1. The author of this material participated in and supervised the development and commissioning of control systems
for technical facilities at enterprises in Russia, Ukraine,Kazakhstan, Japan, China, and S.Korea,India.
As a rule, the commissioning of a technical object ended with a successful implementation.
However, in some cases, at the facility, as a rule, when the adjustment was already over and we left for our home,
there were side effects that negatively affect his work and reduce the productivity of his work.
In some cases, it was even necessary to return to the object and understand the causes of the complications that occurred.
Interestingly, in most cases, side effects occurred due to errors of the operator
the object of the personnel, and often, despite irrefutable evidence, it was difficult to prove that the errors
in the operation of the equipment were their fault.
In order to obtain objective data on the operation of the equipment, it was decided that the new designed
objects should be provided with remote diagnostics and monitoring, so that the developer, for example, is located in Moscow
could receive objective information about an object located, for example, in the vicinity of Seoul or Mumbai.
At the same time, we did not inform the Customers and owners of these objects that remote diagnostics is built into the management system,
so that the picture was really objective and they could not make their own subjective adjustments to the objective picture of the object
's work.
Below are the features of the developed remote system and its features.
2. It is known that remote diagnostics and management allows you to:
- Implement IoT objects;
- Monitor the parameters of the vital parameters of the control system at a distance;
- Perform data analysis to identify trends in the operation of the object;
- Perform a comparison with the known or expected data of the system behavior;
- To predict the moment of failure using extrapolation and analysis;
- Implement a maintenance plan that must be completed,
when it is really necessary;
- Carry out commissioning work at the facility, when the adjuster
must be away from the control cabinets of the facility;
The growing globalization , increasingly complex mechanisms and software, also give
rise to the desire for remote engineering, so travel over increasing distances
it is better to limit experienced and expensive engineering personnel.moreover, these trips can occur
and not through the fault of the developers.
Central expertise (local solution of small problems, remote / centralized solution
complex problems by experts) limits the number of staff to a minimum and dramatically reduces the work
load on the staff.
In addition, remote monitoring and diagnostics allow for real-time
implementation of the principles of General Equipment Efficiency — OEE) -
a system for analyzing the overall efficiency
of equipment operation, designed to monitor and improve the efficiency of production and
based on the measurement, analysis and processing of specific production indicators and parameters.
3. The developed remote object diagnostics was designed for control systems based on
OMRON and Yaskawa controllers (Japan). Therefore, all technical decisions on the development of this system were made in relation to these controllers.
Although this system was intended for the developers of the object management system
later, she was transferred to the Customer equipment to the staff and leadership
the company could utilize the system for making the right decisions
ensure increased equipment productivity and reduced non-production downtime.
4. The software was developed in Delphi.
The basic version of the remote diagnostics system was developed in early 2014, when the DelphiXE5 version appeared,
this allowed us to develop the client part of the system for Android smartphones.
This system has gone from simple solutions to more complex ones, and in the process of development,
it has been supplemented with new modes and features.
The latest version of the system is based on Delphi XE10.3.3(Rio).
The system is based on a Client-server software structure. Server hardware and software is organized
on a separate computer, with a server serves and to read / write data from the controller and
for the purpose of acceptance-transfer of relevant information to the Android smartphone.
Initially, this system was based on the exchange of information using the TCP/IP protocol.
In this case, the exchange of information between the server and the smartphone was carried out
over a local network or WI-FI.
In the future, the main exchange protocol was the Internet (MQTT), while also using the exchange of information
via Bluetooth and WI-FI.
Initially, for the exchange of information between the controller and the computer, a corresponding DLL was developed,
with the help of which communication was carried out over the Ethernet protocol and Ethernet/IP.
In the future, this part of the program has been improved and now the exchange of information between
the controller and the server computer can be carried out using protocols
:
- Ethernet;
- Ethernet/IP;
- USB;
- RS 232/485;
- Modbus/TCP
at the Customer's choice, it is possible to use several protocols on the same server.
5. In the basic version of the specified system, the Android smartphone implements the following functions:
- Setting the parameters to the required exchange values
information between the smartphone and the controller;
- Write / read an entire word of memory by the user's command;
- Write / read a bit of memory by the user's command;
- Cyclic reading of variables of one memory zone
controller (main mode);
- Cyclic reading of variables from different memory zones
controller (auxiliary mode);
- Execution, user-defined or preset,
FINS strings;
- Cyclic control of the specified memory variables
the controller's minimum and maximum limits in
real-time signal generation at
going beyond the limits-Alarms (controlled limits
set by the user). If necessary
automatic generation of an E-mail to a user with
a failure message at the required internet address.
- Quick variable value adjustment-memory word
of the controller, in real time;
- Quick adjustment of the value of a variable – bit memory
of the controller, in real time;
- Installing and working with controller bit objects
(the installation is performed once when you first log in to
The program and may not change further);
- Working with word bits – Read / write graphic
displaying word bits-similar to the SwitchBox program
(OMRON), in real time;
- Display of variables accepted in the loop in a separate
Memo in real time, with the ability to write
add the Memo content to the file and select the file content in
Memo.
- Display of 6 variables on the indicator board with
the ability to generate color signals, if the values
variables go beyond the required limits in real
time scale;
- Formation of waveforms of 6 variables in real
time scale. Period time =0.5...1 sec;
Recording time-up to 4 hours
- Formation of static graphs of 6 variables in
in real time . Period time =0.5...1 sec.
Recording time-up to 4 hours;
- Calculation and display of Overall Equipment Efficiency(OEE) parameters
- Generating a log file of events and system failures in the server.
- Creating a Ping control in the server to verify the correct connection
computer-controller over the network;
- Working with the built-in file editor;
- Read / write variables of the Trajexia motion controller
(OMRON).
- Transfer files from the server to the smartphone or back.
etc.
Obviously, this application can be easily expanded and adapted to the specific
requirements of a particular Customer.
6. Below are descriptions and screenshots of the main programs developed by me
for remote control, diagnostics and monitoring between Android smartphones and controllers
of the OMRON and Yaskawa family. These programs are similar in terms of information exchange between a smartphone
and a computer, however, they differ significantly in terms of server implementation, and they use the
following software technologies:
- Client-Server - Sasha_Server_Dz.exe and Sasha_Client_Dz.exe;
- Local MQTT broker - Sasha_Local_MQTT_Client.exe;
- WEBSocketServer - WebSocketServer_controllers_OMRON_Yaskawa.exe;
- Global MQTT broker-Omron_Remote_control; (available on the Samsung Galaxy Store website);
- Global MQTT broker - Yaskawa_Remote_control;
