Control System World

Emerson announces it has acquired Stirling, Scotland-based Cascade Technologies Ltd., a leading manufacturer of gas analyzers and monitoring systems using Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) technology. This innovative technology measures multiple gases simultaneously, helping companies improve industrial emissions monitoring, production efficiencies and environmental compliance.

Emerson is expanding its analytical measurement capabilities by adding this innovative laser technology to its Rosemount Analytical® gas analysis portfolio. QCL technology provides a step change in gas analyzer performance through its increased sensitivity, speed of response, and fingerprinting capability. These technology advancements in the gas analysis market space provide a powerful solution for customers in various industries such as petrochemical, food and beverage, marine, automotive and pharmaceutical. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of Cascade Technologies is an exciting step as we further strengthen our gas analysis portfolio,” said Tom Moser, group vice president of Emerson Process Management’s measurement and analytical businesses. “Our customers depend upon Emerson to solve their toughest analytical measurement problems. We are now better positioned to serve that need.”

Dr. Iain Howieson, chief executive officer of Cascade Technologies Ltd., added, “Joining a global leader like Emerson represents an incredible opportunity for business growth. Emerson’s global presence and market leadership will have an immediate impact on the adoption of cutting edge QCL gas analyzers and monitoring systems.”

Do you need to transmit critical temperature and HART diagnostic information in a hazardous location where running wires is too expensive? Moore Industries has the solution with our Smart HART® temperature transmitters combined with the industry’s only Explosion-Proof WirelessHART Adapter: The BULLET.

It can be difficult to get accurate temperature measurements in remote locations where wiring for power and signal connections are limited. Even in wired locations, adding loops is costly and time-consuming.

The BULLET is the only Explosion-Proof WirelessHART adapter available – all other adapters are only approved for use in Intrinsically-Safe environments. This means that if you want to transmit WirelessHART temperature data in a Class 1, Div 1 hazardous area that requires Explosion-Proof housings, the BULLET is your only choice. The BULLET can be used with the Explosion-Proof THZ2 and TDZ2 Smart HART Temperature Transmitters to send critical temperature and HART diagnostic information to a WirelessHART gateway in situations where running wire is cost prohibitive.

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Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that its subsidiary, Yokogawa China, has received an order from PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. to deliver control systems for an oil refinery that is being built in China's Yunnan Province. With an annual output of 10 million tons, this will be one of the largest refineries in southwestern China.

As most of China's oil refineries are located along the country's east coast, the high cost of transporting oil products to inland regions is a concern. As a national priority measure, a pipeline is being constructed that will transport 23 million tons of crude oil annually from Myanmar to China. To receive and process the oil from this pipeline, multiple oil refineries (total annual capacity: 20 million tons) and an ethylene plant (annual capacity: 1 million tons) will be built in Yunnan Province, with work on these facilities to be completed by 2020. The refined oil products and ethylene from these plants will be sent on to other plants in Yunnan Province and other inland regions, significantly reducing transportation costs.

In the first stage of this project, PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical is constructing an oil refinery (annual capacity: 10 million tons) in the Anning Industrial Park, 40 kilometers from Kunming City. This will be one of the largest refineries in southwestern China, and it will start operation in 2015.

Noriaki Hirose, president of Yokogawa China, commented as follows:

"In 2013, Yokogawa China received an order for an oil movement and storage (OMS) system at this refinery. Following that order, we received an order for a CENTUM® VP integrated production control system to monitor and control the main facilities at this plant. I believe we were able to win this order thanks to the high reliability and long-term stability of the products that we have delivered to other oil and petrochemical plants in China, including some that were of a similar size, as well as our excellent engineering capabilities. I sincerely thank PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical for choosing us as a partner. We will strive to meet their expectations by working closely with them to complete the project."

Encouraged by this order, Yokogawa will seek to expand its control business in China's large oil and petrochemical markets.

Case Study: NEP Solar is a leading developer and supplier of concentrating solar thermal collectors for industrial processes, solar cooling and cogeneration. NEP Solar’s PolyTrough collectors generate heat at up to 400° C at high efficiency and at competitive cost. Being able to be roof top mounted allows the NEP Solar solution to be integrated into otherwise unused area.

The roof of the Emmi Tête de Moine cheese factory in picturesque Saignelégier, which is at an elevation of 1,000m in Switzerland’s Jura mountain range, is now covered with 627m2 of concentrating solar mirrors in the form of 17 NEP Solar PolyTrough 1,800 collectors. The sun tracking concentrated solar solution was awarded a 2013 Swiss Solar Award.

On sunny summer days, the collectors can generate up to 360 kW of concentrated solar energy. This heats a fluid that is used to provide process heat directly to the plant, meeting over 50% of the daily heat demand of the dairy process. Provided in the form of thermal energy rather than electricity, the energy can be directly used for the plant’s process heat requirements without loss through conversion. This achieves 60% efficiency, significantly higher when compared to conversion to electrical energy, and allows excess heat captured to be stored for use when the sun is not shining.

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Congratulations to the University of Kentucky team, the grand prize winner of the Fluke Connect contest! Their project was live testing performance parameters on a solar car. Using Fluke Connect, they saw a 16% decrease in idle energy consumption and 5.5% increase in dynamic energy efficiency.

About University of Kentucky team and project: Greetings from the University of Kentucky Solar Car Team! The University of Kentucky Solar Car Team is comprised of a highly dedicated and talented group of undergraduate engineering students. We strive daily to design, build, and test the best solar powered racing vehicle we can, all while pushing ourselves to gain valuable experience in the field of automotive engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. As members of the Solar Car Team, we also gain valuable experience in teamwork, team management, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

We do all of our own fundraising and pride ourselves on our dedication to the team and its mission. As a team, we are committed to researching and testing innovations in the field of alternative energy. As the world market for electric vehicles grows, it is becoming more feasible to integrate photovoltaics and energy-conserving systems into electric vehicles. Our team hopes to inspire this evolution of the transportation market, not only as students using these technologies today, but as future leaders of a cutting-edge work-force.

When testing new strategies and designs, performance data must be acquired while actually driving on the road. Normally, we must spend time trying to design systems to log or transmit data during the drive. We will be using the new Fluke Connect tools to replace our existing solutions to provide better data and expedite the design process. Specifically, we often need to measure voltage and current for our solar cell array. In addition, we will measure the temperature of the solar cells for use in efficiency calculations. Finally, we need to measure voltage and current of our custom lithium ion battery packs. This data is used in improving designs, calculating efficiency, and determining race strategy.

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Rockwell Automation announces the release of the Allen‑Bradley PanelView Plus 7 Standard graphic terminal, giving machine builders new options in the size, functionality and connectivity of their graphic terminals. The terminals are available in five screen sizes, including widescreen options.

“As facilities work toward achieving a Connected Enterprise, machine operators are relying on graphic terminals more than ever to monitor and react in real time to a growing amount of critical data,” said Scott Oakley, global product manager, Rockwell Automation. “We’re introducing a wider range of terminal options and increasing screen resolution to help ensure data can be quickly and easily viewed in a manner that best fits each user’s application.”

The PanelView Plus 7 Standard operator interface is available in screen size options ranging from 4 to 10 inches. Widescreen formats are available for the 4-inch and 9-inch screen options for enhanced visualization.

Plant operators can take advantage of the mobile capabilities of the PanelView Plus 7 Standard terminal to monitor data from anywhere on the plant floor using a tablet, smartphone or other mobile device. Virtual network computing (VNC) connectivity also supports secure application monitoring on mobile devices from remote locations.

To more efficiently configure multiple machines, machine builders can save projects to the PanelView Plus 7 Standard SD card. This eliminates the cumbersome process of configuring the same project for multiple machines. Users can save their operating system, network configuration, data logs, recipes and other files to the SD card to quickly restore operations in the event a terminal needs to be replaced. Operators also can access saved diagnostics, including messages, alarms and warnings, to better troubleshoot problems and support proactive maintenance activities.

The Rockwell Automation software library of code now includes faceplates and add-on instructions (AOI) for the PanelView Plus 7 Standard operator interface to help machine builders save development time. This addition to the library can reduce complex screen-development time by as much as 90 percent. New installation clamps support fast, simple terminal installation and removal without the use of tools. This reduces installation and maintenance time, and minimizes the risk of over tightening and damaging the terminal during installation.

The PanelView Plus 7 Standard terminals provide connectivity to one controller, and up to 25 screens and 200 alarms along with ATEX Certification. These features complement the Allen-Bradley CompactLogix 5370 programmable automation controllers and work with the FactoryTalk View Machine Edition (ME) software from Rockwell Automation to simplify project maintenance and better handle multiple applications on a single terminal.

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Technical Note by Moore Industries: When higher resolution is required, measuring circuits can benefit from the larger signal strength inherent to the 1000 ohm sensor available in Moore Industries products such as the WORM Flexible Temperature Sensor. This benefit can be seen in greater accuracy when used for smaller minimum measurement spans. Each point of measurement has 10 times more resistance along with a greater change in resistance per degree.

If your application involves wiring long distances from the RTD to the measuring device and you do not have a 4-wire RTD measuring circuit, you can benefit greatly by using the 1000 ohm sensor. The error caused by the wire resistance is dramatically reduced.  Assume your measuring device is measuring RTD + Wire. The Wire resistance is the same whether the RTD is 100 ohm or 1000 ohms. But when you compare (100 + Wire) to (1000 + Wire), the error caused by the Wire is roughly ten times less when using the 1000 ohm RTD.  When making a 3-wire RTD measurement with long wire runs, use the 1000 ohm to reduce your error.

Additional Resources and Recommended Readings by Moore Industries: SELECTION GUIDE: Temperature Sensors, Transmitters and Assemblies

Rotork Midland introduces SMART-LOC, a new high integrity modular concept for pneumatic actuator control assemblies. Constructed in 316L stainless steel, the SMART-LOC system is particularly suitable for the control and sequencing of process valve actuators in oil and gas applications.

Compared to traditional fabricated panel mounted assemblies SMART-LOC offers a lighter, stronger and more compact alternative, together with significant capital and operating cost savings. Complex, labour intensive arrangements using panels, pipes and additional fittings are eliminated and replaced with a fully assembled and tested interface block, ready to be fitted directly to the actuator. Delivering best in class flow characteristics, the units will interface with all types of pneumatic actuators.

A range of field proven components – valves (spool, poppet or direct mounting) and filter regulators – connected in series on the interface, are tailored to meet the requirements of individual projects, ranging from standard shut-off circuits to intricate control circuits. The unique SMART-LOC clamping system for individual components incorporates static O-rings for higher integrity and long term reliability. No design work is required from the contractor and all components are kept in stock, resulting in very short lead times. With ATEX approval, SMART-LOC components are suitable for hazardous areas and industrial use.

The integral SMART-LOC clamping system also simplifies field maintenance, enabling individual components to be simply and swiftly unclamped and replaced.

SMART-LOC is designed with the benefit of more than 50 years’ experience in the manufacture of stainless steel pneumatic components, during which time Rotork Midland has developed a range of field proven specialist products that are renowned for their performance and reliability.