Building Asset
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for Fieldbus
ON THE WEB
Essential
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WHAT’S HIDING IN THE
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A factory in the cloud sounds like science fiction, but we’re heading there,
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November 2013 • Volume XXVI • Number 11
F E AT U R E S
C
O
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R
S
T
O
R
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V A
60 / What’s Hiding in the Cloud?
A factory in the cloud sounds like science fiction, but
we’re heading there, at least for some applications.
Here’s how to clear away the mist to get the most from
this technology. by Dan Hebert, PE
L V
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71 / Championship Season
E
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75 / Valve Vendor Gives Value
through System Integration
End users benefit when Festo plays to its strengths. by
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W E B
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How Potash upgraded its systems, training and instrumentation workforce all at the same time. by Nancy
Bartels
The Essentials of Safety Instrumented Systems
www.controlglobal.com/whitepapers/130128-essentialsebook/
CONTROL (ISSN 1049-5541) is published monthly by PUTMAN Media COMPANY (also publishers of CONTROL DESIGN, CHEMICAL PROCESSING, FOOD PROCESSING, INDUSTRIAL NETWORKING,
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CT1311_05_07_TOC.indd 5
5
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November 2013 • Volume XXVI • Number 11
D E PA RT M E N T S
9 / Editor’s Page
Why Cybersecurity Still Matters
Are we going to wait for the worst to happen
before we get serious about cybersecurity?
15 / On the Web
Back to Basics with Timeless Concepts
The basics of process control don’t change.
Count on ControlGlobal when you need a
quick review of those timeless principles.
17 / Feedback
Are automated cars such a good idea?
One reader doesn’t think so.
18 / Lessons Learned
58 / Resources
Level information online.
83 / Technically Speaking
Process Apps in the Cloud
High-fidelity modeling, novel sensors, realtime control and optimization can achieve
big reductions in energy consumption.
84 / Ask the Expert
Our experts weigh in on heat detection cables and emergency valve stroke testing.
87 / Roundup
PLCs and industrial computers. Not everything in computers is all about tablets.
How Automation Can Prevent Oil Spills
The right controls can protect people from
their own errors.
90 / Products
47 / On the Bus
91 / Control Talk
Foolproof Fieldbus II
“Fail-safe” features that cause spurious trips
may do more harm than good.
48 / Without Wires
FDT Expands Its Footprint
FDT is like a ‘Swiss army knife.’ Ian Verhappen explains why.
50 / In Process
New specifications from the Fieldbus
Foundation, acquisitions, and more process news.
IN PROCESS
Thomas Crone, the new president and
CEO of ProSoft Technology, Inc.
Ethernet-enabled I/O; flat-panel monitors
Getting the Most from Your Loops
McMillan and Weiner talk with George
Buckbee of ExperTune about managing
control loops.
ROUNDUP
93 / Ad Index
Check these pages.
94 / Control Report
Reminders of Reality
Jim Montague visits some old machines,
and reflects on what’s lost when process
control improves applications.
The new Fanless iPC-Series of industrial
computers from Nematron.
CIRCULATION AUDITED JUNE 2012
Food & Kindred Products............................................ 11,430
Chemicals & Allied Products ...................................... 10,731
Systems Integrators & Engineering Design Firms ......... 9,277
Primary Metal Industries ............................................... 5,073
Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services .................................. 4,055
Pharmaceuticals ............................................................ 3,749
Paper & Allied Products ................................................ 3,623
Petroleum Refining & Related Industries ....................... 3,417
Rubber & Miscellaneous Plastic Products .................... 3,372
Miscellaneous Manufacturers ....................................... 2,141
Stone, Clay, Glass & Concrete Products ....................... 1,758
Textile Mill Products ..................................................... 1,248
Tobacco Products............................................................. 146
Total Circulation .......................................................... 60,000
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EDITOR’S PAGE
Cybersecurity Still Matters
The recent terrorist attack in Kenya, which left at least 67 people dead, including Kofi
Awoonor, celebrated Ghanaian diplomat, poet and ambassador, appears to be typical of the terrorist operation in the second decade of the 21st century. Get a bunch of
dedicated people together, plan an operation, and execute it with, as they used to say,
“maximum prejudice” and get publicity and
funding and new recruits for the cause. This
has gained recruits from Afghanistan, Iraq,
Central Africa and, apparently, the United
States, based on reports of Americans among
the terrorists in the mall in Nairobi.
Yet at the same time, we know that it would
not take a whole lot to, say, take out a refinery
in the Houston Ship Channel, or even to bring
down the electric grid in the 11 western states.
Recently, I had a discussion with three of the
smartest cybersecurity experts I know—people
who are responsible for several large electric
utilities’ cybersecurity. I proposed to them an
exploit I came up with a long time ago to do
exactly that—shut off power to the 11 western
states (and probably western British Columbia),
and I asked them what they thought. Was it farfetched or plausible.
Plausible, they said immediately. Very plausible. And it would keep the power off for perhaps as long as two years. A lot can happen in
two years and, if we’re talking about two years
without power, most of it isn’t good.
Here’s another scenario. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains a series
of Traffic Control and Route Control centers at
various places in the United States. They have
minimal security. I know because I’ve been to
several recently. They also have chillers, generators and systems to keep the FAA computer
network up and running. They’re very much
like a special-purpose data center. Because they
have rotating machinery connected to control
systems, they’re all open to the Aurora vulnerability or to some modified descendant of the
Stuxnet exploit.
I think we may have dodged this bullet so
far because the terrorists are going through regional and generational change. In Somalia, it
is still easy to hand out Kalashnikovs and high
capacity magazines to suicide terrorists. The
Somali al Qaeda affiliate is working with strong
backs and untutored troops.
This doesn’t have to be so. In the United
States, Canada and Europe, the terrorists have
shown themselves to be clearly cyber-aware,
moving money, communicating, organizing
through cyber space as easily as through the
desert in Afghanistan or Africa. The younger
leaders think immediately of cyber as a means
to destabilize the West.
It is highly unlikely that another 9/11-style attack could happen here, now. It’s not likely that
we would have the kind of terrorist attack that
happened in Nairobi. What is likely is that the
terrorists will move to cyber attacks and combinations of cyber and physical assaults.
We can’t prevent that kind of attack entirely.
We can, however, make it hard to do, costly and
very difficult to pull off.successfully. In the final
analysis, it may not matter to the global financial
markets what happens in Afghanistan or other
places, but it matters a great deal to the global
economy if the economy of North America or
Europe was destabilized by a significant terrorist attack, such as those I’ve been talking about.
Shutting down major portions of the electric
grid and the air traffic control infrastructure
would very clearly be sufficient to destabilize
the economy. It might even destabilize the political infrastructure as well.
We need to remain vigilant and continue to
upgrade our cyber and physical defenses. Otherwise, the terrorists may decide that they can
afford to hit us here, and hit us as hard as they
have that shopping mall in Nairobi.
WALT BOYES
EDITOR IN CHIEF
wboyes@putman.net
A lot can happen
in two years, and if
we’re talking about
two years without
power, most of it
isn’t good.
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
CT1311_09_Edit.indd 9
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11/4/13 11:01 AM
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CONTROL ONLINE
Search this site | Tips
www.controlglobal.com/thismonth
Back to Basics With
Timeless Content
WALT BOYES
EDITOR IN CHIEF
wboyes@putman.net
Over the past 10 years, we’ve posted many articles that focus on basic techniques and technologies used in process automation, from the big four sensor
technologies (flow, level, pressure, temperature) to analytical techniques and
many more. When you’re looking for the basic tools of your trade, you can find
many of them here. A simple search of ControlGlobal.com for the search string
“Back to Basics” returns over 300 items. They include white papers, articles,
multimedia, blog posts and more. They cover the entire spectrum of tools you
will use as a process automation professional.
Let’s look at a few of them.
Back to Basics: Calibration. In this edition of the Back to Basic video series, executive editor Jim Montague studies calibration
of field instruments. Knowing what field instrument
calibration is and what the pitfalls are can save you and
your plant time and money. Visit http://bit.ly/HjfUjl .
Back to Basics: DP Flow Measurement. This video
gives you the straight scoop on using differential pressure to measure flow in pipes. Since differential pressure flowmeters are still the most commonly used flow measurement technology, this is real “need to know” information. Visit http://bit.ly/1eN4X5z.
Back to Basics: Termination Technologies. One of the most common single
points of failure in control systems is the wiring, especially the connections. This
Back to Basics on termination technologies will help you avoid common mistakes
in design and operation of terminal connections. Visit http://bit.ly/1akB4bP.
Back to Basics: Loop Tuning. Here I explain the basics of this fundamental control operation. Learn about dead band, lag time, PID control, manual
and adaptive loop tuning, and why your loop tuning problems can’t always
be fi xed by software. Visit http://bit.ly/1akBnUa.
Back to Basics: Magnetic Flowmeters. In this article, I explain how magmeters work, where to apply them and, even more importantly, where not to
apply them, and how to deal with them when they don’t work. Visit http://
bit.ly/1dn2kcV.
Back to Basics: Ultrasonic Continuous Level Measurement. Ultrasonic
Level is one of the five non-contacting continuous level measurement technologies, and the one that is most often misused or misapplied. Here I show
you how to do it right. Visit http://bit.ly/1a2JikH.
There are many more Back to Basics topics at ControlGlobal.com. Enjoy
reading, watching and listening.
Lambda Tuning
Lambda tuning gives non-oscillatory
response with the response time
(Lambda) required by the plant. http://
bit.ly/H4p978.
Wireless Security for
Water/Wastewater Networks
This paper discusses industrial wireless network security issues and the
ways in which these networks can be
designed for more security and reliability. http://bit.ly/16xNEAd.
Getting the Most from
a HART Handheld Device
Which HART handheld should you get
and how to get the most from it. http://
bit.ly/1d2aIvI.
From Intern to Engineer
Video story of one engineer’s path to
success. http://bit.ly/HdEHWw.
What Will the Schneider/Invensys Merger
Mean for Invensys’ Brands?
Walt Boyes analyzes two possible scenarios. Will the acquisiton be good or
bad for the Invensys stable? http://bit.
ly/1ig6dhE.
Disturbance Dynamics Recommendations
Greg McMillan says the prevalence of the
PID is explained by these kinds of loop
disturbances. http://bit.ly/H4spiS.
ControlGlobal E-News
Multimedia Alerts
White Paper Alerts
Go to www.controlglobal.com and
follow instructions to register for our
free weekly e-newsletters.
Updated every business day, the Control Global online magazine is available at no charge.
Go to www.controlglobal.com and follow instructions to register for our free weekly e-newsletters.
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
CT1311_15_WebTOC.indd 15
15
11/4/13 11:05 AM
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G N I K A E P S YL L A C I N H C E T
FEEDBACK
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When to Trust the Operators
I enjoyed the “50 Years” article in the September issue of Control (www.controlglobal.com/articles/2013/process-automation-through-50-years-in-history/), and I
almost agree with everything Mr. Lipták
said. My concern is that the conclusions
are being drawn from looking backward to
events that have occurred. It’s easy to say
what automation would have done had it
been in place.
As I see it, the process (and automation)
designer’s challenge is to foresee abnormal
situations that might occur in the future,
and make provisions for them. Granted,
not every abnormal situation can be foreseen, so the question becomes where do
you draw the line? For those unforeseen
abnormal situations that are on the other
side of the line, there must be provisions
for human (operator) intervention.
Now I’ll move on to a slightly different
topic, which is automated, driverless automobiles. Some manufacturers predict that
they will be available by 2018. However, I
predict that this will result in mayhem on
the highways.
There have been stages of driver automation appearing for years, starting with
elimination of the crank-to-start, automatic transmissions, cruise control, antilock brakes, etc. But none of these have
removed the ultimate responsibility from
the drivers. They must pay attention, so
they can take over in event of an abormal
situation. However, complete driver automation goes beyond this.
I was with a group of 20-somethings
recently, and this subject came up. The
concensus among them was was that this
couldn’t come soon enough. Now they
would be able to set their destination on
a GPS, and the automobile would do the
rest, leaving them free to do other things.
They assume that if a ball suddenly rolls
out into the street, the automated car will
anticipate that a small child will likely follow and will take the proper action.
Balderdash! If they were in command
of the vehicle, they would have only seconds or fractions thereof to make an intelligent decision as to what action to take.
I doubt if the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration has even begun to
consider this problem, nor have any of our
state regulatory agencies. Should we, as a
group of automation and safety experts,
be expressing our opinion on this subject
now? Or are we going to wait for the inevitable ‘arms race’ among vehicle manufacturers to add more
and more levels of
automation, considering only the additional profits to be
earned, and in the THE
absence of any intel- MOBILE
WORKER
ligent (?) regulation?
I say, if you like
Microsoft
Word,
which is always trying to guess what you
want to do next and do it for you, and almost invariably guesses wrong, then you
will love automated driving.
Picking Low-Hanging
DAQ Fruit
How to Get Drives
and Motors to
Dance Together
More
Cross-Generational
Conversation
ON THE WEB
Secure
WirelessHART
There are lots of mobile worker tools,
and they’re allowing even the
smallest companies to have
all the benefits of mobility.
SEPTEMBER 2013
executive team
CT1309_01_CVR.indd 9
HAROLD WADE
Hlwade@aol.com
[Béla Lipták responds.]
I completely agree that there should be no
interference with the operator’s ability to
respond to unforeseen events, including
those that are coming which will be caused
by cyber and other forms of terrorism. However, what about the situation when the operator is the terrorist or just stupid or asleep?
I said that safety automation is the airbag of industry. Airbags do not interfere
with the operator’s actions, but respond
automatically to evolving disasters and
can’t be turned off by anybody. From BP,
Fukushima, etc. accidents, we learned
what are some of these essential airbags
for those processes, and we should use
that knowledge to prevent anybody from
repeating them and prevent anybody from
turning them off.
As to self-driving cars, I see nothing
wrong with adding more “airbags” to our
vehicles. I see nothing wrong with preventing the driver from going through red
lights, exceeding safe speed limits or coming too close to the car in front of the vehicle, etc. Automatic parking and the rest
can come later.
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
CT1311_17_Feedback.indd 17
9/3/13 3:18 PM
17
11/4/13 11:07 AM
LESSONS LEARNED
Automation Can Prevent the Next BP Spill
After the BP accident in 2010, I described the reasons why the manual operation contributed to the accident and how automatic safety controls could have prevented it. In
BÉL A LIPTÁK
liptakbela@aol.com
other words, I focused on what BP did wrong. In this article, I will concentrate on how to
do it right. Because of space limitations, I will skip discussing the drilling and product-
ion phases of the operation (at BP there was no
production, only drilling and sealing), and will
focus only on the phase when the accident occurred, which took place during the closing of
the well.
Closing serves to plug the casing pipe with a
concrete plug strong enough to hold against the
highest formation pressure. To control that, we
must keep the plug pressure higher than that of
the formation. Unfortunately, BP did not do that.
Blowout and the Methane “Kick”
In an automated
operation, balancing
pressure required
to exceed formation
pressure would have
been automatically
calculated and
applied.
18
A blowout occurs if the formation pressure (Pf)
suddenly rises because the methane hydrate or
methane ice (MI) in the formation developed
a “kick.” The MI crystal is a solid similar to ice,
except that it traps large amounts of methane
within its crystal structure. The extreme cold and
crushing pressure (2200 psig at 5000 feet at the
ocean bottom and about 8000 psig at the depth of
the oil deposits at 15,000 feet) keeps this crystal in
the solid state. If the pressure drops or the temperature rises to the point of phase transition (PhT),
it triggers the MI to suddenly vaporize.
The temperature of both the continental
shelf and of the oceanic crust increases with
depth, reaching values in the range from about
200 °C (392 ºF) to 400 °C (752 ºF), and the
rate of temperature rise is about 30 ºC (about
50 ºF) for every kilometer.
Each cubic foot of MI crystals explodes into
164 cubic feet of gas. Therefore, it is wise to
avoid drilling through MI deposits and, if it is
done accidentally, to keep the pressure inside
the well above and the temperature below the
PhT point. Naturally, to know where you are
during this process requires measurements.
Now, let us look at the sequence of events,
which started with the cementing of the well, a
process which BP completed only 20 hours before the temporary “killing” of the well started.
Cementing
Cementing of the well serves to firmly position
the production casing pipe inside the drill hole,
and to seal the walls of the drill hole, so that oil
or gas can enter the pipe only from the bottom of
the well, but not through the walls. The wellhead
at the Deepwater Horizon well sat on the ocean
floor, nearly a mile from the surface. The drill
hole itself went another 13,000 feet into the rock.
When the drilling is over, the well is full of
drilling mud, which was circulating during the
drilling phase. As shown in Figure 1 (page 20),
the cementing process starts with lowering a
steel pipe (casing) into the well. After that, the
pumping of concrete prepares the concrete casings, and when that is done, the well can start
production or can be sealed by pumping in the
killing fluid (cement slurry) through the killing line, followed by the pumping of displacement fluid (see Figure 2, www.controlglobal.
com/1311-LessonsLearned). During this operation, two plugs are inserted, called bottom or
wiper and top or cementing plugs.
During cementing, first the bottom plug is
inserted, and the pumped cement slurry breaks
the burst diaphragm (rupture disk) in the bottom plug. As it rises, it displaces the drilling
mud, pushing it up and out of the annulus between the casing pipe and the drill hole.
Once the displacing of the drilling mud is
done, and the annulus is full of the cement
slurry, the “top plug” is inserted, and it is
pushed down by a displacement fluid that is
pumped in behind it. When it reaches the bottom plug, the job is done, and the check valve
below the bottom float prevents flow reversal
(see detail on the right of Figure 1, page 20).
In case of the BP accident, the check valve
failed, and because the methane pressure in
the rock formation exceeded the pressure inside the badly cemented annulus (the cement
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
CT1311_18_20_Lessons.indd 18
11/4/13 11:08 AM
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 19
10/28/13 4:02 PM
LESSONS LEARNED
had cracks in it), the methane broke through, and the “blowout” of methane and oil followed.
The amount of time it takes for the cement to harden is called
thickening or “pumpability time.” For setting and temporarily
sealing wells at depths such as that of the BP well, under high
temperature and pressure, strong cements are required, and the
low-density cement slurry was not of sufficient quality and probably contributed to the BP accident. The cement was of low density because the contractor mixed in nitrogen to make the cement
slurry more “elastic” and set faster.
Displacement
fluid
Pumps
Cement
Rig
Riser
pipe
Ocean
~ 5,000 ft
Bop
Displacement
fluid
Top plug
Centerer
(only 6)
Casing
pipe
Drilling mud
~ 13,000 ft
Cement
slurry
Bottom
plug
Burst
diaphragm
Drill
hole
Check valve
with float
Oil and gas zone
Rock
CEMENTING THE WELL
Figure 1. The cementing process involves pumping cement, slurry and
displacement fluid into the well.
20
Sealing the Wells
Shortly after the cementing was done, workers started sealing
the well by pumping the “killing fluid” down into the casing
pipe through the kill line. Until the concrete sets, the maintaining of the killing fluid pressure high enough to always exceed the formation pressure is essential. This pressure can be
controlled by keeping the concrete mix density high enough to
provide the required hydrostatic pressure that prevents blowout.
Instead, the following occurred at BP:
Cementing was completed on April 19, 2010. The next day,
on April 20 at 7 a.m., BP cancelled the test required to determine if the bonding of the cement was strong enough in the
annulus (nor did workers check the BOP), and just started sealing the well.
Between that time and the time of the blowout, some 10
hours passed, during which no corrective action was taken. At
around 9:40 p.m., a jolt was felt on the bridge followed by the
rig shaking, and alarms activated because the most dangerous
level of combustible gas intrusion was detected. Yet electricity
was not turned off, and at 9:45 p.m., the gas exploded. Oil and
concrete was blown out of the well onto the deck and ignited.
So what happened? Obviously, the cement plug was not
strong enough to stop the oil and gas from blowing out. So
was that predictable, and would automation have prevented it?
The answer is a definite yes! Testing indicated the presence
of a leak somewhere in the well. In spite of that, because the
workers were in a hurry, BP decided to use a low-density cement plug and seawater behind it, instead of keeping the concrete mix density high enough to provide the required hydrostatic pressure that would have prevented the blowout.
If this operation were automated, the balancing pressure required to exceed the formation pressure would have been automatically calculated and applied. In other words, the control
system would have kept the hydrostatic pressure high enough to
prevent the gas from entering the well, and would have prevented
the use of low-density cement or sealing fluid.
Therefore, in order to protect against the repetition of the BP
accident, it is essential to have reliable (redundant) sensors and
fully automatic response to unsafe conditions and mistakes made
by either untrained operators or by ones willing to cut corners.
This requires using reliable sensors and “smart annunciators,”
which not only inform the operators about the existence of unsafe
conditions, but also give them either instructions on what to do
about them or, preferably, automatically does it.
In the case of the BP accident, this would have not only prevented the application of the weak concrete plug that allowed the
blowout, but would have stopped the whole operation until the
blow-out protectors were tested, and would have automatically
disengaged the rig from the well as soon as fire was detected.
[For more on this subject, go to www.controlglobal.com/1311LessonsLearned.]
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
CT1311_18_20_Lessons.indd 20
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Se
Em
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at
The
10/28/13 4:03 PM
ON THE BUS
Foolproof Fieldbus II
My wife’s car has a safety “feature” called Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA). The idea is, if
the sensors detect a loss of traction, brakes are automatically applied to help you stay
out of the ditch. However, about a year ago, the VSA started trying to jerk the wheel out
of her hands, without warning, at speed, on straight, dry roadways! The factory issued
a recall because the instrumentation was invoking the interlock for no reason, perhaps sending a car into the ditch when no hazard existed.
Sometimes our well-intentioned attempts to
make a system “foolproof” create as many hazards as we were aiming to prevent.
Some years ago, there was a process plant
where a fired heater had to undergo extensive
repairs after being damaged by excessively high
temperatures. The subsequent investigation revealed that the host controller had failed. It had
ceased executing control algorithms and updating the I/O.
The problem arose because all of the controller’s conventional analog I/O cards had
been set to “hold last value” when communications ceased. Since they hadn’t lost power, they
did just that, including the outputs wired to the
heater’s fuel control valves, whose last position
was enough to overheat the furnace before the
problem could be addressed.
Nowadays, we’re usually required to provide
“independent protection layers” when a basic
control system malfunction can initiate a hazardous condition. When it’s the root cause, one
can’t take any credit for the basic controls as
a “protection layer.” But some engineers wonder, why invoke a demand on the safety instrumented system (SIS) if the DCS can be configured to prevent it? In the conventional/analog
world, we might configure our I/O to fail to the
“no power” state, which in turn would drive actuated valves to their “fail” positions. The plant
or unit still shuts down, but we avoid a demand
on the SIS.
It’s unlikely this “safeguard” can reduce the
required SIL. And, the choice one would make
for optimizing robustness—hold last position—
arguably only results in a hazardous condition
in one-third of the scenarios. That is, the process could stay put—maintain steady state—or
equally likely drift further from the trip setpoints. So what if two-thirds of the time we trip
for no reason? Have we designed a safer plant,
or is tripping the plant unnecessarily creating
more hazards than we were aiming to prevent?
When I posed the problem to consultant,
author and certified ISA 84 SIS expert Ed
Marszal, president of Kenexis Consulting
(www.kenexis.com), he commented, “Personally, I would set all controllers to hold the last
valid output value. This will minimize disruptions to the plant to only situations where there
is an actual demand. Overall, this should be
the safest and most cost-effective approach.”
Unnecessary trips send our processes into
the ditch when no hazard is impending. We
may tell ourselves “it’s fail-safe,” but sudden
shutdowns and the ensuing start-ups create increased and uncommon stresses on personnel
and equipment, and the less-practiced procedures produce greater risks for error and injury.
If I vent the steam system at the height of
winter, maybe I’ve avoided lifting a safety valve.
But when the crew is out for a week thawing the
plant out, their question will be, “This is safer
for who?” We have to weigh whether any failsafe “feature” results in a verifiably safer facility, and not mechanically default to what on the
surface appears to be a “conservative” choice.
Foundtion fieldbus function blocks are part
of our basic control system, and our basic controls should prevent demands on the SIS by precise and robust control, not by trying to be “SIS
Lite.”
So when we’re exploiting the parameters
fieldbus function blocks provide to configure
fail-safe behaviors, we should do so selectively
and judiciously. Chances are, a stable plant
where spurious trips are rare is safer than one
that’s routinely requiring a winch to get it out
of the weeds and back on the road.
JOHN REZ ABEK
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
JRezabek@ashland.com
We must weigh
whether a fail-safe
feature results in
a verifiably safer
facility and not
default to what
appears to be
a conservative
choice.
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
CT1311_47_OTB.indd 47
47
11/4/13 11:10 AM
WITHOUT WIRES
FDT Expands Its Footprint
FDI and FDT are not the same. FDI is only for DD-based protocols that coincidently happen to be the major ones used in the process industries and, hence, of greatest interest
IAN VERHAPPEN
DIRECTOR,
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION NE T WORKS
iverhappen@industrialautomationnetworks.com
FDT is like a
‘Swiss army knife,’
enabling the
viewing of in-depth
device information
from multiple
protocols in a
single
environment.
48
to most of the members of the traditional process automation community.
FDT (www.
fdtgroup.org) presently supports 15 protocols (HART, Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus,
Profinet, AS-i, CANopen, CC-Link, ODVA
protocols (CompoNet, ControlNet, DeviceNet,
EtherNet/IP), EtherCAT, InterBus, IO-Link,
and sercos). The organizations behind the first
three (the DD-based protocols) are participating in FDI. FDT is also working to expand the
number of supported protocols to includ BACnet, ISA100.11a and Modbus.
FDT is not a protocol, but rather an open
integration platform. As a result, it’s likely that
FDT applications can be found in any industry
or market. Support for additional protocols will
expand FDTs footprint to other areas as well.
For example, when BACnet is added to the
stable, an entirely new set of industries are going to start using FDT. BACnet is the primary
digital network for building automation, as well
as the final link for the SmartGrid/smart buildings of the future, adding building supply, automation, security, architecture and electricity generation, among others, to the industries
where FDT’s influence could be felt.
Speaking of “smart buildings,” some of the
smartest of them being built are in the pharmaceutical industry. This is because pharmaceuticals and biotechnology require very rigorous control of ambient temperature, never
mind clean room requirements. Because FDT
supports multiple protocols in a single environment, it will now be possible to use the same interface to view both building and process control devices.
With Modbus as the ‘common denominator’ protocol for many industries, once FDT
supports it, it becomes theoretically possible
to connect to any smart device for which both
a COMMunications DTM (COMM DTM)
and Device DTM are available. This is because, much like a black channel, a FDT host
system is able to natively communicate with
devices by tunneling through networks using
nested communications, so that the host is not
required to intervene in any way or modify the
communications stack of any network through
which tunneling occurs.
For example, it is possible to have a network
between your FDT Frame (viewer/HMI) and
the field device consisting of EtherNet/IP (between two Rockwell PLCs), then Modbus from
the Rockwell PLC to the building controller,
and finally from the building controller to the
BACnet building automation device.
FDT can also be used as your monitor for
industrial wireless networks because it will
soon support both HART and ISA100.11a. You
can therefore use the tools to monitor network
health, accessing the gateways and continuing from there to individual devices. If a DTM
is missing for a DD-based device, a basic interface can be created from the DD through
an ‘Interpreter DTM’ to provide access to the
parameters, though not necessarily in the full
graphical environment that would result with
an approved device DTM.
Another improvement with FDT2 is that
the functions, such as data transfer, instantiation and frame updates, range from three to 20
times faster than the original FDT 1.x specification, while retaining backward compatibility.
FDT is like a Swiss army knife, enabling
viewing of in-depth device information from
multiple protocols in one environment. Like
the army knife, however, it may not be the best
tool for a single task, but it certainly does the
job well enough for everyday activities. Perhaps
it is for this reason that all the major DCS and
PLC suppliers fully support this technology,
either relying on it as an integral part of their
asset management and device configuration
suite, or supporting its use as a common interface to the many protocols that they’re required
to support.
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
CT1311_48_Wireless.indd 48
11/4/13 11:12 AM
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 49
10/28/13 4:03 PM
IN PROCESS
Rockwell Automation Acquires vMonitor
Gives company a strong position in proprietary and WirelessHART wireless technology.
Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com) has agreed to purchase vMonitor (www.vmonitor.com),
a provider of wireless solutions in the
oil and gas industry.
VMonitor delivers monitoring and
control solutions for wellhead and upstream applications that combine wireless instrumentation and communication with visualization software to help
customers make more informed decisions and improve production. The company has the world’s largest installed base of wireless wellhead
monitoring systems for natural and artificially lifted wells, with more than
6000 well sites for major oil and gas
companies around the world. VMonitor’s wireless sensor I/O offerings are
a proprietary protocol (WMP), but
they offer support for IEC 62591-WirelessHART also. With this large installed base, vMonitor’s proprietary
protocol jumps Rockwell up as a real
competitor for wireless sensor networks.
“Strategically, vMonitor’s worldclass, digital, oilfield technology and
services, combined with our comprehensive portfolio of solutions,
strengthen our ability to deliver endto-end projects for the oil and gas sector,” says Terry Gebert, vice president
and general manager, Rockwell Automation Global Solutions. “Equally
important, vMonitor’s capabilities will
accelerate our development of similar
process solutions and remote-monitoring services for water/wastewater, mining and other industries globally.”
VMonitor has about 120 employees
at offices located in Houston, Mumbai,
India, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. and other Middle East locations.
The company’s technologies
50
include an all-wireless portfolio of wellhead sensors and transmitters, remote
terminal units, gateways and modems,
as well as turnkey monitoring and control systems and services. These offerings cover a broad range of applications from oil and gas wells, pipelines,
pumping and lift stations to refineries
and tank farms.
The acquisition is expected to close
within two months. VMonitor will
then become part of Rockwell Automation’s Control Products and Solutions
operating segment.
Thomas Crone Takes
Over at ProSoft
Thomas Crone has accepted the
position of president and CEO of
ProSoft Technology effective immendiately. Before accepting the
position, he served as executive vice
president and chief marketing officer
NEW CEO
Thomas Crone, formerly of Valin Corporation, takes over as CEO of ProSoft
Technologies.
of Valin Corp., a provider of process
control and automation solutions.
While at Valin, he was responsible
for a U.S.-based global distribution
business with five divisions, 15 operations and 250 employees. Crone’s
leadership helped guide the company through organic sales growth
and multiple acquisitions, creating
one of Inc. magazine’s fastest growing companies in America and putting it among Business Journal’s
largest and fastest growing private
companies in Silicon Valley.
“I have been following the progress of
ProSoft Technology for some time now,
and I’m honored to be asked to represent this strong brand of extraordinary
products,” says Crone. “I look forward
to being part of this dynamic group for
many years.”
Fieldbus Foundation
Announces Modbus
Integration into
Foundation for ROM
The Fieldbus Foundation is developing a set of technical specifications for
integrating devices based on the Modbus communications protocol into its
Foundation for Remote Operations
Management (ROM) technology. The
foundation says integrating these instruments will help enable an overall
remote operations solution in a wide
range of industrial process control and
automation applications.
The first development of its kind
that integrates remote input/output
(I/O), ISA100.11a, WirelessHART,
wired HART and Foundation fieldbus
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
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page ads.indd
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10/28/13
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10/17/13
IN PROCESS
H1 protocols into one standard data
management environment, Foundation for ROM extends the capabilities
of
Foundation
fieldbus to wired and wireless devices
installed in some of the world’s harshest
and most remote locations.
The Foundation says this open,
non-proprietary solution provides a
unified digital infrastructure for asset management in applications ranging from tank farms and terminals to
Omron Automation and
Safety Named to
Chicago’s 101 Best
Companies List
Connect Protocols
con•nect [k' nekt] pro•to•cols ['prōt kôls]
e
Definition
ProSoft
Technology
Where Automation Connects
Where Automation Connects
+1-661-716-5100
www.prosoft-technology.com
A S I A PA C I F I C | A F R I C A | E U R O P E | M I D D L E E A S T | L AT I N A M E R I C A | N O R T H A M E R I C A
CT1311_50_56_InPro.indd 52
pipelines, offshore platforms and original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
skids.
Foundation for ROM technical
specifications for the remote I/O,
wired HART, WirelessHART and
wireless ISA100.11a interfaces have
been completed, and were successfully demonstrated at a live end
user demonstration at the Petrobras
research and development facility
(Cenpes) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in
April of this year.
The Fieldbus Foundation is now
proceeding to develop specifications
for Modbus integration into Foundation for ROM. Modbus devices such as
wellhead flowmeters and submersible
pump controllers need to be integrated
as part of the overall solution in some
applications.
The Modbus integration team, comprised of end user and supplier engineers, had its kickoff meeting in May
hosted by Shell Global Solutions in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The team completed the use cases
in August, and finished its review at a
meeting in September hosted by MTL
in Luton, U.K. The team is now proceeding with requirements and specification development.
For the third consecutive year, Omron Automation and Safety (www.
omron247.com) has been selected
to the prestigious list of “Chicago’s
101 Best and Brightest Companies to
Work For.” From a pool of thousands
of competing company entries, Omron joined this elite group of Chicago area companies that excel in a
commitment to their employees and
their community.
11/4/13 11:15 AM
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 53
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9/24/2013 11:05:20 AM
10/28/13 4:04 PM
IN PROCESS
The annual competition by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT)
Center for Research and Service
(www.iit.edu/center_rs/) involves indepth surveys of each company’s employee base, human resource practices and extension programs. Each
company’s assessment is designed to
evaluate the organization’s “communication, work-life balance, employee
education, diversity, recognition and
retention” among other categories.
Survey data is processed, analyzed and
scored by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Center for Research and Service to
determine the 101 best companies based
on each company’s “commitment to excellence in their human resource practices and employee enrichment.” The Center for Research and Service provides each participating company with an assessment report offering
insight as to their organization’s
strengths and weaknesses. Companies can further evaluate themselves in a benchmark comparison
with other major metropolitan areas
across the country.
Omron was also the winner of one
of 12 coveted Elite Awards. Again,
competing against thousands of
other companies of all sizes, Omron
was chosen as the best company in
the Community Initiatives category
for the entire Chicago region in recognition of the company’s extensive
volunteer involvement with community services.
Metso Splits Up
At an extraordinary general meeting
(EGM) in October, stockholders approved a plan by Metso Corp.’s (www.
metso.com) board of directors to split
Metso into two companies. Metso’s
pulp, paper and power business will
be transferred to the new company,
Valmet Corp., and the mining, construction and automation businesses
will remain part of Metso. The decisions of the EGM will be effective as
of the registration date for the completion of the demerger, which is expected to be Dec. 31, 2013, when the
terms of office of the new boards of directors will also start.
Company spokesmen say that under the demerger plan, all of Metso’s
assets, debts and liabilities relating to
Metso’s pulp, paper and power business will be transferred to the new
company, Valmet Corp., that will
be formed in the demerger. Metso’s
mining and construction business
and automation business will remain
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 55
10/28/13 4:04 PM
IN PROCESS
part of Metso. Following the demerger on Dec. 31, 2013, Valmet will
be a separate, independent, publicly
listed company.
As part of the demerger decision,
the Extraordinary General Meeting
approved Valmet’s Articles of Association and decided to reduce Metso’s
share capital by an amount equivalent to Valmet’s share capital, in
other words by €100 million to €141
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•
•
•
Cement and Agregate
Food and Beverage
Textile
Mining
HVAC
Metals
Plastics
Pulp and Paper
Water and Waste Water
Irrigation
• NEMA 1, 12, 3R 4 and 4X cabinets
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Transforming energy into solutions.
CustomPanel AD.indd 1
CT1311_50_56_InPro.indd 56
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©2013 WEG Electric Corp.
the reduction in Metso’s share capital will used to distribute funds to
Valmet.
Metso is a global supplier of technology and services to customers
in the process industries, including
mining, construction, pulp and paper, power, and oil and gas.
exida Announces
Winners of 1st Annual
Safety Awards
exida, provider of functional safety
and cybersecurity certification for the
process industries, has announced
the winners of its First Annual Safety
Awards 2013.
The following companies/products
have earned this year’s honors: DetTonics’ FlexSonic Acoustic Detector (sensors category, www.detronics.
com); Emerson Process Management’s DeltaV SIS with Electronic
Marshalling (logic solvers category,
www.emersonprocess.com); System
Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd.’s
RTMSafety (software category, www.
sec.co.jp/english/index.html).
The awards were presented in
these three categories to products
that exida judged best demonstrate
innovative work and have the ability
to play a key role in the continuous
journey of making the world a safer
place.
“We received several nominations
for products that demonstrated exceptional work, making the decision
process very difficult,” says Dr. William Goble, exida principal partner.
He added, “exida recognizes the
importance of excellence in functional safety and congratulates the
winners of this year’s awards. We
commend their commitments to
manufacturing and designing products that are sure to make a difference in the ever-evolving world of
functional safety.”
4/26/12 7:28 AM
11/4/13 11:16 AM
CT1311_full page ads.indd 57
10/28/13 4:04 PM
RESOURCES
Online Information on the Level
Control’s Monthly Resource Guide
Every month, Control’s editors take a specific product area, collect all the latest, significant tools we can find,
and present them here to make your job easier. If you know of any tools and resources we didn’t include, send
them to wboyes@putman.net, and we’ll add them to the website.
LEVEL DETECTION
“Unraveling the Complexities of Level
Detection” explores the difficulties
and challenges of measuring level in a
container. Many factors must be considered when determining an application’s sensing needs. The material
used for the container, the media being measured and the environmental
conditions are only some of the factors
that must be taken into account when
choosing the correct measurement
tool. This free, downloadable, ninepage PDF walks readers through some
of these considerations. The direct link
is at bit.ly/18zdXWD,
level measurement technique. The direct link is at http://bit.ly/1azuD38.
YOUTUBE
www.youtube.com
EMERSON PROCESS MANAGEMENT
www.emersonprocess.com
STEAMY LEVELS
TURCK
763-553-7300; www.TURCK.COM
THE GREEN BOOK ON LEVEL
GO ULTRASONIC
Ultrasonic level is one of the five noncontacting continuous level measurement technologies, and the one that is
most often misused or misapplied. In
this article, Control’s editor in chief,
Walt Boyes, explains how to use it the
right way. The direct link is at http://
bit.ly/1a2JikH.
CONTROL
www.controlglobal.com
DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE
LEVEL MEASUREMENT
Hydrostatic level measurement via differential pressure is an option for direct
mounting or mounting with remote
seals on tanks and vessels. These instruments can handle extreme chemical and mechanical loads as well as
electromagnetic interference. They
are widely applied in chemical and
petrochemical industries. This short
video goes through the basics of this
58
2013, was prepared by the experts at
Emerson Process Management, and
covers the basics of various level measuring technologies, including guided
wave radar, tank gauging and ultrasonic. There are also chapters on safety
loops, approvals and certifications, and
a bibliography. The direct link is at
http://bit.ly/HqZuGM,
The 8th edition of The Green Book,
Flow, Level and Environmental
Handbook & Encyclopedia is now
available. It has more than 1300
pages of the latest information on
f low, level and environmental products from f lowmeters and valves
to water test equipment, and a new
sanitary temperature, pressure and
f low product section with technical references. This free, hardbound
handbook has a technical reference
section with an overview on f low
measurement, and aids in selecting
a complete f low measurement system with unit conversion tables and
a glossary. Go to www.omega.com/literature/greenbook8 for your copy.
OMEGA
888/826-6342; www.omega.com
GUIDE TO LEVEL MEASUREMENT
This free, 318-page ebook, The Engineer’s Guide to Level Measurement,
“Methods of Detecting Water Level in
Steam Boilers” covers the application
of level controls and alarms, plus it has
an overview of different level detection
methods, including float-type controls,
conductivity probes, capacitance devices and differential pressure cells.
The direct link to the article is at http://
bit.ly/1gcyZD2.
SPIR A X SARCO
www.spiraxsarco.com
SOLIDS ON THE LEVEL
Measuring solids in large bulk containers is complicated. This free, 26-page
PDF white paper discusses the application considerations required when you
need to measure the level of material
continuously, or simply determine on
a continuous basis how much stuff you
have in your vessels. Issues covered include the type of material being measured, its density, the type of storage
vessel used, filling/discharge systems,
environmental issues and the types of
level sensors available and their advantages and disadvantages. The direct
link is at http://bit.ly/17XTqeV.
BLUE LEVEL TECHNOLOGIES
www.blueleveltechnologies.com
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
CT1311_58_Resources.indd 58
11/4/13 11:21 AM
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11/4/13 12:14 PM
V I RT U A L I Z AT I O N
WHAT’S HIDING IN THE
CLOUD?
A factory in the cloud sounds like science fiction, but we’re heading there,
at least for some applications. Here’s how to clear away the mist
to get the most from this technology.
by Dan Hebert, PE
You’re almost certainly using the cloud on a regular basis for
personal purposes. And odds are you’re also using it at your
company for business purposes.
You use the cloud for personal purposes if you have a web
mail account (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.); if you have a social media account (Facebook, Twitter, etc.); if you’ve ever downloaded music or a movie; if you’ve used a file transfer site; if
you store data such as photos or documents on the web; or if
you’ve ever downloaded software from the web.
“We see private cloud technologies becoming commonplace in the industrial space because they provide redundancy,
project backup and easy restoration, while adding the benefit of
reduced hardware costs,” says Steve Schneebeli, lead systems
engineer at Malisko Engineering (www.malisko.com).
The cloud can be confusing, so let’s start with a few definitions, namely what constitutes a public, a private and a hybrid cloud, and what types of services are typically provided
through each.
What Kind of Cloud Is This?
“A public cloud infrastructure is owned by an organization, and
that organization typically provides access to its cloud services
for a fee or in exchange for subjecting the user to advertising,”
60
explains Larry Combs, vice president of customer service and
support for InduSoft (www.indusoft.com). Web mail is a good
example, as are file storage and transfer sites.
The table on page 62 lists some of the advantages of using
the public cloud instead of an internal infrastructure. In almost all cases, the public cloud will be much cheaper, faster
to bring online and easier to expand. For applications that require large file downloads, such as software updates, the faster
local access provided by a public cloud is a virtual necessity.
A private cloud infrastructure is operated by and for a
particular organization, and it may exist either on or off its
premises. A virtualized server farm within a process plant
would be a good example of an on-premise, private cloud.
Hybrid clouds are a type of public cloud hosted for a particular application or customer. An example would be an
application hosted by a cloud service provider for one of its
customers, with the particular application and customer
separated from all others.
In all cases, virtualization is used in the cloud to allow multiple operating systems and associated applications to run on
a smaller number of computers than would be required with a
traditional one PC/one operating system architecture.
Virtualization obviously saves money, space and energy
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
CT1311_60_68_CoverStory.indd 60
11/4/13 11:25 AM
V I RT U A L I Z AT I O N
because fewer PCs are needed, but its chief advantages
are greater reliability, improved application longevity
and simpler upgrades and changes.
Public and hybrid cloud computing services can be divided
into three categories: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
“IaaS provides on-demand provisioning by a cloud service provider to a customer of virtual servers, storage, networks and other fundamental computing resources,” notes
Combs. It can be provided as a public cloud, as with commercial file storage services, or as a hybrid cloud. In either
case, customers only pay for the computing resources that
they use, and they can quickly bring additional capacity and
resources online as needed.
“PaaS is a set of software and product development tools
hosted on the cloud provider’s infrastructure and used by
customers as desired. Developers use these tools to create
applications via the Internet. Google Apps is a leading example, with Google providing word processing and other
web-hosted applications. PaaS is almost always provided as a
public cloud,” adds Combs.
SaaS, like web-based email, affords consumers the capability to use a provider’s applications that are running on
a cloud infrastructure from various devices such as a PC,
a smart phone or a tablet—often through an app or a web
browser. Consumers generally pay a fee or agree to be subjected to advertising for this public cloud service.
And it turns out that SaaS has found a home in the process industries, namely for remote access. With remote
access and other related applications, SaaS makes the
cloud-based computing infrastructure someone else’s responsibility, freeing the process automation professional to
CLOUD-BASED ASSET MANAGEMENT
Rockwell Automation uses its cloud-based platform to not only
provide remote access for its customer applications, but also to
supply data from various sites to its own internal support staff,
who provide data monitoring and analysis of customer assets for
a fee (see fi gure at right).
“Our Remote Asset Performance Management (APM) solution
uses the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud-computing platform to provide both a plant-wide and an enterprise-wide view into the performance of assets,” says Dr. Anil Gokhale, PE, global manager, process and process safety technology for the systems and solutions
business at Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com).
“The Remote APM solution can easily interface with existing systems or be the automation platform for new systems for a variety of
process applications. Remote APM makes data accessible from the
cloud via mobile devices and web browsers. It also allows operators
to produce reports and dashboards for insight into asset and process performance,” continues Gokhale.
“Our Virtual Support Engineer services use the Azure cloud platform to monitor customers’ process-specific information, as well as
equipment health. Data is collected and made available via predefined dashboards to a customer’s in-house operations and to
Rockwell Automation’s remote support engineers. Alarms are sent
to the same audience when equipment issues a warning, a fault or
goes out of pre-defined tolerances,” reports Gokhale.
“Using this information, remote support engineers can proactively contact customers, and begin working on issues before downtime events occur. When an event does occur, having access to historical information greatly reduces the time spent troubleshooting
and significantly decreases downtime duration. As we connect to
more equipment and collect more data, we can develop additional
algorithms and logic to do more predictive analysis to improve asset
performance and uptime,” concludes Gokhale.
Hilcorp Energy Company (www.hilcorp.com) has oil-drilling plat-
Suppliers can use the cloud to provide remote access to end users,
and to analyze data for asset management and other purposes.
forms and operations off Alaska’s rugged Kenai Peninsula, and it
recently upgraded pumping equipment from gas lift compressors to
more efficient and reliable submersible pumps. The pumps are controlled by medium-voltage drives, and are remotely monitored by the
Virtual Support Engineer service from Rockwell Automation.
“We went with the Virtual Support Engineer service from Rockwell Automation to make sure we were minimizing downtime and
keeping the right spare parts and equipment running at all times,”
says Mark McKinley, facilities engineer at TBAK-Hilcorp Alaska.
“When one of our facilities goes offline, we could lose between
$100,000 and $300,000 a day.
“The service gives my support staff comfort offshore—the last
time we had one of our wells trip offline, within five minutes Rockwell
had someone on the phone telling operators what broke and what
to test. The staff was able to verify the issue, replace the part, and
get it back online immediately. I am convinced it saved six or more
hours of troubleshooting.”
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
CT1311_60_68_CoverStory.indd 61
61
11/4/13 11:36 AM
V I RT U A L I Z AT I O N
REASONS TO USE THE PUBLIC CLOUD
INSTEAD OF INTERNAL INFRASTRUCTURE
can communicate to various types of
hardware and software platforms such
as RTUs, PLCs and operator interface
terminals installed at remote sites. The
application can also communicate
to remote access hardware including
focus on operational functions as opposed to IT matters.
SaaS Improves Remote Access
With SaaS for remote access, a supplier
creates a cloud-based application that
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CT1311_60_68_CoverStory.indd 62
CLOUD CAVEATS
• Lack of security
• Lack of standards
• Lack of cloud-based products from major
automation vendors
• Dependence on continued existence of
cloud provider
• Dependence on reliable and high-speed
Internet and other connections
View A New
Dimension
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Modbus
• Cheaper
• Faster to bring online
• Easier to add capacity
• Faster local access
smart phones and tablets, PC-based
HMI platforms, and databases.
The supplier then markets this
cloud-based, remote-access SaaS to
customers, charging a monthly fee
for use, which is typically based on
the number of nodes and the amount
of data that goes through their cloud.
The advantage to end users is that they
only need to provide connectivity to
the cloud from each remote site, with
all other data communication infrastructure provided by the supplier for
a monthly fee.
SoftPLC’s (www.softplc.com) TagWell is a good example. “TagWell is
a cloud-based, bi-directional portal
to SoftPLC remotes, which uses an
application platform interface (API)
to allow customers to perform remote management of their process
automation systems,” explains Cindy
Hollenbeck, vice president of SoftPLC (Figure 1).
“SoftPLC remotes can be gateways
to existing equipment, or they can be a
PAC and gateway. With the API, applications that run in TagWell can read/write
to the tags in any remote,” adds Hollenbeck. When the remote is a gateway,
any vendor’s automation system can be
used, as long as it can communicate to
the gateway. In other cases, the SoftPLC
remote is the main controller for the application as well as for the gateway.
“The entire architecture is designed
to minimize bandwidth use to cut costs
11/4/13 11:25 AM
virtually. better.
An innovative portfolio of scalable engineering
and project design capabilities.
Experion® PKS Orion employs a distinctive portfolio of scalable capabilities
for innovative project execution and system management. Delivering projects
virtually through Experion Virtualization Solutions enables more efficient remote
design and parallel engineering, allowing for late-stage design changes.
This allows you to better control your hardware choices—delaying purchase
until you are ready to finalize your hardware requirements. In addition, Experion
Virtualization Solutions provide advanced virtualization capabilities to safeguard
your system once it is commissioned. Honeywell leads the way in utilizing
process knowledge, making your team more flexible and efficient.
www.honeywellprocess.com/virtualization
©2013 Honeywell International, Inc. All right reserved.
CT1311_full page ads.indd 63
10/28/13 4:05 PM
V I RT U A L I Z AT I O N
for cellular or other costly communication network interfaces for remote systems such as satellite, but it can also work
on hard-wired Ethernet connections. The remote can be
programmed to report only by exception to further reduce
bandwidth requirements,” notes Hollenbeck.
One SoftPLC customer uses TagWell for monitoring chemical tank levels. Each tank is equipped with an embedded SoftPLC RTU that measures level. The level is reported to TagWell
where all the tanks can be viewed in a browser optimized for
viewing on a smart phone. TagWell also provides the tank level
information to the customer’s SCADA system once per day,
and immediately reports refill alarms, so the logistics system
can schedule deliveries. Critical low-level alarms are sent to the
SCADA system and as text messages.
Vipond Controls (www.vipondcontrols.ca) is a system integrator in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, that provides a hybrid,
cloud-based, SCADA SaaS solution based on InduSoft’s
Web Studio software to its customers in the oil and gas industry. Vipond customers use its cloud-based remote access
solution instead of purchasing and installing SCADA software and hardware at each remote site.
A typical installation consists of one or more controllers
and/or RTUs at a remote production site, such as an oil well,
A TWO-WAY STREET
Figure 1. Cloud-based remote access provides two-way communications between remote sites and email users, PC-based applications,
smartphones and other clients.
explains Darryl Vipond, president of Vipond Controls. Each
of these local devices is connected to Vipond’s cloud-based iSCADA via radio, cellular or satellite connections. No SCADA
hardware or software is required at the site because iSCADA
provides this function remotely.
Once the data is uploaded to the iSCADA application in
the cloud, it’s available for remote access. “A key feature of
iSCADA is very fast response rates, which enable us to deliver a remote HMI experience in near-real time,” Vipond
says. “This remote viewing can be delivered through any
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CT1311_60_68_CoverStory.indd 64
11/4/13 11:27 AM
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 65
10/28/13 4:05 PM
V I RT U A L I Z AT I O N
web browser, a PC set up as a thin client, or a smart phone
such as the iPhone and certain Android phones.”
Vipond adds, “Our SCADA solution creates a unique
experience for each client by using a hybrid cloud. With
iSCADA, each customer has their own virtual machine
running within Vipond’s server cloud. All data is kept safe
and independent of other machines running in the cloud.”
(Figure 2)
Remote asset management is another process application
that fits well with the SaaS model (see sidebar). Remote access
and asset management are public cloud services, but private
clouds are perhaps the most widespread implementation in
process industry end user firms.
Private Cloud Savings
Process industry firms are very concerned with protecting
their automation and information systems from cyber attacks. They also demand nearly 100% uptime, and are leery
of cloud implementations that require an Internet connection, so private clouds often make the most sense for process
automation applications.
A certain major pulp and paper company uses virtual machines in a private cloud to host the application software for
the distributed control systems (DCSs) in some of its largest
manufacturing facilities. Besides running the main application programs, it uses the cloud to host thin-client HMI stations for its operators.
In its largest private cloud implementation, it is using
VMware (www.vmware.com). VMware provides a set of software tools that help users virtualize PCs to run multiple operating systems on one machine.
For just the DCS part of that installation, the company
had roughly 30 servers that now run on 12 virtual machines.
There were about 60 client workstations, and those are now
hosted by 10 virtual machines. Using a virtualized private
cloud to reduce the number of PCs from 90 to 22 cleared up
a lot of floor space, and cut the firm’s heat load dramatically.
Besides these benefits, according one of its engineers, the
pulp and paper company has “broken the hardware-software
link that often drives us into much more expensive repairs
and upgrades than should be required. This happens when
something like a hard drive fails in a relatively old box we’re
running as part of a process control system. Then, when we
get the new hard drive, we find there are no drivers (or other
incompatibilities) available for it on the old box. Next step
is looking at a new server that—guess what?—won’t run the
old application software. And then, you’ve reached the point
where a failed hard drive results in a major hardware and
software upgrade. Admittedly, this wouldn’t happen if everything in all our systems was up to date—but everything’s
not up to date.”
This example points out a major benefit of virtualization
and private clouds, and that’s application and hardware platform longevity. With a virtualized private cloud, a hardware
failure on a PC simply requires a transfer of the applications
running on that PC to another PC in the cloud.
Depending on the cloud configuration, these types of
transfers can occur either manually or automatically, and
in either case, very quickly, as opposed to what’s needed in a
traditional installation. For this company, transfers occur automatically, as it uses VMware technology to run mirrored
machines with automatic switchovers.
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CT1311_60_68_CoverStory.indd 66
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11/4/13 11:25 AM
NTROL
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V I RT U A L I Z AT I O N
With most every cloud implementation, including those
at the pulp and paper company, the availability of a spare
virtual application server allows testing of software patches
and other upgrades with greatly reduced risk to operations,
another reason to move to the cloud.
Many PC-based installations require periodic upgrades for
various reasons, such as the upcoming discontinuation of support for the Windows XP operating system. This can be an ideal
time to switch from a traditional one PC/one operating system
installation to a virtualized private cloud.
“We recently replaced a set of eight stand-alone rackmount servers that were five years old and due for replacement with two rack-mount host servers designed to run the
equivalent of the existing system as virtual machines,” reports an automation engineer user at a large water/wastewater utility in Southern California.
The utility uses VMware’s ESXi 5.0 software, and
Wonderware’s Archestra (www.wonderware.com) is the
HMI/SCADA system. The following standalone machines were converted to virtual machines in a private
cloud, and are running fully redundant with the ability
to have one of the two host machines fail with no loss
of SCADA functional Archestra System Platform object
servers, Wonderware historian, domain controller, terminal server and I/O servers (communications to PLCs).
Besides greater reliability, this private cloud installation
gives users the ability to add virtual machines to host
servers to expand SCADA system capacity.
The downside of the private clouds is that they require
significant internal expertise. Despite this, strong growth is
expected to continue.
IT INFRASTRUCTURE
IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Virtual compting environment
Client A
virtual
iSCADA
system
Hypervisor
host 1
Client B
virtual
iSCADA
system
Client C
virtual
iSCADA
system
Hypervisor
host 2
Continuous data replication between hosts
If one host fails, the virtual machines
are started on the other host.
Firewall
Client A
can access
only the Client A
iSCADA system
Client C
Internet
can access
only the Client C
iSCADA system
Client B
can access
only the Client B
iSCADA system
MORE SECURE CLOUDS
Figure 2. Suppliers that provide cloud-based remote access can segregate
each customer’s application in their cloud, providing increased security.
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How Far Can the Cloud Go?
Private clouds are already in widespread use in the process industries, and remote access and asset
management SaaS solutions should
continue rapid growth. Users trust
private clouds in critical real-time
control applications because they’re
an onsite solution contained within
a particular facility. At least some
users are comfortable using cloudbased remote access and asset management, probably because these services don’t directly affect real-time
control. It seems that this will be a
pattern going forward, as process industry firms will limit cloud use in
real-time control to private clouds,
and will only trust SaaS providers to
the extent that they don’t directly affect real-time control.
“At this point, our company doesn’t
use clouds in our server level and other
process automation applications, primarily because we view it as too risky due to
a lack of cloud standards and insufficient
knowledge,” cautions Rick Hakimioun,
a senior instrument/electrical and control systems engineer with Paramount
Petroleum (www.ppcla.com).
“Process automation professionals
must go through a paradigm shift to
start taking advantage of cloud innovations, and I see it happening in few
years. Of course, we must first fully
understand how it works, and we will
need to have the control systems suppliers’ blessings of the cloud before
jumping on the bandwagon,” observes
Hakimioun.
“Security and a lack of standards
are the biggest concerns. IEEE,
ANSI, ISA and other non-profit organizations will need to be the forerunners on putting together the security and interoperability standards for
process industry cloud-based applications, not vendors like Google and Microsoft,” he adds.
Automation vendors will have to
be fully on board also, as Hakimioun
and other end users tend to trust their
reputable automation suppliers over
others when it comes to maintaining
a secure, cloud-based system.
A system integrator seconds Hakimioun’s opinions. “Private clouds are
popular, but public cloud services such
as Amazon’s EC2 are less likely to be
used for two reasons. Control networks
are usually segregated, and do not have
access to the Internet, and manufacturing customers like to have their servers
inside the plant, minimizing points of
failure,” observes Chuck Toth, MSEE,
a consultant with Maverick Technologies (www.mavtechglobal.com).
Other cloud caveats include dependence on the continued existence of
the cloud services provider, and dependence on reliable and high-speed
Internet connections. If the cloud services provider were to go out of business, then a process company’s entire
cloud-based remote access or asset
management system would fail completely and instantly. Although the
customers of cloud-based storage provider Nirvanix didn’t lose all their data
instantly, they were only given days to
scramble to find a new supplier when
the firm recently failed.
Perhaps these types of failures and
wariness of others are why many end
users want to see their main automation system vendors as providers of
cloud-based services.
And no matter who provides the
cloud service, all public cloud operations, unlike private clouds, depend on
the reliable operation of high-speed Internet and other external communication systems.
The cloud is here to stay in process
automation, and its use will spread in
the form of virtualized private clouds,
and for remote access and asset management applications. Further penetration
of public cloud-based applications will
require increased participation of automation system suppliers and standards
organizations.
Dan Heber t is Control’s senior technical editor.
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ASSET MANAGEMENT
CHAMPIONSHIP
SEASON
How Potash upgraded its systems,
training and instrumentation workforce
all at the same time.
by Nancy Bartels
Upgrading a complex system such as a DCS or asset management system is never easy. Even after the corporate approvals, the installation, the dreaded go-live sessions and all
the other hassles, there’s the problem of training the workforce that is all-too-humanly resistant to change, comfortable with the old systems and, frankly, overwhelmed with
all the new technology it’s expected to learn more or less
on the fly while keeping the plant running efficiently and
productively. No wonder many of the best, most exciting innovations found in new systems never are used to their full
capability. Who has time to learn all that?
That was the challenge faced by Bob Emery, instrumentation supervisor at Potash Corp.’s Sussex, New Brunswick,
Canada, operation. Potash is the world’s largest fertilizer company and is responsible for 20% of the global supply of potash.
“In general, our technicians install, configure and maintain equipment, find ways to make it all work better and,
in our case, produce the maximum safe tons possible,” says
Emery. “However, the problem was we had so many technological changes, and they prompted adding so much smart
equipment and operating methods that it created a real technological storm for us.”
This storm had its roots in Potash’s decision to upgrade its
old Rosemount R3 distributed control system (DCS) to DeltaV and the Asset Management Suite (AMS) from Emerson
Process Management (www.emersonprocess.com). The new
systems were part of a $2.2-billion plant expansion project
that left technicians scrambling to keep up with the many
new changes.
“The generalist, jack-of-all-trades way we’d organized
our technicians in the past wasn’t going to work anymore,”
explained Emery. “In the past, people might learn a few
pieces about an application, but no one knew all the tricks,
so several technicians might huddle around one problem,
and this wasn’t very efficient. And no one could master
all our new technologies. They might learn some basics,
but then they’d forget after not using them for awhile and
have to learn again. We wanted to help our guys keep up
to speed, and all the new technologies promised a lot, but
there was so much coming in that it was very frustrating for
many technicians, and our actual installations times and
downtime increased. We needed a way to motivate and excite our teams,”
The solution, developed by Emery, came down to two
things, specialization and mentoring, which are at the heart
of Potash’s Champion Concept.
The Doctor Is In
“We looked at each technician’s unique strengths with each
technology and where their interest lay, and assigned each to
learn, know and maintain a specific technology area, so we
could learn and find solutions faster overall,” explains Emery. “We were going to become like doctors. Some medical
cases require the knowledge a specialist can offer. You don’t
see a general practitioner for a hip replacement.”
Take, for example, the ValveLink real-time predictive
maintenance software module. “ValveLink was part of the
software package we purchased with DeltaV, but with the
generalist method, no one had the time to learn it. Their
time was spent putting out fires,” explains Emery.
Now ValveLink and the whole AMS system have two “champions,” whose job is to know everything there is to know about
about them. One of them is instrumentation technician Matt
Fenwick. Fenwick also does double-duty as one of two champions for the ValveLink module.
This specialization is crucial because, “We have twice as
many valves as we had a few years ago,” explains Emery. “We
don’t have time to pull out and service a valve that doesn’t
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Getting started with the Champion program was not an
easy sell, adds Emery. Management had to be convinced to
gamble on an unproven, even radical idea. But the technicians themselves were tougher to persuade. They were eager
enough to work with the new technology, but they were afraid
that if they specialized, they would have problems if they were
called out to work with unfamiliar equipment. They also worried that others would get the really interesting, exciting or
important tasks, and they would have the leftovers.
“I took the main areas [of responsibility] and divided them
between the guys based on who showed particular talent and
interest in each type of equipment,” says Emery. “During
the first few months, I made adjustments to even out the areas of responsibility and the amount of work each entailed.”
In spite of some bumps and necessary adjustments along
the way, “So far, things have been working pretty good,” he
explains. “Contrary to what they thought in the beginning,
the guys feel better about the job they’re doing. So, when
people have enough time to train on and master the new
equipment, then they’re able to really take advantage of it
and be happy.”
Fenwick adds that under the new system, “You use less time
to do each job. You can take more pride in your work, and it gives
you a sense of ownership. [There’s a sense of] in-depth ownership. [You’re thinking,] ‘This is my baby. This is my project.’”
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need it. Some can take as long to remove from the line and
put back as it would to overhaul them.”
Fenwick adds, “Through AMS ValveLink, we receive
messages alerting us to potential issues. The champion’s job
is to understand the software and interpret the alert.” Furthermore, when the champion does his weekly valve check,
he’s able to pinpoint valves requiring repair that were not
scheduled for repair on the old maintenance schedule.
And just how important is that? Emery says, “A failure
of those valves would no doubt have taken the plant down.
We’re talking about savings of millions of dollars.”
In the summer of 2012 alone, the ValveLink software
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The second pillar of the Champion Concept is mentoring.
“Mentoring is crucial. It addressed the concerns the guys
had about being called out to work on a piece of equipment
for which they were not the champion. It also covers us when
the champion is away on vacation or training,” says Emery.”
“Technicians go out with an area champion on a rotating basis to be mentored in areas in which they are not the champion. They learn the system well enough to handle minor
repairs, and everyone understands that the champion is the
go-to guy for his area of responsibility.”
© COPYRIGHT 2013 OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© COPYRIGHT 2012 OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CT1311_71_73_Feature2.indd 72
11/4/13 1:57 PM
ASSET MANAGEMENT
Taking Time
The Champion Concept isn’t an overnight success program.
Even after the initial training of champions, there’s ongoing
learning to keep up with new advances from the vendor.
“Getting the champions lined up was easier than keeping
everybody up to snuff with training. There’s the day-to-day
training; then there’s the training on new stuff or in-depth
training. It’s all about time management,” says Emery. “Be
prepared to allow the people time to get into their various
disciplines. It’s going to take more time, maybe, than you
think. It’s time up front, but it’s time well spent,” he adds.
The Champion Concept has enabled Potash to reap the full
benefits of its new systems, not only in valve maintenance, but
also in boiler control, DCS management, even in the mundane
business of documentation and information access. Emery explains, “We used to have information in binders, in books, in
heads and on the floor,” he said. “Now, we have an eRecords
management champion, who gathers up all our loop sheets,
manuals, calibration records and other information and makes
it immediately usable by everyone else through a Microsoft Access database. We can type a tag number into our eRecords and
find everything to do with that tag number.”
CT1311_71_73_Feature2.indd 73
HOME OF CHAMPIONS
The Potash Corp. plant in Sussex, New Brunswick, uses the
Champion Concept to keep technicians engaged and trained.
Emery’s final assessment of the Champion Concept is this:
“AMS is a wonderful tool, but combining it with our Champion Concept is what enabled our team to learn and share
while achieving efficiency and reducing costs. We are able to
consume technology instead of technology consuming us.”
Nancy Bartels is Control’s managing editor.
11/4/13 1:57 PM
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 74
10/28/13 4:06 PM
VA LV E S
Small Valve Vendor
Provides Value Through
System Integration
End users benefi t when Festo plays to Its strengths.
by Walt Boyes
Léon, Mexico, is an industrial city 400 km north of Mexico City with approximately 1 million inhabitants. It’s considered to be the world capital of leather and shoe production. Many worldwide brands such as Adidas and Nike have
their products made in its 600 tanneries and 1000 shoe and
leather factories, generating tons of wastewater.
Tannery wastewater requires special treatment. Beside organic tanning agents, wastewater from the factories may also
contain salts and metals, such as chrome, zirconium, aluminium, titanium and iron, together with synthetic tanning
agents such as formaldehyde and phenols.
The original wastewater treatment plant in Léon was previously also used for tannery wastewater, but in the long term
proved insufficient for the needs of the developing industrial
city. Tannery waste is toxic to most of the facultative bacteria necessary to operate a conventional secondary wastewater treatment facility, so an industrial wastewater treatment
plant was needed.
Fypasa and Festo
Fypasa (www.fypasa.com.mx) is an engineer-constructor-operator of wastewater treatment plants in Mexico. Fypasa has
been building and operating wastewater treatment plants
throughout Mexico since 1969 and, therefore, has a great
deal of experience as a plant builder. As a plant operator, the
company treats 40% of all wastewater in Mexico. The Léon
industrial wastewater treatment plant, which Fypasa built in
2009 and has operated ever since, supplements the original
treatment plant, which was originally designed for household wastewater. Fypasa understands the construction, operation and maintenance of wastewater plants.
“But, as we are not specialists in plant automation, we
rely on the experience of Festo’s project engineers,” explains
Mauricio Plascencia, operations manager of the Fypasa
treatment plant in León.
Festo as System Integrator
Festo (www.festo.com), a German company devoted to specialized automation components, developed a complete solution, covering everything from the sensor/actuator level
through to the field level, individual control level and process control level, including a SCADA process visualization
system. Some of the products were of Festo’s manufacture,
but many were not.
“Starting with the engineering phase, we supplied Fypasa
with a suitable automation concept, including circuit diagrams,
CAD data and 3D models of the process valves and control
cabinets, central components of the sensor/actuator and field
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CT1311_75_81_Feature3.indd 75
75
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CT1311_full page ads.indd 76
MADE
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10/28/13 4:06 PM
VA LV E S
A COMPLETE SOLUTION
Figure 1. Festo provided a complete valve automation system
wastewater treatment plant to develop a solution that meshed
perfectly with the plant design.
Festo engineers managed the entire automation project
for Fypasa. They handled the purchasing phase with activity
charts, definitions of milestones and the punctual delivery of
subsystems. The installation phase was simplified by Festo’s
performing factory acceptance tests (FAT) with simulation
tests of the process valves and the control cabinets in the
Festo Test Center. Festo also produced the product documentation and completed the installation of subsystems
throughout the plant. “This made it easy for us at Fypasa
to concentrate fully on our core competencies,” Plascencia
says. During the commissioning phase, the Festo project engineers conducted site acceptance and process tests (SAT)
for each unit within the plant.
for Fypasa industrial wastewater treatment plant.
How the System Functions
levels, so that they could be included in the designs as readyto-install units,” says Eduardo Poupard, project engineer with
Festo Mexico.
Festo was able to demonstrate to Fypasa that it had sufficient
experience and understanding of the processes involved in a
C E L E B RAT I N G 1 0 0 Y E A RS
Industry’s most constant and
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“At the individual control and process control level, the master controller PLC CECX-X-C1 from Festo acts as a programmable logic controller,” Poupard says. “It feeds data
to the SCADA software VipWin to allow process visualization. CPX/MPA valve terminals gather the input and output
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7/26/13 10:34 AM
11/4/13 11:44 AM
VA LV E S
signals, feed these to the master PLC diagnostics, a web server, text messages gas discharge. The pneumatic actuators
used at the sensor/actuator level to open
and activate the pneumatic actuators. and an email alarm.”
The two fermentation towers are and close the process valves have signifiThese are installed in seven control
cabinets for protection. The automa- equipped with two types of process cant advantages over electrical installation platform CPX also provides func- valves: gate valves for the sludge inlet tions: durability, long service intervals
for the fermentation and safety under overload conditions.
tions11088-I
for remote
maintenance, remote and butterfly valves
AMETEKDRE
Revolution_half-pg(isl)4c_ContMag_4.625x7.5
12/11/12 10:33 AM Page 1
“What is more,” Poupard says, “because of the intrinsic simplicity of
pneumatics, the system is easier to
maintain, saves costs and increases efficiency as staff require little training to
work with the pneumatic system.”
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Pneumatic Automation
Similarly, right from the time of its
foundimng more than 300 years ago,
St. Petersburg has set standards in architecture and city planning. Now
this city, the former capital of Russia,
is playing a leading role in the field of
drinking water treatment.
Vodokanal
(www.vodokanal.spb.
ru/en/), the St. Petersburg water utility company, has set itself the target
of reducing the electricity consumption of its drinking water supply system by more than a third. Until now,
electric drives were the first choice for
Russia’s water treatment plants, but in
St. Petersburg, the use of only electric
drives would have meant an installed
load of 75 kW. The plant could not
have provided this without extending
the electrical infrastructure. “In order to achieve the energy-saving targets which we set ourselves, we therefore needed to find new solutions,”
explains Maksim Pirschin, manager
of the plant’s block K-6 at Vodokanal.
A pneumatic system required an installed load of only 10 kW. “Simply by
replacing the electric drives with 120
pneumatic actuators from Festo, we
were able to save at least an additional
€65,000,” said Pirschin.
U.S.A.
© 2012 by AMETEK, Inc.
All rights reserved.
CT1311_75_81_Feature3.indd 78
Ready-to-Install Solutions
The new block K-6 of Surface Water
Treatment Plant South in St. Petersburg includes 20 new sand filters. Each
filter basin is assigned six butterfly
valves with actuators and shutoff valves
11/4/13 11:44 AM
VA LV E S
New
Features!
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Figure 2. Festo’s cabinets were pre-assembled and tested at the factory.
to open and close the facility’s inlets
and outlets.
In addition to valve assemblies consisting of butterfly valves with actuators, shut-off valves and sensor boxes,
which Festo supplied in ready-toinstall form, Vodokanal has chosen
ready-to-install control cabinets with
VTSA valve terminals, pressure and
flow sensors and service units from
Festo’s MS series. “If we source all the
pneumatic automation equipment we
need from the same supplier, we simply have fewer problems during operation and maintenance,” Pirschin adds.
Running with the Big Dogs
Craig Correia, manager of process automation at Festo USA, says, “We’re
looking for applications where we can
win. We can’t really compete across
the board with the big automation vendor companies, but we’ve been successfully leveraging our strengths in water
treatment, the chemical industry, and
in wastewater treatment. We have innovative offerings in process valves, actuators, pneumatic actuators and I/O.”
He went on to explain that the expansion of Festo into system integration has been successful. “As you’ve
seen from these examples, we can do
the complete automation for smalland medium-sized projects where we
CT1311_75_81_Feature3.indd 79
supply the valves, the actuators, and
we also design the control system, provide the GUI and build the cabinets.
We love to be sole source, and we make
sure we give our customers the value
that sole source deserves.”
Precision Current Loop
Calibrator with HART
Communications/
Diagnostics
Standardization of Automation
Likewise, B. Braun Melsungen AG
(www.bbraun.com) has Europe’s most
modern manufacturing plant for infusion solutions. A comprehensive
analysis of automation technology requirements by experts from Festo and
B. Braun found that the entire value
chain could benefit from standardized pneumatic automation components. “The reduction of maintenance
costs and the decrease of downtimes
were the most persuasive arguments
for standardization,” explains Klaus
Sonntag, head of maintenance with
B. Braun.
The life nutrition plant in the new
B. Braun factory produces infusion solutions in new, three-chambered bags
and is highly automated, but now also
highly standardized. Standardization
revealed an enormous potential for improvement in both the primary and secondary production areas. Previously, the
various plant and machine builders supplying production and packaging equipment had installed automation products
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VA LV E S
sourced from up to six different pneumatics suppliers. This
required a large number of spare parts, which increased complexity and thus the costs of maintenance.
Standardization Decreases Complexity
The project’s aim was very clear: as many machines and installations as possible were to be equipped with the types of pneumatic components previously used at B. Braun. The project
team defined a standard and produced a list of recommended
equipment that considerably simplified maintenance work at B.
Braun. In this engineering phase, the Festo experts provided
much advice, covering everything from a 3D model to design
coordination.
During the logistics and implementation phase, the
automation specialist coordinated the implementation
of standards with the various machine and plant builders. This made it possible to achieve a single-source supply chain, which cut costs and increased the efficiency of
the purchasing process. In this phase of the value chain,
Festo planned, built and supplied 45 ready-to-install
valve terminal cabinets directly to the pharmaceutical
plant manufacturer.
Simply Fit and Forget
Complete solutions were supplied fully assembled and
tested, thus reducing the workload of the customer’s technical personnel, keeping system design costs low, simplifying
the purchasing process and cutting process costs. “Fit and
forget is the objective for our customers,” explains Jürgen
Weber, head of key account management for process automation at Festo Germany. This generates clear advantages
for users in the installation and commissioning phase.
B. Braun can rely on uniform product technology, from
the process installations to the packaging machines. At the
heart of the automation system at the sensor/actuator level is
the valve terminal CPX/MPA, installed in a control cabinet.
Thanks to its flexible control concept, the bus-driven valve
terminal can be used as an I/O module for the connection
of all feedback signal devices, drives and process valves. Today it’s controlling 4000 diaphragm and other process valves
in pharmaceutical production operations. Festo was able to
guarantee that all the deliveries from the various countries
conformed to the project standard.
Walt Boyes is Control’s editor in chief.
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T E C H N I C A L LY S P E A K I N G
Process Apps in the Cloud
This month’s cover story talks about how the cloud is being used by process industry
firms, and this column continues that theme. While the cover story discusses various
cloud permutations, this column will focus on software as a service (SaaS).
SaaS is
provided by a supplier to an end user as a cloud-based service, typically for a monthly
fee. The SaaS company is responsible for maintaining all software applications and related
hardware in the cloud. The end user typically
provides data to the cloud-based application
through an Internet or other connection, such
as cellular. The SaaS company then stores, analyzes and/or distributes that data back to the
end user.
An example is Live Data Cloud (www.livedatacloud.com), a SaaS provided by Open Automation Software (www.opcsystems.com). “Live
Data Cloud allows our customers to bounce
data off of a central, hosted, cloud-based server
from unlimited data source servers,” says Ken
Eldridge, president of Open Automation Software. “Instead of pushing data up to the central server, data is hosted directly at the source.
This feature makes it possible to turn any PC
with a standard Internet connection into a data
server,” adds Eldridge.
Using standard OPC terminology, sources of
data are called servers, and consumers of data
are called clients. Customers must install the
company’s OPC Systems.net software at each
of their data-source PC servers, and each server
requires a license. Despite the name, the data
doesn’t have to be transferred among OPC
servers and clients, nor in an OPC format, but
can instead be communicated from virtually
any software program at each server to a variety of clients. At the client side, software may
or may not need to be purchased and installed
for each client, depending on the level of access desired.
Another SaaS service isn’t up and running
yet, but shows great promise for the future.
Many process industry firms would like to use
advanced process control (APC) to improve
their operations, but don’t want to purchase, install and maintain the required APC hardware
and software.
The Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC, www.smartmanufacturingcoalition.org) was created to address this and
other related issues. According to Dean Bartles,
SMLC chairman and a senior vice president at
General Dynamics, “Smart Manufacturing infrastructures and approaches will let operators
make real-time use of big data flows from fully
instrumented plants to improve safety, environmental impact and energy, water and materials use.”
The SMLC’s platform development approach uses industrial test beds with actual
manufacturing data and applications to ensure
it’s driven by industry needs. The principal investigator is Dr. Thomas Edgar, director of the
University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute
and professor of chemical engineering. According to Edgar, “By combining high-fidelity
modeling and novel sensors, we can perform
real-time control and optimization of process
equipment to achieve significant reductions in
energy consumption.”
With direction from the full membership
of the SMLC, this project is a significant collaborative effort among Emerson Process Management, Honeywell Automation and Control
Solutions, Invensys and Rockwell Automation
to ensure the Smart Manufacturing Platform is
compatible with multiple process control software systems and energy applications.
When this SaaS is up and running, users will
send process data to the SMLC’s cloud-based
application, and receive recommended controller settings and other data that will allow them
to improve operations. Users will initially review
these recommendations and implement as desired, observing the effects on their processes.
Once confidence is gained, end users may implement these recommended changes to their
real-time control systems automatically.
DAN HEBERT
SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITOR
dheber t@putman.net
Using high-fidelity
modeling and
novel sensors,
real-time control
and optimization
can achieve big
reductions
in energy
consumption.
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
CT1311_83_TechSpeak.indd 83
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ASK THE EXPERTS
Heat Detection Cables; Emergency Valve Stroke Testing
This column is moderated by Béla Lipták (http://belaliptakpe.com/), automation and safety consultant, who is also the editor
of the Instrument and Automation Engineers’ Handbook (IAEH). If you would like to become a contributing author of the 5th
edition of the 1st volume, to be published in 2015, or if you have an automation-related question for this column, write to liptakbela@aol.com.
Q
I am working with Mott MacDonald O&G Division, Abu Dhabi, as an instrumentation engineer.
In my current project, we’re using linear heat detection cable. I have noticed that it’s available in analog and
digital types.
My query is this: In which applications should we consider the use of the analog heat detection cable and in
which the digital heat detection cable? Could you please
clarify?
LOGANATHAN E THIR A J
Loganathan.Ethiraj@mot tmac.com
A
This type of cable is not used for measurement. It is
used for fire protection. The digital version is more
like a fuse that melts when a prescribed temperature
is met. The analog version is based on either a thermistor
or a thermocouple. The thermistor version generally is used
once and is done. The thermocouple version, if manufactured with the correct materials, can last through a fire, but
is never as good afterwards as a pristine sensor. The thermocouple version is like standard thermocouple sheath material with no hot junction. Instead it has carbon-based filler
material that becomes conductive (making a semi-junction)
when exposed to extreme heat. Neither of these will tell you
where along the length the fire is located and, in any case, is
unsuitable for temperature measurement.
FR ANK L. JOHNSON
temperature@msn.com
A
In our projects, we used digital-type, heat-detection
cable for some storage tanks and cellars of electrical
substations. Digital cable can work for high temperatures and long distances (10,000 m) as compared to analog
cables (1000 m). There is a site (www.lineardetection.
com/comarisions.htm) where you can find more information.
HARVINDAR S GAMBHIR
Har vindar.S.Gambhir@ril.com
Q
As shown in Figure 1, I have to do an independent
partial valve stroke test per IEC 61511. I have to do this
test for both a PLC/DCS controller and SOV combinations, and a partial stroke test for pneumatic actuator and
valve combinations.
What are the available methods to perform these partial
stroke tests for my ESDV valves?
A M.UL AGANATHAN
coolnathan@zoho.com
A
There are two tests that need to be performed:
1. Partial stroke of the valve. This is done through a
command from the PLC, which moves the valves
slightly and gets feedback that valve has moved from 100%
to 90% in general.
2. Health of the SOV. This is to check that the SOV is
opening by a pulse command from a PLC, and getting feedback of reduction of pressure on the actuator.
HARVINDAR S GAMBHIR
Har vindar.S.Gambhir@ril.com
A
There are various solutions for partial stroke testing
offered by different manufacturers. Some of them
are mechanical and some are electronic. Metso,
Emerson, Rotork, etc., provide electronic solutions.
Please note that not all can provide diagnostics for SOV.
You can refer to the VG9000 catalog for further detail.
DEBASIS GUHA
debasis_guha71@yahoo.com
PLC/DCS
Instrument
Solenoid valve
Pneumatic
actuator
and valve
TESTING, TESTING
Figure 1. A reader wants to know how to do partial stroke testing for both
DCSs and for SOV combinations.
84
A
There is no requirement in IEC 61511 for partial
stroke testing of valves. However, if you wish to do
it, there are over a dozen vendors with solutions that
differ in many ways. The standards do not mandate that
level of detail.
PAUL GRUHN
pgruhn@sbcglobal.net
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
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ASK THE EXPERTS
DPR
LT-XXXX-2
To process
connection
Electrical signal
between components
DPT
Electrical
signal
to control
system
Differental
pressure
transmitter
LT-XXXX-1
To process
connection
MAPPING A SENSOR ON A PID DIAGRAM
ANOTHER WAY TO GO.
Figure 2. Connect a dedicated com link as an electrical signal
Figure 3. Alternatively, the described system could be shown
between the two instruments.
this way.
A
I would suggest an online search on partial stroke
valves. Several vendors have addressed the issues and
offer hardware to make the partial stroke tests. Simply
switching the valve and hoping to manually stop the valve
is very likely to seriously upset the production people. This
subject has been discussed and addressed for a decade. It
is not new.
CULLEN L ANGFORD
CullenL@aol.com
A
What is the correct way of representing an electronic
remote sensor of a differential pressure measurement
transmitter on a P&ID diagram? This question involves a Rosemount electronic remote sensor level transmitter. Rosemount supplied two transmitters with diaphragm
seals that we mount to the vessel. The two transmitters communicate via a proprietary bus signal, and generate a single
4–20 ma signal which is representative of the vessel level
and is fed to the control system.
I’m not sure if the interconnecting line between the two
transmitters would be shown as an electrical signal or as a
communication link as found on Table 5.3.2, No. 15 of the
ANSI/ISA-5.1.-2009.
L ARRY HOFFMAN
lhof fman@cfindustries.com
A
For the latest ISA flowsheet symbols, you can review the 2009 revision of S5.0.1 (go to http://tinyurl.
com/25wu25 for a link to ISA standards), but unfortunately, it doesn’t clearly answer your question, just as
it doesn’t cover many more recent developments. I have
been saying for years that updating the standard is much
needed.
BÉL A LIPTÁK
liptakbela@aol.com
A
I’d suggest that the remote device be tagged as a PE
(pressure element or sensor), and connected by a bubble-line to the PDIT. Communication is HART between the two devices, but calling it a PT tends to confuse. As
you’ve no doubt noted, 5.01:2009 doesn’t quite cover it.
IAN H GIBSON
gibs0108@optusnet.com.au
A
Since you didn’t give any additional information, I assume it is a standard PDT with a loop-powered signal
to the control system.
Yes, sounds like the 3051S ERS System, so you’d connect
a dedicated com link as an electrical signal between the two
instruments.
If I am correct, then the way to show it would be as shown
in Figure 2.
ALE JANDRO VARGA
vargaalex@yahoo.com
A
Based on your descriptions, I would draw it as shown
in Figure 3.
DAVID UBERT
uber tdl@cdmsmith.com
A
The connections from the high- and low-pressure detectors to the process device you can draw with fine
line, and use bold through the auxiliary devices. Refer
to Diaphragm, ANSI/ISA-5.1-2009, Table 5.2.5. The letter
designation inside the transmitter bubble is PDT.
If you’re also showing the manifold (using three to seven
valves, depending your application), refer to Lipták, Process
Measurement and Analysis Handbook, page 724, fig 5.2.j.
FR ANCISCO ALCAL A
AlcalaF@cdmsmith.com
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
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control-1113.pdf 1 10/8/2013 4:11:38 PM
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
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ROUNDUP
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 Also the ideal tool for heat
quantity measurement
The measurement system:
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 as well as the examination
of heating and chiller plants.
FLEXIM AMERICAS Corporation
Toll free: 1 888 852 74 73
salesus@flexim.com
www.flexim.com
CT1311_87_89_Roundup.indd 87
11/4/13 11:57 AM
ROUNDUP
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Beckhoff Automation
952-890-0000; www.beckhoffautomation.com
The 4123CF computer incorporates a carbon-fiber and
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www.ab.com/industrialcomputers
PLC MASTER
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www.honeywellprocess.com
11/4/13 11:57 AM
ROUNDUP
DIRECT-MOUNT INDUSTRIAL PC
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Designline is a configurable industrial PC that can
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800-322-3225; www.phoenixcontact.com
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C O N T R O L TA L K
How to Get the Most Out of Your Loop
Greg McMillan and Stan Weiner bring their wits and more than 66 years of process
control experience to bear on your questions, comments, and problems.
Write to them at controltalk@putman.net.
Greg: I had the opportunity to talk with George
Buckbee, general manager at ExperTune Inc.,
the supplier of software for loop tuning and
analysis. I was always impressed with George’s
knowledge and his dedication to helping ISA.
George worked many years at Proctor & Gamble, followed by a career at Sanofi-Aventis, before ending up at ExperTune. George brings a
lot of the user perspective and experience to his
job of helping plants improve their loops.
George: Great point. A controller in manual
is usually the symptom of some other, underlying problem. Operators will not run a loop in
auto if the operator sees the plant as worse off.
The operator knows the plant suffers, but not
how much or why. The goal is not just to get
loops in auto, but rather to find out what was
the cause. Loops in auto may have caused oscillations, upsetting other loops due to noise, interactions, backlash and stiction, and improper
control strategies besides tuning.
GREG MCMILL AN
STAN WEINER, PE
controltalk@putman.net
Stan: What are you seeing in the field?
Stan: How do you find the culprit?
George: Control loop performance is more
than just about tuning. There are huge opportunities. About 20% of control loops are
in manual. This is an incredible waste of investment. The cost of a loop is about the same
as the cost of a car if you consider the entire
design and installation cost. Having the loop
in manual is like having the car parked in the
driveway. You need to get the car out on the
road to deliver results. The same is true for a
loop. It is frustrating for management to see an
investment not leveraged.
Control loops in manual can be a safety issue. For example, some loops ensure the process does not exceed the operating limits of
equipment. A level, pressure or temperature
loop in manual can cause a catastrophic equipment failure and a hazardous release.
As an industry, we have kind of accepted
20% as the norm. How comfortable would you
be if a pilot was only using 20% of an airplane’s
control systems? What if the air-fuel ratio or hydraulic pressure controllers were in manual?
George: We have a target-rich environment.
We have to automate the diagnostic analysis
and also prioritize among them to find the most
important root causes. We do a power spectrum
analysis and take a closer look at the three highest peaks, and see what they have in common
in terms of frequencies. In the process, we clean
Stan: Given that the loop is not in manual for
legitimate reasons such as shutdowns, startups,
transitions and sequences of the unit operation,
what are some of the reasons loops are being
inappropriately put in manual?
N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3 www.controlglobal.com
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C O N T R O L TA L K
up the data and eliminate misleading information. We look at the wave shapes.
Sharp corners, such as square waves and
sawtooth cycles (ramps up and down),
are symptomatic of discontinuous responses from hardware issues. The further downstream you go, the more these
oscillations are smoothed out and attenuated by tanks. So the sharpest oscillations are, in many ways, a good clue as to
the source of the problem.
Greg: Normally we associate these
sharp responses with backlash and stiction in control valves, but they can be
caused by poor resolution of speed input cards for variable-frequency drives;
extended at-line analyzer cycle times;
poor resolution thermocouple cards in
a 1980s vintage DCS; improper wireless settings; data historian update
time and compression settings that are
too large; and actuator designs meant
for on-off valves. Don’t get me started.
Stan: We don’t want to get Greg
started, so let’s get back to how do you
gain additional knowledge?
keep the operator happy during maintenance. A simple check to see if the
measurement ever moves will find
these “dead” instruments.
Stan: What can you say to put a
damper on this before we get Greg
all worked up? He loves stories about
dampers about as much as on-off valves
as final control elements.
George: In one plant, we wanted to
do bump tests on a hot air damper
and needed to move it, but the plant
said no because the damper was wide
open, and the loss in efficiency would
be too much because the damper was a
source of free energy. Later, we noticed
the temperature increased when the
damper closed. It turns out the damper
was configured “increase to open,” and
the DCS was set up to be “increase to
close.” The plant was running with
the damper fully closed. Correcting
the valve action in the DCS resulted
in millions of dollars in savings and increased production.
Greg: Since we’re running out of space
George: With so much data history
available, we can use engineering rules
to find more opportunities. We look
for naturally occurring bump tests,
and automatically develop tuning. We
notify operations only if there is a big
change in the tuning settings. Some
users have no experience, so you need
protections against common mistakes,
such as using data from a bump test
during a load upset.
Stan: Are there some easy pickings?
George: There is a whole bunch of
low-hanging fruit. We find instruments that are completely dead. Some
were never put back in service after
maintenance. The faked number and
red tag was never removed. The operator loves the faked number because it
is rock-solid, often close to exactly what
he wants, which was purposely done to
92
and time, let’s take the big step forward
and say we’ve made sure the automation system is not the limitation. How
do we make the big decision on how
fast to tune a loop, given there is always tradeoff between robustness and
performance. How do you deal with all
the different goals?
George: We give the user the ability
to choose tuning methods and the ability to change “safety factors.” Engineers
love to tweak things. For more complex
situations, we provide guidance, such
as tuning for coordination of loops.
Here, we want to make sure the shape of
the response, not just the timing of the
response, is identical—particularly for
blending and maintaining the stoichiometric balance of reactants in ratio flow
control systems. Having been in this
business for 25 years, we keep finding
more heuristic rules on what data and
techniques to use based on purpose and
diagnostics. You need to keep adapting
what you have. We’re always trying to
develop new heuristic rules. We provide a continually evolving tool based
on plant experience gained.
Stan: Since you’ve worked for large
consumer care and pharmaceutical
companies, how do the manufacturing
processes and automation system challenges differ from those of chemical
companies?
George: The spectrum of consumer
products is broad and diverse. Quality
attributes of what the consumer cares
about are difficult to analyze or quantify. You end up controlling secondary
aspects.
Greg: I’ve worked with some pharmaceutical companies and found that to
be a whole different world.
George: The standards for quality and
an overwhelming amount of government standards require incredible attention to detail and documentation.
For example, the FDA wants to know
where the steel comes from in a control valve and proof that the composition is exactly as specified. As a result,
it’s difficult to change anything once
it’s written down.
Greg: ExperTune was acquired by
Metso Automation at the beginning of
2013. How has this changed things?
George: The Metso acquisition has
expanded our capability to globally
provide services for control performance improvement. We now have
sales teams and experts in all corners
of the globe. It’s been a lot to absorb,
but a great experience for the ExperTune team.
[For more, including 10 Top Reasons to
Run a Loop in Manual, go to www.controlglobal.com/1311-loop-manual.]
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
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9/10/13 11:10 AM
11/4/13 12:07 PM
CONTROL REPORT
Reminders of Reality, Part 1
I visited my parents in upstate New York a few weeks ago, and during that trip I was able
hang out with an interesting club my dad, Richard Montague, belongs to. The Hudson
JIM MONTAGUE
E XECUTIVE EDITOR
jmontague@putman.net
Preserving the past
isn’t just for the
future. Maintaining
those roots gives
us the ability and
imagination to
reach that future.
94
Valley Old-Time Power Association (HVOTPA) is an informal group of farmers, mechanics, skilled tradesmen and artisans, who collect, restore and exhibit antique engines,
tractors, farm implements, printing equipment
and rare tools. The 38-year-old organization is
located in Claverack, N.Y., and its mission is “to
preserve past for the future.”
I helped out with the printing presses and
Linotype machine my dad runs at the club’s
print shop during HVOTPA’s annual Old-Time
Days event on Oct. 5-6. Several hundred visitors took in demonstrations of almost all of the
club’s equipment from a 2-hp, 600-rpm, 1928
Witte gas motor agitating a wood-tub washing
machine up to an immense 100-hp IngersollRand diesel motor and compressor, which reportedly powered tools during construction of
New York City’s Holland Tunnel in 1920-27
and provided its workers with fresh air.
Anyway, right next to the huge diesel compressor was a smaller, older, 45-52-hp, 600-rpm,
25-kWA DC, 1915-16 GE gas-powered motor and generator. It used to be one of several
emergency generators that opened and closed
locks and dam gates and ran pumps at the
Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County, N.Y. The
club acquired it just over 12 years ago, and it’s
now operated and demonstrated by Bill Burger,
HVOTPA’s vice president and a mechanic for
the New York State Dept. of Transportation.
This old GE generator is a potent reminder
of the necessity from which the process control field grew. “We need to watch its carburetion system, which combines a carburetor and a
choke and is managed by a simple control module on modern generators, pretty closely,” says
Burger. “One reason it doesn’t run as well as we
want is because we had to make our own timing
coupler between its American Bosch magneto
and the engine, but we couldn’t get the timing
just right, so the generator still struggles a bit.”
Berger adds he started his career at a Dodge
Motor dealership in 1972 and moved to the
DOT in 1985, so he’s followed many process
Bill Burger, vice president of the Hudson Valley
Old-Time Power Association, demonstrates the
1915-16 GE motor generator at Old-Time Days 2013.
control advances over the decades. “Every year,
there’s more electronics and automation,” says
Berger. “Our old generator is a dinosaur, but it
brings me back to reality because we grew up
with them. Most of the kids don’t understand
how this equipment works or even know what a
magneto is. For example, they don’t realize that
when the governor slows on the GE and Ingersoll-Rand engines, the vacuum in the pistons is
what sucks the fuel in to keep it running.”
That’s really the whole point. The evolution
of process controls from pneumatics to relays to
PLCs to microprocessors is crucial to the modern
world, but the tools also have made life easy to the
point that we forget and don’t appreciate their gifts.
Even worse, many of us can’t tap into the creativity
that sparked past inventions, so we may not be able
to innovate when new challenges arise in the future. As a result, preserving the past isn’t just for
the future. Maintaining those roots gives us the
ability and imagination to reach that future.
[For more on HVOTPA, read Part 2 in the
Livewire column in the November issue of Control Design at www.controldesign.com/oldtime.]
www.controlglobal.com N O V E M B E R / 2 0 1 3
CT1311_94_ControlReport.indd 94
11/4/13 12:09 PM
SPELL RELIABLE
We don’t like to brag, but we are proud of our ability to offer the highest quality drives and servos in
the industry. We also work very hard at providing quick response to customer orders and questions. And, we
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Is that because of our quality products and innovative manufacturing processes? Sure. But it’s also because of
the Yaskawa associates that come to work every day looking to maintain a standard of excellence in serving you
that we’d match against anybody’s.
Our people and our products are held to this standard every day. That’s why we spell reliable Y-A-S-K-A-W-A.
YA S K A W A A M E R I C A , I N C .
DRIVES & MOTION DIVISION
1 - 8 0 0 - YA S K A W A
YA S K A W A . C O M
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10/28/13 4:07 PM
DeltaV SIS Modern YCDT Control_Layout 1 6/21/2013 7:07 AM Page 1
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