Control System World

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the Allen-Bradley brand, and to celebrate its history of providing quality and innovative products, Rockwell Automation has launched the Engineered to Outlast photo contest. Rockwell Automation customers, partners and employees are invited to submit photos of Allen-Bradley products and materials on the contest tab of the company’s Facebook page.

“The Engineered to Outlast photo contest is truly inspired by our customers,” said Ninveh Neuman, vice president of global commercial marketing, Rockwell Automation. “Those who interact with Allen-Bradley products as part of their daily work responsibilities frequently comment about the quality and innovation they associate with the Allen-Bradley brand. This contest is a way for them to share and celebrate that strong legacy.”

During April, Rockwell Automation will be awarding weekly prizes for the most creative submissions. Everyone that submits a photo will be entered to win the grand prize, a JAMBOX wireless speaker by Jawbone. Select entries also will be featured in a photo gallery on the Rockwell Automation website. The contest will be open to submissions through April 26, 2013 and the grand-prize winner will be announced May 3. Weekly winners will be displayed on the Rockwell Automation contest website every Monday during April.

To further showcase the rich history of the Allen-Bradley brand, Rockwell Automation will share historical images, stories and trivia on its social media channels throughout the month. Those interested in more information about the 110th anniversary of the Allen-Bradley brand are encouraged to follow the company Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages, and to follow the #ABoutlasts hashtag on Twitter.

Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq: FWLT) announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Power Group has been awarded a contract by Aughinish Alumina Refinery for the design and supply of two shop-assembled steam generators located at the alumina plant facility at Aughinish Island (Askeaton, Ireland). Aughinish Alumina Refinery is a part of UC RUSAL.

Foster Wheeler has received a full notice to proceed on this contract. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed and the contract value will be included in the company’s first quarter 2013 bookings. Delivery of the new steam generators is scheduled for early 2014.

Foster Wheeler will design and supply the package steam generators including auxiliary equipment and technical advisory services for the project, which will be designed to burn natural gas while meeting applicable environmental regulatory requirements. The two steam generators will be designed to generate a total of 300 tons per hour of reliable, high-pressure superheated steam which will be fed to the plant´s process steam system.

“These new units represent a significant replacement upgrade of the existing oil-fired boilers supplied by Foster Wheeler more than three decades ago,” said Gary Nedelka, Chief Executive Officer of Foster Wheeler’s Global Power Group. “We are happy that Aughinish Alumina Refinery has chosen Foster Wheeler once again to supply the product they need to meet their long-term strategic needs.”

Palmer Instruments, Inc. has announced the expansion of its line of thermowells. Used to protect both your temperature sensor and your production process, high quality Palmer thermowells conform to the size and design of your sensor to maintain the accuracy and response time, while standing up to the harsh conditions of your process.

Available in a wide variety of materials, Palmer Thermowells have been proudly Made in the USA for over 70 years. Using our unsurpassed expertise, we produce a wide variety of standard designs to fit into your process to protect your temperature sensors. Because our machined wells are built in our factory, we have complete control of the production process – let us engineer a custom design to meet your requirements. Our attention to detail enables us to produce precision wells to fit your chosen sensor, allowing us to build to meet your needs and specifications. Palmer offers thermowells in a large variety of configurations, manufactured from high quality standard or exotic materials for all applications. Testing services are available to ensure that your thermowell can meet any challenge that may arise.

Foster Wheeler AG has announced that a subsidiary of our Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Pecket Energy to perform feasibility, conceptual and basic engineering studies, and develop an overall investment cost estimate for a substitute natural gas (SNG) production facility which is planned to be built near Punta Arenas, Chile.

The value of the award was not disclosed and will be included in Foster Wheeler’s first-quarter 2013 bookings. The main objective of the project is to produce syngas that will be used as a clean feedstock for the production of SNG, which gas is intended to be distributed to the existing grid in the region of Magallanes, Chile for domestic consumption or for industrial purposes.

The new facility intends to include several state-of-the-art units, including air separation, partial oxidation for syngas production, syngas treatment, acid gas removal, methanation and solid sulfur production. Foster Wheeler’s scope of work is expected to be completed by mid-2013.

Pecket Energy is a Chilean company focused on coal-based energy business development. Pecket Energy belongs to ICV, a Chilean company which has been active in mining and infrastructure developments in Chile for more than 50 years.

The OPC Foundation has announced that MDIS has selected OPC UA as the Master Control System (MCS) and Distributed Control System (DCS) protocol standard. The selection of OPC UA will provide secure and reliable data transfer for offshore oil and gas production.

MDIS is an international joint industry network group whose main mission is to optimize the MCS and DCS interface of topside systems in oil and gas production. MDIS defines and establishes a standard for the interface, in order to simplify implementation of data communication links, whilst increasing the data quality.

To streamline the Master Control System (MCS) and Distributed Control System (DCS) communications on topside systems, a standard interface needs to be developed, including a standard communication protocol. The MCS-DCS Interface Standardization (MDIS) network has formed with involvement from key industry players in the subsea controls area, topsides specialists and oil companies. Standardization of the interface simplifies implementation of data communication links, whilst increasing the data quality. Using the network group as a collaborative resource to the industry, it is able to facilitate information exchange in furthering development of the standard MCS-DCS interface.

“In looking for the MDIS protocol, the network considered a number of potential candidates for validation testing. The MDIS community has selected the OPC UA protocol for further investigation due to its flexibility and performance over a broad number of criteria such as scalability, reliability, object orientation and the amount of anticipated time spent in programming / design,” states the MDIS steering committee.

“The OPC Foundation is excited to collaborate with MDIS in providing the MCS-DCS interface standard,” said Tom Burke, OPC Foundation President and Executive Director. "OPC UA will allow secure and reliable information exchange for the topside systems within offshore production.”

MDIS selected OPC UA based on several requirements. Here is a sample of the requirements:

• MDIS Vendor Support
• Communication Integrity
• Robust Test Tool
• Communication Integrity
• Reliable Implementation
• Redundancy and Robustness
• Independent Organization Support

Agilent Technologies Inc.has announced the Agilent E5810B LAN/GPIB/USB gateway, the next-generation replacement for the E5810A with added USB capability. The new gateway allows users to connect and control, over a standard local-area network, up to 14 GPIB instruments, up to four USB instruments via a self-powered hub, and an RS-232 instrument.

With the gateway's improved GPIB transfer rate of 1.2 MB/s, engineers can reduce test time and improve production. The E5810B supports 1000BASE-T (1 Gigabit) LAN/Ethernet as well as 100BASE-TX and 10BASE-T to meet the demands of higher network bandwidth.  Designed for ease of use, the E5810B comes with a built-in LCD display, allowing users to check the IP address of the gateway for quick setup. Users can easily configure the gateway via a password-protected Web interface.  The E5810B allows multiple users in different locations to access a centrally located test system. Connecting a wireless router to the E5810B enables engineers to wirelessly control instruments from a PC where LAN connection is unavailable or inconvenient.

"With this fast, efficient one-box connectivity solution, engineers can effortlessly control a broad range of instruments simultaneously over standard LANs," said Ee Huei Sin, vice president, Agilent's Basic Instruments Division. "The E5810B's versatility makes it ideal for system integrations, shared test systems in R&D, design verification and manufacturing environments."

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The Linde Group has been awarded a major contract by Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) to build several plants to generate and purify gases in Jamnagar, India. Part of the Reliance Group, India's largest private enterprise, RIL specialises in the energy and petrochemicals industries.

'We are delighted to have this renewed opportunity to build upon our long-standing relationship with Reliance,' said Professor Dr Aldo Belloni, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG. 'Around twenty years ago, we delivered several large-scale hydrogen plants for Jamnagar. Now we are committed to contribute to the expansion of one of the world's key refinery and petrochemical hubs with our air separation and acid gas removal know-how.'

Under the new deal, Linde's Engineering Division will supply four large air separation units (ASUs) for the production of gaseous oxygen. RIL needs massive streams of oxygen for its proposed petroleum coke and coal gasification facilities. To treat the synthesis gas generated during this gasification process, Linde will also deliver two RECTISOL(R) acid gas removal units. Linde will be supplying the license, process design, detail engineering and procurement services for this project. In addition, Linde will build two additional ASUs to supply high-purity oxygen to RIL's ethylene glycol facilities in Jamnagar.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Technip, leader of a consortium with JGC, has been awarded by JSC Yamal LNG, owned by NOVATEK (80%) and TOTAL (20%), a contract to carry out the engineering, procurement, supply, construction and commissioning of an integrated facility for natural gas liquefaction. The project will start immediately with a phase of detailed engineering, estimation and early procurement.

The facility will have an annual production capacity of 16.5 million tons and will be based on the resources of the South Tambey Gas Condensate field located on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia.  Technip’s operating center in Paris, France will execute the project.