Control System World

Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that its subsidiary Yokogawa Engineering Asia Pte. Ltd. has been awarded a contract by CJV, a joint venture comprised of Chiyoda Corporation as JV leader, CB&I, and Saipem S.p.A., to perform the front end engineering design (FEED) for an integrated control and safety system that is to be provided to Arrow Energy for the Arrow LNG Project. For this project, Yokogawa Engineering Asia has been selected as the main automation contractor (MAC※1) by Arrow Energy.

Arrow Energy, a 50/50 joint venture between Shell and CNPC (PetroChina), is planning the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on Curtis Island, which is directly off the coast from the city of Gladstone in South East Queensland, Australia. The project includes the construction of a liquefaction facility, jetties, and offloading facilities. The LNG plant will receive coal bed methane (CBM) from the Surat and Bowen Basins and will process, treat, and liquefy the gas for export. In phase 1 of this project, two 4 million ton per year LNG trains will be constructed. A decision will be made at some later date whether to proceed with the planned construction of two additional trains of equivalent size.

The FEED work commenced in November 2011. Following completion of this preliminary phase and a decision to go ahead with the project, Yokogawa will proceed to supply its CENTUM VP integrated production control system and the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system as the MAC. In this role, it will work directly with the project's engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors.

RELEASE: Portland, ME, December 13, 2011 - Kepware Technologies, company in communications for automation announces that its communication platform, KEPServerEX, has passed the OPC Foundation's Lab Certification for both OPC UA and OPC DA specifications.

The OPC Foundations Lab Certification's objectives are to ensure member companies are providing products that meet a wide range of criteria including reliability, performance, usability, and strict compliance with the OPC specifications. Please visit the OPC Foundation website for a complete view of their objectives and procedures.

"To ensure our OPC enabled products interoperate with other vendors' applications, we have continually participated in OPC interoperability, self-certification and 3rd party certification programs offered by the OPC Foundation, for Data Access and Alarms and Events" said Tony Paine, President of Kepware Technologies. "With this release, we have made the same investment in our Unified Architecture technology, the latest OPC standard, providing our customers and partners with an independent seal of approval that we meet the conformance requirements specified by the Foundation."

2-Way normally closed valves for on-off control of fuel gas in commercial and industrial gas burners. Low temperature (-40°F), operating pressure (0 psi minimum, up to 50 psi maximum), and stainless steel body. 1/4" thru 1" pipe sizes. (AC, DC, & Low Power Peak and Hold DC).

The features and benefits of the ASCO low temperature stainless steel valves include:

• Low power peak & hold DC constructions (0.5 to 1.4 watt holding)

• -40 degrees C/F ambient temperature rating

• Meets automatic gas valves Z21.21, CSA 6.5 C/I saftey shutoff standard

• Hazardous location Class I Division I

• Zero minimum differential pressure

• Stainless steel construction

• Meets the metallurgical requirements of NACE MR-0175

• Compliant to CSA B149.3-10 field installation code

To know further about this product please click 'ASCO Low Temperature Stainless Steel'

General Monitor's Model IR700 features a precision IR point sensing element that provides reliable protection against the hazards of carbon dioxide gas leaks. The IR700 offers a true fail-to-safe design for dependable gas detection performance, heated optics to eliminate condensation and a dirty optics indicator informs the user the device must be cleaned before the lenses are entirely blocked, thereby reducing downtime.

Carbon dioxide is an inexpensive and versatile gas that is useful in diverse applications from beverage carbonation to enhanced oil recovery techniques. While nonflammable and fairly innocuous, leaks can be dangerous. Exposure to atmospheric concentrations above 5,000 ppm is considered unhealthy, making careful monitoring crucial at lower levels. Atmospheric concentrations at 1% v/v (10,000 ppm) will make some people feel drowsy while concentrations of 7% v/v and higher can lead to symptoms including dizziness, headache, visual and hearing dysfunction, and unconsciousness.

Read more on New IR700 Gas Detector Protects Against CO2 Leaks

(Emerson Experts Blogs) Gas Chromatographs (GCs) are used in many process-manufacturing processes. Some GC applications include fuel & flare gas analysis, cracking furnace BTU firing rates, gas ratios, and a whole lot more.

I share this for those not already well steeped in the knowledge of GCs as background for an article by Emerson’s Jonas Berge and Michael Gaura in Gas Today Australia. The article, GC made easy: integrating process gas chromatographs, describes how digital communications technologies and standards such as Foundation fieldbus (FF) and Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) have made the information collected by GCs more readily accessible to improve the process and easier to maintain to provide continued accuracy over time.

To read further this Blog please click 'Integrating Gas Chromatographs with Control and Device Management'

Tokyo, December 14, 2011 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced it will strengthen its factory automation (FA) solution businesses, including related production and sales capacities, with the intention of expanding market share, especially in China, India, ASEAN nations, Brazil and other emerging markets. The goal is to raise annual sales of the FA systems business from 480 billion yen at present to 600 billion yen by the fiscal year ending in March 2016, and also increase the ratio of overseas FA systems sales from 45 percent to 50 percent over the same period.

In addition to its current worldwide partnerships, Mitsubishi Electric will strengthen cooperation with software, ERP systems and CC-Link industrial network partners to enhance its iQ Platform business. These partnerships enable Mitsubishi Electric to expand technological advantages and business opportunities, in particular for energy-saving solutions in China and infrastructure solutions in ASEAN nations.

DECEMBER 14, 2011/PLANO, TEXAS – Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries, has introduced an updated software solution that reduces power-plant emissions and facilitates compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). Based on the company’s SimSci-Esscor Connoisseur advanced process control (APC) software, the updated, model-adaptive Combustion Optimization System reduces the need for costly pollution-control hardware by providing neural net-based extensions to combustion management.

To further read this news please click 'SimSci-Esscor Software Helps Achieve Compliance with New Cross-State Air Pollution Rule'

Case Study by Sierra: Working hear along California’s Central Coast in Monterey, I don’t often get to experience a White Christmas or snowball fights or even the excitement of schussing down the slopes (unless I travel 4 hours to Lake Tahoe, Northern California). So, it’s really tough for me to imagine the frigid, barren conditions of the coldest place on earth – Antarctica. But David Mucciarone knows the continent as well as any human can. A researcher and lab manager at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., David travels to Antarctica annually to measure the breakdown of inorganic carbon to learn how much carbon dioxide the ocean can absorb. His R&D work is critical to the ongoing study of global warming.

Even though Stanford is just 90 minutes north of Monterey, David had never crossed paths with Sierra Instruments until just a few short days before his trek to Antarctica in 2008. The mass flow controller in his CO2 monitoring equipment failed, and he needed a reliable replacement, STAT. So, at the recommendation of a colleague, he purchased a Sierra Smart-Trak® Model 100 for mass flow control. And, despite extreme cold (which has dipped down as far as -129 degrees Fahrenheit! Yikes!) and more than two months aboard an icebreaker ship that plows through thick ice, our flow meter never failed him.

To further read this Case Study by Sierra please click 'Breaking the Ice: Antarctica Researcher Meets Sierra’s ‘Smart’ Mass Flow Meter'