Apparatus and method for determining an aggregate control connection status of a field device in a process control system

摘要

A method includes identifying a plurality of elements in a process control system that uses a process value from a field device. The method also includes identifying an aggregate control connection status of the field device by (i) determining whether one or more of the elements can use a manual value in place of the process value, (ii) determining whether one or more other elements in the plurality can use a user configured value, and (iii) evaluating a logic expression based on results of the determining in (i) and (ii). The method further includes determining whether the field device is available to be taken offline based on the aggregate control connection status. In addition, the method includes generating a notification based on the determination of whether the field device is available to be taken offline.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
identifying a plurality of connections to a field device in a process control system as logic points; identifying, for each logic point, one or more elements that use a process value from the field device; identifying an aggregate control connection status of the field device by (i) determining whether at least one of the one or more elements of each logic point is able to use a manual value in place of the process value, (ii) determining whether at least one other of the one or more elements of each logic point is able to use a user configured value, and (iii) evaluating a logic expression based on results of the determining in (i) and (ii), the logic expression comprising a logical “AND” of the results of the determining in (i) and (ii) for each logic point; determining whether the field device is available to be taken offline based on the aggregate control connection status; and generating a notification based on the determination of whether the field device is available to be taken offline.