Control System World

Munich, Germany, 2012-Jan-30:  Siemens has entered into an agreement with RuggedCom Inc. (TSX: RCM) to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of RuggedCom by way of a friendly, board-supported takeover bid. The Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange is a leading provider of communications and networking solutions for harsh industrial environments. The takeover bid is for C$33.00 per common share in cash, or a total transaction value of approximately C$382 million.

With annual revenues of approximately US$94 million (fiscal 2011) and approximately 360 employees, RuggedCom, headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, is a leading provider of robust, industrial-quality Ethernet communication products and network solutions. These products are used primarily under rough environmental conditions – for example, in power distribution, in refineries, or in traffic control systems.

Siemens' portfolio of industrial Ethernet networking components is enjoying above-average growth rates compared to the competition. Until now, the main emphasis of Siemens' installed base in this segment has been in Europe. "RuggedCom's portfolio would be an ideal addition to our range of industrial Ethernet communication products, improving our industrial-quality router and switch offering. In addition, the acquisition would improve our footprint in the North America and the Asia-Pacific region," said Anton S. Huber, CEO of the Siemens Industry Automation Division. Huber also indicated that all of RuggedCom's and Siemens' product lines would be developed further in the next few years.

The major goal of Windows XP Service Pack 2 is to reduce common available scenarios for malicious attack on Windows XP. The Service Pack will reduce the effect of most common attacks in four ways:

1. Improvement in shielding Windows XP from the network

a. RPC and DCOM communication enhancements

b. Enhancements to the internal Windows firewall

2. Enhanced memory protection

3. Safer handling of e-mail

4. Internet Explorer security enhancements.

Most OPC Clients and Servers use DCOM to communicate over a network and thus will be impacted due to the changes in Service Pack 2. When Service Pack 2 is installed with its default configuration settings, OPC communication via DCOM will cease to work. This paper describes the settings necessary to restore OPC communication when using XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Continue Reading White Paper 'Using OPC via DCOM with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2' by OPCFOundation

AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 30, 2012) -- The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited is using the largest Dantorque™ actuator ever produced by Emerson to help expand its gas distribution network on the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The actuator, which is 2.4 meters tall and 1.64 meters in diameter, will be used to isolate the gas being supplied from Trinidad’s northern offshore gas fields in the event of an emergency situation.

The multi-million dollar project covers a range of valve automation products from Emerson, including a Dantorque subsea gear operator and one smaller spring return actuator, three Shafer™ subsea actuators and 11 Shafer gas-over-oil actuators installed on the offshore-platform and land portions of the pipeline.

The development of new gas fields off the northeast shores of Trinidad required new pipelines to be connected to the existing pipeline infrastructure, which is all in the south. The tie-in to the large 91 cm diameter existing pipeline required a spring return actuator with ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) override capability. To meet this requirement, Emerson supplied a DTUS 171/1350 Dantorque actuator which has a spring ending torque of 102,500 Nm (907,800 in-lbs) and weighs nine metric tons (9.92 short tons).

Paris, January 27, 2012 – Total is consolidating its positions in petrochemicals in Asia with a new expansion and upgrading project for the Daesan complex in South Korea, which the Group owns with Samsung as part of the Samsung Total Petrochemicals 50/50 joint venture.  With costs approaching $1.8 billion, the project calls for the construction of a second aromatics1 unit and an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer unit at the Daesan petrochemical complex.

The new aromatics unit will have a production capacity of around 1 million metric tons of paraxylene and 420,000 metric tons of benzene per year and will be completed by September 2014. Paraxylene is used to manufacture polyester, while benzene is used to produce petrochemical products such as styrene2.

With the completion of the aromatics unit in 2014 and the upgrade of existing paraxylene capacity in 2012, total paraxylene production capacity will be increased to 1.76 million metric tons.

A product by BlackBox: Use your Ethernet network to reliably access remote RS-232 devices or RS-422/-485 industrial equipment from a remote workstation. The 2-Port 10/100 Device Server gives you a cost-effective gateway for TCP/IP Ethernet and serial signal communications, enabling nearly any serial devices to be connected to a new or existing Ethernet network.It does this by encapsulating serial data and transporting it over Ethernet, communicating full-duplex and transmitting bidirectional data transparently between the serial port and a network.

• An easy way to remotely monitor, manage, and control your industrial devices in the field.

• Easy to configure through a Web browser, serial console, Telnet™, or Windows® utility.

• Very compact.

• Accepts 12-VDC power via locking power jack and includes a 100–240-VAC/12-VDC power supply (PS012B).

• The device server may also be ordered separately without a power supply (LES302A).

Click Product webpage for details.

Sierra Blog by S. Rouse: In my last post on capillary thermal flow meters, I talked about volumetric flow and how it must be temperature and pressure corrected to obtain mass flow. Wouldn't the world be a simpler place if we could simply measure mass flow directly? In fact, we do! Capillary thermal is likely the most ideal technology for accurately and economically measuring and controlling gas mass flow rate of low flows (under 1000 slpm) and is widely used for this very reason.

During operation, process gas enters the instrument’s flow body and it divides into two flow paths. The vast majority of the gas flow passes through a Laminar Flow Element (LFE) bypass. A very small portion of the total flow is diverted through a small heated “capillary” sensor tube with an ID between .007 to .028 inches. As the gas flows through this very small, evenly heated tube, the molecules of the gas carry some heat from the upstream section to the downstream section. This creates a temperature differential between the two sections which yields the output signal. This output signal is directly proportional to the number of molecules taking the heat away and is thus a direct measurement of mass flow. No pressure (P) or temperature (T) compensation required.

The short-term trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is becoming increasingly common. At last estimate,12% of the LNG market was in short-term (or spot) contracts. The figure is expected to rise to 33% by the year 2011. The increase in short-term trading means that both delivery and loading systems are going to require each party to have a metering system—an arrangement similar to what exists in the oil tanker custody transfer industry.

Please click 'Advantages of Coriolis Meters in the Short-Term Trade of Liquefied Natural Gas' to download the White paper by Emerson Process Management

Phoenix Contact introduces white and blue options to its line of wire duct cabinet add-ons. White wire duct is required in the biotech and natural gas industries, and is preferred in the food industry.

The new colors, with UL and CSA approvals, are made from PVC material with a V0 inflammability rating as per UL 94. The white and blue wire duct have the same features as the gray and halogen-free duct, such as “fingers” with two score lines on the ducts, allowing for easy removal.

The flexible fingers will not snap when the user runs wire through them. The wire duct features a notched score line that eliminates the need for notching pliers to break off the fingers. However, breaking the wall will require the use of a cutter.

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