Method for engineering a distributed control system and an engineering tool thereof

1. A method for engineering a Distributed Control System having a plurality of devices including at least one Input/Output device and at least one controller device such that the at least one Input/Output device and the at least one controller device have a communicative connection, the method comprising the steps of:

a. Prompting a user to request an application type and select a solution variant from one or more solution variant options;

b. Identifying at least one device from the plurality of devices based on the user input;

c. Selecting at least one function block along with its function fragments from a plurality of function blocks available in a library based on the requested application type and selected solution variant;

d. Creating instances of function fragments and arranging at least one instance of function fragments based on the at least one identified device; and

e. Configuring the at least one identified device based on the created instances of function fragments,

wherein, creating instances of function fragments and arranging at least one instance of function fragments based on the at least one identified device includes a step of analysing the arrangement of instances of function fragments for the selected solution variant option for the at least one identified device to find solutions that satisfy one or more identified distributed control system conditions.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of analysing the arrangement of instances of function fragments for the selected solution variant option, and the at least one identified device to find a solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions, further includes the step of dynamically rearranging at least one instance of function fragments in any of the plurality of devices to identify the solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of analysing the arrangement of instances of function fragments for the selected solution variant option, and the at least one identified device to find a solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions, further includes the step of reporting analysis results to gather user input to find the solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the step of reporting the analysis results to gather user input includes reselecting a solution variant from the one or more solution variant options.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the step of reporting the analysis results to gather user input includes reselecting the at least one function block along with its function fragments based on the reselected solution variant.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the step of reporting the analysis results to gather user input includes reselecting the at least one function block along with its function fragments based on the reselected solution variant.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of selecting at least one function block along with its function fragment from the plurality of available function blocks in the library based on the requested application type and selected solution variant further includes selection of the at least one function block along with its function fragment based on algorithm type and algorithm step number associated with the plurality of available function block.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the step of selecting the at least one function block along with its function fragment based on algorithm type and algorithm step number associated with the plurality of available function blocks is performed by the engineering tool to find a suitable function block along with its function fragment to satisfy the one or more identified distributed control system conditions.

9. A method for engineering a Distributed Control System having a plurality of devices including at least one Input/Output device and at least one controller device such that the at least one Input/Output device and the at least one controller device have a communicative connection, the method comprising the steps of:

a. requesting a user to input an application type and to select a solution variant from one or more solution variant options;

b. identifying at least one device from the plurality of devices based on the user input;

c. selecting at least one function block along with its function fragments from a plurality of function blocks available in a library based on the requested application type and selected solution variant;

d. creating instances of function fragments and arranging at least one instance of the function fragments based on the identified at least one device from the plurality of devices;

e. analyzing the arrangement of the at least one instance of function fragments for the selected solution variant option for the identified at least one device;

f. dynamically rearranging one or more instances of function fragments to one or more devices of the plurality of devices based on the analysis of the arrangement of the at least one instance of function fragments to find a rearrangement of instances of function fragments that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system needs; and

g. configuring the one or more devices based on the rearrangement of instances of function fragments.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of analysing the arrangement of instances of function fragments for the selected solution variant option, and the at least one identified device to find a solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions, further includes the step of dynamically rearranging at least one instance of function fragments in any of the plurality of devices to identify the solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of analysing the arrangement of instances of function fragments for the selected solution variant option, and the at least one identified device to find a solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions, further includes the step of reporting analysis results to gather user input to find the solution that satisfies one or more identified distributed control system conditions.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the step of reporting the analysis results to gather user input includes reselecting a solution variant from the one or more solution variant options.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the step of reporting the analysis results to gather user input includes reselecting the at least one function block along with its function fragments based on the reselected solution variant.

14. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the step of reporting the analysis results to gather user input includes reselecting the at least one function block along with its function fragments based on the reselected solution variant.

15. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the step of selecting at least one function block along with its function fragment from the plurality of available function blocks in the library based on the requested application type and selected solution variant further includes selection of the at least one function block along with its function fragment based on algorithm type and algorithm step number associated with the plurality of available function block.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the step of selecting the at least one function block along with its function fragment based on algorithm type and algorithm step number associated with the plurality of available function blocks is performed by the engineering tool to find a suitable function block along with its function fragment to satisfy the one or more identified distributed control system conditions.