Control System World

You never have to worry again about losing critical temperature measurements because of a sensor failure thanks to the new THZ3 and TDZ3 Smart HART® Dual Input Temperature Transmitters from Moore Industries. With two inputs, users can select one as a backup in case there is a failure with the primary sensor. If there is a problem with the main sensor, the transmitter automatically switches to the backup sensor.

Failure protection is just one key feature of the new dual input THZ3 and TDZ3. Other features include:

• Average and differential measurement: Average the readings from two sensors in tanks where stratification can occur. Use the differential measurement capability to monitor the temperature delta across a heat exchanger for efficiency or BTU calculations.
• High-Select and Low-Select: Use two sensors and select the higher or lower one as a basis for control. High-Select and Low-Select enables you to reduce the chance of an over-temperature or under-temperature situation.

The THZ3 and TDZ3 also come with Device Intelligence, a series of features for smarter control and monitoring including:

• Sensor drift and corrosion detection that checks and alerts users when the sensor is drifting out of a preset range or when the resistance due to corrosion exceeds set parameters.
• Smart range alarms with four HART alarms – set to any input or calculated input – that detect when the variable is within or outside of user preset limits.
• A High Availability option that enables the selection of how the AO behaves when there is an input failure or out-of-range value detected by the transmitter. By utilizing the input simulation feature, users can manually input a digital input signal that allows the testing of the AO and any HART or diagnostic alarm.

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Cobham Wireless, formerly the Wireless Test Business of Aeroflex, and NI (Nasdaq: NATI), the provider of platform-based systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, today announced a worldwide partnership to service applications in cellular and connectivity with solutions based on PXI technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, NI acquires the existing Cobham PXI modular instruments hardware product line and becomes Cobham’s primary provider of PXI technology. The acquired PXI modular instruments will be manufactured by NI and supplied exclusively to Cobham for sale through the Cobham Wireless business unit’s direct sales channels and brand, which will ensure continuity and continued support for existing PXI-based customers. The companies will also collaborate to incorporate the latest NI PXI modular instruments, including the NI vector signal transceiver with LabVIEW FPGA, into Cobham’s next-generation cellular and connectivity test systems.

With the agreement, Cobham Wireless will become the NI Global Preferred Partner for Cellular and Connectivity Applications, part of the NI Alliance Partner Network.

“We are excited to partner with Cobham,” said Pete Zogas, senior vice president of Segments and Services at NI. “As wireless industry leaders, they have the resources necessary to provide solutions and services on a global scale. Our customers will benefit greatly from the combination of the NI platform and Cobham’s unique domain-specific expertise within the cellular and connectivity application space.”

Ian Langley, senior vice president and general manager of the Cobham Wireless Business Unit, said, “With increased test complexity and faster design cycles, we chose to build our RF and wireless test systems based on NI’s industry-leading PXI modular instrumentation technology. The combination of LabVIEW FPGA and the NI vector signal transceiver enables us to deliver products and solutions to our customers with optimum performance and the lowest cost of test.”

Companies testing the cellular and connectivity capabilities of their products are increasingly transitioning to a software-defined modular approach using PXI to lower test costs, shorten test times and provide flexibility to adapt to changing test requirements. Because of the partnership between Cobham and NI, customers will benefit from the expertise, reputation and support of Cobham in cellular and connectivity test applications with systems based on modular instrumentation from NI, the world leader in PXI.

White Paper by Exida: Some of the significant process industries incidents occurred by overflowing vessels, including BP Texas City and Buncefield. In many overflow incidents, alarms were designed to signal the need for operator intervention. These alarms may have been identified as safeguards or layers of protection, but they did not succeed in preventing the incident. This paper reviews several overflow incidents to consider the alarm management and human factors elements of the failures.

Alarms are often cited as safeguards or independent protection layers to prevent hazardous events, yet incidents continue to occur where the alarm did not prompt action to prevent the consequence. The investigation of these incidents focuses on the root causes, but there is an opportunity to also examine the contributing factors that allowed the protection layers to fail. A set of failure mechanisms for alarms can map the failure to the activities of the alarm management lifecycle and the operator feedback model from ANSI/ISA -18.2 [1] . Many of the failures can be related to human factors failure mechanisms, or situational awareness demons. A set of similar overflow incidents are analyzed using this methodology to develop recommendations.

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Matrikon has announced that Version 2.0 of the Matrikon OPC UA Embedded Software Development Kit (SDK) has been certified by the OPC Foundation’s Independent test labs to be compliant with the Embedded OPC Server profile.

To achieve this certification, Matrikon added support for OPC UA security to the industry’s smallest commercially available embedded OPC UA toolkit. This allows product vendors the ability to provide their customers with networked products that deliver secure OPC UA connectivity right out of the box – an important consideration in today’s highly connected but unsecure world.

Darek Kominek, marketing manager at Matrikon commented, “Growing demand for products that easily interconnect and share data in meaningful and effective ways is accelerating the emergence of the Internet of Things. To meet this demand, vendors of networked devices in all sectors of the economy - from industrial to commercial and consumer sectors – need to make their products easy to integrate in a secure manner.”

Kominek further added, “While the OPC UA specification from the OPC Foundation defines how this can be accomplished, Matrikon provides vendors with the means to quickly and easily implement OPC UA directly in their products even when memory and processing resources are limited.”

To learn how to enable your products securely today and more about it visit Matrikon OPC UA Embedded Software Development Kit (SDK),

State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a technical agreement with US-based Occidental Petroleum to develop the al-Hail and Ghasha oilfields. "Under the terms of the new agreement, ADNOC and Oxy will cooperate in carrying out a number of activities that reach up to $500 million in investment," ADNOC said in a statement.

"The agreement covers 3D seismic surveys, drilling of appraisal wells and conducting of engineering studies necessary for the fields' development." ADNOC holds a 70 percent share in the fields development venture, while Occidental holds 30 percent, according to the statement. Occidental also holds a 40 percent stake in Abu Dhabi's Al Hosn Gas project.

According to the plan, the necessary evaluation studies and the desired goals of the developmental project is expected to be realised by 2017. Saoud Mubarak AlMehairbi, manager, Exploration Division at ADNOC, said: "Under this agreement Oxy will provide manpower support in form of secondees to ADNOC for short, mid and long terms to be agreed between the parties for the development of ADNOC human capabilities and will organise a number of training courses to provide human resources development opportunities to ADNOC staff focusing on selected areas such as geology and technical areas."

The TR-71wf temperature data logger is a two channel model with an external thermistor sensor and a measuring range of -40 to 110°C. In addition to the standard features such as battery operation and USB communication (through optional cable, sold separately), the TR-71wf supports communication with mobile devices. By using T&D's WebStorage Service, users can access stored data anytime from the cloud.

By using a wireless LAN, data is automatically uploaded to the WebStorage Service (registration required). The service can be used with mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets allowing users to monitor current readings, alerts and downloading of data. The Thermo application must be downloaded and installed on any mobile device. Data can also be downloaded to a PC with a USB communication cable (sold separately).

• 2 Channel temperature measurement
• External thermistor temperature sensor
• Measuring Range: -40 to 110°C
• Operating Range: -10 to 60°C
• Accuracy: ±0.3°C
• Logging capacity: 8,000 data sets
• Measurement resolution: 0.1°C
• Built-in 802.11b wireless interface
• View data on mobile devices via Thermo App
• WebStorage Service available

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The new series of integrated hardware, software and services from Schneider Electric combine world-class hardware, best-of-breed Wonderware software with the tight integration to the Wonderware By Schneider Electric portfolio, extensive plant communications capabilities and award-winning support services. This new series is a complete solution, from small footprint machine level HMI software (InTouch Machine Edition) to whole plant supervisory visualization solution with InTouch and InTouch for System Platform, on one simplified order that enables a consistent plant intelligence software solution across a broad spectrum of industrial applications.

Wonderware InTouch Panel PCs require only the hands to replace all key components and are ready to function out of the box with no moving parts due to its Solid State Drives and fan-less cooling a Modular design with tool-less component removal increases efficiency and reduces downtime. The open PC platforms are pre-integrated with InTouch and communications software, so no additional software installation is required. The Wonderware InTouch Panel PCs enable customers to use Wonderware by Schneider Electric familiar, market-leading InTouch software with increased versatility and mobility, which can reduce considerable time and expense for operator training, IT software administration and management, and vendor costs. From the low cost, Compact HMIs for OEMs, to the Standard and Premium flagship models for maximum computing power, the new series offers a host of features. Some of these include expandable hard drive and embedded disaster recovery with bundled Acronis True Image.

The full functionality of Wonderware InTouch Panel PCs can be used to provide visualization and control in many automation scenarios previously serviced only by closed proprietary terminals. Proprietary, stand-alone hardware terminals can now be replaced with networked PC-based HMI applications that are fully connected to supervisory control and plant intelligence operations.

Key benefits of the latest release:

• Modular design with tool-less component removal for increases efficiency.
• Dedicated disaster recovery drive with bundled Acronis True Image for and reduced downtime
• No moving parts throughout the entire product range: Solid State Drives and fan-less cooling are standard and provides better performance and reliability
• Advance-Exchange program to help you keep spare inventory costs down
• Integrated hardware, software and services combine world-class hardware, best-of-breed Wonderware software and one simplified order that enables a consistent plant intelligence software solution

White paper by Invensys: The end users of modern industrial systems are constantly searching for methods of improving the availability and maximizing the efficiency of those systems without compromising the quality of their offerings or safety of their operations teams. One of the areas where improvements can have significant impacts in this pursuit is quite literally star ing them in the face; the human machine interface used to control and operate these systems. By implementing improvements in the mechanisms used to control and operate industrial systems, operations teams can significantly improve both the business value and the safety of their industrial systems.

Over the past several decades the way people have interacted with industrial systems has changed dramatically as depicted in Figure 1. These changes were driven by the needs of the operations staff to improve the way that they use, manage, and maintain those systems coupled with advances in technology that facilitated those improvements. Changes like this will continue to naturally occur over the coming decades and will be driven by market needs coupled with advances in technology that address those needs and provide further opportunities for improvements. There are several trends in the current implementations of industrial automation human machine interface (HMI) systems that are driven by the current market needs.

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