Cee 16 10

Control, Instrumentation and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries October 2016

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Are you ready to move to the Cloud?

Overcoming single-point temperature sensing limitations Driving improvement with proactive network management

How do BionicANTs inspire the 4th industrial revolution?

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CONTENTS

Focusing on data…

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

It was interesting to read the results of a recent survey of senior manufacturers which has identified that many are planning to invest in data analytics in the coming year, while at the same time reducing spend in other areas. This really does demonstrate the journey that is currently being made towards digitisation which will revolutionise every stage of the manufacturing process. It is important not to get left behind, but worryingly, 42% of manufacturers who took part in the survey did not understand the benefits of big data and 35% believe that the benefits are being overstated. (pg 4)

important part to play in managing plant data and we find out how its role looks set to develop as we enter the era of the smart factory. (pg 20)

In this issue we take a look at SCADA and HMI technology, which has an

Suzanne Gill – Editor suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk

Finally, find out what Martin Jones of Moxa feels about the IIoT. He talks about what’s behind the hype and how IIoT differs from what has been done in the past by the control engineer in the past. (pg 39)

INDUSTRY REPORTS

TEMPERATURE & PRESSURE MONITORING

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24 Suzanne Gill reports on the potential for distributed temperature sensing in new application areas.

We take a look at a recent survey which focusses on the growing reliance by manufacturers on data analytics.

PROCESS ANALYSIS

EDITOR’S CHOICE 6

26 Raman spectroscopy is starting to gain fans in the process sector for in-situ sample measurement.

Making PLCs transparent through HMIs; Flexible object recognition on a conveyor.

DRIVES & MOTORS

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATIONS

28 High precision components for gearbox test rig.

12 An update on market development and technical developments for the IO-LINK intelligent point-topoint serial communication protocol.

30 When a winch controlling a high-powered drill broke down on a ship mining samples off the coast of Japan a rapid solution was needed.

14 Driving improvement with proactive network management – an exploration of best practices.

32 The importance of drivetrain efficiency – looking further than the motor.

SCADA & HMIs

FINAL WORD

16 Todays HMIs have evolved into sophisticated computer systems capable of acting as automation gateways for controlling and monitoring an industrial process – remotely if necessary.

39 Martin Jones, general manager at Moxa Europe discusses the challenges and opportunities that the IIoT presents for the control engineer.

18 Brigitte Händler discusses the requirements for a SCADA system in an age of digitisation.

20 A discussion about the benefits of cloud computing for SCADA.

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.

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October 2016

3

INDUSTRY REPORT Predictive analytics achieved through an effective IIoT solution can help companies break out of that cycle.”

While 40% of respondents to the survey ranked unscheduled downtime as the biggest threat to maximising revenue other revenue affecting issues included supply chain management, inadequate staffing; off-spec products; and equipment breakdowns.

A viable solution?

Growing reliance on data analytics A recent survey of senior manufacturing executives has highlighted the fact that manufacturers are banking on data analytics – a key component of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) – to help navigate difficult business conditions, despite many planned technology investments in other areas being delayed.

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he survey – Data’s Big Impact on Manufacturing: A Study of Executive Opinions – conducted by Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) and KRC Research, indicated that 67% of 200 manufacturing executives will be pressing ahead with plans to invest in data analytics in the coming year, while at the same time reducing spend in other areas.

Many survey respondents view data analytics as a viable solution to a cycle of problems that lead to downtime and lost revenue. The survey also found that some companies are feeling pressure to continue working under the threat of unscheduled downtime and equipment breakdowns, which are viewed as being the elements that are most detrimental to maximising revenue.

The majority of companies have stated that they are already investing in data analytics technology. However, one-quarter of respondents said that

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they do not plan to invest in data analytics in the next year; citing a lack of understanding of the benefits of data analytics or inadequate resources.

Downtime cycle Unscheduled downtime was ranked as the top threat to maximising revenue, despite the fact that 42% of respondents admitted their equipment was being run harder than it should be. A total of 71% of respondents are experiencing occasional equipment breakdowns, while 64 % are seeing occasional unscheduled downtime.

“Running plant equipment harder than appropriate presents a host of issues ranging from equipment breakdowns to potential safety incidents,” said Andrew Hird, vice president and general manager at HPS Digital Transformation. “Those issues inevitably lead to more downtime, which leads back to lost revenue. It is easy to see how many companies feel they are caught in a vicious cycle.

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Successful IIoT implementation relies on data analytics and most survey respondents favourably viewed the benefits of data analytics as a solution.

For example, there was general agreement that big data analytics can reduce the occurence of equipment breakdowns, unscheduled downtime, unscheduled maintenance and supply chain management issues. Respondents also said they believe data can enable well-informed decisions in real time, can limit waste and predict the risk of downtime.

“There is a belief that data analytics can help combat the biggest business threat – unscheduled downtime,” said Hird. “This is why they feel it makes sense to continue investing.”

Additionally, more than two-thirds of respondents said they are currently investing in data analytics, while 50% said they believe their companies are on track in their use of data analytics.

Only 15% said they believe their companies are ahead of the curve when it comes to data analytics usage.

While the majority of respondents said they are already investing and/or planning to increase their investments in data analytics in the coming year, 32% said they are not currently investing in data analytics and 33% said their companies are not planning to invest in data analytics in the next 12 months, or are unaware of any plans to do so.

The majority of those who currently have no plans to invest (61%) believe that their organisations already have systems in place to ensure safety, yield and success while others said that their Control Engineering Europe

INDUSTRY REPORT companies have seen some growth without data analytics. A total of 42% said they do not fully understand the benefits of big data and 35% believe that the benefits of big data are being overstated.

“For some companies there are still hurdles remaining before the IIoT can be fully adopted,” explained Hird, with 63% of survey respondents saying they have no investment plans because they do not have the appropriate resources to do so, while 39% said they don’t have the right staff to make the most of data analytics. “Some don’t believe they need it while others say they lack the resources to do it right,” said Hird. “The good news is that IIoT is something that does not require a wholesale change – it can be phased and scaled depending on an individual company’s circumstances.

This is precisely why Honeywell says IIoT represents an evolution, not a revolution.”

Rockwell and Endress+Hauser open joint test plant Rockwell Automation and Endress+Hauser have opened their first joint test plant in Europe for the validation of new products.

Core elements of the test plant, which is situated at Endress+Hauser’s site in Maulburg in Germany, include three tanks, each containing between 2,000 and 26,000 litres of oil. Over 20 different measurement instruments from Endress+Hauser have been installed on the tanks, all communicating with Rockwell Automation’s Plant PAx control system.

In this way, all personnel at the test center obtain specific information and diagnostics relating to the tank contents at a glance.

The original idea for such an installation came from training centers established by Endress+Hauser with

the support of Rockwell Automation in recent years which offers sales representatives and product specialists from both companies practical training sessions for customers. These courses comprise installation training, simulations under real conditions, diagnostics and comparisons of different technologies.

The joint test center takes this idea a step further and establishes new standards and focusses on product validation. Research and development take center stage to align new products to customer requirements at an early stage of development under real application and environmental conditions.

The alliance between the company was forged by the former CEOs, Keith Nosbusch and Klaus Endress.

“Mitsubishi Electric’s servos provided plug and play simplicity” Matt Hurley, Western Mechanical Handling UK Ltd., Machine builder to the Food & Beverage industry

Rely on automation solutions from Mitsubishi Electric

LIbrary IMagE For ILLusTraTIvE purposEs onLy

In a drive to reduce packaging and its resultant waste, a specialist machine builder developed a pressureless queuing conveyor for collecting quiches prior to baking.

The success of this project demanded that difficult to handle uncooked quiches could be moved quickly through the production process without collapsing.

The solution was to develop an in-line servo-controlled collating conveyor and intelligent sensing system using Mitsubishi Electric’s simple plug and play servo drive systems with advanced vibration suppression and real-time auto tuning.

Halle 7 / Stand 391 For the full facts on our Food & Beverage Solutions visit eu3a.mitsubishielectric.com

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Making PLCs transparent through HMIs The latest version of Panasonic’s HMWin programming software supports a transparent communication mode for its PLCs. The transparent mode (or through function) allows a Panasonic PLC to be programmed and monitored with its FPWIN Pro programming software while the HM 500 series HMI is connected between it and a PC. No special settings are required and the mode is

Flexible object recognition on a conveyor

EVT Eye Vision Technology has introduced EyeSense Presence which is said to be able to recognise objects in any position, without teaching.

The solution incorporates Time of Flight technology and evaluation software based on the EyeVision platform. The system can be adapted quickly to meet changing detection requirements.

Integrated illumination within the camera emits infrared impulses and the sensor measures the time needed for the light to be reflected back from the object. The light source and the image recording are synchronised, which enables distances to be extracted and calculated from the image data. When combined with EyeVision software the solution is well suited for images in the fields of factory automation.

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automatically enabled.

Ethernet interfaces and the new transparent mode make remote control, monitoring, maintenance, and programming possible via the HMI for all of the compact PLC ranage. Data from machines and equipment connected to the PLC can be accessed via a PC and a standard browser for effective data logging.

Wireless valve monitoring concept A new concept for wireless valve monitoring and diagnostics in the process industry has been introduced by Rotork with RI Wireless which transmits real-time position indication to the control room and enables predictive maintenance for actuated valves.

Designed for both new and existing plants, RI Wireless products are certified as Zone 1 Intrinsically safe for use in hazardous areas.

The system comprises of a small, battery powered valve monitoring device (VMD) installed on existing or new valve actuators using a NAMUR interface, or on manual valves with an ISO 5211 interface. The VMD collects dynamics-of-state data from the

actuator or valve and transmits it as a 64-point packet, providing the information required for preventative maintenance.

A network of Valve Device Routers (VDR) transfer the monitoring data from the VMDs on a wireless MESH network to the Tunneling VDR (TVDR), which transfers the data to the RI Wireless Gateway, an industrial computer that manages the system. Several TVDRs can be connected to the RI Wireless Gateway via TCP or IP networks.

The final element in the structure is the RI Wireless Management System (WMS), a software management tool which provides operational and maintenance data in common industrial standard connections to an HMI, DCS or PLC.

Improved system diagnostics for industrial PCs Industrial PCs from B&R have always offered system diagnostics but it has gone one step further to now offer support whenever service is required.

All informational and diagnostics features can now be provided via the newly developed HMI

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Service Center, a software tool used to test B&R’s industrial PCs and automation panels which aims to offer maximum system transparency for users.

This solution makes it possible to read statistical data like power-on cycles and temperature sensor values as well as information such as serial numbers and part numbers. This data is managed by the Maintenance Controller.

Control Engineering Europe

Together facing a brighter tomorrow At Yokogawa, we believe the sky’s the limit.

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COVER STORY

FROM VISION TO REALITY Self-organising and self-learning manufacturing networks are still visionary. A first approach is the BionicANTs research project from Festo’s Bionic Learning Network which reflects networked and collective behaviour.

F

esto’s BionicANTs illustrate how individual systems can use communication to merge into an intelligent overall system – but also how the real and virtual worlds can grow together and also the role that decentralised systems intelligence plays in this process. This gives rise to insights for the flexible, transformable factory of the future.

BionicANTs use the cooperative behaviour of ants as a model. Festo engineers used complex regulation algorithms to transfer the behaviour of these insects to the world of technology.

BionicANTs cooperate in accordance with clearly defined rules which enables them to react autonomously to different situations as individual units, to coordinate their behaviour with each other and to act as a networked overall system.

All actions are based on a distributed catalogue of rules, devised in advance by mathematical model-building and simulations, and programmed into each ant. The individual insects are able to make decisions autonomously, while nevertheless subordinating themselves to the common aim; each ant contributes its share to solving a task.

The required exchange of information is effected via the radio modules in the torsos of the ants. The regulation strategy comprises a multi-agent system,

in which the participants have equal rights. With 3D stereo camera in their heads, they recognise an object to be grasped and can determine their own locations. This cooperative behaviour and decentralised intelligence opens up interesting prospects for the factory of tomorrow. Future production systems will be based on intelligent components that can flexibly adapt to different production scenarios and process orders from the superordinate control level.

Application example Decentralised intelligence, quick availability and analysis of all relevant data are prerequisites for the success of Industry 4.0. Cyber-physical systems will be forming the new basis for this future reality. Modularity, energy efficiency and the use of OPC UA as a communication standard are further features of Industry 4.0, already implemented by Festo in its decentralised automation solutions and mechatronic subsystems. This has enabled the company to create a flexible loading module for end line packaging. In this application, the linear gantry EXCT permits horizontal and vertical motion, as well as accurate positioning. The stationary motors and the resultant minimal moving mass ensure outstanding dynamic response.

The complete package includes all

Festo Didactic offers a cyber-physical learning and research platform in the form of the CP Factory.

components from a single source – from suction grippers and electric axis systems right up to CODESYS controllers.

Dynamic loading processes with fast format changeovers can be easily implemented with this combination.

The application is controlled by a CODESYS controller CPX-CEC with IP65/67 protection for compact on-site installation – without a control cabinet, neatly integrated into the system. All fieldbuses or Industrial Ethernet, as well as the Industry 4.0 OPC UA standard are available as interfaces. Vision sensors read data matrix codes and control intelligent workpieces and processes.

Festo provides users with additional support in the form of reliable services – from engineering and commissioning up to system operation with software tools, online offerings and advice. Employees in industry as well as students need to be trained specifically for Industry 4.0.

Qualification 4.0 An understanding of fully automated digital production technologies and knowledge of the layout and programming of digital system networks are in demand. Otherwise tomorrow’s employees will not be capable of operating and optimising complex networked systems or developing flexible, intelligent components.

Festo Didactic offers a cyber-physical learning and research platform in the form of the CP Factory. This platform models the stations in a real production plant. Learning content includes, systems programming, networking, energy efficiency and data management. The platform also enables flexible software solutions to be developed and tested so that they can be used in production. www.festo.com/cms/en-gb_gb/56644.htm www.festo.com/cms/en-gb_gb/50252.htm

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ASSET MANAGEMENT

Adding engineering technology

TO THE OT/IT MIX

Bhupinder Singh discusses the important role that digital engineering models can play, alongside operation and information technology, to deliver actionable intelligence from asset performance modelling.

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Users can utilise 3D meshes as an immersive environment for visual operations.

ensors on operating equipment and assets can produce an enormous volume of big data which has led to a need for improved security, information sharing and data management to allow operational technology (OT) to leverage the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

This, in turn, is driving a convergence with Information Technology (IT).

However, many organisations struggle to make use of the data from their OT and IT systems, resulting in missed opportunities to improve asset performance. This is due, in part, to the fact that the digital engineering models developed during the engineering phase of capital projects, are typically not playing a role in operations.

What if owner-operators could use these models in operations? Imagine how a digital engineering model – the engineering technology (ET) of an asset – could help operations and maintenance people forecast problems,

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do better planning, and improve performance.

It is now possible for companies to converge their IT, OT and ET – and seamlessly integrate process and information flows between them to enable asset performance modelling for the delivery of actionable intelligence for decision support through an immersive environment for visual operations.

For many years engineering departments have been using advanced modelling and simulation applications that focus on the process of design and construction of an infrastructure asset in a way that improves project delivery and asset performance to optimise CAPEX. There is a staggering amount of information related to assets and today’s engineering technology makes it possible to bring all of this information together within the federated digital engineering model, making it possible to track, access, and

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share with others collaborating on the project. The technology also enables engineers to model projects in a 3D virtual setting for design integration and construction work packaging, so that when the project is actually constructed in the real world, the project teams and stakeholders are able to minimise unforeseen situations and keep the project on track.

The beginning of convergence The IIoT is driving a convergence between operational technology and information technology. Digital engineering models can accelerate this convergence and add the visual representation of the real world to aid decision making.

South Australia Water, for example, is using predictive and real-time operational analytics to forecast water demand and improve customer service while reducing operational costs. To create a demand forecasting tool, they needed to pull information from both the operational and IT sides of the organisation in real time. Bentley’s predictive analytics software was chosen as the operational intelligence platform.

Real-time monitored sensor data is brought in from the reservoirs, water treatment plants, valves, flowmeters, and pumps spread across the pipeline network. This operational data is combined in real time with climate, energy, cost, and population data and is displayed on dashboards.

Bringing these data sources together has resulted in improved performance, enhanced understanding of interrelationships, better decisionmaking and more accurate predictions of short- and long-term demand.

South Australia Water also integrated a demand optimisation tool that is used to optimise the availability and the movement of clean water around the network to demand areas quickly and efficiently. It calculates how to deliver the water by calculating costs and determining which pumping stations to use and which pumps are needed. Built-in analytics take the Control Engineering Europe

ASSET MANAGEMENT output of the demand forecasting tool to develop a live hydraulic model that determines water pressures and flows throughout the network. Using this digital engineering model, South Australia Water can actively optimise water supply and reliability to customers.

Customers enjoy improved water security, and response times to problems, such as broken water mains, have been reduced by 90%. Tying together IT, OT, and ET also allows the company to take advantage of lower forward market pricing for electricity.

Taking the convergence of IT, OT, and ET one step further, it is now possible to enable real-time asset performance modelling, which ensures assets are safe, reliable, and efficient over their operating life. Bentley’s asset performance management software, for example, enables companies to develop both operational and asset strategies for improving reliability and maintaining asset performance and predictable production. Using a common data environment (CDE), companies can collect, consolidate, and analyse data and turn it into actionable intelligence.

The software also helps ensure regulatory compliance and is aligned with asset management standards, including PAS 55 and ISO 55001. It also applies leading information modelling and information management technologies to asset operations and maintenance, and when combined with information delivered at handover from projects, provides a complete lifecycle information management solution.

Asset performance modelling To move to asset performance modelling, 3D digital engineering models across all disciplines are integrated with the IT and OT systems used for asset performance monitoring. As the operating baseline for infrastructure assets, digital engineering models bring together schematics; engineering analyses; network models; 3D models; functional components, catalogues, and specifications.

Control Engineering Europe

It is helpful to think of digital engineering information as the digital DNA for infrastructure assets. Just as doctors can analyse human DNA to anticipate health issues and personalise healthcare for better outcomes, companies can harness the digital DNA of their assets to personalise asset maintenance for better TOTEX, maximised uptime and more.

Companies could, for example, manage the performance of their assets more effectively with digital engineering models that intelligently bring together all infrastructure data. When IT and OT systems connect with this ET data, teams can view the asset performance history, see all failure alerts, geo-coordinate to the exact positioning within the infrastructure asset, and drill down into the 3D digital engineering model to determine the cause of the alarm. Then they can refer to the manufacturer’s degradation data, access maintenance and repair data information, and take corrective action – all in seconds.

Having an accurate frame of reference – for example, capturing precisely located photographs and videos and comparing these over time – allows companies to bring together OT, IT, and ET to support asset performance modeling.

Photogrammetric surveying methods now allow systems to keep these frames of reference up to date.

Bentley’s ContextCapture software, for example, is being used to turn digital photography from UAVs and close up ground shots into accurate as-operated 3D models of infrastructure assets.

Rather than producing a point cloud, the software generates a 3D reality mesh that can be brought directly into a 3D engineering environment, and geo-coordinated for precise realworld location, to design in context or compare the digital engineering model with the reality mesh — highlighting differences between the digital design and the actual conditions.

The 3D reality mesh can provide the digital frame of reference aligning all IT, OT, and ET data with the real

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world. When events occur or alerts are triggered, users can navigate their assets through the 3D mesh and then drill down to related maintenance and repair manuals and more. The entire experience is immersive, highly accurate, and based on the latest data.

These same technologies allow designers to engineer – and reengineer – in context. For example, when making the decision to repair, replace or remove, rather than starting from scratch or using an existing design model, it is possible to use the continuously surveyed model of the plant or asset as the accurate, 3D representation for the decision. Engineers can walk through the model virtually and explore the options for adding or replacing equipment in the context of the 3D reality mesh. Once the engineering is approved and construction or replacement begins, the same continuous surveying technique can continuously generate a new 3D reality mesh to track progress and finally create the new point of reference for IT, OT, and ET. Everyone involved can see conditions change as construction progresses – and once work is complete, it is possible to continuously monitor and model assets to assess conditions, drill down into alerts and issues, take informed action, and optimise asset performance.

We are at an incredibly exciting convergence in the world of asset management. The ability to work in a comprehensive modelling environment and connecting with the IIoT through asset management and predictive analytics software, companies can converge their IT, OT and ET – and seamlessly integrate processes and information flows between them.

The next generation of engineers will no doubt continue to find ways to further exploit this convergence in unprecedented ways.

Bhupinder Singh is chief product officer at Bentley Systems.

October 2016

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INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION

IO-Link advances Reinhard Schlagenhaufer offers an update on IO Link – market development and technical activities for this intelligent point-to-point serial communication protocol.

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ince its launch in 2009 IO-Link has demonstrated a continuous rise in many different automation engineering applications.

The growth rates of IO-Link devices have been good for many years, but were even higher than expected in 2015, when a 63% increase over the previous year was recorded. There are now more then 3.5 million IO-Link nodes in the field, allowing sensors and actuators to communicate, exchanging process and service data and event information.

Following the usual practice for communication the relevant data on sold IO-Link devices and IOLink masters (nodes) are reported confidentially to a notary and published annually, i.e. made available to the IO-Link community in neutralised form. The high growth rates reported in this survey demonstrate that we are just in the beginning phase of a trend that still has a lot of potential. We must assume that the market breakthrough has now taken place and that the installed base will continue to spread.

It is not just the IO-Link node counts that continue to increase, but also the number of members. In 2015 alone, 29

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companies joined the IO-Link community and this trend has continued in 2016, with 16 new members added in the first half of the year. This steady increase in the number of members means that an ever broader base of components is becoming available and over 175 devices from 43 exhibitors were demonstrated at the 2016 Hanover Messe.

Besides acceptance of the technology, which offers new opportunities to the device manufacturer and introduces efficiency and productivity gains in automation tasks for the user, the systematic and forward-looking working method in the IO-Link community has awakened interest and confidence in the technology.

A closer look at the products reveals benefits for manufacturers and users.

Products are now possible that were not previously economically feasible.

One example is a configurable LED indicator light that can also represent a flexible but simple display element for the visual indication of the height of a stack of packages. Traditionally, more than 80 signal cables would have been needed to do this, along with the corresponding effort on the part of the manufacturer and user, to implement this function. Using IO-Link,

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the incoming cable is reduced to a standard three-wire cable.

The systematic working method of the IO-Link community is expressed via different working groups, that serve to advance work on specific issues.

IO-Link became an international standard (IEC 61131-9) in September 2013. On the basis of this standard, other important specification work has been carried out with various working groups.

The specification of an IO-Link Safety protocol has been completed, for example, and is currently undergoing an assessment phase involving TĂœV SĂźd. Integrated automation technology is no longer conceivable today without integrated functional safety. We deliberately opted for a new IO-Link Safety protocol because all important safety protocols would otherwise have to be tunnelled through IO-Link which would have led to an unacceptable increase in system complexity. Based on the IO-Link Safety protocol, safety products are being developed that are connected to the different systems via IO-Link and thus allow all advantages of the IO-Link technology to be utilised.

Intelligent sensors represent a separate class of sensor that are increasing flexibility and productivity in automation systems through the increased integration of functions, including pure detection of objects, combined with recognition of how well the object was detected, combined with decision-making on when to introduce a pending Control Engineering Europe

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION maintenance cycle. The SMART Sensor profile was specified for this sensor class and this will be available towards the end of 2016.

Digitisation is a global issue and industrial communication plays a key role in this. Additionally, with regard to Industry 4.0, sensor manufacturers have already undetaken the groundwork with the establishment of IO-Link technology. IO-Link can be regarded as a necessary key function for Industry 4.0, because it enables communication down to the lowest field level – the actuator and sensor.

A portion of the data that exists in these actuators and sensors goes beyond the actual switching information that is needed for the control task, it can also be used to efficiently implement functions such as condition monitoring, device management, and format and recipe changes. A specially founded working group is tasked with developing the

specifications and providing these data back to a higher-level system in a standardised way.

Other technologies expected to spur on the success of IO-Link include wireless connection capability for devices. A working group is currently developing the specification on the basis of the WSAN activity started earlier by the PNO (Profibus User Organisation) and stable status should be presented in the near future.

Through the commitment of the IO-Link community all of these enhancements will progress quickly, further increasing the attractiveness of IO-Link technology while its simple point-to-point architecture ensures that it will handle all of these issues without significantly increasing complexity.

Reinhard Schlagenhaufer is spokesperson of the IO-Link Steering Committees.

Welcome to the Future of Automation.

IO-Link overview IO-Link is the first standardised IO technology worldwide (IEC 61131-9) for communication with sensors and actuators. Its pointto-point communication is based on the standard three-wire sensor and actuator connection. It is a development of existing connection technology for sensors and actuators, rather than being a fieldbus.

Connection between an IO-Link master and a device is established via an unscreened three-wire cable with a maximum length of 20m.

The vast majority of IO-Link devices are equipped with M12 connectors which can be used without restriction for IO-Link’s switching mode and communication mode. Each port of an IO-Link master is capable of processing binary switching signal and analogue values. Serial IO-Link communication takes place via the same port.

The New Experion® PKS Orion, coming soon to a control room near you. Also, visit us at Honeywell Users Group EMEA. www.honeywellusersgroup.com

For more information, please visit © 2016 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved.

www.honeywellprocess.com/experion

INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS

DRIVING IMPROVEMENT WITH proactive network management An exploration of best practices for determining what to measure to allow management and operations to effectively and efficiently run the entire industrial network.

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he manufacturing plant floor is a complex environment with many physical resources to measure and manage, ranging from drives and motors right down to sensors. It is common for facilities to have a preventive maintenance program in place based on certain measurements, but what about the plant floor network? How can this asset be measured?

Ethernet networks have become a critical link between manufacturing and automation systems, and business systems and are the standard communication link between automation devices. It is important to monitor and measure device performance to properly manage the overall health of the plant floor network. Best practice to achieve this can be described in three steps Step One: Understanding the importance of KPIs – The first step to managing the plant floor network is to determine the factors that need to be measured, before consolidating

the list to identify which items are the most crucial to organisational goals and the health of the systems. These key performance indicators (KPIs) offer a quantifiable measurement which can be used to determine how well a device meets its operational and strategic goals.

KPIs are unique to the organisation and are based on each department’s expected performance to ensure the entire organisation is successful.

Several combined measurements could equal a single KPI. The basic characteristics needed to establish an effective KPI include ease of understanding, measurability, relevance (it needs to be up to date) and there needs to be few in number.

Step Two: Developing KPIs – To develop the most effective KPIs, an organisation first needs to have well-defined goals and established benchmarks in place. One common way to begin is to explore the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to identify the percentage of planned production time that is productive. To determine an organisation’s OEE score,

Understanding an organisation’s OEE score is important for making improvements and for identifying problems in the production line. (Source: http://www.leanproduction.com/oee.html)

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observe the ratio of fully productive time to planned production time, noting that scheduled downtime is not included in this equation.

With the emergence of Industrial Ethernet turning disparate systems into a connected plant, world-class producers realise that they must account for uptime of the industrial network infrastructure as a key driver of OEE. Many organisations have a break/ fix mentality when it comes to the plant floor network infrastructure.

So, when there is network downtime, it has to be addressed immediately to get the plant running again. This directly results from reviewing KPI data for a segment of the plant that does not necessarily address the interconnected nature of today’s industrial operations. This is a crucial practice for companies where incidents on the industrial network impact plant production. Instead of searching for an interruption on a cell or machine, where the impact is obvious while the root cause may be obscure, a more effective approach might be to observe the performance of the overall industrial network infrastructure and its interactions throughout the various machines on the plant.

To establish a KPI that will help move towards the ideal 100% network uptime, operations should first decide which devices within the industrial network are required to run constantly, such as the HMIs, PLCs, I/O controllers, industrial switches, and drives that, if taken down, would stop production.

Next, it is important to establish which network events to record and which events will trigger an immediate alert. While all network Control Engineering Europe

INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS rapidly, Conclusion pointing The devices that comprise the industrial towards network within an automation system network are a key asset to the success of the instability. plant output, which drives profitability Exploring for manufacturers. Proper metrics this data for industrial network infrastructure can show an performance allow controls and intermittent operations teams to make informed connection data-driven decisions to manage to a critical network uptime and mitigate the cost I/O module of unplanned disruptions. that can be A shift from a reactive to a identified proactive approach to manage and resolved the industrial network can drive An industrial network will include many devices and connection points. quickly, even improvements in time-to-resolution before failure. of separate downtime events by events should be recorded, alerts This information can help justify as much as 75%, while providing might only be triggered if the the expense of capital improvements objective measurement on the network capacity drops below a needed for proactive maintenance uptime of important devices to specific threshold. It is important instead of relying on a reactive drive improvement in overall plant that this threshold is not a full maintenance approach. To gather the effectiveness. ‘break’ of the network that results appropriate data, a tool is needed in downtime. Finally, organisations that can easily show controls and For more information about IntraVUE need to determine a time frame, such operations management a snapshot go to: www.panduit.com/intravue as daily, where key operations and of the industrial controls management will review network’s health network reports. Using this approach, based on the controls and operations managers can pre-determined see trends in the network over time KPIs. Controls … we have an eye for the rest. and can identify when the network and operations is operating even slightly below management target efficiency. These issues may not can remotely cause a noticeable problem with the observe the KPIs network, but can be early indicators of using an easy-tofuture network issues. understand, webbased interface.

Step Three: Making informed Tools such as the decisions based on KPI data reports new KPI report – Having data to make informed are available in decisions is vital. Often, continuous the IntraVUE improvement is overlooked because it industrial is difficult to provide data that shows network and the benefits of the improvements visualisation Nuremberg 22.-24.11.2016 versus the costs. For a plant floor software from Hall 9, Booth 231 network, data which shows where Panduit, allowing degradation is occurring and where management to improvements are needed to make informed, 360° Network Reliability appropriately manage the network data-driven for Smart Factory Automation and output of the plant is key. For decisions by example, the network KPI can show providing visibility • Cybersecurity for your entire network infrastructure that although network uptime is still into how the • Single point and multi-point network redundancy • PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, CC-Link, SafetyNet above goal, the number of events network is occurring on the network is increasing performing.

Moxa Solutions. Protected, easy, intelligent.

While you look ahead

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October 2016

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SCADA & HMIs HMIs

AN HMI EVOLUTION André Hartkopf explains how today’s HMIs have evolved into sophisticated computer systems capable of acting as automation gateways for controlling and monitoring an industrial process – remotely if necessary – which can save time in commissioning, maintenance and production.

The overall benefit of using an HMI as an automation gateway is reduced time taken in three critical areas: commissioning, production and maintenance.

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onventionally an HMI is viewed as a simple device which allows user inputs to be translated into signals for machines that, in turn, output information to the user.

However, today’s HMIs can be much more than this and are no longer simply display devices with fancy graphics. Now they can display all of the real-time information needed to control a system, and can also carry out monitoring operations for the machine. An HMI accesses data from multiple sources and reaches out to remote spaces, giving operators instant access to their operations from anywhere.

HMIs act as the primary gateway to an entire automation system and

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directly reference tags and alarms in the controller, alerting users to a current or potential issue.

The overall benefit of using an HMI as an automation gateway is the reduced time taken in three critical areas – commissioning, production and maintenance. These in turn arise through three key characteristics of the HMI – remote connectivity, easy interaction and advanced troubleshooting.

Advanced remote connectivity By being able to interface with standard control networks (Ethernet, RS-232, and RS-422/485) and providing options for other networks such as CC-Link, CC-Link IE and MELSECNET/H), it is possible to monitor devices remotely, yielding

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reductions in maintenance times and minimising lost production time.

Fast, convenient integration into control and automation networks enables the HMI to control and monitor other devices, such as PLCs, servo drives, frequency inverters and robots. It can interface directly to databases in a manufacturing execution system (MES), effectively acting as a communication hub within a factory-wide automation system.

The VNC Server function enables an HMI to be operated remotely on a server-client architecture with a one-to-one connection. The exclusive control of operating authority prevents operational errors that might be caused by simultaneous operation; in addition, setting passwords prevents illegal viewing or operation.

The latest GOT Mobile solution from Mitsubishi Electric offers another flexible option for remote control and viewing of HMIs. It allows up to five devices to be connected to an HMI, so users can connect via an iPad, a windows phone and a laptop PC at the same time, for example. It also allows the user to look at different screens to the ones being displayed on the HMI. In addition, it does not lock-out the operator from using the HMI during remote viewing.

Easy interaction During setup and maintenance, HMIs will monitor and modify sequence programs and parameters, removing the need for an external programming device. In addition, there is no need to change cable connections.

On Mitsubishi Electric HMIs, this function is part of the Factory Automation (FA) Transparent feature.

It enables users to connect a PC to the HMI and link through it transparently to connected automation equipment.

Using the HMI as a gateway simplifies setup, programming, monitoring, modification and testing of components which might be mounted deep within a panel or machine.

A major contributor to reducing production downtime comes from Control Engineering Europe

SCADA & HMIs HMIs

Retrofit control and HMI solution for biomass boiler Steam is an important component of meat processing and when Djurdjevic, a Serbian meat production company, wanted to automate the boiler it uses to produce steam the company needed to ensure that the solution would be efficient and safe.

Djurdjevic runs a state-of-the-art facility which handles all aspects of meat processing and production.

In common with all food facilities, quality and safety are two priorities.

To ensure the quality of its products, the company is turning to automated solutions, which can offer it more precise and consistent results.

One important piece of equipment for the factory is its biomass boiler

as steam is used in a wide variety of meat processing and treatment applications. For control of the boiler the company has specified a Unitronics UniStream PLC with 10.4in touchscreen HMI. This unit regulates and monitors the production of steam, managing the boiler heat and maintaining its run time. The PLC relies on CANbus to communicate with remote I/O, including thermocouple inputs. The UniStream features many other communication options, which allows it to interface easily with other devices, making monitoring a much easier task.

Djurdjevic has also installed Unitronic Jazz controllers at several points for temperature monitoring.

advanced troubleshooting features, designed to identify and help eliminate faults quickly.

Debugging functions within the HMI avoid the need to use an external PC to commission and fault find. Even whole user manuals can now be stored on an HMI for direct access in the field. This is more convenient and can help increase plant up-time by allowing for more efficient on-site support.

Data logging enables users to uniformly manage data from a number of FA devices connected to the HMI for later analysis. With the backup/restore function, the parameters and programs of connected equipment, such as PLCs and inverters, can all be stored on the HMI. Then, if a problem arises on a piece of equipment or a new component needs to be installed, the program or parameters can be quickly restored without the need to connect a PC, minimising downtime.

Alarms are shown on the HMI display and if a network outage occurs, these

are buffered in the controller. An SD memory card slot allows the user to save large volumes of data, including alarms and logging data. In addition, image recording, image playback, video image input, and RGB output are available.

It is easy to see how HMI’s have transformed into an effective gateway device; by offering remote control for automation systems, extended interaction with other factory automation equipment and offering advanced troubleshooting. These features can help save time in commissioning and maintenance of

Control Engineering Europe

Djurdjevic is pleased with its choice and the PLC has worked without problem since it was installed. The application development was also speeded up thanks to Unitronics all-in-one programming software and a built in image library which helped the company design its own easy to read, professional HMI screens.

Commenting on the project Dorde Kuzminac, factory chief financial officer at Djurdjevic, said: “For me, the most important thing is that I forgot that it is there – and it continues to quietly do its job, a very important job, controlling steam production for our factory.” automation equipment, while increasing productivity and efficiency for users.

The overall benefit then is reduced downtime and increased profitability.

André Hartkopf is product manager Visualization at Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V.

The latest GOT Mobile function from Mitsubishi Electric offers a flexible option for remote control and viewing of HMIs. It allows up to five devices to be connected to an HMI simultaneously, so users can connect via an iPad, a windows phone and a laptop PC at the same time.

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SCADA & HMIs HMIs

SCADA’s role in

optimising production Brigitte Händler discusses the requirements for a SCADA system in an age of digitisation.

The data from all plant components are saved in a central archive, where they are available for evaluations on various terminal devices.

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or years, Scada systems have been employed wherever large amounts of information, from various sources and locations, need to be jointly processed – for example in supply network monitoring, water treatment or infrastructure projects. Central evaluation of information is becoming more important and production lines are no longer viewed in isolation, but as part of a network with other systems and plants.

Stock is matched to the required production quantities, orders are processed faster and with optimised resources and energy consumption is minimised. Data are provided, acquired and processed for each of these tasks – with a corresponding strong increase in the data volume. At the same time, the targeted processing of this information serves to control workflows, as well as forming the basis for operational decisions which have an influence on efficiency and profitability.

All these requirements demonstrate why SCADA systems represent one of the core components of digitisation.

Acting as interface between production

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and corporate management, manifold roles and tasks have to be accomplished.

In daily operation, SCADA systems combine engineering, diagnostics and runtime functions with data security.

Many systems are parameterised stepby-step, with identical information input required for various points. This can lead to inputting errors which may necessitate correction during commissioning. At worst, such incorrect parameters result in downtimes and costly troubleshooting.

Existing configuration data of the control program are directly imported in the Siemens Simatic WinCC SCADA, does away with multiple entries avoiding errors. Simatic WinCC in the TIA Portal goes even further. Using rule-based tools, such as the Simatic Visualization Architect, HMI configuration is largely automated on the basis of an existing PLC program code and prepared picture elements.

In addition to process data, further information, such as energy measuring points, process and fault messages or process diagnostics need to be configured. In contrast to heterogeneous

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systems, solutions with Simatic components provide corresponding blocks in the control and in the visualisation system. The integrated program code for energy measuring points can be generated at the push of a button via the Simatic Energy Suite.

Intelligent archiving WinCC SCADA ensures reliable process information archiving in the integrated Microsoft SQL server database. Data are viewed online in the SCADA system via curve and message displays which facilitate numerous analysis options and integrated statistical evaluations.

Long-term-relevant data from one or multiple SCADA systems can be saved in a central archive, the Process Historian.

The data volumes accumulating in an archive are much greater than in an individual SCADA system so the Process Historian relies on intelligent functions such as the swinging door algorithm and compression for data archiving.

Expansions or conversions can be realised without technology gaps or complete reconfigurations. Thanks to standardised OPC interface, the Historian acts as the hub for vertical consistency with superior IT/MES systems.

Reliable access Reports and analyses of production data are implemented with the Simatic Information Server on the basis of archived data. Historical plant data can be compiled in web-based dashboards or automated reports for various target groups, without the need for any programming knowledge.

Optional packages such as WebUX can help make monitoring expansive or spatially distributed plants. For example, production key performance indicators are consistently available to the management staff via mobile devices with internet browser and the quality assurance staff can view messages and process data pertaining to a remote plant. The applications not only display the plant data relevant to the user, but also facilitate the plant’s remote operation. Maintenance staff with Control Engineering Europe

SCADA & HMIs HMIs respective access rights can access fault messages at all times, doing away with many unnecessary trips.

Plant optimisation The consistent calculation and analysis of standardised key performance indicators (KPIs) allows for qualitative conclusions in terms of production, which in turn discloses optimisation potentials. The overall equipment efficiency (OEE) represents a well-known example of such KPIs which document the efficiency of machine and plant operation. The consistent analysis of KPIs reveals the potential for improvements by means of optimisation measures. KPIs can be calculated in a shift- and product-related manner, allowing for the detection of weak spots in the production process.

Energy costs can be optimised, with the help of the Simatic Energy Manager Pro energy management software. This addition the SCADA system expands the analysis options by the plant’s energy

flows, allowing energy unit costs to be calculated. This facilitates the derivation of energy saving potentials and the avoidance of load peaks, supporting sustainable energy management in accordance with the ISO 50001 standard.

Failure of plant visualisation can result in serious consequences so selection of the PC hardware is crucial in order to help prevent downtimes. Depending on the application site computers need to guarantee impeccable functioning in harsh industrial environments and in continuous operation applications.

Industrial PCs were designed to meet these requirements.

A SCADA system needs to support the operator with plant-wide control and monitoring. Simatic allows production data to be centrally archived and evaluated over long periods of time, standstill alarms are saved and detailed evaluations are output. This results in the provision of all essential data for strategic planning support and further efficiency

increases. New technologies are taken into account for new developments.

Mobile solutions, multi-touch gestures, apps as well as visualisation and operation via tablets and smartphones represent current subjects.

Brigitte Händler is marketing manager for Simatic SCADA at Siemens.

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Each Panorama solution offers native support for the OPC UA communication protocol.

From your Control Center to your Boardroom, Panorama Suite 2016 gives you the ability to make informed decisions on how to manage your process better while gaining you a competitive cost advantage.

With 30 000 licenses deployed, Panorama, edited by Codra, is one of the leader in the SCADA market.

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SCADA & HMIs

Are you ready to

move to the Cloud?

As we enter the era of the smart factory, Johannes Petrowisch discusses the benefits of cloud computing for the manufacturing industry.

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loud computing has only recently started to find its place in the manufacturing industry. As industrial automation becomes more intelligent and manufacturers embrace machine-to-machine (M2M) technology, cloud computing looks to be the obvious solution for storing and managing the ever-growing quantity of production data coming from the plant into the SCADA system.

In its simplest form it allows for storage and access of data over the Internet. However, for the manufacturing industry, the cloud can do much more, helping to reduce costs, change business models, provide new services, increase agility, optimise performance and ultimately, drive profitability.

Energy data management While legal requirements, such as complying with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), are clear, strategies for meeting these requirements are not always as straightforward.

Performing a meaningful evaluation of a facility’s energy efficiency is only possible when energy consumption figures are available in a complete manner. This data needs to be compared against other factors, such as machine and process data, number of items produced and more. To make

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sense of the data produced on the shop floor, many are deploying energy data management systems (EDMS) which can be set up locally and embedded into the existing IT infrastructure.

Traditionally, organisations with more than one production site would monitor energy efficiency locally. However, Cloud computing now allows energy managers to track data on a global scale, regardless of their location. This helps to set benchmarks for company-wide efficiency standards and creates opportunities to develop new business models to tackle energy management, head on.

The Cloud offers an obvious cost advantage and can make costs easier to calculate because they are based on a pay as you go basis. Because the platform is hosted by a third-party, there is no need for hardware installation or ongoing maintenance, keeping operation costs to a minimum.

Predictive analytics By embracing the cloud we no longer simply collect data but instead, gain actionable insights from it. Take, for example, a manufacturer of variable speed drives (VSDs). If the manufacturer could examine data from the VSD, such as its production date, estimated lifecycle and consumer usage rates, in addition to behavioural data and predictive analytics from the cloud it would be possible to

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gain an intelligent forecast of when and where the product was likely to fail.

Using these analytics, it is possible to offer an ongoing maintenance plan created with intelligent and factual data, that is especially beneficial for machine builders and industrial suppliers.

Calm before the storm Before making a move to the Cloud it is important to first decide on the objectives and reasoning for the choice and a specific migration strategy needs to be put in place first. One of the most common concerns when moving to the cloud is how the move can be achieved without disrupting the existing IT infrastructure. Another is how to integrate a new procedure into established operational routines.

For some fears surrounding the idea of storing production data off-premises needs to be overcome. Most cloud providers have invested heavily to ensure the infrastructure is safe and resilient to any attacks. For example, Microsoft and its cloud platform, Azure, is ISO 27001 certified so provides disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS). By automating the replication of your factory data, Azure provides a secondary data centre to act as the recovery site, meaning even in the unlikely event of data loss, it isn’t gone forever.

Microsoft’s Azure platform is compatible with a number of energy data management systems. COPA-DATA’s software, zenon, for example, can be seamlessly integrated into its cloud platform for a complete end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solution.

Moving to cloud computing isn’t just about moving data storage off-site. Used correctly, the cloud can enhance performance in production, efficiency and potentially the entire business model. To evolve effectively, manufacturers should carefully consider their needs, objectives and business goals. Without taking a step forward companies do risk being left behind.

Johannes Petrowisch is an industrial automation software expert at COPA-DATA. Control Engineering Europe

INDUSTRY REPORTS

Profibus device integration with FDT 2.0 announced The FDT Group has announced the certification of the first generic Device Type Managers (DTMs) for Profibus DP which are compliant with the FDT 2.0 specification.

The device has been created by Thorsis Technologies (previously ifak system GmbH), a developer of industrial communication and distributed automation. Two DTMs are now FDT certified and available to the market.

The isPro CommDTM V4 allows seamless communication of all devices on the Profibus network; and the isPro Generic Device DTM looks inside each device providing operational management,

including configuration information and status of each device within a centralised FDT/FRAME system environment.

Commenting on the development, Glenn Schulz, managing director of the FDT Group, said: “Based on modern Microsoft .NET technology, the FDT 2.0 standard maintains proven FDT heritage, but includes numerous performance enhancements while ensuring backward compatibility with our existing installed base. We are pleased that manufacturers are responding to industry requirements by bringing certified FDT/DTMs based on the FDT 2.0 specification to market.”

Michael Huschke, of Thorsis

Technologies, said: “Our company is proud to offer the first certified FDT 2.0 DTMs to the global automation community. This development will help the industrial sector reach a new level of intelligent device integration with improved security and interoperability.

End users can concentrate on operational workflows instead of having to spend time worrying about infrastructure.”

More than 8,000 devices currently are supported by FDT-certified DTMs, making it the most widely adopted standard for integration of devices in industrial control systems.

Last chance to register for the Appetite for Engineering conference

FieldComm Group and PI sign a cooperation agreement for FDI

Appetite for Engineering (A4E) is a one-day forum for senior engineering professionals in the UK food and beverage industry sector. It provides an opportunity to network and learn about issues that affect business, as well as looking at innovative engineering solutions. A host of presenters from food sector companies will be discussing the issues that affect everyone in the food sector today – the need for better plant, better productivity and better people, for better profit.

This year’s event will take place on 19th October at the Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham. The event programme can be viewed online now at www.fponthenet.net.

Delegates need to register to attend which you can do online at: http://bit.ly/2cDyzGR.

The completion of the FDI (Field Device Integration) technology gives hard evidence of a targeted cooperation between a variety of different organisations in industrial automation with the aim of providing operational technologies for end user solutions.

This includes the specification of FDI, EDDL, tools, and components to support efficient product development.

The establishment of FDI technology in the market is the next important step and key elements include the existence of tools and components. Another element is the joint establishment of testing, certification, and registration rules. To ensure these goals in the long-term, PI and FieldComm Group have signed a contract to continue their cooperation to provide a common development, maintenance, and deployment on the market.

Karsten Schneider, PI chairman said: “The FDI project is a prime example of how users, manufacturers, and user organisations can trustfully and successfully communicate and cooperate.

FDI will significantly simplify the integration task in process industries.”

Control Engineering UK

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Ted Masters, president and CEO of FieldComm Group, continued: “We are excited with the response this technology has received by leading automation instrumentation and host system providers.”

To support device manufacturers in integrating FDI in their devices, an across-protocol development tool (Integrated Development Environment, IDE) has been provided.

It supports the efficient development, testing, and generation of FDI Device Packages, as well as a low-overhead pass-through of existing EDDs in an FDI Device Package. It enables device manufacturers to create FDI device packages for PROFIBUS, PROFINET, Foundation Fieldbus, and HART devices using unified processes. Another important result for FDI is definition of architecture for FDI Host Components that allow a uniform treatment of device Integration Packages in various FDI Hosts. The implementation of such a component that has been created in the context of our activities will serve host manufacturers as a reference while implementing FDI in their tools.

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FOOD SECTOR INDUSTRY FOCUS

Gaining control through automation

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utomation is sometimes talked about as an end in itself, or as a way of addressing specific issues: cutting labour costs, moving to longer shifts or improving quality consistency. These are all valid objectives, but can obscure the wider supply-chain landscape – and potential longer-term benefits.

Food industry automation, for example, can provide opportunities on multiple levels for improved business visibility, both internally and externally. This can allow a faster response to changes in upstream supply and downstream demand.

It can mean that, at the level of individual pieces of equipment, data can be generated and received in real time.

Fine tuning efficiency

Omron’s latest controls lift line efficiency and improve its OEE score.

Barry Graham discusses the benefits that today’s control systems can offer the food and beverage industry and outlines the far-reaching potential of today’s control systems.

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If automation offers efficiency, in comparison with manual or semiautomatic alternatives, the most convincing type of system will allow that efficiency to be fine-tuned and improved. It is useful to understand the value of measuring overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) which combines calculations of availability, performance and quality and can constitute a precise metric. As such, it allows machinery manufacturers to identify and address their own bottlenecks. But it can also act as a common currency, permitting OEMs and their customers to follow (and derive mutual benefit from) an increase in a particular line’s OEE score.

When it comes to the ‘availability’ component to OEE, the latest generation of machinery controls can lift efficiency on a number of Control Engineering UK

Control Engineering UK

standards and internal quality guidelines which need to be applied.

Handling recalls If a problem arises, requiring a product recall, comprehensive data storage can make the identification of faulty batches and their tracking through the supply chain more straightforward and faster. In a crisis management scenario, the manufacturer would need to be confident about tracing allergens or other contaminants back to the supplier from which the ingredients were sourced. Transparency from the manufacturer to the retailer and from the supplier to the manufacturer can only be complete once production and batch data are factored in.

Ultimately, food and drink factories will be taking automation to the level of the much-debated Industry 4.0.

This will require fluid data exchange between the different layers in the business, which needs to be based on the ability of different parts of the production line to ‘talk’ to each other. These networks will enter new territory when equipment not only sends and receives real-time data from multiple sources but also initiates new actions on the basis of that data.

This could take the form of product changeovers on the basis of just-in-time demand or ingredient availability. But it could also take the form, say, of a diagnostic capability which detects the need for a new spare part, interrogates the stores database to see if that part is available and, if not, triggers an email to order it.

This may sound more like science fiction than an industrial reality, but this is the level of sophistication that the next generation of automation will achieve. Control systems, data collection and data management are all pointing in the same direction – and not that far ahead.

Barry Graham is automation product marketing manager at Omron.

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l al

levels. Omron, for example, has function blocks within its Sysmac Library which focus on reduced machine downtime.

Simply in terms of fast changeover, the Sysmac control platform can offer benefits. Whether triggered directly by the operator, or an input device such as a barcode scanner, there is no delay in resetting a machine to new parameters.

The ability to gather real-time data boosts machine availability in other ways. In what might be termed ‘preventative diagnostics’, the performance of key components such as sensors and servo drives can be monitored and any adverse trends spotted. So if a servo is losing torque or a sensor is going out of alignment, for example, the controller will flag this up before it constitutes a serious failure. That way, rather than causing an unscheduled line stoppage, it can be dealt with during scheduled maintenance.

Another measure of the effectiveness of automation is the degree to which the different control functions are integrated on a single platform, accessed from a single HMI. On more complex lines where so many different aspects of ‘automation’ come together, this is of huge importance and requires fully integrated input, logic, output, safety and robotics.

But to take the benefits of automation to an additional level, food manufacturers will want to engineer data interchange between plant level and management – or enterprise – level. Omron uses EtherNet IP as its communications network, allowing the transfer of data from the factory to the database (or cloud) in real time.

The food industry in particular should recognise the benefits of capturing and analysing line data, not least the food and drink industry. In fact, it has more to gain than many other sectors given the number of regulatory requirements, industry

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SCADA SOLUTION adapts well to change A flexible SCADA solution has been specified to help keep tabs on the constantly evolving plant and processes at Highland Grains.

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grain drying and storage facility that supplies some of Scotland’s leading distilleries has installed a new SCADA system to consolidate its regular plant upgrades and expansions, to provide control and visualisation for product movement, processing and storage, including the integration of biomass boilers and heat recovery systems.

Highland Grains is an agricultural cooperative – owned by its 89 members – which dries, conditions and stores malting barley and other crops. It primarily supplies the Scotch whisky distilling industry, but also exports grain to other countries.

Based just north of Inverness, Highland Grains was founded in 1978 with a capacity to handle 4,400 tonnes of barley a year.

Steady expansion over the years since it was founded in 1978 has seen annual capacity at the plant grow from its original ability to handle 4,400 tonnes of barley every year to over 40,000 tonnes today.

The plant consists of five continuous flow dryers, seven wet and 15 dry storage silos (ranging from 250 tonnes to 2,300 tonnes) and two warehouse-like flat stores of 7,500 tonnes each. The site also includes a heat recovery system on its drying systems, power synchronisation and biomass boilers.

The facilities have always been automated, and the control system and software needed to be frequently expanded to meet new requirements and accommodate new equipment. The control system has been maintained

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and developed over many years by Coldcurve, which most recently was commissioned to replace the existing much-extended control system with an efficient state of the art solution.

The project was led by Coldcurve engineer, Daniel Castle, who explains that although operations at the site are relatively complicated, a simple system architecture was achieved: “Lorries are constantly delivering grain from the growers, while others collect dried malting barley for the distilleries,” he said. “It’s a 24/7 process at busy times, plus there are several different drying processes. There are also a number of subsidiary processes to control, such as incoming and outgoing weighbridges, boiler operations and heat recovery for energy efficiency.”

The whole site is now controlled from a single, powerful PLC supporting 29 separate I/O cards. There are also two PCs and a number of touchscreen HMI’s on the system, providing main and secondary control stations.

“The system now runs Movicon SCADA software, supplied by Products4Automation,” said Castle. “We have used this successfully in many food and beverage applications.”

The SCADA software provides constant real-time production process information, collecting data from multiple sensors on the plant and processing it into high level information.

This allows Highland Grains to efficiently manage its plant and processes to meet customers changing needs.

Movicon is based on an XML technology that offers an all-inone development environment for

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managing all HMI, SCADA and statistical production data analysis applications.

This made it possible to minimise project development times and to create an open solution that is easy to maintain and flexible enough to accommodate future developments.

Movicon also supports web services, scalable vector graphics, OPC, SQL, ODBC, and other functions that enable integrated information and control systems to be developed, whether they be large or small.

“Flexibility is one of the major needs in modern automation,” said Paul Hurst of Products4Automation “Operators are increasingly insisting that their control systems have the ability to easily adapt to new demands.”

It is important to consider whether their control solution is able to satisfy all automation application needs – from field control level right through to SCADA/MES and enterprise management levels to protect investments. “Movicon is a real-time flexible platform with high levels of connectivity, capable of adapting to all modern automation application typologies, so is the only software needed in the system,” said Hurst.

Highland Grains has been successful over nearly 40 years due to a willingness to adapt to new and changing demands.

With the Scotch whisky industry seeing a resurgence, (it is worth about £5bn to the UK economy, growing at 5% a year according to the Scotch Whisky Association), the company is expecting to further develop its site and facilities in the coming years. The simplicity of its control architecture and flexibility of the Movicon software will make this a straightforward task.

Control Engineering UK

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FOOD SECTOR INDUSTRY FOCUS

The importance of being agile Representatives from across the food manufacturing supply chain, industry trade bodies and academics, recently got together at a Siemens-hosted roundtable event to debate the issues that agile manufacturing raises for the food and beverage industry.

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uccess, in a market sector that is becoming increasingly competitive, requires the ability to quickly respond to changing trends and consumer demands and this requires food and drink manufacturers to be more agile and keep pace as manufacturing technologies advance.

Packaging flexibility is a trend driven by retailers and the roundtable participants were in general agreement that their products are no more agile now than they were previously, but that they are required to package products in an ever-growing variety of ways. Supermarkets, for example, are demanding shelf-ready cases for in-store display. This poses a problem for the manufacturer as the dimensions of shelving varies between supermarkets, which means there is a requirement to produce different packaging for each retailer. Some retailers will place more importance on the appearance of the packaging, wanting it to look attractive in situ, whereas the others are more concerned with keeping costs down. One roundable participant – a biscuit manufacturer – said that most of the company’s recent manufacturing investment business has been in packaging flexibility. The product has stayed the same, but the variety of packet sizes is now greater than ever before.

One of the big challenges for supermarkets – especially with the rise of ‘discounters’ – is to get the costs of their core SKUs down. For many, the easiest way to do this is to value engineer packaging sizes. This does not

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compromise the quality of the product and enables production to continue unaffected. For food and beverage manufacturers though, this also becomes another driver of demand for greater packaging flexibility.

A consumer trend towards smaller packaging sizes was also noted.

Consumers are shopping more frequently, moving away from the traditional weekly or even monthly ‘big shop’ and instead are more often buying on-the-day. Food manufacturers’ marketing departments were cited as the biggest influence when it came to responding to consumer trends.

Rather than simply responding to demand, one participant cited an example of a sector that is actually creating demand and boosting business through packaging flexibility. Chewing gum has largely been the same product for decades. With demand plateauing, the industry created a whole new market when it developed in-car gum bottles – creating an additional gumconsuming touchpoint for consumers that has proved enduringly popular.

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Where will investment come from?

In response to demand for flexibility, food and beverage manufacturers need to be able to achieve everquicker production line changeovers to cope with the multiple products and packaging variables produced on a line. Traditionally, changeovers have relied on manually changing over production requirements.

However, increasing adoption of automation has seen changeovers which previously took 10 hours now taking just 20 minutes.

It is vital that companies continue to invest in technology to keep up with the intensified demand for flexibility. Continuing to speed up production line changeovers requires ever-growing amounts of automation technology.

Participants went on to discuss where this investment should come from – essentially whether the retailer, consumer or manufacturer should be picking up the bill.

Investment in machinery that increases automation can be a Control Engineering UK

FOOD SECTOR INDUSTRY FOCUS significant capital expenditure (CAPEX) for smaller manufacturers, particularly if they cannot predict continued demand for a specific element of flexibility. To assuage this risk, some participants said that outsourcing production to third parties – particularly when trialling new products or packaging variables – was something they did on a regular basis. They then have the option to move production in-house if successful, but the agility to simply cancel a contract if it does not prove viable or demand quickly wanes.

Other participants suggested ownership of production machines was becoming irrelevant, and predicted that the manufacturing industry is moving towards a leasing model, or even something similar to personal contract purchase (PCP) in the automotive industry, which would allow them to always have an up-to-date machine by facilitating regular trade-ins for the latest model.

where there is an overwhelming amount of choice for both retailers and consumers, and that streamlining product and packaging variables to a manageable level would help keep manufacturing efficient and cost-effective.

However, marketing innovation and the consumer’s appetite for new

and exciting products is at odds with this theory. New production facilities with real-time data and integrated operations have the possibility to deliver manufacturing agility and productivity. The challenge is to apply the same methodology in existing and often under-invested facilities.

Total integration, total control 1S Servo System NE W

Responding to demand With machine capabilities increasing, participants highlighted the training and skills gap. Many agreed that if there is a stop in production, it is very likely to be due to human intervention, via the cleaning process or changing the SKU type. Any stop in the flow due to a breakdown requiring maintenance work is made difficult with any black box technology and is then likely to need OEM intervention to be fixed, as knowledge on the technology and innumerable parameters means staff are unlikely to be able to fix something themselves. It was agreed that upskilling staff is vital.

Concluding the roundtable discussion, participants wondered whether food and beverage manufacture would soon reach ‘peak flexibility’. Some reasoned that we are getting to a stage October 2016

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MACHINE VISION

PC-controlled image processing ensures Billy quality IKEA Industry Poland produces furniture boards that are automatically film-laminated. The edges are particularly critical and it is necessary to precisely check quality, a task undertaken by an automated inspection system incorporating vision software.

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KEA is a company that has always pursued innovative paths and it has recognised the importance of automation since the early 1970s. The company has around 12,000 items in its product range. One well-known product is the ‘Billy’ shelving system. Its shelving components are made from plastic-coated, veneered particle board with the edges covered by glued on plastic strips. A key step in the production process is lamination which entails a film being applied to the particle board.

At IKEA Industry Poland a laminating machine is used to apply a film with glue to both sides of the board. A cutting machine subsequently trims the excess material at the edges to the correct length. If even a single process parameter is not precisely kept to, this can quickly lead to the film not being glued on properly, spoiling the visual appearance, particularly at the edges of the boards.

Currently, around 3,000 boards are laminated during each shift, resulting in an average output of 375 pieces per hour.

No defects are allowed in the finished products. In theory, therefore, a skilled worker should perform a visual inspection of the board edges on the conveyor belt. It has transpired, however, that manual checking is not effective. A worker alone cannot check both sides of the board at the same time – not to mention the fact that it would not be possible to spot all the defects with the conveyor belt travelling at speeds of up to 52m/min.

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Manual checking would also be hazardous for those performing the inspections on the conveyor belt, as they would have to get very close to the moving parts in order to spot defects – which could lead to injuries and accidents. Consequently, a Polish systems integrator, Automatech, was tasked with developing a machine for checking the laminated boards with an inspection system based on machine vision technology from Cognex.

For IKEA, Automatech devised a fully automated inspection facility, which allows a 100% quality inspection to be carried out on shelving boards. The machine vision system is based entirely on the technology from Cognex, including the Cognex Designer software and VisionPro toolbox. On the hardware side, a CIO-24 card and multiple 2-GigE high-resolution cameras are used.

The components are installed inside a machine enclosure with lighting through which the boards pass in rapid succession.

The system inspects the quality of the decorative film on both sides of the board without manual intervention and is designed specifically for the woodprocessing industry to minimise waste owing to faulty edges. IKEA’s prime aim was to detect and eliminate defects such as excess glue, incomplete lamination, or detachment of the film.

Only a few boards per shift fail the checks.

Defective boards are being processed by cutting off the parts which have been identified as failures. All defective parts

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The data generated by a standard PC and displayed instantly on the monitor is used to assess whether or not the lamination has been applied correctly.

will be marked as damaged and sorted out manually. In this application, it has been crucial for IKEA to avoid boards with defective edges entering the regular production process eliminating the need for constant manual checks.

Technical implementation In the IKEA application, the 2-GigE cameras and lighting modules are being moved by precision servomotors because the width of the boards are variable, between 600 and 1300mm and the inspected area has to be approached and brought into focus quickly and precisely.

This data is processed immediately after the images have been recorded.

On the software side, Cognex Designer facilitates rapid creation of complete machine vision applications which enables users to immediately enjoy the full capabilities of the accompanying VisionPro software – a smart tool that ignores non critical changes in the appearance of test areas and which concentrates entirely on critical features.

Various calibration tools correct lens distortions, camera rotation and tilt.

On the basis of these Cognex components, Automatech has developed a highly efficient system for streamlining the inspection process at IKEA. It cuts waste from production and gives the furniture giant the certainty that its products fully satisfy the quality requirements.

Control Engineering UK

MACHINE VISION

3D time of flight cameras smarten up drive-less vehicles 3D time-of-flight

Control Engineering UK looks at how driver-less vehicles are getting smarter, thanks to the use of time-of-flight cameras which are bestowing them with a greater awareness about their surroundings.

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river-less vehicles have always been limited in their application, as they need to follow a particular route and are not able to react flexibly to change. If, for example, an autonomous vehicle came upon a barrier in its path it would be forced to make an emergency stop and is not able to take avoiding action. Further, if an object is not exactly where it is expected to be then the vehicle would be unable to take any further action. The vehicles also require extensive orientation aids, such as magnetic sensors or marked pathways along the floor, to allow them to make sense of their current location.

Industry 4.0 brings the promise of new approaches and new ways of providing machines with the ability to orient themselves and understand simple commands and earlier this year at Hannover Messe, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), Germany presented their work on ‘driverless transport vehicles’.

Control Engineering UK

The driver-less ‘reach trucks’ were developed as part of this research project. The intellgient vehicles can learn to orient and adapt themselves based on their environment. They begin by taking part in an initial human guided tour of the facility to note all aspects of their environment. Communication is done using speech or gesture commands.

If a warehouse worker were to issue a command such as ‘Store this pallet on shelf 3,’ the vehicle can interpret both the spoken word and any associated gesture. It is then also able to identify the pallet and perform the requested storage, fetching or re-positioning task without the need of human intervention.

This experimental technology can be used for identifying transportable goods and permitting them to be picked, transported and deposited at their destination through smart autonomous reach trucks. The vehicles are easy to operate which means that a single warehouse worker can control multiple vehicles at once.

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Time-of-flight camera technology provides an effective way to capture 3D shape and volume measurements which are ideal for driverless-vehicles technology. Time-of-flight camera manufacturer, Basler describes the principle as similar to the way dolphins use sonar to navigate, except the time-offlight camera uses light and not sound.

Each ‘reach truck’ utilises three Basler 3D time-of-flight cameras. Each camera takes a three dimensional note of its environment, ensuring that its spatial perception is correct. Two cameras are mounted on the roof to allow for free movement in all directions. The reach truck takes note of any landmarks within its environment, establishing an internal map. Any changes in the environment are immediately noticed, such as when a shelving unit is repositioned or any barriers are located in its path and it reacts to these problems appropriately. If there were a barrier blocking its path, the vehicle would edge around it the same way a human would.

The third camera is a modified timeof-flight camera mounted on the reach arm which is used to ensure accuracy when picking up pallets. The 3D data delivered by the camera ensures that the reach truck navigates precisely into the pallet on the first try, without the need for human guidance. Commenting on the technology, Julie Busby of Multipix Imaging, UK distributor of the Basler cameras said: “3D technologies are playing an increasingly significant role in image processing applications, particularly within logistics, factory automation, and biometric applications.

The latest time-of-flight technology is creating an exciting time for vision solutions.”

October 2016

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MACHINE VISION

Hyperspectral imaging IS COMING OF AGE! Rob Webb explains why you may soon be hearing more about hyperspectral imaging, or chemical colour imaging.

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ue to the complexity of analysis required, hyperspectral imaging traditionally has not been used extensively in industrial applications. The technique makes use of the fact that organic materials selectively absorb light at different wavelengths in the infrared region of the spectrum depending on their composition. This gives distinctive ‘fingerprints’ which can be used to uniquely identify them as illustrated in Figure 1.

In hyperspectral imaging, a series of images are built up by sequentially allowing narrow wavelength bands of IR light from the sample to fall on the sensor. These images are combined to form a threedimensional hyperspectral data cube, as shown in Figure 2. This data cube contains all the information needed to extract the chemical composition at each pixel. Historically, this huge amount of information has required a chemist and/or mathematician to crunch the data and understand the results, making it so costly that it has only been used in a handful of applications such as waste sorting for recycling.

A new approach A spectrograph is combined with a camera that is sensitive to IR wavelengths. The spectrograph allows the reflected light from the sample to be sorted into its constituent wavelengths.

What has revolutionised the technique has been the emergence of affordable, flexible, high-speed data processing software such as Perception Studio from Perception Park. This new approach is called ‘chemical colour imaging’ and makes chemical material properties accessible to the machine vision engineer.

The software engine extracts data from the complex data cube, which is processed in real time to produce an image where the output of each pixel is colour coded according to the chemical composition of the material it is looking at. This is invaluable because the system reveals information that other machine vision technologies cannot.

Rather than processing data from the entire spectrum, it may be possible to ‘tune into’ just a few key wavelengths that would distinguish between specific materials or identify known contaminants that could arise from a production processing stage. By reducing the data processing required, the image

Figure 2.

acquisition speed can be increased to reduce the overall inspection time. The technique has potential for use in a number of industries including food and pharmaceutical.

The data processing software turns the camera system into an easy-tounderstand and intuitive configurable ‘chemical colour camera’. It offers a user interface to define the acquisition parameters and acquire the initial image data, explore the hyperspectral data with images and graphical feedback, design or define the best models for extracting the key information and then output colour coded images over a GigE Vision compliant stream in a standardised machine vision form.

Online processing, using standard image processing methods, such as grey level analysis and blob detection, can be used for colour sorting as in standard machine vision applications.

Chemical colour imaging in action The potential of hyperspectral imaging can be illustrated in examples from the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Figure 3a shows a traditional colour image of a mixture of pistachio nuts, shells and skin. Although some colour

Figure 1.

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Control Engineering UK

MACHINE VISION

Figure 3.

differences can be seen, they cannot be used to identify the different components. Figure 3b, however shows the hyperspectral image showing the nuts as red, the shells blue and the skin green. Not only are the component parts clearly distinguished for sorting it is also possible to differentiate those nuts that still have some skin attached.

Another benefit of hyperspectral imaging is that a lot of packaging material is transparent to the IR light meaning that the technique can be used to examine product inside its packaging. Figure 4 gives a striking example of this. Figure 4b shows a complete blister pack of paracetamol tablets. Figure 4c shows a pack where one of the tablets is missing and even more impressive is Figure 4a, which shows a pack where a rogue ibuprofen tablet (colour coded blue) is in the pack. Cross contamination in a pharmaceutical packing line could have potentially life-threatening consequences for the patient. The implications for the manufacturer could also be massive, both in terms of reputation and in terms of costly product recalls, and possible production line closure while the problem is investigated.

New technologies are now making chemical colour imaging a practical reality, both in terms of costs and accessibility.

Rob Webb is a technical specialist at Stemmer Imaging.

Figure 4.

Control Engineering UK

October 2016

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MACHINE SAFETY

Manufacturing better

MACHINE SAFETY As technology advances, safety needs to be a priority to improve operations and minimise damage in manufacturing processes. Barriers can limit productivity; automation can help, says Michael Lindley.

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anufacturing processes and operational intelligence benefit from the rapid advances in technology, as does safety. Historically, the most common way to safeguard workers in and around manufacturing equipment was to provide physical barriers between workers and operating equipment. While this type of safety system results in a safe operation and meets the appropriate codes, it limits productivity and may require significant maintenance. Today, technologies exist that do not require physical barriers, yet they provide the same – if not better – level of safety.

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every operation in the plant a risk category, which accounts for the potential severity of injury and the likelihood of occurrence, as well as other factors. This will dictate the level of protection required around that operation. Highlight any existing deficiencies. Your immediate focus should be to address these deficiencies as quickly as possible, as these represent a potential liability for a company.

Next, identify risk sources, estimate the risk, evaluate it, and determine

vehicles, cranes, or lifts in the work environment. Improvements in optics and software, combined with a new safety culture, will continue to drive the proliferation of robots into new industries that will benefit from the flexibility, safety, and collaboration they bring to the job.

Future of safety, robotics In the future, larger and faster robots will operate safely in collaboration with labourers. By taking input from vision systems, such as a 3-D laser scanner or

Assessing, monitoring safety risks

With the increasing capabilities and complexities of technology, putting a priority on industrial safety is increasingly important.

Modern safety technology presents the opportunity for significant productivity gains without sacrificing reliability. It is a matter of opening up the processing line and providing better access and equipment visibility.

Light curtains, laser scanners, and area (3-D) scanners can be integrated with existing equipment. Additionally, certain equipment, like collaborative robots, includes safety that is already integrated.

So, how do you get started? Perform a safety assessment. Begin by auditing existing processing lines to determine the risks that are present and identify measures in place to protect personnel from those risks.

As part of the assessment, assign

whether it is acceptable or needs to be mitigated. A risk tree can help rate each of these parameters: severity of injury, frequency of exposure to hazard, and the possibility of avoiding a hazard. This is a disciplined framework for managing people and machines, and having such a framework is critical for safety.

Ultimately, safety starts with design and engineering and continues through operations and management.

Robotic safety has improved significantly. Together 3-D vision and industrial computers create the ability to perform real-time collision avoidance calculations for robots,

October 2016

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light imaging, detection, and ranging (LIDAR), and running code in the background, collisions will become a historical occurrence. Personnel will be able to walk into a work cell without performing lockout/tag procedures or forcing the robot to come to a complete stop. Instead, the robot may slow down or alter its path based on sensor and software feedback. This dynamic collision avoidance environment will reduce overall downtime while ensuring the safety of the product, the machinery, and humans. (Automation trade shows have featured such demonstrations in recent years.) As technology improves, so will safety.

Control Engineering UK

MACHINE SAFETY Often, when people talk about robot collaboration, they focus on the robotics and ignore how the robot functions in its environment and with people. There are four types of collaborative operation: 1. Safety-rated monitored stop allows the operator to interact with the robot when it is stopped, and operation automatically resumes when the person leaves the collaborative workspace.

2. Hand-guiding operation allows the operator to have direct contact with the robot, using hand controls.

3. Speed and separation monitoring defines different safety zones, so the robot’s speed changes depending on the zone. A protective stop is issued when an operator is in potential contact.

4. Power and force limiting occurs when incidental contact between a robot and a person will not result in harm.

Speed and separation monitoring enable the robot to sense the presence of an operator and adjust its speed. Often, this applies to uncaged robots that use safety sensors. Concept Systems has created work cells using lasers or a vision system that predicts a collision before it happens.

This approach allows the robot to continue to function while operators are near because the robot works at specific speeds determined by preset safety zones. When an operator comes too close, the robot will stop. Such dynamic collision avoidance underscores the ability of the robot to react to changes in its environment and increases flexibility and utility.

It is always critical that the robot not collide with a large part or piece of machinery. A recent project achieves this by using speed and separation monitoring. An operator can observe the robot’s movement at a human-machine interface (HMI). When the robot is operating safely, it appears in green on the screen. When it enters a warning zone, the colour changes to yellow, and the robot slows down. If the robot enters a collision zone, it turns red and stops operating.

With the increasing capabilities and complexities of technology, putting a priority on industrial safety is increasingly important. Systems integrators can discover unsafe situations and help companies mitigate risks.

Risk assessment and corrective actions have proven to produce a significant return on investment by avoiding unnecessary collisions.

Safety is one of the hidden gems of the technology boom by providing greater safety reliability, increased productivity, and, most importantly, a proactive way to minimise unplanned costs stemming from unsafe operations and resulting injuries.

Michael Lindley is the vice president of business development and marketing at Concept Systems Inc. Control Engineering UK

October 2016

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CONTROL SYSTEMS

Updating process control systems When legacy control systems are replaced with new technology there is a great opportunity to benefit from modern systems and advanced technology, says Alex Marcy.

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pdating a legacy system with new software is a valid option, but it leaves the advantages of new technology on the table.

A control system upgrade should be a time to modernise and streamline to get the most value out of the investment.

Distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controller (PLC), and human-machine interface (HMI)based control systems have been around for a few decades. What was once cutting-edge technology has now been adapted for today’s mobile and information-centric world. There are many advantages available by upgrading a process control system.

Control system upgrade security concerns One of the most important aspects of a control system upgrade is to take advantage of the latest security technology available.

Today, security through obscurity is no longer a valid approach to ensuring a control system is safe from malicious access. One way to see the impacts of security vulnerabilities is to read some of the alerts from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT). The ICS-CERT reports detailed security vulnerabilities with control system software and hardware from many vendors and the ways people have been able to maliciously access control systems with varying results.

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As technology ages, as in the case of legacy DCS, PLC, and HMI systems, the chance of a cyber attack increases as security flaws are exposed.

Security becomes even more important to consider as control systems are integrated with other software and databases across an organisation and are accessible from outside of the facility. This includes not only the control system itself, but all of the support systems required, including operating systems, firewalls, and operational security throughout an organisation.

to create a new instance of a piece of equipment, and each device will function identically. If similar pieces of equipment have different options these can be handled in the template, no longer requiring multiple copies of the same graphics and code.

Making a change down the road requires making the changes at the template, which are then propagated throughout the application. This can save a huge amount of time for development/testing and ongoing maintenance.

Integration with other systems Integration with other business systems is another advancement that can be leveraged by installing modern systems.

Process scheduling, downtime tracking, computerised maintenance management, and statistical process control are a few of the integrations that can be used to easily improve overall performance of a system while giving full visibility into manufacturing operations.

As technology ages, as in the case of legacy DCS, PLC, and HMI systems, the chance of a cyber attack increases and security flaws are exposed.

Optimising with objectoriented programming One of the advances with the most impact for control system technology is the use of object-oriented programming. This concept is relatively simple, yet extremely powerful.

With an object-oriented environment, one template can be created for each piece of equipment for both the operator interface and logic in the process controller.

Tagging can be handled dynamically, requiring only one or two changes

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While similar integrations might be possible with legacy systems, they would require a large amount of time and energy.

As technology advancements increase, it makes sense to work with vendors and distributors to understand the latest offerings and how they can be put to good use in any facility.

Alex Marcy, P.E., is the owner and president of Corso Systems, a system integration firm, headquartered in Chicago.

Control Engineering UK

APPETITE

for engineering

FOOD PROCESSING

AWARDS 2016 RECOGNISING ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE

19th October 2016 Birmingham Appetite for Engineering 2016 will be held at Edgbaston Stadium and the Food Processing Awards will take place at Malmaison, Birmingham.

The Conference will continue to provide delegates with a unique forum to learn from their peers the best engineering practices for today and tomorrow.

Our evening Awards event promises to be a unique networking opportunity and gives nominees the chance to receive an accolade in front of their peers.

For more information contact:

Iain McLean

01732 359990 iain.mclean@imlgroup.co.uk

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Entry-level 3D profile sensor The new LMI Gocator 2100 series of self-contained 3D profile sensors has replaced the original Gocator 2000 models. The new sensor provides improved VGA sensings with improvements in size, connectivity and with additional measurement tools.

The Gocator 2100 series available from Stemmer Imaging brings 3D smart imaging capabilities to a wider market, providing factories with a greater range of tools to cost-effectively improve efficiencies in product validation.

Laser line measurements of crosssectional shapes of parts and materials surfaces can be collected to create 3D point clouds representing whole parts for performing volumetric measurements. The same sensor can

Bolt on access point helps machines communicate wirelessly The Anybus Wireless Bolt from HMS Industrial Networks is a wireless access point that can be mounted on a machine or cabinet to give it wireless access via WLAN, Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy, making it possible to do configuration via a regular tablet or smartphone or connect to a cloud service, realising Industrial IoT. The Anybus Wireless Bolt is mounted onto a machine or cabinet to provide a robust and IP67-classed wireless interface.

The Wireless Bolt can communicate wirelessly up to 100m. On the wired side it can communicate with devices on serial (RS232/485), CAN or Ethernet. Regardless of communication method, it has the same connector for both power and communication.

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also generate detailed laser intensity images for use with common 2D image processing software.

This pre-calibrated scanning and inspection solution has the ability to handle complicated inspection tasks.

It is available in five models offering a measurement range from 80 to 800mm.

The series is fully scalable, allowing multiple sensors to seamlessly link together to handle wider targets. With

no additional software to install, Gocator’s out-of-the-box setup and configuration is fast and easy. In addition, users can also easily upgrade to other Gocator models, including the higher resolution Gocator 2300, without reconfiguring their operations.

Digital remote sensor For the measurement of liquid levels in large tanks and the differential pressure of high-pressure fluids Yokogawa Electric Corporation has introduced the EJXC40A digital remote sensor, a newly developed DPharp EJX series differential pressure transmitter.

The EJXC40A consists of two separate pressure sensors connected to each other by an electric cable. Based on the difference in pressures measured by each sensor, the unit determines the liquid level, flow rate, and the pressure of liquids, gases, and steam.

Areas of application include liquid level measurements in large tanks where the electric cable connecting the two pressure sensors can be up to 45m in length, enabling the measurement of liquid levels with very large tanks and tall distillation columns.

Because the two pressure sensors are

connected only by an electric cable, their measurements are not influenced by changes in the ambient temperature. In fine differential pressure measurement applications there is no need to correct for changes in temperature. This ensures more stable measurements.

The two pressure sensors can be set to measure different pressure ranges so the sensor can measure high differential pressures of up to 70 MPa, something that is difficult to do with a single sensor unit.

Gas detector provides natural gas discrimination Tyco Gas & Flame Detection has launched its new portable gas detection device, the Gasurveyor 700 (GS700) which is an IR detector designed for all gas utility applications.

Through its natural gas discrimination application, the GS700 is able to rapidly

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determine whether the source of gas leaks is from a utility pipeline. It also ensures compliance through intelligent datalogging and GPS mapping, simplifying data collection and allowing managers to make better decisions from tracking data reports.

Control Engineering UK

SCADA & HMIs

Mobile HMI improves PLANT OPERATIONS

Figure 1

Once a mobile device is connected to the IIoT and can access real-time manufacturing data, it can improve plant operations by providing information to decision makers, says Richard Clark.

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ata collection is the first step to make decisions via mobile human-machine interface (HMI) devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. With the right data collected, mobile HMI solutions help bridge the gap between control systems and Control Engineering Europe

mobile devices needing access to their information.

While these solutions may be installed as just a window into the manufacturing process, data collection functionality also can provide visualisation and analysis tools, both of which are critical for mobile HMI applications. There is a whole

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process that needs to be understood that starts with data collection and ends with better decision making through use of mobile HMI devices.

Modern HMI platforms From the industrial side, the modern HMI is well-positioned to bridge the gap between control systems and mobile devices shown in Figure 1. Users typically need flexibility to access the HMI and its data from mobile devices.

Modern HMI solutions commonly start development, and perhaps even run time use, on a Microsoft Windows platform connecting to a local plant network. But today, Windows isn’t the only kid on the block, and an HMI’s ability to run on different operating systems and hardware platforms has its advantages.

HMI run time applications can be hosted in different locations, and users need to be able to download each application to different operating systems. Common operating systems for run time hosting include Windows Desktop, Server, and Embedded editions. Linux, Wind River VxWorks, and others also are often used. Fitting the application to the operating system yields the most cost-effective solution since only the required functions for each application need to be purchased, configured, and maintained. For mobile devices, the capability to run on Google Android and Apple iOS/OS X is required, along with Windows-based operating systems for laptops.

Modern HMIs provide this flexibility by allowing development on a Windows PC and then downloading a run time or app to a variety of platforms and devices without needing to change graphics, templates, symbols, or trends. This capability greatly simplifies implementation of mobile HMI run time applications. Mobile devices use the HTML5 standard to make this happen by automatically scaling the HMI screens based on the target platforms. What is deployed on a Windows-based HMI can now be quickly accessed on a mobile device, but first, you need the right data.

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SCADA & HMIs It starts with the data For many applications, all the data needed to implement a complete Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution has not arrived in the hands of decision makers just yet. The first step is to collect the data from field devices, and the next is to get it in the hands of those who need it.

For example, an application of IoT with industrial and commercial relevance is the EcoNet Home Comfort Wi-Fi module for select Rheem water heaters. This application connects via Wi-Fi to the Internet and can provide alerts and notifications, such as leak detection, directly to a mobile device. It also allows cost-saving functions, such as vacation mode and temperature adjustments. The connection to a Web portal also enables long-term collection of usage data.

IIoT applications are being implemented more slowly than commercial counterparts in many cases due to 24/7 uptime requirements, cybersecurity concerns, and other factors. But some companies are providing data collection and storage as a service.

For example, GE’s Smart Grid service integrates collected data with the

Figure 2

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electrical generation and distribution system infrastructure.

In theory, collected data can be used to increase productivity, promote renewable uses, empower consumers, reduce CO2 emissions, increase productivity, and prevent overloads and brownouts. Expected success of smart grid applications like this one will help highlight the importance of real-time and historical data to improve reliability and optimise machines, systems, and enterprise.

In other manufacturing applications, data typically originates with field devices connected to industrial controllers.

These controllers are, in turn, connected to HMIs, which provide data distribution to mobile devices.

Accessing data via mobile devices The right process and machine data needs to get into the hands of the decision makers, where and when it is needed. At this point, the sweet spot for many mobile device users is metrics or statistics about the machine or process. Direct control of a machine using a mobile device is also an option, but this is typically restricted to local users, such as plant operators or technicians.

Particular software and other HMI software platforms have several options to access data and graphics present in plant floor or control room HMIs. An HMI run time application can be installed on an office PC to provide an identical user experience, but this is typically overkill.

A better choice for these remote HMI applications is a local run time or a thin client where a utility, such as a secure viewer, is installed on a PC or other platform connected to the local plant network and capable of hosting Internet Explorer.

This solution is very cost-effective

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because these plant networks are typically existing and well-secured.

If the HMI is remote and outside the facility, secure Web-based thin clients can be used. Although very similar to the secure viewer thin clients, web-based thin clients use a Web browser to access the HMI through a secure sockets layer (SSL) and other secure methodologies such as encryption. Control functions should be minimised in these applications for obvious reasons, but full viewing rights are typically provided.

To extend remote information access further, a mobile thin client can be used. Using an HTML5capable browser on a mobile device is a smart and cost-effective way to provide decision makers with the information they need.

Uses cases HMI data stored in many different locations is available for remote access by mobile devices. HMIs can store data locally in text files, spreadsheet formats, or a variety of databases and historians. An HMI can be connected to a corporate database or local historian, or even a historian service hosted in the cloud, for data storage and access. Mobile devices can then be connected to these data storage locations.

This data can be viewed and used by engineering, operations, scheduling, and management personnel (see Figure 2). Additional connections allow field engineers and plant floor personnel to access the data via mobile devices, thin clients, or PCs. Data collected from field devices and viewed on mobile devices has many different uses as listed in the table below. Some of these can be implemented just by viewing field device data, such as maintenance and troubleshooting. Other uses require intermediate analysis and/ or combination with other data by Control Engineering Europe

SCADA & HMIs specialised applications to yield full value as shown in the table below:

Table: Mobile HMI uses • Maintenance • Troubleshooting • Viewing and acting on SPC information • Making projections and predictions • Ordering materials • Checking customer order status • Determining real-time production costs.

For example, statistical process control (SPC) software can reside on the same PC as the HMI and can be used to interpret field device data and provide the resulting actionable process and quality assurance (QA) information to mobile devices. SPC algorithms can be used to help adjust real-time control parameters or point out issues before a machine or process starts making bad parts. Projections and predictions also can be made with data analytic

and aggregation software, and this information can be provided to mobile users to help them head off problems before they occur. Other uses for data include predictive maintenance and locating process bottlenecks.

Production data recorded in the HMI can be combined with inventory information from an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or manufacturing execution systems (MES) to alert mobile users regarding material usage and ordering requirements, customer order status, and real-time production costs.

Better decisions with mobile HMI Each mobile HMI device can be configured to display only the data needed by the particular user. This simplifies and speeds response-toreceived information since only the required data is communicated and displayed. It also provides a level of security and improves operational safety.

Life Just Got Easier.

For example, a local operator might have full access for viewing and control, while a salesperson would only be able to access customer order information status.

Mobile HMI devices let users see how a machine or process is operating and focus on a specific area of interest. For example, a graphical trend view of the data or process shows status at a quick glance, while allowing advanced users to view more detailed information if anomalies are discovered.

For a successful IIoT implementation at a manufacturing facility, the right data must be collected and then presented to decision makers in a manner that allows them to improve operations. As more data becomes available, mobile HMI devices can give users a clearer picture of equipment and processes and help them make better manufacturing and business decisions.

Richard Clark is InduSoft Web Studio application developer at Wonderware

by Schneider Electric.

The New Experion® PKS Orion, coming soon to a control room near you. Also, visit us at Honeywell Users Group EMEA. www.honeywellusersgroup.com

For more information, please visit © 2016 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved.

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TEMPERATURE MONITORING

OVERCOMING SINGLE-POINT temperature sensing limitations Suzanne Gill reports on the potential uses for distributed temperature sensing technology in a host of new application areas.

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istributed temperature sensing (DTS) solutions measure temperature distribution over the length of an optical fibre cable, using the fibre as the sensing element in place of more traditional single-point electrical temperature measurement techniques, which rely on the use of thermocouples.

When you fire a laser pulse into a molecule within a fibre optic cable most of the light will bounce back unchanged.

However, a small amount of light will change. The change from the light source is called Raman scatter.

Because Raman scatter is thermally influenced by temperature, its intensity will depend on temperature. DTS captures the change from the returning light pulse and measures the intensities between the different signals.

Temperature is determined by measuring the respective intensities of the stokes and antistokes signals. The position of a temperature reading is determined by measuring the time taken for the signal to return to the source.

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DTS is finding applications as a predictive maintenance solution, for example in conveyor belts.

It is a technology that can offer huge cost-saving benefits in applications where hundreds or thousands of traditional singlepoint measurement sensors would be needed to measure temperature stratification or temperature profile across a large area. DTS can easily be deployed over long distances to provide accurate and precise temperature measurement at 1m points along the length of a fibre optic cable. Its optical charcteristics also make it immune to the effects of electromagnetic noise.

Yokogawa’s DTS offering is DTSX. In combination with the company’s production control systems, the DTSX solution’s dedicated software is able to translate laser pulses into temperature data, using Modbus outputs to communciate this to other control systems to enable the data to be represented on operator screens.

New application areas Traditional applications for DTS include site safety and facilities diagnosis. Cordova Cordova, product manager for DTSX and transmitters at Yokogawa Europe,

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explained how the company is expanding these traditional applications with its DTSX fibre optic sensing solutions. For example, the technique is now able to show temperature stratification in downhole applications and can also offer benefits for leak detection applications in pipelines too.

“DTSX is able to utilise two different types of existing fibre optic cables – single mode (typical diameter 9 µm) or multi mode (typical diameter 50 µm). The mode is related to diameter of one fibre strand which influences how the laser will propagate along the fibre,” said Cordova. “There will usually already be a fibre optic cable attached to a pipeline for communication purposes so it is possible to use this cable to measure the temperature along many pipelines. In some instances the system can work using just a single fibre optic strand inside the cable, so in some applications the cable could continue to be used for its original purpose while additionally offering useful temperature data too.

“Currently pipeline leak detection is most often measured via the different upstream and downstream pressures within the pipeline. If there is a leak there will be a difference between these two pressures. However, this does not tell the operator where in the pipeline the leak is. Because most leaks will cause a temperature change between normal operation and the leak, DTSX makes it possible to identify where in the pipe the leak is, to an accuracy of 1m.”

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TEMPERATURE MONITORING Power cables Another exciting potential area of application for DTSX is for measuring temperature within power cables. “Power transmission cables generally already have fibre optics within the cable jacket for communication,” explained Cordova. “This cable can be used to measure the temperature of the copper core inside the power cable to provide a better understanding of how much power is being delivered through the cable giving power companies useful data to help optimise their power cable operations.”

In process applications DTSX can be used to compliment existing point temperature measurement techniques. “One thermocouple is only able to send data relating to a single point on the process,” said Cordova.

“Sometimes, however, there is a requirement to see details about temperature distribution across a vessel. This would require multiple temperature sensors, which is uneconomical and difficult to implement. With DTS, however, it is simply a case of attaching a fibre optic cable along the vessel to gain temperature data at 1m intervals to provide a complete temperature profile of the vessel.”

Challenges Challenges to implementing a DTS system mostly relate to the fibre optic cable itself. “If, for example, you want to undertake temperature monitoring in a hazardous area it would be necessary to protect the cable with a mechanical tube,” said Cordova. “Fibre optic cable also does not respond well to hydrogenation. They cannot tolerate hydrogen ingress which reacts with the silicone causing darkening and degrades the performance of measurements.

Applications requiring temperature Control Engineering Europe

measurements above 1000°C are also a challenge for DTS.” For basic DTS measurements all that is required is a DTSX unit, DTSX software and a fibre optic cable. The DTSX unit is based on a Yokogawa Stardom PLC design so it is small and compact requiring minimal power consumption which allows it to be situated either in a control room or placed in outdoor cabinets where it can be adequately powered via a solar cell.

“We can see huge potential for the DTS technology in the power market, for optimising power cable distribution, as well as for pipeline leak detection applications or for temperature stratification monitoring in a wide variety of processes,” said Cordova.

Another interesting area for the technology is for predictive maintenance applications across all industry sectors. Conveyor belts, for example, employ many bearings on their rollers. When a bearing starts to wear out it creates heat. Running a fibre

optic along the belt will allow this heat to be detected early, alerting engineers to a potential bearing problem and reducing downtime due to conveyor belt failures. “We already have the system working successfully on such applications in Japan,” said Cordova.

It must be expected that DTS will find increasing applications in the future as enterprises demand more plant floor data to help improve their efficiency and profitability. Keys for diffusion of the technolgy include an ability to be integrated with various monitoring or production control systems. Yokogawa has this covered. The DTSX provides communication functions that can combine with either production control systems such as DCS or SCADA. A dedicated function for Yokogawa’s FAST/TOOLS, for example, has been developed to transfer temperature data by file transfer, making the technology simple to incorporate into an existing control system.

Touch-screen temperature process controller Watlow has introduced the new F4T temperature process controller which features a 4.3in, capacitive colour touch panel with high resolution and graphical user interface that allows for customised control even in demanding applications.

The controller combines the functionality of multiple devices, including temperature PID, over/under temperature limit, power switching, math, logic, timers and counters in a single integrated system which can reduce the cost of ownership and save panel space.

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It offers intuitive navigation and the screen can be personalised to allow channels, alarms, inputs and outputs to be programmed with user-defined specifications. A range of field removable input/output modules allows the unit to be configured for a wide variety of applications, integrating easily with the required hardware.

The F4T features the company’s own COMPOSER graphical configuration PC software which connects with the controller via Ethernet.

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PROCESS ANALYSIS

Exploring the benefits of Raman technology Control Engineering Europe looks at Raman spectroscopy, which is still considered by many to be a rather exotic technonology. Despite this it is starting to gain fans in the process sector for in-situ sample measurement.

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ndress+Hauser has recently anounced that it is to expand its US-based manufacturing facility for Raman analysers. “The new facility will become the core of our future Raman-spectroscopic analyser manufacturng,” said Tim Harrison, managing director of Kaiser Optical Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Endress+Hauser.

Raman spectroscopy is a technique used to observe vibrational, rotational and other low-frequency modes in a system to provide a ‘fingerprint’ to identify molecules.

It utilises the interaction of an incidental laser beam with the

material being examined. When the material absorbs the light, single photons excite the molecules, which in turn emit new photons at a frequency different from the original frequency. This light scattering can be measured to create a molecular fingerprint for each material.

The field of Raman spectroscopy was transformed by the creation of a holographic filter, by Kaiser Optical Systems, to remove unwanted diffracted light appearing at the same wavelength, which would otherwise conceal the frequency shifts typical of the material being examined. This filter enables the entire Raman spectrum to be

Demonstrating the flexibility of Raman technology, an immersion probe measures directly in the process.

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acquired simultaneously, offering real-time analysis capabilities.

Raman spectroscopy can offer some clear benefits, such as fibreoptic connectivity to remote sampling locations without the need for sample loops and a single analyser can measure up to four sample locations simultaneously which means it can lower site installation costs and reduce cost-ofownership.

Despite the fact that most of the reasons for not using the technology were resolved long ago, such as its approval for use in hazardous areas, many process engineers have been reluctant to use the instruments until recently. However, one company that has welcomed the addition of Raman spectroscopy to its suite of process analysis tools is chemical company, Lanxess. “The advantages of Raman spectroscopy have been acknowledged for years,” said Frank Grümbel, head of process analysis technology at Lanxess.

Compared to infrared and nearinfrared spectroscopy the Raman method is well suited for examining aqueous solutions or analysing inorganic substances. In addition, the technology has long been used in the laboratory to examine the composition and properties of solid, liquid or gaseous substances.

Grümbel and his team are responsible for 3,000 measuring points across the company’s German Control Engineering Europe

PROCESS ANALYSIS plants as well as for applications across the globe. The tasks the team has to undertaken are as diverse as the measurement tools it relies upon.

Proven suitability At Lanxess, Raman spectroscopy has proven its suitability for use in day-to-day operation over the past four years. “We use it to augment our measurement tool kit, especially in the area of nearinfrared spectroscopy,” continued Grümbel. Lanxess relies on the Raman Rxn4 from Kaiser Optical Systems. The Raman RXN4 gas-phase Raman analyser has offered the company an alternative to typical process gas analysers. Its chemical specificity and spectral range allows multiple gases to be independently identified without chromatographic separation over concentration ranges from ppm levels to 100%.

Up to four measurement points can be connected to the rack-mounted devices. Fibre optic technology provides flexible connectivity between the analyser and remote sensors. Measurements are carried out by immersion probes directly in the process without the need for sample preparation.

Properly understanding and operating the instruments did, however, require advice and

Wireless pressure sensor for pressure monitoring and alarm applications SignalFire Wireless Telemetry has introduced Pressure Scout, an intrinsically safe wireless pressure sensor that supports pressure monitoring and alarm reporting as part of the SignalFire Remote Sensing System.

Said to offer a low-cost alternative to conduit-wired or other wireless pressure monitoring solutions it is the first in a line of wireless integrated sensors. It consists of a pressure sensor integrated with a wireless node and internal battery. Applications could include well tubing and casing pressure monitoring, tank level monitoring and compressor station status monitoring.

As part of a wireless remote monitoring and control network, the Pressure Scout provides along-range transmission to the designed to run without Raman spectroscopy at a later point.

One application example where Raman spectroscopy analysers have proven their worth is in polymer

The benefits are readily apparent. The instruments are easy to operate and maintain; they do not impact the process and they deliver reliable results even under extreme conditions. support from Kaiser Optical Systems initially, such as how to model and interpret the measurement data.

Today the analysers are helping Lanxess to control various process plants or are helping the process analysis team to become more familiar with processes that are Control Engineering Europe

manufacturing, where they are used to analyse the molecules’ composition. This helps determine the precise dosage of substances that react with each other. An over- or underdosage lessens the quality of the product. Non-reactive substances will have to be recycled

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Signal Fire Gateway where pressure data becomes available via a Modbus RTU or TCP interface. Available in standard pressure ranges, it performs rapid (5 sec) pressure sampling with configurable alarm reporting. Units offer local pushbutton zeroing. Operable in temperature ranges from 40ºC to 80ºC the Pressure Scout can also operate in challenging outdoor environments.

Operating on low power, the unit utilises an internal battery that powers the integrated pressure sensor and radio for up to 10 years, so in an application requiring a five second pressure sample interval for alarming, with a one minute reporting interval would last for 6.5 years. at a later point which requires costly processing. “We searched for a long time for solutions to tackle some of our measurement jobs. In this case, we found a good answer in Raman technology,” said Grümbel.

Raman may not be the best technology for standard applications, due its cost. However Raman instruments can certainly be justified whenever they offer a better solution than other methods at solving a measurement task. “The benefits are readily apparent. The instruments are easy to operate and maintain; they do not impact the process and they deliver reliable results even under extreme conditions.” For Frank Grümbel, therefore, one thing is clear: “Optical analysis will become increasingly important for us in the future.”

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DRIVES & MOTORS

High precision components FOR GEARBOX TEST RIGS A french test systems expert is relying on multiple motors and drive systems to help achieve accurate results.

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A brushless permanent magnet servomotor simulates a combustion engine in conjunction with a vehicle’s manual gearbox.

or over 30 years, French-based BIA has designed, developed and manufactured test equipment and systems for the aerospace, industrial and automotive industries. Two of these fields – aerospace and automotive – require very high levels of precision and reliability in order to maintain a high quality level of their components and systems under rigorous test conditions.

Recognising this need, BIA has developed a long-standing cooperation with Parker Hannifin to supply highspeed servomotors, inverters, highperformance cooling systems and linear motors for use in its gearbox test rigs for automotive safety, engine & powertrain tests and vehicle dynamics.

Through its collaboration with Parker Hannifin’s team of technicians BIA is now able to combine individual elements and components of its test rigs into completely tailored, integrated

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systems that it says are more reliable and better performing solutions.

Olivier Carlier, project leader at BIA, who defines the system components needed for the simulation and test systems, said: “We very much benefit from Parker’s product offerings that help us to efficiently source high quality, reliable components and systems, which contribute to our global success,” BIA’s gearbox test rigs have now come to rely on Parker’s high-speed servo motors for the efficiency of their cooling systems and on the positioning accuracy of its linear motors.

Inside the BIA test rig, a wide range of components are utilised, to deliver precise simulations for a variety of tests.

Simulating a combustion engine Brushless permanent magnet highspeed MGV servomotors simulate a combustion engine in conjunction with a

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vehicle’s manual gearbox. As a compact design asynchronous direct drive, the Parker MGV delivers a rated power of up to 230 kW with speeds of up to 45,000 revolutions per minute – without the need for mechanical gears or a belt transmission. The motors are water cooled, allowing their dimensions to be kept to a minimum and reducing their operating noise substantially.

The low inertia of the servomotor allows for highly dynamic acceleration and deceleration, and in order to achieve maximum precision, motor speed and torque is controlled in a closed loop, allowing the motor to be used for simulations in both urban traffic and race conditions.

BIA’s inline design for this configuration allows the gearbox to be tested at maximum power, with the same inertia as a diesel engine.

The MS asynchronous motor, which can deliver 10,000 revolutions per minute at 500 kW, is used for gearbox duration testing, as this requires a constant and medium speed without acceleration.

For transmission endurance tests, BIA uses Parker’s ETT linear motors to actuate the gear lever and to engage gears. The rectangular rod configuration connected to the cylinders simulates the movement through the standard H-slots of the gear lever. The linear motors have high positioning accuracy of 0.5mm, as well as repeatability of 0.05mm. They comply with ISO 15552 which means a wide range of compatible mounting accessories can be incorporated to create a system environment.

Parker AC890 inverters have been developed to achieve optimal performance with both asynchronous motors and synchronous servomotors, and are able to operate in both motor and generator modes. This functionality Control Engineering Europe

DRIVES & MOTORS

Enclosed IP21 or IP54 drives The VACON 100 range of AC variable speed drives from Danfoss Drives, has been extended to include standard enclosed drives supplied ready for immediate installation and commissioning. With a choice of IP21 or IP54 ingress protection ratings, the new drives include an auxiliary front door to provide safe access to control circuits.

Access to the control section of the drive can be reached through a small auxiliary door in the front of the enclosure, without the need to open the full-height main door. In this way, the low voltage area can be reached without the safety risks associated with exposing the high voltage sections of the drive.

The new drives also incorporate an interesting cooling channel design.

Integrated du/dt filters and common can be used during tests. One motor can be connected to the gearbox input just like a diesel engine, whereas two other motors operating in generator mode, can be linked with the output of the gearboxes to simulate rotating wheels.

This power generation gives full grid energy recuperation.

For optimal cooling, MGV servomotors are combined with Parker Hiross Hyper Chill Plus cooling systems for applications ranging from simple heat dissipation to

mode output filters enable efficient back channel cooling to be used and, in the IP54 versions, no additional air filters are needed in the main cooling airflow.

The IP21 versions of the drives, which are intended for installation in control rooms and similar environments, and the IP54 versions, which can be used in demanding environments without further protection, are both available with power ratings up to 630 kW on 400 V supplies and 800 kW on 690 V supplies.

VACON 100 drives also feature, as standard, integrated support for ModBus TCP and Profinet I/O connectivity. Plug-in option cards are available to provide support for other popular communication and fieldbus standards.

The economy needs new motors.

We build them.

active temperature control. The system’s closed refrigeration circuits have been designed for both oil- and water-based low viscosity fluids.

With their flexible and modular configuration options, BIA test benches also allow for the practical simulation and testing of common electric and hybrid systems to accommodate all types of new, environmentally-friendly technologies for the automotive and aerospace industries.

If the economy were driven by motors, they would be made by maxon. Our reliable, efficient and powerful drive systems work perfectly even when the going gets tough, and their unique quality ensures customer satisfaction around the world. Each drive is configured individually in accordance with the customer's personal wishes. 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 For optimal cooling servomotors are combined with cooling systems for applications ranging from simple heat dissipation to active temperature control.

Control Engineering Europe

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Drive solution overcomes

COSTLY EMC ISSUES When a winch controlling a high-powered drill broke down on a ship mining samples off the coast of Japan a rapid solution was needed because downtime was costing the company $30,000 every day.

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ue to the difficult location of the winch, somewhere off the coast of Japan, sample extraction of rare metals on the ocean bed needs to be planned 20 hours in advance, to ensure that the sea conditions and tides are favourable. The rougher the waves, the more the drill moves and the higher the risk of damage to equipment.

The winch system controls the deployment of the drill to the seabed, which could be up to 3km from the ship. It needs to keep the cable taught during payout. The brake chopper unit, rated at 400KW continuous 600A and 600KW, 900A at peak, dissipates the excess DC BUS voltage fed back from the motor.

If the winch is unable to dump the energy created during this process into the braking resistors, because of a fault in the brake chopper then the operator is not able to control the cable which could result in the loss, at the bottom of the ocean, of the drill which is worth millions of pounds. So, it was imperative

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that the crew were confident about the brake choppers reliability reliable before deploying the drill.

Once the drill is in the water, the application provides active heave, compensating for the wave movement by automatically driving the winch in the opposite direction at the same speed to stabilise the drill.

The drill has to remain at a constant height from the sea floor so that it can clamp in position.

Problems with the winch began to appear just before the company deployed the drill for the first time.

Onboard engineers found the fault to be the result of DC BUS overvoltage issue caused by the brake chopper.

The engineers tried, unsucessfully, to alleviate the problem by replacing the brake chopper like-for-like.

After calling a representative from the brake chopper manufacturer, it was agreed that an engineer would visit as soon as possible. Unfortunately this did not happen, leaving the project losing tens of thousands of dollars every day

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and those on board were no closer to rectifying the problem.

When the drill had been out of action for two weeks and the crew were at their wits’ end they made the decision to call of CP Automation for a solution.

Because time was of the essence, CP Automation flew an engineer to Japan as soon as possible. The application was powered when the boat was docked and the brake chopper was found to exhibit new sets of faults each time it was tested. It was difficult to test under working conditions because it was not possible to deploy the drill, which would work the winch motors, so it was impossible to confirm a suspicion that the fault was due to electrical noise problems.

The existing brake chopper was replaced with a CP Automation 100KW unit. The fault did not transfer to this product, but reoccurred when the old unit was reinstated.

Because the ship’s crew identified a window when the sea would be calm enough to live test the drill, it was not possible to carry out any more tests in dock.

The new CP Automation brake choppers were each one-quarter of the rating of the original unit.

Consequently, it was necessary to limit the maximum speed of the winch until it became possible to assess the current required during payout and active heave.

To fit the two brake choppers, the control panel has to modified. This required the DC bus to be split into two, with drives one and two on DC bus one and drives three and four on bus two. This change provided the system with an element of redundancy that it did not have before. There was now the option that, should anything go wrong, the crew could operate the system with only two of the four drives.

After more tests in mild waves of 1.4m in height, the brake choppers were pulling 30A max per unit during active heave when the drill was 750m from the ship. The DC bus level was maintained below 750VDC the Control Engineering Europe

DRIVES & MOTORS whole time, which proved that the replacements were a proficient fix.

The client deployed the drill five times throughout the 12 hours and the system ran smoothly every time with no futher issues relating to the brake choppers. The crew was able to extract all the mineral samples that it needed.

Once back on shore, after further careful testing, CP Automation was

able to prove that its brake choppers worked in the drill application because, unlike the original unit, they did not use external power controls. This means that they are not susceptible to external noise. The previous brake chopper had no electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) or harmonic filter installed, so the resultant electrical noise from the drill application and

those around it, caused it to fault.

The drilling project that CP Automation contributed to is one of the first of its kind to sample valuable metals from tough volcanic rock on the seabed. With the help of more research and investment, it is hoped that this method of mining could lead to a flow of essential rare metal resources for many years to come.

Test laboratory allows for drive system optimisation Morten Wierod, managing director of ABB’s drives and controls business unit talks about a new test laboratory which lets customers optimise motor/drive combinations for their applications.

In recent years the number of motors designed for use with drives has increased significantly. Combined with a decrease in the cost of drive prices this makes the use of this technology more attractive to machine builders and other users.

A new ABB drives test laboratory, located beside ABB’s Helsinki drives factory, provides high-precision measurements of drive/motor dynamic performance, loadability and efficiency to enable customers to find the optimal drive system for an application.

The measurements are obtained using an extremely precise device.

In addition, the laboratory makes it possible to verify motor control performance and match customer motors with drives so customers

are able to test the drives before introducing a new product into serial production. It can result in a better fit of a drive to its intended application and can help reduce costs. Many customers have, traditionally played it safe and overspecified the drive, along with overdimensioned protection and cabling.

Previously, customers were unable to test – at least at this level – their motors on ABB premises. They now have an opportunity to obtain accurate measurements of dynamic performance, loadability and efficiency, and can use this data to verify their drive systems.

The laboratory also makes it possible to verify motor control performance and match customer motors with drives, which is useful when making a decision concerning a new product.

Usually, customers send their motor to the laboratory a few weeks in advance so that the appropriate test setup can be prepared. A customer team will then come along to witness

the testing and see the collection of measurements in real time.

The exact drive system performance needed is now known so an optimal drive system can be chosen or tailored to a customer’s application.

A key element of the laboratory is its torque measurement device, with which the torque of almost any motor up to 385 kW can be measured. There are three setups for three different shaft heights (100, 160 and 250 mm).

The load motors are ABB HDP (high dynamic performance) models.

The load motor and test motor are each connected to an ABB drive.

The load motor simulates the actual load in the customer’s application.

As a result, the suitability of the motor/drive combination can be verified and optimised. In addition to customer-specific motors, all ABB motors can be tested.

Speed, torque and efficiency can also be measured at any given operation point and the customer is able to define their own test points.

DRIVES & MOTORS

The importance of

drive train efficiency Manufacturers today are chasing efficiency figures which could only have been dreamed of 10 years ago.

It is important, however, to look beyond the motor for increased drive train efficiencies.

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s a manufacturer of IE2, IE3 and future IE4 motors, Bauer Gear Motor understands the value that a motor’s performance can place on running costs for an end user.

However, the motor is just one piece of the puzzle.

Rather than breaking down the drivetrain into different sections and focussing on a single component, such as the motor, Bauer believes that a view should be taken of a single, ‘electromechanical’ package – one which must be fully integrated to achieve maximum performance. Despite the current focus

on motor efficiency, the potential energy savings throughout the drivetrain can typically be distributed via the ZVEI model which is: • 10% via improved efficiency of the motor, • 30% via electronic speed regulation, • 60% via optimisation of the mechanical system.

As the model shows, while it is motors that are currently grabbing the headlines for development, there is no point specifying the latest motor if the foundations are not already in order.

Using a speed control device to monitor and regulate a motor will

straightaway make a significant improvement to any application that doesn’t require the motor to operate at full load at all times. Even when operating at full load, a motor with a variable speed drive installed will still be more efficient at start-up. The importance of speed control in real world efficiency is recognised by the introduction of Regulation 640/2009.

This stipulates that from January 1st, 2015, any installation in Europe where an IE2 rated motor between 7.5 kW and 375 kW is specified, it must be installed with a variable frequency drive (VFD).

If it is the speed control device that unlocks the potential of a modern motor, then it is the mechanical components of a drive train that transmits the potential throughout the system.

Within the electro-mechanical package, the mechanical components can be broken down into two sub-groups: gear technologies and drivetrain optimisation.

Specifying the most efficient gearbox allows for the transmission of a larger percentage of the motor’s power for its intended function. A well specified and efficient gearbox will avoid unnecessary oversizing, saving money from the

Smart drive resolves blockages on its own Intelligent drives from Nord Drivesystems, with an integrated PLC, are said to be fully equipped to execute control sequences in a wide variety of applications.

Featuring sensor interfaces and diagnostics as well as process control functions, the range is able to detect blockages and, in many cases, is able to independently restore normal operation which can help improve system availability and reduce servicing requirements.

If the drive is able to remove an obstacle, such as a blockage in a pipe, by repeatedly changing the motor speed and direction, it can then resume normal operation. If the problem persists, the inverter is able to submit an error signal to the

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control level and possibly initiate a fallback procedure, for example, by having other networked drive units unlock a bypass. Any such measures can be programmed individually specific to an application. This gives users independent operation of intelligent plant segments and machinery such as sorters, portioning

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and packaging systems, single pumps or groups of pumps, crushers, or screw conveyors. At the same time, optimum integration into automation networks is ensured.

The inverter PLC is able to preprocess drive and application data for a higher-level controller for various uses including diagnostics.

Control Engineering Europe

DRIVES & MOTORS outset, and reducing system losses in operation. It is these system losses that are a major factor in the EN50598 standard, which awards the new IES efficiency classes based on the efficiency of the complete power drive system.

Drivetrain optimisation is no less important than other considerations.

Once each aspect of the drivetrain has been specified, it must then be integrated into the machine with as much efficiency as possible.

That is not to say that steady improvements in motor efficiency are unimportant. The gains that have been made in the last decade are impressive, and beyond comparison to the relatively mature, and therefore slowly developing gear and drivetrain technology. So, while it is important that an efficient mechanical system is specified as a foundation, once that is in place, significant savings can be made by combining the latest electric motors with well integrated inverter drives.

The potential energy savings throughout the drivetrain can typically be distributed via the ZVEI model.

Connect Automagically.

The New ExperionÂŽ PKS Orion, coming soon to a control room near you. Also, visit us at Honeywell Users Group EMEA. www.honeywellusersgroup.com

For more information, please visit Š 2016 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved.

www.honeywellprocess.com/experion

AUTOMATION SPECIFICATION

Small-scale automation projects Jim Krebs explains how to get past time, money, and resource issues when executing small projects and specifying automation equipment and components.

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or small-scale automation projects, low costs, ease of implementation, and a simple purchasing process are key requirements. On the supplier side, servicing these smaller customers can be challenging using traditional distribution channels. Many of these small-scale projects are using online product selection, purchasing, and support to address these issues – with varying degrees of success.

It’s important to understand the issues involved with small-scale automation projects – the advantages and the drawbacks of different buying processes.

Small project issues Small-scale automation projects are common for many control system integrators and machine builders.

These projects are small in terms of allotted budget, time, and personnel – but flawless execution is still required.

This makes efficiency during each step of

the project extremely important.

Common restrictions with executing small projects include tight budgets, short schedules, and limited availability of personnel. Before the project even starts, it often sits waiting for a purchase order from the customer. Many customers use this stage to request quotes for different options and to negotiate lower prices, and these tasks must be closely managed to stay within the budget. Given the small size of the project, suppliers can generally be strict with customers on these issues, holding to the price and restricting available options.

The temptation on many small projects is to forgo schedule planning; however a schedule always needs to exist for the purpose of knowing the status of every project. Each schedule should include major tasks, due dates, and dependencies among tasks.

Once the schedule is created, there is usually very little time to wait on parts

Execution of small scale automation projects must be quick, accurate, and efficient – and so should specifying and purchasing parts.

All images courtesy: AutomationDirect

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or personnel. Many small projects are delayed due to limited resources as larger jobs often take precedence and divert personnel. These limited resources, often just one or two people, may also be pulled in several directions, delaying the start of or even starting and stopping the project repeatedly.

A tight budget, short schedule, and lack of resources make getting a machine designed and selecting and purchasing products a priority. These constraints can negatively impact an automation project without proper management, but there are ways to deal with these difficulties.

Addressing issues for smallscale automation projects Finding an online store or distributor that understands and can help address these constraints is critical to the success of small-scale automation projects.

Online sources and distributors can help with the following list of steps for each project: 1. Design and specification 2. Product evaluation, pricing, and selection 3. Purchasing process 4. Delivery 5. Implementation 6. Support.

The project design starts with a good specification, and the right supplier can assist with many basic, component selection decisions. The machine builder or system integrator must understand and define the requirements, but a good way to narrow the design options and specify the right products is to work with a knowledgeable distributor or a technical support specialist at an online store.

Many distributors, and some online stores, have excellent technical support to help project personnel understand how to best use products. Quick access Control Engineering Europe

AUTOMATION SPECIFICATION widely, particularly when it comes to automation. These factors should be taken into account when technical assistance will be required on a small project, which is often.

to technical information is also critical, and this is an area where many online stores excel because of 24/7 availability.

This immediate access to user manuals, how-to videos, connection diagrams, and other information can keep a project moving towards completion without delays.

Online stores often have Internetbased tools to facilitate evaluation, pricing, and digital selection of products.

On the other hand, distributors typically rely more on face-to-face interactions, which also work well if the right personnel are available when needed.

Solutions for small-scale automation projects Distributors and online stores simplify the design process for small-scale automation projects in many ways including: • Efficiency: Reduces the stages of projects by reducing the required interactions between project personnel and suppliers.

• Order tracking: Helps the purchasing department track ordering and receipt of parts.

• Supply a list of parts: The right distributor or online store can supply a parts list with part numbers, manufacturers, pricing, and delivery times for 80% or more of the parts needed on a small project. Typical parts needed on a small automation project may include control enclosures, power distribution components, Control Engineering Europe

programmable logic controllers (PLCs), motor controllers, sensors, pneumatic components, cables and connectors – automation distributors and online stores will generally have most of these products on hand.

• Immediate delivery: Distributors can offer immediate delivery of product in stock but often take a few days to deliver other items. Online stores typically stock a much wider range of products and usually offer next-day delivery for all items. While there may be some time available to wait for products during the initial purchasing stage, this usually isn’t the case when the project is in progress and a need arises for different or additional parts.

In these cases, quick delivery becomes crucial.

• Free technical assistance: Some online stores provide lots of free technical assistance. While distributors will generally offer face-to-face assistance when available, the technical acumen of personnel varies

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For particularly difficult questions, product engineers are often located in the same facility and can provide assistance. When distributor personnel need help with a customer’s problem, they usually know the right person at the manufacturer to provide answers.

All other things being equal, online stores generally can offer lower pricing because they don’t have the overhead of supporting a network of distributors.

If pricing is the driving factor on a small project, which is often the case, this can drive the decision to online.

The final decision to buy online or through a distributor often comes down to factors outside of the project team’s control. If the local distributor is not technically competent when it comes to automation, then a good online store is often the only workable option. If the project team has a good working relationship with a nearby distributor, that may motivate a decision using that approach. Another factor is personal preference. Project personnel may prefer the online buying experience and its 24/7 access, often because of being more familiar with online buying. While online ordering is attractive to some, others may need personal interaction before they feel comfortable and thus prefer a more traditional buying approach.

Jim Krebs is a technical marketer at AutomationDirect.

October 2016

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CYBER SECURITY

Eight steps for managing removable media use in critical infrastructure environments Using removable media can be a major risk, and companies that are involved with critical and hazardous environments need to take stringent measures to ensure that industrial control systems (ICSs) and other key components aren’t compromised.

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n the wake of a recent malware incident within a German nuclear power plant, we should pause to consider the risks posed by removable media use within an industrial control system (ICS) environment. This incident and others like them should serve as reason to outline a practical, high-level approach for managing removable media risk within critical infrastructure environments containing industrial control systems.

Assumptions or considerations concerning compliance-focused regulation that prohibits or severely limits removable media use within certain industries won’t be made.

practical approach for all situations, as is often the case in so-called “air-gapped” environments or those with limited supporting infrastructure for transfer of files and data by another means. Nevertheless, it should be pursued as a goal. At the very least, removable media use should be controlled, limited, and fit-for-purpose. Use policy to communicate requirements regarding the use of removable media and enforce that position with administrative and technical controls.

2. Assess the use of removable media in the environment in order to

The reality is, compliance efforts portray a snapshot in time, and rules are frequently broken.

The reality is, compliance efforts portray a snapshot in time, and rules are frequently broken.

Companies and users need to be more stringent in their approach because the potential damage can be catastrophic. Following these eight steps can help prevent a terrible scenario from occurring.

1. Using removable media is like playing with fire. If companies can avoid using them altogether, they should. This may not be a

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determine the organisation’s acceptance of and maturity regarding removable media use.

There are many ways to do this, but an effective mechanism is surveys followed by validation of responses. Technical audits will provide some revealing data on past and current insertion of unique removable media on targeted systems. Using the right tools can lend to automated retrieval of this information over

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the network. Instrumenting the systems to alert on insertion of removable media and enabling centralized logging of these events will allow for a more robust continuous monitoring of the environment.

3. Maintain a pool of approved removable media and implement a dedicated sheep-dip system that can be used to scan the removable media for malware prior to use within the control system environment. Anti-virus (AV) scanners are proven to not be 100% effective, but even 40% to 50% effective is better than no protection at all. Limit the functionality of the sheepdip system to only scanning removable media for malware, and consider using an advanced threat prevention tool to detonate each executable file on the removable media that you want to use in the control system environment to further increase the chance of detecting maliciousness.

Removable media should also be scanned outbound – meaning when the user is finished using the device, it should be scanned again to ensure nothing was picked up in the “secure” zone. While it may sound time-consuming, so is recovering from an incident (not to mention costly).

4. Implement or integrate authorized removable media use into a permit Control Engineering Europe

CYBER SECURITY

to work system, and leverage the accompanying job safety and hazard analysis to identify hazards and potential outcomes, gain final clarity on the risk, and develop a plan for your work that minimises removable media use. Perform a last-minute risk assessment immediately prior to starting work to ensure that the process has been thought through and that there aren’t gaps in the plan.

5. Provide an alternative to removable media where possible to limit use. Some options may include using an Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) managed file transfer solution or an application layer firewall capable of detecting maliciousness within the data flow to scan all files and data being transferred across security zones for malware during transfer. Choosing this alternative will also force companies to account for encrypted traffic flows, and either proxy encrypted sessions during data and file transfer inbound and outbound, or disallow Control Engineering Europe

encrypted data transmissions across security zones altogether.

6. Implement compensating controls.

Every system capable of supporting anti-virus scanners should have them installed even though their effectiveness is limited. Also strongly consider the use of application whitelisting. Physically block or logically disable USB Mass Storage device use on all nodes to prevent unauthorised or casual use of removable media.

For legacy systems that cannot support newer AV engines or patching (e.g. Microsoft Windows XP), a) disable AutoRun/AutoPlay and b) implement application whitelisting, which has proven very effective (although challenging to implement) when done correctly.

7. Effectively manage the organisation’s third-party engagements such that the expectation for performance in this area is equivalent to the expectations set for direct employees. Enforce performance through contracts, which stipulate

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clear requirements and liabilities.

The U.S. Department of Energy maintains some very resourceful documentation regarding cybersecurity procurement that can help companies navigate these waters.

8. Build a culture of awareness regarding the risks of removable media use with the goal of changing behaviour. Do this by creating written policies, processes, and procedures around the acceptable use of removable media. Also, implement a targeted awareness-training program to educate workers on the risks of not following proper procedures.

The organisation’s safety culture should be used as a springboard to accelerate behavioral change and to manage the risk in the environment just like any other process safety or health environment safety (HES) risk.

Steven Paul Romero is energy professional at Chevron.

October 2016

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Enter Link Code on www.controlengeurope.com to read the full story

PRODUCT FORUM •

ARC ENERGY RESOURCES ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF CLG ENGINEERING

ALICAT SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHES EUROPEAN OFFICE UK location to provide engineering support, product service and user training Cambridge, United Kingdom (1 September 2016) – Mass flow device manufacturer, Alicat Scientific, has established a new regional office in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The new location gives customers across Europe local sales and service for Alicat’s line of pressure controllers, mass flow controllers, meters, and accessories.

The new office will be headed up by European Territory Manager, Andy Mangell.

Mangell joined Alicat earlier this year, with a strong background in the European market and mass flow technology. Now that he has established a strong foundation in the region for application engineering support, calibration services, and end-user training, he is tasked with growing the localised support team and service capabilities.

To learn more about Alicat’s mass flow meters, visit www.alicat.com, or call +1 520 290-6060.

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CARLO GAVAZZI’S EM280 ENSURES FAST INSTALLATION FOR MULTIPLE LOAD MONITORING

Gloucestershire-based Arc Energy Resources has acquired precision machining company CLG Engineering.

Commenting, group managing director Andrew Robinson, says: “This is a fantastic opportunity, with CLG Engineering’s precision machining capability perfectly complementing our cladding and fabrication offering. I have great plans for future growth, and am looking forward to supporting our clients on new and larger projects.”

The acquisition means that Arc Energy Resources’ 80 employees are supplemented

by CLG Engineering’s 14, to create a stronger team with a wider mix of skills. Both companies are supported by teams of experienced project managers, inspectors and welding engineers, with access to a wide range of auxiliary processes in-house, including heat treatment, NDT and CMM inspection.

For further information contact: Andrew Robinson, Arc Energy Resources Tel: +44 (0)1453 823523 E-mail: sales@arcenergy.co.uk i More info - Enter Link code 124316 Web: www.arcenergy.co.uk

USB232 FROM KK SYSTEMS

Frimley, UK, 2nd August 2016 – Carlo Gavazzi has expanded its popular EM200 Series range with the introduction of EM280 and TCD06BX, a unique solution for 6 channel metering up to 32 amps. As with all Carlo Gavazzi energy meters and analysers they are easy and fast to install, simple to wire and delivers accurate metering performance.

The EM280 can measure up to two three phase loads or up to six single phase loads as well as creating a virtual meter to provide the sum of all the loads in one meter.

Available as either Modbus + Pulse or Modbus + Modbus versions it provides fast and easy data transmission to PCs and PLCs for full load control, whilst all electrical parameters of the installation can be sent via the RS485 serial port for integration with BMS (Building Management Systems) and other standard acquisition-monitoring systems.

The USB232 from KK Systems is an industrial-grade UK manufactured 1.5kV-test isolated USB to RS232 converter which supports baud rates to 230k.

Drivers are included to create a virtual COM port within the operating system which is compatible with every normal Windows application program.

The USB232 is unique in the market in that it has a world-unique device ID which ensures that it appears under the same COM port regardless of which USB port on a particular PC it is plugged into.

This simplifies application software configuration and avoids customer support issues caused by a converter being moved to a different USB port on the same computer.

Unlike many other converters, all RS232 signals are supported for total compatibility.

The USB-232 is completely plug-and-play and no configuration is involved outside the application software which uses the COM port.

For more information contact: Carlo Gavazzi UK Ltd Tel: (0) 1276 854110 Web: www.carlogavazzi.co.uk

For information from KK Systems Ltd Tel 0044 1273 857185 Fax 0044 1273 857186 i Web www.kksystems.com

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More info - Enter Link code 124315

More info - Enter Link code 124314

MEASURE THE SMALLEST AND THE TALLEST WITH ONE DEVICE Revolutionary technology for level and volume measurement in the food and beverage industry VEGA introduces the first contactless radar level sensor for liquids that operates at a 80 GHz frequency. Contactless radar technology is known for its immunity to temperature, pressure, vapours or surface conditions, but previous devices had larger antennas and restricted measuring capability. With a new, amazingly small antenna system, the VEGAPULS 64 is ideal for use in small vessels with small process connections, often seen in the food industry.

However, there is also long range capability with narrow focussing too, enabling it to work even in very tall, narrow vessels for liquids (there is also a model designed for bulk solids for grain and powder level measurement). Hygienic materials and process connections also offer excellent process compatibility.

For information contact VEGA Controls Ltd Email: info.uk@vega.com Web: www.vega.com/uk Tel +44 1444 870055

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Control Engineering Europe

FINAL WORD

Making the most of the IIoT Martin Jones, general manager at Moxa Europe discusses the challenges and opportunities that the IIoT presents for the control engineer.

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t is important to understand how the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) differs from what has been done in the past. A control engineer has quite clear tasks – and will see the IIoT in the same areas. It supports (remote) monitoring and control as well as data analysis that helps him to model and predict. So what´s behind the hype?

Many applications have been pretty close to what we now call the IIoT. For example centralised application servers that reduce maintenance and infrastructure costs which were difficult to install, usually implemented at large scale, and therefore were expensive so had an unpredictable return on investment. If we combine today’s advances such as sensing and measurement, communication network infrastructure, or processing power, we generate a different volume of usage. This opens up new perspectives and, most of all, it decreases costs, thereby enhancing effectiveness and ROI.

IIoT-ready applications For IIoT applications, the value is in the consolidated data. Before the data can be used for modelling and prediction purposes however, it must be extracted and this often a cumbersome and timeconsuming task, not to mention a drain on control engineering resources.

To ensure that the data necessary for optimising control engineering is based on the most up-to-date information an integrated data acquisition and device management platform designed for large-scale, IIoT applications can be helpful. But every hardware solution must be complemented by a set of software solutions, so the development of applications that facilitate remote Control Engineering Europe

device management and data acquisition can be facilitated. Control engineers also benefit from the fast and easy integration of Modbus communications, data acquisition, data processing, wireless networking, and device management so they can make full use of the IIoT´s benefits, and focus on their applications instead of on complex integrations.

Challenges include: Complex integration of devices for mass deployment in the IIoT: A largescale plant implies the integration and control of thousands of devices. This is time-consuming and not always easy – different devices use different communication protocols, and only if their integration runs smoothly can a system can be well managed.

This can be overcome by companies writing their own programs to ensure that their devices communicate with each other. However, this is complex and costly and could prolong the installation process, so is not an ideal choice. Moxa’s ThingsPro Suite is designed to enable the integration of data acquisition and wireless management in a few simple steps.

Maintaining uptime in unstaffed locations: In distributed systems, control engineers often have to travel to ensure optimal operability. In a typical Industrial IoT environment, the computing systems at the edge of the network are located at unstaffed or remote sites, which make troubleshooting and maintenance difficult and expensive. A proactive self-maintenance utility can help maintain remote systems and minimise system downtime from a central location, saving time and effort for other tasks.

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Martin Jones is general manager for Moxa Europe.

Keeping valuable business data secure: Control engineers today are confronted with security issues. As they keep up with the Industrial IoT trend and enjoy the benefits of data transmission between devices, servers and databases, they are aware that privacy is a serious concern and industrial systems must be secure to prevent unauthorised access.

The requirements and challenges will vary depending on the industry or application. Control engineers who develop data acquisition and asset management software programs on their own database may need to transfer field data directly into the remote database. Many engineers are not familiar with Information Technology and 4G LTE, so will need assistance in connecting field devices to a wide area network (WAN) with a device or software that can handle the conversion work.

While many companies are focused on extracting value from the big data analytics delivered by IIoT, they are also finding that a fundamental critical success factor can be attributed to their ability to effectively connect/ communicate with their industrial assets and sensors. By leveraging its core competencies, Moxa is focused on enabling IIoT connectivity to legacy equipment too. According to the Industrial Internet Consortium’s Industrial Internet Reference Architecture, technology which facilitates transporting data from the edge tier to the platform tier in a reliable and secure manner is vital to overall implementation success.

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