ANSWERS
CONTROL SYSTEMS Sean Sims, Emerson
Evolving control systems are key to improved performance Flexible computing, contextual data and modular architectures will change the face of control systems and improve overall plant performance, helping to lower risk from retirements.
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rganizations invest in control systems intending that the control systems will operate as intended for many years. However, the pace of change for control systems is accelerating, and the next decade will bring tremendous evolution. Understanding these changes is critical for organizations seeking to secure the best operational performance and return on control system investments. For decades, the control system was constrained by physical hardware: hardwired input/output (I/O) layouts, connected controllers and structured architectures including dedicated networks and server configurations. Now, the lower cost of processing power and sensing, the evolution of network and wireless infrastructure, and distributed architectures (including the cloud) are unlocking new opportunities in control systems. Additionally, emerging standards for plug-and-produce, such as advanced physical layer (APL) and modular type package (MTP) interfaces, will drive significant changes in the way plants design and use control systems over the next decade. Even with the changing times and technologies, the equation for success remains the same: choose a reliable, easy-to-engineer control system while providing access to new technologies for improving operations performance.
Control system flexibility mitigates retirement risks
Over the last decade, industry has watched expert personnel reach retirement and has taken steps to mitigate the impact of this loss of expertise. This trend has been exacerbated by recent COVID-19 operating conditions, causing a number of industries to limit on-site personnel. At the same time, an abundance of new sensing technologies and high-bandwidth transmission options have plants collecting more data than ever, with organizations wanting to extract more value from the data to drive business performance
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Figure 1: Critical control system data will be visible across the enterprise, enabling small teams to provide support for multiple geographically distant locations. All figures courtesy: Emerson
and differentiation. This includes more flexible product delivery capabilities, optimizing quality and throughput consistency, and driving a higher level of operational safety and environmental compliance. In response, many organizations will extend control architectures into a more distributed geographic infrastructure, enabling small, centralized teams of experts to provide support across a fleet (Figure 1). These internal experts can be supplemented by experts from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vendors by granting them secure access to relevant aspects of this infrastructure. One of the elements of this distributed architecture is the cloud, private, public, or hybrid. Shifting non-core control components of the architecture to the cloud over time makes it easier for organizations to efficiently operate and make better decisions. Cloud users extract more value from data by control engineering
February 2021
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