Honeywell was named the Best Control Systems Provider at the 2013 Asian Manufacturing Awards (AMA) held in Singapore. Honeywell’s Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) emerged the winner against other major distributed control systems nominated for the award. Judges made the award based on Honeywell’s solution innovation, customer impact, client engagement and regional market penetration.

“It is gratifying that the industry recognizes the benefits which Honeywell brings to its customers,” said Leong Hon Mun, sales director Southeast Asia, Honeywell Process Solutions. “The award is a real testament to Honeywell’s Experion® PKS consistent performance in improving customers’ plant performance and demonstrates commitment to the client base to ensure satisfaction throughout the marketing, sales, delivery and post-implementation lifecycle.”

The winners of the various categories of the AMA were chosen by an independent panel of judges from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America. The results also were audited by Singapore auditors, Summit Planners Audit, to further guarantee a fair and transparent voting process and to ensure a high level of credibility for the awards.

The Fieldbus Foundation and the HART Communication Foundation announced today that they have entered into discussions on the potential for merging the two organizations into a single industry foundation dedicated to the needs of intelligent device communications in the world of process automation.

The chairmen of the two organizations—Dr. Gunther Kegel of the Fieldbus Foundation and Mr. Mark Schumacher of the HART Communication Foundation—issued the following statement on behalf of their Boards of Directors:

"We believe combining the resources and capabilities of each foundation into a single organization will provide significant benefits to both end users and suppliers. For end users, a single organization that combines the power of both Fieldbus Foundation and HART Communication Foundation would provide a full solution that addresses every conceivable aspect of field communications and intelligent device management for the process industries. For suppliers, a single organization would create efficiencies in resource utilization, consistency of processes and procedures, and would deliver significant improvements in member services and support."

The Fieldbus Foundation and HART Communication Foundation have worked extensively together in the past and have a long history of cooperation. For example, the two organizations worked together on the development of common international standards such as Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) and, most recently, the development of the Field Device Integration (FDI) specification. The merger offers significant potential to harmonize many aspects of the two protocols, making it easier for end users and suppliers to implement the technology and obtain the full benefits of each technology in plant operations and maintenance.

In preliminary discussions, the presidents of the two organizations, Richard J. Timoney of the Fieldbus Foundation and Ted Masters of the HART Communication Foundation, added that many synergies already exist and closed by commenting:

"We are both confident that today's decision to investigate the merger of these two organizations provides momentum for a major step forward in the evolution of intelligent devices and the world of industrial communications."

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Irregularities in incoming power can negatively impact discrete and process applications’ electronic components and the bottom line. Rockwell Automation has expanded its Allen Bradley power-quality portfolio to now include the i-Sense monitoring solution, i-Grid service and DySC dynamic sag corrector. These scalable solutions help OEMs and end users identify and mitigate power issues to improve uptime and productivity.

“Power-quality issues are responsible for a significant amount of unplanned downtime, yet power quality is often overlooked as a key productivity variable,” said Scott Harlan, product manager for power-quality portfolio, Rockwell Automation. “Our new monitoring and mitigation solutions help identify where and when voltage sags and outages occur, and offer corrective actions to improve performance.”

Improved monitoring – The first step toward improved performance is identifying any power-quality issues affecting electronic equipment. The i-Sense voltage monitors read incoming power for the entire facility. The cost-effective, maintenance-free i-Sense technology provides vital data that pinpoints voltage-based power events, reveals any consequent relationship between voltage sags and downtime situations, and helps users get operations running with minimal mean time to repair (MTTR).

Real-time analyzing – The subscription-based i-Grid service logs, analyzes and corroborates i‑Sense data via an Ethernet or modem connection from in and around facilities to confirm if power-quality issues were the result of a grid event. Service options include detailed technical analysis and executive summaries. The i-Grid service also can send instant notifications to facility managers that a power event has occurred, enabling them to more quickly diagnose downtime and resume operations.

Proactive protection – Data collected from the Rockwell Automation installed base of several thousand i-Sense units suggests that most downtime events are the result of short-duration voltage sags, commonly lasting less than 0.1 seconds. While barely perceptible, these sags can impact the performance of electrical equipment and the facility as a whole. The DySC dynamic sag corrector uses patented, double-conversion inverter technology to protect against brief voltage sags and momentary outages. Customers can scale the DySC corrector from 0.25 kVA to 2000 kVA, offering machine- to facility-wide protection. The corrector provides 100 percent sag protection in a relatively compact size and without batteries, compressors, pumps or flywheel bearings. Optimized for fast response at voltage peaks, the DySC corrector has a typical peak voltage detect time (pVdT) of one millisecond and can provide a facility continuous, uninterrupted power for up to five seconds.

The Allen-Bradley power-quality portfolio reaches beyond the new solutions to meet the needs of customers at every level and stage. The Allen-Bradley PowerMonitor 5000 monitor provides current, power factor flicker, waveform capture, harmonic analysis and sub-cycle transient detection. The Allen‑Bradley PowerPad Portable PowerMonitor unit offers a portable, self-contained solution, enabling monitoring anywhere in the facility. Allen-Bradley surge and filter products mitigate transient and noise problems at a machine level and uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) provide backup power to keep critical control and network circuits operating through a power interruption.

For Information:

i-Sense voltage monitor and i-Grid servers: http://ab.rockwellautomation.com/Energy-Monitoring/1608-i-Sense-Voltage-Monitor

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces the September 30 release of an enhanced version of the ProSafe®-RS safety instrumented system and the addition of a new function to the DPharp EJX multivariable transmitter. The new ProSafe-RS version, R3.02.10, offers improved functions for upstream oil and gas, which is one of Yokogawa's core markets. The DPharp EJX multivariable transmitter has been enhanced to improve connectivity with ProSafe-RS.

In upstream oil and gas processes, there is an ever pressing need to prevent accidents and protect the environment. Accordingly, there is a growing demand for safety instrumented systems that can detect abnormal conditions and safely initiate emergency shutdowns. However, wells and pipelines are typically distributed over a wide area and often have limited space for the installation of equipment. To improve operational efficiency and reduce hardware costs, there is a need to consolidate the functions performed by control and safety instrumented systems. In response to these needs, Yokogawa is releasing a new version of the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system and has enhanced the DPharp EJX multivariable transmitter.

Overview of Enhancements:

• AGA gas flow rate calculation

• Modbus*2 communications between DPharp EJX and ProSafe-RS for gas flow rate calculation

• Support for the wide variety of networks used in oil and gas upstream