Control, Instrumentation and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries June 2016
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ISO9001 changes and their effect on calibration processes Making the right choices for wireless applications Cyber security: buy-in at all levels is vital Special Supplement: CC-Link IE in action
CONTENTS
Security ‘in depth’ at Hannover Fair…
Editor Suzanne Gill suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk Sales Manager Lydia Harris lydia.harris@imlgroup.co.uk Production Sara Clover sara.clover@imlgroup.co.uk Business Development Manager Iain McLean iain.mclean@imlgroup.co.uk Dan Jago Group Publisher David May Production Manager Stuart Pritchard Studio Designer
Hannover Fair was certainly interesting this year, with the first day being completely overshadowed by one man and the massive security machine that obviously follows him everywhere. Foolishly I thought I might be able to get a glimpse of President Obama as he roamed the aisles of the event, but how wrong could I have been. Security was, to put it mildly, extensive. Half the event was cordoned off until late in the morning, with no one allowed in or out of the halls that Mr Obama and his entourage were scheduled to visit. My morning tram was even halted for half an hour, and the traffic came to a standstill, as he made his way to the event. Added to that there were snipers on the roofs of Hall 8... Never seen anything like it! They had certainly taken security very seriously... which brings me neatly on to an ar-
ticle in this issue that looks at the changing face of industrial cyber attacks and explains why security buy-in at all levels is vital to the success of any initiative. pg 20 I also gathered further evidence of the servitisation trend at the Emerson EMEA User Conference this year as the company focused on a new initiative designed to help improve scheduling and costs for capital engineering projects – bringing automated technology together with a new approach to project design to ensure projects are completed to time and to budget. Find out more about this on pg 4. Suzanne Gill – Editor suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk
INDUSTRY REPORTS
LEVEL CONTROL
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24 Understanding capacitance level measurement.
Suzanne Gill reports on the introduction of a new initiative designed to help improve scheduling and costs for capital engineering projects, helping companies to achieve top quartile performance.
EDITOR’S CHOICE 6
Parallel working solution for different engineering project disciplines.
BIG DATA 26 Big data is just one of a host of popular industry buzz words. When put together with other enabling technologies such as IIoT and Cloud the benefits of big data really start to become apparent. Suzanne Gill reports.
CALIBRATION
DEVICE CONVERGENCE
10 A new approach to flow meter calibration.
28 Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of converged devices for industrial applications.
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY 14 Advice on choosing the most suitable antennae to help get the best out of wireless technology in industrial applications. 16 The challenges of developing wireless communication solutions for automated materials handling systems.
ANALYTICS 30 Time and money is being lost at production plants due to problems not being fixed in a timely fashion. Faults can be identified, rectified, and prevented by tracing mechanical errors with specialised cameras.
FINAL WORD CYBER SECURITY 20 A look at the changing face of cyber attacks and the argument for security to be a priority throughout the industrial IT supply chain.
Control Engineering Europe is a controlled circulation journal published six times per year by IML Group plc under license from CFE Media LLC. Copyright in the contents of Control Engineering Europe is the property of the publisher. ISSN 1741-4237 IML Group plc Blair House, High Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1BQ UK Tel: +44 (0) 1732 359990 Fax: +44 (0) 1732 770049
Control Engineering Europe
34 Tim Bradshaw Bradshaw, general manager at Mistras Group, explains how risk-based inspection systems and advanced non-destructive testing methods are helping storage tank owners comply with increasingly stringent regulations, as well as reducing maintenance costs.
Control Engineering (USA) Frank Bartos, Mark Hoske, Renee Robbins, Vance VanDoren, Peter Welander Circulation Tel: +44 (0)1732 359990 Email: subscription@imlgroup.co.uk Completed print or on line registration forms will be considered for free supply of printed issues, web site access and on line services.
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Qualified applicants in Europe must complete the registration form at www.imlgrouponthenet.net/cee to receive Control Engineering Europe free of charge. Paid subscriptions for non-qualifying applicants are available for £113 (U.K.), £145 (Europe), £204 (rest of world); single copies £19.
June 2016
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INDUSTRY REPORT
Transforming capital project schedules and costs Suzanne Gill reports on a new initiative from Emerson Process Management which is designed to improve scheduling and costs for capital engineering projects, helping companies to achieve top quartile performance.
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n his opening keynote presentation at this years Emerson User Group EMEA conference, Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management, emphasised the reason for the event theme of ‘New reality – New opportunity,’ saying: “Lower oil and gas prices are affecting all of us in some way and these conditions will be with us for some time. I forsee a slow recovery in energy prices so we need to assume that the current state of affairs is the new reality. However with this new reality comes new opportunities – to move away from traditional practices, to try new ideas and to focus efforts where they will have the greatest impact.” Sonnenberg went on to say that executives today are being challenged by their boards to be the best in the industry and to maintain and improve profitability even in challenging times and this has led to a push to achieve top quartile performance. Explaining why, he said: “Plant availability can range from less than 84% for bottom quartile performers to over 97% for enterprises in the top quartile. Even a 1% gain in availability of a refinery could mean as much as five million euros extra in profit every year and this can be achieved without investing a single euro in new capacity.” Sonnenberg’s advice on how to move up into the next quartile of industry performers is to start by choosing an area that you know can be improved
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upon – for example, aim to achieve operational excellence. Safety is always at the top of this list, so could you change work practices or training methods? Could you utilise new technologies to minimise and mitigate risk? Also consider whether there are new ways that you could optimise production and whether you have the most effective tools and expertise to hand to get the most out of your operation. Another area to look at is reliability, which is an essential factor in reducing downtime. “Gaining benefits here does not need more money to be spent on maintenance,” said Sonnenberg. “With the right approach it is possible to increase availability while at the same time reducing maintenance costs.” A survey undertaken by Solomon Consulting Group has shown that plants with the highest availability among the top quartile performers also have the lowest maintenance costs. It has also identified that those in the bottom quartile will spend 3.5 times more on maintenance.
Energy and cost reductions Energy emissions is another area that can be used to help reduce costs. Energy will be the biggest variable operating cost for any company – up to 30% for a typical industrial facility. Studies have shown that up to 37% of energy is wasted, so aiming to eliminate waste energy can offer a real opportunity to
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improve profits. It would also result in lower emissions which is important to all companies today to help meet ever more stringent emissions targets. Roel Van Doren, president of Emerson Process Management in Europe, went on to explain how companies can move into the top quartile for capital project performance by delivering projects on budget and on schedule. He explained that, currently, 65% of industry capital projects over one billion euros fail to meet targets. The numbers are not much better for smaller projects, where 35 % of projects also fail to meet targets. “We need to think about projects differently,” said Van Doren. “Process automation can be used as a lever to improve project costs and schedules. But to make this happen there also needs to be a transformational change in the way that projects are designed, engineered and executed. Remember that top quartile capital projects are completed at half the cost and in half the time compared to below par performing projects and fourth quartile projects.” Van Doren explained that managing project costs requires the elimination of unnecessary work and the utilisation of Control Engineering Europe
INDUSTRY REPORT standardised technologies to help reduce design hours, construction materials and labour – for example through the greater use of wireless technology. “Risk also need to be managed,” continued Van Doren. “The best way to do this is to reduce complexity. We need to find ways to simplify projects. Modularisation is a popular concept but traditional methodologies like Factory Acceptance Tests (FATS) make it difficult. However, what if you could do a virtualised software acceptance test in the Cloud and then connect a skid to the virtualised system to undertake checks. This would decouple the traditional dependence between different suppliers and hardware and software to make concurrent workstreams possible and to eliminate traditional project bottlenecks.” Schedules are another area that he looked at. “The biggest impact on the schedule will be design changes, so we need find a better way to accommodate late changes and I believe that technology can help here too. Control systems, for example, that can automatically discover and assign field devices and the pervasive use of wireless instrumentation and networks. The technology already exists to allow IO to be added or changed during a project without the need for any rework and utilising this technology would eliminate around 80% of the engineering and technician hours during commissioning.” Emerson’s newly launched Project Certainly initiative has been developed to help companies improve capital project performance. It offers a transformational approach and redefines the way projects are designed, engineered and executed. “Project Certainty is not just about technology,” concluded Van Doren. “It is about leading change in an organisation and building new elements into a project plan from its outset.”
So, what is it? Project Certainty is a combined technology and engineering-based approach for improved capital Control Engineering Europe
Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management, emphasised the reason for the event’s theme of ‘New reality – New opportunity’.
efficiency and more reliable project schedules. According to Jim Nyquist, president of Emerson Process Management’s Systems and Solution business, industry has reached a tipping point in which projects are not sustainable with current budget and schedule excesses and that, in order to achieve game-changing performance in projects, transformative and comprehensive approaches such as Project Certainty, are necessary. It begins with early engagement during engineering and design studies to define project goals and high impact strategies to meet those goals. Despite traditionally accounting for just 4% of a projects investment, automation can offer repeatable ways to eliminate cost, reduce complexity and accommodate late-stage project changes, beyond the automation discipline. Project Certainty relies on the right design engineering strategy to help eliminate centralised control system room requirements by up to 80%, and can reduce piping in some applications by up to 60%. Further, project-wide equipment reliability analysis could
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offer huge cost reductions for capital spare parts. Emerson’s new project approach also addresses the complexity of data and documentation through the use of innovative technologies that provide features such as a single source of project data and automated documentation. Emerson’s own technologies – such as electronic marshalling with CHARMs, and pervasive wireless field instrumentation – can help project teams to accommodate last-minute design changes without impacting the schedule. The technologies and methodologies are already available to help companies achieve top quartile performance. However, in addition to just using technology, collaboration and commitment to eliminate outdated project approaches and drive change into the industry is also vital and this is where Emerson hopes that Project Certainly will help to make a real difference. To find out more about Project Certainty go to: www3.emersonprocess.com/ projectcertainty/ June 2016
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EDITOR’S CHOICE
Parallel working solution for different
engineering project disciplines Traditionally, the different disciplines of an engineering project – mechanical engineering, electrical and controls engineering and PLC/ software engineering – have been worked on within isolated silos. Maximilian Brandl, president of Eplan and Cideon, believes that greater efficiencies can be achieved by working on these tasks in parallel: “We are seeing more companies adopting a mechatronic approach which we believe is important,” he said. “If the different engineering disciplines involved in a project are approached together it is possible to achieve improved engineering efficiencies and effectiveness. Taking a mechatronic engineering approach will also allow engineers to add value along the whole value chain.” The barrier to wider uptake of such an approach has, traditionally, been due to a lack of tools to combine the different engineering disciplines. Eplan and Cideon has addressed this with Syngineer, an open and scalable platform solution which synchronises interdisciplinary
engineering processes in a cloud-based architecture to offer a joint mechatronic structure that is able to fulfil the requirements, functions and components needed by the different engineering disciplines of a single project. It is designed to sit on top of existing CAD systems, being accessed via plugins. Currently there are plug-ins for EPLAN, Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks and Codesys software programming environments. The Syngineer communication platform sees MCAD, ECAD and PLC software interfaced directly through the mechatronic structure. It simplifies synchronisation across disciplines and helps to accelerate design engineering and development processes through closer collaboration. Brandl continues: “With Syngineer we are establishing a collective view of the machine to be constructed. Coordinating and administrative efforts between various engineering processes are structured and automated so that design engineering and development processes are parallelised, making them
Mini computer wins Hermes Award A mini-industrial computer from Harting has won the Hermes Award for industrial innovation, which is presented annually by the Hannover Messe event organisers. The Harting MICA (Modular Industry Computing Architecture), developed by subsidiary HARTING IT Software Development, is an open and modular platform that functions as a core component consisting of embedded hardware and software for Industry 4.0. The Hermes Award judges were impressed by its concept of lightweight virtualisation using LINUX containers, which the MICA achieves in a compact
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field device. The device brings intelligence to existing machinery and systems, making it possible to migrate an existing factory towards becoming a smart factory, giving the opportunity for many SMEs to cost-effectively enter the world of Industry 4.0.
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considerably shorter.” A prerequisite for this synchronised working solution is that all of the engineering disciplines taking part in the process need to first agree on a clear, uniform and transparent mechatronic structure with the requirements and functionalities being defined and documented within this structure. The use of cloud technology enables the different project teams to communicate in real time and across locations. Changes or new specifications can be assigned directly to the respective disciplines involved and all those involved in a project will be informed of any changes. For example, the mechanical engineer and software developer will automatically receive a notification when the electrical engineer changes an electric motor for a different model. They are, therefore, able to see if this change affects their own work. Syngineer does not compete with PDM or PLM systems, but instead expands their functionality with discipline-specific processes continuing to be managed within the usual PDM/PLM system. Interfacing components from the discipline-specific authoring systems with the communication platform results in information from the interface that transmits the ‘building instructions’ for the mechatronic bill of materials to the PDM/PLM system. Because of this, the mechanical and electrotechnical bill of materials no longer needs to be manually synchronised to avoid duplicates when ordering. “Mechatronics engineering is the next step for engineering,” said Brandl. “It will create another level of efficiency. It might also result in the generation of new mechatronic ideas because of its ability to provide better communication between departments.” The system is currently in the pilot phase but should be available before the end of the year. Control Engineering Europe
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COVER STORY
ISO9001 changes and their effect ON CALIBRATION PROCESSES
Heikki Laurila explores the changes in the 2015 revision of ISO9001 and explains how these changes affect calibration processes.
T
he ISO9001 standard was the first quality management standard of its kind. Its main focus has been to provide consistently-conforming products and services. Its most recent revision came in September 2015 when it saw some major changes. Certified companies have a three-year transition period – until September 2018 – to update their quality systems to meet the standard. A general level change is the High Level Structure (HLS) of the standard. This was updated into a new structure that will also be common to other management standards, such as the ISO14000 environmental management standard. An important managementlevel change in the revision is that the older term ‘management’ has been replaced with ‘leadership’. This is a fundamental change, and is a modernisation of the obligations of the highest-level management – its commitment, responsibility and resource allocation. Another big change is the risk-based thinking approach of the standard. Risk based thinking has been included
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in many parts of the standard and is one of the changes that will affect calibration processes. Other changes, like the processbased approach, which was always included in the standard, require more details about the processes, such as determination of the input and output, resources, responsibilities, risks and opportunities. A quality manual as its own document is no longer required; it can now be included in an electronic system. The term ‘quality management system’ has been replaced with the term ‘context of the organisation’, so instead of describing a separate quality system, it now requires a description of the company’s organisation. While the old standard revision had some specific requirements for the test and measuring equipment, the new revision takes a higher-level approach and sets requirements for the resources (human and equipment) to be made available and adequate for the use in measurements and follow-up. The role of management has been updated to the more modern thought process of leadership. This puts new responsibilities on senior
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management, who must demonstrate commitment and take responsibility for the effectiveness of the quality system, while enhancing customer satisfaction. One could conclude that management’s role has changed from focusing on things to focusing on people, and from doing things right to doing the right things. Also, instead of planning, organising and directing, the role has moved to inspiring, influencing and motivating. Risk-based thinking is one of the key elements in the new revision and it affects many elements throughout the standard. This is also what affects calibration processes the most. Although risk-based thinking has been included in earlier revisions of the standard, it is very much highlighted in the 2015 revision. Some companies may already be familiar with the risk-based approach from other standards, such as the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. It is worth remembering that although a risk is often considered a negative thing, risk-based thinking also helps to reveal new opportunities. When analysing risks, it is often divided into two parts; the impact (severity) of something happening, then the probability (likelihood) of it to happen. Often, both of these are rated on a scale of one-to-five. When you multiply the impact with the likelihood, a one-to-25 rating of the risk index is formed. The bigger the index, the bigger the risk. ISO offers a dedicated standard for risk management: ISO/IEC 31010:2009, Risk management – Risk assessment techniques. There is also a vocabulary available for risk management: ISO Guide 73:2009, Risk management – Vocabulary. A GAMP guide is available on how to implement the risk based approach for calibration management: The GAMP Good Practice Guide: A Risk-Based Approach to Calibration Management. Control Engineering Europe
COVER STORY Risk and calibration When analysing calibration processes it is important to analyse all the measurement points and loops in the plant. For example, first, evaluate the consequences (impact/severity) – what will happen if this measurement fails, what would the consequences be? Secondly, how likely is it that this measurement will fail? With a multiplication of these two, the risk index is calculated. Keep in mind how the risk can be diminished, or even eliminated. There are many sources that the risk can come from; it can be human error, an equipment failure, an accident, or a total surprise that cannot be predicted in advance. There can be some measurements in a process plant that will have very severe consequences if they fail, so these will be the most critical to consider. Sometimes the most critical measurements are provided with redundant independent measurements, so if one measurement fails, the others will continue working. This is most often the case in critical safety measurements, which also typically have dedicated safety certified/approved measurement equipment. In practice, it is not always possible to add redundant measurements into all loops which are considered critical or important. For an important measurement, start by installing measuring equipment known/found to be the most reliable. Next, calibrate the most important measurements more often than those that are less critical. After the risk analysis, less important measurements can be calibrated less often, leaving more time for the calibration and maintenance of the most important measurements. The measurement may fail any time between the periodical calibrations and the longer the calibration period is, the longer time the measurement may have been faulty for. It is easy to notice if an instrument totally fails, but if the instrument only starts to slowly measure wrong, although outside allowed tolerances, it is often difficult to Control Engineering Europe
realise until the next calibration. Once it fails in calibration, perform an analysis on the impact of this measurement failure. For example, if there is a oneyear calibration period and the measurement fails in calibration, it means that in the worstcase scenario, this measurement could have been bad for the whole year, assuming it failed right after the previous calibration. Different measurement points in the process will have different criticality and accuracy needs. These acceptance/ accuracy limits should be set by the process specialists. Often, the same kind of transmitters are installed into locations with different accuracy needs. Often the calibration acceptance limits are set according to the transmitter’s specifications, when they should be set by the process requirements. This runs a risk that the more and less critical measurement points will end up having the same acceptance limits in calibrations.
the next calibration period, or if the period should be adjusted. If the history shows a risk, meaning the instrument is unstable and the measurement could fail during the next period, the calibration period should be made shorter. Otherwise an OOT (Out Of Tolerance) situation could happen. On the other hand, if the instrument is stable and the measurement is not critical, the calibration period could be made longer and resources released for more important measurements. Manual history trending is labour intensive. Some calibration management software offers an easy ways to analyse the history trend of measurements.
Best practice
Total uncertainty
Manual documentation of the actual calibration creates a risk of human error. Electronic automatic documenting calibration equipment is recommended for calibration in order to reduce this risk. It will also save time. One essential aspect in any calibration is to analyse the calibration results and compare the found errors to the allowed accuracy limits. To reduce the risk, electronic calibration equipment should be used to automatically calculate the error, compare it to the allowed limit and make the Pass/Fail decision automatically. All measurements tend to drift over time, so it is important to follow the history trend of the measurement. A history trend is a tool to analyse whether the instrument is likely to stay within the tolerance limit over
Analysis of the total uncertainty is an essential aspect in any calibration. The idea of calibration is lost if reference equipment is not traceable and is not accurate enough for the calibration work. The calibration procedures may be carried out differently due to being done by different people, or at different times. This will add uncertainty to the calibration results and will make it difficult to compare or trend the results. Automated calibration procedures, with calibration management software and automated documenting calibrators, ensures that the calibration procedures are always performed in the same manner and are repeatable, reliable and comparable.
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Risk management standard resources.
Heikki Laurila is product marketing manager at Beamex Oy Ab. June 2016
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CALIBRATION
A NEW APPROACH TO flow meter calibration Neil Bowman suggests some alternatives to traditional set-time based calibration strategies.
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he oil and gas sector has benefited greatly from recent technological advances in flow measurement technology. Flow measurement was traditionally performed by mature technologies such as orifice plate meters, turbine meters and positive displacement type devices. However, over the last two decades these have gradually been replaced by newer technologies such as ultrasonic, electromagnetic and Coriolis meters which are, generally, non-intrusive and have much higher turn-down ratios, so are able to measure a much larger range of flows to the required accuracy. These changes have been accompanied by rapid developments in sensing technology, process monitoring and the introduction of meter diagnostics. However, diagnostics alone are not enough to ensure that the required accuracy of the device is met, which means that periodic calibration remains an essential part of the flow measurement system maintenance. The issue facing operators now is that the cost of system shutdown makes calibrations an expensive and timeconsuming undertaking. Meter calibrations are traditionally performed based on a specified time interval. Factors such as instrument type, operating conditions, measurement application and the manufacturer’s recommendation are just some factors that need to be considered when selecting a calibration interval.
Set time-based intervals One issue with the current system of performing calibrations based on a set time-based interval is that this
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does not necessarily take any account of the conditions to which the meter has been subjected, or whether it has suffered a statistically significant degree of calibration drift, that is likely to impinge on measurement accuracy, or the resulting financial exposure such inaccuracies create for operators. This means that the operator could be performing calibrations with unnecessary frequency, incurring all the associated costs and impacts on operational efficiency. Conversely, the meter may be drifting at a higher rate than anticipated, resulting in increased financial exposure. However, without any form of diagnostics or condition monitoring in place, the operator does not know if either of these situations arise. There are two other calibration scheduling methodologies available that operators should be looking at to harness the benefits of modern technological developments. The first is risk-based calibration, where calibration scheduling is based on the degree of financial exposure caused by calibration drift over time, weighed against the cost of calibrating and otherwise maintaining the device for a given calibration interval. The second alternative approach is condition-based calibration, which involves the use of diagnostic data acquired from the device or measurement system either through post-processing of the primary measurement data or as secondary data that can give qualitative insight into the health of the measurement system and indicate anomalies in the performance of that device or system.
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Enlightened calibration Attitudes within industry are beginning to shift towards more enlightened methodologies, despite the current popularity of ‘timebased’ calibration scheduling. In the UK, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), has updated its guidelines to support riskbased and condition-based calibration. In principle, however, the ideal calibration strategy would be a combination of these approaches where qualitative ‘condition-based’ diagnostic data is used in conjunction with statistical modelling based on data from historical calibrations to drive up efficiency, reduce costs and maintain accuracy. Despite the benefits of using one of these modern approaches to the calibration scheduling, many operators still use time-based scheduling. Factors such as the simplicity of time-based scheduling, lack of training, outmoded apparatus, lack of budget and systemic inertia may all be factors in why some operators have not yet embraced this new mindset. However, the financial facts of oil and gas flow measurement make clear the importance of being able to achieve a high degree of measurement accuracy. With an oil price at the beginning of 2016, of around $40 per barrel, and with daily global sales in the region of 100 million barrels, this would raise $4 billion revenue per day. If we accept that the uncertainty in fiscal measurement for liquid was ± 0.25%, the resulting daily financial exposure would be about $10 million. This equates to an exposure of $3.6 billion per year, or the equivalent of nearly a day’s production. The significant fiscal and custody transfer implications of inaccuracy and not adapting to a new meter calibration approach can clearly be seen. Neil Bowman is a project engineer at NEL, part of the TÜV SÜD Group. Control Engineering Europe
A better way to perform maintenance inspections
Beamex has created a new, mobile, paperless solution for maintenance related inspection activities like checks for preventive maintenance, safety instrumented systems and hazardous area installations. Beamex bMobile is a new mobile app for Android devices. Combined with CMX calibration software, the solution creates a totally paperless system for maintenance checks.
www.beamex.com info@beamex.com
CALIBRATION
Ensuring calibration compliance for critical heat treatment process Peter Sherwin discusses a project to develop specific software solutions to fully manage the calibration and compliance of a thermal treatment process for aircraft components.
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ircraft engine and safety critical components undergo stringent processing requirements to assure their performance in the field. A key part of the aerospace production process is a thermal treatment cycle to enhance material properties of components. These treatments are often referred to as ‘special processes’ and are governed by strict aerospace standards (Nadcap), including the SAE AMS2750E specification for Pyrometry Control. A significant part of the AMS2750E temperature standard focusses on calibration of the thermal process. To ensure accuracy of the process, calibration checks are performed on a regular basis to gauge actual results against known national standards and adjustments are made to minimise errors. AMS2750E dictates calibration requirements for thermocouples as well as control and data management systems. For engine components subject to Class 1 or Class 2 requirements, each thermal process must be calibrated at a maximum interval of one month. Any out of tolerance results will result in the entire prior months production being suspect and it is mandatory to notify the end customer of the issue in order to verify the suitability of these now suspect batches. This situation can lead to cost penalties for the processor and costly quality over-checks. Thermal processors are therefore keen to minimise the risk of failing any calibration test. Eurotherm by Schneider Electric and partners have provided solutions to the
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heat treatment industry and aerospace special processes for over 50 years, designing precision control equipment and secure data management solutions to aid the automation of the thermal process. Eurotherm undertook a project to develop specific software solutions to fully manage the calibration and compliance process. Interviews with a number of customers exposed several key problems with the current calibration standards within industry – based on both customer internal and third-party calibration service provider experiences: • Calibration checks were not always on time because of the lack of visibility of the calibration status across the plant (management, quality, maintenance, production, third- party supplier). • Mistakes/typos have been made when transposing written data into hard copy certificates. • Variable performance by technicians (not all following the same procedures and processes). • Certificates were often created days or even weeks after the calibration onsite – leaving short periods where the site did not have specific details about the calibration results. • Storage strategy of certificates differed between customers but these ad-hoc filing systems resulted in lost certificates and painful audit experiences.
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Calibration solution Based on the input from customers, an internal/service based solution was initially created to create an easy to access plant/equipment view of the calibration and compliance status. The solution also aimed to provide a quicker turnaround of accurate certificates of calibration and to maintain a reliable storage and retrieval system. Eurotherm Online Services (EOS) was created with the following architecture: • EOS Advisor; a secure-user web-based portal for calibration and compliance status management/planning and document storage/retrieval. • eCAT tablet app enables direct entry of calibration data following a strict workflow (to eliminate potential errors) and a certificate engine to automatically create certificates from the data entered. • A QR code automatically printed on the calibration label provides a quick link to the certificate by scanning with a smartphone – very useful for quick retrieval during external audits.
Next steps The next release – Version 2 – will soon be available for customers to use directly and will not just be offered as a service provided by Eurotherm engineers. OEM’s, third-party calibration companies or medium to large end users with their own calibration maintenance teams will be able to take advantage of this compliance and calibration management solution. Version 2 has been built using the Schneider Electric Cloud services which provides limitless scaling of the application across a global customer base. Data analytics and machine learning solutions already in use across other Schneider Electric solutions will soon provide enhancements to these calibration and compliance solutions by providing both insights and predictions to calibration performance in order to provide true drift management of process instrumentation. Peter Sherwin is global heat treatment BDM at Eurotherm by Schneider Electric. Control Engineering Europe
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WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
Which antennae for
wireless solutions? Hans-Joachim Richter offers advice on how to choose the most suitable antennae to help get the best out of wireless technology in industrial applications.
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etwork engineers often avoid wireless solutions due to a fear of transmission interference, which can stem from high temperatures, echoes, vibrations, dust and airborne particles, electromagnetic forces and electrical noise. Any interference can make communication on the network unreliable, and can ultimately contribute to unwanted downtime. Despite technological advances wireless technologies are still not considered suitable for use in mission critical applications, because monitoring the network over long distances via wireless local area network (WLAN) connections can be tricky. Industrial environments bring a range of harsh settings and challenges that can make it difficult to use sensors, transmitters and other communication devices in the field. However, when implemented successfully, wireless technology can improve productivity and energy efficiency and can offer a range of benefits such as: • Cost savings: WLANs reduce the need for duplicate personnel, additional local support and set up time, saving companies between 10% and 30% on overall costs, depending on the particular application. Replacing connections prone to interference and moving the application toward maintenancefree radio communication also helps reduce costs. • Reliability: WLAN connections achieve reliable cable connections
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in 90% of applications, and parallel redundancy protocol (PRP) can be implemented to further increase signal transmission reliability. • Competitive advantage: WLANs offer mobile network connections to applications, independent of their location within the production site. This connectivity contributes to shorter startup times, lower breakdown rates and real-time status updates. To fully utilise the robustness and availability of wireless technologies, engineers must pair them with an appropriate antenna solution. Although requirements differ, depending on the particular application, there are several key technical factors to consider when evaluating antenna technology.
Directional -v- omnidirectional Directional antennas point radio frequency (RF) in a specific direction in order to concentrate it within a targeted area. These antennas are typically used for connecting buildings over point-to-point links in outdoor areas and have different opening angles – wide angles for short distances, acute angles for longer distances – in which they bundle the send/receive signals in a unidirectional way, generating a greater coverage range. Omnidirectional antennas provide equal coverage in all directions, with a sphere-like coverage pattern. They are typically used for office rooms and interior or exterior open areas, due to their ability to cover a circular area. The
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particular range is dependent on the sensitivity of the antenna. Multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) antennas consist of a single structure containing up to three single antenna elements inside. Each antenna actively uses reflections and delays in signal propagation to combine more than one stream. This structure ultimately enables higher data rates and a better quality of connectivity in noisy environments.
Frequency ranges When specifying an antenna, the first step is to identify how large the coverage area needs to be. Antennas are typically grouped according to the following frequency ranges: • Frequency range: 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) - Short range: Up to 200m with omnidirectional antennas. - Medium range: Up to 1km with sector antennas. - Long range: Up to 5km with directional antennas. • Frequency range: 5 GHz - Short range: Up to 300m with omnidirectional antennas. - Medium range: Up to 3km with sector antennas. - Long range: Up to 15km with directional antennas. Does the signal need to cover a wide area such as a factory floor? Do moving clients – phones, laptops, tablets – require uninterrupted coverage of the entire area? Are small breaks in Control Engineering Europe
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY communication acceptable? Is this a simple, low data rate application, or a high bandwidth high-definition video? Understanding the answers to these questions can help decipher which frequency range would be the best fit. Ultimately, the type of antenna solution an engineer uses depends upon the application. Three common situations requiring wireless technology are large and small industrial production sites and factory automation. Sand loading unit supervision – Large production areas, such as areas for sand loading unit supervision, need maintenance-free solutions that can provide connections to transmit control and measurement data. Since these applications need to reach across areas ranging from 100m to 1km, directional antennas offer the best solution as they ensure equal visibility between loading units and the central station along the entire route. Two directional antennas may be required in order to reach the desired coverage area, and they should be mounted on a fixed, central site. These antennas will support a signalto-noise-ratio (SNR) of 20dB over the whole moving area. SCADA system extension for control over final charging stations – In this application, the charging of process
tanks needs to be controlled and monitored, but in order to evaluate the current status of each station, a physical inspection tour is required. In such situations, an omnidirectional antenna ensures wireless connectivity over the complete production area. This choice will extend the coverage area so inspectors do not need to walk to the control unit near the tanks, which can be a hazardous area. By using an antenna with MIMO technology, engineers can receive small signals from handheld devices and can also more reliably distribute the signal throughout the desired area. This option provides hemispheric coverage and aids in production control by sharing real-time updates and high throughput. Seamless connections across the factory floor – In factory automation environments, engineers need complete and redundant coverage of the entire factory, including the back-up system in the event that one part of the network fails. To ensure secure control of the automated guided vehicles, the network design of the factory floor needs to have an overlapping cellular structure. Omnidirectional antennas are the best option for installing these networks above the bearing surface and at high altitudes, usually under roof girders. This also makes it possible to restrict the extent of the radio cell via transmission power in order to achieve an optimal allocation of each radio area. Every industrial environment is unique, and therefore requires customisable solutions. Understanding the needs and challenges of a particular application, and knowing what to look for in an antenna solution, will help keep the network void of environmental interference and ultimately make communication for mission critical applications more reliable.
June 2016
DC motors made by maxon drive the Mars rover and have been running on the Red Planet for more than ten years. Down here on Earth, the unique quality of our reliable, efficient and powerful drive systems ensures customer satisfaction. Unique also because we configure each drive individually to fulfill the personal wishes of its future owner. For more than 50 years, the name maxon has been synonymous with customized precision and stands for an extensive support network that guarantees high Swiss standards anywhere in the world. www.maxonmotor.com
Hans-Joachim Richter is a service & support engineer at Belden. Control Engineering Europe
Ordinary motors run. Ours can even fly.
15
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES
Ensuring uninterrupted wireless connectivity for AMH systems
Jeffrey Ke looks at the challenges of developing wireless communication solutions for automated materials handling systems.
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utomated materials handling (AMH) refers to the automation of the process of loading, moving, and unloading of materials in a production environment. The main objectives of an AMH system is to reduce the cost of operation, minimise human error and meet safety requirements. Because of their potential role within the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) there has been a recent resurgence in interest in the AMH market. Indeed, in manufacturing it has been predicted to grow at a rate of between 5% and 6% every year up to 2020. Currently, adoption of the IIoT is mostly limited to achieving operational efficiency, so its full potential has yet to be tapped. However, as the standards for the IIoT evolve and as we move towards greater adoption of open standards, more devices and equipment will be able to communicate directly with each other on the network. The IIoT is also expected to drive communication interfaces for conveyors, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), forklifts, and other AMH-related systems. The centralisation of the data collected from these systems can provide useful
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information to aid decision makers and the AMH industry is currently using big data applications to help address maintenance and service delivery issues and to manage and streamline processes. Wifi-based technology is the most commonly used communication method in AS/RS and automated guided vehicles (AGV) systems because it offers flexibility, allowing multiple access points to be deployed to support the roaming of clients installed on moving platforms. It is also easy to implement Wifibased devices on moving vehicles giving them the ability to communicate without the need for a physical connection. The standardisation of the 802.11 Wifi-based technologies also makes interoperability between wireless devices from different vendors much easier when compared to non-standard technologies, so expanding a system or network as well as finding replacements for the wireless devices deployed in the system becomes easier. Although Wifi-based technology has advantages over other communication solutions, there are some areas to which system integrators need to pay special
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attention when looking to deploy wireless solutions in AS/RSs and AGVs. These include: Constantly moving platforms: Ensuring reliable communication while on the move is a key concern for AS/RS and AGV systems. Seamless roaming and antivibration protection of the client devices are also important considerations when choosing a suitable solution. Wifi networks have limited signal coverage, which means multiple access points need to be installed to achieve full signal coverage in a warehouse. It is critical to ensure that the clients are able to roam smoothly between these access points with minimal handover time. It is common for Wifi devices based on older technology to experience a three to five-second disconnection time as they move between access points, causing disruption to real-time operations. The basic requirement of a reliable wireless roaming technology is to preemptively seek out neighbouring access points with strong signals and prepare to connect to new access points as the client moves closer to them to eliminate any downtime. The following advanced wireless roaming features can also increase the efficiency of the client devices: Reliable roaming performance with multiple channels: Due to the limited bandwidth available on each channel frequency, system integrators must use multiple frequency channels to avoid channel congestion. The wirelessroaming technology should provide smooth roaming between different access points (APs) using different channels. Adjustable roaming parameters: The roaming function must allow users to adjust the roaming parameters to adapt to different venues and site environments. The roaming parameters are configured to allow location-based load balancing to ensure that wireless clients are connected to the closest access point to avoid network traffic congestion. Best wireless encryption without affecting roaming performance: Wireless Control Engineering Europe
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES signals are transmitted through the air and are, therefore, vulnerable to hacking. Encryption protocols that provide high data security are complex to implement and can affect roaming performance. An advanced wireless roaming function that can provide the most secure data encryption possible and millisecond-level handoff times for clients is required to secure the network.
Shock/vibration protection Wireless devices mounted on systems prone to vibration and shock can cause electrical shorts, broken solder joints, loose PCB components, PCB delamination, and cracked device housings. Shock and vibration can also disable a wireless device by shaking loose wires for power, data, and redundancy. The IEC 60068-2-6 standard specifies the guidelines that wireless devices must abide by to ensure protection against high vibration and shock. Devices must be tested against these standards and need to pass the criteria set by the standards to be able to provide reliable performance in highly mobile environments. The main concern for most system integrators when choosing wireless devices for compact AGV systems is their ability to withstand electrical interference. Electrical disturbance can interrupt wireless transmission by entering through the power inputs and antenna ports. To utilise the limited space on AGV systems, all the onboard devices usually share the same power source, including wireless devices and motors. When the motor is turned on, it could generate inrush current that can damage the wireless device through the power port and in extreme cases can stop the wireless communication. Antenna extensions are usually mounted on the metal casing of the AGV or the shuttles used by the AS/RS to achieve better signal strength, which can lead to airborne electrostatic charges damaging the wireless components through the antennas and antenna cables. Typically extra power and Control Engineering Europe
antenna-isolator accessories are required to strengthen the system, but this method can increase system cost and requires extra installation space. Wireless devices should be provided with built-in isolation to protect them from electrical disturbance.
Wireless installations It is important to set up the wireless network correctly to avoid operational glitches. In wireless communications, multipath is a propagation phenomenon that results in radio signals reaching the receiving antenna via two or more paths. In a typical warehouse environment, metal frames and shelves can cause reflection and refraction of the radiated signals resulting in multipath fading. The fact that reflected/refracted signals traverse a longer distance than direct line-of-sight transmissions could cause the signals to arrive out of phase, leading to signal degradation at the receiver’s end. However, 802.11n multiple-input-and-multiple-output (MIMO) technology can be utilised here, by reconstructing a strong signal at the receiver through the application of error-correction techniques on the weak reflected/refracted signals. MIMO provides a way to utilise the signals between a transmitter and a receiver to improve the data throughput available on a given channel. By using multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver and by applying some complex digital signal processing, MIMO technology enables the wireless devices to set up multiple data streams on the same channel, increasing data capacity of a channel. In addition to overcoming the effects of multipath propagation, MIMO radios can also be used to increase the Wifi coverage and improve signal reception on the wireless devices.
Configuration and maintenance Although wireless devices are usually easy to install, industrial operators still need to deal with complex installation processes and the sheer number of wireless devices that need to be set
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Clients need to be able to roam smoothly between wireless access points (APs) with minimal handover times.
up before enabling the entire wireless network makes the task even more daunting. The wireless clients deployed in AS/RS or AGV systems have to be set up one-by-one to ensure proper connection with the access points (APs). When device errors occur, the mobile systems need to be halted. Restarting or rebooting can be time-consuming and disruptive for operators. Although the demands on APs are far less than for wireless clients, making manual setup easier, APs installed on the top of storage shelves to provide greater coverage make device maintenance difficult. Wireless devices that are easy to configure and maintain can make installation and troubleshooting easier in the warehouse environment as well as increasing efficiency and productivity. A smart setup function can simplify setup, configuration, and maintenance processes for operators. This function should be able to detect the role of each wireless device inside a warehouse and automatically choose suitable setup options to connect APs and clients. Moxa believes that its AWK-A series devices are able to provide all the basic building blocks to enable the creation of reliable, high performance mobile Wifi networks, offering a tailor-made solution for system integrators in AS/RS and AGV markets. A whitepaper – Five critical elements of uninterrupted wireless connectivity for AS/RS and AGV systems – can be downloaded from the Whitepaper section of the Control Engineering Europe website. www.controlengeurope.com Jeffrey Ke is product manager at Moxa. June 2016
17
CYBER SECURITY
How secure is the Internet of Things? Insufficient device cyber security
The Internet of Things (IoT) is on the cusp of making lives easier, but there is also a very real cybersecurity risk that needs to be addressed, according to Doug Drinkwater.
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nformation security is a huge topic of conversation right now, and it’s about to get even bigger. Edward Snowden’s leaks on government surveillance and huge data breaches at Target, JPMorgan, TalkTalk, and others made the subject front-page news, and that is likely to continue given the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT devices, forecast to grow to 50 billion units by 2020, offer consumers and businesses huge amounts of convenience and benefit, but to hackers they are also a goldmine. This is because such devices represent another piece of hardware or software that can be compromised and can result in data or money being stolen.
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The early signs of IoT security are not encouraging; researchers have already managed to hack everything from Google’s Nest to an Internet-connected doll and Canon printer, while significant and exploitable software vulnerabilities have also been found in Wi-Fi light bulbs, smartwatches, and Internetconnected baby monitors. There have been questions too on how this affects businesses, if the likes of Nest and Hive are connecting to enterprise Wi-Fi networks. Security experts have been quick to voice their fears over the IoT, with many pointing the finger at device manufacturers.
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A recent study of 7,000 information technology (IT) professionals by cyber-security association ISACA found that 75% thought IoT device manufacturers were not implementing sufficient security measures in their devices, while a further 73% said existing security standards were inadequate. BH Consulting managing director, Brian Honan, joined the chorus of discontent. “The IoT makes our lives easier and better in many regards, but unfortunately you also have to take into account that, in the rush to get these devices to market, [manufacturers] forget about security,” Honan said. “We’re seeing IoT devices, from kettles and light bulbs to a range of different products, that are insecure out-of-the-box; they have weak security, default passwords... and can allow people with malicious intent to control those devices for their own needs. Honan added, “We also have issue on privacy as lot of these devices can also collect a lot of information, which is being used by companies to improve their services. But if that information falls into wrong hands, that will impact on privacy.”
Attacks aplenty Ken Munro is the CEO and founder of penetration testing outfit PenTest Partners, which has found numerous IoT device vulnerabilities over the last year, and he agreed with Honan that security must be baked-in to products from the start, especially given the fast acceleration of IoT devices. Control Engineering Europe
INDUSTRY NEWS
Industry 4.0 training rigs for future engineers Bosch Rexroth has launched a modular mechatronics training system aimed at supporting the next generation of engineers.
The Industry 4.0 compliant rigs form part of its Drive & Control Academy training offering which provides a complete engineering system built with genuine industry grade components. The rigs come with HMI, RFID and Open Core Engineering from Rexroth with PLC programming options included, providing students with a true hands-on industry process experience. Consisting of three individual stations, its modular design allows for complete flexibility adapting to the individual
needs appropriate for every learning path, both in academic and industry environments. The hydraulic, pneumatic, mechatronic systems are tailored to suit the qualification stages both for education and industry. As well as being supplied with component kits, there are corresponding exercises, eLearning, project manuals and supporting material provided for each training system. www.boschrexroth.com/en/gb/training/index
James Dyson opens advanced engineering facility at the University of Cambridge Sir James Dyson recently opened an advanced engineering facility at the University of Cambridge – giving the institution’s students and academics the space and means to prototype, invent and collaborate on cutting-edge research. The facility, which has been funded by a £8m donation from the James Dyson Foundation, is set to become the focal point for teaching Cambridge students about the design process, providing specialised printing machinery, scanners, lasers and routers. It provides space for over 1,200 engineers to conduct project work. A separate new four-storey building
– the James Dyson Building for Engineering – houses postgraduate researchers and supports research in areas including advanced materials, smart infrastructure, electric vehicles and efficient internal combustion systems. Commenting at the opening ceremony, Sir James Dyson said: “Developing the intellectual property that will help Britain succeed in the global technology race depends on applying our brightest minds to ambitious and exciting research projects. I’m hopeful that this new space for Britain’s best engineers at the University of Cambridge will catalyse great technological breakthroughs that
Onsite Coriolis meter calibration service Intertek has introduced an onsite Coriolis flow meter calibration service for the oil and gas sector. Coriolis flow meters have become increasingly commonplace in oil and gas flow measurement systems. However, they need to be calibrated periodically to ensure they are performing accurately. As part of a service, Intertek has created a mobile Coriolis master meter skid unit for flow meter calibration. The unit is Control Engineering UK
said to perform to a greater level of precision than widely encountered in the market, with better than 0.1% accuracy. The compact skid unit can be easily transported to offshore environments with restricted deck space, or to sites in very remote locations. An additional benefit is that calibration can be conducted under normal operating conditions, rather than within the artificial environment of a laboratory.
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transform how we live”. Head of the Department of Engineering, Professor David Cardwell, said: “Collaboration is at the heart of solving global engineering challenges and the new James Dyson Building brings brilliant researchers from across disciplines together with industrial practitioners to serve our cities, transportation and energy systems with novel techniques. The adjoining Dyson Centre for Engineering Design enables students to express their creative talents and test their engineering skills using high-tech and diverse machining and prototyping equipment. Here we will also welcome school children to see engineers at work and captivate the next generation of competent engineers. An updated and redesigned Engineering Library will guarantee flexible spaces for collaborative as well as silent work spaces for our students and researchers.” June 2016
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MOTION CONTROL
Streamlining control of port crane A crane is one of many items of equipment used at a Polish port that have recently been modernised, including a complete electrical and mechanical refit.
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easuring over 100m wide and over 60m high with a lifting capacity of 45 tonnes, the crane at the DB Port Szczecin container terminal in Poland is used for loading and unloading containers. The crane has recently undergone a thorough electrical and mechanical refit. As part of the electrical overhaul, Apator Control used systems including Control Techniques Unidrive M AC and Mentor MP DC drives which are controlled by a Siemens Simatic S7 PLC. New drives were fitted to the bridge travel, trolley travel and spreader lift, while the remaining electrical systems were integrated for operation through
the PLC. The bridge travel requires eight 22 kW motors which are powered and controlled by the Unidrive M600 frequency converter, with a rated current of 377 A. New cabinets with trolley drives and hydraulic spreader lift controls have also been installed in the machinery room at the top of the crane. The Mentor MP DC drive, which has a rated current of 210 A, is now responsible for powering and moving the trolley that transports containers from ship to shore. The two motors of the lift are powered by Mentor MP drives, each with a rated current of 350 A. They lift a hydraulic container spreader suspended on four lines. To ensure that the lifts work in
Six-degrees of positioning accuracy Aerotech’s HexGen hexapod offers six-degrees-of-freedom for positioning. The HEX500-350HL high-load, precision hexapod is suited to use in applications in X-ray diffraction, sensor testing, and high-force device manipulation. With its high-load capacity, large travels, high speeds, and submicrometer precision, the unit is actuated via six high-accuracy struts that are built with preloaded bearings, ball screws, and drive components. It is driven by AC brushless, slotless servomotors which are said to maximise device lifetime and performance. The servomotors are directly coupled to the actuator ball-screw enabling increased drive stiffness, higher positioning accuracy, and better minimum incremental motion when compared to designs that use belts or compliant couplings. The strut
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pivot-joints are also engineered to provide low friction and high stiffness enhancing overall hexapod performance. The platform and base can be easily modified with user-specific features or mounting patterns. The HEX500-350HL is designed with a 150mm diameter clear aperture in both the platform and base to allow for workpiece access from the bottom. The base is designed with mounting holes to adapt directly to English or metric optical tables. The hexapod can also be vacuum prepared for demanding applications in synchrotron sample or optics adjustment, semiconductor manufacturing and inspection, or satellite sensor testing.
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sync, absolute encoders have been built into the motors and connected to the PLC. The signal from the controller is transferred to the lift drives, which ensures they operate simultaneously and it actuates the hydraulic spreader’s auto-levelling function. It is essential for the spreader to be positioned horizontally with the container to ensure that it is properly seized and secured. The container can move upwards only after the entire procedure has been performed and the system has confirmed that secure contact has been made. The use of absolute encoders has made control of the spreader’s position more precise. Operators are now able to set it exactly in parallel – even if containers are leaning due to uneven load distribution during unloading. This has resulted in reduced ship loading and unloading times. The festoon suspension has also been upgraded. The power cables have been replaced and the signal cables have been replaced by a system of communications between distributed inputs and outputs using the Profinet network, which has made it possible to reduce the number of signals in the festoon suspension by over 50%. The Profinet network has been constructed using flexible optical fibre, which is suited to use for installations using this type of equipment. Apator Control also built three visualmonitoring stations on the crane – in the operator’s cabin, in the machinery room and at the base. The overall crane control system has also been modernised with the addition of radio control. Control Engineering UK
Highest Quality shortest processing time
100% FANUC - Technology
100% in-house production for maximum reliability Every component in FANUC CNC systems – laser sources, controls, motors and amplifiers – is exclusively developed, manufactured and tested to perfection in-house. Designed for utmost compatibility, these parts are extremely long lived, making for very high levels of machine uptime as well as a mean time between failures of well over fifteen years.
marketing@fanuc.co.uk reference CE0616
MOTION CONTROL
Motor solution brings together energy efficiency and safety It is well known that electrical motors are responsible for 70% of the energy used in industry. A lesser known fact is that 96% of the lifetime costs of an electric motor are associated with their energy consumption. The overall efficiency compared to the initial purchase cost in terms of importance of the total cost of ownership should therefore be an important consideration.
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hile safety is an overriding concern, especially within the pharmaceutical industry, it does often limit the potential energy savings that can be achieved through use of the latest motor design technology. In the case ATEX certified equipment, the legal requirements for minimum efficiency levels in electric motors has always been secondary to safety requirements so energy efficiency lags well behind motors designed for more ordinary applications. According to Bauer Gear Motor it is now possible to have both. Due to the special hygiene demands of the pharmaceutical industry, specialist components typically have to be specified to withstand the regular cleaning regimes and to guarantee clean operation without risk of contamination. However, because the return on R&D investment is slower for specialist components, the latest energy efficiency developments often filter through at a slower rate when compared to standard motor products. As such there are very few IE4 super premium efficiency geared motors suitable for these applications.
Stainless steel Bauer Gear Motor, part of Altra Industrial Motion, has brought together the Bauer permanent magnetic synchronous motor (PMSM) and aseptic drive technologies to produce a stainless steel gear motor that delivers
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IE4 super premium efficiency along with the strength and durability of stainless steel. PMSMs are said to offer improved efficiency when compared to induction motors, especially under partial load conditions. In real life application examples they have also been shown to offer energy savings of over 40% when compared to a standard, IE2 asynchronous motor. The new stainless steel modular geared motor has been designed with surfaces which slope by at least 3° to prevent the formation of dirt deposits and allow the run-off of cleaning agents and water. It is also designed to eliminate the need for a fan or cooling ribs to further improve sealing and reduce the risk of dirty water pooling. The stainless steel construction eliminates the risk of the hygiene rating becoming compromised in the event of an impact or over prolonged periods of use in heavy washdown environments, making it a good addition to Bauer’s range of super premium efficiency motors for the pharmaceutical industry.
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Aseptic drives Aseptic drives are designed for applications where regular washdowns are required to maintain a clean environment. Like the stainless steel version, the motor is designed so that a fan and cooling ribs are not required, allowing for a completely smooth outer casing with a non-drive end which is sealed. This eliminates any dirt traps on the motor casing and prevents re-infection of the local environment caused by air movement from a cooling fan. The design also includes a high level of ingress protection Control Engineering UK
MOTION CONTROL – up to IP69K – which is a special designation for washdown applications involving high pressure, high temperature water. In addition, the aseptic drive is painted using an acid and alkali resistant formula, to allow it to withstand chemicals with a pH range of 2 – 12. As a result the new drive system can withstand the cleansing solutions and disinfectants often used within the pharmaceutical industry without affecting its performance.
PMSM advantages The synchronous design of the PMSMs means that as well as being great at converting electrical energy into mechanical power, they are also able to maintain constant speed, independent of the load. This means that motor speed does not vary, despite overload variations, or in cases of voltage drop, as long as the mains frequency is kept constant. The low operating and maintenance costs of the PMSMs mean that they provide the optimum energy saving drive for use on fans, pumps and compressors as well as for constant torque applications such as elevators and conveyors. Bauer’s engineers set out to design a motor and gearbox combination that can deliver in terms of hygiene and efficiency. However, there also needs to be a compelling financial argument to support the design excellence in order to convince end users to invest. For a small to medium sized electric motor that is running close to capacity for the majority of the time, such as in a continuous manufacturing process, then the additional investment in terms of purchase cost is quickly outweighed by the energy savings. While theoretical Control Engineering UK
calculations can demonstrate the potential efficiencies, Bauer has also worked closely with some of the leading companies in a range of industrial sectors to prove the technology in real-life settings. By combining efficient electric motor technology with proven gearbox design, it has been
possible to offer a matched set of components capable of producing the projected savings, such as TCO, and so recovering the initial investment. This knowledge has progressed the design to bring the benefits to the wider audience that now includes the pharmaceutical industry.
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FLOW & LEVEL MEASUREMENT
Ensuring reliability and
accuracy with GWR Thomas Rundqvist explains how combined chamber/ guided wave radar units provide a pre-assembled and ready-to-install solution that can simplify level instrumentation commissioning.
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eliable and accurate measurements are essential when attempting to optimise a process and maximise the output from existing equipment/infrastructure. Mechanical level devices, which are prone to failures and require regular maintenance, are increasingly being replaced by guided wave radar (GWR) which is helping to improve the accuracy and reliability of level measurements, while also reducing maintenance costs. GWR can be applied to a wide range of applications and is usually installed directly into the storage vessel. However, some vessels have restrictions including industrial agitators, heat exchangers and other structures situated within the vessel that can prevent direct installation. By installing the radar in a separate chamber that is attached to the vessel, these issues can be bypassed. This also isolates the radar transmitter for maintenance purposes, which is desirable for applications involving high temperatures/pressures or hazardous liquids. A further advantage is that if there is turbulence in the vessel the chamber acts as a stilling well, providing a calmer, cleaner surface and helping to increase measurement reliability and robustness.
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Measurement accuracy When a chamber is used, the level inside it must replicate the level within the vessel as closely as possible in order for the GWR to provide accurate measurements. However, there are certain factors relating to the chamber that can affect measurement accuracy. These include the chamber diameter, the size of the process connections between the chamber and the vessel, and the ambient conditions. The temperature of the fluid in a chamber can be different from the temperature of the fluid in the process vessel and this can cause the volume within to expand or contract which will change its representation
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of the level. The use of insulation/ lagging around the chamber can help to prevent this effect. Another consideration is condensation of vapours. This can result in the build-up of additional fluids in the chamber that are not present in the vessel, leading to an inaccurate level measurement. This is most common with light end hydrocarbon vapours where the fluid stratifies on top of the measured fluid. Again, effective insulation and lagging of the chamber can help to prevent this effect.
Correct chamber sizing The chamber length is specified to accommodate the desired measurement span. The upper and lower portions of the chambers should be designed to accommodate the upper and lower blind zones of the GWR. The upper blind zone is the minimum measurement distance between the upper reference > UK8
Control Engineering UK
A radar beam focused like a laser! The future is 80 GHz: a new generation of radar level sensors
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FLOW & LEVEL MEASUREMENT point and the product surface. At the end of the probe the measuring range is reduced by the lower blind zone. The blind zones vary depending on the probe type and fluid dielectric properties. Chambers are available in a range of diameters. The smallest are usually 2in in diameter, and these offer the most cost-effective solution. Larger diameters are usually deployed where an application is susceptible to the following issues: Outgassing: If the pressure in the system drops, the result could be outgassing. The pressure drop causes gas bubbles to push the
surface level artificially higher, which leads to the measurements being unreliable. In chambers with a smaller diameter, the effect of this can be exaggerated. Larger diameter chambers, however, are less restrictive, so the effect of outgassing on the liquid level is reduced. Probe grounding: It is vital that the probe should be prevented from touching the chamber wall, or even getting close to it. The preferred option in narrow chambers is rigid probes, but care needs to be taken with installation, so that bending is prevented. Centering discs must be fitted when the probe is longer than
1.5m, so that the probe does not contact the chamber wall. Fluid circulation: In order to prevent stagnant fluids and deposition in the chamber it is important to minimise any restrictions between the vessel and the chamber, and to use both larger diameter connections and short process connection piping distances. Insulation and heat tracing will prevent freezing or solidification of fluids. In applications where fluid or forceful vapours will be introduced into the top connection, a small restriction may be needed to prevent any disturbance on the probe.
Capacitance sensor solves foam level measurement problem William Grant & Sons Distillers are the producers of Glenfiddich single malt whisky which has been created, since 1866, at the Dufftown Distillery in Scotland. The recipe is the same today as it was 150 years ago, although the process itself has seen some improvement. Recently the company turned to Siemens to inject some modern technology into the operation. The challenge facing the distillery was that prior to vapourisation in the wash stills, foam is produced. If the level of that foam gets too high, it results in an unwanted situation where boiling high levels of froth mix with the low wines from the first stages of distillation. The foam can be controlled simply by turning off the burners until it dissipates. However, it is important to know precisely when to turn the burners off, and when it is appropriate to turn them back on again. Because foam is neither liquid nor air, it has traditionally been impossible to detect with level measurement equipment such as floats or vibrating forks. It was not possible for the distillers to automate the wash still operation, unless it was possible to reliably detect the level of the foam within the stills.
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The Siemens Pointek CLS200 provided a solution. These capacitance level switches are suited to use in applications where the material being measured has a low dielectric value. Although traditional capacitance devices measure voltage drop or current flow, and are affected by changes in material properties, Pointek sensors monitor the effect of capacitance based on frequency change. Because even small level changes create large changes in frequency, the result is better resolution and accuracy. The instrument has a high frequency oscillator with the sensor encapsulated in the probe tip. The sensitive tip is an accurate and repeatable switch point, and the probe is unaffected by material build-up, humidity or moisture. In addition, the device is said to be easy to install and calibrate. To solve the longstanding foam detection problem, technicians at the distillery installed the instruments on the neck of each wash still. Now, when foam reaches the tip of the instrument probe it is detected and the burners are automatically turned off. When the froth level diminishes enough to clear the sensor the device will then restart the burners.
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This more reliable foam level detection solution allows the distillery to deal effectively with the foam produced in the wash stills, helping to prevent spills as well as protecting the process. Further, because the burners only operate when they are needed, the distillate is more consistent. The new solution also reduces both staff and maintenance requirements, freeing operators for other duties, and allowing production to continue through weekends too. Commenting on the solution, Willie Thomson from the Dufftown Distillery said: “This technology helps us ensure quality product and enhance efficiency. It is an ideal meeting of our timehonoured traditions with modern technology.� Control Engineering UK
Open automation network technology leader | CC-Link IE
The only open gigabit Ethernet ready for Industry 4.0 and Asia
CC-Link IE is the only open gigabit Ethernet available today and proven for over five years in demanding applications in Asia. So, why gigabit? • Maximum bandwidth for Industry 4.0 applications • Open development & product support • SLMP technology reduces time to market. partners@clpa-europe.com | www.clpa-europe.com CC-Link IE is supported by leading automation vendors such as:
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION
Looking at CC-Link IE in real world applications By John Browett Browett, general manager of the CC-Link Partner Association – Europe.
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nce again, the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) is teaming up with Control Engineering Europe to bring you a special feature highlighting the CC-Link IE open automation network technology. CC-Link IE is currently unique in being the only open industrial Ethernet that offers gigabit performance. This unmatched bandwidth means that CC-Link IE has become a leading choice for top global manufacturing companies looking to gain an edge over their competitors. Furthermore, as Industry 4.0 becomes more established in manufacturing, this bandwidth will become essential in making sure all processes and devices can share the information they need in real time in order to drive manufacturing development forward in the future. From its origins in the Japanese market over five years ago, CC-Link IE is now being used on a global basis and is supported by a variety of leading automation vendors. The CLPA currently has over 300 partner companies that offer various devices either for CC-Link IE, or its fieldbus counterpart, CC-Link. The total membership is around 2,600 companies, meaning that the CLPA is one of the largest open network associations and a demonstration of our strong worldwide support. The final evidence of this is a combined global installed base of about 17 million devices.
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The past two special features we produced with Control Engineering Europe have focussed on how the CLPA’s strength in Asia can be used to help companies develop their business there via our Gateway to Asia programme (G2A). We followed this with a comprehensive overview of CC-Link IE’s technology and how its openness is being demonstrated by support from many third party vendors. This year, we want to focus completely on how CC-Link IE is being used in real world applications. This special supplement therefore presents a variety of different application stories concentrating on how open gigabit Ethernet is making a difference in
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Contents 4. Automotive production: Increasing efficiency and flexibility in automotive production. 6. Consumer Electronics: Enabling greater productivity for flat panel displays. 8. Tyre manufacturing: Increasing quality and productivity in tyre production. 11. OEM machinery design: Flexible communication solution enables modular machine design. different industries worldwide. Some may question if it is necessary to consider an open industrial Ethernet technology offering gigabit performance for automation applications. Many applications are still using fieldbus technology, but there is general agreement that industrial Ethernet is the future direction of the industry. While some may ask if gigabit is warranted, a quick survey of industrial Ethernet infrastructure companies will show that gigabit is already being supported. Moreover, Industry 4.0 and its global equivalents are now accepted as a movement to be incorporated into manufacturing as soon as possible and no longer some kind of passing fad. Combine this with the examples presented in this special feature and the question seems to be not do we need gigabit, but how soon can we implement it? As Industry 4.0 becomes more established, it is becoming clear that the early adopters of gigabit, such as the companies featured here, will be the leaders as we move into the next industrial revolution. We hope that you will find this special feature a signpost to how your manufacturing operations could develop in the future and would be happy to hear from you if you would like to have further discussions about how we could help you.
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: AUTOMOTIVE
Increasing efficiency and flexibility
IN AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTION Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has succeeded in increasing efficiency of production and operation management at its Yorii plant, following the introduction of the open gigabit Ethernet-based CC-Link IE network, which allows communication within a unified network for control signals from a variety of factory automation devices such as PLCs, production management information, and safety signals.
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onda Motor Co established Yorii as the ‘mother factory,’ which means that lateral expansion of the production model created here has been replicated in other overseas factories, including a plant in Mexico with the aim of enhancing the company’s competitive ability on a global scale. Key points for the design of the Yorii Plant, which opened in July 2013, included the requirement for a simple and robust network; enhanced visualisation of factory automation control devices, streamlined operation and maintenance management and flexible expansion and change as the network also supports communication of safety information. The flexibility built into the factory means that, today, the Yorii plant remains at the cutting edge of the vehicle production industry, and all of the company’s development work, in the way of high-level production technology and high-efficiency production systems, comes out of this plant. As automotive market conditions continue to undergo major changes, new car sales are struggling in developed countries, while major growth is predicted for markets in the developing countries, where automotive manufacturers are still competing for dominance. Having an increased
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competitive advantage, through increased efficiency, is therefore vital and is the reason that Honda has utilised the Yorii plant as a ‘mother factory’ to continue to work towards further increased efficiency and to ensure that it continues to employ leading-edge production systems in all its plants, wherever they may be in the world. The rate of new cars sold within Japan has plateaued and the industry can no longer count on the consistently rising sales figures of the past. The Yorii plant was built with a view to increasing costcompetitiveness through highly efficient production and energy management. The plant has the capacity to produce up to 250,000 vehicles every year, as well as fulfilling its continuing role as ‘mother factory’ which requires it to share its
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production technology and knowhow with domestic and international production hubs, with a view to helping increase overall global competitive ability. Taku Yokomukai, maintenance supervisor on the vehicle body assembly production line, was involved in the selection of control devices when the factory was designed in 2011. He said: “We talked a lot about what kind of control devices and networks would be appropriate for a state-of-the-art factory.” The first issue which arose when constructing a control network for the vehicle body assembly line was how to handle the overall network architecture. “We did consider a flat construction linking the whole plant in a single
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: AUTOMOTIVE network, but given the possibility that a single failure could stop the entire plant’s network, we decided that we were better off with multiple networks,” explained Yokomukai. However, constructing individual networks by application results in a more complex system would increase introduction and operation costs. Additionally, from the perspective of spreading its know-how to other factories, a sturdy and simple construction was required. While considering the system architecture, the team also identified two functions essential for the network. One was the centralised visualisation of factory automation control devices. The vehicle body assembly line alone uses dozens of PLCs, making individual management inefficient. The target was an environment in which factory automation control device setup, monitoring and failure detection could be centralised through the network. The other essential function was the communication of safety signals. When a worker enters a prohibited area or approaches a robot, safety considerations mandate a sensor (interlock) for the detection of workers that would result in production coming to a halt. However, the traditional practice of using relays to configure a hardware-based safety circuit would take up a great deal of time during line expansions and changes so the decision was made to incorporate safety signals into the network as well, aiming for a structure that would allow flexible line changes.
Selecting the CC-Link IE network Based on the factory requirements, Yokomukai focussed on a solution based around the CC-Link IE network because its single Ethernet cable allows communication of control information for PLCs and controllers as well as
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providing maintenance and safety information from the connected devices. “With CC-Link IE I discovered that it could handle maintenance and safety information as well. This allowed us to build a simple and high-reliability network suitable for the cutting-edge plant,” explained Yokomukai. Compatibility with factory automation control devices was also important. “In order to fulfill the projected production numbers, the vehicle body assembly line was going to have to be maintained at a near constant 100% operating rate, requiring reliability and guaranteed performance from the control devices. So when we were selecting control devices for the Yorii Plant’s vehicle body assembly line, our in-house proposal was for Mitsubishi Electric’s products, which had proven themselves over many years at our Sayama plant in Japan. Because the CC-Link IE network is compatible with Mitsubishi Electric’s control devices, we felt that we could construct an optimal system by combining the two,” said Yokomukai. The open gigabit Ethernet based CC-Link IE network follows the physical and data layers as defined by IEEE 802.3 (1000BASE-T). Through the work of its industry group, the CC-Link Partner Association, it has become widely adopted and is considered a standard. As well as covering high-speed I/O and control of distributed controllers, it offers flexible network topology options such as star and ring types, allowing
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great freedom in the arrangement and configuration of connected devices. In addition, not only does it support management (setup and monitor) and maintenance (monitoring and failure detection) of controller devices, but it also features a safety communication function allowing sharing of safety information among multiple safety PLCs. Installation and testing of the vehicle body assembly line began in November 2012 and the plant started production in July 2013. Full operation commenced in September 2013. Commenting on the plant Yokomukai said: “We really get a sense of the effect of the visualisation that we were aiming for originally. The diagnostic functions of CC-Link IE helps us to quickly locate any problem with the equipment or control devices.” Through the introduction of CC-Link IE network Honda has achieved the desired centralised visualisation of control devices. “The vehicle body assembly line uses up to 50 PLCs and we are able to have a centralised overview of the line status or problems that may be occurring when a necessary signal isn’t being received, making operation management efficiency much higher. Recovery time after an incident has also been shortened,” said Yokomukai. Safety solutions and line expansion is also simple – requiring only the connection of a LAN cable to a vacant port on the CC-Link IE network and the interlock can be added immediately into a Mitsubishi safety PLC, considerably reducing workload.
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
Enabling greater productivity for flat panel displays Fast data communications are a vital consideration when looking to increase productivity in highly automated plants. A producer of LCD screens specified the open gigabit CC-Link IE industrial Ethernet for the task.
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lat-panel LCDs televisions and monitors have been one of the strongest growing consumer products in recent years. Production demand has grown, as has the number of product variations. However, price pressures require manufacturers to constantly improve efficiency of production and effective communication and data sharing between the manufacturing cells that make up a plant can go a long way to help achieve these goals. Because the control system architecture needs to be able to marry together diverse subsystems sub-optimal overall performance is often the result. This was the situation facing an LCD plant in Asia. Its high level MES and ERP systems used standard TCP/IP Ethernet, while the shop-floor systems implemented Mitsubishi Electric’s MELSECNET/H at the control level, and the open fieldbus CC-Link. While having served the facility well
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in the past, it was felt that the data communications capacity and speed of MELSECNET/H was starting to lag behind its requirements. The company also wanted to be able to utilise standard optical fibre cable around the plant to make maintenance and reconfiguration easier while providing better connectivity to PC systems.
Offering a solution CC-Link IE was identified as offering a solution. It could offer improved data capacity and speed and made use of generic optical cable which would offer better PC connectivity. Importantly, its diagnostics capability also made maintenance easier. With 1Gbps transmission speeds, CC-Link IE is the fastest Ethernet available for networking multiple field devices and controllers. It is also fully deterministic, ensuring full dependability for critical consumer electronics manufacturing tasks. Its highly fault
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tolerant features improve efficiency and productivity, and use of widelyavailable, standard fibre optic cable and connectors offers cost savings as well as speeding up maintenance and reconfiguration tasks. The LCD manufacturer made the decision to upgrade the whole plant to a CC-Link IE network. This offered many advantages, such as a 40-times theoretical increase in communication speed, and an eight-fold increase in data capacity. CC-Link IE does not require a special optical cable – it can be installed with a generic 1000base-SX standard optical cable, helping to reduce cabling costs. These initial benefits are further enhanced by the diagnostic functions and the simplification of the system’s architecture. The control network in the LCD plant is now rationalised to a simple format. The major systems, such as ERP and MES, use the industry standard HSMS protocol. Shop floor systems that control equipment and provide facilities and production site information are established using CC-Link IE and data sharing between equipment or facility hardware controls is also based on CC-Link IE or CC-Link fieldbus. The plan for the plant is that complete integration from the field device level, up to the strategic management information level, will eventually utilise CC-Link IE.
Key benefits delivered by CC-Link IE... • • • • •
Eight-fold increase in data capacity. Simplified maintenance. Increased communication speeds. Reduced cable-related costs. Enhanced diagnostic capabilities.
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION
Collaboration for increased interoperability The CLPA is actively collaborating with other industrial communication associations to ensure that users of its open network technologies can benefit from IIoT and Industry 4.0 initiatives, and are able to move information vertically from the factory floor through an enterprise of multi-vendor systems was well as providing interoperability between devices on different industrial networks, from different vendors.
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igital communication using fieldbus or Industrial Ethernet is already widely used in modern production plants and is an important building block for increasing productivity. The demand for intelligent communication continues to increase due to megatrends such Industry 4.0 and IIoT. However, the heterogeneous landscape of Industrial Ethernet standards that has existed for years means that devices and machines with different communication systems are in themselves often unable to exchange data. This forces machine builders to equip their machines with different networks, and plant owners are often limited in their selection of suitable machines. This resulted in a growing need for manufacturer-specific transfer specifications and complicated bespoke converters. However, to ensure the success of IIoT and Industry 4.0 initiatives consistent communication across all levels – both inside and outside the factory – is vital and this need has resulted in greater collaboration among industrial communication foundations to ensure that end-users are able to remain
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competitive by utilising the data that exists in their plants to help increase productivity and efficiency through greater connectivity. The CLPA is an active participant in several collaborative projects. For example, at SPS/IPC Drives 2015 CLPA and PI (Profibus & PROFINET International) announced a collaboration to enable transparent and easy bi-directional communication between CC-Link IE and PROFINET devices through standardised interfaces. A joint working group has been established to develop the necessary technical specifications to achieve this. When work on the specifications is complete, it will be available to members of both organisations for implementation. “With the CC-Link Partner Association, we have gained a comparable partner whose networks are being used in many industries worldwide,” said Karsten Schneider, Chairman of PI. “This will give users more flexibility when building their IIoT, Industry 4.0, or e-F@ctory enabled systems,” said Naomi Nakamura, global director of CLPA. More recently, at the Hannover Fair this year, CLPA signed a
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memorandum of understanding with the OPC Foundation to coordinate communications in machine to IT systems through the development of an interface specification with harmonised access. Commenting on the move, Thomas Burke, president and executive director of the OPC Foundation, said: “End-users who have selected the reliable CC-Link networks will also be able to integrate with other disparate systems to achieve complete data and information exchange.” Nakamura said: “CLPA is at the forefront of offering solutions that help users achieve their Industry 4.0 aspirations. For example, CC-Link IE already offers the greatest bandwidth for these applications with our unique gigabit Ethernet. By working with the OPC Foundation, we now want to take this a step further. Our aim is to make the task of getting data from machines simpler by supporting edge computing. By extending our CSP+ technology combined with OPC-UA, machines will be treated as if they were just a single device. This will allow information to be easily shared throughout an enterprise and beyond.”
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: TYRE MANUFACTURE
INCREASING QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN TYRE PRODUCTION The Chinese tyre industry has seen a phase of rapid development over the past ten years. CC-Link IE has been adopted within this industry sector too, as companies strive to increase product consistency and productivity.
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ince 2006, the Chinese tyre industry has entered a period of rapid development. Based on the China Rubber Industry Association’s statistical data, the total volume of tyres in China increased from 112,400,000 in 2000 to 630,000,000 in 2014, accounting for more than onethird of the total global output. China has become a major tyre-producer, consumer and exporter. The tyre industry has moved on from
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simple factory duplication, to a stage today where projects are looking for state of the art technology solutions for added-value and these solutions are being implemented in both new production lines and to upgrade existing production line technology. In this increasingly competitive industry, manufacturers are always looking for an advantage, and open automation networks have taken on a new importance to help manage
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increasing amounts of data from increasingly automated production lines. Of all the equipment involved in the tyre manufacture and production process it is the composite extruders and their lines, along with the fourroll calenders and their lines, where communication links are of the greatest length, and which also carries the greatest volume of communication data and number of stations. Precision of the extruded semifinished tyre product plays a vital role and can affect the evenness and dynamic balance of the finished tyre. Automation has started to play an increasing role in ensuring greater precision of the semifinished tyre product and has become an essential precondition to ensure
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: TYRE MANUFACTURE efficiency of the subsequent finishing processing operation. Consequently, more attention is also being paid to the control and driving systems of the extruding equipment. In 2015, one of China’s leading tyre manufacturers ranked just outside the top 30 on the listing of global tyre enterprises, mainly producing a popular brand of bias tyres, semi-steel radial tyres for cars, truck and bus radial tyres, construction machinery tyres, agricultural machinery tyres, industrial vehicle tyres and solid tyres. A technology transformation project, for an annual production of 12,800,000 high-performance radial tyres was established in 2011. This project saw the company setting out to upgrade its composite extruder line and its four-roll calender line and also laid the foundation to enable the company to achieve a planned annual production of 20,000,000 semi-steel radial tyres. Mitsubishi Electric was involved in the tender process for this project. During a series of presentations given by Mitsubishi to the engineering teams at the plant about its automation technology solutions it also proposed a solution for the accumulated application problems through the installation of a CC-Link IE network architecture. At the tendering stage of the project Mitsubishi put forward its complete solution. In addition to the automation solutions the open gigabit Ethernet CC-Link IE network structure was key to meeting the company’s requirements. The solution put forward by Mitsubishi Electric included A800 variable frequency drives for the speed and tension control system and a detailed explanation was given about the superiority of CC-Link IE in this application. In addition, it was demonstrated how, in the future, factories would be assisted in realising the long-term perspective of information networks with seamless connectivity.
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Typical tyre production machinery
Following the resolution of concerns regarding issues surrounding looped network construction and communication with its existing weighing systems, the Mitsubishi tender won customer approval, including the adoption of CC-Link IE. Because the two sets of equipment in this project constituted the main equipment in component workshops using tyre production technology, it also offered an opportunity for Mitsubishi Electric to promote its e-F@ctory FA solution in component workshops in the tyre industry. Composite extrusion lines and calendering production lines are preparatory links in tyre production and manufacture. During the production of rubber tyres, these lines are used for the continuous production of semifinished rubber products of a certain shape, such as treads, sidewalls, cord fabric and apex. As rubber technology and the automation of the tyre industry develops, requirements relating to the homogeneity, stability of the dimensions and tolerance of extruded and calendered products become ever more demanding which has resulted in greater automation of the processes. For this company, the industrial Ethernet gigabit
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communication rate offered by the CC-Link IE open network with an A800 variable frequency drive has helped to achieve optimal control at every stage of the two production lines, helping to guarantee consistency in the speed and linkage of the production lines. The increased operational stability of the lines has also resulted in the production of high-quality rubber tyres.
Extrusion line For the composite extrusion line, the most important influencing factor of the equipment on the products is the stability of feeding materials. Therefore, the feeding process is controlled by a pressure sensor in the extruder nose. Every time a change in pressure is detected in the channel of an extruder nose, it can be proportionally fed back to the extruder and compensated for by adjusting the screw speed. Since every extruder is controlled independently, if the pressure inside the extruder noses is kept stable, the stability of the distribution of the rubber output and the semi-finished extrusion product can be guaranteed. Moreover, by using a continuous weighing system to monitor and check deviation in quality of the semi-finished product, if any > 10
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: TYRE MANUFACTURE deviation from the tolerance set for the continuous quality of the semi-finished product is detected, the change is fed back to the production line drive and the speed is adjusted accordingly. As a result, it is possible to ensure that any change brought about by feeding or from the properties of the materials will be compensated for.
Calendering line For the calendering line the main requirements are that distribution of each tensile area should be rational and that the tension should be stable and in accordance with process requirements. There are four tensile areas in the entire assembly – namely the steel-wire area where steel wire is unwound into the main machine, the main tensile area between the main machine and cooling conveyor, the storage tensile area between the cooling conveyor and traction and the winding tensile area between the traction unit and winding unit. For each product in the steel-wire tensile area the sides are basically the same. In the main and storage tensile areas one side is looser than the other side. In the winding tensile area, one side is tighter than the other. Calendering tension is mainly determined by the size of the difference in the transmission
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speeds of the two electric machines. Therefore, the electrical system plays a determining role in tension adjustment and it is a requirement that the speed of each electric engine can be automatically aligned on the basis of conveyor speed, with fine-tuning automatically performed on the basis of actual tension. In addition, during the continuous production process, roller spacing is automatically calculated, maintaining conformity of product width and designated width. It is also required that the power and drive systems have highperformance calculation and response speeds and high-speed, stable network communications.
Best network solution In terms of network protocols, CC-Link IE offered the best solution for the project when compared to competitive solutions. For example, it offers a communication speed of 1Gbit / sec. The maximum number of stations connected on a single network is 120 and the maximum number of connected networks is 239. Using multimode optical fibre, the maximum distance between stations is 550m. So, when compared to other communications solutions suggested for the project, the company considered CC-Link IE to be
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clearly superior where speed, capacity and reliability were concerned. CC-Link IE uses tokens to control data transmissions and network shared memory for real-time data communications. Real-time requirements are high for composite extruders and their lines and for four-roll calenders and their lines. Therefore, carrier sense with collision detection commonly used in Ethernet cannot meet these requirements very well. The use of tokens in CC-link IE to control the access time for each station to network shared memory means that only stations with tokens can read and write network shared memory. As a token is transferred to each station in a network, the station can separately complete its read and writing of network shared memory. In this way, there can be no collisions when data is transmitted in the network. Because CC-Link IE uses gigabit Ethernet technology the transmission speed of tokens in the network is very fast so connection scan time is also short. CC-Link IE is a real-time industrial network and connection scan times can be obtained by theoretical calculation. Mitsubishi Electric’s FA products can turn the current network configuration into a loop, minimising the probability and impact of communications faults. They can also support star and linear network topologies and topologies combining them. The project unlocked the door to the tyre industry for CC-Link IE and also provided case support in respect of Mitsubishi Electric’s strategy concerning other process-related equipment in the tyre industry. In the future, the customer will be looking to achieve its goal for annual production of 20,000,000 semi-steel tyres in another facility. The technology foundations which will help it achieve this are now set and will again include the CC-Link IE network solution.
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CC-LINK IE IN ACTION INDUSTRY SECTOR: OEM MACHINERY DESIGN
Flexible communication solution enables modular
MACHINE DESIGN When VC999 Packaging Systems developed its i-Series thermoformer it incorporated an innovative design concept to deliver higher performance operation for its end-user customers.
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he new design of the thermoformer would allow users of the machine to create a variety of plastic trays or blister packages from just one machine. The modular design of the machine consists of three main parts – form, seal, and discharge – each with its own control enclosure. The control enclosures need to be easy to install, wire, and customise, to reduce engineering efforts for machine operators and maintenance staff at end-user sites. In order to meet the requirement for easy interconnectivity, high-performance operation and reliable control, VC999
conducted evaluations of a variety of industrial automation control vendors. It identified that the best solution for the i-Series would be the MELSEC-L series modular PLC from Mitsubishi Electric because it offers a versatile rack-free solution which can accommodate future expansion. Another important consideration was communication. For this the company specified CC-Link IE, the industry’s first Gigabit Ethernet-based open network. The standard Ethernet cabling used by CC-Link IE made it an easy to use and very cost effective solution which enabled VC999 to implement their modular machine design. Commenting on the solution, Tom Fritz, electrical engineering
Meeting challenges head on “For many manufacturers today the need to reduce down time and improve speed are of the upmost importance. In response, CC-Link IE has been proven to meet these challenges head on – combining high data transmission with intelligent maintenance diagnostics. Furthermore, its standardisation on Ethernet technologies and flexible network topology make it perfect for a variety of applications. Today CC-Link IE forms the backbone of our installed base with installations covering a wide range of industries that include automotive, life sciences, food and beverages, machine tool and logistics.” Greg Hookings, Mitsubishi Electric, Senior Strategic Business Development Manager, Factory Automation European Business Group manager at VC999, said “The i-Series thermoformer runs on a very stable and proven control platform helping to provide customers with the flexibility they need.” The CC-Link IE industrial Ethernet network improves the overall equipment effectiveness of the machine through its fast network speed, and has also reduced wiring and installation time.
Support for IO-Link intelligent sensor/actuation communication technology Many customers in the Japanese market – from a variety of industrial areas such as automotive, tyre production and CNC machinery – have selected CC-Link IE as industrial network of choice for automation. According to Balluff there are various reasons behind this decision. Importantly, CC-Link IE is highly supported and seamlessly integrated by PLC supplier, Mitsubishi Electric.
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It also supports an extremely fast communication rate with 1 GBit and also a very broad bandwidth. These two points are said to be especially important when customers want to combine the high speed network technology with the intelligent sensor/actuator communication technology IO-Link. With IO-Link the connected devices can provide easily up to 32 bytes process data and a
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huge amount of parameterisation and diagnostic information. When a number of these components are connected on a network, it helps if the network is highly sophisticated. For each of the eight IO-Link Master Ports from Balluff on one CC-Link IE module it is possible to transfer up to 32 byte of process data. That means, with only one fieldbus module, up to 256 signals can be transferred.
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Leading open automation networks for Asia | CC-Link & CC-Link IE
Your Gateway to Asia
Access markets closed to your current network strategy You’ve implemented the local open network technologies in your products. But now it’s time to look further afield. Chances are these technologies leave a large part of the Asian market inaccessible. So how can you also capture that? CC-Link and CC-Link IE are market leading technologies for open automation networking in Asia. Adding this connectivity can lead to a significant business increase in critical markets such as China. Our Gateway to Asia (G2A) programme offers a comprehensive package of development and marketing benefits to capture this additional market share. Interested? Contact us at g2a@clpa-europe.com, or visit cc-link-g2a.com
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FLOW & LEVEL MEASUREMENT
A further consideration is that the chamber process connections and instrument connection must be sized to match the vessel and instrument connections respectively. The location of the bottom connection will determine the chamber style – side and side, or side and bottom process connections. The chamber centre to centre (CC) dimension is critical and must match the process vessel CC. Once the total chamber length is determined, it is important to verify that there is sufficient head and ground clearance above and below the chamber, allowing for the instrument and drain.
Radar and probe selection For most applications, single lead probes are the best choice. They are less susceptible to build-up and are more tolerant of coating than twin or coaxial probes. In very low Control Engineering UK
dielectric but clean fluids, such as liquefied gases (for example LNG) a coaxial probe may be used. In steam applications, such as feedwater heaters and boilers, when the pressure is greater than 27.6 bar, the dielectric of the steam vapour will impact the level accuracy. Here special probes are required that compensate for this situation which may require a longer chamber top
end. The chamber and GWR must also be compatible with suitable fittings that match those of the vessel and selected GWR. Any errors can make installation difficult or even impossible. A GWR and a chamber can be bought separately and then fitted together, but there are drawbacks to this solution from the user’s point of view. Assembling a GWR and a chamber separately is timeconsuming, and requires the right skills to do the job correctly. There could also be issues if the two items are being bought from different suppliers, involving separate documentation, which could, in turn, mean longer lead times. Testing has to be carried out once the GWR is fitted into the chamber, and there is always a chance that the sizing of the chamber and the probe could prove incompatible. To simplify the commissioning process, ensure the correct sizing and combinations of chamber and radar, and support the need for faster installation and reliable measurements immediately, combined chamber and GWR packages should be sought. These need to incorporate a correctly sized chamber, GWR and probe as a complete, ready-to-install unit, helping to avoid many of the pitfalls described in this article. Thomas Rundqvist is a marketing manager at Emerson Process Management.
Gas flow measurement in extreme environments Morgan Advanced Materials has developed a range of gas flow transducers which remain accurate in harsh environments subject to extreme temperatures and the presence of highly corrosive chemicals. I can offer gas flow transducers that work within a temperature
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range of -50ºC to 250ºC, which makes it useful for applications in oil and gas exploration as well as bulk gas meters for industrial applications. The instruments are also suitable for use in very low temperature sensing applications, down to -175°C. June 2016
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FLOW & LEVEL CONTROL
80 GHz radar:
it’s a matter of frequency Find out more about the benefits of 80 GHz radar and what it can offer in a range of liquid level measurement applications.
W
ith the recent launch by Vega of radar instruments in the 80 GHz frequency range for liquid level measurement, now is a good time to examine what is behind this new direction in radar technology. Where does it come into its own and what are the benefits of using these new sensors in automated processes for control and inventory? The readiness to use radar level sensors is a function of cost and innovation. A reduction in cost of the technology has led to its increased use across a wide range of industries. Microwave radar is a popular format for level measurement, being solid state with no mechanical parts to drift or wear and, more importantly, its immunity to pressure, vapours, temperature, viscosity and density change. Just as computer hardware prices dipped low enough to put a ‘PC in every home’ and a ‘smartphone in every hand’, it is now possible to put the latest 80 GHz radar in virtually any vessel and into every plant. This latest generation of radar instruments have been engineered as a result of many decades of experience, which as resulted in optimised antenna designs, with larger dynamic ranges and software algorithms to filter out interference. With the availability of an 80 GHz radar that is applicable to almost any liquid level measurement, users need to understand the advantages that these new contactless sensors can provide. The main benefits are said to be created through better focusing,
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versatile sizes and enhanced resolution. They are easier to set up and, importantly, utilise a reliable technology.
Focusing The primary advantage of a 80 GHz radar is its ability to focus. In every contactless liquid measurement, signal focus is crucial to accurate level measurement. For many years plant operators have struggled with less focused radar and ultrasonic sensors. The wider beam angle of 26 GHz sensors (and still wider 6 to 10 GHz sensors before them) made it difficult for the emitted signals to miss agitators, baffles, ladders, heating coils and other vessel internal structures. The reflections from these installations distort and confuse the echo picture to the sensor, forcing users to make adjustments to follow the true liquid level. The introduction of higher transmission models have resulted in narrower beams, which completely miss vessel installations. This will be welcome news in pharmaceutical, chemical and food production industries, where obtrusive internals are often the norm and space is at a premium. Mounting nearer to vessel sides and taller nozzles, without accuracy loss, is another area of advantage – enabling use of more existing connections, especially in taller vessels. They can also be easily installed to look through process isolation valves; an application area highly desirable in the oil and gas processing and storage industries, for example.
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In summary, the improved focus offered by 80 Ghz radar enables more accurate measurement, minimal adjustment, simpler installation and maximum signal return from the product surface.
Size Because the focus is improved, 80 GHz sensors also have smaller antennas – smaller than the size of a £1 coin. A compact instrument design and small size also offers benefits when it comes to retrofitting. Plants are now able to integrate state-of-the-art radar devices into their process without the need for costly vessel modifications. The smaller size of the instrument can help manufacturers to become more flexible and able to address frequently changing customer demands. Batching allows operators to produce profitable, special or seasonal versions and low-volume products, with a lower initial financial investment. Small batches are produced in small vessels, but conventional Control Engineering UK
FLOW & LEVEL CONTROL wisdom says that using contactless radar is not possible – due to the small process connections, busy vessel internals and their reduced accuracy over very short measuring ranges. However, contactless volume measurement is still highly desirable especially if unaffected by the temperature, pressure, viscosity, density and conductivity changes that can be seen in different product formulations. The compact design of the 80 GHz radar level sensors from Vega, means that it is no longer necessary to sacrifice accurate measurement because of space constraints.
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Resolution When looking at the picture on a standard definition television next to that of HD TV, the higher resolution delivers a higher quality image: clearer, sharper and more detailed. Users should see a similar difference when switching from lower frequency to high-frequency radar sensors. For example, when the level of a hydrocarbon liquid in a vessel is just starting to fill or empties down very low, lower frequency process radars do not have the resolution to distinguish the different reflections from the product level and the tank bottom, they just see one ‘echo’. This tells the user that the vessel is empty when in reality it is not. With 80 GHz devices it is possible to measure liquid down to the last millimetre, providing accurate data that can be used to optimise the processes. The greater resolution is also important in shipbuilding applications, for example, where precise level in large cargo and ballast tanks, tens of metres high is necessary. It results in better measurement accuracy of every drop of liquid in tanks of all sizes, which is especially important with hydrocarbons in large storage vessels.
Process capable Getting close to the product in smaller vessels also means increasing the possibility of sensor build up, through splashing, sublimation and condensation on the antenna face. This can result in reduced antenna/signal efficiency, causing reduced measurement reliability. The latest sensors with optimal antenna design, dynamic range, sensitivity and filtering algorithms are able to handle these challenges. This capability is essential to deliver higher operational reliability. There are also units available with certified hygienic fittings for food and pharmaceutical industries to ensure thorough cleaning of any sensor process connection.
• 600 MHz processing power allows seamless automation of complex industrial systems • Cost-effective configuration via e!COCKPIT engineering software • Scalable modular system ready for future challenges • Comprehensive on-board data security packages • Two ETHERNET interfaces for extensive compatibility • Linux® operating system
Conclusion High-frequency contactless radar sensors look set to be the next big thing in level measurement across many industries, processes and vessel types. Their focusing makes them ideal for use in applications where vessels are crowded with internals and difficult mounting nozzles; their small size makes them suitable for retrofitting and batch production; and their resolution allows users to get every last drop of capacity from the largest of tanks. Control Engineering UK
• Extremely compact and maintenance-free design saves control panel space
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• CODESYS 3 runtime system Telephone E-Mail Internet Search for
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DATA ACQUISITION
Process historians can be an integral part of the IIoT Process historians are still cutting-edge tools even though they have been around for many years, says Alex Marcy. They can form the foundation of distributed, cloud-based enterprises and can integrate with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
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rocess historians are the first step up the automation pyramid beyond process controls and are the foundation for turning data into information. Process historians provide the data necessary for powerful data analysis tools to do their job. Following the current technological trends, they can even be moved out of datacenters and into the cloud, part of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Process historian essentials At its most basic level a process historian is a database used to store time-series data from an industrial process. Data is collected either on a cyclical basis of usually 1 to 10 sec, or as data points change. Actual values, the associated timestamp and other information such as data integrity are written to the historian each time data is collected. Once the data is in the historian,
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it can be accessed in a handful of ways. Many vendors offer data analysis packages that can be used in conjunction with the historical data for trending, reporting, and various database query capabilities. Most historians also can be queried directly using existing database systems, such as structured query language (SQL) or stored procedures. Other tools (big data analysis or machine learning algorithms) can be applied to the data to find interesting insights not easily obtainable through other methods. One option made available in recent years is to move a process historian out of the plant and into the cloud using a hosted software as a service (SaaS). Some vendors offer historian as a service plan where a historian is configured on a remote machine and data access into and out of the historian is included with a subscription to the service.
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Historians also can be configured on cloud-based computing services that are managed by information technology (IT) departments. Both options generally include things like service level agreements (SLAs) to define overall uptime and automated backup/recovery options. The one caveat to cloud-based historians is the increase of the “distance� between the process and the historical data, which requires additional networking resources as well as adding a potential hurdle to accessing the data in the event of intermittent network failure. It is possible, though, to have the best of both options. This is especially true for companies that have remote systems installed all over the world. To make it work, though, local historians need to collect data from the system > UK14 Control Engineering UK
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DATA ACQUISITION and feed that data to a supervisory level historian. This provides all of the benefits of the cloud while eliminating the risk of network outages leading to data loss with local data storage that can be synced as network connections come back online. This approach is very popular with solar companies that are managing thousands of facilities around the world and need to provide data to their customers and power utilities with a minimal amount of interruption.
Leveraging information A historian by itself is not a tremendously useful tool. As described in Oil & Gas Engineering’s five-part Intelligent
analysis and allows historical data to be distributed to other programs using application programming interfaces (APIs). This makes getting process data into reports or Microsoft Excel an easy task for users.
Integrate IIoT, process historians Historians can also be used to collect and store information from IIoT devices accessible through open platform communication (OPC) and message queue telemetry transport (MQTT)
What data would be useful to collect and how can it be made available to other systems? Automation Series, the real power of a historian happens when the data is combined in the historian with analysis tools that turn the data into information. The first tool, usually supplied with historians, is trending. Trends display time series data and the overall trajectory of data points in relation to one another. Most trend tools provide basic statistical analysis capabilities including averaging, integration, and range configurations to show when values have exceeded desired limits. In addition to trending tools, many historians include the ability to query historical data using SQL tools. This opens the door for more advanced statistical
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protocols and, using the various integration capabilities described above, can provide information back to IIoT devices. One example of this type of integration using the API interface approach is in use by a company that manufactures golf course irrigation pump stations. Each system in the field has a local PC running a historian and a webserver. The webserver is configured with a reporting and trending interface accessible via browsers and mobile devices. It also has an API
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exposing historical data to a thirdparty SaaS system. The API can be queried with different parameters such as describing date ranges, specific data points to transmit, and login and security tokens to prevent unauthorised access to the system. The SaaS application integrates with other data sources including weather information, irrigation sensors, and GPS units on landscaping equipment to provide a cohesive monitoring system for all of the activities required to maintain a golf course.
Information pyramid Using a process historian can be the first step towards a fully connected enterprise. Process data can be exposed to business systems, made available for statistical analysis, and integrated with third-party systems using APIs. Some questions users should ask include: What data would be useful to collect? How can this data be made available to and consumed by other systems? What tools will be most useful to analyse the data today and a year from now as the data becomes an indispensable tool? What experience and ideas can IT and system integration partners bring to the table to build systems to provide context for the data? And finally, if a company isn’t using a process historian, why not start now? Alex Marcy, P.E., is the owner and president of Corso Systems, a system integration firm based in Chicago. Control Engineering UK
ETHERCAT
SPONSORED ARTICLE
Toyota selects EtherCAT Toyota Motor Corporation has selected EtherCAT as its Industrial Ethernet technology of choice and will base its new factories around the world on EtherCAT.
T
he global announcement was made by Morihiko Ohkura, General Manager of the Production Engineering Innovation Division at Toyota Motor Corporation during an EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) press briefing at Hannover Messe 2016. Ohkura explains: “I am pleased to announce that Toyota Motor Corporation will make the most of EtherCAT in our new factories to be built around the world. We have conducted thorough analysis and evaluation to compare various industrial Ethernet technologies. I believe the performance, determinism and simple wiring characteristics of EtherCAT, in addition to its openness, best fit with the needs of Toyota to evolve production systems with Industrial IoT concepts.” EtherCAT is also an essential part of Toyota’s new IoT deployment strategy: “In order to smoothly introduce the new IoT concept to our factories, it is critical for us to be able to source necessary Control Engineering UK
EtherCAT components in a timely manner. Thus, we strongly encourage our suppliers to prepare high-quality EtherCAT components with competitive cost. In March 2016, I made such an announcement in Japan to inform local suppliers and I would like to take this opportunity at Hannover Messe to communicate our plan to our suppliers around the world.” Furthermore, Ohkura stressed that Toyota is prepared to take an active role within the EtherCAT Technology Group: “What I expect from the ETG is to support us in becoming one of the leading EtherCAT users in the industry. By growing the community of supporters of EtherCAT technology, I am confident that the transition from our current technology should be a smooth one.” The decision to standardise on EtherCAT also factors in the latest addition to the technology, EtherCAT P . Ohkura explained: “I should also mention our strong interest in the
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new technology, EtherCAT P. The concept to integrate communication and power lines perfectly matches our lean production philosophy, TPS: the Toyota Production System. Simply put, the fewer cables, the better. While still in preparation to become an ETG specification, Toyota is prepared to actively collaborate with Beckhoff Automation, the inventor of EtherCAT and EtherCAT P, in order to smoothly make the new technology available to us and the rest of the community.” Martin Rostan, Executive Director of the ETG, comments: “The significance of Toyota’s choice to standardise on EtherCAT and EtherCAT P cannot be overstated. As the world’s largest automotive company, Toyota is known for its highly efficient and high-quality production strategies, with many companies and industries following the successful path set by this manufacturing leader. This significant development will further accelerate the global adoption of EtherCAT within the automotive industry and beyond.” Rostan also welcomes the active involvement of Toyota in the EtherCAT Community: “The EtherCAT Technology Group has always been characterised by active user involvement. Having Toyota on-board will strengthen this vital element of engagement and ensure that user requirements are fully met or exceeded by EtherCAT technologies. In addition, the specification work for EtherCAT P, our latest enhancement of the technology, is in full swing, so the timing is simply perfect. I encourage the many other car makers already using EtherCAT in major manufacturing applications to join Toyota in taking such an active role within the ETG.”
www.ethercat.org June 2016
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NEW PRODUCTS
Quick and cost-effective solution for control cabinet wiring With the aim of offering more costefficient control cabinet manufacturing, the new BT barrier terminal blocks from Phoenix Contact have been developed for the connection of conductors with ring cable lug. Utilising the company’s push-in connection technology, the screw connection principle with spring-guided screw results in quick and easy wiring. The integrated spring washers ensure vibration-proof and maintenancefree connection. Thanks to optimised guidance in the terminal housing the screw is centered automatically. Any number of terminal blocks can be quickly connected to form a potential distribution block. Terminal block versions are available with screw and screw, push-in and push-in, and screw
and push-in connection technologies. Thanks to the different connection methods in a single hybrid terminal block, the various requirements of internal and external wiring can be met at the same time. All BT terminal housings are touchproof which means that no additional terminal strip cover is required for the user’s safety. Another advantage is the use of accessories from the Clipline complete terminal block system, which means that logistics costs can be reduced.
High precision I/Os for measurement applications With its EL3751 EtherCAT terminal, Beckhoff believes it is able to offer high-precision I/Os for measurement applications. It is said to be capable of up to 10,000 samples per second, with a measurement accuracy of ±0.01% and 24 bit resolution, even in demanding applications. The integrated EL3751 solution combines automation and measurement technology with a single hardware and software platform. The EL3751 1-channel EtherCAT Terminal for analogue measurement technology combines high measurement accuracy – ±0.01 % of the full scale value for most interfaces, at 25 °C (±5 °C) – with a high sampling rate of up to 10,000 samples per second and 24 bit resolution (incl. sign). The XFC technology (eXtreme Fast Control) functions are also available in the EL3751. Optionally, the measured
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data can be transmitted to higher-level automation devices with oversampling. The integrated distributed clocks ensure precisely synchronised sampling across the EtherCAT system. The extended range allows for effective measurement beyond the nominal measuring range, with possible extension up to 107%. To suppress aliasing effects, the input channel features two configurable numeric software filters up to 39th order FIR / 6th order IIR. The filters can be preselected or freely defined, so that a band stop or a band pass can be implemented.
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Process monitoring at every level As a total solution provider Turck Banner believes it is able to offer significant benefits for both system builders and end users, with its design and integration knowledge, based around a range of products that includes HMI’s, bus systems, RFID, Ex interface, lighting, indication, cables, connectors and sensors. Customers require complete handshake compatibility within a system, which helps eliminate problems such as the remote IO not talking to the PLC. Single point ordering can also alleviate compatibility and delivery issues. From its range of sensor products Turck Banner is able to satisfy the demands of process monitoring in safe and Ex hazardous areas, in particular the most commonly requested disciplines of flow, temperature and pressure. The company also offers ultrasonic and capacitive sensors for level control and dual position inductive types for valve position monitoring. The company can also offer connectivity solutions with its range of cables and connectors, in industry specified materials. Commenting on the company’s approach Peter Gardner, managing director, said: “Supplying a complete range of component parts is only part of the story. Supplying a system means supplying a complete solution to the customer’s problem. At Turck Banner we offer support every step of the way, from initial site survey to the fully functional design”.
Control Engineering UK
CYBER SECURITY “The reason I love IoT as a security researcher is that there is an enormous attack surface,” Munro said, adding that attackers can leverage everything from device and mobile application flaws to API and server infrastructure vulnerabilities to attack IoT users. He said that rolling such devices out across staff and customers is simply accentuating that risk.
attacks, such as turning off heating or surveilling a property to see when it is not occupied. Other experts, meanwhile, have cited patch management as a major issue given billions of IoT devices forecast to ship and say that more elaborate IoT attacks could lead to driverless cars becoming mobile bombs or connected devices sending malware via botnets or through spam emails.
We’re seeing IoT devices, a range of different products, that are insecure out-of-the-box; they have weak security, default passwords. Munro added, “Everyone has got access to everything with IoT, and this means that you need firmware, OS, mobile app, and coding experts... You need to know how to put apps together with wireless or GSM technology. There’s a massive expansion skillset required in order to adopt IoT. We’re seeing crazy acceleration in the number of IoT devices available, primarily because there’s money to be made, but I think we’re going to see standards starting to become available.” Munro is working on standards at the IoT Security Foundation and says the GSM Association, which focuses on the interests of mobile operators worldwide, is working on something similar for mobile communications. Munro added that vendors are too often focused on getting goods to market rather than on devices being secure. Some, he said, simply hope to patch the OTA or simply hope that the problems go away. Munro, who praised Fitbit for bolstering its own security team at the start of the year, said that IoT flaws, which usually reside in app source code or resolve around weak passwords and unsecured Wi-Fi, may enable attackers to take control of devices locally or remotely. The latter could ultimately lead to larger-scale Control Engineering Europe
Do the benefits outweigh the negatives? Shipping company Maersk reportedly has one of the largest deployments of Industrial IoT (IIoT), to ensure refrigerated containers all maintain the correct temperature. Speaking at a recent conference, Maersk UK chief intelligence officer (CIO) Andy Jones outlined the benefits of the deployment, saying that the firm is now able to monitor goods in real-time via IP-enabled sensors, whereas it previously took engineers two days to check and report on these conditions. The readings from these sensors are continually fed into Maersk’s monitoring systems via satellite, and any problems at sea can be identified immediately. Jones said the problem arises where IoT systems are connected to something physical, like the braking or airbag systems of vehicles or the heating and cooling systems of buildings. There are many security challenges; not only because of the difficulty in keeping devices and software patched but also because the Internet protocol (IP) used by IoT devices is inherently insecure. “Combine this with the fact the Internet does not have any form of service level agreement, that there
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are millions of devices in the hands of unsophisticated users, and that the Internet is accessible worldwide, and you have the perfect storm,” he said. Alan Woodward, computing professor at the University of Surrey, added: “My big concern from a security perspective... is that IoT is set up using embedded computing, which is notorious for cheap, open-source, off-the-shelf bits of software and hardware.” Woodward is also concerned about cheap devices and weak patch management, saying on the latter that updating the firmware on embedded IoT systems is “extremely difficult” and “problematic.” “I think IoT has far more potential than mainstream computing for being compromised,” he said. “The IoT is a classic area where people are having to relearn all the lessons that it took 25 years to learn in computing.”
What businesses can do Munro urged CIOs and other IoT decision makers to be proactive in auditing and managing devices, even it means “walking the floors” to find out what devices are connecting to enterprise networks. The CIO, he said, must think “really seriously” what data could be compromised if there is a system breach, and what hackers have access to if the network is segregated. Jones is optimistic about future security plans, but he advised isolating IoT devices at risk. “Any risk assessment should include the criminal mindset and learn from past analogies,” he said. Woodward urged companies to rollout IoT policies so users clearly know their data can be wiped and devices managed. Doug Drinkwater is editor at Internet of Business, which is hosting the Internet of Manufacturing Conference Nov. 1-2, 2016, in Chicago. Internet of Business is a CFE Media content partner. June 2016
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CYBER SECURITY
Cyber security requires BUY-IN AT ALL LEVELS are not capable of causing significant damage. In reality, cyber-attacks can trigger catastrophic results, but these events are rarely publicly disclosed. More recently there have been attacks on the Ukrainian Power Grid, a number of oil and gas networks, a German steel foundry and an undisclosed water treatment site. However, these are only the attacks which achieved news coverage, and are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.
Cyber attack increases
Cevn Vibert explores the changing face of cyberattacks and explains why security needs to be a priority throughout the industrial IT supply chain.
I
n 2010, the industrial IT industry received a wake-up call in the aftermath of the Stuxnet attack. For a period, the sector was looking over its shoulder and evaluating the risks. However, Stuxnet quickly became the stuff of folklore. The common – but incorrect – story of how it spread via infected USB drives quickly became an accepted truth. Many businesses, regarding themselves as not politically or strategically important – like the original targets of the attack – also assumed they were safe. In reality, however, the threat to industrial control systems has never been closer. Today many still understand little of the Stuxnet legacy and, worse, others believe the myths surrounding its origins. Stuxnet has been dismissed by many as an anomaly, caused by the use of infected USB drives. The reality
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is much more frightening, or at least, it should be. To get their weapon into the plant, the attackers launched an offensive against the computer systems owned by a number of different companies. The significance of these companies? They were involved in industrial control and processing of some sort, either manufacturing products and assembling components, or installing industrial control systems. They were all chosen because they had some connection to the target company and provided a gateway through which to pass Stuxnet. Researchers now know that the sabotage-oriented code used supplier businesses as Trojan horses, making indirect attacks a reality. Even those who know the real origins of the Stuxnet attack believe it to be a rarity and that other cyberattacks on industrial control systems
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In 2014 cyber-attacks increased by 48% – half of these were on industrial control systems. Crucially, these are only the statistics for the reported cases, most of the attacks on operational technologies in the past 20 years have not been reported, which means that exactly how attackers interact with industrial control systems is still unknown. While the hacking of industrial control systems, including SCADA systems, has been commonly associated with causing physical damage, there are a growing number of hackers targeting them for economic gains, or kudos, and, while many businesses know what to do with office network attacks, they are less sure when it comes to industrial cyber systems. Security incidents are not necessarily caused by external factors, they may also originate from inside an organisation – either deliberately or accidentally. Regardless of the intent or originator, a cyber security issue can lead to loss of revenue, significant downtime, accidental contamination, late delivery charges from clients and damage to brand integrity. Crucially, every manufacturer also has unique assets and recipes it must protect to remain Control Engineering Europe
CYBER SECURITY competitive and a cyber-attack, whether deliberate or not, will put these assets in danger. The first step towards protection is to understand the real risk-impacts and, for many manufacturers, this means letting go of long-held misconceptions. Firstly, air-gapped computers are not the answer. Although in theory, the idea of creating a physical gap between the control network and the business network, sounds like it would provide protection against hackers, it is simply not enough. Likewise, manufacturers who claim that their industrial control systems are not connected to the Internet, need to look again. The reality is that the average system will have 11 direct connections to the Internet, putting it at risk of a breach. Similarly, although firewalls offer a degree of protection, they are far from impenetrable and most are set to allow ‘any’ traffic on an inbound service. One survey found that almost 70% of firewalls permitted machines outside the network perimeter to access and manage the firewall.
What can be done? So what can be done? Firstly, it is important to rethink your approach to security. We can no longer hide
behind the belief that hackers do not understand industrial controls systems and SCADA. One single action is not the answer; companies need to take a more holistic approach. Security needs to be layered and multidimensional. Firstly, work with your own people to educate them about the ways in which the organisation and they, as individuals, may be targeted directly or indirectly. Training is key and should not be limited to the IT department. If you equip any operative with a device on the shop floor, they need to be made aware of the risks that come with using that device. Reward security conscious behaviour such as finding rogue USB keys or assisting others in avoiding phishing attempts and create a security savvy culture across your business. Next, companies should examine their processes. Having the correct processes in place to help control the health of an industrial control system is key. For example, the IT department may be perfectly competent at managing the updating of systems within the corporate network, but it requires specialist skill to complete something like an antivirus or firewall update within the industrial control system. The solution does not lie in one piece
of software of technology, but rather in continual improvement. SolutionsPT takes an approach that centres around eight simple steps, the ‘stairway to security’ – scope, consult, design, educate, deploy, monitor, integrate and defend. These steps alone will not take you to a final destination. They need to be repeated. First, define the scope of the problem by conducting an audit, consult with your team and review existing operations and threats. This insight can then inform the design of everything you put in place internally, from network architectures and operational procedures to team briefings. This information can then be cascaded down through the organisation via education and training, before deployment, thorough testing, monitoring and a focus on full integration with all existing systems. Finally focus on defence, not just security. Conduct trials and tests and challenge your own solutions. The threats and threat actors are constantly evolving, so our responses need to do the same. New solutions are being developed. Many are good, but all will fail without buy-in from the top down. Cevn Vibert is an industrial cyber security evangelist at SolutionsPT.
Configuration tool simplifies cyber security for large networks Westermo has released the latest version of its WeConfig network configuration management tool, which allows users to save time and costs when configuring large and complex industrial data communication networks. WeConfig 1.4 enables the configuration of these networks to be implemented quickly and reliably, and features enhanced functionality to bolster cyber security. WeConfig is said to simplify the initial installation and configuration of single or multiple Westermo devices, plus ongoing maintenance through the life of the network, Control Engineering Europe
improving network management efficiency. Once devices are configured and the network commissioned, a back-up of all the device configuration files can be created and stored. In the event that a switch or router needs to be replaced in service, the saved configuration can be easily downloaded to the new unit, resulting in a faster network repair, helping to save time for maintenance engineers. The new version of WeConfig enables users to configure and maintain cyber security features on devices delivered by the Westermo Operating System (WeOS). Spoofing
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protection features such as MAC address filters and the configuration of IEEE802.1x port access authentication can be easily deployed and maintained to help prevent unauthorised access to the network. For increased network security a configuration baseline feature creates alerts in an alarm window if changes have been made to network settings. WeConfig also features diagnostics to aid troubleshooting should network problems arise. Network failures can be visualised and diagnostic information displayed at the click of a button to enable rapid and effective maintenance. June 2016
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CONTROL VALVES
Modern control valves offer communications, diagnostics Better designs, modern materials, on-board intelligence, and communications in modern pneumatic control valves create opportunities and benefits for machine designers but also create new challenges that need to be addressed. Safe, efficient pneumatic automation systems can increase machine performance and operational reliability, reducing compressed air costs by almost half, says Sean O’Grady.
A
n old machine design engineer once sat me down and taught me everything he thought I needed to know about the science of pneumatic directional control valve selection. While his approach seemed to have been unsophisticated to machine design, there was a certain elegance to it. For most machines, a detailed and exacting approach to the design of a pneumatic control system isn’t going to be the thing that sets your machine apart from the competition, so spend as little time on it as possible. Today, smarter pneumatic designs can reduce compressed air use by nearly half, save space, and save design time. Modern market expectations require that each aspect of a machine’s design takes advantage of advanced technology, when appropriate. The advances in modern control valve design and best practices allow easier implementation without completing a master’s course in pneumatics. Consider the following application: a design for a machine that requires 48 solenoid valves to operate a variety of small actuators. The machine is comprised of several cells along a 10-meter total length. The customer requires demonstrated energy savings relative to earlier iterations of this equipment. The customer also requires quick and easy diagnostic capabilities.
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The basics of pneumatics To match a valve to each actuator application, two basic questions need to be answered: How fast does the actuator need to move? This question will help in selecting a Table:“Trapped Energy” concerns. Compressibility of air results in low position accuracy and drift. All figures courtesy: Festo valve with the correct flow rate. A multitude of free, online tools can help with this to be answered. In the past, it was calculation. common to choose a valve family What needs to happen based on the worst-case scenario. when power fails? The valve with the largest flow This question will help select the correct requirement would set the precedent valve function. Each valve below will for the entire valve manifold. In cause a cylinder to extend and retract in cases where it was possible to mix the same fashion, but each will behave valve sizes on the same assembly, differently when power is removed, such bulky, expensive adapter plates were as in an emergency-stop or power failure required. Advances in valve manifold situation. It’s important to select a valve technology allow the designer to that will provide the right behaviour in mix and match valves with many this situation. It might make sense for functions and flow rates on one a welding gun to auto retract or for a manifold. door actuator to be vented to allow it A dense constellation of valve to be operated manually (see Table). It functions on one manifold can help should be noted that rod locks, pilotachieve a simple, space saving, easy operated check valves, and other devices to mount, and cost-effective design. allow for a wider array of functions. The next task in the design process is to consider certain hidden costs with Valve manifolds those benefits. As the design process moves from the actuators and connected valves to the Decentralised control valve manifolds, and to the control Two competing cost factors must system, architectural questions need be considered when selecting how
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Control Engineering Europe
CONTROL VALVES and where to mount pneumatic valves. First, one manifold of 48 valves will always cost less than four manifolds of 12 valves each. Second, long tubing runs between valves and cylinders hide surprising costs. Let’s assume that all 48 actuators are 32x100 cylinders that cycle 30 times per minute for two shifts per day. Traditional scenario: 48 valves are on the same manifold and run 8 mm tubing an average of 3 meters to cylinders. Per year, $14,270.88 is spent on compressed air. Decentralised scenario: Four manifolds are installed, each with 12 valves. Since the valves are closer to the cylinders, shorter runs are used (500 mm) of smaller (4 mm) tubing to achieve the same cylinder speed. In this case, only $7,365.60 is spent on compressed air per year. Costs must be considered. In the early days of fieldbus valve manifolds,
the financial case for centralised valve manifolds was quite strong. Newer advances in network technology allow multiple manifolds to share one EtherNet/IP network (from ODVA) (or other industrial Ethernet protocol) node for surprisingly low cost. The market has produced a wide variety of these decentralising technologies. Each has its own capabilities and limitations, but they are an effective tool in driving down the cost of a multiple manifold design like the one described above.
Pneumatic energy savings Most pneumatic cylinders are applied in situations that require actuation in only one direction. In many cases, the actuators are plumbed in a way that causes them to consume just as much energy retracting from the work as they do to accomplish the work. In the same example, but using only one bar to retract the cylinders,
air consumption would be reduced from $7,365.60 to $4,922.88. This isn’t a new idea. For years, sandwich pressure regulators were available at each valve station that could accomplish this, but the additional capital investment wasn’t always clearly justifiable. A better solution supported by many modern valve manifolds is the option of simply supplying pressure to the valve manifold in a different way. Applying a lower pressure to the appropriate side of the valve reduces the amount of air consumption. In the past this was often impossible, as many valves required that pressure be applied at port 1 to supply the valve’s pilot circuit. In most cases, modern valves receive their pilot supply from a separate galley, adding flexibility to create a more energy efficient design. Sean O’Grady is product manager of valve terminals and electronics, Festo.
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LEVEL CONTROL
Understanding capacitance
level measurement The measurement of flow, temperature, weight, pressure, and level in process applications are critical to ensure safety and efficiency as well as a quality end product, says Matt Morrissey.
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evel measurement of liquids and solids in storage bins, process vessels, stockpiles, and channels provides information to ensure that raw materials are on hand, processes are at optimum conditions and that employees and the environment are kept safe and clean. There are many different technologies available for measuring the level of a material. These include: • Radar: Microwaves travel the distance from the instrument to the material and back. • Ultrasonic: Sound waves travel the distance from the instrument to the material and back. • Guided wave radar: Microwaves travel along a probe that contacts the material and back. • Capacitance: Material level between two conductors creates a change in the ability to store an electrical charge and is proportional to the material level. • Gravimetric: Load cells deflect under the weight of a vessel’s contents. • Hydrostatic: Material level creates a change in pressure. • Vibrating fork: Vibration frequency changes from material contact. • Rotating paddle: Paddle rotates until material contact stops the paddle. • Nucleonics: Detects changes in gamma rays as they pass through the material. • Magnorestrictive: A magnet-equipped float changes position based on level height. • Conductive: Resistance is changed when material contacts the probe. • Thermal: Material contact causes
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a temperature change against a reference. Laser: Light waves travel the distance from the instrument to the material and back. Float: A buoyant probe changes position based on level height. Displacer: Weighted spring changes tension as it is submerged by the material. Plum bob: A weight travels the distance from the instrument to the material and back. Bubblers: Material level creates a change in air pressure at the bottom of the vessel.
Despite its popularity, capacitance level technology is probably the least well understood of the level measurement solutions. It can be used with liquids, solids, slurries, and in interface applications (two different liquids which don’t mix). However, measuring the ability of a material to store a charge seems like a potentially dangerous and difficult means to do something as simple as measuring level… or does it?
Back to basics A capacitor is created when a current flows between two parallel or concentric cylindrical surfaces. It is a passive electronic component that stores energy in an electric field between two conductors. As a low-voltage, high-frequency signal is applied to the capacitance probe, a minute current flow is created from the probe to the ground plane.
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SITRANS LC300 and SITRANS LC500 continuous capacitance level transmitters provide reliable and accurate monitoring. SITRANS CLS300 level switch provides high and low level alarming.
To store energy, the capacitor must have a differential voltage applied across the first two conductors. As the level of the material changes, it changes the capacitance measurement between the probe and the ground plane. All materials have a dielectric constant (dK). This is the ratio of the permittivity of a substance to the permittivity of free space. It is the ability of a substance to store electrical energy in an electric field, and is the electrical equivalent of relative magnetic permeability. It is important to note that in some cases, material dielectric values can change with temperature. Capacitance is measured in farrads. One farad is defined as the capacitance of a capacitor across which, when charged with one coulomb of electricity, there is a potential difference of one volt. Conversely, it is the capacitance which, when charged to a potential difference of one volt, carries a charge of one coulomb. A coulomb is equal to the amount of charge (electrons) produced by a current of one ampere flowing for one second. For example, the voltage across the two terminals of a two-farrad capacitor will increase linearly by one volt when a current of two amperes flows through it for one second. The amount of capacitance measured for level applications is considerably lower than a full farad; in fact, it is one-trillionth of a farad – a picofarrad. The amount of capacitance is dependent on several factors, including electrode surface area, Control Engineering Europe
LEVEL CONTROL distance between electrodes, dielectric constant and probe length. The measurement cycle for an inverse frequency shift capacitance probe is as follows: Charge the probe electrode up to 10 VDC and then discharge the probe electrode. Capacitance can be measured by taking advantage of the charge/ discharge times. One way to do this is to create an oscillator using a comparator. The output of the oscillator will be a square wave with a period equal to the time it takes to charge the capacitor plus the time it takes to discharge the capacitor. Figures 1 through 3 show the important waveforms in the circuit. Voltage V+ is a square wave changing between the voltages. Finally, the output of the oscillator is a square wave with a period proportional to the capacitance in the measurement. The output period of the oscillator circuit described above is proportional to the capacitance charging and discharging. If the other values remain constant, then as the capacitance changes, the period of the signal changes. A microcontroller measures the period of the oscillator output signal and with a simple conversion determines the capacitance. Inverse frequency shift measurements look at the period of a square wave which is proportional to the capacitance measurement, or measuring shifts in period. The mathematical inverse of period is frequency, hence inverse frequency shift measurement. Other capacitance technologies are measuring some type of frequency/period, or measuring the amplitude of a signal with a static frequency, so they are not as accurate. The probe of the capacitance instrument is one of these conductive surfaces that make up the capacitor. The other plane can be the tank wall, provided the material is nonconductive. In applications with a conductive material, the material itself acts as the other surface for the capacitor. Control Engineering Europe
the measurement and therefore is not susceptible to buildup.
Limitations and successes Figure 1: Capacitor voltage waveform.
Figure 2: Hysteresis waveform.
Figure 3: Output waveform.
In special circumstances, the tank may be non-conductive (plastic) and the material is also non-conductive. For example, a stilling well supplied with the instrument can act as the second capacitor plane here. Conductive materials will usually have a dK of 20 or more. As the measurement is based on the shape and size of the vessel, operators will need to perform a calibration with the instrument in place. When the tank is empty the unit must be ‘zeroed’. This creates the empty reference point of capacitance measurement for the device. Capacitance probes can be ordered in several different configurations for continuous level measurement. Rod probes lined with PFA ensure that materials don’t stick and can also help protect the probe from corrosion. Rod probes are generally used in liquid or interface applications. With any level technology, buildup can be a concern. Siemens active shield design allows for a customer-orderable section of the probe to be covered without affecting the measurement of the level. This area is a ‘dead’ zone for
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Capacitance level measurement in critical processes or in high-accuracy applications should not be used if changes to the dielectric constant occur. Changes can come from temperature, moisture content, chemical or physical composition, and packing density. In these applications, a different level measurement solution would be better suited, such as radar or guided wave radar. Capacitance is ideal for applications with high pressure and high temperature ratings. However, where it excels is with interface measurements, especially in emulsion applications where the separation of the two materials is not as ‘clean’ as with oil and water, for example. Because capacitance is measuring the change in the ability to store a charge, and not a reflection echo based on a dielectric change, capacitance can be the instrument of choice. Foam, vapours and dust have no effect on measurement. Capacitance can be mounted on the bottom of the vessel as well as on the side with cable versions.
Conclusion Capacitance level measurement is a proven technology in the field of industrial automation. Measurement devices available today offer many characteristics that allow for level measurement in tough applications by providing functionality in extreme pressures and temperatures; the ability to remote mount electronics to keep sensitive circuitry away from harsh conditions from the process; and flexibility in tank mounting as probes can be mounted from the bottom, top, or side of a vessel. Matt Morrissey is product manager, Weighing Technology and Capacitance at Siemens Industries & Drives. June 2016
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BIG DATA
A perfect storm of technologies
get the best out of data Big data is just one of a host of popular industry buzz words. When put together with other enabling technologies, such as IIoT and Cloud the benefits of big data really start to become apparent. Suzanne Gill reports.
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recent survey of 250 process and manufacturing industry executives by PricewaterhouseCoopers identified that one-third of enterprises are already using data analytics to improve business performance in some way. Two-thirds said that they are using data analytics capability to monitor assets to drive a proactive maintenance programme. Two-thirds also said that they were investing heavily in IT infrastructure in order to allow them to collect more data from their facilities or remote assets. There is clearly a growing interest in data. However, alone it has no value. It needs to be translated into actionable information. Users that are able to aggregate their data can go on to use it to monitor applications and identify
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potential safety and performance issues. For many years industry has been analysing data to some extent. What is new is that we now also have the ability to move data around and even out of the plant and into the Cloud… Again though, some industry sectors have been doing this for years, because they had to. Refineries, for example, often have expert knowledge grouped in one place with the actual refineries being some distance away, so there has been no choice but to remotely analyse data to solve process problems. The gas industry also needs to remotely gather data from its long pipelines and to control pipeline flows from a central location.
Renewed interest There has been a renewed interest in data analysis from the oil & gas industry
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too. As the price of the product has dropped in recent years there has been a move towards improving efficiency and productivity as a way to maintain profitability. IIoT, big data and Cloud technologies are now being adopted by this industry sector to help solve production and supply chain problems that in the past may not have been considered worth addressing. “Today we have the ability to move data around in the cloud cheaply,” said Andrew Hird, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s new digital transformation unit. “The technology that allows us to do this and the software applications that allow us to analyse the data are now much more sophisticated and this is leading to increasing interest from SMEs as well as multinationals. This has created a tipping point for wider adoption of big data management solutions,” When combined the IIoT, big data and Cloud are enablers that can help unleash the power that is already available in control systems and smart plant devices which have been sitting on the plant floor for some time. “The big data trend is not really about creating more data,” continued Hird. “It is about contextualising the data that you already have. However, all the data needed to answer a question, will not come from just one area of the plant. The IIoT brings together a variety of disparate information from asset systems, vibration monitoring systems, and environmental data which can offer greater perspective. For example, if you are looking to find out why a Control Engineering Europe
BIG DATA pump failed, you will not have all the necessary information in just one set of data to allow you to come to a conclusion. You need vibration monitoring information as well as knowledge about what type of fluid was running through the pump and at what pressure. You might also need to add some other environmental information to get the full picture. Contextualising data from a variety of different sources gives a much better understanding of the events that led up to a failure.” Another issue that needs to be addressed when trying to gain an accurate picture about an event is that the ability to understand the meaning of much of the asset information is often limited by the number of people at a site who are able to interpret all the different streams of data. “However, we are now able to bring all the data together in the Cloud, so it is possible to get input from a variety of experts from across the enterprise to gain a full picture of an event and to help solve problems,” said Hird.
Available data Much of the information needed to achieve big-data solutions will already be available, sitting in processes and monitoring systems across the enterprise. Bringing it all together has recently been made much easier thanks to advances in communication technologies and protocols such as OPC UA, which brings data together in a single format to be presented in a meaningful way to the right people at the right time. All plants will contain a mix of old and new control systems but this should not be a barrier to benefitting from big Control Engineering Europe
data management solutions. The continuous evolution process that Honeywell has applied to its Experion DCS solutions, for example, means that its new analysis software solutions will work seamlessly even with the original DCS systems that were installed in the 1970s. “These systems are still fully supported within the current architecture,” confirmed Hird. The raft of new data software solutions from control system vendors are designed to sit on top of existing DCS systems, and do not interfere with their day-to-day operation. They can offer an elegant way to bring plant data into the IoT world from any control system, allowing engineers to present their data to the enterprise. Hird’s advice to those looking to make better use of existing data is to look at where the biggest returns on investment would come from. “Look first at what is impacting your profitability the most,” he said. “Anything that is stopping the plant from achieving 100% production should be looked at more closely. It could be as simple as analysing information about different shift performances. If one shift achieves greater productivity it would not cost much to identify how this is achieved and to pass this information on to all operators, helping to implement
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best-practice across the enterprise.” Downtime reduction is another area that could benefit from big data analysis. Today most plants will operate at between 88 and 92% OEE. So, if typically, 5% of downtime is due to planned shutdowns, the rest is unplanned. Big data analysis can help find out what is causing these shutdowns, allowing plants to increase their OEE by better predicting potential problems. The new digital transformation business unit created by Honeywell Process Solutions aims to offer help and guidance to manufacturers wishing to harness the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and to more rapidly deploy technologies to allow them to better manage and analyse data. Among the technologies at Honeywell’s disposal to achieve this is its DynAMo alarm and operations management; Industrial Cyber Security Risk Manager, which proactively monitors and manages cyber risk for industrial environments; Assurance 360, a cooperative service arrangement to maintain, support and optimise the performance of Honeywell control systems; and, Honeywell Pulse, a mobility app that allows plant managers to monitor real-time operations from a smartphone. “We are now in a position to help our customers solve big challenges by assisting them to consolidate disparate data in the cloud, applying high-level analytics and utilising experts who are often physically remote from the customer site to make a real difference to productivity, efficiency and profitability,” concluded Hird. June 2016
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DEVICE CONVERGENCE
Device convergence in the industrial space
overall benefits of convergence and it is just another example of how consumerbased products and technology has already started to influence and drive the industrial sector. Converged devices now offer significant advantages not only in terms of the flexibility they offer specifiers, but also by future-proofing the investment.
Benefits of device convergence
Ben Savage explores the advantages and disadvantages of converged devices for industrial applications and offers advice on what specifiers should be looking for.
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evice convergence is happening in our everyday lives and as we become more familiar with it we start to expect it – even in the industrial equipment space. Instruments used for monitoring, control interfaces and recording capabilities can now all be found in a single device which combines hardware and software that work together to provide a range of functionalities. More importantly, further functions can be added easily, quickly and cheaply by simply installing programs and apps that have already been designed to be supported by the existing software and hardware. This is a major shift away from traditional instrument specification, when purchasers tended to buy dedicated devices because they needed a component to perform a very specific task, rather than paying for functionality that they did not need at the time.
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This is one of the biggest changes in mindset introduced by converged devices. The argument for the traditional approach is why buy a colour touchscreen display with several analogue inputs, digital I/Os and PWM outputs designed to cover a wide variety of industrial applications when you don’t need all those interfaces? Another common concern is that a dedicated machine might be better at doing a particular job, and that the form factor of converged devices can lead to a compromise in performance compared to dedicated devices. It is the difference, for example, between an iPhone and a DSLR camera. There is often a perception that converged devices are more likely to be ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. While there may have been an element of truth to these issues in the past, today’s technology makes these concerns less and less valid. The success story of the iPhone epitomises the
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Aside from the overall functionality benefits of device convergence, cost is probably the most obvious benefit, as you do not have to pay for two separate sets of hardware. Taking the example of the iPhone again, the main microprocessor handles most of the camera functionality on the device, and this is also true in the industrial sector as extra functionality doesn’t need to mean additional cost, indeed it could mean significant savings. For example, purchasing a fully functioned HMI display and PLC as standalone units would could easily cost £1,000, whereas a converged device that combines the functionality of both could be bought for a couple of hundred pounds. Moreover, the fact that the converged device will probably have a range of inputs and outputs means that if your requirements change further down the line then the up front investment is not wasted. Rather than ripping and replacing with a whole new set of components, new functions and inputs can be easily added to the core, and therefore most expensive, component. The second key benefit is the reduced space requirements and size specifications of converged devices. A small control room may not have space to add both a controller and a display and a single device will always take up less space. Chip technology has become faster and smaller and because of this, it is now possible to get more processing power into a smaller space. Today, devices such as the PanelPilotACE is essentially an HMI display with a controller so it is not necessary to purchase two separate modules. For specifiers that have Control Engineering Europe
DEVICE CONVERGENCE advantages of device convergence will become more compelling. You now have a device that has the potential to perform more functions than it was originally designed for and all manufacturers need to do is develop the software to turn those functions into a reality, based on industrial needs, trends and demands. As technology increases processing speeds and reduces manufacturing costs, we can look forward to more singular, smaller devices with multiple functionality. specific space constraints this can be advantageous and opens up options and possibilities that have not previously been available. Having a controller and display together in a single device also offers the benefit of smooth integration. With separate devices there will, automatically, be more engineering work required to link them together, even if they are made by the same supplier. With converged devices this work has already been done – in an iPhone the camera already talks to the display. The integration between the camera and the display minimises the users’ time in specifying these connections because they are already speaking to each other, Apple has done that work for the user. In the case of the PanelPilotACE, the hardware routines are already tied into the display through the software and are almost invisible to the end user so they don’t need to worry about the programming.
The future I have used the iPhone as an example of device convergence and one of the main reasons is because the hardware and software are developed by the same people. During his time at Apple, Steve Jobs quoted Alan Kay: “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” As more and more manufacturers adopt this approach in the industrial sector, more converged devices can be expected and it is likely to become more common. Control Engineering Europe
Furthermore, as the power of mobile computing processing increases, giving you more for the same price, the
Ben Savage is PanelPilot manager at Lascar Electronics.
All-in-one PLC and HMI improves speed and efficiency on a can packaging line Bimetec specialises in mechanisation and control automation for the agricultural industry. The company recently completely renovated two mechanical can-packaging machines used for seed weighing, canning, check weighing, and labelling. The company created a new control cabinet for the check weighing station. The control cabinet required a large touchscreen to enable the machine operator to easily and efficiently access the necessary menus and operations. For motion and frequency control, the PLC needed sufficient communication ports, including Ethernet, serial and CANbus. Furthermore, it needed to be able to connect to both local and remote inputs and outputs. The company also wanted to add a separate PLC to the labelling machine, so that it could be operated independently of the main system. Bimetec selected the Unitronics Vision1210 as the primary PLC. For the second, smaller PLC on the labelling machine, it specified a Unitronics SAMBA PLC with a 4.3in colour-touch HMI panel. Both PLCs are programmed in one, single-environment software package, an important cost saving advantage.
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The Vision1210 controls the canning line; cans are led to a filling unit through carousel platform with the weighing and filling station installed overhead. A buffer, mounted above the station, fills the can with seeds. To meet the high production speed, Bimetec installed two filling stations; while one unit is being filled, the second unit is brought to the correct weight. Each filling unit has a Unitronics load cell module and the measurements from those modules are connected directly to the load cell strain gauge converter on the controller; the high sample rate of this converter enables efficient filling. Once the weight is confirmed, the cover is installed on the filled can before it moves to the labelling station. The labelling station has a standalone PLC with touchscreen, the SAMBA. Having a second touchscreen was a practical advantage, as the operator does not have to walk to the main panel every time they need to adjust a setting, saving time and effort. The label is attached and then the can’s weight is checked again. If the weight is correct, then the can moves on to be packaged. June 2016
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ANALYTICS
Tracing sources of error
IN PLANT OPERATION Time and money is being lost at production plants due to problems not being fixed in a timely fashion. However, faults can often be identified, rectified, and prevented from recurring by tracing mechanical errors with specialised high-speed recording cameras, says Max Scholz.
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here are huge commercial pressures today for production systems to run at their full potential at all times and to provide consistently high quality without interruptions, shutdowns or wastage. In practice however this is rarely achieved and the best-laid plans to meet productivity targets are often thwarted by real-world realities. Products and employees change, tools and equipment wear out, and lines have to be slowed because of unanticipated wastage at target speed. All these factors can mean that the return on investment in production plant remains below expectations. Worse still, the causes of production line problems can be difficult or impossible to identify. Mechanical errors in production equipment can happen when workers are temporarily away from the line or, more commonly, occur
so quickly that they are impossible for staff to detect until it’s too late. When producing at a cycle rate of, say, 100 pieces per minute, every second counts – but the human eye and brain simply cannot work at these speeds. However, these disruptive and expensive puzzles can often be solved more easily than many plant operators realise. The answer lies in the use of specialised high-speed recording cameras. Unlike image processing cameras, which plants use as quality assurance to prevent the delivery of faulty parts, high-speed cameras make production processes visible, allowing plant operators to document specific parts of the production process. Detailed frame-by-frame analysis of photographic images can identify the cause of a problem. This usually leads to the plant being brought up to planned productivity – and in some cases the documentation process makes it possible
The labelling machine runs at up to 1,000 units per minute. Error analysis would not have been possible without the simultaneously high image resolution.
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to boost productivity even further. High-speed recording cameras are being used successfully in many industries today, filing systems for beverage production, presses for sheet metal processing, packaging machinery for food production, pharmaceutical labelling systems and robots in the automotive industry.
Frame-by-frame fault capturing Production plants can be vast and are often divided into many different lines and processes such as moulding, pressing, packaging, assembling, testing, labelling, crunching, and pick-and-place. A highspeed recording camera can be installed at all of these processes and is typically relocated from one station to the next, wherever the production line is not working as it should. Cameras designed for use in difficult conditions, such as poor lighting, temperature fluctuations, and vibrations are available and some are even designed to fit into very cramped spaces. The camera’s field of view is determined by selection of the appropriate lens. Modern sensors make it possible to find the right combination of resolution, high frame rates, and sensitivity. The MotionBLITZ Cube4 camera from Mikrotron, for example, can take up to 1,000 images per second at a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels, and with a smaller region of interest the frame rate can be increased to as many as 93,000 frames per second. The recorded video can be played more slowly by a factor of 20 to more than 1,000 and, with the help of Windowsbased software can be visually analysed frame-by-frame. High-speed recording cameras use a ring storage device which, when completely filled, is overwritten. When an error occurs on the production line, the camera is sent a signal – by a person watching the process, by a sensor connected to the camera, or when the camera detects a change in brightness in the image – and recording is stopped. The video material recorded up to that point remains on the internal memory Control Engineering Europe
ANALYTICS and can be downloaded for analysis via an Ethernet port. Alternatively, there are cameras with an integrated large screen where videos can be viewed via a touch screen interface, edited, converted, and transferred to an SD card. This enables work on location without the need for a computer.
flow.” Within the first year, investigations of more than 20 points in the production process led to a substantial number of optimisations. A camera also enabled clear improvements to be made in the battery labelling process. Fitting the cells with wrap-around labels has to be done with a high degree of precision at speeds of 900 to 1,000 parts per minute. Improperly labelled batteries result in rejects and material loss, with any consequent jams in the labelling process causing downtime. As it was necessary to record this process from the side, the contour of the label was visible only as a very thin line, but the high image resolution of the camera made analysis possible.
Reducing errors A good example which shows the value of high-speed recording cameras can be found at Varta Consumer Batteries. The company’s plant in Dischingen, in Germany, specialises in dry batteries – from single-cell to micro-cell (type AAA). Every step of the manufacturing process is undertaken at the plant – assembly, fitting, filling, labelling and packaging. Every day approximately three million cells move through the rotary transfer systems, conveyor lines, test equipment and packaging machines to their final destination in the dispatch bay. Varta’s newest-generation batteries perform particularly well as a result of a specially formulated electrolyte which is injected into the battery casing. This filling process requires precise dosing when only a few hundredths of a second are available. Varta had initially encountered problems with a missing electrolyte drop changing the battery characteristics and contaminating the production line. This was causing product rejections because of unacceptable fluctuations in the individual batteries’ performance, and was forcing expensive maintenance downtime on the production line. High-speed recording cameras offered a solution. After conducting slow-motion studies, process parameters were quickly adjusted so that the quality requirements could be met while maintaining a very short cycle time. Josef Graule, project engineer at the plant explains: “After making only a few high-speed recordings, we were able to select the filling jets in such a way that the filling process ran without any more troublesome splashes. “Next, the camera provided us with information we could use to constantly reduce bottlenecks in the production Control Engineering Europe
Prevention is better than cure
A missing electrolyte drop changes the battery characteristics, contaminating the production facility and increasing maintenance costs. The relevant process parameters could quickly be optimised with the help of slow-motion studies. In this picture, the drops are coloured red.
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Using cameras also enabled Varta to set up a continuous measurement inspection point. For the first time, a new laser measuring system for quality control could be precisely mounted because slowmotion video revealed the exact point on the batteries at which the measurement was to be made and at which point the measurement could be obtained with the system turning at full capacity. The camera’s integrated time-stamp function, which is applied to each individual frame, enabled processes to be calibrated to the millisecond. “The additional integration of control signals in the high-speed recording process provides even more valuable information for the optimisation of the process, as multiple steps must often be coordinated with each other on single machines. I am sure that we will implement even more prevention in the future,” concluded Graule. The progress made at the Varta battery factory is just one of many examples of high-speed recording cameras tracing troublesome glitches on production lines, providing the detailed information that leads to a solution, then helping to identify and prevent potential disruptions before they occur. Max Scholz is product manager at Mikrotron GmbH June 2016
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POWER AND GROUNDING
Control system power and grounding
forensic exam aids reliability Before replacing an ageing control system, the engineer willing to conduct a forensic examination increases the odds of the new system performing reliably, says Dave Harrold.
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ndustrial automation and control technologies don’t operate reliably for several decades by accident. Those willing to learn the secrets behind that reliability can ensure replacement systems perform equally well. This includes appropriate power and grounding. With new cellphones, tablets, and computer platforms being introduced every few months, it’s understandable to think that discussions about 15-, 20-, and even 25-year-old technologies is anything more than a history lesson. While that may be true about the technologies we personally use, as we know things move a bit slower when it comes to industrial technologies.
system replacement project. Before ripping and slashing that existing system however, an engineer should do a forensic investigation of the existing system, which will prove invaluable when it comes time to engineering its replacement.
Best-practices power and grounding Hopefully, the forensic investigation will reveal that the installed system’s power is optically or inductively isolated; grounded to a single point also known as a “star” ground (a design that minimises ground loops); and there is proper separation of different cable types.
Young engineers may be in the right place at the right time to be part of a major control system replacement project. Indeed, it is not uncommon for young engineers at their first job to encounter industrial control systems named Provox (from Fisher, now Emerson), TDC2000 (Honeywell), IA (Foxboro, then Invensys, now Schneider Electric), RS3 (Rosemount, now Emerson), INFI90 (Bailey, now ABB), etc. Many of these systems could be older than the engineer tasked with replacing them. The upside is that young engineers may be in the right place at the right time to be part of a major control
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Engineers willing to do such a forensic examination might find the project daunting because it isn’t the kind of thing that is generally taught in college. And if it were taught, it might not have seemed important or relevant at the time. Short of heading back to school and taking some electrical engineering classes, the company could hire an electrical contractor or control system vendor to conduct the forensic examination and
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prepare “as-built” documentation, but that’s generally a tough sell to management. A more palatable solution is to do some research through books and other sources and compare the installed system with the descriptions and diagrams found through research. Because time and costs are a factor, a forensic examination project might be turned over to a couple of co-op students or summer interns. The engineer can supervise while the interns document what’s right and wrong about the power and grounding of the installed system.
Grounding tips for controls Control system power and grounding tips include: 1. Control system ac power should be supplied from a distribution system separate from other equipment and uses. 2. The power source should be designed to accommodate initial inrush currents that can last up to 10 cycles. 3. Control system ac power should be supplied through an isolation transformer or uninterruptible power supply (UPS). 4. Control system ac ground should be established at or near the isolation transformer or UPS. 5. Control system workstation ac power should be routed to a dedicated receptacle. Dave Harrold is one of the authors of Control System Power and Grounding Better Practices. Harrold retired in 2009 after working for nearly four decades in the controls and instrumentation industry, including as a Control Engineering editor. Control Engineering Europe
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PRODUCT FORUM • THE NEXT GENERATION: NEW MULTIFUNCTIONAL POWER AMPLIFIER
SENIX CORPORATION
The company W.E.St. Elektronik GmbH has developed a new power amplifier for a directional valve with two solenoids, or for two independent pressure- or throttle valves with one solenoid, which combines many features of previous amplifiers in a single device. This results in shorter delivery times and enables a wide range of applications and a cost-effective store keeping for customers. Various adjustable parameters (e.g. the free adjustment of the nominal solenoid-current), a very robust closed loop current control and a better signal resolution allow for an optimum adaptation to valves of various manufacturers. This leads to further cost reduction because a familiarization in different power amplifiers is not necessary. Another advantage is the integrated USB interface, which enables the parameterization with an inexpensive standard USB cable. Special programming cables are no longer required. A higher processing power, secure data saving with automatic error correction, higher MTTFD values and last but not least the DNV-GL certification are further significant features.
Senix Corporation, manufacturer of ToughSonic® ultrasonic level and distance sensors, introduces the ToughSonic REMOTE 14, the first in a series of ultrasonic liquid level sensors designed for remote monitoring applications.
Gewerbering 31 Tel.: +49 (0) 21 63 / 57 73 55 - 0 | E-Mail: info@w-e-st.de Orders and price requests: order@w-e-st.de Technical questions: i More info - Enter Link code 117918 technics@w-e-st.de
BASIS™ MASS FLOW CONTROLLERS PROVIDE RELIABLE GAS FLOW CONTROL FOR OEM AND PROCESS USE
The ToughSonic REMOTE 14 ultrasonic liquid level sensor is designed to withstand the harshest climates and conditions for outdoor tank level monitoring, irrigation and flood warning systems. It provides serial data communications, enhanced surge protection and energy efficiency in a rugged, IP68-rated, 316 stainless steel housing. “Water management and process industries are investing heavily in automation.” says Doug Boehm, founder and CTO of Senix. “Monitoring remote liquid assets requires rugged, energy efficient, networked sensors. We developed the ToughSonic REMOTE product line for those unique demands.” Learn more… Senix Corporation T: +1 802 489 7300 E: Customer.Service@senix.com W: www.Senix.com
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More info - Enter Link code 112630
VEGA LAUNCH WIRELESS BLUETOOTH ADJUSTMENT FOR ALL PLICS® SENSORS
Tucson, Arizona – Alicat Scientific has added a new line of mass flow controllers specifically for original equipment manufacture and process integration. BASIS™ is Alicat’s smallest footprint instrument, providing fast, accurate control of gas flow rates in an economical, easy-tointegrate package. BASIS is ideal for use in OEM gas analyzers, automated gas mixing on process lines, and anywhere basic mass flow-only control is required. Stocked and ready for quick ship on evaluation orders, all BASIS units are ready to control process flows at full accuracy in just 70 ms. A 100 ms control response enables BASIS to react in real time to upstream fluctuations. NIST-traceable accuracy is +/-(1.5% of the reading + 0.5% full-scale).
Bluetooth is familiar in our everyday lives. Virtually every modern car has hands-free phone and music. Now it is beginning to find its way into the process industry, this technology can be used to configure, adjust, analyse and diagnose sensors. The latest version of the VEGA PLICSCOM universal display and adjustment module has optional Bluetooth 4.0/LE with secure encryption and a range typically around 25m. This means devices can be accessed from a safe, sheltered position. Amazingly, it is also fully backward compatible with all VEGA plics® transmitters since 2002. The modularity of their plics® system means it can be retrofitted without software update, so thousands of existing VEGA sensors can convert to Bluetooth! A magnetic pen supplied can operate the PLICSCOM buttons via the glass window. There is a Bluetooth USB PC dongle for FDT/DTM / PACTware connection. Try out the future today, download VEGA Tools App at IOS or Android store. Go to www.vega.com/radar
To learn more about Alicat’s new BASIS mass flow meters, visit www.alicat.com/basis, i More info - Enter Link code 117920 or call +1 520 290-6060
E-Mail: info.uk@vega.com Web: www.vega.com/uk Tel +44 1444 870055
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More info - Enter Link code 117923
FIVE STAR CYBER PROTECTION FOR BUSINESSES Inteltrain has launched a nationally accredited training programme designed to protect businesses from the threat of cyber crime. The Cyber Stars initiative is an onsite, one-day course that helps business operate safely online together with an effective cyber security strategy to implement within the organisation. The course has been developed by cyber security experts from industry, Government and defence to address systematic failures in cyber security knowledge. “This course is every bit as important as first aid, manual handling or other similar courses. It’s cyber health and safety training for your business,” said Commercial Manager, Nick Atkinson. Firms who embrace the initiative can use the Cyber Stars logo to let other companies know that they are responsible custodians of data who value their IT security as well as that of their clients and supply chain. For information contact Nick Atkinson on 03330 - 431 - 431 i More info - Enter Link code 114965 or visit www.inteltrain.com
Control Engineering Europe
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June 2016
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FINAL WORD
Prioritising storage tank maintenance Tim Bradshaw Bradshaw, general manager at Mistras Group, UK operations, explains how risk-based inspection systems and advanced non-destructive testing methods are helping storage tank owners comply with increasingly stringent regulations, as well as reducing maintenance costs.
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or owners of above ground process storage tanks, including both atmospheric and pressurised storage systems – such as bullets and spheres – tank inspection programmes are normally based around EEMUA 157 and/or API 653. According to both of these standards, the purpose of an inspection is to determine whether tanks are safe for continued service in terms of their mechanical integrity. Originally, inspection plans were strictly regulatory compliant, utilising traditional manual, non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques such as visual, ultrasonic and settlement surveys, which
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were used for both in-service and out-ofservice inspections. To help tank owners comply with increasingly stringent regulations, risk-based inspection (RBI) systems and advanced non-destructive testing (ANDT) methods can be used to assess the condition and mechanical integrity of an individual tank or a complete tank farm. A tank-specific RBI approach will enable owners to focus their inspection on assets which have the highest probability of potential problems. It also considers the consequences of such a failure. As a result, out-of-service tanks that exhibit potential problems can be inspected,
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while continuing to operate assets that are in ‘good’ condition. A combination of inspection methods can be used to monitor and grade the condition of tanks. One of these techniques is acoustic emission (AE). The application of mechanical or thermal stress to a material results in elastic energy being stored in that material. The stress field sustained by the material tends to concentrate at localised mechanical instabilities, which exist in almost all practical mechanical structures. If the applied stress is high enough, the material will fail at such local stress concentrations and crack,
Control Engineering Europe
FINAL WORD until the propagation of the crack is such that the material has become stress free and the stored elastic energy has been dissipated. The method by which this energy is released is a step-like process, where the crack grows in a chaotic cascade of distinct, discrete snaps. Each snap provides a discrete pulse of energy that propagates throughout the surrounding material in the form of a transient elastic wave. The frequency content of these pulse-like transient waves is broadband, ranging from a few KHz to a few MHz. Much of this is in the ultrasonic region, detectable by using specialised AE sensors.
Defects and cracks The identification, location and evaluation of structural defects and active cracks in pressure vessels, pipelines and storage tanks is now routinely applied to process plants. But active cracking is not the only source of AE. Chemical processes such as corrosion spalling, fracture and debonding are very emissive. The AE arising from the corrosion process on the floor of a storage tank, for example, will travel through the product in the tank, through the tank wall and into the sensors attached to the outside. A ring of sensors can be used to pinpoint the location of the AE from within the tank and so, in the space of an hour or so, can provide a very detailed picture of where the corrosion is, and how bad it is. Tank floors remain largely unseen and are traditionally uninspectable during operation. Normally, this involves costly shutdown and decontamination followed by detailed local inspection. Often, this is executed from an inspection schedule according to a predetermined period of time in service. To know when the condition of a tank justifies being taken offline and cleaned out, in order to prioritise and target inspection and maintenance activity accordingly, can be an economic (and environmental) benefit to tank owners. AE sensors are mounted on the wall Control Engineering Europe
around the tank’s circumference and connected to a data acquisition system. To assess the condition of the tank floor, a window of one hour is required to gather enough data for a valid statistical assessment of the floor. To achieve a ‘quiet hour’ all activity likely to cause product movement must have been stopped and the tank allowed to settle for a period of six to 12 hours. Agitators, heater coils and level measurement systems must all be turned off. This means that disruption to operations amounts to no more than one working day per tank. The result of the condition monitoring exercise is a tank floor grading, from A (no damage) to E (major repair required). Plots are presented to show the location(s) of any particularly active areas and/or potential leak sites. The overall tank floor and potential leak grades can be used to prioritise tank inspection and maintenance programmes. Cost savings from the use of this technology are obvious. If the vessel is in good condition, leading to the deferral of internal inspection, savings are enormous. The cost of preparing a large crude oil tank for internal inspection can reach £350,000 and for large cryogenic tanks up to £750,000. More than 50% of the ‘suspect’ tanks that have been inspected by MISTRAS were proven not to require subsequent offline inspection and maintenance, saving millions of pounds for refinery and distribution terminal operators. For pressure vessels, the figure increases to 95%. This reveals how poorly targeted most shutdown maintenance is. At the other end of the scale, the skeptic might suggest that a £7,000 AE assessment, which confirms that a suspected poor vessel does not need to be opened for repair, is money wasted. However, costs can be measured in safety and environmental terms, as well as monitarily.
Complementary methods It is important to treat the AE solution as complementary to other methods.
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This is because, unlike ultrasonic testing, AE integrity assessment does not detect static, non-growing defects, nor does it measure their size. On the other hand, it will detect and locate regions of overstress or areas where micro structural problems exist, which are structurally significant and which are easily missed by conventional localised methods. The effectiveness of both methods is improved by using them together. AE should be thought of as condition monitoring for static plant – a tool for determining which tanks need conventional inspection, where and when. It should not be assigned to, or used by, inspection departments. It is a management tool to be employed by senior maintenance personnel with a direct interest in managing maintenance budgets and directing inspection personnel to where they are really needed. There is often a temptation to repair tanks simply because they are offline, particularly when inactive cracks not identified by AE are found by other methods. Unnecessary repair can introduce new stresses to the vessel which were otherwise not present. The most effective approach to tank inspection blends the regulatory compliance to current codes and standards with RBI and ANDT methods. The Tank Specific RBI approach allows owners to concentrate inspection on those assets that have the highest probability of potential problems. It also considers the consequences of such a failure. As a result, out-of-service inspection of tanks can be recommended that exhibit potential problems, while continuing to operate assets that are in good condition. The continued operation of healthy tanks, along with large reductions in budget spent on preparing tanks for traditional internal inspections, (including cleaning, degassing and waste disposal) provides tank owners with better profitability and improved operational effectiveness. June 2016
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