Control System World

Moxa, a market leader in industrial Ethernet solutions, has unveiled new high-bandwidth integrated solutions that ensure high network availability to provide bandwidth-hungry quad-play services over a single converged network. Moxa’s high-bandwidth solutions not only offer a complete product portfolio from edge to core—including GbE/10GbE switches, GbE security, PoE/PoE+ switches, 802.11n wireless solutions, and full HD/HD IP cameras—but also help customers around the world design better network infrastructure.

“In the past, building a single converged network for industrial automation (IA) was fairly straightforward since networks only transmitted small amounts of data and the throughput rates were relatively low,” says Gary Chang, product manager of Moxa Inc. “However, as more and more devices for multiple communication interfaces are now being deployed in industrial automation networks, demand for converged quad-play services (data, voice, video, and control data) have also increased dramatically. Network transmission is becoming more complex and requires bigger bandwidth to transmit different types of data, especially large amounts of video data. With growing demand for bandwidth-hungry systems in industrial applications, operators must consider an integrated plan to ensure network availability.”

Bandwidth-hungry systems such as video surveillance have been widely adopted in various applications—including railway, tunnel, and e-bus—which require comprehensive network design to provide seamless transmission. Moxa has years of experience in designing integrated edge-to-core networks for bandwidth-hungry applications to provide you accurate bandwidth calculation and insights into network infrastructure. Besides a full line of high-bandwidth wired (GbE/10 GbE switches) and wireless (802.11n wireless solutions) devices, Moxa also provides full HD and HD IP cameras for IP surveillance systems and Gigabit PoE+ switches to support the growing power consumption demands of outdoor IP cameras and wireless APs.

Product Webpage

Honeywell Process Solutions announced today that it will supply a new integrated control and safety system for Qatar Fuel Additives Company’s (QAFAC) Mesaieed Industrial City plant, 50 kilometers south of Doha. The upgrade will help the plant reduce operating costs and improve efficiencies as it increases production of methanol and MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), a key gasoline additive that reduces tailpipe emissions.

Honeywell’s integrated control and safety solution, including a new fire and gas system, will improve automation at the plant, increase cyber security, and enhance operator effectiveness. QAFAC will also benefit from ongoing long-term services through Honeywell’s lifecycle support.

QAFAC, a joint venture between state-backed Industries Qatar, OPIC Middle East, LCY and IOL, plans to become one of the top five international producers of methanol and butane derivatives by 2020. It is also planning to commission an $80 million carbon dioxide recovery project this year to capture 500 tons of CO2 a day for re-injection into the production cycle.

When added to gasoline, MTBE enhances octane levels to reduce engine knocking. It also helps the gasoline burn more completely, which reduces tailpipe emissions and helps to meet Euro 5 standards. QAFAC produces MTBE using process technology licensed from UOP, a Honeywell company that is a leading developer of technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries.

“This project will help us meet growing demand for methanol, MTBE and clean fuels efficiently, while achieving the highest levels of safety and environmental performance at our site,” said Nasser Al Kuwari, QAFAC general manager.

The solution includes Honeywell’s Experion® PKS distributed control system, Honeywell’s Safety Manager, and its XLS fire detection systems.

“Honeywell’s technology offers a truly integrated control and safety system that will improve operational effectiveness, as well as provide cost-saving features and applications for improved process performance,” said Mansour Al Belhadj, Middle East sales director for Honeywell Process Solutions.

Work under the multimillion dollar contract has already begun and is due for completion in 2014.

Stora Enso is domiciled in Helsinki , and is one of the world's largest forest industry companies. It has awarded Siemens a major order in connection with the construction of a new plant in China. The order covers the drive technology, automation of the entire factory, the complete power engineering systems, and the power generation. The new, integrated production plants for pulp and packaging board are being built in the Chinese province of Guangxi, and the board machine is scheduled to go into operation in the first quarter of 2016. Siemens will deliver an Integrated Drive System with over 160 drives for the packaging board machine, and will also supply the process control system for the plant-wide automation. The order also includes a steam turbine to generate the power, and the power distribution for the entire factory.

Siemens will support Stora Enso with the implementation of this major project. The company placed great value on having an internationally experienced supplier in China that could supply everything from a single source. Siemens is consequently also responsible for handling the entire engineering of the drive and power solutions, the detailed planning, as well as for supervising the installation and commissioning of the electrical systems.

An integrated drive system from Siemens with over 160 drives will be installed in the packaging board machine. It will be over 300 meters long, and produce 450,000 metric tons of board per annum, which will be used to produce beverage packaging, among others. Harmonized Simotics low and medium voltage motors, and Sinamics frequency converters will achieve high efficiency and availability. The optimized components and the well-matched drive train will enable Stora Enso to benefit from a reliable, productive machine.

The power will be generated by an SST-800 industrial steam turbine from Siemens with center admission and an output of 59 MW. Siemens will also be responsible for all the high, medium and low-voltage switchgear, line, power and distribution transformers, as well as the emergency power supply, power monitoring and control system.

Siemens will supply a Distributed Control System Sipaper DCS, the latest generation 8.1 of the PCS7 process control system that will enable the entire plant to be automated. Siemens will also equip all the drive systems, the energy switching and monitoring (ESM), and the steam turbine with the same PCS7 automation system. This will give Stora Enso all the advantages of a fully standardized, factory-wide automation system.

The rugged, reliable KOBOLD DF series paddle wheel flow sensor is available in seven material combinations allowing it to be used with low-viscosity, water-based liquids as well as with more aggressive chemicals. The DF is supplied as standard with an NPN pulse frequency output. Its compact size, combination of various materials and cost-effective price make the DF the ideal flow sensor for many industrial and OEM applications.

How it Works:

The flow sensor contains a multipole magnet ring embedded in the paddle wheel. When the wheel rotates, the magnets induce a DC signal into a Hall-Effect sensor that’s mounted on the device housing. Since the DC signal frequency is proportional to the paddle wheel’s rotation, you get an accurate flow rate reading.

When coupled with the appropriate KOBOLD electronics unit, the DF sensor can offer you numerous useful features including frequency output, analog output, adjustable switches, digital displays with integrated batch controllers, or totalizers.

The DF is easy to install, with no straight run required.

Product Datasheet

The recent start-up of the CLOV FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) vessel in Angola’s Block 17 offshore oilfield has been marked with a letter of appreciation to Rotork from the leading Korean engineering company DSME (Daewoo Shipping and Marine Engineering).

DSME performed the design and construction of the CLOV FPSO on behalf of Total E & P Angola, with much of the work carried out in Angola as a part of Total’s commitment to increase local content in its projects. Since 2011, Rotork Fluid Systems has supplied more than 400 heavy duty CP and GP Range pneumatic valve actuators on the project. Rotork’s professional performance throughout the duration of the contract and contribution to the timely start-up has been recognised with the letter of appreciation.

A total of 34 subsea wells will be tied back to the CLOV FPSO, which has a processing capacity of 160,000 barrels of oil a day and a storage capacity of nearly 2 million barrels. The Rotork actuators are installed in many areas of the vessel’s processing plant, including those parts designed to limit environmental impact by eliminating flaring under normal operating conditions, recovering heat from turbine exhaust and recovering vent gases.

The CLOV FPSO is one of a number of Rotork Fluid Systems contract successes in Angola’s offshore oil industry. These include over 500 pneumatic actuators which were supplied for the Pazflor FPSO in Block 17, following similar orders for the Kizomba A & B FPSOs in Block 15. Rotork pneumatic and electro-hydraulic valve actuators are also used on Angola’s onshore LNG pipeline network, delivering gas from offshore to the processing plant at Soyo.

Technip has been awarded a contract by Total E&P UK for the Edradour Subsea Development, located approximately 75 kilometers North West of the Shetland Islands, in approximately 300 meters of water.

Technip’s scope of work covers the:

• fabrication and installation of 12” production pipelines, 6” MEG(1) pipeline complete with
• 2" piggy backed service line,
• supply and installation of steel tube umbilical,
• fabrication and installation of pipeline end manifold, flowline end termination, flexible tails
• and rigid well tie-in spools, as well as the installation of templates and manifolds provided by the client,
• rock dumping and pre-commissioning.

The Group will leverage its unique vertical position in the subsea business:

Technip’s operating centre in Oslo, Norway, will execute the project, while vessels from the Group fleet will perform the installation in the summer seasons of 2016 and 2017;

the pipelines will be fabricated at Technip’s spoolbase at Evanton, UK, and installed by the Deep Energy, the fastest and one of the largest and most capable pipelay vessels ever built in our industry;

umbilicals will be manufactured at the Group’s new facility in Newcastle, UK.

Siemens has launched two particularly slim, powerful and energy-efficient power supply units in the shape of the new Sitop PSU8200 5 A and 10 A. The single-phase power supplies, featuring 5 A or 10 A of rated output current respectively, expand the "Sitop modular" product range for high-end 24 V DC applications. Thanks to the wide input voltage ranges from 85 V to 132 V AC, and 170 V to 264 V AC, they can be connected to power systems worldwide. The power supply units are characterized by a slim design (45 mm for the 5 A version and 55 mm for the 10 A version), high efficiency of up to 94 percent, and high overload capability. They are therefore especially suitable for industrial environments with exacting reliability and functionality requirements, such as in car production, or in special-purpose machine manufacturing. They can be used in a temperature range of -25 to +70 degrees Celsius.

The new power supply units in rugged metal enclosures offer extensive functions such as automatic voltage switching for operation on single-phase 120 V and 230 V AC networks. With an overload capability of three times the rated current for 25 ms and 1.5 times the rated current for 5 s, they feature large power reserves for brief overload situations, such as for high inrush currents. Their high efficiency of up to 94 percent ensures low energy consumption and reduced heat losses. In addition, they can be switched on and off by remote access, to save energy during breaks, for example. Thanks to the integrated signaling contact, the power supply unit can be integrated quickly and easily into the plant monitoring system. The status LEDs for "DC ok.", "Over Load" and "Shut Down" indicate the operating state of the power supply. The installation area can be minimized due to the narrow width of 45 mm on the 5 A version, and 55 mm on the 10 A version that requires no installation clearances to neighboring devices.

Matrikon International celebrated the success of its key distributors in the Americas at the annual Channel Partner of the Year awards ceremony earlier this month. The awards ceremony, part of Matrikon's Distribution Channel Partner Conference held in San Antonio, recognizes customer service, innovation and excellence among companies supplying and integrating Matrikon solutions in the Americas.

The top honors were given to ISS Connectivity and DUX Diligens. ISS Connectivity , headquartered in Bothell, WA received the award for Americas 2013 Channel Partner of the Year. DUX Diligens , headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico received the award for Americas 2013 System Integrator of the Year.

"I am very pleased to see ISS Connectivity in North America receive the MatrikonOPC Americas Distributor of the year award and for DUX in Mexico to receive our Americas System Integrator of the year award.” said Jeff Gould, general manager of MatrikonOPC. “Both ISS and DUX exemplify MatrikonOPC’s channel network. With their high degree of competence in OPC technology and our products, they consistently provide the right guidance, implementation expertise, and continued support. It is very exciting to see that we are able to extend our best practices through to our channels in a standardize manner that allows our customers to benefit from this locally."