IAA April 2010

April 2010

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MICA(P) 154/07/2009 | ISSN 0219/5615 | PPS 1561/06/2010 (028221)

Control Point:

IssuesWith

RAMS

Water & Wastewater:

Get Tough!

The Glamorous World Of

Energy Harvesting

Robotics:

In Safe Hands

Rockwell Automation Southeast Asia Pte Ltd Singapore Tel : +65 6510 6688 Malaysia Tel : +603 8997 6688 Thailand Tel : +662 936 1500 www.rockwellautomation.com/sea

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NI NILabVIEW LabVIEW

Limited Only byby Your Imagination Limited Only Your Imagination Drivers for Drivers for hundreds of sensors hundreds of sensors from LIDAR to GPSto GPS from LIDAR

FPGA-based embedded FPGA-based embedded hardware for hardware for drive-by-wire systems drive-by-wire systems

ImageImage processing and and processing acquisition libraries acquisition libraries

Multicore algorithms Multicore algorithms for real-time navigation for real-time navigatio and control and control

Standard communication Standard communication including JAUS JAUS including and Ethernet support and Ethernet support

RF RF Medical Medical

LabVIEW graphical programming LabVIEW graphical programming

PRODUCT PLATFORM PRODUCT PLATFORM

software and modular NI hardware such such software and modular NI hardware

NI LabVIEW graphical NI LabVIEW graphical and textual programming and textual programming

as CompactRIO and PXI arePXI helping as CompactRIO and are helping

NI CompactRIO embedded NI CompactRIO embedded controlcontrol hardware hardware

engineers develop fully autonomous engineers develop fully autonomous

Robotics Robotics

robotics systems, including unmanned robotics systems, including unmanned

NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module

vehicles designed to compete in DARPA vehicles designed to compete in DARPA

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NI LabVIEW FPGA Module NI LabVIEW FPGA Module

Grand Grand Challenge events.events.

Challenge

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>> Find Find out what else LabVIEW can do ni.com/imagine/robotics out what else LabVIEW canatdo at ni.com/imagine/robotics

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contents ApriL 2010

ISSUES & INSIGHTS

22 Clean Room, Clean Robot

Deploying a clean robot differs from that of cells in an ambient environment. By Hai Chang, Adept Technology

CONTROL POINT

26 Induction Motors: The Effective Choice

AC induction motors are one of the most cost effective electrical devices in the industry. By Charles Lim C S, Oriental Motor

30 RAMS Issues

RAMS in LV Switchgear is a very important issue with plant managers, operations, maintenance and safety officers.

By David Stonebridge, ABB Australia and Gunnar Zank, ABB Singapore

SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

Systems: 36 Embedded Bringing Medical Applications To Life

OEMs can meet challenges in medical applications using standards-based solutions built around the Intel architecture. By Thomas Chou, Advantech

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT & Wastewater: Get Tough!

40 Water Environmentally hardened design of communications network

cabling, connectivity and active components is key to superior network performance, reliability and uptime. By Brian Shuman, Belden

44 Water Way To Go!

Migrating to a modern control system has resulted in huge annual costs savings for water treatment plants. By Trish Woznuk, Rockwell Automation

ENERGY

46 The Glamorous World Of Energy Harvesting

Energy harvesting has enabled advancements in many areas such as vehicles. By Dr Peter Harrop, IDTechEx 2  industrial automation asia | April 2010

As many ways as there are for accidents to happen, we have solutions to help prevent them.

With integrated machine safety solutions, application experience and legislation knowledge, we can help you achieve a safer environment without compromising productivity.

The result can be a safer future for more than just your business.

Discover more at: www.discoverrockwellautomation.com/safety Rockwell Automation Southeast Asia Pte Ltd Singapore Tel : +65 6510 6688 Malaysia Tel : +603 8997 6688 Thailand Tel : +662 936 1500 www.rockwellautomation.com/sea

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contents

z April 2010 IndustrialAutomationAsia April 2010

April 2010

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MICA(P) 154/07/2009 | ISSN 0219/5615 | PPS 1561/06/2010 (028221)

MICA(P) 154/07/2009 | ISSN 0219/5615 | PPS 1561/06/2010 (028221)

FEATURES

48 Migration Made Easy

www.iaasiaonline.com

A silica manufacturer in Indonesia upgrades its operating system.

By Derek Rodriguez

Control Point:

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RAMS

Water & Wastewater:

Get Tough!

The Glamorous World Of

Energy Harvesting

Robotics:

In Safe Hands

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It is a funny thing, water. Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water and yet, water shortage is a real problem.

According to the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a US based organisation that aims to promote awareness of this situation, one in six people do not have access to safe drinking water on a daily basis. With the conceptualisation of World Water Day, which falls on March 22, even the United Nations is in on the act and countries in Asia, hit by the reality of the matter, are following suit.

In Singapore’s celebration of this event, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Jaacob Ibrahim urged Singaporeans to remind themselves of the need to conserve water and reiterated the nation’s goal of achieving a per capita domestic water consumption of 140 litres per day by the year 2030.

Across the causeway, WWF-Malaysia state that water shortages in the country do exist despite the fact that it enjoys an abundance of rainfall. This, the organisation says, is the result of “unsustainable management of water resources”.

Further north, the water woes of Asian giants India and China have been well documented. Water.org, a non-profit outfit committed to delivering water solutions to those in need, have published figures that suggest that roughly 10 percent of the massive Indian population are in need of such help.

In China, pollution is a big worry; a large percentage of the country’s potential water sources are polluted and unconsumable.

Rapid urbanisation has seen factories sprout in clusters and many have laid the blame on this.

As those in the industry would know, the season for trade shows has started and the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) is one that is coming up. Kicking off in late June, the specially composed theme song for this event is a dead giveaway to the importance the government places on it.

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6 industrial automation asia | April 2010

System 800xA. Total integration of process and power automation.

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ENQUIRY NO. 078

Industry News NTU & NI Join Hands To Produce Wireless Communication Technologies

Singapore: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National Instruments (NI) have joined hands to develop the next-generation wireless communication technologies which are cheaper, faster, more reliable and more pervasive.

Both parties formalised the partnership by inking a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) at NTU. Under the NTU-NI Wireless Research Programme, NI will provide equipment that will be installed at the Positioning and Wireless Technology Centre (PWTC), a centre under NTU’s School of

Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE).

One key goal of the NTU-NI Wireless Research Programme is to develop future wireless communication protocols.

The research team will be using the equipment to research into the practicality and performance of various wireless techniques.

PWTC’s programme director for wireless network research, assistant professor Ting See Ho, explained: “One of the major problems faced worldwide currently is the increasing shortage of usable frequency

spectrum, which is further aggravated by current spectrum allocation regulations.

My research team aims to address these issues by developing the next generation of wireless communication technologies that are able to relay radio signals and scan for available ‘holes’ in airwaves without interfering with the incumbent users. This would mean that users can enjoy the highest quality, best performance and most costefficient networks.”

“This project will not only bring about a technology breakthrough; it will also have a profound impact on current business models and inspire new designs for various wireless applications for the benefit of both mass-market and military users,” added assistant professor Ting.

“Wireless communication research is gaining interest from the industry and NTU is a technological university with international standing in this field,” said Chandran Nair, MD for NI ASEAN. “We are pleased to equip PWTC with NI’s technologies and support NTU’s research efforts towards developing wireless technologies that will impact everyday life.”

Fuji Electric Opens India Subsidiary

Mumbai, India: Fuji Electric Holding Company, Japan officially opened their India subsidiary - Fuji Electric India (FEI) at an event held in Mumbai. This event was address by Fumio Ito, executive director of Fuji Electric Co Systems, and witnessed by top management of Fuji Electric group of companies and customers of the company.

The company had been operating in India since 1988, when they transferred technology for vacuum circuit breakers to an Indian company. Thereafter a representative office of Fuji 8 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Electric Asia Pacific, Singapore was established in 2007, to grow market area in drives and controls, power semiconductors and instrumentation control products.

According to Mr Fumio Ito, in addition to its present operations strategy , the company would also like to explore opportunities in following areas in India: Electric traction systems, power generation, energy management and environmental protection, power semiconductors, and medium voltage drives.

Industry News

QuEST Global Engineering Awarded IHQ Status

QuEST Global Engineering, CEO and co-Founder, Ajit Prabhu

Singapore: QuEST Global Engineering has announced that it would be making Singapore its International Headquarters effective April 1, 2010, consolidating its global operations and ownership of entities and setting up an 60 member team in Singapore with an investment of around US$50 million over the next five years.

In support of the company’s decision, the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has granted it the International Headquarters (IHQ) Award.

QuEST Global Engineering, CEO and co-Founder, Ajit Prabhu said: “We are pleased to receive the IHQ award from the EDB and will be looking at setting up key engineering centres of excellence at our Singapore Headquarters in the coming years.

We also intend to move senior management team to Singapore. This is a significant step in our vision to become a US$500 million organisation by 2015”.

Commenting on the occasion, EDB’s Director (Energy, Chemicals & Engineering Services), Liang Ting Wee, said: “We’re delighted to welcome a fast-growth company like QuEST Engineering into Singapore. QuEST’s decision to locate its international headquarters in Singapore, together with its plans to set up engineering centres of excellence, is testament to Singapore’s attractiveness as a home for companies to manage and drive their global business growth.”

Invensys To Implement IntelaTrac Mobile Solutions For Chevron Singapore: Invensys Operations Management has contracted Chevron to provide the Wonderware IntelaTrac mobile workforce and decision-support system.

The mobile solution will support Chevron’s upstream operations with configurable software and ruggedised mobile hardware solutions that enable workers to better manage workflow, procedural and general management tasks which focus on plant, production and field operations, maintenance management, production, inventory and logistics tracking and compliance applications.

Invensys will provide the IntelaTrac solution to assist operators, field engineers, technicians and supervisors in creating inspection and regulatory procedures. It also will assign, schedule and execute rounds and report findings that are prioritised based on the level of severity of the issue.

IntelaTrac provides the capabilities for an organisation to create and define procedures based on best practices, as well as regulatory compliance rules and regulations. Procedures are re-usable across many operator and technician rounds to ensure that inspections are performed on a routine basis as mandated by overall corporate policies, as well as regulatory agencies.

Yokogawa Releases VigilantPlant Services Solutions Package Tokyo, Japan: Yokogawa Electric Corp has released VigilantPlant Services, a package of automation service solutions that help manufacturers achieve safe, environmentally friendly, and profitable plant operations in line with the Yokogawa VigilantPlant concept. From design through project execution, operations, and maintenance, VigilantPlant Services provide manufacturers the support they need to achieve Operational Excellence over the entire plant lifecycle.

There are three basic types of VigilantPlant Services: Opportunity Identification Services To identify new improvement possibilities and optimum solutions, the company provides free plant analysis, comparative effectiveness analysis, management seminar, master planning, and improvement leader development programs.

Solution Implementation Services To effectively implement identified solutions, the company provides asset management, safety management, production management, and plant lifecycle management programs.

Lifecycle Effectiveness Services Following the implementation phase, Yokogawa continually maintains and reevaluates these solutions for its customers to ensure that they remain effective throughout the plant lifecycle.

The company’s VigilantPlant Services go beyond the scope of conventional consultation services to address the sustainability of improvement initiatives.

The program includes the actual training of customer engineers in understanding the methodology behind these improvements.

The company also pays attention to the quality and reliability of its automation platforms and have implemented a variety of quality management measures in VigilantPlant Services.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 9

Industry News

Molex Renews Contract With Reliance Globalcom

APPOINTMENTS & NOTICES Cisco Appoints MD For Singapore & Brunei Cisco has appointed Irving Tan as MD for Singapore and Brunei, reporting to Christopher Khang, president for Asia at Cisco. Mr Tan brings over 15 years of experience in the technology industry to the role and will look to continue to enhance the company’s reputation as a partner capable of delivering transformational solutions to government agencies, large enterprises and small and medium businesses.

CEO Of Siemens Philippines Appointed Jacky Chan, 44, has been appointed Siemens Philippines’ president and CEO. Mr Chan replaces Adrian Wood, 42, who is now at the helm of Siemens’ solar energy business in the Middle East after his three-year stint as CEO of Siemens’ Philippine unit.

Contec In Collaboration With Invensys Singapore: Reliance Globalcom has signed a four year contract renewal with Molex Far East South Management, for the upgrade and management of their wide area network (WAN) in Asia.

The contract extension will deliver a managed global communications solution for Molex, across in Asia, connecting more key manufacturing and distribution locations across China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Molex operates a global network with centralised, business critical applications in Singapore and US core data centres. The company needed to increase their regional workforce’s access to these applications, to create more effective international project teams and business efficiency.

In response to this requirement, Reliance Globalcom provided a hybrid multicarrier network, providing increased bandwidth capability and service assurance to all sites. This enabled voice-over-IP (VoIP) services between key locations and the ability to share high-bandwidth design and project management applications across more sites, improving the speed and outcome of international collaboration exercises.

10 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Osaka, Japan: Contec will be bundling its Active-Panel with the Wonderware InTouch HMI software Certified devices are today with pre-installed images ready for use out of the box.

“The Powered by Wonderware program, in conjunction with our partners, means that our customers can now order their HMI hardware with runtime software pre-installed, directly from their vendor of choice.” said Keith Jones, Invensys Operations Management marketing program manager, Wonderware HMI/SCADA products.

Industry News

Launch Of Asia’s First Shippers’ Academy

Singapore: The local and regional shippers’ community reached a milestone with the launch of Asia’s first shippers’ academy – the Singapore Shippers’ Academy (SA) in Singapore.

The Academy aims to bridge the gap in the continuous education and training (CET) landscape for the community and raise standards to the next level by providing education and training needs tailored for shippers.

IE Singapore and SPRING Singapore are supporting partners of the academy, which is funded under the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) Programme.

The academy is the brainchild of the Singapore National Shippers’ Council (SNSC) – a national body representing cargo owners, including importers, exporters, manufacturers and international traders. The

council is known for having played pivotal roles in the shippers’ community locally, regionally and internationally.

Currently, training programmes in the marketplace are either too generic or too specialised for logistics and business professionals and catered for service providers, with nothing specific for shippers.

SNSC addresses this problem by setting up the SA and bringing together industry leaders, experts and shippers to provide specialised shippers-centric curriculum and training. The academy’s launch is timely and resonates with recommendations made recently by the Economic Strategies Committee and initiatives proposed in the Singapore 2010 Budget, encouraging productivity and innovation.

John Lu, chairman of SNSC, shared: “We are in constant pursuit to advance productivity and innovation for shippers,

especially SMEs. From market observations and feedback, we know that shippers can benefit from better understanding of international trade, supply and value chain and security issues. Unfortunately the lack of quality education and training programmes to improve knowledge and expertise among shippers is holding us back from achieving the values we seek.

With the Singapore Shippers’ Academy and our international connection, we will overcome this hurdle and help international traders achieve meaningful and enriching life-long learning.”

Chong Lit Cheong, CEO of IE Singapore, said: “The Academy will provide customised training programme to the shippers community. With greater competency, Singapore companies, especially the SMEs will be able to compete more efficiently in an increasingly complex trading environment.”

Pteris Global’s Train Station Project In Taiwan Singapore: Pteris Global has been awarded a S$18 million (US$12.8 million) contract to design and supply a baggage handling system and container handling system for Taoyuan International Airport City Access MRT System, Taiwan.

This is an initiative by the Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications to connect Taoyuan International Airport with its surrounding transportation hubs by tying the local transportation web with the international airport. The station system consists of 22 stations, of which 15 are elevated and

seven are underground, with two maintenance depots.

The system will provide a downtown baggage check-in service at Taipei’s main station for airline passengers. Pteris Global’s scope of work will consist of the design, supply, manufacture, installation and commissioning of the full suite of system for both baggage handling and container handling, which shall be installed at Taipei’s main station located at the city centre and Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2 Station.

The project is scheduled for completion and handover in 2016.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 11

Industry News

New ISO RFID Standard To Help Trace Products In The Supply Chain

Boeing Production Rate Increases To Meet Demand

Geneva, Switzerland: For reasons of safety and reliability, the importance of being able to trace products throughout the supply chain has strongly increased in recent years. The ISO 17367:2009 standard will help manufacturers and distributors to track products and to manage their traceability thanks to standardised RF tags.

Traceability is defined as the tracking and tracing of product and information related to it at each stage of a chain of production, processing, distribution, and selling. The development of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID), including peripheral devices and their applications, is crucial for increasing the safety and reliability of products for consumers.

ISO 17367:2009, Supply chain applications of RFID – Product tagging, defines the basic features of RFID for use in the supply chain when applied to product tagging. In particular it makes recommendations for: encoded identification of the product; additional information about the product for inclusion on the RFID tag; semantics and data syntax; the data protocol to be used to interface with business applications and the RFID system; the air interface standards between the RFID interrogator and RFID tag.

HART Communication Foundation Recognises Evonik For Ingenuity

Texas, USA: The HART Communication Foundation has recognised the Evonik Degussa Specialty Chemicals Company in Shanghai, PR China, with the HART Innovative Achievement Award.

Following research on the use of HART in all phases of the plant life cycle, engineers at Evonik decided to utilise HART Communication throughout their methacrylates production complex, including design, construction, device configuration, loop check, operations, maintenance and troubleshooting. The complex has more than 2,000 HART-enabled instruments and valves installed from multiple global manufacturers.

According to Luc Sterck, project manager instrumentation, Evonik EngineeringAutomation and Process Management, benefits realised through the real-time use of HART Communication include: easy configuration of field instruments from the control room; easy calibration management of instruments; online diagnostics and status monitoring of devices; automated documentation of calibration and configuration data into the asset management database; fewer people needed for maintenance; and easy checking/ adjusting of device parameters for better control loop tuning.

12 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Seattle, USA: Boeing will accelerate planned rate increases on both the 777 and 747 programs. The accelerated rate increases will support increasing customer demand in the recovering airplane market.

“Our customers recognise the capability and value of the 777 and 7478,” said Boeing commercial airplanes president and CEO Jim Albaugh. “Market improvement and our managed approach to production have put us in a position where we see it necessary to raise aircraft output. Increasing our rate is the right thing to do to support our customers.”

The company will accelerate the 777 program’s rate increase to seven airplanes per month (from five per month) by approximately six months, from early 2012 to mid-2011. The 747 program’s planned production rate increase to two airplanes per month (from 1.5 per month) will move from mid-2013 to mid-2012. Suppliers for both the 777 and 747 will be prepared to support the accelerated rate increases.

“We see 2010 as the year of overall economic recovery within the industry and 2011 a year where airlines return to profitability,” said Randy Tinseth, VP of marketing for Boeing commercial airplanes.

“As a result, we anticipate an increase in demand for airplanes in 2012 and beyond.”

Industry News

Cargotec Consolidates Operations At Tukang Innovation Park

Dassault Systèmes & BMW Sign Sustainable Innovation Agreement Singapore: BMW and Dassault Systèmes (DS) have signed a strategic 5-year global agreement to pave the way to meet the automotive market’s new challenges.

Through this agreement, the companies will establish a close link between their research and development centres that will not only improve the DS automotive product offering but also the BMW development and production process.

The necessity to reduce C02 emission levels has forced automotive manufacturers to reshape their business processes to deliver greener cars. Fully embracing the cause of leaving a minimum carbon footprint on the planet, the implementation of the DS solutions will help automakers conceive, analyse and simulate eco-friendly low-emission vehicles like the Project I, a new Megacity vehicle, optimised for better performance and low energy consumption.

Singapore: Cargotec has set up an office, warehouse and workshop facility at Tukang Innovation Park, the industrial estate in Western Singapore.

Spanning an area of 17,721 sq m over four floors, the facility will accommodate operations that cover Cargotec brands including Hiab, Kalmar, MacGregor and Bromma under one roof.

In unveiling the facility, Guest-of-Honour, Lim Hwee Hua, Minister in Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Transport said: “We congratulate Cargotec on the opening of its new building, which will house its management serving the AsiaPacific region, as well as the company’s new regional logistics hub. The investment is a milestone development and builds on the strong Cargotec-Singapore partnership which spans over three decades. Cargotec’s expanding base is a strong endorsement of our position as a global maritime hub.”

Mikael Mäkinen, president and CEO, Cargotec Corp added: “The Asia-Pacific region has been identified as our key growth area, accounting already for more than one-third of our total sales last year. As a global business hub Singapore is perfectly located for further growing our presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and in strengthening partnership with our customers throughout the whole cargo handling process.”

Cargotec is one of the pioneers to set up a facility in Tukang Innovation Park. The estate is part of JTC Corporation’s efforts to rejuvenate old estates and to modernise the infrastructure to cater to higher value-added activities in line with Singapore Economic Development Board’s (EDB) cluster development and promotion plan.

Airbus To Increase A320 Production Rate Toulouse, France: Airbus will increase the monthly production rate for its singleaisle A320 family from the current rate of 34 to 36, starting December 2010. The production rate for the long-range A330/ A340 Family will be maintained at the current level of eight per month.

The company’s decision to raise its single-aisle production rate is driven by the continuing demand for its eco-efficient aircraft and a record backlog in excess of some 2,300 A320 aircraft.

“Leading economic indices and business confidence indicators are showing an upward trend again. We see this reflected in the continuing solid demand for our eco-efficient products and our robust backlog,” said Tom Williams, executive VP, programmes.

Airbus delivered a total of 498 aircraft in 2009, including 402 A320 aircraft, both new company records for a single year.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 13

Industry News

Singapore Companies Expanding In Vietnam Singapore: Since the establishment of the Singapore-Vietnam Connectivity Framework Agreement in 2005 to promote economic cooperation between Singapore and Vietnam, Singapore companies have significantly broadened their economic interests in Vietnam.

S a i d C h i o n g Wo a n S h i n , I E Singapore’s regional director of Vietnam and Cambodia: “Regional cities in Vietnam such as Hai Phong City, Danang City and Can Tho City hold good potential for Singapore companies as they offer new business and investment opportunities for Singapore companies. Being relatively less developed than the traditional investment hotspots, there is less competition and hence more room for growth.”

“Northern Vietnam, with its close proximity to China and manufacturing bases of multinational companies such as Canon and Samsung, is suitable for Singapore manufacturers who are looking to set up overseas plants.

Singapore players can also serve the transportation and logistics needs of North Vietnam’s manufacturing base, as well as the Mekong Delta area in Southern Vietnam, which is the base for Vietnam’s vast agricultural and aquaculture produce.”

In 2009, despite the economic downturn, Vietnam registered a positive GDP growth of 5.3 percent, the highest in Southeast Asia. Vietnam also continued to attract foreign investments in 2009, with a total FDI inflow of US$21.5 billion, a 20 percent increase from two years ago.

The company also experienced its lowest inflation in six years in 2009 6.9 percent, compared to 23 percent in 2008. For 2010, the Vietnamese government has targeted a 6.5 percent growth in GDP, as well as a controlled inflation rate of seven percent.

14 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Technical Guide For US FDA-Regulated Organisations Available

Canada: ‘How to Avoid and Respond to Public FDA Criticisms–Warning Letters–for Temperature, Humidity and other Controlled Environments’ is now available from Veriteq.

The 10-step guide is designed to help the wide range of food processors, agricultural companies, and other facilities subject to FDA, USDA, HAACP, and local health department regulations respond quickly and appropriately to any FDA Warning Letters within the permitted 15-day window. Proper warning letter response is critical to both help in reputation repair and for real remediation actions to assure public safety.

FDA Warning Letters are expected to increase this year, reflecting the FDA’s recent staff expansion and rewrite of the FDA Warning Letter rules to narrow response time to the new 15-day window.

Ken Appel, VP, Regulated Markets, Veriteq comments: “If and when a company receives a warning letter it is a matter of public record listed on the FDA’s web site. Veriteq’s guide will help quality departments that have received such public criticism regroup, but more importantly, will give some best-practice tips that will help FDA-regulated organisations avoid warning letters and remedial costs in the first place.”

Industry News

Bioplastic Industry Defies Economic Crisis

Creation Of The EV Plug Alliance

Berlin, Germany: “Coca-Cola does it, Frito-lay does it and so too do Samsung and Hyundai.” This is how Andy Sweetman, chairman of the European Bioplastics’ Board summarises the fact that an increasing number of renowned brand owners are turning to bioplastics to enhance their products’ image.

While Coca-Cola recently kicked off a marketing campaign in selected countries introducing its PET PlantBottle, 30 percent of which consists of plant based material, Samsung introduced a cell phone partly made of biodegradable plastics, the Samsung Reclaim. Aldi, one of Germany’s largest discounters, introduced biodegradable shopping bags, letting customers decide between compostable and conventional plastic bags. Hyundai draws on PLA for the interior of its next generation hybrid car, and Frito-lay announced the use of bioplastics in their SunChips packaging.

Despite the economic crisis, European Bioplastics’ members are investing in new plants, in further innovation and cooperations. For example, Nature Works just doubled its production capacity of PLA and Braskem made big investments for this year’s start-up of bio-based PE. BASF introduced new biodegradable plastics for coating paper and shrink-film while Novamont launched the second generation of Mater-Bi, and Purac, Sulzer and Synbra kicked off a cooperation in the field of foamed PLA products.

Rueil-Malmaison, France: Schneider Electric, Legrand and Scame are forming the EV Plug Alliance to promote the use of a high safety plug and socket solution for Electric Vehicle charge infrastructure.

The rapid adoption of a European s t a n d a r d f o r E l e c t r i c Ve h i c l e infrastructure plugs that meets the existing security levels required for installation in homes and buildings at an optimised cost is a key factor to develop the nascent Electric Vehicle market.

The Alliance aims to provide a label that guarantees full compliance with the Type 3 of the IEC standard for plug and socket in finalisation.

The plug endorsed by the Alliance will ensure compatibility between multiple suppliers’ products.

Charge at a power up to 24 kW, in mono or three phase installations will allow charging electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. It will offer the highest level of safety with the use of shutters to protect against accidental touch of electric parts.

“The EV Plug Alliance is open to any new member, and our first challenge is to gather as many actors concerned as possible. The more we enlarge the Alliance, the more chances we will have to create an eco-system with one strong standard, easing development of solutions and practical applications to revolutionise the electric vehicle charge”, said the three cofounders of the EV Plug Alliance; Philippe Delorme, executive VP Strategy & Innovation of Schneider Electric; Jean-Charles Thuard, executive VP Strategy & Development of Legrand; and Giampiero Camilli, Marketing & Product Development director of Scame.

The first products labelled by the EV Plug Alliance are planned to be available at the end of second quarter 2010.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 15

Newsdesk Newsdesk

Intrinsically Safe

CAN Communication The CiA 103 framework provides some basic rules to design CAN physical layer interfaces suitable for intrinsic safe CAN communication. By Holger Zeltwanger, MD, CiA

SOME years ago some members of NeSSi (New Sampling/ Sensor Initiative) requested an intrinsically safe CAN physical l a y e r i n o rd e r t o c o n n e c t dedicated sensors in explosive environments. The initiative was sponsored by the Center for Process Analytical Technology (CPAC) at the University of Washington in Seattle (WA).

The initiative’s objectives included simplification of tasks and reduction of overall costs associated with engineering, installing and maintaining chemical process analytical systems.

The specific objectives are to increase process analytical system reliability through the use of increased automation, shrink the physical size (and energy use) by means of miniaturisation, promote the creation and use of industry standards for process analytical systems, and help create the infrastructure needed to support the use of the emerging class of robust and selective microAnalytical sensors.

Process analytical systems are commonly used by the chemical, oil refining and petrochemical industries to measure and control both chemical composition as well as certain intrinsic physical properties (such as viscosity).

To date, NeSSI has served as a forum for the adoption and 16

improvement of an industrial standard, which specifies the use of miniature and modular Lego-like flow components. Circor Tech, Parker-Hannifin, and Swagelok develop and produce such components.

To c o n t r o l t h o s e f l o w components electronically requires a communication system. One of the candidates was CAN. In the beginning, NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) located in Washington (DC) organised some meetings and started the

specification under the umbrella of IEEE. CiA submitted its CANopen profile for measuring devices and closed-loop controllers (CiA 404).

However, the IEEE 1451-6 standard never comes out of its shoes.

After about three years, CiA was requested to take over the development of an intrinsically safe CAN physical layer. Experts from ABB Lewisburg, Circor Tech, Parker, Pepperl + Fuchs, Siemens, Swagelok, Texas Instruments, and Turck participated in the CiA Task Force (‘Intrinsically safe CAN’)

industrial automation asia | April May 2009 2010

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Newsdesk Newsdesk Intrinsic Safety: What Is It?

meetings. The result is the CiA 103 draft standard proposal, which is more a framework than a specification or standard.

The Framework IS-CAN, developed by several CiA members, has been specified in CiA 103. This framework provides some basic rules to design CAN physical layer interfaces suitable for intrinsic safe CAN communication. The basic idea is to use 3,3-V powered CAN transceiver (ISO 11898-2) and CAN micro-controllers.

In addition, some circuitry may be necessary to make the interface intrinsic safe (IS) – in particular to implement an isolation barrier between safe and hazardous area. CiA 103 recommends an 8-pin pico-style connector with a standardised pin-assignment.

IS-CANopen based on CiA 103 has become the NeSSI bus solution envisioned nearly six years ago.

The NeSSI consortium has shown that a low-cost transducer bus can be intrinsically safe. CiA device profiles and CANopen conformance testing furnish the infrastructure by which transducer vendors can offer certified plugand-play multi-channel devices for cost-effective sensor and actuator solutions. CiA also provides a forum for SIGs (special interest groups), such as NeSSI, to adjust the CANopen profiles to meet their specific industry requirements.

ENQUIRY NO. 2101

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AN intrinsically safe electronic is able to work in explosive atmospheres without causing explosions. The concept of intrinsic safety (IS) was developed for safe operation of process control instrumentation in hazardous areas, particularly North Sea gas platforms.

IS systems are defined as ‘equipment and wiring which is incapable of releasing sufficient electrical or thermal energy under normal or abnormal conditions to cause ignition of a specific hazardous atmospheric mixture in its most easily ignited concentration’ (ISA-RP12.6).

This is achieved by limiting the amount of power available to the electrical equipment in the hazardous area to a level below that which will ignite the gases. This is achieved by ensuring that only low voltages enter the hazardous area, and that all electric supply and signal wires are protected.

Sometimes an alternative type of barrier known as a galvanic isolation barrier may be used.

In normal uses, electrical equipment often create internal tiny sparks in switches, motor brushes, connectors, and in other places. Such sparks can ignite flammable substances present in air. An intrinsically safe device is designed to not contain any components that produce sparks or which can hold enough energy to produce a spark of sufficient energy to cause an ignition.

Another aspect of IS is controlling the device temperatures.

Under certain fault conditions (eg short-circuit inside the transceiver or controller), the temperature of an electronic component case can rise to a level, which is able to cause an explosion. Current limiting components such as resistors and fuses ensure that in no case a component reach a temperature that could cause auto-ignition of a combustible atmosphere.

Intrinsic safety is a requirement that may be applicable to devices that are being operated in areas with flammable gases or fuels. It means that the device is incapable of igniting those gases.

Understanding IS approval ratings is a difficult proposition for even the most informed customer. Each designated hazardous environment has specific certification requirements for all equipment used in the IS area. IS equipment must carry a label, which specifies the exact IS rating for the equipment and the name of the NRTL (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory) who tested it.

Testing laboratories have stringent cer tification requirements that vary according to the level of IS-approval desired. A device that is IS-certified for use in the USA may not be certified in Europe.

ENQUIRY NO. 2102

industrial automation asia | April May 2009 2010

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The Fieldbus Foundation has praised an expanded automation industry collaborative effort intended to accelerate deployment of Field Device Integration (FDI) technology.

Key automation suppliers have agreed to enlarge the scope of the Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) Cooperation Team into the FDI Cooperation, which is supporting a uniform device integration solution for process industries across all host systems, devices and protocols as required by end users.

The FDI Cooperation project will initially consist of major industry trade associations, such as the Fieldbus Foundation, FDT Group, HART Communications Foundation, OPC Foundation and Profibus Nutzerorganisation.

Fieldbus Foundation president and CEO Rich Timoney commented: “Adoption of a standardised FDI solution is in the best interest of controls and instrumentation suppliers and end users around the world, since it provides a unified path forward for device integration that is based on use case requirements, incorporates the best aspects of each member technology, and eliminates redundancies where they may exist.

FDI also does away with double efforts for customers and vendors, and preserves backward compatibility and operating system independence.”

The FDI project was kicked-off at the 2007 Hanover Fair. Since then, the project has carefully shaped the technology direction for the converged FDI solution. The addition of supplier

companies, which have agreed to support FDI packages in their systems and products, will strengthen this effort by providing resources for the completion of this project.

Besides the finalisation of the FDI specification, which is scheduled

for mid-2010, the FDI Cooperation is covering common design and test tools, common binary format and EDDL interpreter across the Foundation fieldbus, HART and Profibus protocols.

ENQUIRY NO. 2103

ENQUIRY NO. 114

Fieldbus Foundation Praises Expanded Collaboration On FDI

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 19

Asia EtherCAT At Embedded World

EtherCAT is the only hard real time Ethernet technology that does not need a communication co-processor or any special chipset in the master.

Therefore EtherCAT is not only accepted in the classical automation industry, but also for embedded applications: basically every microcontroller board today comes with an Ethernet port, and thus provides the hardware provisions for implementing an EtherCAT master.

Consequently the EtherCAT Technology Group participated with an own booth at the Embedded World

Exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany.

Many developers took the opportunity to get acquainted with the EtherCAT technology or discuss ongoing projects with the ETG team.

EtherCAT can be found in many embedded applications such as, for instance, in the medical industry or in test and measurement systems – and not only in applications, w h e re c l a s s i c a l e m b e d d e d bus systems such as CAN face performance issues.

30 Different Drives In One Network The large variety of EtherCAT controllers, drives, I/O modules and sensors was mirrored at the EtherCAT Technology Group booth at SPS/IPC/Drives and Hannover Fair in Germany. Over 200 different EtherCAT devices were shown.

Among the live displays was a multivendor demo with 30 different drives from 20 vendors, which all were operated synchronously in a single EtherCAT network.

ENQUIRY NO. 2105

20  industrial automation asia | April 2010

Implementation Guideline For CANopen Servo Drives Updated

ENQUIRY NO. 2104

The behaviour of EtherCAT servo drives is specified within IEC 618007. Within this specification, both the CANopen and the Sercos drive profiles are mapped onto EtherCAT. In order to focus the application of the CANopen profile on EtherCAT, ETG published the implementation guideline ETG.6010 in 2007. This guideline, for example, selects the three cyclic synchronous operating modes from the 10 drive modes described in the standard, and thus realises the direct control of position, velocity or torque via the bus system.

These operating modes are particularly useful for EtherCAT, since only the high performance communication provided by EtherCAT enables the short cycle times that they require. In addition, with the help of function groups the behavior of optional functionality such as homing or touch probe is clearly specified.

The acceptance of this guideline can be seen by the fast growing number of drive products from ETG members that have been implemented according to its specification. Furthermore, the conformance with the guideline of EtherCAT servo drives with CANopen profile is tested in the official EtherCAT Conformance Test Tool.

The new enhanced version of the guideline has now been published.

It contains new explanations and improvements, some of which have been elaborated in cooperation with the corresponding working group of the CAN in Automation association.

ENQUIRY NO. 2106

Industry Updates

IO-Link: Fit For The Future

New Marketing Infrastructure

To support the rapid worldwide dissemination of IO-Link, the consortium has decided on changes to its organisational structure and has created a new marketing infrastructure. Accordingly, at the start of 2010 IO-Link became an

established Technical Committee (TC6) within PI (Profibus and Profinet International) and is thus also represented in the Advisory Board.

Working Groups (WGs) in the areas of technology, marketing, network integration, and profiles make up the infrastructure for further technical development and efficient dissemination of IO-Link technology.

Steering Committee Formed

In order to ensure efficient and targeted further development and market expansion in light of the strong growth in the number of member companies, a Steering

ENQUIRY NO. 2107

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ENQUIRY NO. 107

Over the past few years IO-Link has developed into the standard for sensor/actuator communication.

Numerous manufacturers have already begun to implement IO-Link in their products and marketing campaigns. The first applications for industrial use are already available.

Committee (SC) has been formed.

Representatives of all sub-areas of IO-Link (master manufacturers, device manufacturers, system providers, service providers, and chip manufacturers) serve on this SC. A decisive change is the elimination of the entrance fee of €10,000. This was collected in the beginning for the work carried out to develop the specification and for marketing. Membership in a Regional PI Association and acknowledgement of the IO-Link System of Rules provides access to the specifications, participation in the WGs, and use of the ‘IO-Link’ logo. With these of rules, the SC has laid the foundation for international marketing and assurance of the future of IO-Link.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 21

issues & insights

Clean Room, Clean Robot Deploying a clean robot differs from that of cells in an ambient environment. By Hai Chang, MD of Asia operations, Adept Technology

T

here is no doubt that consumer electronics is a huge market with the industry expected to generate over US$165 billion in revenue within the US in 2010.

With cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, DVRs, and MP3 players our lives have changed significantly in the past decade.

The world is in love with consumer electronics and while they are manufactured to be robust and sustain an occasional slip from our hand, they contain sensitive components requiring precision

22 industrial automation asia | April 2010

handling during manufacturing.

W h i le cer ta i n i ndu st r ie s have suffered under a straining economy, the consumer electronic supply chain with its clean room requirements is growing and cleanroom robotics solutions will play a key part in this growth.

“The past decade has changed our daily activities in such a way that we cannot imagine a life without the convenience of an iPhone, DVR, digital camera or our other favorite electronic gadgets,” said Rush La Selle,

director of worldwide sales and marketing for Adept Technology, a manufacturer of intelligent visionguided robotics.

“All the images, music and video created by and stored on these gadgets generate tremendous demand for data storage. Studies show that with the increased speed and convenience of file transfer, the average consumer stores these memory intensive files in at least two locations demanding even greater capacity.

Industry data also suggests that

consumers will purchase at least two hard drives in ten years, so demand for manufacturing storage devices and memory is growing exponentially.”

So, what do you need to know about clean room robots and equipment to service this market? How are they different from - traditional robots? What about certification, maintenance and those pesky particles?

By v ir tue of its na me, cleanrooms control the level of particle contamination present that can potentially degrade the products being manufactured.

Clea nrooms a re cla ssified according to the number and size of the particles permitted per volume of air.

For e x a mple , a Cla ss 10 cleanroom denotes that no more than ten particles of 0.5 µm or larger and zero particles of 5.0 or larger are permitted per square foot of air.

Contaminants can be generated by people, process, facilities and equipment. In order to control contaminants that are invisible to the human eye, the manufacturing cell and in many cases the entire

room must be controlled. Robots used in this environment must me e t st r i n ge nt cle a n ro om certification requirements to prevent them for acting as a source of contamination.

A Robot Is A Robot H o w d o cleanroom robots differ from their standard cou nte r p a r t s?

Much of the hardware used in a cleanroom robot is the same as any other robot with the important exception of a combination of sealed covers to prevent particles from escaping the robot, stainless steel hardware, proper nongassing lubricants and vacuum to evacuate any internally generated particles.

“Robots designed for clean room processes have special considerations for harnesses.

From a design standpoint the ha rness ca n be a serious pa r ticulate generator a nd a

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major design challenge for clean applications,” said Scott Klimczak president of Chad Industries, a pioneer in the area of wafer and substrate handling WLP I (Wafer Level Packaging) applications.

“Understanding the harness requirements and how the robot design will integrate a harness should always be stressed in the robot selection.”

As a matter of practice, materials prone to particle generation are substituted or coated to eliminate the potential for contamination of the manufacturing area and ultimately the components being processed. Depending on your application, cleanroom robots can be linear, SCARA, six-axis or delta type robots but they all must meet strict cleanroom certifications.

Robot Certification Certification is done by counting the number of particles that are generated when the robot is in motion. For this process the industry employs particle counters which have to be calibrated to meet or exceed the standards set by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).

In addition to NIST traceable prac t ice s, ot he r st a nda rd s of particle counter calibration include Japa ne se Industria l Standard (JIS) B 9921, Light Scattering Automatic Particle Counter, and ASTM F 328 -98, Standard Practice for Calibration of an Airborne Particle Counter Using Monodisperse Particles.

I t i s i m p o r t a n t to f u l l y understand your requirements and the standards they adhere to. These particle counters are placed in various locations from where particles Demand for c a n e nte r t he manufacturing environment storage devices from the robot and memory to determine the is growing exponentially cleanroom class.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 23

issues & insights

the consumer electronic supply chain with its clean room requirements is growing and cleanroom robotics solutions will play a key part in this growth.

A d e p t Te c h n o l o g y te s t s rob ot s b ot h inter na lly a nd through third party testing and certification to ensure integrators a nd end - users deploy their equipment appropr iately to meet manufacturing cleanliness requirements.

“The cha llenge w ith this market segment is that it demands careful consideration of not only the components used to develop a highly robust manufacturing process but the manner in which they are integrated has significant impact on the ultimate cleanliness of the cell,” said Mr LaSelle. “The success of an installation is heavily dependent on tightly integrating engineering and sales teams.”

The Right Fit Manufacturers with a cleanroom application have numerous options when considering how to manipulate parts and automate their processes.

What should you consider when choosing the right robot?

Because each company has unique requirements the best approach is to begin by determining answers to the following questions and work directly with the robot manufacturer to select the optimal robot configuration.

• What is the cleanroom specification?

There are two accepted clean room specifications, the ISO 14644-1 spec and the Fed 209E spec. Confusion and the improper clean specification will greatly impact the design and the cost of the machine. Following is a table that correlates the two: 24 industrial automation asia | April 2010

ISO

FED

1

n/a

2

n/a

3

1

4

10

5

100

6

1000

7

10000

8

100000

• What is the required cycle time?

• What are the work envelope requirements and associated interferences?

• What is the tolerance stack-up for the process and ultimate repeatability requirement for the robot?

• Does your robot partner maintain experience in deploying cleanroom robots to help guide you in integrating a clean solution?

• Does the robot company have service engineers in the area to support them?

• Cell geometry: T he c ell geome t r y and t he cleanliness requirements are impo r t an t t o de f ine be f o r e selecting a robot. Depending on the cell design and the robot st yle selected, a lower class robot may be able to be used and still meet the overall system requirements if the system is designed appropriately.

For example if you are handling a semiconductor wafer, a robot that can operate under the wafer with a ver tical laminar flow of clean air present sweeping the par ticles away from the product, the ultimate requirement for the robot may be less stringent.

Moving Forward Once you’ve determined which robot best fits your application, installing the cleanroom robot requires additional attention to

To avoid spreading particles during installation, the robots and all other accessories should be wiped with cleanroom wipes to remove any foreign particles.

Once this is done, it is a good practice to connect the robot to the plant’s vacuum system and evacuate the robot for several hours to make sure all particles are purged completely.

In the semiconductor and hard-disk drive industries, it is difficult to avoid having people working in a cleanroom because o f m o n i to r i n g t a s k s , n o n robotic material handling steps, etc. But minimising the number of people working within the cleanroom environment allows a manufacturer to better maintain a clean environment.

So it is fortunate that today’s

highly reliable servo-driven robots require minimal maintenance.

Industria l robots a re being implemented increasingly in cleanrooms due to their exceptional meantime between failure (MTBF) when compared to conventional equipment.

As the need for products manufactured in a clean environment increases, manufacturers will be looking to automation to increase production, reduce cycle times and decrease costs all documented benefits of robotic automation. Value exists in fully understanding how to deploy robotics and related technologies in cleanroom environments in advance of commissioning to ensure a successful and clean process.

ENQUIRY NO. 2201

ENQUIRY NO. 111

cleanliness. This is where your robot manufacturer and system integrator must be capable of providing direction to ensure a successful installation.

“Robots built for Cla ss 1 environments are wrapped in several layers to protect them as they are shipped to the site,” said Kevin Lonie, application sales manager for Clear Automation a Connecticut based automation integrator specialising in the design, engineering, fabrication and installation of integrated robotic a nd machine v ision systems.

“Then at the site the equipment is moved through progressively cleaner spaces as the wrapping is wiped down and finally removed before entering its ultimate clean room destination.”

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 25

control point

Induction Motors:

The

Effective Choice

AC induction motors are one of the most cost effective electrical devices in the industry. By Charles Lim C S, customer support centre manager, Oriental Motor

A 3 phase motor combined with the FE100 inverter 26  industrial automation asia | April 2010

T

he standard electric motor has become an important device on most automation requirements for decades. This article shall be discussing the technical part of the standard AC induction motor and variable speed drives, which have been the most popular, easy to use and cost effective electrical device in the industry of today.

Where Is It? This is probably the most common question when considering how popular the induction motor is today. From the conveyors that transport the plates in sushi restaurants to the feeding of materials and parts in factory automation lines, AC motors are normally the key devices driving these systems, however hidden within the machine itself.

Applications and environments requiring the use of AC motors are becoming and more and more diversified, where the variety from Oriental Motor has been developed to meet higher demands in features, as well as electrical and environmental co mpl ia nce . We sh a l l lo o k into the basic induction motor as a start.

The AC Induction Motor The ‘induction’ name has been derived from the working principle of the AC motor which is linked to electromagnetic induction; when AC voltage is supplied into the lead wires of the motor, the stator will generate a rotating magnetic field, whereby the rotor will cut against the magnetic field, inducing electric current.

This induced current, with the magnetic field of the stator, will result in an induced force to push the rotor, thereby achieving rotation. This unique working principle enables a simple design without rotating contact between the rotor and stator as seen in Figure 1, achieving ease of use, high reliability and virtually no maintenance.

Using The AC Induction Motor The AC induction motor can be operated from the conventional single phase AC power supply that can be easily found in factory production floors, to as convenient as your own home. There is no need of having any converters to create a DC voltage, nor any special controllers needed to achieve the required rotation.

With a simple wiring of a provided capacitor to the AC power line and motor lead wires as shown in Figure 2, the AC motor wiring can be done quickly and hassle free.

ON/OFF switching can be achieved easily too with the use of a contact switch or relay in between the power lines and AC motor.

Application example of using an induction motor: A conveyor belt

For facilities that provides 3 phase power supply, a 3 phase input type AC motor can be connected directly to the power source shown in Figure 3 without the need of any capacitor. Direction change can be achieved by swapping any two motor lead wires.

Figure 1: Construction of an AC induction motor

The Drive Flexibility in the speed of an Induction motor is normally desired, such as to meet demands of faster or slower production in factory automation. Changing of speed can be achieved for the 3 phase induction motor by adding an inverter unit to be used together. The speed of the motor is calculated by using the formula:

Motor Speed = 120 x Frequency

Number of poles

The general 3 phase induction motor runs on a 4 pole stator design, and the power supply frequency in the world runs basically on 50Hz or 60Hz. The inverter will be able to change this input frequency to the 3 phase AC motor in order to change the speed of the motor.

Figure 2: Wiring of a single phase AC motor

Figure 3: Wiring of a 3 phase AC motor

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 27

control point

Figure 4: Basic configuration of an inverter speed control system

Figure 5: System configuration of the inverter

Figure 6: Speed control by potentiometer or external DC voltage

Inverter Drive System Configuration The illustration in figure 4 shows the basic configuration of an inverterbased speed control system. Note that the power supply to the inverter can be chosen as single phase or 3 phase type to be used with the 28  industrial automation asia | April 2010

corresponding inverter; the end output to the motor will still be a 3 phase from the inverter.

Single phase induction motors are not feasible to be used on inverters as it may be required to change the capacitance value every time there is a change in frequency, therefore 3 phase motors will be

more suitable as the capacitor is not necessary.

In order to change the frequency of the power lines, it is necessary to convert the AC voltage to DC, followed by inverting the DC back to AC using Pulse Width Modulation technique (by turning on and off the DC voltage at programmed intervals).

During the inversion stage, it also takes in the command from a Voltage / Frequency (V/F) control part to know the desired speed the user has set, so as to output the correct frequency accordingly.

When changing the frequency of the motor, it is also required to alter the voltage level given to the motor, so as to maintain the optimum magnetic flux in the stator and preventing abnormal temperature rise especially in low speed operations.

Sp e cia l adju st ment s to achieve torque boost is required to maintain a high torque value at the lower speeds. The FE100/ FE200 Inverter offers the easy setting of V/F using a simple rotar y switch, so that setup for the 3 phase motor can be achieved quickly, providing the best performance instantly.

Adjusting The Speed As shown in the picture of the FE100/ FE200 inverter, the speed control is generally done by using the in-built adjustment knob manually. In some

Figure 7: Reduced overrun after a positioning sensor has detected a load

systems, automated adjustments by the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) of the machine is desired to facilitate the change according to the product that is to be manufactured, or the timing for the movement to be faster or slower.

One of the ways is to employ a speed controller that has multiple speed settings prog ra mmed in it, and to call the programs whenever desired. For another technique, it requires the PLC to have an analogue DC voltage output, so as to control the speed according to the programming done for the voltage level at specific times/conditions.

Show n in Fig ure 6, the F E10 0/ 2 0 0 I n v e r te r a l l o w s adjustment by using 0 ~ 10VDC to achieve the desired speed result, providing high flexibility in speed control.

Not Only Speed Control As understood earlier, it is possible to achieve speed control feature on a 3 phase induction motor using an inverter unit; other useful features are also available in the FE100/ FE200 inverter to meet certain desired results.

For example, due to the inertia force build-up during rotation, the induction motor will tend to have about 30 to 40 revolutions of overrun (additional turns) after the power is turned off. In some applications, it is necessary to

Figure 8: High impact due to braking

Figure 9: Setting of acceleration and deceleration time beneath the front cover of the inverter

reduce overrun; such as to prevent loads from falling off a conveyor once the motor is turned off as shown in Figure 7.

To achieve this braking effect, the inverter will output a high DC voltage for a split second when the motor is being stopped, significantly reducing overrun.

This effectively reduces the time for the motor to come to a complete stop, without the use of any mechanical brake system to achieve the similar effect.

Since no mechanical parts are involved, using the electrical braking technique achieves the higher reliability without wear and tear issues.

However, not all cases require braking; such as the example given in Figure 8, the instant stopping of the motor may cause high impact that will topple the parcels during transportation.

What the application needs will be a smooth start and stop operation, which can be achieved by using the acceleration and deceleration setting feature available in the FE100/ FE200 inverter as shown in Figure 9. The acceleration time before it hits the desired speed can be determined, which can effectively lower the impact during movement and bringing out a more stable operation.

ENQUIRY NO. 2301 April 2010 | industrial automation asia  29

CONTROL POINT

RAMS RAMS Issues Issues Issues

RAMS in LV Switchgear is a very important issue with plant managers, operations, maintenance and safety officers. By David Stonebridge, ABB Australia and Gunnar Zank, ABB Singapore

R

e l i a b i l i t y, Av a i l a b i l i t y, Maintainability & Safety ( R AMS) impacts on pla nt ma nagers, operations, maintenance and safety personnel in different ways. What is a major concern to an operator may not be a concern to say, a maintenance e l e c t r i c i a n . C o n f l i c t s ov e r maintaining plant output targets and shutdowns to do repairs and maintenance is commonplace in competitive operations. The question is: How can we improve RAMS issues in LV Switchgear?

LV Switchgear Specifications The applicable international standard for LV switchgears is the IEC60349 for the design and functions as well as the IEC61641 for arc fault containment and safety.

30

industrial automation asia | April 2010

Recently the IEC61439 standard has been issued to replace the IEC60439. The IEC60439/61439 sta nda rd require s that the switchgear purchaser informs the switchgear supplier on a number of issues. The standards cover the complete range of switchgear requirements so it is necessary for the purchaser’s engineer to specify: 1. T h e t y p e o f s w itc h g e a r construction that may requires eg withdrawable or demountable modules, front / back operated, cable connections, degree of protection and segregation etc.

2. The required electrical ratings eg supply and loads, circuits and cables as well as the service conditions.

Local standards, for example the Australian standards AS/ NZS3439.1:2002 and AS3000:2007 include adaptations or may even go further to introduce specific re qu i re me nt s for a rc fau lt protection for switchboards >800A to enhance the safety issue.

IEC61641 sets out the test procedures and guidelines for internal arc fault containment. An agreement between the purchaser and the manufacture is required on where the arc is initiated. The purpose of all this is to establish the RAMS requirements to suit the application.

A standard test (eg: as per IEC60439) is Point a) in Fig 1. The fuse interrupts the fault in 2 ms.

However, major concern is that the line side re-strikes which must

Traditional LV Switchgear Bad R A MS experiences with older switchgear include: Sheet steel that rusts in corrosive atmosphere, insulation which is hygroscopic and breaks down and insulation which is highly flammable and toxic.

Sheet steel corrosive protection has improved with the introduction of materials like Aluzinc and zinc sealed sheet steel with quality backed enamel finishes. Superior insulations that are non-hygroscopic, CFC

halogen free, flame retardant self extinguish are applied widely.

Additionally, these days these insulating materials need also be environmental friendly and biodegradable.

Bad R AMS experiences in operations and maintenance include isolator handles that may slip on the drive shaft or isolator main contacts fail to open or

welded shut after a fault. Door interlocks have also been known to fail. Any of these failures can result in a technician opening a compartment door where there are exposed live connections.

Even under normal operations there could be live connections; exposed line side terminals, electrical interlocks and lethal control voltage. These small

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ENQUIRY NO. 104

be prevented in the design.

Other points to be tested are: Point b) line side of protective device; Point c) distribution bus; Point d) incomer and Point e) main bus.

To fulfill RAMS requirement generally the purchaser will prepare a site specification. Some site specifications end up as an instruction manual on how to build the switchgear. It may have been built up over many years of personal, even bad experiences with RAMS. When the purchaser specifies this type of detail design the question is who responsibility for RAMS? T he supplier’s t y p e te st certificates may no longer be valid if the specification contains significant design changes to the type tested design. Additional type testing may need to be specified.

A performance based site specification stating the outputs, functions and requirements may be a better alternative to the traditional detail site. This would allow the supplier to offer proven and fully type tested solutions which would meet the purchaser plant performance requirements.

This is even more important today with the advancements in intelligent switchgear where the protection and control functions are performed with software and not with wires and relays.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 31

Control Point

Points of arc fault ignition

cramped LV compartments are extremely difficult to fault find and maintain. With live connections they can be lethal, with the risk of electric shock or initiation of an arc flash.

Arc flash or arc faults are a major safety risk. Five to 10 people a day are involved in arc flash incidents in the USA alone. Arcing faults can produce enormous gas pressures and extreme temperatures.

Personnel in the path of superhot gases created by the arc can be killed or suffer serious burn injuries. Arc Flash incidents are most likely to occur as a result of operator error while working on live equipment.

E m p l o y e r ’s o b l i g a t i o n s to prov ide a s a fe work i n g environment around Low Voltage Switchgear have been challenged by the general absence of safe equipment. The only recourse has been to insist that operators wear Cat 4 suits or shut down the plant to do the most rudimentary service tasks. Cat 4 PPE is cumbersome and uncomfortable and affords limited mobility and visibility.

The limitations of this PPE mean that most service activities cannot be performed and the suits only offer to reduce the injury in the event of an Arc Flash event, PPE does not provide 100 percent protection against an Arc Flash.

The suit only protects against the heat and can only be regarded as flame resistant. It does not protect against the blinding light, the toxic 32 industrial automation asia | April 2010

gases or the pressure waves which may involve several g forces, nor associated shrapnel which may attain velocities of 300m/s. These matters are recognised in both NFPA70E & IEEE1584 which reinforce the application of PPE as the lowest in the hierarchy of controls.

Improvements In Availability, Maintainability & Basic Safety A withdrawable design in LV switchgears is inherently safe. A maintenance person can’t open a compartment door where there are live connections and be exposed to the possibility of an arc flash.

Operations are always carried out with the doors closed. The functional unit is powered off before it can be withdrawn. The starter or feeder unit is completely withdrawn from the electrical assembly and removed to a safe area for inspection, repair or maintenance.

If the switchgear has been type tested for arcing fault containment, where the arc has been initiated on the line side of the starter protection, then there is no need for arc safety PPE to carry out normal switchgear operations.

Even in a good withdrawable design there is no need to do regular maintenance on the fixed portion of the switchgear; the bus bars should be maintenance free. The only components that need maintenance are the hard

working withdrawable modules.

If there is a need to undertake structural changes to the switchgear in a traditional switchgear design, then precautions must be taken and the best precaution is ‘work de-energised’.

The separation of control and communication cables from motor and load cables offers a new way of maintenance in LV switchgears.

Power cable are located in their own separate compartment and do not need to be accessed during normal operations. Control and communication cables are located in their own compartment away from dangerous voltages and even electromagnetic interferences.

Withdrawable Contacts Early designs of withdrawable modules used the same plug-in contacts as that used on the line side contacts of demountable modules. To comply with IEC60349 the withdrawable module must satisfactorily pass the mechanical operation type test refer clause 8.2.6. The module is tested for 50 inserts and withdrawals.

The intent of the specification with 50 operations is to allow the module to be withdrawn for safe maintenance every 3-4 years. This type of contact is not designed to be withdrawn more than this.

The intent of the specification with 50 operations is to allow the module to be withdrawn for safe maintenance every four years.

The IEC61349 specification issued in 2009 increased the number of mechanical operations to 200. In practice, in many operating plants the withdrawable modules are removed on a regular basis to verify positive motor isolation.

Both the contacts and the withdrawable alignment facility are inadequate for this duty. If the contact plating is worn through over use or the contacts are damaged due to misalignment the contacts will fail. The contacts

will overheat and this will lead to are most stressed during a shut further loss of contact pressure, down? thermal runaway, in-line arcing • How do we know what needs to and possible fire. be maintained anyway?

There have been significant advancements in withdrawable If maintenance managers make contact technology. Withdrawable the wrong choice it can easily result modules are now available that are in components becoming stressed, designed to be repeatable withdrawn overheat and catch on fire. More up to 1000 operations before the often than not failures occur after contacts need to be replaced. improper maintenance.

These contacts have been LV switchgear may be seen as subject to a range of tests that only a small part in the big plant include short circuit, temperature but it may also become a basis for rise, thermal cycling, heavy duty a revolutionary change in asset starting to verify there reliability and maintenance management. and safety over time and the Keeping the plant assets in its best number of operations. working condition is essential.

To en su re t his life spa n Intelligent LV Sw itchge a r all moving parts need to be today ca n prov ide va luable maintained. Lubricating grease information on the condition of the needs applied to the contacts motor, the switchgear and even after 100 operations to provide the process which can have major long life. There are withdrawable impact on RAMS improvements switchgear systems available of the whole plant. that provide condition based An intelligent motor control m a i n t e n a n c e i n f o r m a t i o n system ca n prov ide a huge according to the current number amount of information on the of withdrawable operations and motor load condition. Continuous the operating load conditions. monitoring of the thermal load These truly intelligent LV switchgear systems continuously monitor the module contact temperature and provide a warning if the temperature is not within the set limits. Such early warning systems prevent in–line arcing.

of motor provides details on the process condition.

Overload warnings, typically ignored by operator as being spurious, are monitored closely.

Ineffective Maintenance Maintenance managers have to balance between ma ximising the availability of the plant a nd minimising the cost of maintenance. Their strategic planning has to include worst case scenarios: • What if we run to failure? Do we only maintenance if something is broken?

• What is the cost and how long will preventive maintenance take?

• Do we have sufficient trained resources available when we April 2010 | industrial automation asia 33

Control Point

They are indication of upcoming problems and may lead to a major trip if continually ignored.

Condition monitoring system counts such early warnings and if they reach a certain level the maintenance person is informed.

Checks can be made without stopping the process. Those process related data are: • Overload (electrically and thermal) • Blocked rotor or Stall (6x FLC w/- motor cooling) • Underload (monitoring fast changing load condition) • Underload based on power factor (useful for blocked pump monitoring) • E a r t h f a u l t a n d v o l t a g e imbalance monitoring (motor harmonic heating and bearing problems) • Motor running hours and the number of contactor operations • The quality of the motor cable termination by temperature monitoring • The number of insertion cycles of the motor starters Valuable information from a truly intelligent LV switchgear enables corrective action to be taken to keep the drive running and maintain the plant efficiency and maximise plant availability taking the ‘hit & miss’ out of maintenance.

A LV s w itc h ge a r cond it ion monitoring system continuously monitors each motor starter if: • The motor load currents are balanced and lightly loaded • The running hours are low • There is a low number of starts and stops • No overloads or short circuit trips • The earth leakage current is low • Only a low number of starter withdrawals • The starter temperature rise is with-in normal limits

34 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Front view if starter compartment in-line arcing to distribution bus

Then no maintenance is required at t h is t i me . Cont i nuou s monitoring will determine the right time.

Conclusion & Recommendation R AMS in LV Switchgear is a ve r y i mp or t a nt i s sue w it h pla nt ma nagers, operations, maintenance and safety officers.

Small steps are for example the use of smart motor controller to replace bimetal overload relays to monitor additional electrical parameters.

To m a k e s i g n i f i c a n t improvements on the existing switchgear is almost impossible.

There is a need to consider the future requirements by influencing and revising the old site specification for new projects or replacement LV switchgear.

There is a greater emphasis on operational health and safety (OH&S) today than there was 10 to 20 years ago. In addition there have been ma ssive advancements in electronics and intelligent switchgear over the last 20 years. It is time to revise those old specifications to ensure improvements in RAMS in future LV switchgear applications in industrial process, power generation and mining plants.

Consider the R AMS issues carefully when specifying your requirements to IEC61439 and IEC61641. It is not enough to specify ‘a 50kA, Form4, IP54, type tested MCC’ as this may not give the safety features needed. For example it

may not give arc fault containment or incur traditional maintenance with no improvements.

Consider what is the appropriate external degree of protection to suit the application. IP54 may be appropriate for an outdoor application in a processing plant.

When the switchgear is located in a modern switch room a degree of protection of IP4X is better simple because IP54 requires a very high degree of component and busbar de-rating (more than 20 percent) for example if a 3000A ACB is required in an IP54 panel this would mean installing a 5000A breaker. An IP4X construction allows air to circulate in the switchgear panels. This helps to reduce condensation and prolongs the life of the components as they are operating at a low temperature.

When specifying the RAMS requirements for LV Switchgear the ‘S’ is the most important. Safety needs to be built into the design; fully withdrawable, all operations are performed with the doors closed and Arc Fault containment not only for the starter but the complete LV Switchgear, incomers and main bus bars.

LV Switchgear, Incomers & Main Bus Bars I ntel l ige nt sw itchge a r w it h condition monitoring should be considered as this provides the diagnostic tools that are making significa nt improvements in R AMS. Intelligent technology reduces personnel switchgear interaction.

ENQUIRY NO. 2302

ENQUIRY NO. 115

software & Networks

Embedded Systems:

Bringing

Medical Applications To

Life

OEMs can meet challenges in medical applications using standards-based solutions built around the Intel architecture. By Thomas Chou, director of business development, Advantech

H

ealthcare systems around the globe are experiencing tremendous pressure to improve health services while containing costs. As a result, medical providers are replacing their older paper- and film-based systems with more efficient health information technology, such as electronic health records.

Recent governmental actions have greatly increased the pace of this transition.

For example, the US government will invest billions over the next five years to move the US healthcare system to broad adoption of standards-based health information technologies. This represents a huge new opportunity for medical system developers and integrators.

Specifically, the US economic stimulus legislation (also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) signed into law in February 2009 includes almost US$20 billion to modernise 36 industrial automation asia | April 2010

healthcare systems. This provision, known as the HITECH Act, calls for a nationwide health information technology infrastructure with a goal of switching all Americans to electronic patient records by the year 2014.

The legislation allocates grants and funding to promote health information technology. Vendors delivering certified electronic health records products will benefit from the large portion of the HITECH Act’s funding geared toward physicians and hospitals purchasing and implementing medical technology solutions.

However, the opportunities come with challenges. Medical settings have unique requirements in terms of sealing, thermal a nd acoustic proper ties, electromagnetic interference control, longevity, maintenance, disinfection, certification, and adherence to a vast array of strict rules and regulations—and these

requirements are often quite intricate.

In addition, hospitals and clinics are complex and diverse environments with widely varying needs. The medical world therefore needs flexible technology that can be adapted and customised to the unique needs of each location and facility.

At the same time, medical system developers need to get their products to market quickly and efficiently—a major challenge considering the accelerated time table and the complex demands of medical applications.

Challenges In Medical Applications Medical and clinical environments have highly diverse, highly specific computing needs that present unique challenges. Some medical s y ste m s de ma nd ma x i mu m performance while others have modest performance demands but

integrity of the electronic health records systems.

New initiatives such as the move to electronic patient records represent opportunities, but OEMs can only take advantage of these opportunities if they get to market quickly. There will be great competition in this field, and the ability to deliver on time and within budget is crucial.

Space is often an issue in medical and clinical environments, and there may also be special mounting requirements. This means that sy ste m s mu st b e av a ilable in different form factors and in compact, adaptable enclosures.

T h e c o m b i n e d m a n d a te of sealed enclosures and silent operation necessitates low-power technolog y in many medical applications. At the same time, medical applications require state-

of-the-art performance. Thus, a hardware platform that combines performance with power efficiency is essential.

Medical systems generally have a much longer life cycle than commercial or consumer products. They also have different maintenance, service, and longevity requirements. These factors must be taken into consideration.

Meeting The Challenge Developers can address these challenges by leveraging Intel architecture-based products for medical systems.

To illustrate the advantages of the Intel lineup, consider the low-power Intel Atom processor, which is designed for applications w h e r e p owe r co n su mp t i o n and thermal management are top concerns. This makes it a

ENQUIRY NO. 113

must run silently and efficiently.

Some have advanced interface and peripheral requirements while others need to support legacy connections.

De spite the w ide va riety of systems, consistency and compatibility are critical: New medical products must offer interoperability and compatibility with existing customer systems.

Clinical and medical settings almost always have both legacy systems as well as highly specialised medical equipment.

New or replacement technology must be able to easily integrate into existing systems, and it must be flexible enough to interface with complex and specialised medical systems. In addition, the hardware must provide asset management and protection measures in order to maintain the security and

April 2010 | industrial automation asia  37

software & Networks

Features of a Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) include an integrated camera, an RFID reader, and optional barcode scanner and webcam

great fit for clinical and medical computing products, which often have special thermal and sealing requirements that preclude fans or vents.

At the same time, the Intel Atom processor offers a high level of performance, letting OEMs build devices that were not possible before. In addition, developers can use familiar software development tools which can mean faster time to market.

Enabled By Technology Below are some of the building b l o c k s o f m o d e r n m e d ic a l s y s te m s m a de p o s sible by Intel technolog y. They range from versatile, standardised comp onent s a ll t he way to configurable and customisable systems and terminals.

Single Board Computers (SBCs): The SBCs offer a high degree of shock and vibration resistance, making them excellent choices for portable products. These SBCs support a wide range of connectivity options, including USB 2.0, PCIe, SATA, and dualchannel LVDS. The boards can 38  industrial automation asia | April 2010

be expanded with a huge range of PC/104 add-on modules.

Mini- ITX: Advantech MiniITX boards offer a 170 x 170 mm footprint that is suitable for many compact medical applications. Because they use a standard form factor, MiniITX boards can be easily combined with other standardsbased hardware to create a complete solution.

Medical mini PC: Designed specifically for healthcare settings, the Advantech PIN-M106 medical mini PC is a compact, waterproof solution for space-limited clinical applications. It can connect to two high-resolution displays.

One screen can be used for X-ray, endoscope, or other applications, while the other is used to display and update patient records.

Point-of-Care (POC) terminals: Point-of-Care terminals are medicalgrade panel computers suitable for a variety of healthcare applications.

These touch screen equipped POCs come in a variety of configurations with screen sizes ranging from 12 to 19 inches diagonally. POCs offer fanless designs for silent operation and easy cleaning.

Their sealed LCDs and enclosures are built to prevent electronic emissions, resist spills a nd water damage, and keep out dust.

POCs can be used for barcode scanning, viewing of electronic patient records, and general use of medical software.

Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA): Based on the Intel Mobile Clinical A s si s t a n t ( M C A) r e fe r e n c e architecture, Advantech’s MICA101 Mobile Clinical Assistant is

a production-ready handheld tablet.

Patient Infotainment Terminal (PIT): These touch screen panel PCs are used as bedside terminals.

They allow patients to watch movies and TV, make phone calls, play games, and communicate via the Internet. PITs can also be used by hospital staff to pull up records and perform other functions. The terminals include RFID, a digital camera, and a smart card reader for data capture and identification purposes. The PIT platform also includes prominent nurse call buttons for emergencies.

Certification Issues Technical issues are only one side of the coin when it comes to medical applications. Electronic products for use in medical settings must not only be designed for maximum safety, minimum electronic interference, a nd superior reliability, they also must be certified under standards such as UL 60601 in the United States and EN 60601 in Europe. Some products also require certification under ISO 13485, which sets quality standard for the design and manufacturing of medical devices.

SBCs offer a high degree of high shock and vibration resistance, making them excellent choices for portable products

Stimulating Opportunity The current stimulus spending provisions offer considerable opportunity for the embedded

i ndu st r y i n a re a s suc h a s e l e c t ro n ic h e a lt h re co rd s .

Taking optimal advantage of this opportunity requires familiarity with certification issues as well as complex and diverse clinical environments.

To meet these goals, OEMs can leverage the benefits of Intel architecture -based products

and components, as well as the expertise of experienced vendors who are already familiar with the medical field and medical customers. This results in more attractive proposals, smoother negotiation of certification issues, and quicker time to market.

ENQUIRY NO. 2401

ENQUIRY NO. 112

OEMs must also consider the requirements of organisations like the CCHIT (Certification Commission for Health Information Technology), a non-profit U.S. authority for electronic health records (EHR) and networks.

CCHIT certifies EHR products with the goal of ensuring compatibility, privacy, reduced risks, quality, and so on. For US designs, OEMs must also meet the standards issued by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC/HHS) and its advisory committees, and they must meet the new requirements int roduced in t he st imulus legislation (ARRA/HITECH).

Tackling these requirements takes a high level of experience, political savvy, and technical expertise. Developers can speed development and cut costs by leveraging the expertise of vendors and suppliers that already have experience in medical markets, detailed knowledge of all the p e r ta i n i n g re g u lat ion s a nd requirements, and established relationships with the major global medical companies.

It also helps having partners with their own dedicated medical R&D team, which can provide detailed knowledge of medical technologie s a nd deliberate understanding of clinical environments. A partner who understands core technologies such as various imaging systems as well as the clinical applications can provide an edge in quick and costefficient project implementation. OEMs can also see faster time to market by using an experienced vendor who offers customisation capability, global logistics and local support, and ability to provide a wide range of solutions.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia  39

sector spotlight

This article explains how government orga nisations responsible for water treatment plants can implement an industrial Ethernet infrastructure built tough enough to withstand the environmental challenges to which it is subjected.

Water & Wastewater:

Get

Tough!

Environmentally hardened design of communications network cabling, connectivity and active components is key to superior network performance, reliability and uptime. By Brian Shuman, senior product development engineer, Belden

W

ith industrial Ethernet becoming the preferred d a t a co m m u n i c a t i o n s infrastructure for mission-critical industrial automation and control, the challenge is to design an infrastructure made to withstand extreme environmental conditions.

Built on the same standards-based networking platform as enterprise Ethernet (Ethernet LAN standard IEEE 802.3), industrial Ethernet provides secure and seamless interoperability when connecting the plant to the central administration office and the Internet.

Every industrial site imposes harsh conditions that can threaten the performance of communication system components. In water and wastewater treatment plants, cabling, connectivity and networking devices must endure high levels

40  industrial automation asia | April 2010

of humidity, grit, sludge and other contaminants.

In some cases, lime, iron, and corrosive gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide and chlorine can contribute to the deterioration of electronic equipment.

The se factors ca n w rea k havoc on networks tasked with transmitting signals between instruments for measuring fill levels, flow rates, oxygen and pH levels and the like, and the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that interpret the signals.

In addition, remote facilities such a s stora ge ta nk s a nd pumping stations are frequently unstaffed and housed in locations exposed to temperature and weather extremes, making it even more critical to install hardened telemetry components.

The Real Costs Of Downtime A nalysts report that a large percentage of unplanned downtime in industrial operations can be attributed to network infrastructure failure. According to one network management rep or t, f u l ly 72 p erce nt of network faults can be attributed to fa ilure at the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Layer 1 (Physical Media), Layer 2 (Data Link) and/or Layer 3 (Network).

In water/wastewater treatment plants, downtime is not an option.

These facilities rely 24/7 on automation, instrumentation and control data communications to relay signals and activate events on an exacting schedule, with little or no margin for error.

If a switch, connector or cabling system should fail, the cost of parts replacement and repair represents only a tiny fraction of the overall costs associated with downtime.

The indirect costs of Ethernet system fa ilure include lost productivity, delayed processes, cost of system shut-down and start-up, possible lapses in security and safety, and the loss of service to customers relying on the plant’s mission-critical output. These indirect effects can send total downtime costs soaring to hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars.

This dire scenario can largely be prevented by installing a robust, ruggedly engineered network infrastructure, which enables the facility to carry out its functions with the highest possible level of network performance, reliability and uptime.

Cabling & Connectivity For the physical media layer, there are a host of industrial-grade products that conform to the Ethernet LAN.IEEE 802.3 standard, while resisting the effects of sunlight, volatile temperatures, moisture and chemical. Industrial-grade cables will operate effectively in a wider temperature range (-40˚C to +85˚C) than commercial cables (0˚C to +60˚C). Selection will depend on each plant’s network configuration and application requirements.

Industrial Ethernet cables/ connectivity include: • Heavy-duty, all dielectric, i n d o o r/o u td o o r- r a te d optica l fiber cabling in

single-mode and multimode constructions. Many feature water-blocking agents for added protection in moistureladen environments.

• Industrial grade Cat 5e and Cat 6 cables with heav yduty oil- and UV-resistant jacket s. S ome C ate gor y cables feature a Bonded-Pair inner construction in which the conductor insulation o f t h e p a i r s i s a f f i xe d a long their long itudina l axis to ensure consistent conductor concentricity to prevent any performancerobbing gaps between the conduc tor pa irs du r ing installation and use.

• Upjacketed and armored cables for more extreme environments.

• Cont inuou s f le x cable s de si g ne d fo r u s e w it h continuous motion machines and automation systems.

• Low smoke zero halogen (LSZH) cables, waterblocked and burial cables are also available.

• Cables designed for use with leading industrial automation networking and communications protocols, such as EtherNet/IP (ODVA), Modbus TCP/IP, ProfiNet and Fieldbus HSE. • Industrial-grade connectivity components, such as: IP67- or IP20-rated UTP or FTP patch cords, connectors, modular jacks and plug kits, adaptors, faceplates and surface mount boxes.

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ENQUIRY NO. 109

Select Hardened Network Components In office settings, the Ethernet infrastructure is installed in a relatively clean, quiet environment in which cables, hardware and connectivity components are sheltered and protected.

Industrial facilities present a very different reality. Here, many network components reside in harsh and potentially hazardous settings which even the best commercial offthe-shelf (COTS) Ethernet systems are not made to withstand.

These harsh environments typically expose network components to temperature extremes, UV radiation (sunlight), moisture, humidity, and exposure to chemicals and other contaminants – all of which can seriously degrade the cables’ physical integrity and electrical performance, resulting in intermittent outages or even total system shutdown.

That is why, in specifying industrial Ethernet physical media, data links and network hardware, it is extremely important to select hardened, industrial-grade components offering rugged construction and durability to provide optimal performance over a long service life. Following are some selection guidelines.

April 2010| industrial automation asia 41

sector spotlight

Hardware: Switches, Active Network Devices & Accessories A wide range of hardware is available to enable management of industrial Ethernet networks at the information, control and device levels. There are products to support both copper and optical fibre media, as well as switches capable of data speeds as high as 10 gigabits per second.

At a minimum, all of these components – switches, connectors, and other hardware – should offer robust construction and resistance to high temperatures, vibration and EMI. Typical COTS hardware is designed to operate from 0˚C to +40˚C, while industrial-grade Ethernet hardware operates efficiently from 0˚C to +60˚C – extendable to - 40˚C to +85˚C (conformal coating is also available for humid/moist applications).

Also, excessive moisture and corrosive chemicals can inflict serious damage to the electronics in commercial switches, whereas ruggedised industrial switches are securely sealed to prevent ingress of these substances.

Industrial Ethernet hardware components include: • Hardened managed and unmanaged switches which come in a variety of copper/ fiber port configurations, port densities, industry approvals and mounting options.

• Firewalls to secure and isolate a network while still permitting authorised data communications to pass through. Firewalls with VPN capabilities also allow secure, encrypted communication from a remote location through the Internet.

42 industrial automation asia | April 2010

End-to-end industrial-grade cabling products are more ruggedly engineered and constructed in every way

Zsuzsanna Kilian, Hungary

• Industrial- grade Cat 5e R J4 5 a nd M ic ro ( M12 ) cordsets and patch cords, including high flex versions.

• Wireless Access Points, Clients and Bridges in either DIN rail mount or IP67 enclosure-less housings now also support the faster, more secure and noiseimmune 802.11n standard.

• Related accessories such as hardened power supplies, SFP fiber transceivers and even software that provides network status, alerts and control from the automation network’s software or PLC. A not he r Et he r ne t fac tor considered to be an industry best practice for mission-critical applications is redunda ncy, which is extremely important but sometimes overlooked in selecting industrial Ethernet switches.

Two kinds of redundancy are key to maintaining uninterrupted signal transmission and maximum uptime. The first is power source redundancy, which means having an uninterruptible power source (UPS) to provide consistent and reliable switch performance. Specifying switches that have dual power input capabilities means that if one power source fails, the other immediately takes over.

The second essential form of redundancy is data path redundancy.

The daisy-chain network topologies used by many industrial plants to connect automated machinery and devices have one inherent flaw – if any link between the two switches fails, the entire system could potentially go down, as the devices on one network segment can no longer communicate with devices in other segments. The solution is to ensure that the system

designer builds a redundant data path into the network topology.

Proven Reliability The most effective – and costeffective – path to ensuring longterm performance and reliability of the industrial Ethernet is to invest in network infrastructure components designed and rated specifically for use in harsh, demanding environments.

End-to-end industrial-grade cabling products are more ruggedly engineered and constructed in every way, incorporating design features and materials capable of w ithsta nding the severe env ironmental and physical stressors to which they are exposed.

Optimum Interoperability During the selection process, it is important to take the time to evaluate the marketplace and select a qualified supplier capable of providing a top-quality, end-to-end Ethernet framework tailored to the application and environmental conditions.

As many adopters of industrial Ethernet have already discovered, taking a ‘total system’ approach will result in a more integrated s y s te m w i t h a l l p r o d u c t s seamlessly matched to deliver interoperability and consistently reliable performance day after day, and year after year.

And that, of course, is a primary objective for owners and managers of water and wastewater treatment facilities – as it is for every other mission-critical industrial plant.

ENQUIRY NO. 2501

ENQUIRY NO. 089

sector spotlight

Water C

Way To Go!

onversion from aging legacy distributed control to modern control systems is an important strategy to improving plant performance, but is often viewed as a complex challenge. Issues of downtime, reliability, training, maintenance and spare parts are all part of the equation. It takes experienced engineers, industry knowledge and technology expertise to find the right solution. Proven project management helps enable a smooth transition and that the project is implemented on time and within budget.

A utility in Colorado used these tools to convert its water treatment plant’s control system for annual savings of over US$280,000. Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), a four-service utility that provides electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater services to more than 410,000 customers in the Pikes Peak region near Colorado Springs, supplies about 24.1 billion gallons of water annually.

As a municipal utility, CSU focuses on providing exceptional service while keeping costs low and develops responsible environmental practices and partnerships with non-profit organisations to contribute to the community. Over the past few years, CSU has upgraded several of its facilities to run more efficiently and reduce operations costs.

In May 2009, CSU’s McCullough Complex water treatment plants converted to a fully integrated control system solution, standardised with CSU’s other plants.

The new system has greater efficiency, with a savings on control-system design, reduced operating and support costs, and reduced maintenance.

The Challenge CSU’s goal was to achieve better control and lower lifecycle costs at its McCullough Complex water treatment plants. It wanted to migrate to a new control system to reliably control and monitor a series of pumps, valves, tanks and filters for the process of turning raw water into potable drinking water.

“These two plants account for 70 percent of the drinking water in Colorado Springs,” says Steve DellaCroce, customer operations superintendent at the McCullough Complex. “Monitoring water quality 44 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Migrating to a modern control system has resulted in huge annual costs savings for water treatment plants.

By Trish Woznuk, marketing communications specialist, Rockwell Automation

is essential to prevent health hazards, and to meet environmental regulations and water demand.”

The existing Foxboro distri-buted control system (DCS) was approaching end-of-life. Spare parts were difficult to find and stock, and in-house aptitude of the legacy system was diminishing as knowledgeable manpower retired. The Unix-based HMI system had limited control and maintenance capabilities, was not user-friendly, and required manual control. In addition, a company reorganisation left fewer operators and maintenance staff to accomplish the same responsibilities.

CSU wanted an ‘open control system’ or OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) that would be compatible its existing networks and legacy historian with OSI software, and consistent with its other upgraded plants. It was also important that the migration to the new control system was completed quickly and cost-effectively to reduce downtime. Ease of use, spare parts availability, and system operation and maintenance training were expectations. CSU also wanted its investment to contribute to the bottom line in the long run.

The Solutions An updated control system helps increase monitoring capabilities in less time and with less effort. CSU first hired an independent consultant engineer to do a feasibility study on converting to a Rockwell Automation control system.

The Results The new control system was commissioned in May 2009 using Rockwell Automation best practices and CSU standards to provide total cost savings of more than US$280,000 annually.

CSU was able to reduce annual operating costs

by US$240,000 due to fewer system operator hours required to perform monitoring and trending tasks.

CSU estimates an additional US$40,000 annual savings on system support and maintenance thanks to the system’s increased control capabilities and ease of use.

“This new DCS has increased our confidence in the control and monitoring – it has a lot more aptitude and is a lot quicker,” says Steve DellaCroce. “It reduces our concern about poor water quality because we can run more efficiently and fine tune our operations.”

CSU also says they have received many hours in system and product training from Rockwell Automation. By training employees on one software platform, their skills can be transferred to any CSU facility, which is particularly useful in the event of an emergency.

CSU can also leverage its engineering and maintenance services throughout the system life cycle, including consulting/assessments, design, installation/startup, training, on-site/remote support, asset management, and repair services. In addition, the Global Solutions design-build process, compared to a design-bid-build process, resulted in an estimated one-time cost savings of US$110,000.

ENQUIRY NO. 2502

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ENQUIRY NO. 836

Global Solutions, the Rockwell Automation engineering delivery business, partnered with CSU’s system consultant, to streamline processes through each stage of the manufacturing cycle to help provide quick and cost-effective solutions.

With the Global Solutions team’s experience and proven project management approach, Rockwell Automation delivered a complete control-system solution with an integrated architecture that helped provide lowest life-cycle costs, enterprise-wide standardisation, and an economical design-build approach.

Rockwell Automation engaged the PlantPAx (Plant-wide Process Automation Excellence) Process Automation System leveraging the core Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture technologies and custom solutions for plant-wide control. It ties in with CSU’s existing SCADA network systems and servers, and historian OSI PI. The Integrated Architecture system encompasses the Logix Control Platform, FactoryTalk View SE operator interface and open system networking via ControlNet and EtherNet/IP cabling. AllenBradley ControlLogix programmable automation controllers are fully-integrated with all aspects of the water treatment process, to help operators access plant and production information for better management, decision-making, and production automation and optimisation. It offers real-time visibility into monitoring water quality for chlorine, turbidity and PH, as well as trending of loads, levels and clarity.

Wireless transmitting allows remote data visibility and control from CSU control rooms, and also from operator and maintenance laptop computers in other areas of the plants.

“The new system uses Microsoft Windows, and is really user-friendly, so you don’t need a degree in programming,” says Moore. “It’s a lot easier to make changes and we can easily add tasks to the new system. I can set up a trend in two minutes to make our system more efficient and more accurate.”

The FactoryTalk View software provides a visual representation of the entire plant and allows the plants to share data throughout the distributed system. It simplifies information and automation system design, enables multi-vendor connectivity, and provides central administration of key functions.

April 2010| industrial automation asia 45

energy

The Glamorous World Of

Energy Harvesting E

nergy harvesting is the use of ambient energy to create electricity for small or mobile equipment and it started with such things as the bicycle dynamo and the piezoelectric gas lighter. Then things got exciting with solar cells ‘photovoltaics’ on space vehicles and now scarcely a week goes by without the announcement of a startling new advance that is enabled or assisted by energy harvesting.

It is now the stuff of world records and designer products selling at high prices or in large numbers.

The electrodynamic harvesting of that bicycle dynamo has transmogrified into disco floors that drive the lights, as in Club Surya in the UK and in other new locations.

The Finest Cars The new cars that accelerate faster than a Ferrari or Porsche and record breaking motorcycles all rely on electrodynamic regenerative braking with the electric motors that provide that leap in performance. An example is the new hybrid electric Frazer Nash Namir in the UK, which is in some contrast to the sports cars made under that famous name 90 years ago. Top speed is 187 mph and 0-62 mph acceleration in 3.5 seconds while still managing 91.7 mpg (US).

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed shock absorbers that also harvest energy electrodynamically and many cars are hitting the market in 2010 with a solar roof, the most popular being the plug in Prius from Toyota. Indeed, the all electric Pininfarina Bolloré Bluecar, new in 2010, has solar panels on both roof and hood.

The Automotive Thermoelectric Generator ATEG will be fitted to commercial cars in 2012, harvesting heat from the engine and exhaust. Later they will be used on the electric motors and traction batteries because these get hot as well. Indeed they are often air or water cooled at present, with that heat wasted.

Record Breaking Motorcycles The Mission Motors all electric motorcycles from the USA have remarkable performance, including regenerative braking, and they are now in production. Other electric motorcycles do even better but they are not in production.

46 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Sergio

hara,

rto Bic

Robe

Brazil

Energy harvesting has enabled advancements in many areas such as vehicles. By Dr Peter Harrop, chairman, IDTechEx

The Best Wristwatches About twenty watchmakers now sell watches relying on photovoltaics or electrodynamics (‘kinetic’).

This means that the owner rarely, if ever, replaces a battery. The Citizen EcoDrive range is an example.

Magic At Sea Out at sea, remarkable things are happening even before the US Navy’s electrically driven surveillance jellyfish are fully deployed, with their multiple energy harvesting.

The EnOcean Alliance of companies, making interchangeable devices based on energy harvesting, has the strapline ‘No wires, No hassle, No Limits’ because their light switches, thermostats, motors for drapes and so on all operate without ac mains power or batteries, sending signals to each other - even two way signals powered by electrodynamic, photovoltaic and thermoelectric energy harvesting. For example, a flexible, individual EnOcean lighting system has been installed in an Italian Ferretti motor yacht in Brazil, saving space, cost and maintenance.

Sea Gliders Another marine topic now receiving close attention is Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUVs of the type called ‘gliders’. Often the size of a surf board, some can stay at sea for years, coming to the surface to charge their batteries by wave and solar power.

They can hold position and travel slowly to chosen destinations and they are used for a huge number of purposes from monitoring sea condition, pollution, whales and fish stocks to military and oil industry services.

Wave Glider Wave glider is a configurable platform designed to support a wide variety of sensor payloads. It can keep station or travel from point to point. Data is transmitted to shore via satellite, and the continuous surface presence means data can be delivered as it is collected.

Its unique two-part architecture and wing system directly converts wave motion into thrust allowing the wave glider to travel long distances, hold station, and patrol vast areas without ever needing to refuel.

Wave Gliders can travel to a distant area, collect data, and return for maintenance without ever

Solar Impulse Plane Aerovironment has long made solar driven electric aircraft for the US Military. Swiss scientist-adventurer and pilot Bertrand Piccard unveiled the ‘Solar Impulse’ airplane during a ceremony in June 2009 in Duebendorf near Zurich Switzerland. This solarpowered plane will demonstrate that reliance on renewable energy is not a pipedream.

He declared: “If an aircraft is able to fly day and night without fuel, propelled solely by solar energy, let no one come and claim that it is impossible to do the same thing for motor vehicles, heating and air conditioning systems and computers.”

Innovation On Land On land, Head now offers electrically self-adjusting skis powered by piezoelectrics in the form of Intellifibers.

In China, GreenPix is a groundbreaking project where sustainable and digital media technology is applied to the curtain wall of Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing. It is neither small nor portable so it is outside the narrow definition of energy harvesting but it is a sign of smaller things to come.

Featuring one of the largest colour LED displays worldwide and the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall in China, the building performs as a self-sufficient organic system. It harvests solar energy by day and uses it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle.

The Xicui entertainment complex features a large colour LED display and a photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall

The project was designed and implemented by Simone Giostra & Partners of New York, with lighting design and façade engineering by Arup in London and Beijing. With the support of German manufacturers Schueco and SunWays, Giostra and Arup developed a new technology for laminating photovoltaic cells in a glass curtain wall and they oversaw the production of the first glass solar panels by Chinese manufacturer SunTech. The polycrystalline photovoltaic cells are laminated within the glass of the curtain wall and placed with changing density on the entire building’s skin.

ENQUIRY NO. 2601

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ENQUIRY NO. 079

requiring a ship to leave port. Payload power is provided by two solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and a charging optimisation system. This is a surface vehicle that can station-keep, one mode being to operate in a small watch circle, so it is suitable to replace a buoy out in the middle of an ocean.

Justin Manley of Liquid Robotics points out: “This thing can do the same job but it is a lot cheaper and unlike a big buoy it doesn’t need a big ship to go out and fix it. The world has also been talking about fleets of unmanned vehicles that will work together - a network of robots - for a while now. Obviously, any undersea component is going to need a surface element to reach satellites for communication and the connection to the Internet that we all rely on. Because the wave glider has essentially an infinite endurance, I think this could become the equivalent of a cellular phone tower in the ocean for underwater vehicles.”

He adds: “A major science question with ocean acidification has to do with the flux of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean. The way to start learning about this is if we could acquire lots of measurements of carbon dioxide levels just above and below the water surface over large areas. This is the platform that will enable that type of scientific programme.”

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 47

features

Migration Made

Easy

A silica manufacturer in Indonesia upgrades its operating system.

By Derek Rodriguez

L

ocated in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia, PT PQ Silicas Indonesia is a manufacturer of silica (SiO2) from the raw product silicate, with customers spanning the globe.

The silica product, which resembles a fine bluish white powder, is the result of a precipitation process involving liquid sodium silicate and sulphuric acid.

Forty different kinds of silica are churned out by the company’s 1.6 hectare facility, with different parameters depending on the application. The silica sold is used as a toothpaste abrasive and thickener, 48 industrial automation asia | April 2010

as an anti block product and as a food ingredient etc.

The Silicas factory, which serves Asian markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and China, is one industrial unit that never sleeps, with 71 full time employees working around the clock seven days a week in a three shift, four group regime. This adds up to a total production figure of 10,000 metric tonnes per annum, which is 12 percent above design.

Because of its demanding work schedule, one thing that the company cannot afford is downtime. This is why Silicas

prioritises safety and helped by its automation partner, keeps everything running smoothly.

All Part Of The Process In the year 2004, the company, which has been using a Simatic Automation System since 1997, was advised by Siemens Indonesia to upgrade their operating system.

The solution offered by the automation provider was the Simatic PCS 7 with the M-Control add-on for recipe management.

Together with the upgrading package, customised training was provided to Silicas’ engineers.

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Telephone: Telephone: Telephone: Telephone: +65 +65 +65 +65 6490 6490 6490 6490 8676 8676 8676 8676 Email: Email: Email: admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com Telephone: Telephone: Telephone: +65 +65 +65 6490 6490 6490 8676 8676 8676 Email: Email: Email: Email: admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com Email: Email: Email: admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com admarketing.sg@siemens.com

ENQUIRY NO. 117

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features

“The migration from the original system, the TI & S5 Coros LSB to the Simatic PCS 7 process control system was a process that lasted six months,” said Asrofi Sidqon, president director, PT PQ Silicas Indonesia. “First we changed the operating system, and then after that the PLC and the I/O.” Although migration processes can be unpleasant experiences for companies, Mr Asrofi, praised Siemens for smoothening the transition with its quick response and excellent communication.

The Advantages “Simatic PCS 7 offers a lot of adva nta ge s.” sa id Ba mba ng Purnomo, Siemens Indonesia.

“This is the only DCS that enables full integration of all the automation systems in the plant; process, batch, discrete, and safety, and all your field devices – instrumentation, analytics, motors, drives, and electrical devices, into a single platform which minimise the customer’s total cost of ownership.

“It also reduces the overall engineering time and operational costs, ” Mr Purnomo added.

“Working with Siemens is like they’re part of our organisation. They have provided us with engineers to 50 industrial automation asia | April 2010

support us before and during the migration until the project has been completed. This ease us from all worries.” Mr Asrofi added.

The installation of the new system brought with it a web-based reporting system, which enables the production manager to view reports remotely. With the Simatic PCS 7 platform, integration to a higher level is possible and with the open system architecture, so is further expansion.

Although the previous system was “very reliable and with little problems”, according to Mr Asrofi, the decision to migrate to Simatic PCS 7 was worthy. Another advantage pointed out by him were its userfriendliness and its potential for further growth.

In The Works With Silicas overwhelming demand for its products, as testified by the facility’s bare warehouse, Mr Asrofi confirmed that much of the products manufactured were ‘just in time’, and being sold and moved once they are produced.

“Silicas migration from the old system to Simatic PCS 7 is a firstrate choice and will likely be our preferred DCS in the company’s future expansion projects.” Mr Asrofi ended.

ENQUIRY NO. 2701

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products & Services Adlink:

Processor Blade Adlink’s ATCA-6150 processor blade features dual nextgeneration 32nm six-core Intel Xeon processor L5638 with 2.00 GHz core speed, Intel 5520 chipset, 48GB of DDR3 memory, and an optional PICMG mid-size AMC bay for increased computing per formance, flexibility, and more efficient power consumption. Debuting as a six-core performance and power consumption enhancement to its ATCA product line.

The ATCA-6150 offers storage support with 4-channel SAS RAID 0/1, 4GB onboard NAND flash, onboard 2.5” SATA HDD, and modular Fabric riser card for additional PICMG Fabric interface protocols.

Advantech:

Motherboard

Advantech’s A I M B-212 motherboard offers the recent Intel Atom processors built on 45nm process technology, and brings I/O connectivity with up to eight USB 2.0 and six COM ports integrated in a standard 170 x 170mm form factor. Apart from supporting dual display for LVDS and VGA, the motherboard provides direct current DC 12V support and offers a lower total cost of ownership by utilising the Intel ICH8M chipset.

With high connectivity and expansion options, the AIMB212 supports dual display with multiple display types and complements video output with HD audio, making it ideal for gaming, education, and kiosk.

Enquiry no. 2801

Enquiry no. 2802

Banner:

Check Point:

The iVU bar code reader (BCR) from Banner facilitates advanced traceability by reading 11 industry-standard bar codes. The iVu BCR shares the same integrated touch screen design with its predecessor model, allowing users to efficiently configure, monitor and modify an inspection on-site.

The iVu BCR deciphers barcodes of varying types to verify correct content at production speeds of hundreds of parts per minute—all within a single, compact, rugged package. Its intuitive interface also reduces operator training time while allowing first-time users to set-up complex applications without a PC or external controller.

The USB stick Abra from Check Point turns PCs into a secure corporate desktop. The thumb drive allows users to safely access company emails, files and applications online or offline in an unsecured computer via an integrated VPN (Virtual Private Network) connectivity.

Data is encrypted on the USB stick, preventing anyone from using the information when it is lost or stolen. Users only need to key in the passwords to launch the secure virtual workplace on the host computer.

Barcode Reader

Enquiry no. 2803 52 industrial automation asia | April 2010

USB Stick Encryption

Enquiry no. 2804

products & Services

Cognex:

Contec:

Two fixed mount ID barcode readers from Cognex, DataMan 100QL and DataMan 200QL, provide 1D barcode reading performance.

Easily field-upgradeable to add 2D Data Matrix and QR Code reading capability, the new readers also feature Cognex 1D Max, a 1D codereading algorithm in the Dataman QL series.

The algorithm not only reads blurs or damaged codes, but also handles quiet zone violations that occur when codes are printed close to the edge of a label.

In addition, an image-archiving feature stores images of read failures that can be downloaded to a PC for diagnosis.

Contec’s PCI Digitiser board features the automatic ability to determine pass or fail of a suspected substance. With configurable signal inputs such as impedance, range, filter, and coupling, it features simultaneous sampling of two channels with conversion speeds of up to 100MS/s as well as an automatic setup function and sampling condition settings that can be saved and restored.

The ‘Front Panel’ application software allows it to be used like an oscilloscope or Wave Pattern comparator, thereby enabling fast and easy implementation without programming. A variety of start/ stop sampling triggers are supported, while the Clock I/O supports synchronous sampling with external instruments.

Barcode Readers

PCI Digitiser

Enquiry no. 2805

Enquiry no. 2806

Fujitsu:

Hirschmann:

Fujitsu’s MB95330H series 8-bit microcontroller with flash memory features a brushless DC motor (*2) control function and various timers for general-purpose and communication functions. With only 32 pins for its brushless DC motor control function, the series is ideal for use as a main microcontroller as well as a sub-microcontroller, which covers lack of features of the existing system configuration.

The 1-line on-chip debug uses only one pin on the microcontroller and embedded oscillation circuit, maximising the number of pins to be used freely while reducing total system cost for customers.

The MACH 1040 Full Gigabit Ethernet Switch is an IP30 Layer-2 switch with 16 Gigabit Ethernet combo ports. All ports support version 2 of Precision Time Protocol in accordance with IEEE 1588 V2 and has optional power over Ethernet.

With a rugged metal housing and energy-saving chip technology, the MACH 1040 features 10-second boot time and compatibility with ACA-21-USB, which is a configuration storage device that facilitates multi-device configuration and device replacement. It is highly resistant to jarring or electrical discharges and magnetic fields, while media redundancy mechanisms procedures (Fast HIPER Ring, MRP, etc) provide for high network availability.

8-bit Microcontrollers

Enquiry no. 2807

Ethernet Switch

Enquiry no. 2808 April 2010 | industrial automation asia 53

products & Services

Invensys:

Kvaser:

DYNSIM Checkout, Invensys’ SimSci-Esscor mediumfidelity simulation solution, provides a way to identify, validate, and resolve control and safety application design errors throughout a project life cycle. The solution also addresses plant-operator process-familiarisation needs and obstacles such as late-arriving design information.

The simulation requires fewer engineering hours and less specialised expertise to configure and tune, all the while providing a library of unit-operation models (valves, reactors, etc). Models, which may also be auto-generated using plant life cycle management software, take significantly less design data to be completed, and may be rebuilt efficiently several times throughout the project duration.

Designed to troubleshoot any CAN (controller area network)-based system, Kvaser’s CAN bus datalogger, Memorator Light, logs serial data without configuration and software set-up. The datalogger can be left continuously connected to the system to record what happens just before and after a fault condition occurs, making it ideal for situations with an occasional need to gather diagnosticsrelated information—the intermittent misbehaviour of a control system, for instance.

Ready to use straight out of the box, Memorator Light automatically determines the bit rate when plugged into a CAN port.

A 1GB built-in memory also prevents data corruption from SD card mishandling and connector damage.

Medium-Fidelity Simulation Solution

CAN Bus Datalogger

Enquiry no. 2809

Enquiry no. 2810

Lumberg:

MDS Pacific:

Lumberg’s PowerCINCH, a quick-disconnect modular wiring solution, consists of factory-applied connectors over-moulded onto cable, providing up to 25A feeder and 15A branch power distribution circuits up to 600V AC. The dual-rated disconnect cables provide for the installation of a trunk/feeder line along the machines’ structure and can accommodate power distribution for multiple machines.

With industrial ratings of NEMA 6P and IP67, the quickdisconnect connectors can withstand the harsh industrial challenges of moisture, shock, and vibration.

Windows Embedded Standard (next generation of XP Embedded) provides a componentised form of Windows XP Professional.

Embedded enabling features that help optimise the operation system for embedded devices include an enhanced write filter (EWF) to protect disc volumes, remote boot services for booting and configuring devices over a network, a hibernate once/resume many (HORM) for ‘Instant On’ experience, a system cloning tool that streamlines manufacturing processes, and a device update agent (DUA) to service a run-time image remotely.

Users also save on development time and costs with its compatibility with commodity PC hardware, applications, drivers, services, and familiar development tools.

Modular Wiring Solution

Enquiry no. 2811 54 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Windows Embedded Standard

Enquiry no. 2812

products & Services products & Services

Mitsubishi Electric:

Rockwell Automation:

The compact size of MRJ3W Series (2 in 1 servo amplifier) is superior in space saving, more axes is possible to be fit in space constraint panel. Direct cost reduction could be realised as lesser amplifier unit and optical cable is required. Furthermore, the wiring job is reduced by half as only one input power and I/O signal connector is required. Also with higher condenser capacity, this servo conserves energy by utilising the regenerative energy for next movement.

Sharing data in single amplifier between two axes allow value added control functions.

The Allan-Bradley Kinetix 300 from Rockwell Automation provides machine builders and end users with the ability to standardise on a single communication net work for earlier commissioning, configuration, and start up.

The compact new drive allows the entire control solution to be connected over a standard EtherNet/IP network, and features drive-based web configuration tools in addition to seamless integration with Rockwell Software RSLogix 5000 through a Kinetix 300 addon profile.

A safe torque-off functionality also protects personnel while increasing productivity.

EtherNet/IP Indexing Servo Drive

Servo Ampliflier

Enquiry no. 2813

Enquiry no. 2814

Schneider Electric:

Turck:

Two range of drive selections make up Schneider’s Lexium 23 Plus servo drives: pulse/direction, analog, and I/O control that enables switching between speed, torque, and position control with up to 8 position register built-in; and the CANopen Motion fieldbus control for synchronous (realtime) positioning control, which is fully compatible with PLCopen function blocks.

Ideal for machine applications such as material working, textile, electronics, packaging, and printing, the servo drive features configuration software along with a motor range from low to high inertia (up to 7.5 kW), a built-in 20-bit encoder, and DC bus connection for load sharing on all drives.

Turck’s PB-XEPI Ethernet Profibus device coupler combines integrated web server software with diagnostic functionality— enabling users to monitor Profibus networks remotely through a web browser without disrupting network operations. In addition, the coupler identifies malfunctions in the network and sends an error message via e-mail that includes a link to the device, giving users direct access to the interface.

The PB XEPI may be configured as an active node on the Profibus network, and may be integrated into new or existing Profibus networks in pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and packaging applications.

Servo Drive & Motor

Enquiry no. 2815

Ethernet Device Coupler

Enquiry no. 2816 April 2010 | industrial automation asia 55

EVENT PREVIEW

RFID World Asia

2010

It is forecasted that Asia-Pacific will witness the highest growth in RFID revenue owing to the rapid adoption of RFID applications in several countries, including China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Wit hin t he R F I D ma rket, a major part of the growth has stemmed from the applications of RFID in various vertical segments, including hea lthca re, travel and leisure, transportation and government applications. However, other application segments such as security-based solutions, contactless payments and green economy are in their emerging stage and are forecasted to drive growth in the new economy.

In April of this year, RFID World Asia returns for its seventh year, bringing together the latest RFID innovations under one roof. A comprehensive multi-application exhibition and conference, it hopes to build upon the 5,525 trade professionals that visited the show 56 industrial automation asia | April 2010

in 2009. Of these visitors, 35 percent were overseas participants.

This year, more than 200 exhibitors from 40 countries are expected, with two free seminars spanning a total of 50 sessions conducted throughout the show.

The smart card seminars aim to share the latest technology in the smart cards market.

Singapore Pavilion Led by the Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation (SMa), companies featured under the Singapore Pavilion are set to showcase the latest solutions in retail POS (Point Of Sale), digital signages, scanning technologies, RFID and smart cards etc.

Conferences & Seminars With sustainability on everyone’s lips these days, ‘RFID for a Greener

Environment’ is one workshop to look out for. This full day session p rov i d e s a co mp re he n si v e foundation for those interested in understa nding the late st advancements in RFID technology and its practical use through a broad range of solutions, with an emphasis on the environment.

Other conferences a nd seminars include the ‘Retail Solutions World Asia’ conference, ‘Contactless Innovations in: Transit Leisure/Hospitality’, and ‘Solving the mobile contactless services puzzle’. Conferences start from April 19 and the exhibition proper starts from April 21.

April 19 – 23, 2010 Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 2901

ENQUIRY NO. 108

EVENT PREVIEW

Metaltech 2010, an annual trade platform for the metalworking and manufacturing industry, will be held from May 5 - 9, 2010 at Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

The event is expected to play host to more than 1,500 exhibiting companies, an overall increase of 30 percent from last year, as well as making this year the largest Metaltech in its history. The show covers a total exhibition area of 30,000 sq m (gross), and expects to attract over 20,000 visitors locally and 5,000 visitors from around the world.

Billed as the international machine tool and metalworking exhibition in Malaysia, it is an event for manufacturers and metal industry players from around the world to showcase and source for metal work, machine tools, CAD/ CAM, metrology, mould and die, surface and heat treatment, subcontracting, foundry, industrial automation, robotics, precision engineering and welding technology and products.

Happening Concurrently Incorporated into Metaltech 2010 is the Welding Technology Exhibition 2010 (Weldtek 2010), the 10th Malaysian International Exhibition on welding equipments and technology, welding services and welding competition.

C o - l o c a te d a t M e t a lte c h 2010, is M TA Ma laysia 2010 (MTA 2010), the 7th Malaysia International Precision Eng ineering, Machine Tools and Metalworking Exhibition, and the Malaysia’s Automation Te c h nolo g y E x h ibit ion a nd C o n fe re nce (A uto me x), t he Malaysia International Exhibition a nd Conference on proce ss automation, factory automation, industrial automation, instrumentation and control, bus and wireless technology, hydraulics and pneumatics, and robotics.

58 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Metaltech Manufacturing In Malaysia Initiatives have been taken by the Ministry of International Trade and Industries to promote the activities of manufacturing related services which include operational headquarters, regional offices & distribution centres, international procurement centres, representative offices, research and development (R&D), design and prototyping, technical or vocational training, integrated logistics as well as market support services, integrated market support services, integrated centralised utility facilities, total chemical management system, cold chain facilities and services for food products, as well as environmental management.

MD of Trade-Link Exhibition Services, the organiser of the event, Albert Lai said: “Whilst businesses in 2009 have been affected by the weakening of the global economy as

2010

well as the global calamities such as the outbreak of H1N1, the business sectors especially the manufacturing industry is looking forward to an improvement in business activities in 2010. With renewed optimism for a recovery in the economy, the business confidence of various industries in Malaysia has increased and is beginning to flourish again.”

He added: “The manufacturing industry in Malaysia has constantly been a major player in the economic growth. Malaysia’s well-established distribution channels, integrated infrastructure, and workforce have made the country an attractive destination for development and investment, particularly in the manufacturing industry.”

May 5 – 9, 2010 Putra World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ENQUIRY NO. 2902

Intermach 2010

A n e v e nt t h a t w i l l c re a te opportunities for exhibitors and visitors alike, Intermach 2010 is a platform for business into the whole ASEAN region. It is an event where decision makers gather to meet, talk shop and do business on the spot.

Giving visitors VIP access to many important seminars, conferences and related activities affecting Thai industry, as well as global economic issues – the event allows access to inside information that can provide a big competitive advantage.

What Can You Expect In this year’s event, visitors can expect to see a full display of hightech machinery from the world’s leading international manufacturers who will be arriving from over 30 countries. Major country pavilions and displays featuring over 4,000 individual pieces of machinery and equipment will also add internationality to the show.

For those looking to cast their net in the field of business, t he bu si ne s s m atc h m a k i n g opportunities with buyers from the automotive, electronic appliance and electronics industries will be made available.

Other Events Running Concurrently Subcon Thailand runs in conjunction

w it h I nte r m ac h a nd he lp s manufacturers and suppliers form mutually beneficial partnerships.

Over 300 local and international subcontractors will be at this year’s event, according to the organiser.

In addition, Sheet Metal Asia 2010, an important sub show at the event, will display sheet metal machinery including hot-stamp presses, watercutting equipment and the latest laser technology – much of it being shown in Asia for the first time.

Power Of 1 Sanchai Noombunnam, UBM project director for the event says: “The 4th quarter of 2009 showed a strong recovery underway in Thailand for the automotive, subcontracting, electronics and electrical industries.

In 2010, Thailand expects to export

around 600,000 cars – an increase of 14 percent over 2009.”

Riding on the wave of optimism, a strategy has been developed to help increase business opportunities as Mr Noombunnam concludes: “We have been working hard with the Thai Board of Investment (BOI), the co-organiser of Subcon Thailand, and other government agencies to develop our strategy, ‘The Power of 1’ – is focused on helping Intermach customers increase business opportunities with major manufacturers in Thailand and other countries.”

May 13 – 16, 2010 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand ENQUIRY NO. 2903 April 2010 | industrial automation asia 59

EVENT review

Singapore Airshow

2010

Asia’s largest and one of the top three aerospace and defence exhibitions in the world, played h o s t to i n d u s t r y b i g w i g s , international government and military delegations, providing them a platform to network and make key announcements.

As the global economy recovers from the recent downturn and the aviation industry is on a slow upswing, the biennial event saw deals and announcements at the show worth about US$10 billion over the first three days.

Overseas visitors have more than doubled from 25 percent to more than 50 percent. There was also a notable growth in the total number of countries/regions represented, with the count moving up from 113 in 2008 to 119 this year.

60  industrial automation asia | April 2010

In terms of exhibitors, there was representation from more than 60 countries/regions. Singapore Airshow attracted high-level foreign dignitaries from around the world. The total number of foreign delegations grew from 240 from 61 countries in 2008 to over 250 delegations coming from close to 80 countries this year.

“As the first major airshow taking place at the beginning of the year, the Singapore Airshow is in a position to gauge the pulse of the industry.

Although aviation as a whole has taken a hit due to the economic downturn, it is promising that we have witnessed large transactions and major announcements this week, and we look forward to the market picking up further as the industry rides the upturn. For the next Singapore Airshow in February 2012, we have already more than 60 percent of the exhibition space taken up. We are committed to delivering another iconic and strategic event,” says Jimmy Lau, MD of Singapore Airshow & Events.

February 2 – 7, 2010 Changi Exhibition Centre Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 2904

Aviation Industry: Into A Greener Future

A*STAR’s Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) is entering into a collaborative project with EADS, a global leader in aerospace and defence, to investigate the conversion of algae oil to kerosene for jet fuel.

The objective of this 12-month collaboration is to assess the potential for microalgae to be a renewable source of fuel for aircraft and to investigate the conversion of algae oil to kerosene for use as jet fuel.

Air transportation is a vital contributor to global economic growth. The aviation sector accounts for 2 to 3 percent of man-made CO2 emissions, and although this may be a small proportion, EADS recognises that growth in air transportation must be sustainable.

There is significant interest across multiple sectors in the potential of microalgae as an energy source. They have the potential to produce nearly 90,000 litres of oil per hectare per year.

Microalgae grow rapidly (doubling in biomass in as little as a few hours), require limited nutrients to thrive, but technological breakthroughs are needed for them to become viable.

Some microalgae contains high levels of oil content which can be used as the feedstock for making jet fuel, for example by separation of fatty acids, hydrogenation and hydro-cracking.

ENQUIRY NO. 2905

Bombardier, Bodycote, Rösler, Addvalue Technologies Join A*STAR’s Aerospace Programme The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has inducted four new members namely Bombardier, Bodycote, Rösler and a local SME, Addvalue Technologies, into its Aerospace Programme. Including the new members, there are now 18 companies in the consortium, of which seven are local companies.

The Aerospace Programme, launched in 2007, is an ongoing and proactive industry engagement effort that enables members to partake in aerospace R&D by leveraging on the agency’s scientific know-how and resources, and is helmed by industry giants. It has invested a total of S$18 million (US$ 12.9 million) on 16 projects to date.

ENQUIRY NO. 2906

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 61

EVENT REVIEW

WirelessHART ‘What Can Wireless Do for Me’ This topic covered new applications made possible with WirelessHART that could not be solved before: points not measured before, unlocking stranded diagnostics for predictive maintenance etc.

A vendor-neutral educational semina r on WirelessH A RT technolog y wa s held at the Chevrons in Singapore on Feb 10.

Presented by industry specialists from the HART Communication Foundation, ABB, Emerson Process Management, Endress+Hauser, Pepperl+Fuchs and Siemens, there were also displays of native WirelessHART devices, wireless adapters ( batter y and loop powered kinds), and wireless gateways from these companies.

Sponsors ABB, Emerson, E+H, and P+F showed a wide range of WirelessHART devices at the table top demos (adapters, gateways, pre ssure, temperature from multiple suppliers, plus vibration, pH, conductivity, valve position, level switch etc). Visitors were able speak to specialists from these companies and get their hands on WirelessHART devices.

Presenters, who were also from these companies, covered a wide range of topics over the one-day period, and provided demonstrations to provide a clear understanding of the issues at hand. Topics included:

62 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Demo: All of the WirelessHART devices from the different manufacturers were fully operating. Data from all of these WirelessHART products formed a mesh network as seen from the screen capture. That is, data from brand A transmitter is routed through transmitters and adapters of brands B and C to a gateway brand D. PV with status and auxiliary measurements, including discrete signals, integrated from the WirelessHART gateway into the operator interface. This is possible because all use the common HART application layer protocols familiar from millions of HART devices.

WirelessHART is unique because all devices use a single common application protocol: the same standard commands as for wired HART devices; interoperability trusted in process applications for two decades.

WirelessHART is already internationally recognised by IEC as a Publically Available Specification, and just passed the critical ‘CDV’ stage of the final standardisation process November 2009.

‘Understanding WirelessHART’ This topic covered the various solutions in the WirelessHART standard to ensure WirelessHART coexists with other wireless protocols without causing interference or being interfered with.

WirelessHART achieves low power consumption for extremely long battery life, offers easy deployment through self-organising mesh

Seminar networking and auto-configuration without need for multiple wired infrastructure access points, reliability through self-healing mesh networking and gateway redundancy, and segregation of responsibility from IT networking by not using IP address.

Demo: This demonstration showed secure commissioning of a WirelessHART devices by simply using the same HART interface and laptop software plants already have, and are already familiar with, thus not having to send the join key (password) over the air. This new device automatically joins the mesh network established among devices from the other vendors without any additional configurations.

‘Using WirelessHART’ This topic covered WirelessHART applications such as process monitoring and control, machinery health monitoring, health, safety, and environmental (HSE), plus device maintenance.

Also presented were integration methods for new and legacy control systems and the work of the Wireless Cooperation Team (WCT) consisting of HART Communication Foundation, Fieldbus Foundation, Profibus User Organisation (PNO) – how to integrate WirelessHART gateways into the respective backbone network.

Demo: The status from WirelessHART devices integrated in operator displays will prompt evasive action to protect process on device failure.

Device alerts are displayed with actionable information, not just raw diagnostics.

The same common software can be used for device configuration, calibration, and troubleshooting of all WirelessHART devices (and same as wired HART devices), because they use the same single application protocol. True interoperability can only be achieved with a single common application protocol (ISO OSI layer 7), just using the same radio (layer 1) infrastructure is not sufficient for interoperability.

‘Planning a WirelessHART Project’ This topic covered the project scope, device placement, device specifications, commissioning / checkout procedures, and documentation for a WirelessHART project.

Only a single wireless sensor network infrastructure in the plant is needed as devices from many vendors can be mixed and matched in the same network solve different application challenges.

February 10, 2010 The Chevrons Singapore ENQUIRY NO. 2907 April 2010 | industrial automation asia 63

EVENT review

SolidWorks World 2010

Keynote speaker James McLurkin gave a thoroughly entertaining presentation on robotics and how CAD plays an important part in the design stages

Held at the Anaheim Convention Centre in Anaheim, California, USA, SolidWorks World 2010 provided a tremendous opportunity for users to network and share best practices. The conference was held from Jan 31 – Feb 3, 2010. It provided a platform for users and nearly the entire DS SolidWorks R&D staff to talk, share their experiences, and demonstrate interesting projects.

A s a lways, the genera l se ssions stimulated a nd enter ta ine d t he crowd. The sessions also included a sneak prev iew of SolidWork s 2011 sof t wa re a nd pre sentat ions from DS SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray, Dassault Systèmes president and CEO Bernard Charlès, and DS SolidWorks co-founder and group executive Jon Hirschtick.

Reversing The Trend Jeff Ray kicked off the event in style by brushing off the recession blues that have plagued 2009, much to the crowds’ delight. “Didn’t you get the news? We are still in a recession. Everybody else has been downsizing their event but we blew it. Last year we had 4,300 people in San Diego but this year, over 5,000 people have registered.”

He also revealed that the company was able to get through 2009 without any layoffs due to the economy. Instead of restructuring and layoffs, the company increased its investments in R&D. As to why the company took this route, he felt that when the economy gets better, users would want “the best, newest and freshest technology” and the company have been making that investment.

ENQUIRY NO. 2908

64 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Innovation Speaks To Rick Innovation according to Rick Chin, director of product innovation of DS SolidWorks, starts with frustration. It may not be the most conventional way to define the word but perhaps the very essence of the word has a tinge of the unconventional. “When you develop a product it starts first with frustration. I look for things that get people upset. I find it and I start probing,” he explains.

Speaking to Asia Pacific Metalworking Equipment News at SolidWorks World 2010, Mr Chin says: “I always talk about innovation that matters. The product or solutions have to be innovative described from the users’ perspective. It doesn’t matter if I call it innovation.

I want my customers to be so excited and happy from what they received from me.”

Putting the onus on users’ satisfaction is also one of the ways Mr Chin approaches innovation. “They (the customers) will call it innovation when the product solves the important problems in a way it is easy to appreciate. It has to address something really important and no one is able to address yet,” he muses.

In order to know if he has brought an innovative product to his customers, Mr Chin listens for a key word. He says: “If your customers say ‘wow’, chances are they are going to say the product is innovative without prompting.”

Innovation and R&D comes hand in hand. It comes in no surprise that the company invests in R&D and one way is to get inputs from the users themselves.

“There are actually a number of ways how we get inputs from our customers. They can actually go on the SolidWorks website and submit their request. Something new that we have done is that we made the process a little more community oriented.

What it means is you can not only submit and answer requests, you can also see the enhancement requests other users have put in. In addition, you can forward on it and get comments on it,” he says.

“If your customers say ‘wow’, chances are they are going to say the product is innovative without prompting,” says Rick Chin.

Lending A Listening Ear In addition to getting feedbacks from the website, the company is also proactive in obtaining the information. Says Mr Chin: “SolidWorks is proactive in going out to see customers. It has always been part of our culture. We make a lot of visits over the world. We have customer representations in the US, UK, India and China. Customer input is a big part in the way we design. We have a group called Product Definition, they write the specifications and design user interface and decide how the program should behave.”

Conducting surveys may not be the latest information collecting method but Mr Chin conducts surveys with a twist. Though his ultimate aim is to product a better CAD CAM product, his questions are often not directly related to the subject.

“I ask people what their aspirations are, what is important in their job, what do they wish to achieve in 2010, the challenges they face and where do they see themselves in five years should their career go smoothly. They maybe vague questions but at the same time, they give us insights on who they are,” he explains.

April 2010 | industrial automation asia 65

EVENT review

Mr Narayan feels that the event is all about ‘building community and network’

Be Part Of The CAD Community & Network Planned out extensively in ‘five year blocks’ as described by Ved Narayan, VP of DS SolidWorks Asia Pacific, the annual user conference is the biggest in for a CAD software manufacturer.

Boasting the attendance of about 5,000, the event presents a good opportunity to customers and resellers of the company, according to Mr Narayan.

“SolidWorks World provides a platform for our users to come and share various technology and talk about future trends in products and applications, as to how people are using the software. People can also learn from each other,” he says. Summing it up, he says the event is all about ‘building community and network’. He sees that as fitting to today’s social climate where people are using various medias to connect professionally and on a personal level.

Elaborating further on what the event bring to the table, he explains it in two folds. Says Mr Narayan: “In terms of benefits for our customer, they learn about the investment that they have made in our company, and also the direction we are taking.

They can ask themselves question like ‘is the investment in the right hand?’

In addition, they can learn our other customers in similar industry and educate themselves on the best practices of the industry.”

With over 300 technical sessions, he feels a lot of them are related to best practices. For example, how by using tools and technologies that will help them be more productive.

For reseller, Mr Narayan views the event as an informative medium for them to learn in terms of strategies and overall focus in the coming year for SolidWorks.

Investing For The Future Given the financial crisis of 2009, Mr Narayan explains to Asia Pacific Metalworking Equipment News why the company continues to invest heavily to organise such big event. From the financial point of view, he feels the event is a long term investment.

“If you were to try to get the similar impact for bringing so many people together, it is an investment that has indirectly impact on the business,” he says. Quoting an example, he adds: “There are many prospect for them who come here just to see. With over 5,000 here physically at the show and a million worldwide, they can see for themselves first hand what we stand to get if they choose to join the SolidWorks community. Over here, (Anaheim Convention Centre) there is a different level of energy, which you feel and truly get to see. It gives a level of confidence to individuals.

66 industrial automation asia | April 2010

Calendar of Events april 5 – 9 Power & Electricity World Asia Suntec Singapore Terrapinn Email: yaling.ng@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com

6 – 8 Asiawater 2010 Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia AMB Exhibitions Email: airin@ambexpo.com Web: www.asiawater.org

19 – 23 Hannover Messe Hannover Fair Grounds Hannover, Germany Singapore-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Email: info@hf-singapore.com Web: www.hannovermesse.de

19 – 23 RFID World Asia Suntec Singapore Terrapinn Email: yeelim.tan@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com

may 5 – 9 Automex Putra World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Premier Exhibitions Services Email: info@tradelink.com.my Web: www.tradelink.com.my

5 – 9 MTA Malaysia 2010 Putra World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysian Exhibition Services Email: enquiry@mesallworld.com Web: www.mtamalaysia.com

13 – 16 Intermach 2010 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Intermach Email: intermach@intermachshow.com Web: www.intermachshow.com

19 – 21 Semicon Singapore Suntec Singapore Semi Email: cchan@semi.org Web: www.semiconsingapore.org

25 – 28 KOFAS 2010 Changwon Exhibition Center Changwon, South Korea Koami Email: exhibit@koami.or.kr Web: www.kofas.org

june 2 – 5 Renewable Energy Asia 2010 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) Email: entech@entechpollutec-asia.com Web: www.entechpollutec-asia.com

2 – 5 Manufacturing Surabaya 2010 Grand City Convention & Exhibition Centre Surabaya, Indonesia PT Pamerindo Email: maysia@pamerindo.com Web: www.manufacturingsurabaya.com

6 – 8 Interphex Asia 2010 Suntec Singapore Reed Exhibitions Email: jockhong.tan@reedexpo.com.sg Web: www.interphexasia.com

15 – 17 Nepcon Malaysia Penang International Sports Arena Penang, Malaysia Reed Exhibitions Email: huihiang.teo@reedexpo.com.sg Web: www.nepcon.com.my

24 – 27 Assembly Technology 2010

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Reed Tradex Email: rtdx@reedtradex.co.th Web: www.assemblytechexpo.com

juLY 6 – 9 MTA Vietnam 2010

Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam Singapore Exhibition Services Email: events@sesallworld.com Web: www.mtavietnam.com

september 15 – 17 Industrial Automation Vietnam

Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre Saigon, Vietnam Hong Kong Exhibition Services Email: exhibit@hkesallworld.com Web: www.iavietnam.com

October 5 – 7 ProcessCEM Asia 2010

Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre Singapore Association of Process Industry (ASPRI) Email: processcem@aspri.com.sg Web: www.processcemasia.com

15 – 18 CommunicAsia 2010

Singapore Expo Singapore Singapore Exhibitions Services Email: vw@sesallworld.com Web: www.communicasia.com

16 – 19 Propak Asia 2010 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Exhibition Services Email: propak@besallworld.com Web: www.propakasia.com

24 – 27 Intermold Thailand 2010

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Reed Tradex Email: rtdx@reedtradex.co.th Web: www.intermoldthailand.com

To be considered for inclusion in the Calendar of Events, send details of event (name, date, venue, organiser contact) to: The Editor IAA Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd. 1100 Lower Delta Road, EPL Building #04-02, Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Email: derekrodriguez@epl.com.sg

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