and the instruction are configured as icons, so that the plant structure is simplified on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. And the operation terminal and the display terminal are provided, so that instructions such as operation or confirmation can be easily performed.

Further, a sequence program screen 12 on which a processing procedure for plant control corresponding to the design operation performed on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 is schematically displayed.
The plant configuration diagram screen 11
Since the design work can be performed while confirming the result of the program design performed above on the sequence program screen 12 one by one, there is an effect that a design error is prevented.

Further, since the system is provided with automatic program creation means for automatically creating a control program in a format executable by the controller from the schematic processing procedure created on the sequence program screen 12, the program or the program There is no need to manually input an equivalent operation specification description, and the effect of improving program development efficiency can be achieved.

Further, since the instruction input to the operation terminal is expressed as a step on the sequence program screen 12 and the instruction input to the display terminal is expressed as a transition on the sequence program screen 12, the instruction input to the program is performed. The conversion rules are standardized, which makes it easy for the designer to make a decision and prevents design errors.

Further, the simulation engine 13 receives the input of the created control program based on the equipment and instruction model database 15 and sequentially or randomly displays the plant on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 and the sequence program screen 12. Since the simulation for the operation and the state can be performed, the operation of the plant by the created control program is simulated on the plant diagram screen 11, so that the validity of the program can be easily confirmed, and the simulation results and By cross-referencing the sequence program screen 12, a bug in the program can be easily found.

Furthermore, when the program structure needs to be changed when using conditional branching, parallel branching, etc., the designer is provided with means for designating the control structure of the program. Since various program structures such as conditional branching can be adopted,
This has the effect of increasing flexibility in program design.

Further, even if an equipment icon or a command icon is operated on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, a control program is prevented from being created, and a means for forcibly changing the state of the plant is provided. Therefore, even when a program structure such as a conditional branch is adopted, it is possible to prevent the program design itself from being affected, thereby providing an effect of improving the reliability of the program design.

The actual data of the actual plant operating based on the created control program is displayed on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, and the progress of the control program being executed by the controller is displayed on the sequence program screen 12. With this configuration, the actual operation status of the plant can be accurately grasped, and if there is a problem in the operation of the plant, the program location corresponding to the problem can be easily found, so that the design error can be easily corrected. Play.

Embodiment 2 In the description of the second embodiment of the present invention, “sequence control engineering (IEEJ,
988) ". This will be described with reference to the example of 127-133. Also in this embodiment, FIG. 1 is employed as a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the program design device. In the first embodiment of the present invention, a sequence design mainly by operating a command icon has been described. In a second embodiment of the present invention, a sequence design mainly by operating a device icon will be described. Note that the same procedure is performed for a higher-level design than the sequence design, and a description thereof will be omitted here. Also, in this embodiment, the plant configuration diagram screen and the sequence program screen are separately displayed due to the problem of notation about the size in the drawings. However, as in the first embodiment of the present invention, usually the same display is used. Note that it can be displayed above.

FIGS. 16 to 24 show display contents on a plant configuration diagram screen in each design process when a sequence design of a plant to be controlled is performed using the program design apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIGS. 25 to 36 are diagrams showing display contents on a sequence program screen schematically representing program processing corresponding to each design process when a sequence design is performed by the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. is there.

In the first embodiment, descriptions in steps and transitions are made using C language or the like. However, in the second embodiment, in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, a specification description is written in a usual manner. Linguistic expressions were used. Further, similarly to the first embodiment, the sequence program screen 12 is configured by a bold-line rectangle indicating a step, a thin-line rectangle indicating a transition, and arcs, branches, and junctions connecting the rectangles.

In FIGS. 16 to 24, various devices constituting the plant are arranged on the plant configuration diagram screen 11, and a plant model for performing the simulation is constructed. In this embodiment, the equipment icon is modeled as having an operation terminal for operating the equipment constituting the plant on the design device and / or a display terminal for displaying the status output of the equipment. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 16, the silo valve (A) 70,
Silo valve (B) 71, hopper valve (A) 72, hopper valve (B) 73, mixer motor (M) 74, mixer valve (C) 75, mixer valve (D) 76, conveyor motor (MC) 77, conveyor motor (MD) 78 Actuator group, button group such as start push button 80, silo selection switch 81, display group such as conveyor C operation lamp 90, conveyor D operation lamp 91, sensor group such as weigh scale (A) 100, weigh scale (B) 101, A device group for assisting the sequence progress such as a mixing timer 110, a conveyor C start timer 111, a conveyor D start timer 112, a mixer C discharge timer 113, and a mixer D discharge timer 114 is arranged. further,
In this embodiment, in addition to the device icon, a silo (A)
120, silo (B) 121, hopper (A) 122, hopper (B) 123, mixer 124, conveyor (C) 12
5, equipment groups such as a conveyor (D) 126, a silo (C) 127, and a silo (D) 128 are also arranged.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an operation terminal is provided on the left side of the device icon, and a display terminal is provided on the right side of the device icon. The operation terminal of the device icon corresponds to the operation that can be realized by the device, and the designer defines the operation terminal for the device by inputting an instruction to the operation terminal on the plant configuration screen 11. Command to perform the specific operation being performed. For example, silo valve (A)
In the device icons 70, squares marked with “open command” and “close command” arranged on the left side of the device icon are operation terminals.

The display terminal attached to the device icon corresponds to an output indicating the status of the device (hereinafter referred to as status output), and the designer inputs an instruction to the display terminal on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. By doing so, the designer has observed or confirmed the specific state output of the device. For example, in the device icon of the silo valve (A) 70, “open” and “closed” arranged on the right side of the device icon
The circles with the notation are display terminals.

First, a case where a simple sequential operation of a plant is designed by the present design apparatus will be described. When "design start" is instructed on the design control screen 16 shown in FIG. 15, a "Start" step ST30 in FIG. 26 is created by the design device control unit 14, and the sequence program screen 1
2 is displayed above. After that, the plant configuration diagram screen 11
Above, input an instruction to the display terminal of the device icon and observe the status output. Then, based on the determination on the observation result, an instruction is input to the operation terminal of the desired device icon to instruct the desired device to operate. By repeating the above procedure, a control program for the plant can be designed, and the program is automatically created from the design results.

Specifically, FIG. 16 shows a plant configuration diagram screen 11 showing an initial state of the plant. The black circles on the display terminals of the device icons indicate the status output of each device in the initial state. For example, the silo valve (A) 70 is in a “closed” state. Then, an instruction is input to the “ON” display terminal of the start push button 80 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to confirm that “the start push button is ON”. This confirmation information is input from the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to the design device control unit 14. Based on the confirmation information, the design device control unit 14 creates a “start push button: ON” transition ST31 shown in FIG. 27, and connects the step ST30 and the transition ST31 with an arc. Based on the processing result, the description content shown in FIG.
2 is displayed above.

As in the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
As shown in (2), an operation of executing an instruction input to the display terminal and observing or confirming it is converted into a transition in the sequence design. After confirming that the start push button is ON as plant control,
"Open the silo valve (A) 70" is performed. An instruction is input to an “open command” operation terminal of the silo valve (A) 70 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to perform an “open silo valve (A) 70” operation. This operation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11. As a result, as shown in FIG. 28, the design device control unit 14 creates a step ST32 described as “silo valve A: open command” from this operation information,
The immediately preceding transition ST31 and step ST32 are connected by an arc. Based on this processing result, the description content shown in FIG. 28 is displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

Further, as in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, an instruction input to the operation terminal is converted into a sequence program step. At the same time, this operation information is also input from the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to the simulation engine 13. Simulation engine 13
From the information and the current state of the plant,
The new state of the plant is calculated based on the information of the equipment and the instruction model information 15 which list the specifications of the equipment shown in (1) and output to the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to display the status of the device icon on the plant configuration diagram screen 11. Let me update. That is, from the “open command” operation of the silo valve (A) 70 and the “closed” state of the silo valve (A) 70 at that time, the silo valve (A) 70 is silo based on the device model shown in FIG. The valve (A) 70 is updated to the state of “open”. Accordingly, the plant configuration diagram screen 11 changes the display of the “closed” display terminal of the silo valve (A) 70 from a black circle to a white circle and changes the display of the “open” display terminal from a white circle to a black circle as shown in FIG. Change to

As in the case where the control operation is branched, the design work involving the designation of the control structure of the program is performed in accordance with the processing procedure shown in FIG. The plant configuration diagram screen 11 before branching is shown in FIG.
9 and the corresponding sequence program screen 12 is shown in FIG. When "start of branch" is instructed on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG.
0 is added, and the sequence program screen 12 is displayed as shown in FIG.
0. At this time, the design device control unit 14
Stores the state of the plant at the start of the branch. A series of control operations are designed for each branch condition. An instruction is input to the “selection C” display terminal of the silo selection switch 81 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 shown in FIG. 19 to confirm that “the silo selection switch is selection C”. This confirmation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11. Design device control unit 14
From the confirmation information, a transition ST described as “silo selection switch: selection C” shown in FIG.
40, and connects the conditional branch symbol 200 and the transition ST40 with an arc. Then, based on the processing result, the sequence program screen 12 shown in FIG.
Is displayed.

If the control of the plant confirms that “the silo selection switch is the selection C”, the operation of “operating the conveyor motor (MC) 77” and the operation of “turning on the conveyor C operation lamp 90” are performed. An operation of “starting the conveyor C start timer 111” is performed. On the plant configuration diagram screen 11 shown in FIG. 19, an instruction is input to the "operation command" operation terminal of the conveyor motor (MC) 77, and "operation of the conveyor motor MC" is performed. C operation lamp 9
An instruction is input to the "lighting command" operation terminal of "0", an operation of "lighting up the conveyor C operation lamp" is performed, and further, an instruction is input to the "start command" operation terminal of the conveyor C start timer 111. "Conveyor C
If the "start start timer" operation is performed, the plant configuration diagram screen 11 is changed as shown in FIG. This operation information is input to the design device control unit 14 from the plant configuration diagram screen 11. Based on the operation information, the design device control unit 14 determines “Conveyor motor M” shown in FIG.
C: Operation command, Conveyor C operation lamp: Lighting command, Conveyor C start timer: Start command "are created, and the immediately preceding transition ST40 and step ST41 are connected by an arc. Based on the processing result, the description content of FIG. 32 is displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

At the same time, the operation information is also input from the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to the simulation engine 13. The simulation engine 13 calculates a new state of the plant from the operation information and the current state of the plant based on the information of the equipment and the instruction model database 15 shown in FIG. 37, and outputs it to the plant configuration diagram screen 11. The state of the device icon on the plant configuration screen 11 is updated, and as a result, the plant configuration screen 11
Is as shown in FIG.

In a state where the design of a series of control operations to be performed when one of the branch conditions is satisfied is completed, the plant configuration diagram screen 11 becomes as shown in FIG.
The sequence program screen 12 is as shown in FIG. When "Resume Branch" is selected on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. 15, a conditional branch merge symbol 201 is added to the sequence program screen 12 as shown in FIG. Numeral 11 is returned to the plant state as shown in FIG.

Next, a program is designed when the other branch condition is satisfied. At this time, the state of the plant at the start of branching differs for each branch, so the state of the plant is changed from the state at the start of branching when the “one branching condition” is satisfied, to the “other branching condition”. Needs to be changed to the state at the start of branching when the condition is satisfied. This change is enforced in a procedure different from the program generation procedure. For this purpose, the program generation procedure is temporarily interrupted, an operation for forcible change is performed, and then the normal program generation procedure is restarted, and the program design is performed when the “other branch condition” is satisfied. I do. This forcible state change operation is performed by changing the state of the display terminal of the device icon after selecting “start change of plant state” on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. This is performed by selecting “completion of change of plant state” on the design control screen 16. The above-described operation of “changing the state of the display terminal of the device icon” is performed by inputting an instruction to the “selection command D” operation terminal of the silo selection switch 81 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 shown in FIG. Then, the state of the silo selection switch 81 is changed to the state of "selection D" as shown in FIG. In this way, the control structure of the program in the case of a branch is set.

Next, as shown in FIG. 23, an instruction is input to the “selection D” display terminal of the silo selection switch 81 on the plant configuration diagram screen 11 and “the silo selection switch is selection D”. Make sure that. This confirmation information is transmitted from the plant configuration diagram screen 11 to the design device control unit 14.
Is input to The design device control unit 14 creates a transition ST42 described as “silo selection switch: selection D” shown in FIG. 35 from this confirmation information, and connects the conditional branch symbol 200 and the transition ST42 with an arc. 35 is displayed on the sequence program screen 12 based on the processing result.

When the design of a series of control operations to be performed when the other branch condition is satisfied has been completed, the plant configuration diagram screen 11 becomes as shown in FIG.
The sequence program screen 12 is as shown in FIG. Then, "complete branch" is selected on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. The above is the design work for the case where the control operation is branched. Finally, when “design complete” is selected on the sequence design control screen 16 shown in FIG. 15, an “End” step ST50 in FIG. 25 is created by the design device control unit 14,
It is displayed on the sequence program screen 12.

Although the case of the conditional branch is as described above, the case of the parallel branch is basically the same. The difference is that if the described contents are parallel branches, they are executed in parallel,
That is, the grammar of FC is different between the conditional branch and the parallel branch.

In the SFC transition, a plurality of status outputs for a device or an instruction can be confirmed and listed, and a condition part can be constructed by defining a logical operation between the plurality of status outputs. is there. In the program design device according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the status output of the device or the command is confirmed by executing the instruction input to the display terminal of the device or the command icon, as shown in FIG. Are listed on the transition condition definition screen 17. And
The operation between these listed status outputs is
The transition condition definition screen 17 is defined in the form of a text-based arithmetic expression. The format of the arithmetic expression in text is an example, and ladders, function blocks,
Expression in a logic circuit or the like is also possible. Since the interlock condition is also a condition for the progress of the sequence, it is assumed in this specification that the interlock condition is included in the transition condition.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. A list of conditional descriptions obtained by inputting instructions to the display terminals in the display terminal 11 and a transition condition definition screen 17 for defining a logical operation between these conditional descriptions are provided. As a result, it is possible to set complex conditions using logical products, logical sums, and the like, which cannot be obtained by merely inputting instructions to the display terminals, thereby increasing the flexibility in program design. Play.

[0092]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plant configuration diagram screen that enables operations on equipment and operations on commands to be performed on the screen, and also displays status outputs of the equipment and commands, From the equipment and instruction model database that describes the equipment and instruction specifications, and the plant state and operation information, a new plant state is calculated based on the information of the equipment and instruction model database, and a new plant state is displayed on the plant configuration diagram screen. Since the system is configured to include a simulation unit for displaying a plant state, and a plant configuration diagram screen, the device and instruction model database, and a design device control unit for performing control for coordinating the simulation unit, the program designer Understand the overall design items such as the structure and plant functions in advance. Even if you do not, you can easily find the target equipment or instruction to perform the desired plant operation and the operation to be performed on the target equipment or instruction from the plant configuration screen, and display the entire plant on the plant configuration screen. While observing the operation of the device or instruction and observing the events caused by it, the program design can be performed sequentially, so that much of the designer's thinking work in the program design process is mechanically substituted. This has the effect of strongly supporting the designer's thinking work. In addition, since not only the equipment that composes the plant but also the instructions related to the equipment were operated, the feedback loop design that sets the relationship between the equipment-related instructions and the equipment itself and the subsequent sequence design were integrated. Can be realized.

According to the present invention, the equipment icon and the instruction icon are provided on the plant configuration diagram screen, and the equipment icon and the instruction icon are provided with the operation terminal and the display terminal. By doing so, the plant structure is clearly displayed on the plant configuration diagram screen, making it easy to understand the plant, and by providing operation terminals and display terminals, it is possible to easily execute instructions such as operation or confirmation. It works.

According to the present invention, the processing procedure for plant control corresponding to the design operation performed on the plant configuration diagram screen is provided with a sequence program screen that is schematically displayed. Since the design work can be performed while confirming the result of the program design performed on the diagram screen one by one on the sequence program screen, there is an effect that a design error is prevented.

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic program creating means for converting a schematic processing procedure created on a sequence program screen into a control program in a format executable by a controller. There is no need to manually input an operation specification description equivalent to a program, and the program development efficiency can be improved.

According to the present invention, the instruction input to the operation terminal is represented as a step on the sequence program screen, and the instruction input to the display terminal is represented as a transition on the sequence program screen. Since the conversion rules for the program are standardized, it is possible to facilitate the designer's judgment and prevent a design error.

According to the present invention, the simulation means executes the simulation procedure for the plant control displayed on the sequence program screen on the plant configuration diagram screen or the sequence program screen based on the equipment and the instruction model database. Since the operation of the plant by the created control program is simulated on the plant configuration screen, the validity of the program can be easily confirmed, and the simulation result and the sequence program screen are displayed. Has the effect that a bug in the program can be easily found by cross-referencing.

According to the present invention, in order to set a condition part in a program, a conditional description obtained by inputting an instruction to a display terminal in a plant configuration screen is listed, and Since it is configured to have a transition condition definition screen that defines the logical operation between these conditional descriptions, it is possible to obtain a complex using logical product, logical sum, etc. that cannot be obtained only by inputting an instruction to the display terminal. Therefore, it is possible to increase the flexibility in program design.

According to the present invention, when it is necessary to use a program structure such as a conditional branch or a parallel branch, the designer is provided with means for designating the control structure of the program. Not only that, various program structures such as conditional branching can be adopted, so that there is an effect that flexibility in program design can be enhanced.

According to the present invention, there is provided a means for preventing a control program from being created even when operating an equipment icon or a command icon on the plant configuration diagram screen, and forcibly changing the state of the plant. Because it was configured as
When adopting a program structure such as a conditional branch,
Since the program design itself can be prevented from being affected, there is an effect that the reliability of the program design can be improved.

According to the present invention, the actual operation data of the actual plant operating based on the created control program is displayed on the plant configuration screen, and the progress of the control program being executed by the controller is displayed on the sequence program screen. , So that the actual operation status of the plant can be accurately grasped, and if there is a problem in the operation of the plant, the corresponding program location can be easily found, so that design errors can be easily corrected. It has the effect of being able to do it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a first embodiment and a second embodiment of the present invention;
1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a program design device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a procedure for implementing instrumentation control design of a plant using the program design apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing instrumentation control design using the program design device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a conversion rule from an operation on a plant configuration diagram screen to a sequence program.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a processing flow when a program designer instructs a branch in a design process.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a part of the contents of a device and an instruction model database.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a design control screen on which a designer controls program design work.

FIG. 16 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a view showing a plant configuration diagram screen and the like in a process of performing a sequence design using the program design device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 36 is a diagram showing a sequence program screen for displaying a sequence program created by program design.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing a part of the contents of a device and an instruction model database.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing a transition condition definition screen for defining conditions for proceeding with the operation of the device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 plant configuration view screen, 12 sequence program screen, 13 simulation engine (simulation means), 14 design device control unit, 15 equipment and instruction model database, 17 transition condition definition screen.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A program design apparatus for designing a control program for a controller for controlling a plant, wherein an operation on equipment constituting a plant to be designed and an operation on an instruction related to plant control can be performed on a screen. And a plant configuration diagram screen capable of displaying status outputs of devices and instructions corresponding to these operations, a device and an instruction model database describing specifications of the devices constituting the plant and the instructions related to the plant control, From the state of the plant at that time and the operation information for the equipment or the instruction, calculate a new state of the plant based on the information of the equipment and the instruction model database, update the state output of the equipment and the instruction, and Simulator to display new plant status on configuration screen A program design apparatus comprising: an option unit; and a design device control unit that performs control for linking the plant configuration diagram screen, the device and instruction model database, and the simulation unit. 2. The plant configuration diagram screen includes a device icon representing a device constituting a plant, and a command icon representing a command related to plant control, wherein the device icon and the command icon are devices or commands. 2. The program design apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an operation terminal for instructing an operation on the device, and a display terminal for displaying a status output for the device or the instruction and instructing a confirmation. 3. The program design according to claim 1, further comprising a sequence program screen for graphically displaying a processing procedure for plant control corresponding to a design operation performed on the plant configuration diagram screen. apparatus. 4. The program design according to claim 3, further comprising program automatic creation means for converting a schematic processing procedure created on the sequence program screen into a control program in a format executable by the controller. apparatus. 5. The execution of an instruction input by a designer to an operation terminal associated with a device icon or a command icon is expressed as a step on a sequence program screen. 4. The program designing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the instruction input by the designer by the designer is expressed as a transition on the sequence program screen. 6. The simulation means executes a processing procedure for plant control displayed on a sequence program screen based on the equipment and an instruction model database.
4. The program designing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for executing a simulation on a plant configuration diagram screen or a sequence program screen. 7. A condition list obtained by executing an instruction input to a display terminal in a plant configuration diagram screen to set a condition part in a program is listed, and these condition descriptions are listed. 2. The program designing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transition condition definition screen for defining a logical operation between descriptions. 8. A program designing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for designating a control structure of a program when a program structure such as a conditional branch or a parallel branch becomes necessary. . 9. A system for preventing a control program from being created even when an equipment icon or a command icon is operated on a plant configuration diagram screen, and comprising means for forcibly changing the state of the plant. The program design apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 10. An actual plant and a program design device are connected to each other, and actual data of the actual plant operating based on the created control program is displayed on a plant configuration screen, and the control being executed by the controller is executed. 2. The program designing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the progress of the program is displayed on a sequence program screen.