Control System World

ABB has been stated to remain the leading choice of customers for control system services, hardware and software in the oil and gas, pulp and paper and mining & metals industries. ARC Advisory Group has released their Distributed Control Systems Worldwide Outlook report for 2013 in which ABB has retained its leading position in the worldwide DCS (distributed control system) market. According to the study, the global DCS market grew about 4 percent in 2013.

According to the study, ABB was the regional market share leader for Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and the worldwide leader in key global verticals including oil and gas, pulp and paper, mining and metals.

The report also notes that the DCS business has continued to be primarily a service business over the past few years, with combined project, engineering and operational services accounting for more than half of total revenues. The Main Automation Contractor (MAC) approach in which the automation vendor manages the overall project and includes a strong project execution and services component, continues to grow stronger and expand.

“For years ABB has cultivated its capability to serve major projects as the Main Automation Contractor.”, said ARC Senior Analyst Harry Forbes. “The electric power, motor, and drive capabilities across ABB Group augment its process automation expertise, making the firm an attractive choice when capital projects require large or complex electric power systems, especially offshore and sub-sea systems.”

"ABB is well prepared with a broad DCS portfolio including its flagship system 800xA Extended Automation platform, Symphony Plus control system, Freelance process control system for small to medium process applications, as well as its prior generation systems. All ABB control systems offer a secure evolution path forward to next generation technologies to protect and enhance the control system investment over its lifetime” said Tobias Becker, Head of ABB’s Control Technologies business.

Schneider Electric has signed a contract to supply SEV, the main energy supplier in the Faroe Islands¹, a new integrated solution for the complete management of the island’s electrical network for generation, transmission and distribution operations. SEV must deliver continuous, stable and inexpensive electricity to the island’s inhabitants, while transitioning to a higher renewables model, reducing its diesel-dependency and maintaining grid security and stability.

Starting in November 2014, Schneider Electric will deploy their complete suite of advanced software applications for microgrids including SCADA, Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), Power Plant Controller and Weather Forecasting Systems built on DONG’s existing PowerHub system. The PowerHub creates an optimized energy management program for the main island’s local generation and demand response facilities. In December 2013, Schneider Electric and Dong signed an agreement to enable network operators of remote island grids to increase their share of renewables and maintain grid stability.

Mr. Hákun Djurhuus, Managing Director of SEV stated “This first-of-its-kind project will allow SEV to optimize generation and network assets, increase share of local renewable generation to 80% before 2020 by transforming the Faroes’ powerful natural energy resources into clean and affordable energy that will serve the local community.”

Frederic Abbal, Executive Vice-President Energy Business at Schneider Electric added “This suite of integrated applications will build an efficient and sustainable microgrid for SEV improving the planning of local renewable generation facilities based on real-time weather forecasts and asset management to match production plans with actual needs.”

BP has awarded Emerson Process Management, a global business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), a contract in excess of US$40 million to be the Main Automation Contractor for the Shah Deniz Stage 2 development project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Emerson will provide integrated control and safety systems to help ensure safe and efficient control of gas production on two new offshore platforms and at an expanded onshore gas processing plant at the Sangachal terminal.

The contract is part of Emerson’s global agreement with BP to provide services for greenfield automation projects. Selecting Emerson as the Main Automation Contractor helps BP simplify procurement and project execution. In this role, Emerson will provide system engineering, installation, configuration and testing, supported locally by the Emerson Azerbaijan service center in Baku.

“This contract is a testament to Emerson’s experience in deepwater offshore oil and gas applications and to the quality of our work providing similar technology for BP’s nearby Chirag Oil Project,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president, Emerson Process Management. “This latest large-scale project continues the long-standing and trusting relationship that exists between our companies.”

Emerson is also providing automation technology and services for BP projects west of Shetland in the UK, including two offshore platforms in the Clair Ridge field and a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Quad 204 development.

As part of the integrated front-end engineering and design team for Shah Deniz Stage 2, Emerson worked closely with BP and its engineering contractor to define the digital automation solution. The integrated Emerson solution will use Emerson’s DeltaV™ distributed control system, DeltaV SIS™ process safety system, and AMS Suite predictive maintenance software.

The DeltaV system will control and monitor onshore, topside and subsea operations. The DeltaV SIS system will perform process and emergency shutdown functions, if needed, plus control the fire and gas detection systems to enable secure gas production. Electronic Marshalling with intrinsically safe CHARMs technology will help reduce the complexity of connecting the automation systems with thousands of control and measurement devices.

In addition, Emerson’s AMS Suite software will deliver predictive diagnostics from the control and measurement devices to enable timely corrective maintenance. Diagnostic data will be integrated with similar information from BP’s Chirag project to present a clear picture of overall asset health and performance of BPs operations in the Caspian Sea.

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, has made it significantly easier for customers and machine builders to realize the benefits of the OMAC PackML standard without having to replace existing control and automation infrastructure.

"OMAC PackML simplifies interconnection across packaging systems and enterprise applications, but it requires processing power beyond the capacity of many PLCs that are already installed on production lines,” Norm Thorlakson, vice president of Schneider Electric's HMI and supervisory software business. “But that doesn’t mean customers need to replace their controllers. Since no two machines or applications are exactly the same, our Wonderware® OMAC PackML demo template can be integrated with any controller and run on any computer. Offering this new capability removes the need to build in supervisory PackML features, change existing PLC code or replace PLCs and other controllers. It’s a game-changing approach that represents our ongoing investment and commitment to a core industry offering.”

Based on its Wonderware InTouch Machine Edition human machine interface and Wonderware Historian software offerings, the Wonderware OMAC PackML demo template includes the PackML State Model, Control Modes and PackTags, providing a well-defined pattern for describing machine conditions and sharing the information with users and other systems. It simplifies machine-to-machine communication, more tightly integrating packaging systems with production line systems while reducing the communication burden on real-time control systems. Additionally, a configurable user interface shows machine operators exactly how much time they have spent in each machine state and provides an overview of the most common reasons a system might stop. This enables the operator to correct problems in real time, before stops can negatively impact the business.

Because InTouch Machine Edition integrates natively with Wonderware System Platform, Wonderware MES Operations and Wonderware MES Performance software, as well as Wonderware Intelligence software, it enables better access to a greater amount of production data. Such integration contributes to business and line optimization, including new ability to spot bottlenecks and manage work orders, as well as improves overall equipment effectiveness, production execution and traceability.

For more information about Wonderware InTouch Machine Edition and about monitoring OMAC PackML data, please visit http://software.invensys.com/products/wonderware/hmi-and-supervisory-control/intouch-machine-edition/.

MatrikonOPC celebrated the success of its key distributors and system integrators in EMEA at the 2014 Honeywell Users Group EMEA Conference held in The Hague, Netherlands. The awards recognize customer service, innovation and excellence among companies supplying and integrating Matrikon solutions in EMEA.

The top honors were given to IT Industrial Solutions AS from Norway and AVTEP from Russia. IT Industrial Solutions AS, headquartered in Fornebu, Norway, received the award for the Distributor of the Year 2014 – Matrikon OPC EMEA. IT Industrial Solutions AS showed the highest year-over-year growth of all partners in EMEA, provided the highest values of average sales order and the highest revenue per lead. In addition to this IT Industrial Solutions AS was the first partner to sell the new OPC UA Server SDK.

AVTEP, headquartered in Moscow, Russia, received the award for System Integrator of the Year 2014 – Matrikon OPC EMEA. AVTEP, as the longest-standing system integrator (SI) partner in EMEA, showed the highest year-over-year sales growth and sells and installs the widest range of products of all SI partners in EMEA.

"I am very pleased to see IT Industrial Solutions AS receive the MatrikonOPC EMEA Distributor of the year award and for AVTEP to receive our EMEA System Integrator of the year award.” said Jeff Gould, general manager of MatrikonOPC. “Both IT Industrial Solutions AS and AVTEP exemplify the power of MatrikonOPC’s channel network in EMEA. With their high degree of competence in OPC technology and our products, they consistently provide the right guidance, implementation expertise, and continued support for our customers."

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE:JEC) announced today that it has been awarded a multi-year contract from Chevron South Africa to provide Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management services (EPCM) as well as loaned personnel. This contract replaces the previous contract that has been in place since 2004.

Company officials did not disclose the contract value.  Under the terms of the contract, Jacobs is continuing to provide personnel to the Chevron Cape Town Refinery. In addition, Chevron South Africa gains access to the worldwide network of Jacobs offices to provide EPCM services, led by Jacobs’ Cape Town operations. As part of the contract, Jacobs is supporting Chevron in its goal to improve its capital project performance, monitored by a multi-year performance improvement plan.

In making the announcement, Jacobs Group Vice President Mark Bello stated, “We are very pleased to continue our long history of supporting the Cape Town Refinery through this new professional services Master Agreement. We look forward to working with Chevron toward achieving a safe, reliable and profitable operation.”

Jacobs is one of the world's largest and most diverse providers of technical professional and construction services. In South Africa, Jacobs operates as Jacobs Matasis (Pty) Ltd., a company jointly owned by Jacobs Engineering Group and Matasis Investment Holdings.

Rotork’s innovative CVA electric control valve actuator technology has successfully delivered an improvement in performance with reduced operating costs for the vital gas blending process on a European natural gas distribution network.

Fluxys is the independent operator of the natural gas storage and transmission system in Belgium, supplying domestic and industrial consumers throughout the country. Because the natural gas can come from different sources and the composition of each source varies, the quality of the gas is closely monitored for calorific value and density at blending stations. The gas blending process is therefore a critical part of the transmission and storage structure, impacting on product quality, environmental regulations and profitability.

Wishing to improve the blending process, Fluxys identified valve actuation as a key area. Improving process valve response times whilst reducing dead-time and overshoot would increase control efficiency and eliminate potential cycling and variability problems. If an electrical solution could also be found, it would reduce operating costs and improve environmental performance by eliminating the requirement to waste gas through venting to air as determined by existing equipment.

Prodim, Rotork’s agent in Belgium, proposed the use of the CVL-5000 electric control valve actuator as an alternative to the existing actuator on a blending flow control valve in a trial at the Fluxys booster station at Le Roeuix. As well as simplified, all-electric operation with low power consumption, the CVL-5000 delivers a high thrust linear output performance that suits the heavy duty demands of the large control valves used in the application, combined with a programmable integral failsafe capability.

Engineers from Fluxys, Rotork and Mokveld removed the existing actuator, fitted an ATEX certified explosionproof CVL-5000, re-connected the control signal and carried out a series of tests that demonstrated improved response times, accurate valve positioning, low running costs and fail-to-position operation on loss of mains supply. As a result, Fluxys has decided to adopt the CVL-5000 as the standard actuator for its gas blending plants; over time, existing valves will be retrofitted whilst new valves will have the actuators factory fitted. It is estimated that the improved performance achieved by each valve installation can be accompanied by an annual saving of up to 5000 euros in operating costs per unit.

A division of Honeywell has won the 5-year service, maintenance, and support contract to to upgrade Control Systems at two of Turkish Petroleum Corp. (Tupras) Refineries in Turkey.  At Tupras’ 11-million tonne/year Aliaga refinery at Izmir and its 1.1-million tpy refinery at Batman, Honeywell Process Solutions will upgrade existing systems and provide maintenance, support, and parts management for the Honeywell equipment at the plants, Honeywell said.

Honeywell’s scope of work will include providing around-the-clock support as well as a resident engineer to provide quicker response times, which will add to overall savings on maintenance and improve overall performance at the refineries, the service provider said.  Honeywell did not disclose a value of the contract, which runs through 2018.

“Honeywell was the only automation vendor to provide a lifecycle management contract that goes beyond simple maintenance activities,” said Osman Demir, coordinator for contracts and procurement at Tupras.

“The contract lets us meet one of our major challenges in constructing an efficient long-term plan for migrations while also giving us certainty for our financial plan,” Demir added.

In 2013, Honeywell updated one of the largest control systems at the Izmir refinery by migrating it to the company’s proprietary Experion control system, Honeywell said.

This most recent contract comes as part of a host of modernization and upgrading projects Tupras recently has taken to improve operations at its Turkish refining operations, which include the Izmit and Izmir refineries, each with a crude processing capacity of 11 million tpy, as well as the 5-million tpy Kirikkale refinery and the Batman refinery.