Manufacturing system for monitoring and/or controlling one or more chemical plant(s)

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a system (10) for monitoring and/or controlling one or more chemical plant(s) (12), wherein the system (10) comprises a first processing layer (14) associated with the chemical plant (12) and communicatively coupled to a second processing layer (16), wherein the first processing layer (14) and the second processing layer (16) are configured in a secure network (18, 20), wherein the first processing layer (14) provides process or asset specific data (22) of the chemical plant (12) to the second processing layer (16), wherein the second processing layer (16) is configured to contextualize process or asset specific data to generate plant specific data and to provide plant specific data (24) of one or more chemical plant(s) (12) to an interface (26) to an external network.

1 . A system ( 10 ) for monitoring and/or controlling one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ), wherein the system ( 10 ) comprises a first processing layer ( 14 ) and a second processing layer ( 16 ), wherein the first processing layer ( 14 ) is associated with the chemical plant ( 12 ) and communicatively coupled to the second processing layer ( 16 ), wherein the first processing layer ( 14 ) and the second processing layer ( 16 ) are configured inside a secure network ( 18 ,  20 ), wherein the first processing layer ( 14 ) is configured to provide process or asset specific data ( 22 ) of the chemical plant ( 12 ) to the second processing layer ( 16 ), wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ) is configured to contextualize process or asset specific data to generate plant specific data and to provide plant specific data ( 24 ) of one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ) to an interface ( 26 ) to an external network. 
     
     
         2 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 1 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ) comprises an intermediate processing system ( 34 ) and a process management system ( 32 ), wherein the first processing layer ( 14 ) and the process management system ( 32 ) are communicatively coupled via the intermediate processing system ( 34 ). 
     
     
         3 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 2 , wherein the intermediate processing system ( 34 ) is configured to collect process or asset specific data provided by the first processing layer ( 14 ), wherein the process management system ( 32 ) is configured to provide plant specific data of one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ) to the interface to the external network. 
     
     
         4 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 2 , wherein the intermediate processing system ( 34 ) is configured to contextualize data by mapping heterogenous process or asset specific data to a homogeneous data format on plant level, wherein the process management system ( 32 ) is configured to contextualize the plant specific data provided by the intermediate processing system ( 34 ). 
     
     
         5 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 1 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ) is associated with more than one chemical plant ( 12 ). 
     
     
         6 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to stagger data contextualization across processing layers ( 14 ,  16 ,  32 ,  34 ,  30 ) with each layer mapping context information available in the respective layer. 
     
     
         7 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 1 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) is configured to provide plant specific data ( 24 ) from one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ) to an external processing layer ( 30 ). 
     
     
         8 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 7 , wherein the plant specific data is provided between chemical plants across a manufacturing chain via the second processing layer ( 16 ) or the external processing layer ( 30 ). 
     
     
         9 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 7 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) is configured to manage data transfer to and/or from the external processing layer ( 30 ) in real-time or on demand. 
     
     
         10 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 7 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) is configured to store or to manage access to historical data for a first time window, wherein the external processing layer ( 30 ) is configured to store historical data for a second time window, wherein the first time window is shorter than the second time window 
     
     
         11 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 7 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) is configured to host and/or orchestrate process applications relating to core plant operations, wherein the external processing layer ( 30 ) is configured to host and/or orchestrate process applications relating to non-core plant operations. 
     
     
         12 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 1 , wherein a monitoring device ( 44 ) is communicatively coupled to the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) or the external processing layer ( 30 ), wherein the monitoring device ( 44 ) is configured to transfer monitoring data to the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) or the external processing layer ( 30 ). 
     
     
         13 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 12 , wherein the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) or the external processing layer ( 30 ) is configured to manage monitoring devices ( 44 ). 
     
     
         14 . The system ( 10 ) of  claim 11 , wherein the monitoring device ( 44 ), the second processing layer ( 16 ,  32 ,  34 ) or the external processing layer ( 30 ) is configured to tag monitoring data provided by the monitoring device ( 44 ) unidirectional. 
     
     
         15 . A method for monitoring and/or controlling one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ) using a system ( 10 ) comprising a first processing layer ( 14 ) and a second processing layer ( 16 ), wherein the first processing layer ( 14 ) is associated with the chemical plant ( 12 ) and communicatively coupled to the second processing layer ( 16 ), wherein the first processing layer ( 14 ) and the second processing layer ( 16 ) are configured inside a secure network, wherein the method comprises:
 providing process or asset specific data of the chemical plant from the first processing layer ( 14 ) to the second processing layer ( 16 ),   contextualizing process or asset specific data via the second processing layer ( 16 ) to generate plant specific data,   providing plant specific data of one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ) via the second processing layer ( 12 ) to an interface to an external network,   monitoring and/or controlling one or more chemical plant(s) ( 12 ) via the first processing layer ( 14 ) or via the second processing layer ( 16 ) based on the process or asset specific data or the plant specific data.