Control System World

ARC Advisory Group, the leading global research and advisory firm for manufacturing, industry, and infrastructure, announces the release of MIRA - Market Intelligence and Rapid Analysis. This on-line, cloud-based, hosted solution provides easy-to-use tools to enable ARC clients to quickly access and analyze the company’s entire base of automation and enterprise market research right from their desktops. Both global and regional-level market intelligence is now available.

ARC Global Outlook Research Studies have typically been available in hard copy and electronic PDF formats. In development for several years, MIRA brings ARC research into a powerful analytic environment that offers a flexible query capability combined with standard charts and tables for results. ARC improved upon the well-proven Microsoft Excel environment using Microsoft’s latest PowerPivot analytics tools and delivers this service to clients through cloud-based Microsoft Remote Services.

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Valero Energy Corporation, allowing use of Invensys Operations Management’s patented ACA.HF Advanced Alkylation Measurement Solution. In the first phase, Valero will implement the solution at seven refineries globally. The Invensys solution monitors and measures hydrofluoric acid levels in real time by analyzing differential responses from online sensors, helping to improve the safety, reliability and environmental performance of the refinery and creating new opportunities to reduce operating costs.

Commonly used in petroleum processing, hydrofluoric acid is a highly toxic catalyst that must be carefully managed and controlled. Accurately analyzing how much HF is re-circulating within the process contributes significantly to increasing the efficiency of the refinery because it can improve crude stock yield and associated costs. Early approaches to HF monitoring involved taking manual samples and analyzing them in a laboratory. This approach however, even when carefully executed, potentially exposed lab workers to severe toxins, and its accuracy was limited. And while more recent techniques can produce more accurate readings, their adaptation for real-time online monitoring is complex and costly.

Invensys Operations Management’s advanced measurement solution, however, brings new levels of simplicity, cost effectiveness and employee safety to that task. By using real-time online sensors instead of people, it significantly reduces the possibility of accidental exposure, thereby diminishing the risk to employees and curtailing the potential for environmental hazards. And because it replaces conventional manual laboratory sampling and other types of analysis, it can drastically improve the efficiency of the operation while lowering costs.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that its subsidiary Yokogawa Australia Pty. Ltd. has been advised that it will receive orders to supply the control systems for the Ichthys LNG project, which is being developed in Australia.

The Ichthys LNG Project is a joint venture between INPEX (76%, the operator) and Total (24%). Gas from the Ichthys Field, in the Browse Basin approximately 200 kilometres offshore of Western Australia, will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and extract condensate*1. The gas will then be exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889 km subsea pipeline. The Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG per annum, along with approximately 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak.

The products to be supplied by Yokogawa include CENTUM® series integrated production control systems, safety instrumented systems for detecting abnormal conditions and safely initiating emergency shutdowns, Exaquantum™ plant information management systems, PRM® integrated device management packages for monitoring and diagnosis of plant equipment, and OmegaLand operator training systems. Yokogawa will also handle the engineering, installation, and commissioning of these products and the training of operators.

(By Black Box) Although Ethernet is usually thought of as having a star topology, it’s also possible to build an Ethernet network as a ring. This configuration has the advantage of providing a redundant pathway if a link goes down. A ring topology is often used in application such as traffic signals and surveillance, where long distances may make it difficult to run fiber in a star formation from a central switch and where downtime must be minimized.

The key to the ring topology is spanning tree protocol. One switch-in this case, the switch in the central office-is the root of the spanning tree. A node on the opposite side of the ring blocks on of the ports leading back to the root switch, creating a topology that functions like a long line of Ethernet switches. If a link breaks, the network reorganizes itself to relink all the switches. Although this convergence isn’t instantaneous, it takes only a few seconds to bring the network back. In the diagram below, Hardened Managed Ethernet Switches create a ring topology that operates at Gigabit speed to support traffic cameras at the interaction. Industrial Ethernet Serial Servers make the connection from the switch to the serial interface on the traffic signals, enabling central management of the lights across the Ethernet network.

(Reuters) Bahrain is in the process of finalising the implementation of the $8 billion refinery modernisation plan as part of the strategy to keep abreast the energy sector with changing dynamics of growth in the country, according to a senior Minister.

Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Energy, who opened the PETROTEC Bahrain 2012, said Bahrain was looking at its refining capacity beyond 2012.

“The refinery expansion will give us a competitive advantage and better position us to capture the opportunities that future market environments may offer. This initiative has been named as the Refinery Master Plan Project. The current refinery, parts of which are 75 years old, evolved over the years and new units have been added, the last two being the hydrocracker and the lube base oil plants in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The decision was made to further upgrade the refinery. The investment, depending on final capacity and configuration is currently estimated to be in the range of $8 billion. The new upgraded refinery will be able to meet the quality of the products demanded by the markets of the future, will meet the environmental standards, and will be designed to world class energy efficiency standards,” the Minister said.

ABB has won a plant automation contract for the Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works in Hong Kong, one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the world. When work is completed in 2014 the plant will serve five million people in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and treat up to 2.45 million cubic meters of wastewater a day.

Located on Stonecutters Island in Victoria Harbour, the plant is part of a major and ongoing Hong Kong government initiative to improve water quality in Victoria Harbour by collecting and treating all the wastewater produced in the urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Known as the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS), the initiative consists of two stages. Stage 1 - which was completed in 2001 - comprises a 23.6 km tunnel conveyance system that transfers sewage from Kowloon and the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island to the sewage treatment works on nearby Stonecutters Island.

Stage 2A, which is currently under construction, will consist of an additional 21 km of tunnels that will convey sewage from the northern and southwestern parts of Hong Kong Island to the Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works. The works will be expanded to provide centralized chemical treatment of all sewage from the whole of the HATS catchment area. A third and final phase – Stage 2B – which is currently under review, will consist of new biological treatment facilities.

Stainless steel housings for the use within explosive-risk zones

The Klippon® TB housing series features excellent performance characteristics, even under the most difficult environmental surroundings. And it meets the stricter requirements of explosive-risk zones found in the process or power generation industries

The new Klippon® TB MH housing series offers further improvements to a product line that is already successfully leading the market.

The Klippon® TB MH housing series features the following advantages:

• Available in 12 sizes and 3 standard depths
• Equipped with up to 4 flange plates
• The seal is protected against compression
• Completely removable padlock mechanism
• Cover lock outside the sealed zone
• Improved temperature performance
• IP66/IP67 protection
• Completely removable cover – no tools required
• Earth stud in housing cover and bottom section
• Welded-on mounting feet
• International approvals

For details please visit Weidmuller-Klippon

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA (16 May 2012) — The International Society of Automation (ISA) will hold the 55th Annual ISA Power Industry (POWID) Symposium (www.isa.org/powersymp) in Austin, Texas, USA, 3–8 June 2012. The event will feature two keynote speakers: Christopher Guith, vice president for policy at the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, and Allan Wilson, president and CEO of Veros Systems, Inc. Guith’s presentation is focused on energy security, while Wilson discusses opportunities for innovation in power generation technology and applications.

For details on this Symposium please click www.isa.org/powersymp