Control System World

Case Study: The Hsinta Power Plant is a large thermal power station located in the Yong-an township of Kaohsiung County. To take advantage of its geographical position in southern Taiwan, Hsinta has begun developing an expansive solar power facility with a 1 megawatt capacity as part of the government’s effort to tap into new renewable energy technologies.

For further reading click 'Control Solution for Solar Energy Monitoring System'

Edmonton, AB, July 26, 2012 - MatrikonOPC™ has expanded the functionality of its OPC Excel Reporter software by adding support for Microsoft™ Office 2010. Engineers, operators, and analysts can now easily work with live and archived data to create reports directly within Excel – regardless of the MS Office 2010 version or OPC connectors used. It is now easier than ever to create powerful, professional looking day-to-day reports without leaving the Excel environment.

OPC Excel Reporter can access live data from RTUs, PLCs, and other OPC-enabled data sources and makes it directly accessible in Excel. With native support for all real-time OPC DA specifications – OPC Excel Reporter users can easily access all their real time OPC data regardless of what OPC DA server it arrives from. OPC Excel Reporter makes it equally simple for users to work with their historians and/or database archives using OPC Historical Data Access (OPC HDA) specification. By leveraging the latest Excel functionality and the power of OPC, authorized professionals can access all their data anywhere they want.

For further information click 'MatrikonOPC Excel Reporter now supports MS Office 2010'

Technip was awarded by the petrochemical company Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (KEMYA)(1) - a joint venture between SABIC and Exxon Chemical Arabia, an affiliate of ExxonMobil Chemical Company - a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction of an Halobutyl(2) facility, located in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

This project is part of the Saudi Elastomers Program undertaken by KEMYA to set up a world-scale specialty elastomers facility to serve local markets, the Middle East and Asia. This new facility will produce 110,000 tons per year of rubber using ExxonMobil licensed technology.  Technip’s operating center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, will execute the contract.

SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by Statoil ASA to carry out the front-end engineering design (FEED) for an approximately 20,000-tonne substructure, part of the Bressay offshore development located in the UK sector of the North Sea.

“We’re very pleased to continue supporting Statoil on the landmark Mariner and Bressay projects,” said Andy Mackintosh, Executive Vice-President, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. “This award builds on the successful completion of the Mariner Jacket FEED, and consolidates SNC-Lavalin’s position as a leading engineering contractor for barge-launched jackets.”

The jacket will be located at a water depth of approximately 92 metres, and support operations for up to 50 wells, which will feed a large production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) topside facility. Bressay’s heavy oil will be exported to a nearby floating storage unit before being shipped to market by shuttle tanker. Statoil expects a final investment decision in late 2013 and first oil by early 2018. The participating interests in Bressay Licences are Statoil (Operator) 81.625% and Shell U.K. Ltd 18.375%.

The robust GO Range now provides a more compact and reliable solution for automating heavy duty valve applications found in the gathering, transmission, compression and storage of gas.

Re-designed to provide longer and more efficient service in the harshest of environments with the minimum of maintenance, the new generation of Rotork GO actuators has undergone an important upgrade, including streamlined manufacturing and product improvements. As a result GO actuators are now lighter, more compact and incorporate advanced changes to functional specifications. The improved modular design enables the smallest number of components to meet a wide variety of valve torque and control requirements.

The GO range uses the pipeline gas as the motive power source. The gas is delivered to oil tanks that convert the gas into hydraulic pressure and this pressurised hydraulic oil is used to drive industry-preferred Rotork scotch-yoke quarter-turn or linear valve actuators. A complete range of sizes is now available to suit virtually any valve size or class.

Using pressurised oil as the driving force provides powerful and smooth actuator control and isolates the cylinder from the pipeline gas. This prevents contaminants from entering the hydraulic cylinder, eliminating corrosion and seal deterioration and extending actuator life.

At the centre of the gas-over-oil system, the multi-function manifold block integrates gas control functions to facilitate a wide range of valve control options. Standard gas control systems are complemented with optional equipment designed by Rotork Fluid Systems for functions including Line Break, Low Pressure Close, High Differential Inhibit and Emergency Shutdown (ESD). In all cases operation is simple and intuitive.

Rotork GO range - gas-over-oil pipeline valve actuators

NEWBURY, Berkshire – April, 2012 – Alex Davern, National Instruments Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President was among dignitaries including Richard Benyon, Member of Parliament for Newbury and Councillor Jeff Beck, the Mayor of Newbury, to officially open NI UK & Ireland’s new headquarters, Measurement House on Thursday 29th March.

The celebrations began with Davern presenting a business update outlining NI’s vision, goals and priorities as the company continues to grow, driven by the determination to help its customers, employees, partners and shareholders grow and be successful.

The lunch time ceremony was attended by key NI UK & Ireland customers, leadership, suppliers and Certified LabVIEW Architects participating in the European CLA Summit. The ceremony featured speeches followed by ribbon and cake cutting. Davern and and Benyon then unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion, and the event closed with a toast, before a networking lunch and individual meetings.

The move to the new state-of-the-art office in Newbury, Berkshire comes as a result of the continued growth and success of National Instruments in the UK & Ireland, named amongst the 50 Best Workplaces in the UK for the 6th consecutive year in 2011.

KUALA LUMPUR – July 26, 2012 – National Instruments, a global technology company that began operations in Malaysia in 2009 with an $80 million capital investment, today announced plans for a significant expansion of the research and development (R&D) center in Penang. Over the next five years, NI plans to recruit 250 engineers in the Penang R&D center in electrical, mechanical and engineering management.

Once completed, the expansion will make NI Penang the largest R&D center for National Instruments outside of its headquarters in Austin, Texas. National Instruments provides engineers and scientists with software and hardware to meet any engineering challenge, including test, measurement, control and embedded design applications.

Quotes

“We are pleased that National Instruments has decided to expand their R&D operations in Malaysia,” said Dato’ Sri Mustapa Bin Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry. “This is a testament to the continued attractiveness of Malaysia for multinationals.”

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (24 July 2012) – The Automation Federation announces that the Measurement, Control & Automation Association (MCAA) signed a Memorandum of Membership. As the newest member, MCAA has agreed to collaborate with the other Automation Federation member organizations to advance the automation profession.

The Automation Federation is an association of member organizations providing awareness, programs and services that continually advance all facets of the automation profession. The Automation Federation serves as the “Voice of Automation” by providing advocacy and industry-wide strategic analysis and coordination through its member organizations. The Automation Federation is bringing like-minded organizations, like MCAA, together to create a stronger “Voice” that will further spread the messages about the importance of the automation profession and the need to develop the next generation of automation professionals.

MCAA is a trade association whose purpose is bringing process control providers together to develop the resources they need to prosper. The organization helps the management teams of process control product and solution providers run and grow successful businesses by offering timely, unique and highly specialized resources acquired from shared management benchmarks and strategies where proprietary company information is secure. Because of the interest of its membership in workforce development, MCAA recognized the valuable work of the Automation Federation and has joined the Automation Federation as its fourteenth member organization.