Process Monitoring System

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process monitoring system for monitoring an industrial process, said process monitoring system comprising a main sensor and at least one additional sensor separate from the main sensor, wherein the process monitoring system furthermore comprises a data evaluation unit separate from the sensors, wherein the main sensor and the additional sensor are each configured to acquire measurement data. The main sensor is coupled to the additional sensor via a first data link and is configured to receive the measurement data of the additional sensor via the first data link, wherein the main sensor is coupled to the data evaluation unit via a second data link and is configured to transmit its own measurement data and the measurement data of the additional sensor to the data evaluation unit via the second data link.

Claims

1. A process monitoring system for monitoring an industrial process, said process monitoring system comprising a main sensor and at least one additional sensor separate from the main sensor, wherein the process monitoring system furthermore comprises a data evaluation unit separate from the sensors, wherein the main sensor and the additional sensor are each configured to acquire measurement data, wherein the main sensor is coupled to the additional sensor via a first data link and is configured to receive the measurement data of the additional sensor via the first data link, wherein the main sensor is coupled to the data evaluation unit via a second data link and is configured to transmit its own measurement data and the measurement data of the additional sensor to the data evaluation unit via the second data link.

2. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first and the second data link comprise different hardware interfaces at the main sensor.

3. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first data link is configured to transmit measurement data by means of pulse sequences.

4. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the first data link comprises an S0 pulse interface and/or a data transmission by means of M-Bus and/or by means of Smart Message Language.

5. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first data link comprises a gateway to which the additional sensor is connected, wherein the main sensor is configured to receive and/or retrieve the measurement data of the additional sensor from the gateway.

6. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the additional sensor is configured to transmit its measurement data to the gateway by means of pulse sequences, wherein the gateway and the main sensor are connected to one another by means of a first data link designed as an Ethernet connection.

7. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 6, wherein the additional sensor is configured to transmit its measurement data to the gateway by means of pulse sequences by means of an S0 pulse interface.

8. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the second data link is an Ethernet connection.

9. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the main sensor has a computing device that is configured to execute a web server, wherein the computing device is additionally configured to transmit the measurement data of the main sensor and the additional sensor to the data evaluation unit.

10. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the main sensor, the additional sensor, and the data evaluation unit are arranged spatially separately from one another.

11. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 10, wherein the main sensor, the additional sensor, and the data evaluation unit are arranged spatially separately from one another and are each integrated in separate housings.

12. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the main sensor and the additional sensor are configured to acquire mutually different physical variables as measurement data.

13. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the main sensor is a flow sensor.

14. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 13, wherein the flow sensor is a thermal flow meter.

15. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 13, wherein the flow sensor is for compressed air.

16. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the additional sensor is an electricity meter or a water meter.

17. The process monitoring system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the data evaluation unit is formed by an edge computer or a cloud computer.

18. A main sensor for a process monitoring system for monitoring an industrial process, wherein the main sensor is configured to acquire measurement data, wherein the main sensor can be coupled to an additional sensor via a first data link and is configured to receive measurement data of the additional sensor via the first data link, wherein the main sensor can be coupled to a data evaluation unit via a second data link and is configured to transmit its own measurement data and the measurement data of the additional sensor to the data evaluation unit via the second data link.

19. A method for monitoring an industrial process using a main sensor and at least one additional sensor separate from the main sensor, wherein the main sensor and the additional sensor each acquire measurement data, wherein the main sensor is coupled to the additional sensor via a first data link and receives the measurement data of the additional sensor via the first data link, wherein the main sensor is coupled to the data evaluation unit via a second data link and transmits its own measurement data and the measurement data of the additional sensor to the data evaluation unit via the second data link.

Description

[0035] The invention will be described purely by way of example with reference to the drawings in the following. There are shown:

[0036] FIG. 1 a first embodiment of a process monitoring system; and

[0037] FIG. 2 a second embodiment of a process monitoring system.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a process monitoring system 10 comprising a main sensor 12 configured as a flow sensor for compressed air. The main sensor 12 is connected to a first additional sensor 14 and a second additional sensor 16. The first additional sensor 14 is an electrical meter, whereas the second additional sensor 16 is a water meter.

[0039] The sensors 12, 14, 16 monitor an industrial process (not shown), wherein, for example, the main sensor 12 has a passage for compressed air in which a heated sensor probe is arranged.

[0040] The additional sensors 14, 16 are connected to the main sensor 12 via S0 pulse interfaces 18. The S0 pulse interfaces thus form the first data link mentioned above.

[0041] The main sensor 12 comprises a second data link in the form of an Ethernet connection 20 that connects the main sensor 12 to an Ethernet network 22. A data evaluation unit that comprises a cloud data evaluation 24 and/or an edge data evaluation 26 is connected to the Ethernet network 22.

[0042] During operation of the process monitoring system 10, the additional sensors 14, 16 regularly transmit measurement data to the main sensor 12 via the S0 pulse interface 18. The main sensor 12 then converts the measurement data of the additional sensors 14, 16 such that the measurement data can be transmitted to the cloud data evaluation 24 and/or the edge data evaluation 26 via the Ethernet connection 20. In addition to the measurement data of the additional sensors 14, 16, the main sensor 12 also transmits its own measurement data to the cloud data evaluation 24 and/or the edge data evaluation 26.

[0043] FIG. 2 shows an alternative embodiment of the process monitoring system 10. The embodiment in accordance with FIG. 2 differs from the embodiment in accordance with FIG. 1 in that the additional sensors 14, 16 are connected to a gateway 28 by means of the S0 pulse interfaces 18. The gateway 28 provides the measurement data of the additional sensors 14, 16 via an interface 30 for retrieval by means of the Ethernet connection 20. The main sensor 12 then retrieves the measurement data of the additional sensors 14, 16 from the gateway 28 via the interface 30 and transmits its own measurement data and/or the measurement data of the additional sensors 14, 16 to the cloud data evaluation 24 and/or the edge data evaluation 26, as described above.

[0044] In both embodiments, the intermediate connection of an expensive and complex programmable logic controller for acquiring the measurement data of the additional sensors 14, 16 can be avoided. Furthermore, the data evaluation 24, 26 only has to communicate with the main sensor, whereby a simple and inexpensive possibility for process monitoring with a plurality of sensors results.

REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST

[0045] 10 process monitoring system [0046] 12 main sensor [0047] 14 first additional sensor [0048] 16 second additional sensor [0049] 18 S0 pulse interface [0050] 20 Ethernet connection [0051] 22 Ethernet network [0052] 24 cloud data evaluation [0053] 26 edge data evaluation [0054] 28 gateway [0055] 30 interface