Control System World

Siemens is extending its software range for Process Analytical Technology (PAT) with Simatic Sipat version 4.1. This scalable and modular software solution helps companies to monitor and control the quality of their products online during manufacturing. Version 4.1 features a new runtime user interface, further increased stability and robustness and expanded analysis techniques. Its main applications are in the pharmaceutical, fine chemicals and food and beverage industries.

Simatic Sipat is a scalable and modular software solution that enables companies to extend their quality assurance activities on a step-by-step basis within the scope of the PAT initiative. With PAT, product development and production process can be monitored, controlled and optimized by measuring the critical to quality attributes (CQA) of raw materials, process materials and procedures. This continuous monitoring of product quality can prevent deviations from specifications and therefore reduce production costs. In addition, it allows for Real Time Release Testing, so final quality inspections can be reduced or completely eliminated.

The latest version of Sipat, V4.1, has a more intuitive, powerful and flexible user interface. Thanks to the new dashboard function, users can now obtain a quick overview of all running PAT methods and key parameters (e.g. Critical to Quality Attributes such as dissolution, blend uniformity etc.). The embedding of the user interface to Simatic PCS 7 and Simatic WinCC also allows the user to visualize and control all PAT methods from the existing process control system or SCADA system.

Simatic Sipat 4.1 ensures even greater stability and robustness so that the system remains available as much as possible even in the event of plant network faults or temporary process instrument failure. After reconnection of the analytical instruments to the network, Sipat recovers all buffered data without requiring any manual user intervention. New functions include an optimized OPC data access interface for data capture and updated device analyzer drivers. Furthermore, the new OPC automation service enables methods to be controlled in a much more integrated fashion with the automation platform. The innovations implemented in version 4.1 also include embedded real-time statistical evaluations and context-dependent data analysis, meaning that, for example, any deviations from the setpoints for biochemical reactions can be detected at an early stage and countermeasures initiated where needed.

Cyber security is becoming a critically important subject for control and system experts who may not also be cyber security experts.

Join this content-packed webinar as ARC Advisory Group Analyst, Harry Forbes, leads a panel of cyber experts who will take you inside real-world events.

They will address the questions most frequently posed by engineering and operations people working in the plant. Subjects will range from the nature of the threat to how industry and regulators are dealing with it. You'll get a comprehensive update on the state of the art of cyber security protection and a better understanding of what you can do to protect your plant.

Schedule:

Tuesday, June 24

8 a.m. EDT [12:00 GMT]

2 p.m. EDT [18:00 GMT]

Register

To make accessing critical production data easier within the manufacturing enterprise, Rockwell Automation is launching the Allen-Bradley Stratix 5100 wireless access point (WAP) featuring a work group bridge. Unlike typical wireless clients that only connect a single IP address, the Stratix 5100 WAP enables engineers to connect up to 19 IP addresses simultaneously – helping reduce design time when integrating machines and equipment into the industrial control network.

The Stratix 5100 WAP is ideal for industrial networks needing secure and reliable wireless connectivity. Enterprise-class silicon and optimized radios deliver a robust mobility experience that includes 802.11a/b/g/n with 3 by 4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and three spatial streams.

“Automation engineers increasingly need access to more detailed production data and to solve automation network connectivity problems,” said Rob Snyder, product manager, Rockwell Automation. “With the Stratix 5100 wireless access point and work group bridge, users can access production data from remote and difficult-to-reach areas. They can share this data between automation systems or feed it into information systems for analysis and improved decision making.”

The Stratix 5100 WAP uses Cisco IOS, providing world-class performance and configuration options. In addition, the Stratix 5100 WAP provides premier integration to the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture system with detailed network diagnostic information. The Stratix 5100 WAP complements the Allen‑Bradley ControlLogix EtherNet/IP communication modules and full portfolio of Stratix switches from Rockwell Automation.

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ABB is delivering a new distributed control system for the desalination plant at the Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) smelter complex in Dubai. The solution is one of several that ABB has recently provided for this vast power, water and production complex, widely considered the industrial flagship of Dubai.

DUBAL operates one of the largest single-site aluminum production complexes in the world. Built on a 480 hectare site, the state-of-the-art smelter complex comprises 1,573 reduction cells arranged in seven potlines, a 2,350 megawatt power plant, a desalination plant that produces 113.5 million liters of distilled and potable water a day, and various other facilities including a carbon plant, casting houses and port. The smelter produces more than one million tons of molten aluminum a year.

ABB has a large installed base of control systems at the complex, and has been a supplier of choice throughout DUBAL’s 34-year history. In fact, ABB’s Procontrol P14 and Advant systems are at the heart of the site’s power generation and desalination processes. Between them, the two automation platforms control most of the gas and steam turbines and boilers at the power plant, as well as the steam turbines and pumps at the desalination plant.

In the past few years, DUBAL has awarded ABB several contracts to upgrade or maintain the Procontrol and Advant control systems that monitor, control and optimize the performance of the steam turbines, gas turbines and boilers at the DUBAL power plant.

After experiencing the performance of the upgrades and ABB’s project execution capability and commitment to service, DUBAL decided to replace the existing third-party distributed control system at the site’s desalination plant with ABB’s Procontrol P14.

In switching to Procontrol P14, DUBAL is set to gain a raft of operational and cost benefits. Procontrol P14 is renowned among operators for its ease of navigation. It has one of the fastest response times of any distributed control system on the market and one of the best track records in mean time between failures (MTBF).

Invensys (Schneider Electric) has released a new I/O family for its Foxboro Evo™ process automation system. The Foxboro® Compact 200 Series I/O fieldbus modules support more I/O modules in less space, reducing footprint up to 50 percent and offering significant potential for cost savings.

The new FBMs are especially valuable for new implementations in confined spaces, such as offshore platforms, and for adding capacity to existing installations without incurring the trouble and cost of facility expansion. Higher-density baseplates and optional cabinets contribute further to footprint reduction, which also drives significant savings in weight, energy consumption and inventory over traditional I/O offerings.

“Cabinet space in the industrial world is always an issue. For example, our top industry experts have calculated that space on an offshore platform can be valued at tens of thousands of dollars per square foot or more, so anything we can return to operators is money in their pockets,” said Thad Frost, director of fieldbus product management, Schneider Electric. “Our new Foxboro Compact 200 Series I/O modules are based on proven, recognized and highly reliable Foxboro FBM technology, but now available in a more compact form factor to help customers optimize space within their I/O infrastructure. By taking advantage of new Foxboro Evo future-proof technology, our customers can preserve their existing investments, reap additional cost savings and realize higher ROI.”

In keeping with the company’s commitment to delivering future-proof technology through its Foxboro Evo process automation system, the Compact 200 Series I/O modules are compatible with multiple generations of Foxboro controllers, software and infrastructure, and they provide the ability to mix and match I/O types on the same controller. They are the latest addition to the Foxboro Evo system’s flexible I/O sub-system family, which includes its 100-percent software-configurable Foxboro Intelligent Marshalling universal I/O solution; competitive migration plug-and-play modules; and intrinsically safe I/O options.

With advanced tools and applications delivered across a high-speed, fault-tolerant and cyber-secure hardware platform, including the integration of the company’s world-leading Triconex® safety system, the Foxboro Evo process automation system, now offered by Schneider Electric, improves operational insight and integrity and delivers the lowest total cost of automation and highest return on assets. Additionally, the system’s advanced applications improve the ability of plant personnel to contribute toward the success of the business by streamlining and contextualizing the information they need to make the right business decisions at the right time. And because the company’s broad portfolio of roles-based Foxboro engineering tools and productivity applications are integrated within it, the system provides superior visibility into historical, real-time and predictive operating information to help drive production efficiency.

Technip has been awarded an engineering, procurement and technical assistance contract by Fengzhen Wanjie Gas Co. Ltd. for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Fengzhen City, Inner Mongolia Province, China. The plant will consist of 1.3 million Nm3/day(1) LNG train (0.35 Mtpa) and a 0.3 million Nm3/day Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station.

The contract covers:

• basic engineering design (BED) of the process plant,
• BED and detailed engineering design of a LNG tank,
• procurement of key equipment such as the main cryogenic heat exchanger, mixed refrigerant compressor, boil-off gas compressor, LNG in-tank pumps, cryogenic control and on-off valves.

The LNG plant will be based on an Air Products liquefaction process.  Technip’s operating centers in Shanghai, China, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will execute the contract with plant start-up scheduled for the second half of 2016.

ICONICS, a Microsoft® Application Development Partner of the Year Finalist, Gold Certified Partner and provider of Web-enabled, OPC-based, HMI/SCADA Visualization and Manufacturing Intelligence software for Microsoft Windows® operating systems, is excited to announce the launch of its new MobileHMI apps for Microsoft Surface™ devices running Windows RT, Windows Phones, Apple iPads and iPhones and Android™ devices.

Users can visualize wind generation and turbine operations from any mobile device with dazzling, fully animated graphics or respond to alarms and alerts in real time. They can utilize natural multi-touch gestures to swipe through their utility assets and zoom or drill down into equipment to see all relevant information to support their maintenance tasks. ICONICS MobileHMI allows users to achieve instant, one-touch access to operational KPIs.

“ICONICS has proven that Windows 8 delivers the responsiveness and robustness needed for critical utility, process and discrete manufacturing applications," said John Richards, Senior Director of Windows App Marketing for Microsoft Corp. "Plant operators and supervisors no longer need to be tethered to the control room, and corporate executives are now virtually a touch away from real-time operations performance KPIs, independent of their travel schedules."

MobileHMI apps are fully secure and communicate with ICONICS products such as GENESIS64™, AnalytiX®, Hyper Historian™ and others. This integration enables OPC, OPC UA, BACnet, SNMP, and Modbus TCP/IP compliance, helping ensure that data from any wind farm, plant, building or equipment is immediately viewable on your mobile device. ICONICS offers a total solution that can integrate with almost any plant control network or building automation system network to make it accessible from mobile devices.

"Our MobileHMI apps deliver rich visualization using HTML5 and Windows RT thin mobile technology," said ICONICS CEO and President Russ Agrusa. "Standard features, including dynamic real-time graphics, alarm notifications and extensive trending and charting, are now available on any device. ICONICS is proud to launch our MobileHMI app, via the Windows Store, Apple’s App Store and the Google Play™ store, to enable operations from Any Glass, Anytime™.”

With MobileHMI, ICONICS continues to demonstrate its strategy of configuring once and publishing to “Any Glass”. Visualizations, including graphics that are interactive with secure command and control capabilities, real-time and historical trends and much more, can be defined once and then published to run on the MobileHMI app. Supported form factors include Microsoft Surface, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets and phones, Web browsers, and Microsoft SharePoint® Web Parts. For more information about the MobileHMI™ Apps from ICONICS.

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Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it will release Plant Resource Manager (PRM®) R3.12 on May 28.

PRM is a software package that is capable of centrally managing large amounts of data from plant monitoring and control devices and manufacturing equipment, thereby allowing their status to be monitored and diagnosed online. With PRM R3.12, self-diagnostic information is now displayed in a more intuitive, easy-to-understand format based on the NAMUR NE107* recommendations, and network functions have been enhanced for upstream oil and gas applications. With this new release of its PRM package, Yokogawa aims to expand its share of the maintenance market.

*A series of device diagnostics recommendations defined by NAMUR, a German-based process automation user group.  Manufacturers in the process industry are constantly working to improve maintenance efficiency by using device management systems such as PRM that can centrally manage large amounts of data from plant monitoring and control devices and manufacturing equipment in order to monitor their status and identify maintenance needs.

When a device management system detects multiple problems in more than one device, maintenance personnel must quickly assess the severity of each problem and prioritize their actions. Equipment failures in plants must be dealt with quickly, and so appropriate responses are required when it appears likely that a failure will soon occur. To satisfy these needs, this information is now displayed in an easier-to-understand format with PRM R3.12, allowing maintenance personnel to quickly judge which actions will receive top priority.

This new version of PRM also offers enhanced network functionality, including improved support of wireless and satellite communications for upstream oil and gas applications.