IAA JuneJuly 09

June/July 2009

www.iaasiaonline.com

MICA(P) 107/10/2008 | ISSN 0219/5615 | PPS 1561/06/2010 (028221)

SCADA

Recipe For Success Biofuels

Formula For Energy Packaging

Custom Made Efficiency

Industrial Robots

ArmED andReady

Helping you integrate machine safety Helping you integrate machine safety for maximum productivity for maximum productivity

With integrated machine safety solutions, application experience and

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without compromising productivity. without compromising productivity.

The result be a can saferbe future for more yourthan business.

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Thailand

Tel: 662 936 1500

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Copyright © 2009 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ENQUIRY NO. 041 Copyright © 2009 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2009 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

WHEREVER YOU SEE HIGH PERFORMANCE, MOOG MOTION CONTROL EXPERTS ARE THERE. Discover how close collaboration between Moog and machine builder Dieffenbacher helped to improve the overall performance of their high-performance plastic presses. Dieffenbacher’s new short stroke closing system, in combination with Moog’s hydraulic components, resulted in a reduction of energy consumption by 50%, increased productivity for faster cycle times, and incorporated digital control to facilitate easier diagnostics and access.

It’s Moog’s combination of motion control expertise and world-class solutions that can make the Achieving High Performance: A Collaborative Approach for Motion Control Solutions

difference for you too­—no matter what industry you’re in. For more information call +65-6773 6238 .

Ready to revolutionize your machine design?

Download our comprehensive white paper on electric and hydraulic solutions in high-performance machines at http://info.moog.com/66

What moves your world

www.moog.com/industrial

ENQUIRY NO. 014

©2008 Moog. All rights reserved.

You’re looking at a revolution in motion control.

contents june/july 2009

ISSUES & INSIGHTS

CONTROL POINT

20

26

Industrial Robots: Safety First

The protection of operators and the production output requires a series of safety measures built into the tool change system.

By Mike Bowman, Applied Robotics

Stepping motor control has evolved into developments of drivers with built-in controllers and supporting network compatibility.

By Charles Lim, Oriental Motor

30

44

One Small Step For Automation

Taking Control

Control systems are increasingly replacing PLCs in automation solutions. By Elmar Vogts, ABB

packaging:

30

Custom Made Efficiency

taking Control

SOFTWARE & NETWORKS

32

Keeping It Real-Time

34

Recipe For Success

Using a real-time information system to analyse various processes in the steel manufacturing. By Feng Yi Ding, Shijiazhuang Iron & Steel

SCADA solutions and secure reporting tools assist F&B companies in the challenging economic climate. Commissioned

by Citect and written by analysts at Frost & Sullivan

38 Market Report:

Infrastructure Improvements Drive SCADA Systems Market SCADA systems are emerging as a key element in major infrastructure projects for the water and wastewater industry.

By Russ Novak, Arc Advisory Group

INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

40

Diagnostics, Online

42

An Unconditional ‘No’ To Downtime

An Ethernet Profibus interface monitors fieldbus communication and opens Profibus networks for remote monitoring and diagnostics via the Internet. By Peter Praske, Turck

A condition-based maintenance programme eliminates downtime on an oil platform. By Ben Dong, Rockwell Automation China

2 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Dynamic Control Performance Multifunctional Application Easy Maintenance Environmental Adaptation

Fuji Electric Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

171 Chin Swee Road #12-01, San Centre, Singapore 169877 Tel: (65) 6533 0014 Fax: (65) 6533 0021 Email: Drive@fujielectric.com.sg Website: www.fujielectric.com.sg

ENQUIRY NO. 026

contents june/july 2009

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

Regulars

44

8 News

Packaging: Custom Made Efficiency

Late stage customisation is also a flexible just-in-time component within the packaging process. By Valeska Haux, Multivac

17 Fieldbus Foundation 18 EtherCAT Technology Group

48 Lost In Translation?

19 CAN in Automation

Standardise!

An examination of the benefits of a single control platform in packaging machinery. By Pete Lawton, Pearson Packaging Systems

50

Market Report: US Demand For Green Packaging To Approach US$44 Billion In 2013

US demand for green packaging is projected to increase 3.4 percent annually. By The Freedonia Group

52

Biofuels: Formula For Energy

64

Locomotives: Flying Without Wings

ENERGY

52

Biofuels: Formula For Energy

56 Products & Services 66 Calendar of Events 68 Advertising Index / Ad Sales Office 68A Product Enquiry Card

Refer to pg

The focus has shifted to using non-food plants, or energy crops to produce biofuels.

By Augustine Quek

PARTING SHOT

64 Locomotives:

for Advertisers’ Enquiry Numbers

Flying Without Wings

High-speed trains are gaining popularity throughout Asia, putting the metalworking industry in high gear. By Joson Ng

Industrial Automation Asia (IAA) is published 8 issues per year by Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road #04-02 EPL Building Singapore 169206.

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The circulation of this magazine is audited by bpa world wide. The advertisers’ association recommend that advertisers should place their advertisements only in audited publications.

4 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

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©2009 Invensys Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Invensys and Wonderware are trademarks of Invensys plc, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies. All other brands and product names may be the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

EDITOR’s PAGE

Published by:

EASTERN TRADE MEDIA PTE LTD

Nex Sto t p,

(A fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd) Managing Director

Reco very

Kenneth Tan Managing Editor

Eileen Chan eileenchan@epl.com.sg assistant editor

Derek Rodriguez derekrodriguez@epl.com.sg Editorial Assistant

Sharifah Zainon sharifah@epl.com.sg Syahirah syahirah@epl.com.sg

As the recession continues to take its toll on the global economy, demands for goods and services have dropped with it. Plane tickets have plunged, along with the number of travelers.

Recent events like the spreading of the H1N1 influenza virus and the political uncertainty in Thailand have compounded the problem further. News of trade shows being postponed and even canceled provide reason for industry members to stay in their offices.

However, it is not all doom and gloom in the travel industry and aerospace in particular. Singapore hosted the inaugural Aerospace Supplier eXchange (pg 61) in late May, bringing together local suppliers and key procurement decision makers in the industry. Described as a The ‘speed dating process’, the event was by all accounts a successful one and re-enforced the notion that the future of the aerospace industry is in Asia.

Adding more weight to this argument is in Asia is a report on The Infoshop, an online market research portal. It forecasts that before 2028, China will buy more than 3,700 airplanes with the potential market value of US$390 billion, rising to the top of the civil aerospace market chart.

Providing an alternative to air travel are high-speed trains (pg 64). Extensive railway systems are already commonplace in Asian countries like China, South Korea and Singapore and are set to expand further, providing a welcome injection of economic movement in the connecting engineering sectors.

Nobody knows for certain when it will happen but the recovery of the economy is inevitable and like commuters on the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) or travelers on a first class flight, you should buckle up and enjoy the ride.

future of the aerospace industry

Senior Art Director/Studio Manager

Lawrence Lee lawrencelee@epl.com.sg Graphic Designer

Katherine Ching katherineching@epl.com.sg contributing Designer

Libby Goh advertising sales Manager

Raymond Tan raymondtan@epl.com.sg CIRCULATION EXECUTIVE

Irene Tow irenetow@epl.com.sg Contributors

Mike Bowman, Charles Lim, Elmar Vogts, Feng Yi Ding, Russ Novak, Peter Praske, Ben Dong, Valeska Haux, Pete Lawton, Augustine Quek, Joson Ng Editorial Consultants

Jim Pinto Industry Analyst

Alastair Ross Director, Codexx Associates Ltd

supported by:

EASTERN HOLDINGS LTD executive Board Chairman

Stephen Tay GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Kenneth Tan Financial Controller

Robbin Lim

etm

Eastern

Trade Media Pte Ltd an Eastern Holdings Ltd company

Head Office & Mailing Address: Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road #04-02 EPL Building Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Website: www.iaasiaonline.com Email: iaa@epl.com.sg

Derek Rodriguez Assistant Editor

MICA (P) No. 107/10/2008 ISSN 0219/5615 PPS 1561/06/2009 (028033) Co Reg No. 199908196C Printer: Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd

6 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

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1800 226 5886

ENQUIRY NO. 043

Programmable FPGA for High-Speed Control

Industry News Breakthrough In Solar Power Generation

Canberra, Australia: Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have developed technology that makes large scale solar thermal power generation commercially viable.

The university has been involved in solar thermal power research for decades and is now conducting the final testing of its second generation ‘Big Dish’ solar thermal concentrator. The device has been built in the university grounds 8 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

with support from corporate partner Wizard Power.

To work efficiently, the mirrorcovered dish needs to rotate and change angle during the day as the sun changes position, and for that, a small control system is needed. Yokogawa successfully presented the case for its FA-M3 programmable controller, and won the order.

The dish concentrates the sun’s rays

onto a receiver mounted at its focal point, providing sufficient heat to split ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen gases.

These gases can be stored indefinitely at ambient temperature until required for use. When power is needed, the gases are recombined in an exothermic reaction, which produces enough heat to generate electricity through a steam turbine.

Because the Big Dish technology stores energy before generating electricity, it is capable of delivering multi-megawatt base load electricity and meeting peak loads on demand 24 hours a day in the same way that coal, nuclear or gas fired power stations do. It’s emission-free power generation on a large scale.

Once the technology has been fully tested, it will be utilised in a pilot base load solar thermal power plant in Whyalla, South Australia to be built by Australian company Wizard Power.

The Whyalla plant will initially have four dishes, each of which will have its own control system and be capable of producing up to 100kW of electricity.

The Federal Government has supported the project with a A$7 million (US$5.4 million) grant, as part of its efforts to tackle climate change.

Wizard Power is already engaged in negotiations to build more power plants around the world that could see coal-fired electricity generation eventually replaced with zero emission solar thermal power.

There is also interest in the technology because the high temperatures that the Big Dish can achieve – up to 1200 degrees Celsius – make an array of other conversion opportunities possible. These include solar gasification of coal and biomass to produce distillates that can be used as clean transport fuels.

“It’s very exciting for everyone at Yokogawa that our equipment is contributing to a technology that will have such a positive impact on the planet,” Yokogawa Australia’s MD, John Hewitt said.

ENQUIRY NO. 4101

Industry News

Moog Expands Wind Power Business now has over 300 persons dedicated to the wind power business and possesses all the core components Sensors installed in for electric and hydraulic pitch blade (4 per blade) control solutions in-house, thereby ensuring stable supply for customers around the world.

These core components Interrogator unit include sensors, servomotors, Optical located in turbine hub Interconnection cables servovalves, electro-mechanical and Typical load measurement system configuration electro-hydraulic actuators, rotating connectors (slip rings and fibre optical Singapore: Moog Asia Pacific will rotary joints), controllers, and drives. further expand its wind power business Moog Asia Pacific will design customised by offering unique fibre optic load pitch control solutions incorporating these measurement systems for wind turbines. core components for manufacture in The move follows the acquisition by locations optimal for customers. parent company Moog of 70 percent of In 2009, Moog expects to supply Insensys on January 30 for �11 million systems and components for 5,000 wind (US$17.3 million), with an option to turbines around the world, including purchase the remaining 30 percent within 1,500 to 2,000 units in China. one year.

ENQUIRY NO. 4102 With the acquisition of Insensys, Moog

SAP Customers Address Business Challenges Singapore: Banner Pharmacaps, Belden, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Tasty Baking Company are among the latest companies to identify and implement SAP’s Best-Run Now packages to address immediate business needs and realise timely return on investment.

Research firm IDC notes that the need for effective business information to guide key decisions has never been greater. “On a worldwide basis, firms of all sizes are under pressure to sharpen business practices and capitalise on operational efficiencies,” said Ray Boggs, VP, research, IDC. “This means coordinating islands of information to optimise cash flow and understand the interactions of different business elements.”

ENQUIRY NO. 4103

Advanced Machine Automation Products Realizing High-speed and Deterministic Performance

Decentralized Motion Control Solutions

AMAX-2050KW

GX2-400 Machine Control Box with AMONet Interface

AMAX-2241/PMA

4-axis AMONet RS-485 Motion Slave Module for Panasonic Minas A

NEW

AMAX-2752SY AMAX-2754SY

32-ch Isolated Digital Input/Output Slave Module

PEC-3240

Coming Soon!

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Intel® Celeron® Touch Panel Computer

Authorised Microsoft Windows Embedded Distributor

Singapore (South Asia Pacific Headquarter) Tel: 65-6442 1000 Email: sg@advantech.com Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur Toll-free: 00 800 9898 8998 Email: sales@advantech.com.my Penang Tel: 60-4-397 3788 Email: sales@advantech.com.my Thailand: Bangkok Tel: 66-2-248 3140 Email: sales@advantech.co.th Australia: Melbourne Tel: 61-3-9797 0100 Email: info@advantech.net.au Sydney Tel: 61-2-9482 2999 Email: info@advantech.net.au

ENQUIRY NO. 046

© 2009 Advantech Co. Singapore Pte Ltd

TPC-1780H

17” SXGA TFT LCD Core™ 2 Duo L7400 Touch Panel Computer

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 9

Industry News

Check Point Awarded Certification Singapore: Check Point’s VPN-1 R65 security gateway and SmartConsole management system have received Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL4) certification from the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP). Government agencies requiring EAL4 certification can benefit from the protection VPN-1

R65 provides with its integrated firewall, intrusion prevention (IPS), virtual private network (VPN) and remote access capabilities.

T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l S t a n d a rd Organization initially adopted Common Criteria and uses EAL levels as global standards that attest to the reliability of a security solution - the higher the

level, the more reliable the product.

EAL4 certification provides assurance to government agencies, and any organisation protecting mission critical assets. Many government agencies require network security solutions to have at the minimum EAL4 certification.

ENQUIRY NO. 4104

3S Smart Software Solutions Opens Office In China

Beijing, China: In order to be able to meet the continually growing demand and the need for local presence as well as onsite support and service, 3S Smart Software Solutions has opened a branch office in the Chinese capital Beijing.

The Beijing branch presently employs four people. Beside technical and commercial tasks they will also be responsible for adequately marketing the leading IEC 61131-3 programming system CoDeSys in China.

The inaugural ceremony was attended

by CEO Dieter Hess and director of sales Dimitri Philippe from 3S Smart Software Solutions, officials from the city of Beijing, the district, the German Embassy, the state-run Association for Mechatronics Technology and Applications (CAMETA), Chinese Universities and their automation departments as well as customers.

“The inauguration of our first branch office is a great challenge for us especially as this office is located in China which is a strategically important market for us,” says Mr Hess.

ENQUIRY NO. 4105

10 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

ExxonMobil’s Tech Centre In China Beijing, China: ExxonMobil Chemical is set to open a technology centre in Shanghai, China.

A ceremony, held on its site at Shanghai Zizhu Science-based Industrial Park, was attended by Liu Jinping, vice chairman, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce; Steve Pryor, president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company; Bob Davis, VP, Global Technology, ExxonMobil Chemical Company; and Paul Theys, chairman, ExxonMobil (China) Investment.

“This new centre in Shanghai is an important step towards supporting the tremendous growth we anticipate in sales of our premium products. It will expand our ability to deliver innovative solutions to our customers in the region,” Mr Pryor said. “It also signifies our long-term commitment to China and the region.”

The 27,000 sq m facility will be built and operated by ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Research & Development Company Limited. The initial investment in the technology centre and related equipment is US$70 million.

The facility will house laboratories and product demonstration facilities, providing applications technical service and a range of application development capabilities for ExxonMobil’s polymer products and plasticisers. Initial employment will be approximately 200 people. The facility is expected to be operational in 2010.

ENQUIRY NO. 4106

Industry News

Global Wireless Infrastructure Schneider Electric Acquires CAPEX To Grow In 2010 Conzerv

ENQUIRY NO. 040

83x110 kat.pdf

5/20/09

5:02:22 PM ENQUIRY

NO. 4107

Rueil-Malmaison, France: Schneider Electric has signed an agreement to acquire Conzerv Systems, a company dealing in energy efficiency in the Indian Market, serving industrial and commercial end-users in particular.

The company has designed and manufactured digital energy meters in India since the early nineties. Today, it employs 337 people.

With this acquisition, Schneider Electric will reinforce its position to capture opportunities in the fast growing energy efficiency field in India. Conserv products will also expand Schneider Electric’s offering in power monitoring for its international markets.

Russell Stocker, executive VP of Schneider Electric’s Asia Pacific Operating Division commented: “Together with Conzerv, we now have in India a unique energy efficiency portfolio comprising of audit and measure, active remediation, and monitoring. We are very excited as the combination of products, technologies, channels, markets, and above all talent will transform us into a formidable force in the energy efficiency arena in India and further accelerate our development in this area”.

The completion of the transaction, subject to conditions precedent and approvals, is expected to occur soon.

Acr1321195.pdf

5/28/09

2:22:58 PM

ENQUIRY NO. 4108

ENQUIRY NO. 048

London, England: In the most pessimistic of three ABI Research forecast scenarios, worldwide capital expenditure (CAPEX) on wireless infrastructure should still post a year-over-year growth of 1.5 percent between 2009 and the end of 2010. The most optimistic of the three forecasts sees that CAPEX figure reach as much as 3.7 percent growth.

“It’s no surprise that 2009 will be a bad year for wireless infrastructure spending,” says senior analyst Aditya Kaul.

“But 2010 is likely to see a renewed focus on spending due to competitive pressures around improving capacity and coverage.”

Even within the depressed 2009 spending picture, regional differences exist. While spending has been reduced in Western Europe, operators in North America – despite seeing some negative impact – intend to continue with their 4G upgrade plans, while CAPEX in China and India is expected to get a boost as 3G deployments get under way.

And, Mr Kaul notes: “The storm-clouds of 2009 may actually have silver linings. Some segments may benefit as alternatives to traditional macro base-station deployments: in-building wireless, femtocells, more energy-efficient ‘green’ base stations, infrastructure sharing, single RAN base stations, and more spectrally-efficient technologies.”

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 11

Industry News

Water Treatment Facility Uses Profibus Network Singapore: This water processing facility uses membrane filtration and cleaning system, with a fully redundant control system and network for 100 percent uptime.

The installation represents a total of 550 Profibus DP I/O points to be integrated.

The Turck piconet and AIM range, combined with connectivity solution was the choice for this project. The AIM stations (Advanced I/O Module) are designed for machine mounting.

These stations allow easy connection of standard digital I/O devices such as sensors, limit switches, valves and pilot lights to a Profibus network, typically without a protective enclosure due to its IP67 rating.

The piconet system combines the rugged connectorised concept of Turck AIM stations with a modular approach.

The system is composed of a gateway and I/O extensions, all in IP67, that are linked using a fibre optic ring for communication.

ENQUIRY NO. 4109

Omron Machinery Safety Services Available In SEA California, USA: The Omron Scientific Technologies suite of machinery safety consulting services is now available to manufacturers in Southeast Asia. Safety services are available as a full solution or on an a la carte basis, and include machine and process safety education, assessment and risk identification, engineering and design, as well as integration and implementation.

Available education services include a safety and health training software programme, safe distance measurement tools, Skill Builder training and guest speaker programmes, and free on-site product and application training.

Manufacturers can also select from a number of engineering and design, and integration and implementation, services to tailor a solution to meet their needs. These programmes include turn-key safeguard integration, machine safeguarding evaluation/risk level identification/risk reduction, safety system interface engineering and design, machine or process safety consulting, safety project engineering/design, project management, and annual machine safety check-ups.

ENQUIRY NO. 4110

12  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Industry News

Singapore: Agility has announced the expansion of its logistics hub in Singapore along with the extension of its Asia Pacific headquarters with an aim to strengthen its presence in Asia and provide a platform for further growth in the region.

“Singapore is the established logistics hub for Asia and the leading global shipping centre in the region and it has long been our aim to strengthen Agility’s operational capabilities through opening a new RDC and by recognising the strategic importance of Singapore by establishing part of our Asia Pacific headquarters in the city state,” said Wolfgang Hollermann, Agility CEO, Asia Pacific.

Chairman and MD of Agility, Tarek Sultan, who presided over the opening of the new logistics hub, said:, “Singapore is an important piece in Agility’s growth plans. We continue to grow our investments here because Singapore’s excellent connectivity and operating environment provides us an ideal platform to manage our growing regional presence. In the last few years we have also made sizeable investments locally, including the acquisition of Synergy, a leading oil and gas service logistics provider.”

The 14,500 sq m five storey bonded facility at Changi North has three floors designed for an ambient temperature warehouse with two levels for warehousing and a conventional racking system and can hold a total of 6,500 pallet positions.

Logistics services available include inbound management and distribution, consolidation and finished goods management, merge-in-transit and cross dock operations, kitting to-line operations, RMA Programmes, Reverse Logistics, Order Fulfillment and PO Management, Configuration and Builtto-Order Managementproject phases.

ENQUIRY NO. 4111

University Announces Simulation Classes Pennsylvania, USA: The North Carolina State University Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt programme now includes classes using its new Simio simulation software.

The class is designed for those who want to learn process simulation for making decisions or conducting process improvement projects, without being burdened with low-level programming. Classes will be of interest to operations managers in industries such as health care, defense, national security, mining, shipping, airports, supply chain and manufacturing. Simulation software is used to help minimise the risk of capital investments and clarify lean operation initiatives. ENQUIRY NO. 4112

Now Offering Industrial Wireless with 802.11n

• • • • • •

IEEE 802.11 a,b,g,n with Data Rates up to 300Mb/s 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz Frequencies IP67 Model Provides Protection Against Dust and Water 20-49VDC or Power over Ethernet -40ºC to 70ºC Operating Temperature Configurable as Station or Access Point in Bridge or Router Modes • Web Browser Management • Secure WPA2 Encryption Shanghai: +86 021 6133 7770 Beijing: +86 (0) 139 1029 0271 e-mail: N-TRON_sales@n-tron.com web: www.n-tron.com

ENQUIRY NO. 035

Agility Expands Logistics Hub In Singapore

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 13

Industry News

Spherical Roller Bearings Selected For Retractable Roof At Wimbledon

United Kingdom: More than 300 spherical roller bearings from Schaeffler UK are supporting a retractable roof over the Centre Court, Wimbledon. The roof is designed to open and close in less than 10 minutes and will be unveiled for the first time at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in June 2009.

The roof will enable a consistent and safe (non-slippery) playing surface to be maintained in both open and closed positions. The translucent roof allows a high percentage of natural light to reach the grass when in the closed position and

offers protection to the grass under all adverse weather conditions.

The roof itself is of a ‘folding fabric concertina’ design, enabling it to be folded into a highly compressed area when not in use over the court. The roof is translucent enough to provide an ‘open’ feel even when the roof is closed.

The fabric, 5,200 sq m of it in total, is a specially developed waterproof structural material that is extremely strong, and also highly flexible.

The retractable roof is divided into two sections, with a total of nine bays of

structural fabric – four bays in one section and five in the other. Each of the nine bays of fabric is clamped on either side by prismatic steel trusses. There are 10 trusses in total that span approximately 77 m across the court. The ends of each truss are supported by a set of wheels that move along a track positioned on each side of Centre Court.

At the end of the trusses, lie components that look rather like e n o r m o u s h i n g e s . S c h a e ff l e r ’s FAG spherical roller bearings are incorporated into these hinges. These bearings were selected for their low frictional resistance and ability to accommodate large misalignments.

The bearings are lubricated with high performance grease and will require minimal maintenance during their service life.

In total, Schaeffler supplied more than 300 bearings for the project. These bearings were a mixture of spherical roller bearings to support the radial loads in the hinges at the ends of the roof arches and spherical roller thrust bearings, which support the axial loads imposed by the tensioning cables that stretch across the roof.

ENQUIRY NO. 4113

Samsung Heavy Industries Advances Into Wind Power South Korea: Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has entered into the US wind power generator market, which it achieved by concluding an LOI with Cielo, a US-based firm, for the installation of three 2.5 MW wind power generators by 2011 in Texas.

Launching the business in 2008, SHI has developed the wind power generator in cooperation with a UK engineering firm, which it unveiled at Wind Power 2009 in early May this year.

As the US government has announced its intention to increase the portion of wind-generated power from its current level of one percent to over 20 percent of the power used in the US by 2030, the company decided to advance into the US market, recognising its high growth potential.

These efforts have now borne fruit, with the company signalling its US market entry just nine months after launching the business.

14 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

The 2.5 MW wind power generator developed by the company has a 10 percent higher power generation efficiency, a lifecycle of 25 years, which is five years longer than existing products.

In addition, the company unveiled its mid-term targets, which include investments of KRW 600 billion (US$481 million), annual production of 200 units of 2.5 MW inland power generators and 5 MW offshore power generators by 2010, revenues of KRW 3 trillion through the production of 800 units of wind power generators in 2015, and the world’s seventh largest market share (10 percent).

The company aims to operate in the US, Chinese and Indian markets with large territories through its 2.5 MW in-land wind power generators in the initial stage, and then increase its Asian and EU market shares with offshore generators that boast high efficiency and lower noise from 2015.

ENQUIRY NO. 4114

Industry News

IPS Inks Agreement With Petrobras

Buenos Aires, Argentina: Invensys Process Systems (IPS) has signed a five-year, US$50 million contract to provide comprehensive safety services and solutions to Brazil based energy company Petrobras.

The company will implement its Triconex safety and critical controls and Avantis asset management technology

Regional Network Hitachi Asia Ltd Hitachi Asia (Thailand) Co. Ltd Hitachi Asia (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd

to upgrade and modernise 11 Petrobras refining facilities throughout Brazil.

Along with its proprietary technology, IPS will also supply engineering, systems integration and consulting services to help Petrobras meet its strategic goal of becoming one of the five largest integrated energy companies in the world.

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ENQUIRY NO. 4115

As a regional headquarter, Hitachi Asia Ltd (HAS) markets electric motors, air compressors and digitalized inverters. It is also responsible for the marketing of various industrial products such as programmable logic controllers, ink jet printers, hoists, vortex blowers, contactors and circuit breakers.

Hitachi Asia Ltd – Philippines Branch

Hitachi Asia Ltd – Jakarta Office

The adoption of safety policies and procedures is an integral component of Petrobras’ strategic plan to improve automation standards. To enable them to meet their business goals, IPS will deliver fully engineered safety services and solutions, including logic diagram validation.

According to its Business Plan 2020, Petrobras’ long-term strategy is to continue to pursue sustainable, responsible growth and expand operations in key oil and oil-related markets around the globe, as well as become a benchmark integrated energy company. Environment, health and safety are a top priority for Petrobras.

As a result, Petrobras is investing in new process units for each existing refinery to ensure that they remain in compliance with strict new environmental requirements for processing clean fuels.

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ENQUIRY NO. 827

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June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 15

Industry News

Toyota Honours Siemens For IWLAN Munich, Germany: Siemens has received the Toyota Technology and Development Award. The Japanese automaker presented the award in recognition of the improvements in productivity realised through the use of wireless control units from Siemens.

The industrial WLAN system (IWLAN) makes it possible to operate robots at various stations of a production line much more quickly and with big gains in flexibility and efficiency.

Thanks to the IWLAN systems, up to eight robots can be activated by means of a single mobile IWLAN device. Employees are also spared the time-consuming task of rolling up and rolling out the cable connecting the robots with the control

panel, which can be as much as 30 m long.

Based on the WLAN wireless radio standard, IWLAN makes it possible to control factory machines by means of radio signals. To meet the special requirements of industrial applications, WLAN needs a few supplemental features, including dedicated data rates or high-speed roaming for time-critical commands — known as the iFeatures.

The latest development in the IWLAN portfolio is a decentralised station and the iHOP function, which ensure reliable communication in spontaneous networks,

Doosan Completes Production Plant In Vietnam South Korea: On May 15, Doosan held a ceremony to inaugurate Doosan Vina’s production plant at the Dung Quat Industrial Complex in the mid-southern coastal region of Vietnam, with more than 1,000 people attending. Among the attendees at the ceremony were a number of Vietnamese government officials including Hoang Trung Hai, vice prime minister, and Pham Dinh Khoi, chief secretary of the Communist Party in Quang Ngai Province, as well as Hong Jae Lim, Korean ambassador to Vietnam, and Doosan Group officials including group chairman YH Park and president Geewon Park of Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction.

The Vietnamese plant consists of five plants, including a boiler production plant and a Chemical Process Equipment (CPE) plant, as well as the main office building, an in-house pier, and various port facilities. The plant now has more than 1,700 staff, including some 1,560 local hires and 140 staff seconded from Doosan in South Korea.

Currently, the Vietnamese plant is constructing key facilities, including a compressor assembly for a 300MW-class boiler for the Pecem Coal Thermal Power Plant in Brazil, a project won by Doosan Babcock last year, and a freshwater vapouriser for the phase 2 Shuweihat water desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates, a project acquired by Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction last year. Doosan Vina plans to finish assembly work and deliver the products by the year’s end.

ENQUIRY NO. 4117

MYMEX JB 2009 Postponement Johor Bahru, Malaysia: MYMEX Johor Bahru 2009 – scheduled to be held from July 22–25, 2009 at the Persada Johor International Convention Centre has been postponed. The decision is made based on the request of the majority 16 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

of the exhibitors due to the prevailing economic climate.

Currently there is no fixed date for the return of the event.

ENQUIRY NO. 4118

even if there are interferences in the radio field. In this case, the access point automatically switches to another radio channel for its connected receivers.

ENQUIRY NO. 4116

Ircon & Raytek Offer Defense Against Swine Flu California, USA: Fixed infrared scanners and thermal imagers from Raytek/Ircon, as well as handheld IR thermal imagers from its parent company, Fluke, can be used at airports, terminals, hospitals, schools, factories and public gathering areas to identify people with elevated temperatures resulting from an infectious disease, such H1N1 influenza A (Swine Flu). Individuals who register a fever can then be isolated for further evaluation to help prevent the spread of disease.

I R n o n c o n t a c t t e m p e r a t u re measurement can be an effective, easily deployed solution for identifying individuals who may have elevated skin temperatures.

Raytek, Ircon and Fluke IR noncontact thermometers measure surface temperature, including the temperature of skin, which is displayed in color using a thermal imager or linescanner. An alarm or ‘red light’ indicator can be triggered when anyone passes through the scanning area, such as a metal detector at the airport, with a body temperature outside the normal range.

ENQUIRY NO. 4119

Four Systems Pass Host Profile Registration Process Four initial Foundation fieldbus host systems from three manufacturers have passed the Fieldbus Foundation’s new Host Profile Registration Process. They include Yokogawa’s Stardom networkbased control system and Centum VP integrated production control system, ABB’s System 800xA Extended automation product, Emerson Process Management’s DeltaV digital automation system using AMS Suite intelligent device manager.

The programme was established as a key initiative for the global automation industry. Under the

registration process, fieldbus hosts successfully completing the test requirements are authorised to bear the official Foundation product registration symbol.

Hosts may include configuration tools, recording devices, alarm display panels, human-machines interfaces (HMIs), or systems with a combination of functionality.

In addition, automation suppliers are now implementing host applications that use enhanced Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) features. EDDL is a universal interface to diagnostic, real-time, and asset management

information contained in millions of field instruments from leading automation manufacturers.

Enhanced EDDL allows users to interact with devices in new ways, including improved data visualisation and display capabilities such as waveforms and valve signatures, a standardised method to access historic measurement or device performance information, and enhanced tools for high-level information (such as algorithmic relationships for complex device parameters) display and use in control systems.

ENQUIRY NO. 4120

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June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 17

Asia EtherCAT Goes To India

The recent Industrial Ethernet Seminar series in India marked the beginning of ETG’s presence in this fast growing economy.

Although aimed at ETG member companies only, the seminar series was very well received: more than

150 registered attendants marked India’s interest in the technology.

The seminars in New Delhi, Bangalore and Pune covered a detailed technology introduction as well as an application overview. The seminar agenda was completed by

an Industrial Ethernet technology comparison.

In India, EtherCAT is already used in a large variety of applications such as packaging machines, automotive test beds, wind turbines, flight simulators and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. But Indian companies not only use it for regional applications: Since many multinational companies operate R&D centres in India and others also make use of Indian engineering services there are many EtherCAT implementations under way.

ETG plans to hold another seminar series in India in October, this time focusing on end users.

ENQUIRY NO. 4121

1,000th Member Honoured ETG has honored its 1,000 th member, the packaging machine manufacturer Multivac. Alois Allgeier, division manager for control technology at Multivac received an award and the certificate from ETG director Martin Rostan at a small ceremony at the company headquarters.

Recently the first machine line was equipped with EtherCAT controls. Allgeier explains the decision to join the ETG: “EtherCAT provides a big step forward technologically. The effective structure of the ETG allows users to become involved and put forth our points of view in order to advance EtherCAT technology.”

18 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

ENQUIRY NO. 4122

Newsdesk

Seminars In July

The Pride Hotel Pune, India July 3, 2009

• CANopen In Lift Control Systems This seminar will give an overview on CAN in lift control systems. An introduction into CAN lowerlayer-protocols as well as into CANopen application layer protocols is also included.

The seminar will expand upon the CANopen lift application profile (CiA 417) and finally will inform about the next generation system design requirements. Mr Joshi will also be a guest speaker at this seminar.

Hotel Karl Residency Mumbai, India July 7, 2009 ENQUIRY NO. 4123

ENQUIRY NO. 047

• CAN/CANopen In Wind Power Systems This seminar will provide an overview on CAN networks in wind power systems. An introduction into CAN lower-layer-protocols as well as into CANopen application-layer-protocols is also included.

The seminar will introduce the CANopen system design options for wind power systems and will inform about the next generation system design requirements. Anat Khadkikar from Bachmann Electronic Industrial Automation in Pune as well as Tushar Joshi from Kübler Automation India, Pune are guest speakers at this event.

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 19

issues & insights

Safe+y Industrial Robots:

FirsT

ith technological advancements and the rise of a new generation of high dynamic robots, successful i n t e g r a t i o n o f p ro d u c t i o n processes has the potential to yield greater efficiency and productivity. Failure to ensure appropriate safety measures within the production process, however, can pose significant risks with costly ramifications.

When discussing ‘process safety’ at the employment of tool exchange systems, there are two 20 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

factors that must be taken into consideration.

The first, and most obvious, relates to physical safety – ensuring the health and well-being of humans working alongside the line, as well as the protection of the actual equipment employed.

The second factor addresses the production process itself – ensuring reliability within the

The protection of operators and the production output requires a series of safety measures built into the tool change system on robots.

By Mike Bowman, controls engineer, Applied Robotics

process to reach a production end-goal of 100 percent capacity.

This article addresses the prerequisites for process safety at the employment of tool exchange systems on robots to safeguard that the utilisation of tool changers does not threaten the welfare of the workers on the factory floor or adversely affect the total output of the production line.

Conditions For Safety What prerequisites will prevent utilisation of tool changers from becoming an additional safety hazard?

Consider the ramifications of the wrong command executed in a robot cell within the robot control, whereby the robot in motion receives the order to drop a 200 kg welding gun. In these instances, where high dynamic robots are providing accelerations in excess of 20 times the earth’s gravitational pull in normal operation and exceeding more than that in emergency shutdown situations, there is simply no room for error or accident.

Admittedly, the thought of a free flying welding gun through the production area may be a bit dramatic, but there have been situations where certain safety precautions were not taken, either due to negligence or ignorance of the predetermined process.

According to the United Auto Workers, the majority of accidents reported in the United States occur as a result of a worker found ‘inside the robot’s safeguarded or restricted space during its automatic operation.’ Few reports indicate machinery failure or malfunction. In part, this can be attributed to the safety measures inherent within the robot, its tooling and its environment.

Opportunities to help ensure process safety at the employment of tool exchange systems are possible if the following key process factors are understood and implemented.

Work Cell Zones The first line of defense in preventing accidental tool drops is to create a safe zone within the robot programming to ensure that the tool will only uncouple in areas that are predetermined as ‘safe’ whereby no harm will come to operators or equipment if a tool

is dropped. This work cell zone, defined in the robot controller, prohibits a tool from uncoupling if the robot is not within the programmed zone area.

Coupling & Uncoupling Coupling and uncoupling represents the greatest opportunity to prevent unnecessary harm.

Efforts can be made within the robot’s environment, as well as within the tool exchange system itself to ensure safety.

Specific coupling and uncoupling considerations include:

This system does not transmit pneumatic pressure to the uncoupling valve until the robot has correctly set the tool into the final release position. While this is actually a feasible solution, practice has shown that the operator can, and sometimes will, override the switch manually to uncouple the tool. This situation, which occurs most often during line set up, debug and tool maintenance, is an unsafe practice.

It is also important to note that a comparable electrical solution is equally suitable to prevent nonprogrammed release of tools.

• Sensors & Pneumatic Interlocks In addition to work cell zones, • Set Up & Programming sensors and pneumatic interlocks According to the US Department should also be integrated into the of Labor’s Occupational Safety and tool exchange system. While it is Health Administration (OSHA), not required to use both, it is good most problems do not occur during practice. Use of a sensor as part of normal operating conditions, the uncouple circuit must be made but rather during programming, to actuate, so even if the sensor is programme touch-up or refinement, unplugged, the tool changer will maintenance, repair, testing, set never uncouple. up or adjustment.

There is a prominent Air pressure is an important, misconception that embedding the but often neglected factor that Programmable Logic Controller should be taken into consideration (PLC) sensor either as a hardware during set up. The valve must be or software solution is enough of under electrical control, meaning a safety measure to prevent a tool that the coupled state is known from accidentally dropping outside and tested before applying air of the tool station. Although this pressure during initial set up. allows the tool to release only in the designated tool hanging mechanism, this WORK CELL ZONE is inadequate because it will not actually prevent a tool drop should the PLC Door Robot Controller Interlock be told to execute the wrong command.

As an alternate approach, the robot side Safety Safe Zone of a tool changer should Switch include a pneumatic Tool Stand activation switch in Robot addition to the PLC sensor, which is only activated when the tool is placed properly in its The work cell zone prohibits a tool from uncoupling if the robot is not within the storage fixture within the programmed zone area workstation.

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 21

issues & insights

It is also important that the valve is commanded to be in the coupled state before applying pressure. Failure to do so can result in an accidental tool drop.

Another factor to consider when using a tool exchange system, regardless of the type of latching mechanism, is to always incorporate the tool changer couple and uncouple sensors in the programming logic.

By doing so, this will determine whether the latching mechanisms are engaged or disengaged from the tool.

If this is not done, the latching mechanism may not fully disengage, which can cause the tool to be dragged out of the tool storage fixture and accidentally dropped.

Control Of Actuation Valves Controlling the actuation valve to ensure proper coupling and uncoupling is another important safety measure to be taken into consideration. Control of the actuation valve can be accomplished through electrical interlock logic or pneumatic interlock logic.

Pneumatic Interlock Switch

Uncouple

• Pneumatic Safety Switch A pneumatic safety switch is an additional measure that can be employed. In this scenario, the pneumatic line to the uncoupled valve passes through a robot side mechanical valve that is only activated when the robot arm is in the designated end position at the tool station.

Handling High Current When discussing the safety of tool exchange systems, another factor that must be taken into consideration is the voltage level of the current flowing through the system. In welding applications, there can be as many as several hundred amperes with voltages as high as 600 volts depending on the type of welding system utilised.

If the tool changer is not adequately equipped to handle such current and degrades over time, a malfunction and subsequent tool failure may occur. Therefore, appropriate measures must be employed.

Couple

Pressure 6 Bar

Safe Zone Tool Stand

Pneumatic Interlock Switch

Uncouple

Regardless of the type of logic, it is critical that multiple layers of interlocks are built into the tool exchange system to ensure 100 percent capacity of the production line.

Couple

Safe Zone Tool Stand

Pressure 6 Bar

A pneumatic safety switch

22 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

• Materials The materials used in the tool changer system must be durable enough to safely handle high current flow even under adverse conditions. Materials like FR4, a fiberglass epoxy laminate, provide a suitable dielectric constant to prevent leakage through the tool changer housing, eliminating such problems as sensor shortages, motors burning and even electrocution.

In addition to durable materials, the insulation must also be able to withstand the welding current and prevent current transferring back from the welding gun.

High-KVA Touchsafe Contacts

When the tool changer is uncoupled the robot contacts must be ‘touch safe’

• Exposure Additionally, it is important that electrical operators on the floor are not exposed to hazards. In c o m p l i a n c e w i t h E u ro p e a n standards, when the tool changer is uncoupled the robot contacts must be ‘touch safe.’ This is especially important when changing from a welding gun to a gripper – highKVA to non-KVA. The robot side must be covered to shield the exposed high-KVA contacts.

On occasion, in addition to the actual current carr ying contacts, so called ‘mass contacts’ are utilised that are capable of handling the total current capacity of all electrical contacts together.

For example, with 3x200 amperes at 600 volts or respectively 120 KVA per contact, the mass contact must be able to handle a minimum capacity of 360 KVA. High Dynamic Robots As previously mentioned, newer robots that are designed to help reduce cycle time and generate greater productivity on the line have entered the market. Robots like the ABB IRB 6600, IRB 7600 and the Kuka KRC series can be characterised as ‘high dynamic,’ since they are capable of generating high dynamic forces, particularly at an emergency stop.

ENQUIRY NO. 030

issues & insights

As a result, it is important that all tool exchange systems meet the stringent demands of these robots, both with direct mounting and more robust locking mechanisms.

These high dynamic robots a re c a p a b l e o f g e n e r a t i n g moments and torques with tooling payloads in excess of half a tonne, with accelerations equaling as much as 20 times the earth’s gravity – especially at emergency stops where tooling payloads may easily reach or exceed 10.0 KNm at the base.

Heavy payload and high dynamicS

High dynamic robots are capable of generating moments and torques with tooling payloads in excess of half a tonne

Therefore, tool changing systems and locking mechanisms must be able to safely handle such load conditions and be able to provide more than the commonly projected 5 million change cycles without compromising accuracy or performance.

• Deceleration/Emergency Stops The proper tool changer for these high dynamic robot models should be engineered for the ‘worst case’ robot capability and not the actual loads generated within a specific tool.

According to ABB, in the extreme condition of full velocity, 24 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

full reach, full payload and the worst case emergency stop, the IRB 6600 can generate a maximum of 10.0 KNm and the IRB 7600 can generate 14.0 KNm at the tool mounting surface.

Similarly, the Kuka KRC series is capable of generating 9 to 1 6 G ’s a t e m e rg e n c y s t o p depending on the specific model at the tool mounting surface.

These forces must be well below a tool changer’s failure point, providing inherent strength greater than the moments or torques generated by the robot even under the most adverse conditions.

In an effort to reduce weight, older tool changers have traditionally been designed to mount to the robot via aluminum adapter plates, typically with six M8 or M10 screws.

These mounting methods, which can not withstand the forces generated by newer robots, can become a dangerous failure point.

Any tool changer that uses an aluminum adapter plate mounting between the robot flange and the tool changer may not provide the full moment and torque transfer given by the manufacturer’s robot mounting pattern.

The same holds true for the replicate robot mounting pattern on the tool side of the robot.

Such applications constitute unsafe practice and may present significant liability issues.

One possible solution to this problem is to replace the aluminum adapter plate with steel. However, the additional weight and increased inertia on the robot or tool mounting screws reduces the available payload capacity for that robot.

It is an essential safety requirement that the tooling equipment be capable of withstanding the maximum

forces that can be generated by the specific robot rather than just absorbing initial tooling concepts.

This will protect the line builder and end-user through the life of the line from inadvertent overloads caused by process changes or tooling modifications, especially with new lines, which generally see more changes of this type.

It is also important to note that all of these considerations not only apply to just the tool changer, but also to the tooling that is mounted to the tool changer.

Safety The Priority P e rc e p t i o n s re g a rd i n g t h e utilisation of tool changer systems on robots have shifted from not only providing the utmost flexibility on the line, but also providing additional value by increasing throughput on lines that do or do not currently employ tool change systems.

While it is clear that technological innovations within tool changers have brought greater efficiency and flexibility to automation, it does not imply that the basic safety issues can be ignored.

To safeguard the protection of operators working on the line and the production output o f t h e l i n e i t s e l f re q u i re s redundancy – a series of safety measures with inherent checks and balances built into the tool change system.

Work cell zones, sensors, interlocks, actuation valves, proper materials and sufficient mounting plates should all be considered and employed to minimise the risk posed to workers and productivity.

ENQUIRY NO. 4201

The next generation automation control system is here.

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For more information visit: www.abb.com/controlsystems or email: processautomation@sg.abb.com

8

ENQUIRY NO. 042

Everything in one system, from the experts in automation.

control point

One Small S te p For Automation Stepping motor control has evolved into developments of drivers with builtin controllers and supporting network compatibility. By Charles Lim C S, customer support centre manager, Oriental Motor n the automation field of today, there are several types of electric motors or actuators used in systems, which can be classified as those that need high positioning accuracy that would normally employ stepping motors or servomotor drives, and those that do not.

Indeed, the factory automation of the future demands more complex systems, and also provides greater reliability and flexibility in control.

Technological innovations have to create products that are to be more user-friendly, as well as to meet industrial standards and demands of the future.

Conventional Stepping Motor Control Stepping motor systems have proved themselves to

be reliable in delivering the correct output for high accuracy positioning requirements, with minimum hassle and adjustments required.

Figure 1 shows the typical open-loop control system configuration that comprises of a Host Controller (normally, a PLC is used), a controller, a stepping motor driver and motor unit. The controller (also known as a pulse generator) shown in the illustration will be programmed using a PC, where the position data for distance, speed and direction would be stored in individual programmes.

When the host controller selects the required programme and executes it, the controller will send the information through pulses (Figure 2) for the desired motor operation.

Operation command output Alarm input

Controller EMP400

Stepping motor RK Series

Voltage

Host controller

T

T: Pulse periods [sec]

PC

Pulse output Alarm input

Time

Sequence program creation/editing

Figure 1: System configuration of conventional stepping motor control 26  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Figure 2: Example of pulse waveforms from a controller

For example, if a stepping motor has a step angle of 0.72°/step, and it is required to turn 360° (1 revolution), the controller would need to set 360° / 0.72° = 500 pulses. If it is supposed to rotate that revolution within 1 second, the frequency set would be 500 pulses per second (pps), or also known as 500Hz. This open-loop control method does not need the use of feedback systems to determine its position, making setup easy and fast.

able to scan to the desired position manually and enter it as a desired position instead of determining it by calculating the number of pulses, making position setting more precise and easy.

Simplifying Control Using pulse lines for stepping motor control has proven to be a very reliable system for decades; however there are the occasional issues of noise interference from other peripheral devices, such as contact relays or power supply cables, which may affect the pulses sent to the driver.

In some cases, a lower maximum frequency of transmission may result due to stray capacitance in long pulse line between the controller to the driver. An ideal situation would be for the controller and driver to combine together as one, which will help in reducing wiring, space and eliminating the issues related to the reliability of pulse control.

Oriental Motor’s latest 5 phase stepping motor and driver package CRK Series offers a stored data type driver that allows the programming of the distance, speed and direction into 63 different programmes in the driver.

Control would be easier where the higher controller would need to do is to select the correct programme and provide the start signal to execute the movements.

Shown in the system configuration (Figure 3), setup is much more convenient without the need of 2 separate units, where all programmes are set using a data setter OPX-2A. It also provides better flexibility, such as the teaching feature (illustrated in Figure 4): the user is

Reducing Wiring Issues In industrial machines, the demand of positioning motors is normally more than just one axis. For control of multi-axes in a system, the host controller would need to provide sufficient input/output signal ports for all of the axes, and there may be several cables of various lengths connected to it.

Wiring from every driver to the host controller is a hassle and in some cases, it may build up bulks of wires stretching throughout the machine, taking up space, weight and possible problems associated to misconnections or incorrect configurations, resulting in man-hours cost wasted on troubleshooting.

It would be easier to manage and setup if the drivers were able to link up to each other; one way of reducing such wiring is to establish a network communication for all the axes, such as adopting a RS-485 communication network which is gaining popularity in a wide range of computer and automation systems.

The CRK Series driver suppor ts RS-485 communication, with the ability to use a daisy-chain connection by linking from the drivers to each other using dedicated network cables as shown in Figure 5.

Up to 31 drivers can be linked up, with each of them having a different identity by issuing a unique address individually (illustrated in Figure 6), and the last driver to have the terminal resistor switched on to prevent reflections of the bus commands.

The master device is programmed to send out commands through the network bus line to select the correct driver by calling the address number, and execute the positioning operation accordingly without any lag time between each axis (hence able

Figure 3: System configuration of CRK Series using a driver with built-in controller features

Figure 4: Scan to the desired stopping position by teaching mode using the data setter June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 27

control point

Programmable controller or master device Terminal resistor (SW3): ON

RS-485 Terminal resistor

Address number 1

Address number 2

Address number 31

Figure 5: Linking up the CRK Series drivers using RS-485 communication network

Address number setting switch (SW1) Function setting switch (SW2-No.4)

Figure 6: Easy set-up of driver address number in the driver using rotary switches

to achieve synchronous stepping motor operations for multiple axes).

Using RS-485 communication allows greater flexibility in determining the master device for control, such as using a Personal Computer (PC) with a RS-485 output.

The significant advantage that can be achieved using network systems would be the much neater and easier wiring from multiple drivers to the host controller with less labour work required, reducing

the setup costs to a fraction of what is required for conventional methods.

Detecting Missteps In factory automation machines where each axis is to perform specified processes and to co-ordinate with each other timely, a stopping position error (misstep) for a stepping motor may cause a serious problem to the entire system process if it remains undetected and not corrected.

Misstep occurs when the motor operation fails to synchronise its movements with the input pulses due to possible overloading or when speed changes rapidly.

For stepping motors with a 50 teeth rotor, misstep occurs when the position of the rotor displaces the stator teeth more than ±1.8° from its stable position, thereby snapping to the next stable position at 7.2° away.

To detect any misstep occurrence and verifying if the correct position is met, the conventional way is to add an encoder to the shaft of a double-shaft stepping motor (or if possible, the application itself) to monitor the positioning real-time as a feedback.

The CRK Series driver offers external encoder inputs to its driver, and is able to detect this occurrence as shown in the block diagram (Figure 7).

When the stored programmes in the driver are executed, it would feed information of the correct pulse number to the motor drive circuit in order to rotate the stepping motor towards the correct distance, speed and direction.

The movements of the stepping motors are captured by the external encoder to read the position by receiving the A and B phases to the Encoder Feedback Counter, and compared against the actual number of pulses that has the motor is commanded to move.

If the difference between the command and feedback pulses exceeds the step out detection band of 7.2°, a Step Out signal will output to the higher controller to notify this. It is then up to the higher

Internal Command Pulses Motor Drive Circuit Stepping Motor Motor Command Counter

Encoder Feedback Counter

A / B phase

Encoder

To be compared

Figure 7: The Step Out detection feature in the CRK Series driver 28 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Figure 8: Construction of a resolver

controller to take the necessary action, such as programmed to produce an alarm output and halting the other axes processes so that the error could be corrected before production resumes again.

Eliminating Missteps An easier solution to prevent and eliminate a misstep is to use a closed-loop stepping motor system, such as offered from the AR Series. In Figure 8, it shows the construction of the AR Series stepping motor that has a built-in resolver to function as a feedback system.

The output signals of the resolver is shown in Figure 9, where it outputs two sine wave signals having a 90º difference (electrical angle) by utilising the change in inductance according to the position relationship of the rotor and stator.

By going through a high resolution analogue-todigital converter, the driver would be able to read and monitor the position of the motor effectively.

Compared to conventional encoders, a resolver system is simple and sturdy, without electronic components thus making it resistant to heat, and also enabling the motor to be more compact and thin.

The control diagram shown in Figure 10 would be illustrating the closed loop system employed in the driver, where the rotor position counter and deviation counter would be reading the position data from the resolver as it rotates.

The deviation counter would serve an important role by comparing the resolver readings against the pulses that has been sent in, and would activate closed loop control whenever a possible misstep is detected.

Normally if the positioning deviation is less than ±1.8°, the motor is not considered to have any misstep, and thus be operating like a conventional stepping motor. However, if the deviation is more than ±1.8°, the control system would immediately switch to closed loop mode to prevent the loss of synchronism, and corrects the rotor position automatically to its designated position.

Stepping Into The Future As shown, the conventional stepping motor control has evolved into developments of drivers with builtin controllers and supporting network compatibility, with closed loop features to meet the demand of zero positioning errors.

This will translate into savings and higher profits where with a more reliable and simple system, less downtime and man-hours are required to rectify possible machine problems, by which the machine could produce more consistent products with less defects within an operation day.

Improved and easy to use features help the user to setup the equipment fast, which can reduce the stress involved in installation, and creates higher flexibility in positioning control for the future.

ENQUIRY NO. 4301

Sensor Output Signal

1.25 1 Signal Level

This ensures that the position to be achieved can be met with high reliability; in conditions (such as overloading) that prevents it from doing so, the current to the motor would cut off after a short interval, and the driver outputs an alarm signal to the host controller to notify this situation.

Therefore, the use of closed loop stepping motor will prevent the possible problems associated with the errors in positioning effectively, bringing the reliability of an automated system to a higher level.

There are other advantages can be achieved from closed loop stepping motors such as taking higher inertia loads more than conventional models, and able to achieve shorter positioning time with less acceleration / deceleration time needed, since it is able to prevent missteps in such conditions.

0.5 0 -0.5

Motor runs in open mode like a stepping motor.

-1 0°

60°

120°

180° Rotor Angle (Electrical angle)

Figure 9: Feedback signals from a resolver

240°

300° A Phase

360° B Phase

Control switches to closed loop mode to prevent loss of synchronism.

Figure 10: Control diagram of the AR series system

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 29

control point

S

mall, fast and cheap PLC-solutions usually offer few engineering options and often do not provide convenient visualisation. In contrast, distributed control systems integrate a host of components such as controls, engineering tools, HMIs (human machine interfaces) and numerous peripheral devices and tools.

The segment between PLCs and the world of control systems – the hybrid market – is currently being targeted by both sides. PLC components are becoming more powerful and they can therefore also process more complex tasks. ‘Lite’ control systems are being introduced and they are increasingly being installed in small to medium-sized applications with less complex automation tasks.

For small and less complex automation tasks with often only few signals standalone PLCs have been and are still used, because until now process control systems have been too expensive for these tasks.

In the process industry many control tasks, eg compressors, centrifuges or steam generators, have been automated as PLC-based package units, leading to variety of different control systems and tools.

Control systems are increasingly replacing PLCs in automation solutions. By Elmar Vogts, product manager, Freelance 800F, ABB

30 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Taking

Control

Compact Alternative Driven by technological developments in the last years, manufacturers of process automation technology are nowadays able to offer control systems with higher scalability as an alternative to PLCs in processoriented applications. The advantages are obvious: efficient engineering, easy operating and maintaining as well as increased productivity due to intelligent diagnosis.

It is now possible for smaller automation solutions, which to date have been dominated by PLCs, to benefit from the advantages of process control engineering, particularly in the process industry. There are opportunities for use in many industries, including chemicals, petrochemicals, oil and gas, metalworking, cement production, glass production, etc.

ENQUIRY NO. 4302

ABB:

Compact Controller

A

n addition to the Freelance 800F family, ABB’s AC 700F controller is a powerful, compact controller that bridges the gap between PLCs and larger process automation systems.

The AC 700F offers a single engineering tool for all tasks: Control Builder F. It is used for configuration of the automation functions, the operator interface with displays and logs and fieldbus parameters.

The Freelance 800F compact control system with the AC 700F controller allows extended scalability towards the PLC market and is enlarging the application areas to the smallest applications starting with 16 I/O. It provides powerful, scalable control options for smaller applications, where a full size DCS solution is too complex and a PLC does not provide enough capability.

ENQUIRY NO. 4303

Distributed by

ow

Order N

Phone +65 6569 1110 Fax +65 6569 2220 sales@sm-component.com

ENQUIRY NO. 039

Diminishing Returns The use of different PLCs brings serious disadvantages for the users: different tools increase the training budget and lead to more complexity, but without adding value.

Particularly during maintenance, minor changes can cause considerable expenses, as cross-influences from different systems require manual adjusting.

The differences in visualisation and operation as well as the individual alarm concepts used by the various manufacturers can, in extreme cases, even affect the availability and safety of the application and the total plant negatively.

Additionally, the flexibility of the maintenance personnel is reduced because not all users can be familiar with all tools. Often older PLCs can only be maintained by a small number of specialists, many of whom are due to retire over the next few years.

Procuring and storing spare parts for many different systems and products cause additional work and expenses. All these reasons result in higher costs for servicing and maintaining the plants.

In contrast to PLCs, control systems are primarily based on analogue control loops with slow monitoring and control functions but less on fast positioning or switching operations.

The process is operated and monitored in the control room. The systems and plants generally run continuously and often have very high demands when it comes to availability. Consequently, implementing changes must be possible in online project configuration.

Additionally, repairing and changing of components while operating the plant is essential.

Applications are often specifically configured for one project and the processes concerned and therefore require powerful and efficient engineering-tools with extensive integration possibilities.

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia  31

software & Networks

hijiazhuang Iron & Steel (Shigang), a company in the Chinese metal industry located in Shijiazhuang city, the capital of Hebei province, uses Wonderware software in the plant’s sintering, iron making, steel making, and steelrolling.

Each of these processes has different production tasks and manufacturing steps. Before the use of the software, the automation control system was supplied by different manufacturers, each with a different means of operation.

Each piece of equipment collects or manages segmented data corresponding to its specific are of operation. The data collection frequency and storage time are hampered by the limited

Shigang relies on the Wo n d e r w a r e H i s t o r i a n t o provide a unified and integrated enterprise-level real-time information platform. The historian’s database integrates real-time data from the individual DCS and PLC system on the plant floor, while enabling the storage of historical data for long periods of time.

It enables remote control of the plant processes to the office desk, improving production management and increasing production efficiency.

The data analysis is sent to ERP and other manufacturing applications, helping decision makers in the plant to make timely decisions.

Keeping It

Real-Time Using a real-time information system to analyse various processes in the steel manufacturing. By Feng Yi Ding, control department head, Shijiazhuang Iron & Steel

capability of the CPU and hardware of each individual area specific control system.

This kind of system limits the operation of the large-scale manufacturing at Shigang. It chose the software because it provides a unified and integrated enterprise level real-time information platform to support the many applications in the steel manufacturing process.

Due to the fast scanning rate and huge data capacity requirements during the manufacturing process, a traditional database system is unable to fulfill the need for realtime information management.

32  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

From Plant To Office Currently, the historian is already connected to more than 30 different DCS and PLC systems from different areas of the plant; it collects the records of more than 4,000 points in real time.

It enables the publishing of realtime and historical data, and sends this information to more than 100 monitoring screen shots at the management tier. Technical staff and managers can login on Internet Explorer with authorised user names on any computer to monitor the manufacturing situation at real time.

computers that are run Internet Explorer with ActiveFactory client application software.

Real-time and historical data is sent to more than 100 monitoring screen shots at the management tier

The historian acquires and stores plant data, and integrates the real-time and historical plant data together into a common database.

Shigang can then access all plant information, analyse, manage and report the data through different clients. As it is equipped with MS SQL Server2000, any application using SQL, ODBC or OLE DB can conveniently acquire data from it.

Enabling The Connection T h e Wo n d e r w a re H i s t o r i a n enables the integration of almost all automation control systems that are installed in the plant. All these are entered into the realtime database system.

In the company, there are d i f f e re n t s m a l l - s c a l e d a t a collection systems throughout the plant that were created using VB, VC, Forcecontrol and KingView etc. An OPC Server was developed to collect data from these different systems in the field into the historian. This helps to enable the real time data collection of discrete databases, and relationship databases such as MS SQL Server, Access etc.

Real-Time Information Nearly 90 percent of the data analyses in the real-time database are sent to the ERP and other applications. The system can not only provide traditional inquiry analysis functions like search by contract numbers, production order and furnace numbers but it also can search by specific keywords such as steel type, production date to better manage the manufacturing process.

Once an error is identified in the production, it can be traced back using the collected data. This information can then be sent to

A traditional database system is unable to fulfill the need for real-time information management Network Structure & Security Design There are four levels in the architecture of the Shigang plant.

The first level is the various automation control systems that automate the individual manufacturing process. This includes control systems that use a variety of communication protocol that includes industrial E t h e r n e t , P ro f i b u s a n d L 2 Communications.

The second level is comprised of the remote computers that exchange, forward and store data.

The third level is Wonderware H i s t o r i a n a n d Wo n d e r w a re Information Server.

The fourth level is comprised of the different client application

the managers so they can decide on the right course of action.

The real-time database system helps in the management of the energy measurement network.

First, the energy measurement data in each section of the plant are easily integrated without modifying any programme. Second, the new energy measurement point can be connected directly to any plant section that has a connection to the real-time database.

Shigang’s real-time database system is a perfect tool in the steel manufacturing process.

Many applications have been created using this solution and have become an essential tool in the plant.

ENQUIRY NO. 4401 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia  33

software & Networks

Recipe

SCADA solutions and secure reporting tools assist F&B companies in the challenging economic climate. Commissioned

by Citect and written by analysts of the Industrial Automation Practice at Frost & Sullivan

Success For

hile macro consumer trends drive the need for more complex products, wider product ranges and increased ‘health and wellness’ benefits through food products, retail giants continue to exert considerable price pressure across the supply chain.

At the same time, government agencies have much higher expectations of the food & beverage supplier and the ‘brand’ in terms corporate stewardship and transparency.

34 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

And perhaps the biggest challenge of all is the sharp rise in input costs that is threatening the very viability of many food & beverage businesses, both large and small.

Removing The Fats Soaring input costs combined with weakened output prices and demand have put food & beverage processing firms under considerable pressure. With dramatically changed conditions in the midst of the global financial

crisis, businesses are reviewing all input costs to identify and optimise in such a manner that profitability is protected for the short-term even as operations are refashioned to become ‘recessionproof’ for the long term.

Raw Material & Labour Costs Some raw materials for food processing are currently priced at up to 50 percent above historical levels. Labour costs have also seen significant rises. To contend with these rising raw material and labour costs, the food & beverage industry has adopted several strategies. These include: • Search for more affordable ingredient alternatives or substitutes

• R e f o r m u l a t i o n o r n e w processing approaches to reduce production cost • Increased period of coverage on raw material contracts (to insulate from price volatility) • Price increases for endproducts; to help retain margins • Rationalisation / restructuring of operations across geographies • I m p r o v i n g o p e r a t o r productivity • Improving labour productivity through providing operations personnel real-time intelligence and visibility over all operational aspects of the plant Energy Costs Energy costs as a percentage of sales at large food & beverage companies are typically in the region of 10 to 15 percent, and rising. That is why it makes good business sense to take a closer look at these costs and explore avenues to minimise them.

Electricity remains the largest energy cost for typical food & beverage plants. However, it is also the one area where significant savings can be achieved in the shortest possible time, if integrated energy management systems are used.

Table 1 shows the main enduses and their typical proportion of total electrical energy consumed in a food processing plant:

To minimise energy costs, food companies are looking to: • Implement process improvements that save energy (such as optimising heat recovery through processes) • Revisit process parameters such as temperature, pressure and time to identify opportunities for fine-tuning those parameters such that process requirements are met, but energy savings are achieved where possible • Leverage process control tools more effectively to realise energy efficiencies Packaging & Transportation Costs Given the fact that food & beverage is essentially a mass market with a large number of products manufactured, stocked, distributed and sold, the potential for savings from seemingly small changes to packaging can shave off millions of dollars in overall packaging, transportation and disposal costs to companies.

To manage rising packaging and transportation costs, food companies are focusing on: • Lighter-weight packaging or shrunk packaging to reduce packaging, transportation and disposal costs (For example, in 2007–08, Coca-Cola eliminated 40 million pounds of plastic annually in the US

Table 1 Electrical Energy Consumption In Food Processing Operations End-use

% Range of Total Electrical Energy Consumed

Motors

50-60%

Refrigeration

20–40%

HVAC & Lighting

15-20%

Miscellaneous

10-15%

Source: Frost & Sullivan

• • •

•

alone simply by making smaller caps for its PET bottles) New flexible formats to replace existing high-cost rigid formats More cost-effective printing solutions Increased use of wireless for (1) robotics applications such as palletisation, thickness measurement, sizing of the food item, and loading and packing, and (2) GPS connectivity to monitor the condition of fragile articles during transportation Consolidation of supply chains and increased visibility and reporting across every stage of the supply chain

Compliance Costs As accountability becomes a key performance indicator for food businesses, compliance requirements have increased.

Some of these include: • The 21CFR part11 regulation, stipulated by the food and drug administration (FDA) of the United States • The EU's 178/2002 EC regulation establishing the European food safety authority and requiring food manufacturers to be able to track and trace the products they manufacture.

• T h e U S B i o Te r r o r i s m Act, which requires that manufacturers should be able to provide tracking and tracing information about a product within four hours • Other requirements including compliance with current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) and the Sarbanes Oxley Act Beyond standard compliance and traceability obligations, companies see the need for builtin quality and safety assurance systems since a product recall (on account of a health risk) could jeopardise the very viability of the brand or supplier.

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 35

software & Networks

This is because the damage done is not merely the substantial financial write-offs (sales loss, disposal cost, replenishment cost, legal and investigative costs) but also the sometimes irreparable damage to credibility and brand equity.

To help meet their compliance obligations effectively, companies are looking to: • Improved quality control and safety systems; especially for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), clean-in-place (CIP) etc • Greater visibility across the whole supply chain; to guarantee traceability The Right Ingredients To contend with the many rising costs, plant managers and operators at food & beverage facilities need to focus on three steps that can take them towards optimised operations.

1. Measure There can be no effective monitoring or managing of production efficiency if production variables are not measured in the first place.

Food and beverage companies are implementing sophisticated SCADA/HMI systems because of the huge number of ingredients and processes, product formats and packaging, which are involved in the production process and the consequent difficulty in tracking such a wide variety of process variables in real-time.

Measures that most processors consider critical to optimisation include overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and key performance indicators. While not a new approach, OEE is only now being recognised as a key measurement of efficiency in manufacturing processes (at machine, manufacturing cell or assembly line levels). OEE is a factor of three variables – availability, performance and quality.

Of course, with the food & beverage sector there are certain peculiarities that may not apply to other conventional processing facilities. For example, seasonality of some ingredients or raw materials could mean that certain processes or equipment are run only for certain periods in the year.

This means that conventional

Potential for savings from seemingly small changes to packaging can shave off millions of dollars in costs 36 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

ROI calculations cannot be applied in some cases; and that demands a plant-wide monitoring solution that can be both flexible and easily customisable.

Certainly, one of the critical success factors in any measurement effort is the completeness of information gathered. This can be challenging when the food & beverage plant has different proprietary control systems in use.

2. Monitor Leveraging SCADA systems to collect a wide variety of process data, plant managers and operators can then monitor their processes with the goal of optimisation. Opportunities to look for could be: • Identifying potential equipment failure/deterioration to avoid large upfront costs for equipment replacement as well as lower productivity, when timely repair will do • Identifying variability in processes that result in wastage of raw material, delays, excessive equipment wear or surges in energy demand • Reviewing energy consumption trends over time • Linking energy peaks and troughs with specific product types, processes or times of operation • Monitoring production line changeover times to seek possible reductions in duration • A s s e s s i n g q u a l i t y - c h e c k success rates • Identifying potential installation of variable speed drives (instead of direct on line motors) • Identifying potential for power factor correction In the effort to structure p ro c e s s e s a n d a p p ro p r i a t e control solutions to monitor those processes, some of the emerging

Macro consumer trends are driving the need for more complex products, wider product ranges and increased ‘health and wellness’ benefits through food products

standards of relevance are: • ISA-88, the international standard for flexibility in production, which provides models and terminology for structuring the production process and for developing the control of equipment • ISA-95, the international standard for the integration of enterprise and control systems, which provides models, which are the basis for the development of standard interfaces between ERP and MES systems food & beverage companies supporting such standards include Nestle, Mars, Arla Foods, Kraft Foods, etc 3. Manage Measuring and monitoring do not in themselves translate into positive outcomes unless food companies proactively manage the data and insight derived from those processes. It is here that the robustness of the SCADA solution and reporting solutions comes into play.

For example, systems that facilitate almost immediate batch identification in a ‘compromised’ batch of products (that are out of specification or beyond permissible health/safety thresholds) can help save the company considerable time, effor t and monies by ensuring that the batch concerned is isolated anywhere along the supply chain and diverted from consumption, the process itself is audited and re-calibrated for a return to desired results.

Or systems that can help managers and operators spot a

production process drifting out of nameplate specifications can help save the company significant amounts in raw material that could have been wasted or equipment that could have suffered undue wear.

To help deliver such benefits, SCADA systems and reporting tools need to be: • Reliable/available • Flexible/customisable • Open and scalable/modular • User friendly (with the look and feel that is readily understood and usable by operators and engineers) • Robust and feature-rich in terms of clustering options, alarm management options and analysis tools • Well integrated with business systems through powerful reporting tools that provide internal stakeholders (such as senior management, finance or quality control departments) and external stakeholders (such as regulatory bodies) accessible and actionable insight from the plant-floor • Well supported (by vendors and system integrators who understand the unique needs and priorities of the food & beverage sector and are effective in rapid problemsolving) The Winning Recipe I n m a n y c a s e s , u n re l i a b l e and inconsistent manual datagathering and documentation is still undertaken and small-sized food & beverage facilities might only have pockets of automation and control, if at all.

Not surprising, given the fact that the large multinational food & beverage companies with a global presence still account for only a small fraction of the total food & beverage market (which, on the whole, is extremely fragmented and cluttered with small to medium-sized suppliers).

However, in many cases, even those plants equipped with modern SCADA systems and sophisticated reporting tools fail to achieve optimisation goals not because of the inadequacies in those tools. Rather, it is a combination of several factors including: • Lack of specific and shared goal-setting for optimisation efforts • Lack of clarity in terms of data/ insight needs and priorities • Lack of a holistic / integrated optimisation plan • Underutilisation of the data, t re n d i n g a n d o v e r l a y i n g possibilities in tools such as SCADA • Inadequate vendor / system integrator support in customising solutions for specific requirements • Lack of open solutions and inability to connect with proprietary legacy systems • Inadequate leverage or absence of manufacturing execution systems (MES) and benchmarking tools Companies that are aware of these pitfalls and seek to overcome them with the assistance of reliable SCADA solutions and secure reporting tools, backed up by appropriate vendor and system-integrator support, can turn the current challenges into opportunities and build into their operations the recipe for success even in the most difficult of times.

ENQUIRY NO. 4402 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 37

software & Networks

Market Report

Infrastructure Improvements Drive SCADA Systems Market SCADA systems are emerging as a key element in major infrastructure projects for the water and wastewater industry. By Russ Novak, research director, Arc Advisory Group

Functionality & Business Processes Arc has analysed the SCADA market by geographic region, project size, and component type, including hardware, software, and services. The underlying technology that facilitates traditional SCADA functionality

38  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Infrastructure Creation & Upgrades The water and wastewater industries in developed regions are using SCADA as a core technology to suppor t new business processes in response to changing industry dynamics and the need for large scale upgrades of existing infrastructure. Infusion of newer SCADA technology can optimise the required level of capital expenditures for improved sustainability and upgrades of aging infrastructure.

Developing regions are looking to either upgrade or install new water and wastewater treatment and distribution systems. SCADA is used to link these geographically separated facilities.

SCADA will be at the core of

SCADA Systems Business for Water & Wastewater Industry ($Millions)

2013

2012

2011

2010

450.0

2009

has changed dramatically.

For water utilities, emerging technology is enabling SCADA to be tightly integrated to the domain of business processes, creating an improved value proposition for its usage.

SCADA systems bring improved performance to geographically dispersed assets and provide a f r a m e w o r k f o r re a l - t i m e performance management on a regional, or even global, basis. The water utility infrastructure will utilise the enhanced functionalities of SCADA to improve its core business processes.

2008

Driven by the need to improve the sustainability of water utility infrastructure, the worldwide market for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for the water & wastewater industries is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4 percent over the next five years. The market was US$311 million in 2008 and is forecasted to be over US$403 million in 2013.

The latest SCADA systems encompass a new generation of technology components. SCADA systems are emerging as a key element in major infrastructure projects for the water and wastewater industry.

These new SCADA systems are easier to integrate, include expanded capabilities and functionalities, and provide improved sustainability of utility operations. SCADA systems are now being considered in a wide range of applications and business processes for a variety of purposes, including performance management.

technology adoptions as the industry moves through uncertain economic climates to improve business processes to meet the growing demand and economic challenges that privatisation and public-private partnering of the industry requires.

Suppliers must develop a SCADA system capable of being fully integrated with corporate business systems. These systems include technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) and asset management programmes.

In order to be competitive, suppliers must show how their SCADA system can provide realtime data to meet both present and future demands of all stakeholders involved with the operation of water utilities.

ENQUIRY NO. 4403

ENQUIRY NO. 036

instrumentation & Measurement

diagnostics, Online n Ethernet Profibus coupler enables vertical continuity in communicating between the office and the field devices.

Thanks to the intelligent interfaces, plant operators can monitor and set the parameters of their Profibus subscribers, as well as all connected field devices, centrally and independently from the control system via a computer web browser.

The interfaces are easy to integrate into new or existing fieldbus structures, and thereby make an important contribution to continuous asset management and maintenance concepts.

A diagnostics unit acts as a web server, and enables users to monitor a large number of Profibus networks in parallel and continuously during ongoing operation for the first time ever.

40  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

An Ethernet Profibus interface monitors fieldbus communication and opens Profibus networks for remote monitoring and diagnostics via the Internet. By Peter Praske, fieldbus consultant for process automation, Turck Due to system independent Ethernet communication and l i c e n s e f re e s o f t w a re , t h e instrumentation on the machines and their quantity do not matter.

The interfaces are simply integrated vertically into the Profibus networks to be monitored.

Using the Ethernet protocol, they establish a communications and diagnostic infrastructure and open all integrated fieldbus networks for remote maintenance via a computer web browser.

Access Via Web Browser The Ethernet Profibus coupler gives technicians, machine and plant builders, along with external service

suppliers, the option of reacting quickly to fieldbus disruptions and disruptions experienced by connected subscribers at any time without having to rely on proprietary engineering tools.

Single requirement: Access to the Internet.

It can be used as a diagnostics unit for different monitoring or configuration applications.

As a pure listener without a separate Profibus address, the interface monitors the data flow of the fieldbus network without participating in communication. In this configuration, the diagnostics unit independently identifies the disruptions occurring in the

The web server of a Ethernet Profibus interface permits network diagnostics and access via the Internet

Profibus network and, in case of a malfunction, sends out an error message via e-mail.

The error message may be retrieved from any location – from the centralised maintenance department on site, via a remote service computer or using a mobile cell phone.

A link included in the message allows users to access the respective diagnostics unit directly and recall detailed information and a recommended course of action.

All monitoring and alarm settings can be adjusted easily using a web browser – special client software or licenses are not required. The diagnostic information can also be integrated into third-party applications via the web.

Expanded Diagnostic Functions An intelligent Ethernet Profibus interface can also be configured as an active network subscriber.

It allows the configuration and diagnosis of the Profibus network by using FDT/DTM and OPC. The software package Profibus Scope 4.0, TH OPC server DP and AMS Suite supplement the integrated diagnostic options by adding analysis functions for more complex error searches or expanded asset management functionalities, such as recording operating hours.

Through graphic user interfaces and transparent window technology, users can receive all relevant information on the state of the network in real time.

The manufacturer-independent quasi standard FDT/DTM can also be supported as a central bus access via the Ethernet interface.

The advantage of this combination of license-free framework application and driver software is that the relevant parameterising and diagnostic data of the connected field devices can be simply managed and visualised based on the ‘driver files’ - the device type managers (DTM).

The user no longer has to deal with managing the diagnostic data or the incompatibility of different diagnostic tools. Instead, users can concentrate entirely on the content of the data received, and thereby on the plant status.

ENQUIRY NO. 4501

Turck:

Ethernet Profibus Coupler

T

urck’s Ethernet-Profibus coupler, PB-XEPI, features integrated webserver software and diagnostics functionality. Users can monitor a large number of operating Profibus networks in a parallel and continuous manner. The couplers can be integrated into existing fieldbus networks where they autonomously establish a communications and diagnostics infrastructure for convenient remote maintenance over the Internet.

As a listener, the diagnostics unit monitors the fieldbus communication without participating. In this scenario, the coupler autonomously identifies malfunctions within the network, and sends an alarm message via e-mail. Detailed information about the identified malfunction and/or recommended procedures can be assessed with a standard web browser.

ENQUIRY NO. 4502 ENQUIRY NO. 3501 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 41

instrumentation & Measurement

E

nsuring continuous, safe operation of equipment is a challenge many manufacturers s h a re . T h a t c h a l l e n g e h a s added significance for offshore oil producers. Unanticipated equipment failure can quickly become a shutdown costing millions of dollars – or a catastrophe putting workers or the environment at risk.

Maintenance is a top priority on offshore platforms. Maintaining equipment typically located

hundreds of kilometres from shore can be a costly and time consuming proposition. The CACT Operators Group was determined to find a better way.

A consortium of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Agip (Italy), Chevron (USA) and Texaco (USA), the CACT Operator’s Group was formed to develop hydrocarbon resources off the shores of China in the Pearl River Basin of the South China Sea.

An

Unconditional

‘No’ To Downtime

E Nielsen

A condition-based maintenance programme eliminates downtime on an oil platform. By Ben Dong, ICM product manager, Rockwell Automation China

42 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

The Challenge Efficient, non-stop operation of pipeline pumps is key to costeffective oil production. Initially, preventive maintenance was C A C T ’s s t a n d a rd a p p ro a c h to keeping the pumps online.

However, the effectiveness of their maintenance system was limited.

They were forced to react to equipment problems that went undetected during routine inspections. To improve their system, the group began to use Rockwell Automation products to monitor the pumps on three of its offshore platforms in the mid-1990s.

Initially, CACT based their system on portable equipment – Entek Datapac and the Allen-Bradley VISTeC. The DataPac is a portable instrument that collects field data, including process variables and vibration information. The VISTeC vibration meter measures vibration in units of velocity and acceleration and can also take spike energy measurements, which can be used for early detection of surface flaws in rollingelement bearings. Temperature and running speed measurements can be acquired as well.

The Solutions Rockwell Automation worked with CACT to develop a solution that would meet the oil producer’s needs and preserve their initial investment, proposing a remotely accessible, condition monitoring solution that would incorporate the existing portable equipment with an Enwatch system and XM modules.

Emonitor software gives them the ability to store the data from the XM modules and Enwatch system and compare it against the

data that they originally received from their portable collectors.

Via an onboard Ethernet network, the Enwatch system provides scheduled monitoring of all the pumps on the platform.

Measurement parameters include vibration and process variables.

On the same network, XM intelligent modules process critical parameters used to assess the current health – and predict the future health – of the pumps in real-time.

The XM Series is comprised of DIN rail mounted measurement, relays and process modules.

Ideal for critical machiner y, the system includes protection capabilities, which can be used to safely shutdown a machine before significant damage occurs.

For example, if the system detects vibration outside of set parameters, it will send a signal to the motor control centre (MCC) to turn off the relevant motors and protect the pump.

Appropriately configured, the system meets API 670 standard.

CACT operators onshore can remotely configure the XM modules via a DeviceNet network and view the equipment status through PlantLink, an interface that provides a graphical representation of the health of all the machinery being monitored online.

Information from the condition monitoring system is also integrated with Rockwell Software Maintenance Automation Control Center (RSMACC), where appropriate maintenance is scheduled in accordance with equipment requirements.

The Results With the condition monitoring system in place, CACT has eliminated the need for manual data acquisition – and the associated costs. Onshore operators 200 km from the platform collect, configure and analyse data just as

Simon Morris, Australia

Emonitor software was used to store the data from the DataPac por table data collector. To implement any needed repairs, CACT contracted for maintenance through a third party at a charge of US$100,000 per year.

CACT was pleased with the performance of their offline, portable system. At the same time, there were limitations. For example, the Datapac portable could detect vibration changes, but as a portable unit, it could not track and analyse the pump’s condition in real-time.

Also, the data acquisition process itself was very costly.

To obtain the readings, CACT periodically sent maintenance personnel by helicopter to the platforms at a cost of US$2,000 per visit. In fact, the yearly transportation expense exceeded the installation cost of the online system.

Finally, the current offline system could not provide the realtime pump protection outlined by the American Petroleum Institute (API) Standard 670. The API 670 is the most widely adopted standard for machinery protection in the world.

CACT required a system that would provide real-time equipment monitoring and API 670 compliance – and help contain their maintenance costs.

Maintaining equipment typically located hundreds of kilometres from shore can be a costly and time consuming proposition

they would on a local server.

Since applying the Enwatch and XM systems, CACT has reduced their unscheduled downtime from 2.43 percent to 0.67 percent – a 72 percent decrease. In fact, during a five-year period, the system has prevented machines from catastrophic failures more than 20 times.

Thanks to a condition-based maintenance strategy, annual maintenance expenses have also decreased significantly. In fact, the drop-off in service time was so dramatic that CACT saves US$100,000 in third party annual maintenance costs annually.

ENQUIRY NO. 4503 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 43

sector spotlight

tatutory product labeling requirements for sterile medical supplies and drug products present a particular challenge on the packaging line.

However, late stage customisation means that faster machine run times can be achieved even with falling batch sizes, although a flexible packaging line configuration is essential.

Packaging solutions have become a kind of second skin for many products. As well as having to preserve the function of the products during transportation and storage, they also fulfill a presentation, labeling, information and documentation role. This is particularly true in the case of sterile medical supplies, where the safety aspect is an absolute priority. Any shortcoming could place people’s lives at risk.

Packaging:

ustom Made

Efficiency

Quality & Productivity The wide variety of packaging types and the requirement for extremely high output rates in some cases, along with strict laws on consistent product quality, mean that fully automated packaging lines are essential.

While the huge range of packaging types can only be handled with flexible packaging machines on which format dies can be changed almost at the touch of 44 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

a button, the high speeds required can only be achieved with the aid of automatic multi-axis robots which can be integrated as seamlessly as possible into the line.

The requirement for consistent product quality, which has to be reproducible – regardless of human intervention – and objectively verifiable, can only be met with sophisticated checkweighers and various types of inspection devices (seal testers, X-ray inspection

Late stage customisation is also a flexible just-intime component within the packaging process.

By Valeska Haux, director of corporate marketing, Multivac

devices, vision systems, etc).

The continuous tracking and traceability of batches and the documentation of these processes calls in turn for advanced identification, labeling and direct printing systems.

A Single Source All of these functions should be linked into a complete packaging line as standalone modules.

They can then be networked and controlled by means of an industrial computer (line of control).

This control unit can be used for the coordination of functional elements, product tracing, product conversion, and connection to ERP systems for order management as well as to systems for the recording of machine and operating data.

Given the complexity of this ‘automation network’, it stands to reason that the more components are sourced from a single supplier, the easier it is to integrate the individual modules.

Naturally this is only feasible if the supplier can offer a broad enough product range.

In such a case the supplier will also be willing to help configure the packaging line or even take over control of the project entirely, thus guaranteeing delivery of a

fully integrated system.

The advantage for the line operator is that he or she can deal with just a single contact, who is responsible for the project and its successful implementation and who has a detailed understanding of the individual system components.

The uniform line control system mentioned earlier means that there are fewer interfaces to control. This simplifies the running of the line and reduces training and operating costs.

What’s more, the supplier of the integrated packaging line can create a standard validation document, minimising paperwork for the line operator.

Batch Sizes & Line Efficiency Medical supplies and pharmaceuticals are subject to stringent legal requirements with regard to exact labeling.

These requirements relate to seamless product tracking and batch traceability as well as to the obligation for products to be labeled in the local language and the need for the type of labeling to comply with national laws.

Compliance with these requirements is leading to a steady reduction in batch sizes, especially when manufacturers

are supplying to smaller markets too. At the same time customers expect shorter delivery times to enable them to minimise their inventory levels.

Diminishing batch sizes arising from country-specific and customer-specific (labeling) requirements lead to an increased demand for flexible delivery and labeling systems in order for the extensive packaging lines used for medical supplies to be operated with optimal processing and cost efficiency.

Size Matters For instance, small batch sizes soon lead to inefficient process results if all the components of a packaging line are connected in series in the conventional manner.

The ratio of setup time to run time becomes disproportionate in such cases. If the same range of medical products has to be packed in blister packs for 20 or 30 European countries on a single packaging line, for example, but the packs have to be labeled differently for each country, then even without making an exact calculation it is obvious that with a conventional line configuration the changeover times will far exceed the run times.

An integrated packaging line

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 45

sector spotlight

Mohammad

S Ehsan, Pa

kistan

All functions should be networked and controlled by means of an industrial computer

Line efficiency can fall below 30 percent in some cases, since the changeover process is not simply a matter of flicking a switch. It involves a whole series of activities: cleaning and inspection of the line for residues, installation of the new (print) module, and not forgetting documentation of all these activities.

Late Stage Customisation By separating out some of the process elements, especially in the labeling area, sub-processes for different batches can be bundled together, reducing setup times.

To give a specific example, the blister packing, cartoning and printing processes can all be carried out quite separately.

Bundling batches for different countries and then separating them again afterwards introduces the possibility of late stage 46 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

of course, but this type of configuration change is far quicker and more cost-effective than continually resetting the entire packaging line. Once again this highlights the flexibility of the packaging process.

Late stage customisation not only brings about a clear improvement in cost structures for the packaging of medical supplies by increasing machine run times but it is also a flexible just-in-time component within the packaging process as a whole.

The ‘identification’ sub-process can be further optimised by using a direct printing system. This avoids the need to stock preprinted labeling materials. The print quality of direct printing systems is getting closer all the time to that of preprinted materials. Possible print formats include barcodes and graphics.

Late stage customisation is only really viable if the automation chain has an open architecture into which all modules can easily be integrated customisation, where packaging is customised at the last possible moment.

A handling module is needed for this solution to store the bundled blister packs containing the various countr y-specific batches – which are identified by machine-readable country codes – on a temporary basis and then transfer them to the identification unit when required.

This always has to have the correct country-specific settings,

Late stage customisation is only really viable if the automation chain has an open architecture into which all modules can easily be integrated.

This applies in particular to the modules which have been taken out of the main packaging line to run in parallel, for example t h e d e l i v e r y, i n t e r m e d i a t e storage, printing and packaging modules.

ENQUIRY NO. 4601 2701

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sector spotlight

In

Lost Translation?

An examination of the benefits of a single control platform in packaging machinery.

By Pete Lawton, electrical engineering manager, Pearson Packaging Systems

Standardise!

hen machinery is sourced f ro m v a r i o u s o r i g i n a l equipment manufacturers (OEMs), ensuring cohesive communication from machine to machine can be challenging.

One approach to simplify that communication is through the use of standardised Packaging Machine Language (PackML).

PackML started out as an initiative by the Open Modular Architecture Controls User Group (OMAC) and has since evolved into a fully functioning, standardised machine language.

The Benefits Aside from the uniform ‘look and feel’ that it provides amongst machines across the plant floor, some of its other benefits include lowering engineering costs for both OEMs and end-users, increasing reliability and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) through easier integration, faster startups, and easier ongoing maintenance.

48 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

PackML provides the ability for end-users to communicate to packaging machiner y and packaging machines to talk with one another.

The end-user can easily programme supervisory systems to look in the same place in every machine on the packaging line and gather the same data by formatting how the data is captured and stored in the controller’s memory.

This data can be faults, production information, downtime information, and other key details for maintaining uptime. All of this has been defined down to the tag in the database. This eliminates the need for end-users to write custom interfaces to each piece of machinery on the packaging line; end-users can now create one interface and use it multiple times.

Boon For OEMs For the OEM, the implementation of PackML helps in several ways, including eliminating the time and

expense of going through extensive programming specifications, eliminating the need for engineering to spend large amounts of time rewriting code that is already proven, eliminating the schedule delays which come with writing and testing custom programming and providing the customer with a pre-formatted, standard interface that is both, cost effective and reliable without compromising the machine’s OEE. By using PackML, OEMs may significantly reduce and even eliminate large up-charges to endusers, allowing them to compete better in the marketplace.

Additionally, the OEM service department always knows what they will see in the field regarding the programming of the machine.

This eliminates the need for an engineer to be on-site during start-up and/or special training regarding the custom programming for a field service technician.

ENQUIRY NO. 4602

sector spotlight

Market Report

US Demand For Green Packaging To Approach US$44 Billion In 2013 US demand for green packaging is projected to increase 3.4 percent annually.

By The Freedonia Group

US demand for green packaging – comprised of recycled content, biodegradable and reusable packaging – is projected to increase 3.4 percent annually to US$43.9 billion in 2013, using 59 billion pounds of material.

Growth will outpace overall packaging but will remain modest due to the maturity of many products and the fact that recycled content packaging has a large existing presence in paperboard and metal packaging.

Drivers Of Growth The fastest gains are anticipated for biodegradable plastic packaging and plastic recycled content packaging. Biodegradable plastic packaging is forecast to climb nearly 13 percent per year through 2013, driven by increased price competitiveness with conventional resins, rapidly expanding capacity and lower pricing volatility than petroleum-based plastic packaging materials.

Additional stimulants include enhanced performance properties brought about by more sophisticated polymerisaton and blending techniques; efforts by brand owners to improve the environmental footprint of their packaging; and legislative bans on polystyrene foam foodservice disposables in some parts of the country.

50  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

US GREEN PACKAGING DEMAND (million US dollars) % Annual Growth Item

2003

2008

2013

20032008

20082013

Green Packaging Demand

29410

37170

43890

4.8

3.4

Recycled Content Packaging

27063

33210

39090

4.2

3.3

Reusable Packaging

2178

3560

4070

10.3

2.7

Biodegradable Plastic Packaging

169

400

730

18.8

12.8

W h i l e re c y c l e d c o n t e n t packaging demand is expected to increase in line with the overall green packaging average, ro b u s t g ro w t h f o r p l a s t i c recycled content packaging will be aided by more concerted ef for ts to boost collection volume, an increased focus on the development of food-contact approved resin grades, and further sustainability initiatives by plastic processors and brand owners.

Gains will be moderated by slow growth for paper recycled content packaging, which is dominated by the large but mature corrugated and paperboard box segment.

Reusable Packaging Reusable packaging is forecast to expand more slowly, held back by marginal growth for drums, which face competition from larger formats such as intermediate bulk containers (IBCs). More favourable prospects are anticipated for reusable plastic containers, IBCs and other reusable packaging types.

In general, value gains will decelerate sharply from the 20032008 pace due to an expected moderation in raw material prices, especially for plastic and steel. The relatively long service life of most reusable packaging also limits the need for replacements, a factor that restricts growth in demand for new units.

ENQUIRY NO. 4603

ENQUIRY NO. 045

energy

Formula FOR

Energy Biofuels:

The focus has shifted to using non-food plants, or energy crops to produce biofuels.

By Augustine Quek

that has been dead for millions of years. For most of human history, the biofuel used is wood.

Biofuels are considered carbon neutral because the plants used to produce biofuels absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. This offsets emissions during fuel consumption (Figure 1). Biofuels are also renewable and thus considered sustainable.

Increasing Interest These factors, together with near record oil prices, have sparked keen interest in biofuels worldwide.

According to IEA, global biofuel production has tripled from 4.8 billion gallons in 2000 to about 16.0 billion in 2007, but still accounts for less than 3 percent of the global transportation fuel supply.

About 90 percent of production is concentrated in the United States, Brazil, and the European Union (EU). However, this could change if development programmes in other countries, such as Malaysia and China, are successful.

Currently, two biofuels can now be produced in large enough quantities to have an impact on the energy market: ethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol is an alcohol commonly produced through sugar fermentation. Ethanol can be blended with gasoline in a

Sunlight

photosynthesis

Carbon dioxide (CO2) consumption

Plants

orld energy demand is increasingly outpacing s u p p l y. A c c o rd i n g t o Paris-based International Energy Association (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2008, the world oil shortage will reach 28.6 million barrels a day by 2030, as world e n e rg y d e m a n d m o re t h a n doubles. Filling this gap requires 52  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

processing

Fuel

Crude oil, coal, natural gas

Figure 1: Biofuels are considered carbon neutral

alternatives to conventional crude production.

Biofuels has been proposed as one such alternative. These are any fuels: solid, liquid, or gas, that are derived from recently dead biological material, unlike fossil fuels, which are biological material

mixture (up to 15 percent ethanol by volume) without requiring any modifications to most existing car and truck engines.

However, ethanol has only about 60 percent the energy content of gasoline, and cannot be transported through the

existing pipeline infrastructure.

Biodiesel is now produced from plant or animal fats. It can be blended in substantial amounts with traditional petroleumderived diesel or in some cases used directly as a transportation fuel. Biodiesel also has the added advantage of being cleaner-burning than diesel. However, the total quantity of plant oils that can be produced worldwide cannot cover a significant proportion of current diesel needs.

government put a moratorium on expanded use of corn for ethanol because of rising feed prices and is promoting other feedstocks that do not compete directly with food crops, such as cassava, sweet sorghum, and jatropha (an oilbearing plant originally from South America).

Second Generation Biofuels Therefore, the focus has shifted to using non-food plants, or energy crops to produce biofuels. The

A Salazar, US

There is worldwide criticism on the use of food crops for biofuels

Another problem with current biofuels is that the leading raw materials, or feedstocks, for its production are corn, sugar, and vegetable oils. This has sparked worldwide criticism on the use of food crops for biofuels.

According to the International Monetary Fund, world food prices rose 10 percent in 2006 because of increases in corn, wheat, and soybean prices, primarily from demand-side factors, including rising biofuel demand. The Chinese

goal is to switch from using edible feedstocks to cellulosic waste as the source of fermentable sugars for biofuel production.

Energy crops are divided into two broad categories: grasses and trees. Grasses are suitable for producing biofuels because they are particularly efficient at photosynthesis and can grow fast. Similarly, fast-growing trees provide wood based material for biofuel production.

These vascular plants

are composed of many large molecules, from which biofuels can be harvested. Besides cellulose, there are hemicellulose and lignin.

Each is made of chains of smaller molecules, and all three are often bound together in a complex structure called lignocellulose.

Although there are many ways these long-chain molecules might be turned into fuel, fermntation to ethanol is still the most common process, hence the term ‘cellulosic ethanol’.

One company using grasses is Californian firm Ceres. The company is identifying desirable genes in fast growing grasses, specifically switchgrass, miscanthus, sugarcane and sorghum, and using a combination of traditional hybridisation and genetic engineering to increase their growth rate.

The chosen grasses also thrive in a range of climates. Switchgrass and miscanthus are temperate.

Sugarcane and sorghum are tropical. The company proposes to extend their ranges still further by creating strains that will tolerate heat or cold or drought or salt, allowing them to be grown on land that cannot be used for food crops.

That will make them cheaper, as well as reducing the competition between foods and biofuels.

Increasing the growth rate of trees are being the investigated by firms such as ArborGen, of Summerville, South Carolina.

ArborGen is working on four species: eucalyptus, poplar, and the loblolly and radiata pines. It is applying similar techniques to those used by Ceres to speed up the growth of these trees and to increase their tolerance of cold. In addition to creating raw materials for biofuels, ArborGen also hopes to produce paper pulp, timber and other biomaterials.

Creating Biofuels After harvesting, turning the June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 53

energy

feedstock into biofuels is a tedious process. One promising process involves drying and then heating the cellulosic material to high temperatures, with little or no oxygen present. The long-chain structure breaks up in a mixture of smaller molecules, such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen, called syngas (short for synthesis gas).

This process is called gasification.

With suitable catalysts, syngas can be turned into fuel. One advantage of this process is that multiple types of feedstocks can be used.

Many firms have used the gasification approach to produce feedstock syngas for biofuel production. Choren Industries in Freiburg, Germany, and Range Fuels in Treutlen County, Georgia, both use chippings and other forestry and timber-mills wastes.

Choren is making hydrocarbon diesel while Range produces ethanol.

Bioethanol is commonly produced through sugar fermentation 54  industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Another strategy, employed by Coskata, a firm based in Illinois, USA, is to use patented microorganisms and transformative bioreactor designs to produce ethanol from this syngas.

An alternative to the syngas method is to break the cellulose and hemicellulose up using biological catalysts, or enzymes. Many firms have developed enzymes that break down biomass in this way.

Iogen, of Ottawa, Canada, was one of the early pioneers in enzymatic cellulose depolymerisation. Its enzymes decompose cellulose and hemicellulose into sugar monomers. The lignin is burned to generate heat for the process.

Abengoa, a Spanish firm that is also involved in solar energy, uses this approach as well.

At least one firm, Mascoma, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, employs a single species of bug, Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum, both to break down the biomass and to digest the resulting sugar. Mascoma will use both grass and wood as feedstocks to produce ethanol.

Alternative Fuels Another important technological shift will be toward the production of other biofuels such as butanol and hydrocarbons and away from ethanol. Both butanol and hydrocarbons such as terpenes are much more gasoline-like, have higher energy content, and posses none of the drawbacks of ethanol as a transportation fuel. Recent heavy investments in research and development in this area by multinational corporations attest to its viability.

Amyris Biotechnologies, based near San Francisco, uses a range of micro-organisms (bacteria, yeasts) to turn sugars into a group of compounds call terpenoids, mixture of alkanes and aromatics.

Amyris claims it is at a cost competitive with diesel.

Another Californian company, LS9, is also using special microbes to produce alkanes for petrol and fatty acids for biodiesel, and other high-value chemicals. Synthetic Genomics has a similar approach, by designing, synthesising and assembling specifically engineered cells to produce biofuels.

In each case, however, what is made is a chemical precisely tailored to its purpose, rather than the ad hoc mixture that comes out of a refinery. The rival companies thus argue that their products are actually better than oil-based ones.

It is also possible to use purified enzymes to do the conversion from sugar to fuel, as well as from biomass to sugar, and at least two firms are working on applying them to the whole process.

Codexis, based in Redwood City, California, has created a range of enzymes by a method akin to sexual reproduction and natural selection. Last year it signed a deal with Shell to use this technique to produce biofuels of various types.

And a Danish firm, Danisco, has teamed up with DuPont to do the same thing with its own proprietary enzymes. Shell is also investing money in a project to turn sugar into hydrocarbons, this time by straight chemical processing. The technology involves a set of proprietary nonbiological catalysts provided by Virent Energy systems. Virent’s proprietry Bioforming process can convert a wide range of biomassderived feedstocks to fuels and chemicals, such from hydrogen to ketones.

Oil and gas giant BP is backing one of the biggest academic projects intended to look into biofuels, the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), to the tune of US$500 million. The EBI is a partnership of the University of California, Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley

R Elam, US

converting it to fuels is now possible. Singapore scientists claimed to have accomplished this feat recently. According to the scientists at the state-backed Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, carbon dioxide can be turned into alcohols using a process that uses less energy than previous attempts. They used non-toxic organocatalysts to make ethanol, a biofuel that is also used as an industrial feedstock.

The research team used N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), an organocatalyst in the chemical reaction with carbon dioxide. Hydrosilane, a combination of silica and hydrogen, is added to the NHC-activated carbon dioxide, and the product of this reaction is transformed into methanol by adding water through hydrolysis. Hydrosilane provides hydrogen, which bonds with carbon dioxide in a reduction reaction. This carbon dioxide reduction is efficiently catalysed by NHCs even at room temperature.

A 2005 joint study by America’s Depar tments of Energy and Agriculture revealed even with only small changes to existing practice, 1.3 billion tonnes of plant matter could be collected from American soil without affecting food production. The study also reported that 5 percent of electric utilities and 10 percent of transportation fuels in America will use biofuels by 2020.

Biofuels will likely be part of a portfolio of solutions to high energy prices, including conservation, energy efficiency, and other alternative fuels. This increased reliance on plants would mean a better understanding, and relationship between humans and nature in the future.

Biodiesel has the added advantage of being cleaner-burning than diesel

National Laboratory and the University of Illinois. In addition to biofuels, the institute also researches the social, economic and environmental implications of using plants instead of oil for energy needs.

One example would be glucose, the most common monomer sugar, would be turned into fuels and maybe even the bio-equivalents of petrochemicals—bioplastics, for example—in local factories and then shipped around the world. The institute predicts that would be a boon to tropical countries, where the rate of photosynthesis is the highest in the world.

The third possibility is the use of algae as a source of oil for biodiesel p ro d u c t i o n . Te c h n o l o g i c a l improvements in the efficiency of growing algae and oil recovery are needed for algal biodiesel to be economic, but steady progress toward those goals is being made.

One problem is harvesting the oil that is produced. Currently, methods for extracting algae

from the ponds, drying them and breaking the cells to obtain the oils are too expensive. This process is so tedious that some companies are considering the idea of burning the dried algae in power stations instead.

One way is to modify the genetic makeup of algae. One firm that is doing that is Synthetic Genomics.

To overcome the oil-collection problem, Synthetic Genomics’s algae have been genetically modified to create new secretion pathways through their outer membranes. This causes the algal cells to expel the oil almost as soon as they have manufactured it.

It then floats to the surface of the pond, allowing it to be skimmed off and turned into biodiesel.

The algae are also engineered to make more oil than their wild counterparts.

Direct Synthesis Even plants and algae may soon be unnecessary in the production of biofuels. Extracting carbon dioxide directly from the air and

ENQUIRY NO. 4701 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 55

products & Services Advantech: Industrial Ethernet Switch

Baumer: Level Sensors

Advantech’s EKI-4654R is an IEC61850-3 compliant managed Ethernet switch for grid automation applications.

It features 24 10/100Base-T Ethernet ports and two 1000Base-T SFP slots and has a wide range of redundant power inputs (2x 100~240 VAC/100~240 VDC) allowing connection to two separate power supplies.

The EKI-4654R also features: IP security, VLAN, QoS, Port Mirroring, MAC security, IGMP Snooping, Port Trunking, CoS/TOS, email warnings, SNMP Trap, and SMTP. For user access control, the EKI-4654R supports port-based IEEE 802.1x user authentication from a centralised RADIUS server.

Baumer’s level sensors can be mounted without difficulty on a standpipe or a tube using the included cable tie. The diameter of the (half) transparent standpipe on which the sensor can be mounted can vary from 3 to 13 mm. No further adjustments have to be made on the FFDK 16 as all required circuitry is built in.

In the optical fibre version, the fibres are arranged in rows.

This allows the sensor to suppress foam or air bubbles of up to 3 mm in size. Thanks to the PFI material used, the sensor is also resistant to chemicals.

Enquiry no. 4801

Enquiry no. 4802

Basler: 64 Bit Driver Support

Carlo Gavazzi: Photoelectric Diffuse Sensor

Basler Vision Technologies’ release 2.1 of its ‘pylon’ driver package focuses on 64 bit system support for Microsoft Windows. Additional improvements include a DirectShow64 module, multicast support, and reworked installation scripts, even for 64 bit Windows Vista. A free download of the pylon 2.1 release, including the SDK, is available from Basler’s website.

The 2.1 release is a 64 bit version of the IEEE 1394-b, GigE Vision filter, and GigE Vision performance drivers included in the pylon package. In order to address the full installed memory, pylon’s C++ API is now also available in a 64 bit version.

Carlo Gavazzi’s PD112 is a long-range photoelectric di f f us e s ens or wi t h background suppression.

Black object detection is assured as far as 2 m, while grey and white objects are detected up to 2.5 m.

The sensor is provided by a specific detection made for industrial applications – such as pallet-wrapping, large conveyors and wood industry.

The sensor also features a detection principle based on triangulation, NPN and PNP output, specific detection modes for industrial or automatic door applications, and test input for sensor function verification, only for door mode. It has IP67 ratings and 28 turn distance adjustment for accurate settings. Connection is via connection cable or built-in M12 connector.

Enquiry no. 4803 56 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Enquiry no. 4804

products & Services

Cognex: Line Scan Vision System

Contec: Fanless PC

Cognex’s In-Sight 5604 line scan vision system combines industrially rugged In-Sight hardware and vision tools with a high-speed, 1K line scan imager. This eliminates the need for PC based vision systems and separate line scan camera heads.

The line scan sensor used by In-Sight is more light-sensitive than the imagers used in most line scan cameras.

With support for hardware and software encoders, the InSight 5604 has the flexibility needed to solve the image acquisition challenges across a wide range of applications involving fast moving discrete parts on a conveyor, cylindrical parts or large parts.

The GPC-BX955 series is the high-end model of Contec’s GPC-BX950 series. These fanless PCs are built on Intel’s Atom N270 processor and 945GSE (GMA950 incorporated) chipset. The unit’s small footprint allows installation in a 50mm gap.

The DVI interface is capable of supporting screen displays of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (full HD). It has standard interfaces including 1000BASE-T, USB2.0, and serial. The GPC-BX955 series contains no moving parts, having adopted CF card for storage and by eliminating the need for a fan, simplifying system maintenance.

In addition, these systems use a Contec-customised BIOS allowing support to be provided at the BIOS level.

Enquiry no. 4805

Enquiry no. 4806

EPlan: Control Systems Design Software

Festo: Precision Electric Linear Drive

High-quality part and component data are decisive for the quality of a machine / system documentation. These can now be created in EPlan Electric P8 with up to 128 occurrences through the combination of variants and representation types. All the required occurrences of a partial circuit are managed in the macro file.

With the Service Pack 1 of EPlan Electric P8 1, users can make their planning and designing processes efficient.

Importing data rapidly and easily from the preliminary planning, creating machine and system documentation rapidly and just as simply pass the engineering data on to the subsequent project phases.

Festo’s electric linear drive, EGSK and EGSP are rigid and precise. They are available in two options: recirculating ball bearing guide, EGSK, and innovative cage ball chain, EGSP. The ability to convert the rotary motion of a motor to linear motion of a drive has made these drives ideal for electronics and precision mechanics applications: chip handling, pick and place with a high degree of precision, vision inspection systems, measuring technology and engraving machines.

They offer motor selection flexibility, slide flexibility, repetition accuracy of 10μm, 5μm and 3μm; various sizes and stroke lengths, 15mm to 46mm and 25mm to 800mm respectively.

Enquiry no. 4807

Enquiry no. 4808 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 57

products & Services

Harting: PushPull Connectors

HMS: Industrial Network Gateways

Harting is offering all three PushPull connector sizes as fullmetal versions. The full-metal model also displays a high degree of resistance to all types of oils and greases, as well as solvents.

The PushPull connectors provide a standardised concept for all data, signal, and power transmission interfaces.

Whether power at 48 VDC to 400 VAC, RJ45 and LC duplex or hybrid – they all provide simple, efficient assembly on location, intuitive insertion with an audible click, and IP 65/67 protection. The PushPull interface for optical data transmission with LC duplex already complies with the future IEC 61754-20-11.

The Anybus X-gateway family from HMS Industrial Networks is based on the proven Anybus communication modules. Embedded into a handy metal housing, the modules form a n i n t e lli g e n t link between two industrial networks.

The X-gateway family consists of 180 different versions and thus can interconnect all popular fieldbuses or connect these fieldbuses with the Industrial Ethernet standards, Profinet, Ethernet/IP, Modbus-TCP and EtherCAT. The gateways are stand-alone devices built for DIN-Rail mounting. The gateways transmit I/O data and parameters completely transparent between the two networks. The amount of data is configured within a simple configuration dialogue during setup of the gateway.

Enquiry no. 4809

Enquiry no. 4810

Hoerbiger: Pressure Regulator Modules

Jumo: Electromechanical Thermostat

Pressure regulator modules from Hoerbiger convert electrical signals into efficient pneumatic operating power. The robust design enables on/off and proportional precision control.

Through additional purely pneumatic power transmission, high actuating forces and torque are decoupled from the electric control power. As a result, the intrinsically safe control of the valve position is ensured across all performance classes of pneumatic actuators.

The piezo technology provides access to the intrinsically safe automation of valves in a very wide range of temperatures. All fail-safe functions are possible as an integral part of the system, without additional valves.

The Jumo HeatTherm-DR DIN rail mounted electromechanical thermostat have ‘Push-In’ terminal technology; There’s no tool to connect the wire or the strand with the ferrule and the wiring is more reliable. The technology allows loads up to 16 A to be directly connected at 230 V AC. Maintenance costs are reduced, thanks to the small interval of <10 K from the point of shutting off the safety temperature limiter to turning it back on.

The following are available: temperature controller (TR), operating temperature monitor (TW), safety temperature monitor (STW) and safety temperature limiter (STB).

Enquiry no. 4811 58 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Enquiry no. 4812

products & Services products & Services

Rexroth: PC-Based HMI

Sick: Machine Safety Solution

Rexroth’s IndraControl VDP VSB and VPB series of PC-Based HMIs use flash card and Windows XP technology. These HMIs feature a 2.13MHz Celeron processor. RAM is increased up to 4GB and memory up to 80GB. The HMIs can also be used as a soft PLC with a ProfiNet master.

The HMIs are available in sizes ranging from a 12-inch display to a 17-inch display. Options are available for protection class IP65, operational vibration resistance from 0.25 up to 1g, and shock vibration resistance up to 5g. A USB port on the panel front offers extra functionality for connecting a memory stick, auxiliary keyboard or mouse.

Equipping semi-automated workplaces with safety light grids has been the technical norm for many years now. The miniTwin from Sick demonstrates the innovations that are still possible in this area: transmitter and receiver elements in a single, miniaturised housing stick, and monitoring free of blind zones – all at a Type 4 / PL e / SIL3 safety level.

It has been designed for tasks in which the risk analysis for a machine prescribes the highest possible level of protection, ie: Performance Level pl ‘e’ according to EN ISO 13849-1, or SIL3 in compliance with IEC 61508, or the sector standard EN 62061.

Protective field heights of between 120mm and 1,200 mm can be achieved – individually stepped in increments of 60 mm.

It has a range of 0 – 4 m.

Enquiry no. 4813

Enquiry no. 4814

Veeco: Glass Coating Platform

Yokogawa: Digital Indicating Controller

Veeco Instruments’ FastLine platform of Glass Coating Systems is designed for high throughput, low cost of ownership production of CIGS (copper, indium, gallium and selenium) solar cells.

Thermal evaporation, as compared to other deposition methods, produces the highest efficiency thin film solar cells and has the lowest materials costs with high material utilisation driving down the manufacturing cost per watt.

Veeco’s FastLine systems can handle up to thirty 1.1m x 1.4m glass panels/hour. The modular architecture of the system allows customers to scale their output according to their needs.

Yokogawa Electric Corp’s UTAdvanced is a digital indicating controller with a sequence control function based on the ladder logic programming language. Replacing Yokogawa’s Green series, the UTAdvanced offers improved measurement, display, operation, control, and networking functions that enhance the efficiency of user design and save money by eliminating the need for peripheral devices and associated wiring.

The indicating controllers feature standard sequence control function using the ladder logic programming language, easyto-view LCD display with easy-to-use operation and an open system architecture.

Indicating controllers are embedded instruments which measure and display various types of data such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate, as well as data on equipment operation.

Enquiry no. 4815

Enquiry no. 4816 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 59

EVENT review

Hannover Messe 2009 Attracting 6,150 exhibitors and 210,000 visitors, Hannover Messe 2009 presented a complete cross section of exhibits and provided a comprehensive insight into stateof-the-art industrial technology – ranging from factory automation to power transmission, energy, subcontracting and R&D. “Virtually all the companies we spoke to at the show were very pleased with the response to their presentations,” reported Wolfgang Pech, the senior VP responsible for the event at Deutsche Messe AG. Industrial Automation Industrial Automaton embraces Interkama (processing technology), Factory Automation and Industrial Building Automation. The 1,125 exhibitors presented an international spectrum of industrial automation technology.

Key themes in 2009 were sensors, actuators and control systems designed to minimise

60 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

the input of energy and raw materials. A further ‘hot topic’ was industrial IT and virtualisation.

The spotlight was also on RFID and communication solutions based on GSM, UMTS, Bluetooth, ZigBee, WLAN und WirelessHART. The exhibitors were optimistic about the future. In many cases the lull in business provides companies with an opportunity to realise long-planned improvements.

Said Dr Eberhard Veit, CEO of Festo: “Solutions are being developed for the time after the crisis. What we sow in 2009 we will harvest in 2010.”

Angela Josephs, press spokeswoman of Phoenix Contact, drew a similar conclusion: “Despite the travel restrictions affecting our overseas visitors, we had a lot of high-level discussions and generated new contacts. The mood in the exhibition halls was very constructive and positive.”

Motion, Drive & Automation The power transmission and fluid

The thirteen trade shows provided a comprehensive insight into state-of-the-art industrial technology. power industries made a strong showing at their flagship fair.

The 1,234 exhibitors occupied seven exhibition halls. Energy efficiency was a recurrent theme in all sections of the show – as evidenced, for example, in the latest hydraulic components, electric transmission systems and warehousing systems.

There is a pronounced trend towards condition monitoring and maintenance management systems. The continuous improvements in sensor technology have provided the basis for enhanced networking and the realisation of smart and adaptive process monitoring architectures.

The next Hannover Messe will take place from April 19–23, 2010.

Hannover Fair Grounds, Hannover, Germany April 20 – 24, 2009

ENQUIRY NO. 4901

Aerospace Supplier eXchange (ASX) 2009 The economic situation may not be all that rosy but as demonstrated by ASX 2009, it doesn’t mean it is time to head for the hills. By Joson Ng Welcoming over 2,600 visitors through its doors, the inaugural Aerospace Supplier eXchange (ASX) was held at the Singapore Expo from May 27 – 29, 2009 where exhibitors were mainly made up of tier three and four suppliers.

“I think it is ver y hear t warming for us the organiser to see the number of exhibitors and international buyers we attracted.

I thought that the turnout for the opening ceremony was fantastic,” says Gary Nutter second VP, A s s o c i a t i o n o f A e ro s p a c e Industries (Singapore).

In line with the focus of ASX, the Global Asia Trade Exchange (GATE) 09 aerospace, a platform that enables the interaction between the suppliers and the buyers was held in conjunction with the main event.

“It is about giving people the opportunity to meet and talk about what they can offer. The success of GATE depends on the forces of supply and demand.

Hopefully some deals will come out of these meetings, maybe not today but somewhere down the road,” says Mr Nutter.

Speed Dating Process GATE 09 Aerospace was coorganised by IE Singapore, an agency in-charge of the development of Singapore's external economic wing. The GATE concept was implemented for the first time in 2004 and made its aerospace debut in ASX.

“Though a first for an aerospace event, but this is not the first time we are organising GATE. In the past, we have organised these events catering to other industries,” says Thian Tai Chew, director, technology business division, IE Singapore.

The concept of GATE involves inviting buyers from all over the world to speak to local enterprises in order to explore the possibility of building a long lasting business relationship.

“By inviting buyers to come down rather than sending our companies overseas enables the potential buyers to meet a lot more suppliers. They can also see for themselves the manufacturing scene in Singapore. We feel this is a successful programme so we will continue to take this approach,” Mr Thian says.

Singapore and A*Star to address the issues.

The aerospace sector may be shrouded with uncertainties at the moment but Mr Thian has no doubts about the industry. He concludes:” One thing is for sure, this group of suppliers have the potential to grow.”

From the organiser point of view, Mr Nutter feels that it is important to get the right exhibitors and buyers. Organising the event around conferences is also part of the plan to help attract a wider group of audience.

Lastly, he hopes to see improving economic situation by the back end of this year or early next year.

As such, he hopes that the next ASX will be bigger to showcase more companies.

Singapore Expo Singapore May 27 – 29, 2009 ENQUIRY NO. 4902

Eye On The Horizon Through frequent dialogues with international buyers, the agency is able to identify ‘capability gaps’. They will then relate the information to agencies like SPRING

(L) Gary Nutter, second VP, Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore) (R) Thian Tai Chew, director, technology business division, IE Singapore June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 61

EVENT PREVIEW

Industrial Automation 2009 Returning for its fifth instalment in mid July, IA 2009 is set to attract over 10,000 visitors.

Organised by Malaysian Exhibition Ser vices (MES), Industrial Automation 2009 will be targeting trade visitors from the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, food & beverage manufacturing sectors.

More than 10,000 systems integrators and end-users from these robust sectors are invited to visit the IA-Community 62 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

Machine-Builders’ Village that will showcase machines and other dynamic innovations by systems integrators.

Participants at this 5th International Exhibition on Industrial Automation, Manufacturing Process, Control and Measurement Equipment & Technology will benefit from these high-value sectors wherein manufacturers are constantly exploring cutting-edge technology and solutions to compete effectively.

This event is suppor ted

by Federation of Malaysian M a n u f a c t u re r s - A u t o m a t i o n Technology Industry Group (FMMATIG), Sirim Berhad, Singapore M a n u f a c t u re r s F e d e r a t i o n Automation Technology Industry Group (SMa-ATIG), Singapore High Technology Association and is endorsed by Malaysia External Trade Corporation (Matrade).

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia July 15 – 18, 2009 ENQUIRY NO. 4901

product HighlightS

July 15 – 18, 2009 Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia

Hensel Electric: Enclosure System Enystar offers a simple yet reliable enclosure system suitable for indoor and outdoor environments made out of high quality thermoplastic ( Polycarbonate ).

The assemblies are full type–tested (TTA) in accordance with IEC 60 439–1.

Enystar is available in four box sizes. Because of the increasing requirements, flexibility is essential in the electrical system. The enclosures can be combined and arranged freely in order to adapt the system flexibly to the individual requirements at site. The enclosures can be combined next to each other or one above the other.

CETM: Test & Measuring Equipment CETM caters to the growing needs of electronics & electrical test and measuring equipment in Singapore. Presently, the company represents brands of testing equipments like Fluke, Megger, Programma, Extech, Pomana, etc. Besides handling sales and marketing of their products, they also provide value added services like product training courses, repair and calibration services. A division to handle electrical installation, testing and contracting services has also been set up.

Arinex: LED Lighting Systems The Mitsubishi FX3G is designed for applications that require discrete control of up to 128 local I/O or up to 256 I/O with CC-Link remote I/O. It has a high processing speed of 0.21μs per logical instruction, expansion of up to eight Special Function Modules and connection to FX3 series adapter bus.

Furthermore, with a wide range of network and serial protocols available, such as Ethernet, CC-Link and Modbus, the FX3G enables seamless integration and data communications between both Mitsubishi Electric and third-party devices.

Trumpf: Robot Laser System Peterson Manufacturing’s (PM) Safety LED lighting systems with 100,000 hour LEDs are vapour-tight, and especially suitable for road-tankers or vehicles operating at chemicals and petroleum terminals, which are subjected to flammable liquids or vapour.

The machine, which features up to six axis, is designed for 3D processing of large work pieces. Sample parts and prototypes as well as small and medium runs can be economically and accurately weld and cut.

It features turnkey installation – no additional integration work, modular construction from standard components, and plug and play in the Trumpf LaserNetwork.

June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 63

Parting Shot...

Flying Without Wings

High-speed trains are gaining popularity throughout Asia, putting the metalworking industry in high gear. By Joson Ng

anâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fascination with rails reportedly began in Greece where there is evidence of a railway system 6 km long. The Diolkos wagonway existed in 6th century BC. The carriages, which ran in grooves, were propelled by manpower.

Fast forward to present day Asia, Japan is widely believed to be the birthplace of regular, high-speed railways. A country with a myriad of rail systems from the modern bullet train to the quaint Enoden of yester year, they run throughout the island nation, driving the country.

Major railways add up to some 12,400 miles (19,956 km), according to Japan Rail, which operates most of it.

Developments West Of Japan Other parts of Asia are also 64â&#x20AC;&#x192; industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

following suit by developing high-speed rail systems. A report from Xinhua News says that the Chinese government has started construction of the BeijingShanghai high-speed railway, with a designed speed of 350 km/h.

The 1,318 km long railway line, upon its completion in five years, will cut the journey time between China's capital of Beijing and its eastern financial hub of Shanghai in half, to five hours. It will also lift the one-way transport capacity to 80 million passengers and more than 100 million tonnes of cargo annually, said the Ministry of Railways.

With an investment of RMB220.9 billion (US$31.6 billion), the railway is the most expensive construction project in one lump sum China had since 1949.

In addition, the country's first

domestically produced train, able to reach 350 km/h, rolled off the production line. The eight-carriage train, with a streamlined body made of light aluminium alloy, can carry 557 passengers.

Elsewhere in countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, there are extensive train and subway systems, which are expanding as well. For instance in South Korea, the authorities are currently building an extension to the 40.3 km high-speed rail connecting Gimpo Airport and Incheon International Airport.

According to Gale International, a real estate development and investment firm headquartered in New York City, the second railway line will connect Gimpo Airport to Seoul Station and is scheduled to open in 2010.

Nearly WON3 trillion (US$2.3 billion) from the private sector and WON1.1 trillion of taxpayer money is being invested in the railway projects, with the IncheonGimpo railway alone having taken WON1.8 trillion.

In Singapore, the development and construction of the Circle and Downtown line are well underway, with an approximate S$1.1 billion (US$745 million) invested for the downtown line alone.

These major investments will no doubt trigger other supporting industries like the metalworking industry and the steel producers as tracks lengthen and more trains are needed.

Giving The Right Signal Signalling is of utmost importance especially today where trains travel in high speeds and carry heavy load. Companies like GE Transportation can benefit from major projects in China or throughout Asia. They have products to give freight, passenger and urban transport operators a set of control, supervision and communication capabilities to optimise their networks and assets.

T h e s e s y s t e m s i n c re a s e capacity and velocity without

Engineers continue to push the envelope in terms of speed

The rail system in Singapore is expanding with the Circle and Downtown lines

requiring new investments in infrastructure.

A big part of signalling is also lighting. The company’s LED retrofit kits provide more light at all viewing distances and have longer service life and mean time between repairs. The polycarbonate lenses have a life expectancy of 100,000plus hours.

Grounding The Plane Trains are getting faster to a point they are real competitors to airplanes plying the same route. As advancements in aviation are well documented with the A380 aircraft taking most of the plaudits, highspeed trains are slowly inching faster in their quest to usurp the coveted throne to become the new darling of transportation.

People belonging to the metalworking family can take heart that both industries generally use aluminium alloy to build their machines and competition between the two will indeed be good news.

Aluminium-alloy trains were developed to realise production of the rolling stock with corrosion-free materials. It has one-third specific gravity and equal strength of steel.

They are considered ideal for the materials of rolling stock as they have benefits like long-life, lightweight, and maintenance-free traits.

Away from the relentless

pursuit of higher speed, other developments also include noise reduction. Especially with the series 700 Shinkansen train (Bullet Train), large-scale extrusion with double-skin structures are built to achieve that.

Floating Trains?

The quest for high speed is possible by eliminating friction and vibration. In order to accomplish that, magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology, on which magnetic power is used to levitate the vehicles, before being propelled by linear motors has been developed.

According to Shanghai Maglev Transpor tation, the electromagnetic principle adopted for the Maglev train was put forward in 1922 and was subsequently awarded a patent in 1934. But thereafter this technology remained in a state of ‘something existing only on paper’. The designed speed per hour reaches as high as 500 km, while the actual running tempo is 400-odd km.

As rail systems expands in Asia in terms of size and speed, there is potential galore for the metalworking industry to tap into this niche market and go on its very own high speed run.

ENQUIRY NO. 4905 June/July 2009 | industrial automation asia 65

CalendarOf Events2009 JUNE 10 – 12 OGA 2009

KLCC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysian Exhibition Services Email: ajones@mesallworld.com Web: www.oilandgas-asia.com

16 – 19 Communicasia 2009

Singapore Expo, Singapore Singapore Exhibition Services Email: pin@sesallworld.com Web: www.communicasia.com

17 – 20 ProPak Asia 2009

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Exhibition Services Email: propak@besallworld.com Web: www.propakasia.com

18 – 20 E5 The Engineering Series BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Exhibition Services Email: elenex@besallworld.com Web: www.e5thailand.com

24 – 26 DMS

Tokyo Big Sight Tokyo, Japan Reed Exhibitions Email: dms-tokyo@reedexpo.co.jp Web: www.dms-tokyo.jp/english

25 – 28 Assembly Technology

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

july 8 – 10 Wind Power Asia

China International Exhibition Centre Beijing, China Koelnmesse Email: marcowang@windpowerasia. com Web: www.windpowerasia.com

66 industrial automation asia | June/July 2009

15 – 18 Industrial Automation 2009

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Malaysian Exhibition Services Email: enquiry@mesallworld.com Web: www.asean-ia.com

22 – 24 Thermotec 2009

Tokyo Big Sight Tokyo, Japan Mesago Messe Frankfurt Email: thermotec@mesagomessefrankfurt.com Web: www.mesago-messefrankfurt.com

august 5 – 8 2009 Taipei International Industrial Automation & Robot Joint Exhibition

Taipei World Trade Center Taipei, Taiwan Taiwan Society of Manufacture Engineering and Automation Technology Email: belle@tsmea.org.tw Web: www.tsmea.org.tw

13 – 16 TADTE 2009

Taipei World Trade Center Taipei, Taiwan Taiwan External Trade Development Council Email: tadte@taitra.org.tw Web: www.tadte.com.tw

September 16 – 18 Industrial Automation Vietnam 2009

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

16 – 18 Clean Energy Expo Asia

Suntec Singapore Koelnmesse Email: c.hor@koelnmesse.com.sg Web: www.cleanenergyexpoasia.com

october 5 – 8 SCM Logistics World 2009

Raffles City Convention Centre Singapore Terrapinn Email: enquiry.sg@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com

22 – 25 Metal Technology Show 2009

Putra World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Fairs & Events Management Email: enquiries@femsb.com Web: www.femsb.com

27 – 31 Korea Metal Week 2009

Korea International Exhibition Center Seoul, South Korea Korea Trade Fairs Email: master1@ktfairs.com Web: korea-metal.com

December 1 – 4 CIA 2009

Suntec Singapore Singapore Exhibition Services Email: car@sesallworld.com Web: www.cia-asia.com

NOTES To be considered for inclusion in the Calendar of Events, send details of event (name, date, venue, organiser contact) to: The Assistant 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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From control to optimization of your system in each network level. A new integrated industrial Ethernet network concept with Gigabit.

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On your mark sensor, go!

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