Technology spotlight Advances in technology

NeWS

TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT

Advances in technology across industry

Siemens implements autonomous stockyard management system in China

Siemens is supplying an autonomous stockyard management system to be used in a new plant for HBIS Laoting Steel Co. Ltd., a Chinese subsidiary of one of the world’s biggest iron and steel producers. The autonomous stockyard management system from Siemens comprises a material tracking and management system (MAQ), an autonomous stockyard operating system (MOM), a Simatic PCS 7 process control system, industry network, consulting, engineering, project management and commissioning.

Interaction between these different components enables control of all the plant’s machines and conveying systems, offering wide-ranging benefits such as the capability for all machines and conveyors to be controlled from a single system. This is achieved using a 3D model of the existing inventory which provides information on the volume and quality of stocked material, enabling autonomous operation of all the plant’s storage and retrieval machines. This allows HBIS Laoting Steel Co. Ltd. not only to drive down its operating costs, but also to achieve between a five and ten per cent improvement in system efficiency and between three and seven per cent higher production capacity. The use of autonomous storage and retrieval machinery also improves safety.

The latest environmental regulations set out by the Chinese Government require all newly constructed stockyards to be indoors. The high temperatures and levels of dust involved make for harsh working conditions, meaning that only autonomous storage and retrieval machinery can be operated in these new indoor facilities. www.siemens.com/mining-digitalization

Innovative energy concept for Berlin TXL

IN the future, Berliner Stadtwerke and E.ON will supply TXL – The Urban Tech Republic – in Berlin with cooling and heating using a highly innovative combination of environmentally friendly technologies. The bidding consortium was the winner of an EU-wide concession tender for the research and industrial park on the site of today’s Tegel Airport. The Schumacher Quarter, with its more than 5000 apartments, which is also planned for the Tegel site, will also be included in the energy concept.

The energy will be supplied via a new lowtemperature network. This so-called LowEx network is operated at temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius. The lower operating temperature compared to a classic district heating network means that heat losses can be reduced. Furthermore, heat pumps installed for consumers can generate higher temperatures as well as cooling energy, if required. The LowEx network can absorb surplus or self-generated energy and thus turns the customer into a producer.

Because everything is generated, stored and consumed directly on site in a decentralised and sustainable way from a mix of combined heat and power plants, solar plants, geothermal energy and waste water heat, the network functions as an energy exchange point.

Philipp Bouteiller, managing director of Tegel Projekt GmbH, says: “We are concerned here with the far-reaching possibilities of this new approach, which picks up on a central point of the energy turnaround; away from central energy generation towards citizen-oriented, decentralised, intelligent energy systems and modern neighbourhood management.” Visit: www.berlinerstadtwerke.de

patrolling robots to eradicate petrol plant explosions

The risk of a petrol plant explosion or a potential disaster on an oil refinery could be dramatically reduced thanks to a new generation of tiny chemical sensors that use light and sound to ‘listen to’ gas leaks.

Fitted to an autonomous patrolling robot, the tiny ‘Photo-Acoustic’ gas sensors will be part of a wireless network continuously monitoring pipelines that can instantly identify petroleum, hydrogen sulphide, and a number of toxic gases, before alerting operatives in an oil rig or chemical plant.

Current state-of-the-art technologies can take anything up to 8 minutes per measurement and give off ‘false positives’ when detecting gas leaks. However, a group of EU researchers are exploiting new techniques that combine both photonic and acoustic technologies to positively identify a leak in milliseconds.

The multi-discipline consortium, calling themselves ‘REDFINCH’(or mid infraRED Fully Integrated CHemical sensors) have combined light together with sound to increase the detection sensitivity of the wavelength ‘fingerprint’ of a gas so that it can be positively identified. Project dissemination manager, David Williams, explains: “The REDFINCH consortium is developing Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), using hybrid and monolithic integration of III-V diode and Interband Cascade/Quantum Cascade materials with silicon to create high performance, cost effective sensors. Essentially using light and sound together allows us to produce a more specific detection and to be more accurate.

“By integrating all the components, such as the laser, the detector and the sensing chamber all onto one single chip, we reduce the possible points of failure and more importantly, the ‘noise’ ratio to improve the sensing capabilities. Shifting everything onto one silicon chip makes things more convenient and less expensive.” Visit: www.redfinch.eu