Control, Instrumentation and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries March 2020
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Ready for seamless connectivity IoT, vision and theory, transformed into reality!
Are pneumatic systems smart enough to survive?
Edge computing: A shift is coming
Simulation must overcome complexity and trust issues
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CONTENTS Getting the best out of technologies – old and new Editor Suzanne Gill suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk Sales Manager Adam Yates adam.yates@imlgroup.co.uk Group Publisher Iain McLean iain.mclean@imlgroup.co.uk Production Holly Reed holly.reed@imlgroup.co.uk Dan Jago David May G and C Media
Group Publisher Production Manager Studio Design
In this issue we are looking at a variety of relatively new technologies, as well as reporting on the future of a very traditional technology as we move into the Industry 4.0 era. Simulation will bring so many benefits to industry if it can overcome some perception issues. There is a belief that the technology is difficult and time consuming to implement. While this was true in the past, today it is a different story, and ever more tools are now available to create, utilise and maintain simulation solutions. Find out more on page 12. There is also a report in this issue that looks at how pneumatics is adapting to the digital world. It would appear that there is plenty of life left in this very traditional technology. Read our report on pg 18. Suzanne Gill Editor – Control Engineering Europe suzanne.gill@imlgroup.co.uk
INDUSTRY REPORT
EDGE COMPUTING
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20 Those already using edge computing might be considered early adopters, but recent research suggests that a shift is coming
Spend on simulation software grows as use cases prove its benefits
EDITOR’S CHOICE 6
MARSHALLING
Mobile Android solution for configuring and setting up HART field devices
24 Roger Highton looks at the challenges faced by industrial plants today and how a new approach to marshalling looks set to deliver improvements
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY 10 Eckard Eberle gives his thoughts on how future industrial wireless networks might look when 5G launches
IIoT
SIMULATION 12 We find out what benefits simulation technologies might offer in the process and manufacturing sectors, and look at progress on adoption of the technology
26 A summary of the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the IIoT and an overview of the real-time demands of industrial networks
ROBOTICS 16 Robots as a future-proofing tool 17 Ensuring safe mobile robot installations
PNEUMATICS 18 As Industry 4.0 starts to change the manufacturing and process industries, many have questioned whether pneumatics has a future Control Engineering Europe is a controlled circulation journal published eight times per year by IML Group plc under license from CFE Media LLC. Copyright in the contents of Control Engineering Europe is the property of the publisher. ISSN 1741-4237 IML Group plc Blair House, High Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1BQ UK Tel: +44 (0) 1732 359990 Fax: +44 (0) 1732 770049
Control Engineering Europe
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Control Engineering (USA) Mark Hoske, Circulation Tel: +44 (0)1732 359990 Email: subscription@imlgroup.co.uk Completed print or on line registration forms will be considered for free supply of printed issues, web site access and on line services.
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March 2020
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INDUSTRY REPORTS
PROFINET gets boosted security measures at protocol level PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) has always recognised security as being one of the most vital components of an industrial communication system. Since 2006, the PROFINET Security Guideline has described the technical and procedural measures on the part of the manufacturer and users of PROFINET devices. PI is now developing supplemental measures to protect PROFINET at the protocol level. The IT security of production plants is growing in importance. The integrated networking in companies, the vertical integration and the trend toward flatter system hierarchies requires comprehensive approaches for IT security in production. Previous concepts, which relied primarily on isolating the production plants, need to be supplemented with new measures that make provision for the protection of components – including the protection of PROFINET at protocol
level. The basics for this were presented by PI in the white paper ‘Security Extensions for PROFINET,’ which draws on international standard IEC 62443. Various security objectives play a significant role for PROFINET in this process. One of the highest priorities is integrity – for example, identifying and preventing data manipulation or the suppressing of alarms in devices. Changing the configuration of IO devices in day-today operations must also be secured by means of authorisation. The robustness of the system, and thus its availability, also cannot be disregarded. The analysis of the security objectives yielded various priorities, resulting in PI now having defined three security classes: robustness; integrity and authenticity; and confidentiality. This allows for the authenticity of the PROFINET nodes to be ensured through a cryptographically secured digital
identity – in the form of certificates. But the integrity of the communication can also be ensured, for example through cryptographic checksums. The necessary specification tasks have now been outlined, and initial measures for security class 1 (robustness) have been defined. These will be integrated in the specifications for PROFINET and for GSDML Parallel to this, further development is taking place on the other security classes to ensure that PROFINET will be equipped to face the demands of Industry 4.0.
EtherNet/IP now integrates IO-Link devices The ODVA has published enhancements to The EtherNet/IP Specification, which outline how to integrate devices built to the IO-Link Communication Standard into CIP architectures. The addition of this capability allows for IO-Link sensors and devices at the lowest level of the network to be better connected with EtherNet/IP controllers and devices at higher levels of the network. “IO-Link device integration with CIP provides seamless communications between CIP originators and IO-Link devices through the intermediate IO-Link master, all using existing IO-Link hardware and standards,” said Dr. Al Beydoun, president and executive director at ODVA. IO-Link to CIP connectivity aims
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to reduce engineering effort and ease the acquisition of data and information, leading to a more efficient, connected plant that is better able to meet the demands that IT/OT convergence are bringing to the factory floor. IO-Link devices can now be recognised within EtherNet/IP without the end user having the burden of data conversion. From the perspective of EtherNet/IP, an IO-Link device is viewed as a native CIP device sitting on a (virtual) subnet. The IO-Link Master provides the CIP capability for the IO-Link device, transparent to the originating CIP application. All three types of IO-Link communication (cyclic, acyclic, and events) are mapped to CIP communication types. CIP to IO-Link communication is possible with an
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unchanged IO-Link master and device specification that is standardised within IEC. Direct communication is enabled via translation between CIP originators and IO-Link devices through the intermediate IO-Link master. All IO-Link devices are treated as if they were CIP Connection target devices (I/O Adapters) on a virtual IO-Link subnet. Further EtherNet/IP developments are also underway to continue to best meet the industrial communication and control needs of both today and the future across the machine and process automation industries, and through widespread adoption and the use of standardised industrial network technology, EtherNet/IP is positioned to allow for optimal asset optimisation. Control Engineering Europe
INDUSTRY REPORTS
Spend on simulation software grows as use cases prove its benefits Traditionally, simulation software has only been employed to tweak production lines. Today, however, it is being utilised to test new concepts, accelerate product development, and demonstrate regulatory compliance, according to a new report from ABI Research, enititled ‘Industrial Simulation Use Cases: How Simulation Software Benefits Manufacturers’ Operations application analysis report.’ Investment in simulation software only tends to occur when there is uncertainty about making changes to a production line or when building a brand-new line is too expensive. That is because downtime is so costly in terms of operational efficiencies. “New use cases have now proven that by investing in simulation software, manufacturers can identify and solve issues in advance. Simulation software can also be used to simulate how components work together in creating new products and simulating process flows to demonstrate compliance,” explained Michael Larner, principal analyst at ABI Research. Notable use cases for simulation software include AnyLogic helping
General Dynamic (NASSCO) improve its handling of the thousands of parts flowing though its shipyards and Siemens modelling Electrolux’s factories to identify operational efficiencies. Dassault Systèmes is helping Global Trailers accelerate the processes for bringing new trailers to market. At the same time, AspenTech developed a solution for Fluor, an engineering and construction firm, to demonstrate that its sulfur tracking technologies help gas plants meet environmental requirements. The more complex the production line and the engineering process, the greater the demand for simulation software. “Testing in the digital world before going live on the factory floor becomes critical when mistakes are possible and expensive to rectify,” continued Larner.
It appears that manufacturers are taking note and it is expected that the global total for the number of simulation software users will grow from 60,000 in 2018, to 110,000 at the end of 2025, and 172,000 at the end of 2030. “The strongest argument for simulation software is about ROI. The financial and reputational costs associated with a failure on the production line can be catastrophic,” concluded Larner.
IO-Link description file database grows The IODDfinder is a centralised, crossmanufacturer data-base containing IO-Link description files. The database, which is maintained by members of the IO-Link community, now hosts more than 7,500 de-scription files from around 80 manufacturers, making it the world’s largest collection of IODDs. By joining the community, each member gets the opportunity to create a manufactur-er account in IODDfinder so they can upload the description files for their devices there. The platform features a web front end which people can use to search for and find IODDs for individual devices. Control Engineering Europe
The added value comes from the application program interfaces (APIs) which device manufactures can also use to automatically upload, update and manage a large num-ber of IODDs. These interfaces ensure that the central database is always complete and that their content is always up to date. Description files can also be downloaded automatically using APIs. This allows software tools to access the database over the Internet for device configuration or integration in-to automation systems, for example. A majority of downloads are now
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carried out using such tools. Each IO-Link device fea-tures its own device ID and a specific manufacturer ID. The software tools can read out these two identification numbers immediately after connecting to IO-Link devices and – if they are online – download the appropriate description file from the Internet fully automatically. This enables the software tool to communicate with the connected IO-Link device immediately after the download. IODDfinder is available free of charge to users of the web front end. www.io-link.com March 2020
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EDITOR’S CHOICE
A solenoid valve alternative Electric valves have appeal as an alternative to pneumatic actuators, on account of their cost efficiency and performance. The reduced risk of contamination and the application in a wide variety of plants are also positives in favour of electrically operated valves. GEMÜ is responding to this demand with the launch of the GEMÜ eSyLite, eSyStep and eSyDrive valves. A low-cost plastic diaphragm valve for simple and cost-sensitive applications is available in the form of the GEMÜ R629 eSyLite which is said to offer a costeffective alternative to solenoid valves made of plastic or motorised plastic ball valves. The GEMÜ eSyStep valves are designed for standard open/close and simple control applications. The actuator is a compact spindle actuator with step motor. Via the interface in the housing cover, the
valve can be extended with additional accessories such as electrical position indicators or travel sensors to provide extra functions. GEMÜ eSyStep valves are available in globe valve, angle seat globe valve and diaphragm valve versions made
of metal and plastic but adapting to M-block valves is also possible. The GEMÜ eSyDrive valves are available for variable and complex open/close and control applications in conjunction with high requirements on performance and service life. The actuator is based on the hollow shaft principle. Both the Ethernet-based eSyweb interface, in conjunction with an integrated web server, and the ModbusTCP communication interface, enable the exchange of parametrisation and diagnostics data and the networking of several devices. If necessary, users can also benefit from a range of integrated functions such as stroke limiters and speed settings. This provides customers with a wide product range of electric valves both for industrial processes and for applications with particularly high purity and hygiene requirements.
Reduced complexity of deploying machine learning for quality inspection Pleora Technologies has introduced a machine vision artificial intelligence (AI) platform that is said to simplify the deployment of advanced machine learning capabilities to improve the reliability and lower the cost of visual quality inspection. “While AI promises to revolutionise quality inspection, integrators and designers struggle with how to cost-effectively integrate advanced capabilities into existing and new
applications,” said Harry Page, president, Pleora Technologies. “Pleora’s AI Gateway platform is an evolutionary approach to AI, with plug-in machine learning skills for classification, sorting, and defect detection, combined with the flexibility to train and deploy open source or custom algorithms. Users can immediately employ AI to reduce inspection errors, false-positives, and secondary screenings while preparing
for more advanced Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 applications.” With Pleora’s new gateway endusers and integrators can more easily deploy AI skills without the need for any additional programming knowledge. Through a web-based interface, images and data are uploaded to ‘no code’ training software on a host PC, which generates a neural network that is deployed onto the Pleora AI Gateway.
Mobile Android solution for configuring and setting up HART field devices Softing Industrial, together with i.safe MOBILE GmbH and ProComSol, is now able to offer a complete solution for setting the parameters and configuring HART field devices in Android applications. The combination of Softing’s mobiLink interface, i.safe MOBILE’s Android tablets and smartphones and ProComSol’s DevComDroid App for mobile field devices has been successfully tested as a solution for simple and safe
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configuration and parameter setting of HART field devices and also for hazardous areas. The bundle is available from i.safe MOBILE. All i.safe MOBILE products are certified for safe use in hazardous areas and are suitable for robust use in industry and outdoors.
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Control Engineering Europe
Game Changer Two Steps Ahead
ctrlX Automation from Rexroth: The most open automation system on the market Enter the future today with ctrlX Automation, a system with endless possibilities. This 360 solution is uncompromisingly open, with no proprietary systems or interfaces, free choice of programming language and ready for future standards. Flexible, with straight forward start up and nonstop performance, ctrlX keeps you entirely connected to almost everything. ctrlX, the revolution in engineering. Two Steps Ahead.
COVER STORY
IoT and Industry 4.0 in physical form Nigel Dawson, Global Head of Electric Automation Business Development at Festo explains how a single machine can demonstrate the possible opportunities of IoT in manufacturing.
T
he global manufacturing industry spends a great deal of time and effort discussing IoT and how it will affect production of the future. Many of the ideas and principles remain abstract, with very few ‘real’ Industry 4.0 factories in existence. It is often difficult to portray the many facets of IoT in manufacturing in one place, but Festo has produced a 5m long production line, named ‘The Productivity Master’ that attempts to bring often abstract ideas into reality.
The idea The original idea was to produce a single machine, showing a real production environment, and all the elements of connectivity from the workpiece to the cloud. Festo manufactures and supplies a full range of automation equipment, from pneumatic actuators to ball screw drives, from process valves to servo drives, from vision sensors to IoT gateway. The challenge was to bring the portfolio together in a single practical way. Not only should the machine explain the seamless connectivity needed to meet the needs of the future factory, it should also reach into the cloud and explore the world of digitals twins, multiple communication networking, big data and online cloud diagnostics.
Representative industrial applications While the factory of the future will stretch the boundaries of connectivity, big data, virtual commissioning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), what will not change much is the way factories will make or assemble products. The
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Fig 1: The 5m long Productivity Master from Festo.
Productivity Master takes blank USB memory sticks from typical cassettes, prints and places labels on both sides of the stick, it then loads a custom set of data on the stick, and then distributes the stick to the recipient from its buffer storage location. Many typical machine functions can be seen throughout the process such as: • Pick and place • Component flipping • Rotation functions • Rotary table control • Vacuum and gripper handling • Typical label printing and placement • Magazine indexing • Storage location logging • Vision sensing • Orientation checking and placement • Component transfer By bringing typical application examples onto the Productivity Master, it becomes easier to associate it to real life and therefore see how future digitalisation principles can be applied
to production lines. Users can associate representative applications and motion to their experiences and therefore create a tangible link to how IoT can help in the future.
Products and technologies on display Similar to applications, the types of products and technologies on display are important to create a palpable link to machines found in the market today. The objective of the Productivity Master is not to focus on any single product from Festo but to showcase the portfolio’s connectivity capability and the breadth of range, from pneumatic to electric solutions.
Fig 2: Seamless connectivity from the Festo CMMT-AS servo drives.
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Control Engineering Europe
COVER STORY
Fig 3: USB sticks can be called from the buffer station via a scan of the QR code.
While the Productivity Master is 5m long, it is constructed of 5 individual cells that can be replaced with different functions. This introduces the challenge of not just communication between automation equipment in a cell, but also the communication between discreet cells. Each cell utilizes a Festo CPX-E motion controller as the individual cell control communicating cyclic data to Festo servo drives, pneumatic valve terminals and sensors via EtherCAT and IO Link. In turn, each cell communicates along the machine using Ethernet, with the final connections using OPC-UA directly to the Cloud via the Festo IoT gateway. Motion in modern automation is provided by both electrical and pneumatic means. The productivity master represents this mix with low voltage and extra low voltage drives, seamlessly working closely with traditional valve terminals and the innovative intelligent pneumatic Motion Terminal from Festo, the VTEM. In all aspects of automation, the choice of technology is seamless from both pneumatic and electric grippers to both ball screw and pneumatic mini slide systems.
automated single lot size process, allowing orders for USB memory to be done online from anywhere in the world, producing a customised QR code for the personalised stick. The user can then call off their order from the cloud via the screen or by scanning their QR code on the Festo Vision Sensor and the USB stick will be immediately produced, printed with the users’ personal message, loaded with data and stored, ready to be called off by a second scan of the code. Like the real Festo factory in Scharnhausen, Germany, the Productivity Master utilises the latest digital maintenance manager for production managers and system operators. Smartenance from Festo provides the maintenance engineers with a clear schedule and evaluation for the Productivity Master maintenance and offers a fast and easy transition to digital
maintenance. The system consists of two parts; a mobile maintenance schedule in the form of an app for smartphones and tablets on the shop floor, and a web browser interface for managing and documenting the maintenance tasks in the office. Smartenance is quick and easy for anyone to install, self-explanatory and a simple and cost-effective introduction to digitalisation. The Productivity Master also takes advantage of the Festo Dashboards in the cloud. The CPX automation platform, pneumatic service units and Servo Drives are all connected to the virtual world via the IoT gateway. Operators can immediately gain access to the most important aspects of the machine such as temperature, current and speeds of servos, analogue and digital signals and errors. Air pressure and air consumption can also be monitored allowing changes to be logged, predicting possible problems in the future. Data can be accessed anywhere in the world and both live and historical data can be viewed without any programming or set up, due to the preconfigured nature of the dashboards. Visit Festo and the Productivity Master at the Hannover fair from 20-24 April, Hall 7.
The virtual world made real With cloud connectivity, the Productivity Master is an ideal showcase to show the advantages of the virtual world on a physical machine. The machine operates a fully Control Engineering Europe
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March 2020
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WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
Is 5G going to be better than previous generations? Eckard Eberle gives his thoughts on how future industrial wireless networks might look.
T
he recent hype about the new 5G wireless network technology gives the impression that this is the first time wireless can be used in industrial applications. However, for over 20 years wireless technologies – such as industrial Wireless LAN, WiMAX and the different mobile wireless networks (2G, 3G, 4G) have been successfully employed for many different kinds of industrial application. Today it is important to consider what the new 5G standard will bring to industry and how future industrial wireless networks might look. Around 40 years ago the first cellular network was released. It was mainly focused on enhancing the usage in the public domain – for example, mobile phones. Every decade since then a new generation has been released, with only minor innovations. This changes with the 5th generation cellular network technology. Siemens, among other industrial players, became part of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) at an early stage to ensure that industrial requirements would be part of the upcoming 5G standard. After all this work, the outlook for 5G in industry is very promising, but there is still some way to go. Before looking further into the future, it is useful to recapture how mobile wireless technology changed the world we live in today. When the first commercial cellular network was launched in Japan in 1979 it was possible to communicate instantly via voice while being on the road for the first time. The 2nd generation in 1991 enabled text messaging, while 3G enabled mobile internet applications in 2002 until 4G was launched in 2009 to
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allow music and video streaming. Industry also benefitted from this development. With 1G the use cases for industry were almost non-existent. 2G brought text messaging and later even simple data transfer for industrial remote control and telecontrol applications. 3G allowed semi-live telecontrol and remote access where users could interact with applications installed remotely, with 4G allowing full and live remote access. This is not the end. The focus of 5G will be on higher bandwidths, higher reliability, lower latency and more connected devices.
5G potential 5G offers enormous benefits but it is also important to keep in mind that not all of its features will be available right from the start and additionally features cannot be used simultaneously to the full extent. The 3GPP is responsible for the global standardisation of cellular networks including the 5th generation. Early in the development of the latest generation a vision for 5G was created including three main scenarios. The first scenario, Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), includes enhancements to 4G and the main objective is to fulfill data-driven use cases which require high data rates with wide coverage areas. A typical example is the growing need for high quality and high definition streaming of music and video to mobile devices like smartphones, virtual reality glasses, etc. The most demanding scenario is the second one, Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), which embraces high reliability and lowlatency requirements for mission critical
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applications. Typical examples include mobile robots, autonomous logistics, automated-guided-vehicles (AGVs), safety applications in industrial control environments, etc. Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) as the third scenario is focused on having a large number of devices in a smaller area. A use case for such a deployment can be found in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications where typically a lot of connected sensors and devices are deployed in a small area which do not need to send and/or receive data continuously. To maintain a pre-defined timeline, 5G is divided into multiple releases. Release 15 was launched in December 2018 and is focused on the eMBB scenario. Release 16 is due in June 2020 and Release 17 in September 2021, both of which will add support for the remaining two scenarios URLLC and mMTC enhancing industrial applications.
Private networks There are several variables to deploying a 5G network, one of which is ‘public versus private’. The first public networks are already available, but private networks for industry will come only in a couple of years when Release 16 is launched supporting the relevant features for industry. Private networks will be the key for industry as users own and control their network and are able to customise it, depending on the use cases. For several industries URLLC and mMTC could be more beneficial than eMBB, for example. With a private deployment the end-user can determine what parameters are set and can therefore run the network in its most optimal way. Furthermore, data privacy Control Engineering Europe
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY can be ensured by own responsibility. For private networks the industry needs to have spectrum available. In Germany the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) has decided to reserve 100 MHz from 3.7 GHz – 3.8 GHz for local use in industrial environments. This gives the possibility to rent spectrum for a reasonable yearly fee to use it within their own premises and to keep optimal data privacy. Other countries, such as United Kingdom, are looking at Germany as they would also need the ability to provide licensed spectrum, offering companies the possibility to establish private campus networks that no one else can access. This offers a real benefit for industry and opens the way to flexible factories of the future.
Industrial 5G For 5G to become truly fit for industry it is necessary to wait for Release 16 which is scheduled for June 2020. After that, it is up to the silicon
providers to deliver the first industryready chips enabling industrial suppliers to build industry-grade product portfolios. Besides the hardware, another important factor is the support of solutions for private networks. These very robust and reliable wireless networks provide optimal security by keeping data on-premises and leveraging global standards in a selfowned environment. This is important because reliability equals uptime. This means that a less reliable industrial network potentially results in more production downtime leading to production loss. Besides all of that, it is also necessary to provide support for industrial protocols like OPC UA or Profinet. In the meantime, we are testing the current 5G standard in an industrial environment to ensure correct functionality, no matter how challenging the conditions will be.
All in all, looking at the promises of 5G – low-latency communication, ultra-reliability, more end-devices in a smaller area, public and/or private networks – this new wireless communication scenarios look very promising. The private networks in particular, which are based on local use/industry spectrum, will pave the way for solutions which have not previously been possible, for example robots working together instead of side-by-side, or fully autonomous intra-logistic solutions. 5G is well prepared for being deployed in industrial applications. However, before the green light for the wireless smart factory of the future can be given, we need a truly Industrial 5G solution fulfilling all requirements for mission-critical applications. ! Eckard Eberle is CEO of Siemens Process Automation.
SIMULATION TECHOLOGY
Simulation needs to overcome perceived complexity and trust issues Control Engineering Europe asked some industry spokespeople for their views about the benefits that simulation technologies might offer in the process and manufacturing sectors, and about progress on adoption of the technology. Q: Is simulation technology being used widely in process or manufacturing sector operations today? If so, why and in what type of application? Dr Mathias Oppelt, head of Simulation Center for process automation at Siemens (MO): Yes, simulation technology can be considered stateof-the-art along the lifecycle of process and manufacturing plants. It starts with support of the process with process simulation tools. Next the engineering of the plant needs to be supported by simulation. For example, for validating the construction or to support the engineering and validation of the automation system by virtual commissioning. Further, operators of the plant can be trained in a realistic simulator environment, consisting of a high-fidelity model of the plant and process and the original automation logic and graphics. Finally, during plant operations simulation can be applied. What they all have in common is that they are based on a rigorous mathematical model of the plant process, which is then applied to numerical solvers which undertake optimisation calculations. The overall reason to use simulation or model-based technology along the life cycle is to support the decision-making processes and thus to lower risks and increase efficiency.
However, historically it was viewed as an expensive technology, difficult to maintain and so was only applicable to a subset of end-users. Recently, we have seen the technology become much more accessible, applicable to all the process industries as well as easier to maintain. This has resulted in it being applied to a number of different applications. Emerson’s Digital Twin lifecycle concept outlines how this technology can be applied. It describes how an initial steady state design model of process (which almost all processes will have in some form) can be utilised and built upon to develop a plant wide dynamic simulation of the process. This allows it to be used for applications such as design
review, engineering studies, procedure development, control system validation, virtual commissioning, competency assessment and most importantly as an operational decision support tool. Prith Banerjee, chief technology officer at ANSYS (PB): We are seeing simulation being used widely in the process and manufacturing sector to model various processes in order to optimise design parameters in both continuous process automation – such as pulp and paper or oil and gas – and discrete manufacturing automation like automotive and aerospace. Simulation is also used to model the control systems such as DCSs, PLCs and drives, driving process plants and discrete automation.
Ronnie Baines, director, Process Simulation & Digital Twin Europe, Emerson (RB): Simulation has been used in the process industries for many years.
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Control Engineering Europe
SIMULATION TECHOLOGY Q: How is simulation technology being integrated into legacy process and control systems? Is any additional technology/hardware needed to ensure successful integration? MO: The first option is to use the original hardware controllers and interface them to a simulator, representing the connected I/O, devices and processes. This setup is called hardware-in-the-loop and it requires a hardware device to emulate the bus participants the controller is expecting to communicate with. This setup is dependent firstly on the bus protocol and then on the controller. The second option is to use emulated controllers which are able to run the original controller logic. This setup is called software-in-the-loop and it does not require additional hardware. Emulators can typically run on a normal PC, which would also be needed to execute the simulation model for the plant behaviour. The simulation is the same as in the hardware-in-the-loop configuration but it talks directly with the virtual controllers. These virtual controllers are typically proprietary as they can only emulate a specific controller type. This second configuration typically comes with some additional benefits, as an emulated controller can also support functions like snapshot, to save and load states at any time, and to run in a virtual time, supporting fast- and slow-modes too. Sometimes you can also find a third configuration, where the control system is completely reimplemented within a simulation system. This configuration is used for more generic simulators, where the exact plant and control behaviour does not need to be represented. RB: Simulation provides two unique solutions for legacy systems. Firstly, we can develop a simulation of a process and integrate it into a copy of the legacy control system. This provides a ‘replica’ of the legacy system which can be used for training and removing bottlenecks from the process. Emerson’s Control Engineering Europe
Mimic simulation framework allows native connection into a large number of third-party control systems. PB: For legacy systems, users are building digital twins of their plants by taking pictures of the shop floor and building up the CAD models. This allows them to build simulation models to match the experimental results using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. Once these digital twins are built, they are being used to improve the Operating Equipment Efficiencies (OEE) metrics of various plants. Q: What are the barriers to simulation technology implementation in industrial applications, and how do you see these barriers being overcome? MO: There are a few barriers to the application of simulation technology. The first is the effort needed to create simulation models. This can be very time consuming and requires highly skilled domain experts. So, everything that reduces the effort for model generation is likely to support wider use of simulation. For example, models for virtual commissioning can now be generated to a high degree by reusing information from the control system or the plant engineering tool such as P&IDs. Other valuable tools are readyto-use library components which allows the model generation exercise to focus solely on the setup of the overall system, rather than on the modelling of individual components. Further benefits would be generated if simulation tools could be used, more intuitively, by non-modelling experts. If, for example, models are equipped with simplified GUIs, which support dedicated simulations by non-experts, it would open the space of simulationbased decision-making to a whole new group of people within an organisation. The underlaying simulation technology – such as numerical solvers – are already quite mature for most engineering problems, nevertheless if
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these can gain more accuracy with less computing power consumption and high robustness it is likely to lead to more simulation projects. Finally, the most critical factor, as always, is trust. Decisions made by simulation need to be trusted – by users and by management and certification agencies such as the TÜV or FDA. There are already good examples where early collaboration with certification agencies delivers high returns. Today it is a lack of confidence that seems to be one of the biggest hurdles to adoption of simulation technology, even as the technology in most fields is already very advanced it is the human factor that now needs to be addressed. RB: I believe the biggest barrier is a lack of awareness about how simulation technology has evolved in recent years and the perception of how difficult it is to develop. Traditionally, it has been deemed as expensive, limited in its uses and only supported by a few specialist resources. This has changed with the advent of better simulation technology, improved hardware performance and tools which have been developed to create, utilise and maintain simulation solutions to ensure the return on investment is maximised at each stage of a facilities lifecycle. Re-use of simulation models – from design through operations support – making the alignment with a production system an automated activity, are some of the ways to remove these barriers. Doing this helps to highlight the tangible values simulation will bring to both projects and operations, independent of the process. PB: The barriers to the adoption of simulation technologies in industrial applications is the legacy process plants where the original CAD models are not available. Another common barrier is plants that have not been connected using IoT technology to IoT platforms. However, once they are connected it is possible to build accurate simulationbased digital twin models ! March 2020
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CONTROL PANELS
DEFENDING AGAINST CONTROL PANEL ELECTRICAL HAZARDS Prevention through design (PtD) can help keep workers safe from electrical hazards, says Martin Kronz.
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ccupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) statistics show exposure to electrical hazards remain the sixthmost common cause of workplace fatalities overall and the third-most common cause in construction. Despite efforts to create awareness of electrical hazards and implement electrical safety programs that establish training and work procedures, electrical incidents continue to occur and workers are suffering the consequences. Prevention through design (PtD) can help workers with awareness and safety. The goal of PtD is to prevent workplace injuries through designs that limit human exposure and interaction with hazards as much as possible. Best practice is to establish and verify an electrically safe work condition exists before performing work. Correctly de-energising, verifying the absence of voltage, and complying with lockout/ tagout (LOTO) requirements requires the proper training, qualifications, and procedures. As plant operations evolve, personnel other than qualified electricians are interacting with electrical equipment when operating equipment. Tasks include updating firmware or programming, performing thermal scans, monitoring sensors, and performing non-electrical maintenance tasks. It is essential all personnel are aware of electrical hazards and these tasks are considered during the design phase so steps can be taken to mitigate potential exposure to electrical hazards. Performing absence-of-voltage verification with a portable test instrument is dependent on human input, interaction, and interpretation.
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Human error can and does occur even for experienced personnel. The need to maintain, monitor, and troubleshoot plant networks is increasing so it is vital to use the best technology available to minimise access to potential electrical hazards. Control engineers and equipment designers are the first line of defence against electrical hazards. Planning for safety throughout the equipment’s lifecycle needs to be top of mind when designing a workspace and selecting and installing equipment and safety technology. A common challenge is: How do engineers develop a standardised solution that safeguards authorised personnel from the energy source in electrical enclosures? PtD depends on understanding of the hierarchy of risk controls. The hierarchy ranks risk control measures from most to least effective: • Elimination physically removes the hazard. • Substitution replaces the hazard with something non-hazardous or minimises the hazard. • Engineering controls prevent access or act as a barrier between personnel and hazards. • Administrative controls try to change the way people work through training, procedure, policy and signage. • Personal protective equipment (PPE) can be effective in tandem with administrative controls, but does not eliminate the hazard. The process of verifying absence of voltage often relies primarily on the lowest two tiers of the hierarchy, administrative controls (including LOTO procedures, training and devices) and PPE. These methods are often the
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By automating absence of voltage verification and completing the entire verification process in 10 seconds, Panduit’s VeriSafe absence-ofvoltage-tester (AVT) enables plants to work faster, safer, and more efficiently. Courtesy: Panduit.
quickest to implement as they don’t require changes to existing equipment but are subject to human error and may not be the most effective method to control exposure to hazards as a long-term solution. Between training, PPE replacement costs, and remaining potential for incidents, implementing these two tiers of controls alone may be more expensive in the long run than designing a workspace with advanced safety technology in from the start. For example, PPE cannot prevent an electrical incident from happening; it only limits exposure. The effectiveness of administrative controls depends on the type of hazards and how consistently the controls are followed. Both leave room for human error. Unfortunately, the most effective methods of risk control may not be feasible to implement. Eliminating electricity from an electrical enclosure is not an option. However, engineers Control Engineering Europe
CONTROL PANELS can opt to implement substitutions that reduce shock hazards by replacing 120 V control circuits with 24 V. Exposed terminals also can be substituted with IP20-rated ‘fingersafe’ terminals to prevent the risk of accidental contact with energised conductors. Engineering controls don’t eliminate hazards but can isolate personnel from them and reduce risk to ‘as low as reasonably possible.’ Mounted on the outside of a control panel, a data access port provides access to electrical outlets and control panels without the need for personnel to open the enclosure itself. In the case of network troubleshooting, data access ports or remote network access allows personnel the ability to check or change program parameters without having to open the door to the electrical enclosure. When it comes to electrical hazards, engineering controls are
more effective and reliable than administrative controls and PPE alone. Active engineering controls may still require human interaction, but they are less susceptible to human error. Data access ports, permanently mounted voltage indicators, voltage test portals, and automated absence of voltage testers are tools or technologies that can be used with the prevention through design methodology to help reduce exposure to electrical hazards in the workplace. When de-energised work is required, automated absence-of-voltage testers (AVTs) can make the verification step of establishing an electrically-safe work condition safer and more efficient. By verifying the absence of voltage before the electrical equipment is even opened, automated testers reduce exposure to potential electrical hazards. Automating the process also makes it less susceptible to human error.
PtD benefits Innovations like data access ports and automated AVTs are making it viable to complement existing control procedures or replace lesseffective ones. These technologies prove that well-designed engineering controls protect workers without interfering with productivity. Safety innovations need to move as fast as the manufacturing industry is. Administrative controls and PPE can only go so far when it comes to mitigating risk from electrical hazards. If safety professionals want to see electrical hazards drop off OSHA’s list of top risks, PtD and engineering controls will be key to making that happen. Martin Kronz is manager of prevention through design — OEM business at Panduit. This article originally appeared in www.controleng.com
Flexible production through human-machine collaboration Intelligent, integrated and interactive factory automation systems
How can manufacturers increase efficiency with the help of artificial intelligence and robotics? The combination of precision control together with mobile and collaborative robots enables the highest levels of manufacturing line flexibility to address consumer demand for increased customisation, without the need to reconfigure a line. In summary, you can do more with the same space. Contact us for proof-of-concept testing!
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ROBOTICS
Employing robots as a future-proofing tool Today’s automated systems need to be more agile and must incorporate greater levels of flexibility to allow manufacturers to bring new products to market more quickly. Tim Bednall explains the role that robots have to play in achieving these goals.
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raditionally, manufacturing high volume products has involved the commissioning of special purpose machinery, designed around the product and capable of producing a single or small range of variants at high speeds. If the product range changes, or indeed if a completely new product is developed, these dedicated automation systems can require extensive modification, or in extreme cases the system could be scrapped. Robot systems offer the highest levels of flexibility in manufacturing processes and may hold the key to future-proofing automated systems. There are, of course, many products where there is just a single variant, the design does not change, and which are manufactured in such high volumes that cam-operated machine technology is required to achieve the desired output. Components such as small aerosol nozzle valves would be one example, where dedicated highspeed automation would be the most appropriate long-term solution. There are, however, a growing number of instances where greater flexibility is required to cater for shorter product life-cycles and/or multiple variants within a product range. It is in areas such as this where the flexibility of a robot will open up a range of possibilities for automation system designers, allowing them to develop a solution which is configured in such a way that future product variants can be accommodated with little or no retooling.
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A host of opportunities Robots, in their various guises, open up a host of opportunities to build in flexibility at all stages of the production process. For example, the traditional method of presenting parts to an automated assembly system was to use a series of bowl feeders. Robots are at the heart of delivering high levels of Although a reliable flexibility for assembly systems. solution, changing from one-part variant to another required system by performing re-orientation hard tooling changes. This could be operations. Depending upon variant, both time consuming and expensive if parts may require processing between there were multiple part types. one and three times. Robots have taken An alternative solution, developed by the place of traditional rotary indexing Wood Automation & Control for one systems for this task, once again UK manufacturer of domestic products, providing high levels of flexibility. uses a combination of a simple bulk For this manufacturer, the speed and feeding system, a conveyor, machine dexterity of robots work in conjunction vision and a robot. This solution allows with other dedicated assembly stations, the manufacturer to present any one where the parts being assembled of 27 different part variants without remain common, to provide the the need for any change part tooling. flexibility to switch from one part The vision system provides the robot type to another with no hard tooling with the position and orientation changes and by just selecting the part of the part allowing it to collect the type from the system HMI. part and present it to the assembly Innovative thinking on the part of the machine in the correct orientation. This automation design engineer, combined flexible part presentation system has with the inherent flexibility and speed the capability to easily accept new or of today’s robot systems, can really alternative part variants. In addition enhance the capabilities of automated to the vision system generating the assembly systems and provide a positional information for the robot, it continuing return on investment. ! also checks that the correct part variant is being presented. Tim Bednall is sales & marketing Robots also have a role to play in manager for Wood Automated other areas within this same assembly Systems UK.
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Control Engineering Europe
NEWS
Could pay-per-use IIoT models transform UK manufacturing? relayr has entered into a strategic partnership with trade association MAKE UK that will focus on how the implementation of IIoT pay-peruse models could transform the UK manufacturing industry. Together they will host a series of conferences, roundtables and workshops. While ‘smart factories’ are already using data analytics to optimise operations and increase their overall efficiency, for many established manufacturers the costs involved in funding this initial investment can be prohibitive. IIoT technology has
created tailwinds for payper-use business models and relayr will demonstrate how this could lower the entry hurdle for manufacturers, allowing them to benefit from reduced costs in the long-term, while avoiding the issue of purchasing stock that ends up as surplus to requirements. Throughout the partnership with MAKE UK, relayr will guide manufacturers through the digital transformation process, imparting advice on how businesses can start
to take their first steps on the digital journey, smashing the perception that digitisation is something for IT suppliers that cannot be easily understood or implemented.
Food Processing Awards 2020: Rewarding excellence and innovation in food engineering Nominations are now open for entry into the annual Food Processing Awards, which acknowledge and engineering excellence and innovation in the food and beverage processing sector. This year the award ceremony will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Coventry on the evening of the annual Appetite for Engineering event on 15th October. The Food Processing Awards 2020 categories are: • Robotics & Automation • Lean / Continuous Improvement • Young Engineer of the Year • Lifetime Achievement • Hygiene & Food Safety • Process & Packaging • Skills & Development • Smart / Digital Technology • Environmental / Sustainability Nominating a company or person is easy. You can nominate your own company; you can nominate an innovative product that was developed to solve a food processing issue; or you could nominate a food industry engineering project that incorporates automation technology and has helped solve a problem. Control Engineering UK
Nominations need to include the following information: • Contact name, address, phone number and email of nominee and category. • Details about the nominated product/ application/technology/person (and high-resolution image where possible). • Brief statement about the potential impact of the nomination for the food and beverage processing sector. • Brief evidence or customer recommendations about the benefits – if applicable. Nominations should be sent to the editor of Food Processing – Suzanne. gill@imlgroup.co.uk – before 22nd June. After this date the final nominations will be presented to the readers of Food Processing for consideration. Last year’s winners included Bakkavör’s apprenticeship programmes, which have been designed to develop the skills of young engineering talent who want to embark on a new career in food
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manufacturing while working towards a nationally recognised qualification. Winner of the Process & Packaging Award was the Hygienic eXtended Transport System (XTS) from Beckhoff Automation is a linear motion technology that offers a high degree of design freedom and reduces maintenance requirements, while igus UK scooped the Robotics & Automation Award with its robolink DCi, a costeffective robotic arm solution for the food industry which offers the benefits of flexibility for picking and packing applications. The robotic arm is suited to use in lifting applications. It can handle items weighing up to 1kg with an accuracy of ±0.5mm and it can be installed and commissioned without the need for any prior robotics experience.
March 2020
UK1
UK NEWS
SOLVING THE UK’S PRODUCTIVITY PROBLEMS WITH ROBOTICS Mike Wilson argues that it is time for the UK manufacturing to look seriously at the adoption of automation, and robotics in particular, to help improve productivity figures.
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K manufacturing faces multiple challenges. Foremost, is that competition from more productive countries is continuing to grow at a pace. Compared with the United States, China, Germany, Japan, India, Poland and France over a 10-year period from 2006 to 2016, the UK was the only country where productivity per person per hour actually decreased (by 9%). All the other countries mentioned saw an increase – with Germany raising its productivity rate by 21%. The sector is also facing other serious challenges, including a significant shortage in engineering skills, the rising costs of energy and raw materials, increasing demands for production flexibility, and the still great unknown that is Brexit. While there is no silver bullet for these scenarios, the UK’s manufacturing sector can go some way to resolving these challenges by using its labour and resources more effectively and working smarter by giving its staff the tools to do their jobs more efficiently – sweating the assets, not the people. Key to this is increasing the adoption of automation and, in particular, robotics to close the gap on our competitors. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) robot adoption in the UK is significantly behind that of other more productive countries. South Korea has a robot density of 774 robots per 10,000 employees, Germany is running at 338, the USA at 217, Italy at 200, Spain at 168 and France at 154. The UK, meanwhile, ranks 22nd in the world with a robot density of only 91, below the global average of 99.
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Task reallocation There are, of course, plenty of critics who claim that any increase in robots in the workplace will mean a reduction in jobs for people. But there is much evidence to show that, rather than resulting in job substitution, automation does, in fact, lead to a reallocation of tasks in which robots complement and augment human labour by performing routine or dangerous tasks. This, in turn, provides the opportunity for people to focus on higher-skilled, higher-quality and higher-paid roles. In terms of productivity and quality, the benefits of robotic automation cannot be ignored, as the automotive industry can corroborate. The deployment of robots results in an increased yield and a better use of staff, of other equipment and of space and energy and delivers consistently high quality, with reduced waste and reworking. Robotic automation also offers companies improved health and
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safety, extendable production hours and greater flexibility regarding quick changeovers and product redesign, while offering staff more rewarding jobs. While a certain level of investment is required in equipment and training to start the automation process, UK manufacturing has to understand that maintaining the status quo or failing to start investing now is just going to widen the already existing gap in competitiveness with other countries. Therefore, I urge companies to begin the process as soon as possible and appeal to the UK government to lead and support the increased adoption of robots and automation technologies to enhance our productivity and competitiveness in an increasingly challenging global market. ! Mike Wilson is managing director at KUKA UK & Ireland and chairman at British Automation & Robot Association (BARA). Control Engineering UK
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www.beckhoff.co.uk/process Beckhoff offers an integrated automation concept for different markets and applications in the process industry. Automation and process technology are combined on a single hardware and software platform. Also integrated: barrier-free communication from zone 0/20 into the cloud via intrinsically safe EtherCAT Terminals as well as all modules for the IoT connection and data analysis. Beckhoff thus offers the control alternative for numerous industries: from oil and gas production through petrochemistry and water management to pulp and paper manufacturing.
FOOD INDUSTRY FOCUS
STAYING AHEAD OF ALLERGY REGULATIONS
James Woods asks whether traceability compliance is currently robust enough to protect an increasingly allergic generation of consumers.
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t has been estimated that 1 -2 % of adults and 5 – 8% of children in the UK today are living with a food allergy, not taking into account those people with food intolerances. Such figures put food businesses are under pressure to protect consumers and their brand. There is a need to ensure that clear, accurate and detailed information regarding allergenic components and ingredients is available at all times, with the right processes and procedures in place to carry out swift, effective recalls should the need arise. However, with increasingly complex recipes, and growing demand for new tastes and flavours, in combination with the need to cut costs and the rise in use of single production lines for multiple products, the potential for allergen contamination and misinformation is greater than ever before.
Regulatory demands Of course, there are regulations in place – EU regulation 178/2002, for example, requires every food and beverage business in the EU, and those bringing products into the EU, to have traceability and recall systems in place, but it does not specify how effective these systems need to be. To a certain extent, food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers are driving their own best practice. This is why so many food and beverage businesses are putting robust processes and procedures in place to ensure full traceability right across the supply chain. Manual processes are no longer sufficient to handle the multiple, interdependent variables at play – processing, identifying, tracking and correctly labelling all the ingredients and components involved. However, not all
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of these solutions will stand the test of time. What were sufficient capabilities a few years ago are potentially not enough for today, with technological advances in production and manufacturing often outpacing the rate at which the accompanying food and beverage systems evolve.
Ongoing evaluation Food processors need to continually evaluate their procedures and processes to guarantee the allimportant BRC grade A accreditation for traceability. While disparate systems spread across the supply chain might make traceability possible, it is often a lengthy and complex process, unable to match the speed and accuracy of a centralised solution able to gather information from right across the business at the click of a mouse, with no gaps or bottlenecks and providing the accuracy that robust traceability requires. Traceability data needs to be automatically associated with production data, with systems able to track and trace multiple ingredients and components at every stage. The depth of information available is crucial too, with lot and batch-specific information in combination with quality control and raw material supply data providing a comprehensive and transparent overview of the product. The right technology should not only track all this data but should also be able to translate
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it into precise labelling information, as well as producing searchable reports and product declarations. With the right solution in place, food and beverage businesses can lead where regulation should follow, establishing the necessary levels of rigour and diligence to comply with legislation and industry standards and to guarantee consumer safety. In this era of complex, interdependent, fast-moving supply chains, technology is surely the only possible answer to achieve all of this. It is vital to put robust mechanisms in place to ensure efficient track-and-trace capabilities, internally, externally, forwards and backwards, bottom-up and top-down to protect consumers, improve efficiency and lessen the exposure of businesses to corporate risk. ! James Woods is regional account director, process manufacturing at Aptean. Control Engineering UK
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FOOD INDUSTRY FOCUS
IS YOUR LEGACY PLC FAILING YOU ON FOOD HYGIENE?
Edward Ralph looks at how PLCs can help address hygiene and food safety issues.
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he food processing sector has lagged behind many others in adopting new technologies and there are still many older legacy systems running a lot of processes. These increasingly present a risk to business as parts become redundant, the skills required to support them disappear and the downtime required to maintain them proves increasingly expensive. Keeping abreast of technology can result in better process control, diagnostics and reporting. Today’s PLC hardware is now more compact, faster and powerful than ever. Software has become more accessible – moving from a requirement for coding experts prior to the introduction of IEC 61131 open international standard in 1993 to fully structured programmes that are supportable and in modern, user defined data type (UDT)-based language. And web-server integration in HMIs offers secure access to remote users and engineers, resulting in costeffective 24/7 support.
Out with the old… The food sector is under increasing pressure to embrace technology developments. And, with an uncertain time ahead in terms of food standards for British food manufacturers, being on top of efficiency and hygiene for the production line is vital. Advances in visual displays, logic controllers and connectivity to analytical instruments has opened up the control spectrum. Introducing new processor and control displays can simplify an operation, reducing operator error and providing the means to record events critical to control, quality and hygiene. Most legacy systems continue to do the job that they were originally installed to do. This is often one-dimensional and does not realise the potential that
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modern PLCs can have to link functions of the automation system with business systems and the production environment, improving production and maintenance. For many of PVSL’s food and drink sector customers, a key area for production and maintenance is hygiene during cleaning-in-place (CIP) on the production line. A recent project for The latest PLC technologies and the right systems can address productivity, efficiency and food hygiene issues. a UK bakery was focused on upgrading the PLC to improve data collection and diagnostic A fully structured text programme of the CIP process as well as improving was introduced and, once retraining water and energy use. The client was undertaken, this assisted the stipulated zero impact installation, so no operator or maintenance engineer to stoppage of the plant during installation identify problems and also opened up a from a production viewpoint. whole new database of plant variables The client’s legacy PLC and Mimic critical to quality and hygiene. This panel, which covered several processes, included carefully monitoring flow and had become difficult to operate and pressure to validate accurate use of yielded little data to validate quality and water and chemical consumption. hygiene of the plant. It also relied on New features included real-time paper records which was time intensive, alarm and event logging along with inefficient and costly. trending data for a better view of The initial review identified several performance alongside quality and upgrade opportunities for the line, chemical usage-related records. CIP including options for conductivity meters validation was provided by conductivity for better logging and compliance to measure detergent strength and checks, the fitting of modern loadcell pH monitoring in rinsing. As a result, amplifiers for the product tanks as water usage was reduced through CIP well as upgrading all the product tank optimisation by around an estimated instruments and replacement of pumps two-thirds. and drives to introduce efficiencies in The new HMI and PLC allows power consumption. remote support for the client, saving However, it was the upgrades to the engineering travel and line down-time. PLC itself that yielded the real benefits. It also now allows for the collection A new stainless-steel control panel was of data for management and quality installed along with a similar panel reporting. For hygiene, it trends all data for pneumatics. The new processor from validated cleaning cycles, including and control display panel – connected detergent strengths, temperatures and directly to the old field cabling – was rinsing values. ! introduced to avoid production downtime. Edward Ralph is director of PVSL UK.
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Control Engineering UK
RADAR IS THE BETTER
ULTRASONIC Compact 80 GHz level sensor with in-head display
£646 VEGAPULS 31
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NEW PRODUCTS
Detecting liquid in pipes The SICK T-Easic FTS is a new thermal flow switch designed to detect liquid flow in pipes – for example in pumps, machine tool lubrication, or industrial cleaning systems. Combining both flow and temperature measurement in one IO-Link enabled sensor, the SICK T-Easic is available in a choice of IP67 industrial or IP69 hygienic stainless-steel versions. It can be set up to work with most medias and is said to be suitable for use with process temperatures of between -40°C and 150°C and pressures up to 100 bar. It could, for example, be put to work monitoring coolants and lubricants in machine tools, for oil management in hydraulic systems, or for run protection of pumps. It is also suited to use in
Clean-in-Place and Sterilise-inPlace systems in food processing, bottling and pharmaceutical industries. With probe lengths of 60mm, 100mm and 200mm, the flow switch can be inserted in pipes with diameters from 25mm up to 400mm. The sensor features two digital outputs. It can monitor measured flow and temperature values and send a signal to the higher-level machine control when either the high or low switch points are exceeded. On the
industrial version the switch points can be adjusted via the onboard display. The measured flow rate and temperature values, as well as diagnostic data are available via the IO-Link interface. The sensors can be set up with a PC or HMI, via IO-Link or using SICK’s SOPAS engineering tool.
Self-monitoring temperature sensor The TCC self-checking temperature sensor from ifm electronic has been created for use in processes where accurate temperature control is essential and deviations could have costly implications. The sensor continually monitors its own performance and, if an internal failure occurs or excessive drift is detected in measurement accuracy, it gives a visual warning and sends an alert message to the plant control system
so that action can quickly be taken to minimise the impact of the problem. The temperature sensor maintains an accuracy of ±0.2 K across its whole measuring range of -25 to +160°C with good measuring stability between calibrations. It also uses IO-Link technology to ensure that the measured results are delivered accurately to the control system, even with long connecting leads and in noisy electrical environments.
Integrated motor drive promises efficiency gains ABB’s Baldor-Reliance EC Titanium product line utilises Ferrite Assisted Synchronous Reluctance (FASR) technology with non-rare earth magnet materials to exceed IE5 efficiency requirements. Said to be suitable for constant and variable torque applications, it promises up to 16% efficiency gains when compared to alternative motor designs. The near unity power factor of the EC Titanium enables the use of smaller drives, reducing the footprint and weight of the integrated system.
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Additionally, the integrated motor drive solution saves control panel space and reduces wiring costs by placing the drive on top of or on the opposite drive end of the motor. The Baldor-Reliance EC Titanium product line is offered in standard NEMA dimensions and can be provided with IEC mounting compatibility.
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Control Engineering UK
ROBOTICS
Ensuring safe mobile robot installations The robot manufacturer, integrator, and customer all have responsibilities when it comes to ensuring a safe automated mobile robot system workspace, says Ross Lacy.
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safe workplace requires joint effort from the automated mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer, the integrator of the end user and it is essential that roles and responsibilities between the parties are clarified. The guidelines provided by the European Machinery Directive help customers and integrators ensure a safe workspace as it takes into account both the AMR and the full AMR system. The manufacturer of the AMR must provide a vehicle that is designed to be commissioned in a safe AMR system and provide adequate information for integration and operation. This means the manufacturer is responsible for specifying intended use and limitations of the AMR, which is typically to transport materials without a driver in industrial environments. The manufacturer must CE-mark the AMR according to intended use through compliance to safety standards for AGVs, comply to complementary standards to address all risks and provide integrated safety functions to address hazards expected in the intended use. In addition to designing a safe robot, the manufacturer must also provide adequate documentation, including instructions regarding commissioning of the AMR into an AMR system, operating instructions for operation and maintenance of the AMR, and a list of identified residual risks for the AMR. Ultimately, the manufacturer is responsible for providing a safe AMR out of the box with all the required documentation.
System integration At the time of installation, the responsibility moves to the system Control Engineering Europe
integrator who is responsible for providing an installation where all hazards are addressed or identified and providing adequate information for operation. Because AMRs can be programmed to move throughout a building, factory, or warehouse, the integrator who commissions the AMR must anticipate potential safety hazards and program the robot to act appropriately in compliance with safety standards. Commissioning also extends to the top module. If the robot is commissioned outside of those limitations, the integrator (or user) must incorporate additional protections to ensure that safety standards are met for the full robot application. The integrator must therefore specify the intended use and limits of the AMR system and make a risk assessment in the light of the AMR manufacturer’s specifications, intended use, and limitations. As the application changes from an AMR to an AMR system, the integrator must CE-mark the AMR system according to the new intended use, and provide documentation consisting of operating instructions for operation and maintenance of the AMR system and a list of identified residual risks from risk assessment for the AMR system.
End-user responsibility Once the AMR system has been deployed, the end user is responsible for setting up and following procedures for operation and maintenance of the AMR system. The end user must ensure
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that the intended use and limitations are met, and set up procedures for inspections and maintenance for the AMR system, including warning and markings. The end user should define safe operating procedures for operators and define training for operators, other staff and visitors, for safe operation. The state-of-the-art in the design and implementation of mobile robots is changing rapidly, and standards organisations are challenged to keep up. Compliance with current standards developed for logistics systems is still relevant, however. Many factors must be taken into account when deploying not just an AMR but an AMR system, which is often working in many different locations of a facility and in different applications. Users and integrators should expect guidance from robot manufacturers in order to reap the benefits of AMRs while ensuring worker safety. At the same time, users must ensure that chosen AMR manufacturers are up to date with current and future safety standards and laws not limited to the AMR itself. ! Ross Lacy is mobile robot product manager at RARUK Automation. March 2020
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PNEUMATICS
ARE PNEUMATIC SYSTEMS SMART ENOUGH TO SURVIVE? As Industry 4.0 starts to change the manufacturing and process industries, many have questioned whether pneumatics has a future. Control Engineering Europe asked some pneumatics providers what they think. Q: Is there still a role for pneumatics technology in an increasingly digital manufacturing sector? And, if so, how is the technology adapting to digitalisation and the need for real-time process data? Steve Sands, head of product management at Festo GB (SS): When considering the alternative drive technologies available, pneumatics – with its higher power density, reliability, simplicity, fast cycle times and low initial investment cost – continues to play a key role in most industrial automation projects. New product developments, focusing on improved performance, mass manufacturing techniques and reduced materials usage are providing even lower manufacturing costs. Energy usage and lifetime costs are of course serious issues, they can be addressed with software tools to ensure components and operating pressures optimise air consumption according to the application. Pneumatics fit readily into the digital world, most actuators are already monitored with switches detecting their end positions for sequential control. It has always been possible to set watch dog timers within the PLC and monitor
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changes in positioning times but this can be time consuming to set up and in reality, is rarely monitored by the operators. With the introduction of artificial intelligence algorithms anomaly detection can now be realised in a self-teach way. The system learns what is normal and can be taught to identify the anomalies. In this way existing sensors can offer insights on operation-critical functions. The incorporation of IO-link connectivity in many sensors enables further diagnostics, self-monitoring and simple parametrisation and set-up. Zachary Gustafson, director of integration & marketing at Emerson (ZG): Pneumatics continue to provide a simple and reliable method of making things move so are omnipresent
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within manufacturing. The digital transformation of manufacturing operations will not remove the need for mechanical motion and power applications and it will even present some significant growth opportunities in terms of the insights and analytics customers can gain from their existing and new pneumatic systems, including greater reliability, reduced energy consumption and optimised performance. For many years, pneumatic systems have been available with integrated digital communications to allow PLCs to more efficiently turn valves on and off and channel I/O data via various industrial networks. Technologies such as this, along with edge technologies, are supporting predictive maintenance strategies by offering information
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PNEUMATICS on the condition of valves, cylinders and actuators, as well as contributing towards sustainability programmes by monitoring the energy efficiency of pneumatic systems. This can help minimise the risk of machine downtime, reduce energy consumption and CO2 footprint, and significantly lower total operating costs. Sam Mudge, marketing & product management director at IMI Precision Engineering, Motion Control EMEA (SM): While we are seeing an increase in uptake of electrical actuation solutions, it should be noted that pneumatic solutions are increasingly being digitally controlled (for example via IO-Link), giving users enhanced data gathering and monitoring capability. For many manufacturers pneumatics continue to offer advantages over other forms of actuation – with the low friction and compressible nature of air, pneumatics are often unmatched in response and cycle times. It is important to be aware of the complementary nature of pneumatics within a digital environment. Users now have an opportunity to upgrade their existing pneumatic solutions by adding intelligent sensors to access data-driven oversight. The use of sensors enables pneumatic systems to be more closely monitored which keeps the end user better informed about performance attributes in areas such as movement, positioning and flow. This insight can then be communicated through a range of protocols, giving access to real-time process data and providing a window into how the system is behaving. Ultimately, this will result in more uptime and a more reliable process. With the move towards an increase in all round performance insight and measurement from data, we are also seeing the evolution of smart dashboards. While it is now easy to access a range of real-time data streams, the challenge is then to uncover the real value from the volumes of data Control Engineering Europe
generated. This is the important next step that needs to be taken. It will be interesting to see where data analysis takes place in the future, as cloud and edge computing solutions continue to gain traction. Rich McDonnell, market development manager at Parker Hannifin Pneumatics (RM): Parker’s recent market research on the factory of the future indicates that pneumatic technology will continue to fulfill a critical need in the emerging digital manufacturing environment. Our goal is to drive actionable diagnostic and prognostic information for use in smart factory environments. In the near-term, the introduction of smart products will provide the traditional control functions along with actionable intelligence which is critical to track plant machinery uptime and availability and OEE metrics. Q: How might end-users/machine builders future-proof their pneumatic equipment and process lines? SS: Connectivity is becoming easier with the broader use of standards. Protocols such as OPC-UA, IO-Link and Ethernet IP are enabling simpler integration between devices with data flows and structures becoming easier to read. Digital twin enabling devices now allow devices to be selfrecognising and easily incorporated into control structures in the future – digitally in simulations and emulating when in operation. However, the broad uptake of these technologies will be dependent upon a crosscompany, inter-departmental approach – it will require a company-wide strategy involving the traditional engineering and operations functions along with HR, and IT to ensure the technology can be implemented and the work force is engaged. The future of pneumatics remains strong within high volume manufacturing environments. There is a constant pressure to reduce purchase
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and life-time costs and the pneumatics providers continue to respond with new product introductions. Looking ahead, we can expect the integration or addition of smart sensors with onboard intelligence and communications that will gather data to reduce energy consumption, optimise production and reduce downtime through predictive maintenance. Artificial Intelligence algorithms will be available as function blocks to identify and support the most critical functions. Digital twins will reduce design, build and commissioning times and support smart maintenance with virtual and augmented reality support. The digital era is definitely an exciting period for pneumatics. ZG: Implementing edge analytic devices and IIoT-enabled pneumatic solutions creates an opportunity for end users and OEMs to revolutionise their operations or machines by enabling the acquisition and accessibility of greater amounts of data and insight, at far greater speeds. Built in diagnostics will provide the ability to monitor energy consumption, compressed air leakages, pressure, and even the health of valves, cylinders and actuators. Gaining access to actionable insights will enhance operations and improve Operating Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). My advice is to start small, realise the expected benefit and then expand. SM: Users already have an opportunity to future proof, without incurring huge capital expenditure commitments, using a variety of digitally-enhanced products that can help upgrade existing lines. When machine replacement or maintenance is needed is a good time to add these digital devices to provide an element of connectivity and laying a foundation for future needs and system capability. RM: To future-proof their offerings there is a need for machine builders to provide their customers with open source components and subsystems such as IO-Link enabled products. ! March 2020
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EDGE COMPUTING
A SHIFT IS COMING Those already using edge computing might be considered early adopters, but recent research suggests that a shift is coming. Greg Hookings reports.
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onsidered by many to be the most significant plant-floor advancement in industrial computing since SCADA, edge computing offers capabilities that were not previously achievable – and in a costeffective way. Surveying engineers* across Europe a report from Stratus Technologies provides insight into the changing views relating to edge deployment. 41% of survey respondents see edge computing as a great leap forward with 52% indicating they may be nearing the tipping point for adoption. Not only this, but 51% are actively evaluating or planning their edge computing applications and it is data that is driving this change. Data – the lifeblood of industry 4.0 – is being produced in ever increasing quantities on the plant floor. On its own, all this data is worthless. It needs to be accessed, collated, stored, analysed, visualised and contextualised to offer valuable insights. All of this needs to happen on, or via, a computing platform. Traditionally this would be sited either in a server room or in the Cloud, but to make actionable changes in real-time, the computing needs to happen right at the application edge. Reducing bandwidth costs, reducing security issues by keeping data onsite, and correcting problems that might not be identified as quickly if the data were to be sent to the Cloud, are all benefits that users of edge computing technologies can expect. Successful implementation requires a thoughtful architecture, and this does not need to be costly. Almost half of the survey responders say they have the resources and capabilities needed in environments where operations technology, information technology, process control, automation and data science intermingle. With the correct
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solution working on a ‘plug & play’ method, an edge computing solution can often be integrated simply, without costly architectural changes.
Skills With everything in place to implement edge computing, the issue quickly moves on to how to gain the full benefit of computing data at the application level. However, only 6% of survey respondents stated that they have all the skills they need, with 52% citing a shortage in control, process or automation engineer expertise. One-in-three respondents said that computer network specialist expertise was needed to make the most of edge initiatives. However, for the manufacturer on-site, there are no additional skills needed to install and manage an Edge platform, adding computing power where there might be little to no IT expertise, either in a remote location or on the factory floor. Where the skills gap becomes prevalent is in using the data that is being recorded to inform better decisions. A factory-specific survey, carried out by market intelligence company, teknowlogy, of European manufacturing enterprises suggests that fewer than one-in-ten analyse more than 75% of the data they hold. Not only does this show a need for analytical skills but it poses a question internally
for manufacturers, where does the responsibility of analysis fall?
The hybrid professional It seems that, rather than the responsibility being solely IT or OT, a new professional job role has emerged. The IT/OT professional, or hybrid professional, is as comfortable working with servers as they are with machine tools or pumps and valves. They will have a deeper understanding of where industrial operations meet computing technology and will recognise the value of data produced at the edge. The rise of this professional coincides with the generational shift. Many traditional OT professionals have had long careers and a new generation of digital natives, raised on technology are more able to leverage data in new ways. When asked what edge computing use cases are most valuable 57% cited device failure detection, followed by 55% who cited advanced process control. With understanding at an all-time high, engineers are keen to implement edge initiatives to improve operational efficiency and increase product quality – those who can overcome the skills gap can expect to achieve this, and much more besides. A copy of the report can be downloaded from: data.imlgroup.uk/ stratus-technologies/ ! Greg Hookings is head of business development – Digitalisation at Stratus Technologies. *Survey respondents were from European manufacturing companies directly involved in the research, design, procurement, selection process, management or disposition of products, services or programs meant to enable Edge connectivity, control and computing in production or operations environments. Control Engineering Europe
IIOT
NOT ALL IIoT PLATFORMS ARE EQUAL Having the best Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) architecture with the most modern and state-of-the-art technology will not benefit any company unless it is tied to a specific purpose and business outcome argues Gerhard Greeff.
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he Internet of Things (IoT) or IIoT is not an end in itself. It should exist to achieve some purpose. Many reasons or business cases are out there along with an equal number of questions to be answered. However, companies sometimes ask the wrong question. The question is technology and architecture first and business value as an after-thought, where it should be the other way around. Having the best architecture with the most modern and state-of-the-art technology will benefit noone unless it is tied to a specific purpose and business outcome. The first question in the IIoT journey should then always be why? The next question is where to start? Do not be limited in thinking and design for the limited scope. It is a fine line between delivering a pragmatic solution to a specific problem and creating a long-term global vision for the company. That brings us to the how? Many companies are great on the what, but very light on the how. We also need to answer the how question to make IIoT strategies real for companies.
Defined architectures Considerable time has been spent defining IoT and IIoT architectures by local and global forums. The IoT World Forum Reference model comes close to defining a good overview model. The reference model (Fig. 1) contains all the elements/components required to provide a complete IIoT solution for real-world challenges. The IoT World Forum Reference model contains seven layers. The model
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outlined here has eight layers to make projects that the above is the state of a distinction between local connectivity affairs. It is estimated that a complete, and global connectivity. value-adding IoT solution involves an For us, machine-to-machine average of 20 to 35 vendors. This is not connectivity, or instrument to edgenecessarily a bad thing, as different device connectivity is not the same as customers have different requirements, what is classified as global connectivity. but it does mean more points of There are, of course, those like Sigfox potential failure. Some customers may and LoRaWAN that can be seen as both have the bottom layers sorted out local and global, but they are usually already but need a software platform sold as global connectivity solutions. In and applications. Others may need terms of the IoT World reference model, connectivity between lower levels and this is the only area we deviate. existing software applications. Local connectivity will make or break any IIoT project. By virtue of the Factors to consider real-time environment IIoT operate in, Although most platforms are moving sound local connectivity is critical in a towards cloud and an as a service successful implementation. model, some still provide capital Technology providers, whether expenditure (CAPEX) and on-premise hardware or software, will tell you solutions. This is a major consideration about their IoT platforms. When especially for IIoT in industries where evaluating platforms against Fig 1, most real-time feedback and response platforms are incomplete or if they are are critical. For these some vendors complete, it is only for a specific niche also make a hybrid model available, area. where fast response edge devices Having evaluated a number of and/or applications sit at plant level vendors ‘IoT platforms’, it has become and reporting, data analytics and clear that vendor ‘platforms’ fall into dashboarding is done in the cloud. two broad areas, those with a hardware Domain expertise or platform usefocus (levels 2 to 5) and those with a cases are also very important, especially software focus (levels 5 to 8). Evaluation also indicated that for softwarefocused ‘platforms,’ those platforms are typically strong on levels 5 and 6 with levels 7 and 8 available only for niche functionality. It is apparent Fig. 1:Adapted IoT World Forum Reference model with eight layers instead of seven to differentiate between local and global models. from completed IoT Courtesy: MESA International.
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IIOT within the IIoT environment, as is the reliability of the connectivity, data storage and data extraction for business value. It is also important to know how easy it is to manage the devices connecting to the platform and how easy the support of the platform and devices are going to be. Cost or the costing model needs to fit the business need. Here it is important to look at the current business need and at the big (future needs) picture. Although a low per-device cost may be appealing for a small implementation, it can get very costly very fast. It is also important to understand how compatible the platform is to the business and how it will connect to the current infrastructure. Scalability and security are very important, not only from a cost perspective Although multitenancy (one platform for multiple and separated users) is not required by all users, it may be that a company wants to segregate data within a platform
so that not all data are visible to all users and each user company can have their own branding and ‘look and feel’. When used specifically in the IIoT environment, workflow management, notifications, and alarming are very important to inform plant operators, supervisors and managers when things do not go as planned. Tools need to be available to enable advanced data analytics, such as machine learning (ML), advanced pattern recognition (APR), artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA) acoustic analysis and facial and image recognition. Ultimately, these tools will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of businesses when applied correctly. If the platform does not have these tools (and very few do), then at least the data should be available and easily extracted via standard tools and protocols into other applications that have these tools available.
The platform needs to be flexible regarding where it will be hosted, especially for IIoT as a hybrid model will probably be the most effective, specifically for real-time process industries. The availability of after-sales and platform back-end administration support is also very important for a longterm sustainable solution. Not all platforms are created equal. To get the best IIoT platform, companies need to take the time to evaluate the vendors. Ask the vendor to explain how the vendor incorporates the various consideration factors. Look at all eight layers, determine what is part of the platform and what is ‘bought-in’ thirdparty functionality. Find the best fit to solve the current and future business problems. ! Gerhard Greeff is a MESA EMEA Board Member. This article originally appeared on www.controleng.com
Control, Instrumentaion and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries
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MARSHALLING
Marshalling for today and for the future Roger Highton looks at the challenges that face industrial plants today and how a new approach to marshalling looks set to deliver improvements and eliminate a major source of human error.
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s automation and connectivity become more prolific, the increased use of fieldbuses and smart devices makes a distributed control system (DCS) important in large and complex industrial processes. At any one time, there are many electrical signals connecting field instruments and a plant’s DCS. Marshalling is a critical process bringing order to these signals and it can be defined by the grouping of inputs and outputs (I/O). Marshalling enables diverse operating systems to interact, and it encompasses a wide range of requirements: including intrinsic safety (IS) isolation, signal conditioning, relay interfaces, surge protection and cable terminations, often including loop disconnects. The DCS architecture around plants has resulted in more efficient ways to improve the reliability of control, process quality and plant efficiency. However, the design, documentation, installation of I/O and marshalling in DCSs can be a labour-intensive and lengthy process. And this process has barely changed since DCSs were first introduced in the 1970s. Indeed, marshalling – with its disparate systems and hard-wired connections – is a neglected area of system design that is in danger of becoming technologically moribund. Machine builders often specialise in individual aspects of marshalling, so it has lacked an overall vision for future development to enable it to keep pace with the challenges of modern production environments. The traditional solution requires up to five separate cabinets for different marshalling functions, with complex
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wiring between the marshalling components. Interconnection is a key concern. Historically, marshalling solutions require up to eight interconnections per channel. However, this creates a complex wiring structure, and is a major source of faults and downtime. Faults commonly arise from simple wiring errors or connection failures within cabinets and they are not easy to trace. Eliminating the wires would have a significant impact on increasing uptime. A typical design process makes specification at the outset difficult. It can be a challenge for plants to know what exact requirements they may need in a few years’ time as projects evolve. This is particularly true for surge protection. Therefore, flexibility is paramount to prevent delays from changes and associated cost increases in project specification. Another major source of concern is multiple components from multiple suppliers. A traditional marshalling solution with IS typically involves 20 different component types. During later design stages the component type often needs to be amended, which results in changes to the Bill of Materials that are long and complex. Additionally, late changes make it difficult for end users to maintain the marshalling system and control lifetime costs. Space requirements are also a key challenge and marshalling systems can become increasingly
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unwieldy as further cabinets are added in response to post-installation changes. To save space, some sites are remote mounting DCS I/O in field enclosures. While this option may deliver capital cost savings, it still requires I/O and marshalling components that are suitable for lifetime operation in harsh and sometimes hazardous areas.
A new approach Eaton has developed a simplified and standardised solution with no compromise on functionality. The result is Smart Universal Marshalling (SUM): a modular approach that enables the five key marshalling requirements to be achieved using a single cabinet design. For this reason, Eaton calls its solution MTL SUM5. With all the marshalling functions in one unit, there is no longer any requirement for complex, hardwired interconnections. The modular design eliminates the risk and associated costs that arise from wiring faults. The configurable design accommodates late changes which reduces risk during project execution as modules can be reconfigured easily
Control Engineering Europe
MARSHALLING or added as necessary at any point during the build. For example, the surge protection module can be added when it is required on completion of the surge risk analysis – usually during the detailed engineering stage. This enables plant managers to save initial costs where surge requirements are not known. It also ensures that the system is adaptable over time, capable of responding to changes in production requirements without major rewiring or the introduction of cumbersome ‘bolton’ equipment. Typically SUM will reduce the number of marshalling components by 65% compared to a standard solution. It requires just seven component types compared to the traditional 20. So, on a traditional project with about 4,500 I/O, small changes in the number of each I/O type would result in the Bill of Materials requiring 4,651 changes. The Bill of Materials for the same project using MTL SUM5 would require just 115 changes.
The solution provides comprehensive diagnostics, notifying the process managers when action is required. It features LED indicators for power, function and status, which simplifies commissioning and troubleshooting. The configuration information is held in the terminal, so a module can be changed out without the need for reprogramming. A modular design approach was taken to eliminate some components altogether as well as enabling components to be more compact, so there is typically a 30-50% saving in the number of marshalling cabinets required. The universal marshalling components have a width of just 10mm and can be mounted in two or three columns in each side of a standard 800mm wide cabinet. This delivers the highest packing density of 512 or 768 I/O channels per double-sided cabinet. This high density reduces the number of cabinets required, which delivers
savings on cabinet hardware, installation and weight. Each cabinet typically weighs around 270kg, so any reduction in weight has significant advantages for offshore applications. There is also potential to reduce the overall size of control rooms as well.
Conclusion SUM was developed to address concerns regarding the costs and complexity associated with traditional marshalling. Its goal is to reduce the number of components required and eliminate the need for complex wiring. This delivers advantages that include a reduced Bill of Materials, simplified installation and maintenance, and the ability to adapt rapidly to change. In short, it makes marshalling fit for purpose in an automated, connected world. ! Roger Highton is MTL product line manager at Eaton.
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Creating a successful control environment Know what you want, plan what you’ll get, check that you’ve got it! The e-learning will benefit anyone with an interest in process plant control rooms and control desks using Human Machine Interfaces. It is especially relevant to control engineers, control room console (and HMI) designers and vendors, control room operators, engineering consultants, engineering contractors, engineering managers, facilities managers, graduate engineers, plant operations managers, process safety managers, SCADA engineers and systems support managers. The e-learning is positioned at the awareness/introductory level and is an optional precursor to working through EEMUA 201, ‘Control rooms: A guide to their specification, design, commissioning and operation’. The EEMUA Control Rooms e-learning module provides guidance to engineers and the wider teams involved in the design of control rooms, control desks and consoles. It will help during new-build and modification projects, as well as evaluating existing set ups where people operate industrial processes and activities on facilities such as chemical plants, power stations and oil refineries. Control Engineering Europe
Visit the EEMUA website for further details. www.eemua.org
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IIOT
An IIoT SWOT analysis José Miguel Dias Pereira summarises the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and offers an overview of the realtime demands of industrial networks, at plant level, at DCS level, and at SCADA level.
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very new step in any evolution process will always have strengths and weaknesses. This is particularly true in IIoT where there is an integration of different equipment that works in the same or different networks, the same or different locations, and services that are included in the value chain of a given manufacturing product. While legacy industrial networks were limited in terms of their data acquisition capabilities, today, when large amounts of data is transmitted through the Internet, new threats emerge – such as security. The use of the IP security (IPSec) with the IPv6 site-to-site tunnel mode capability, reinforces and extends the security mechanisms provided by VPNs – the encryption and integrity checking of VPNs is always implemented in all IPv6 connections. The implementation of the IIoT stimulates the creation of new business models based on the large amount of data it creates. Data analytics also enables a huge increase in system reliability and performance by analysing operational data of industrial equipment that supports condition-based maintenance, predictive maintenance, instrument asset management and returns on asset management gains. The use of powerful predictive data models makes it possible to extract information that traditionally would be lost. However, in each IIoT application there are specific issues that requires a multidisciplinary expertise, in terms of engineering, data processing and computing, to analyse, consolidate and extract relevant information. While big data can provide insight on industrial processes, the collection of huge amounts of data without criteria is not a good practice. For example,
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if an industrial system is upgraded and new instruments with enhanced characteristics are introduced, it makes no sense to perform data analysis, mixing data collected before and after the upgrade. On the other hand, it is important that old data is stored because it does contain information that can be essential to evaluate the process gains that are associated with the upgrade of a given industrial system.
Industrial networks IIoT is supported by networks and protocols which support the industrial communications between different industrial devices and the communication of industrial platforms to services, maintenance centers, logistics and data processing centers, for example. So, networking and protocol compatibility is essential for the success of IIoT. The success of any evolution process depends on the past and present, so it also makes sense to present a brief historical review of the main communication solutions used in manufacturing units. It is important to remember that the first step towards standardisation of communication between different industrial devices has, traditionally, been based on the use of normalised pneumatic and electrical signals. A large number of industrial networks are still based on current loops that use a current amplitude variable between 4 mA and 20mA to translate the value of the variable under measurement. Usually, there is a linear relationship between the variables, being the minimum current value (4 mA) associated with the lower range value (LRV) of the variable under measurement and the maximum current value (20 mA) associated with
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the upper range value (URV) of the variable under measurement. Even if there are limitations associated with current loop transmission, it is important to note that a large number of manufacturing units are still using this signalling mode as the period of time for return on investments (ROI) in old manufacturing units can be higher than a few tens of years within acceptable production performance levels. With the advent of digitalisation and advanced instrument capabilities a hybrid analogue and digital communication mode was introduced. In addition to the 4-20 mA of the current loop signal, a superimposed Frequency-shift keying (FSK) digital signal is used to transmit digital data to and from instrument devices. The large number of HART commands that include universal, common practice and device specific commands, makes it possible to take advantage of the new capabilities of smart sensing instruments. A third step of industrial network and protocol evolution is associated with the use of digital communications with higher bit rates than those provided by HART – for example, Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus – some of these protocols can share deterministic and random traffic in the same communication support. Deterministic traffic is assigned to specific time slots of the data frame which occur periodically. The remaining bandwidth of the communication support is used for unscheduled communication that occurs randomly. These networks enable the implementation of field control solutions (FCS) – the acquisition, control and data processing tasks implemented in the field devices – with no processing overload of the DCS. Control Engineering Europe
IIOT
A fourth step, in the industrial networks and protocols evolution relates to the introduction of industrial Ethernet. Several proprietary solutions were introduced with increased performance in terms of latency and jitter but those solutions are not open so gateways are required to connect different networks. Several IEEE standards are now being developed for time sensitive networking (TSN) solutions. These standards promote the implementation of real time capabilities in Ethernet networks and devices interoperability without the need for special interfaces and gateways.
A SWOT analysis of the IIoT It makes sense to perform a technical SWOT analysis about the IIoT because its success depends on many factors. This analysis can be a powerful tool to help develop industrial business strategy. Strengths: One of the main strengths of IIoT is its capability to connect a huge number of devices through the Internet using wired and wirelessly connection modes. These devices can include simple sensors or actuators, machine, cloud processing platforms and different capabilities, such as machine to machine (M2M) communication, integrated asset management systems (IAMS), data analytics and storage platforms, and logistic services. The ubiquitous characteristic of the Internet enables communication between multiple industrial devices that can be working in different manufacturing units (MU) to different services that are included in the value chain of a manufactured product. For example, it is possible to use the sales units of a particular product to schedule the production level of that product in the MU. Another example relates to the reliability of instrumentation within a system – using data from sensing units it is possible to implement an integrated predictive maintenance of systems. In addition to cost reductions, innovations and new services can also be fostered through the IIoT thanks to the huge amount of data created. Control Engineering Europe
As long as adequate data is gathered and wise analysis techniques are used, it is possible to make better decisions and to extract important information from data that was considered as uncorrelated. The results from data analysis can improve the visibility into system behaviour, helping increase the competitive advantage of a MU. Weaknesses: Security, data processing challenges, and cost are the main weakness associated with IIoT. Security will always be the weak point of any system or service connected through the Internet. While security and encryption techniques are continually being improved, hacker activities never stop and the connection of huge numbers of devices to the Internet increases their chances of a successful attack. The firmware that runs in low-cost IIoT devices is vulnerable to attack. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are employed by hackers to overwhelm an Internet client or server, preventing Internet traffic from accessing network nodes. It is also important to note that an excess of outdated data offers no added value and can be an IIoT weakness. Data collection, storage and processing should judiciously use the limited resources of a computing system and this not an exception in cloud computing platforms. The cost of connecting a huge amount of industrial devices and systems is also an IIoT weakness. Costs are not limited to tangible costs such as new equipment
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and infrastructure. There will also intangible costs associated with the research and development for new products and software. The development of data analytical tools is usually a complex task that involves many partners because the best solution with be bespoke for a given application. So achieving a successful IIoT implementation requires the investors to be patient about process improvements and profit returns because they will not come instantly. Another IIoT weakness relates to its novelty – a lack of standardisation and compatibility risks. There is no standard of compatibility that assures a non-risky business scenario to investors. Opportunities: There are several opportunities associated with the IIoT. Most important is the opportunity to replace old MUs with new MUs to achieve higher productivity yields through greater process insight from analysed data. New services, supported by increased connectivity, are also possible. For example, in the maintenance area, giving remote access to process data to external teams can improve the reliability of a manufacturing process by avoiding potential conditions that would cause production shutdowns or reduce the quality of manufactured products.
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IIOT
Remote access to data allows for more successful implementation of predictive maintenance enabling better analysis of equipment working conditions and avoiding failure risks. Other opportunities come from improved production flow monitoring – in a single MU or in a set of MUs that work collaboratively; greater control of inventory management helps avoid an excess or shortage of raw materials; improvements in plant safety and security come from analysing data associated with hazardous events; and quality control improvements can be achieved by processing data that affects the quality parameters of a given product. Threats: The main IIoT threat relates to a greater vulnerability to cyber attacks. As the number of devices that will connect to the Internet increases the negative impact of potential security failures rises. Another threat relates to the expectation of receiving a fast return on investment. Data analytic tools do offer
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the possibility to extract incredibly useful information from the MUs. However, if the data is not analysed correctly the right information may not be available to improve MUs performance. At the same time, new skills will be required to successfully implement IIoT projects because operational technologies (OT) and information technologies (IT) functions will be fused. Multidisciplinary teams will need to work together to achieve the desired goals. A final threat comes from the actual addressing mode used on the Internet. IIoT requires the adoption of IPv6 in order to extend the addressing capabilities of the networks, and to improve network security, connectability and scalability. However, the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is being delayed because significant investment is required and there are also potential risks in the transition phase.
Conclusion IIoT is not a panacea for all industrial network related problems. Indeed,
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at the plant floor level there are challenges that have no easy solution, particularly when remote access to industrial data poses confidentiality, security and safety risks. There are also costs associated with the introduction of IIoT and returns of investment are not usually achieved in the short term. Big data analysis is a multidisciplinary task that requires expertise from engineering, data processing, computing and data analytics fields. As a final conclusion of this overview about IIoT, it must be underlined that its implementation is a medium-term process, it requires a specific tuning of each process and industrial plant, and security issues must be properly addressed to give confidence for investments in this new industrial paradigm. ! JosĂŠ Miguel Dias Pereira is principal coordinating professor at the Polytechnic Institute of SetĂşbal in Portugal.
Control Engineering Europe
PRODUCT FORUM •
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Rotork actuators used for precise oil and gas flow control on a Brazilian FPSO vessel Electric and fluid power actuators from Rotork have been installed on a new Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel in Brazil. Customer Metroval specified Rotork intelligent IQ3 multi-turn electric actuators, as well as CP and GP quarter-turn pneumatic actuators, to control plug and butterfly valves on an FPSO, which will operate in the LIBRA oil fields in the Atlantic Ocean’s Santos Basin. The FPSO operating at the site is expected to produce 180,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The actuators will be operated by end user Modec to control the flow of oil and gas from the FPSO to the metering system, with the accuracy of the IQ3, CP and GP actuators a key factor in the customer’s decision to purchase Rotork’s products. Rotork Site Services assisted with installation of the actuators on site by providing valve adaptation, mounting the actuators on to the valves and commissioning. Rotork’s versatile, modular CP range of pneumatic actuators use a scotch yoke design. The actuator’s compact design is capable of producing high output torques of up to 4,500 Nm (39,800 lbf.ft). Corrosion resistant cylinders are made from carbon steel and are electroless nickel-plated while the CP is suitable for use in Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL3) applications, certified to IP 66M/67M for
environmental protection and explosionproof to ATEX 2014/34/EU standard. The GP range of scotch yoke actuators provide quarter-turn movement for either on/off or modulating duty. The GP can produce output torque up to 600,000 Nm (5,000,000 lbf.ft) and is suitable for use in SIL2 and SIL3 systems. Certification to IP66M/67M and ATEX 2014/34/EU is included as standard. Rotork’s intelligent IQ3 electric actuator features advanced data logger technology to record detailed information including valve torque profiles, operational starts profiles, vibration and temperature trend logs, and event logs. www.rotork.com
Control, Instrumentaion and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries
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MOTORS
Settling an old score At Cybathlon 2016, the developers at Scewo were extremely unlucky with their futuristic wheelchair prototype. Now they are coming back with a serial model – and they want to show it to their sceptics.
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he powered wheelchair race at the Cybathlon (see tint panel) had hardly begun when it was already over for the Scewo team. An error in the software caused the team’s wheelchair to stop at the first obstacle. The disappointment was written all over the team members’ faces, not least because they had been regarded as one of the top favorites. A lot has happened since then. The small start-up – which emerged from ETH Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts – now consists of 22 people and has been awarded several innovation prizes. After years of hard work, its ‘Bro’ electric wheelchair is entering serial production in 2020. “We have been through an intensive development period, during which we learned a huge amount in every sense,” says Tabita Rüegg, communications manager at Scewo. Even though the ‘Bro’ is now ready for customers, the basic principle has not changed since the first prototype: an electrically driven wheelchair that travels independently on two wheels and manages stairs and landings with extendable caterpillar tracks. There has been nothing like this to date. For this reason too, the team is taking part in the Cybathlon again. “The
IMAGE ©maxon motor ag
fact that we are new means that there are a lot of sceptics,” explains Rüegg. “By taking part, we want to prove that our device is marketable and can also cope with challenging everyday situations.” The aim is to give spectators confidence in the wheelchair. “We can do this by overcoming all obstacles at the first attempt. If we can do this faster than our opponents, that’s even cooler.” In the powered wheelchair race, the door must now be opened and
closed again using a technical aid with an external energy source. The Scewo team is therefore equipping its wheelchair with a robotic arm, which is being specially developed for this competition task. They are using maxon EC flat motors and an EPOS4 positioning controller. Maxon supports them via the Young Engineers Program (YEP). To Find out more about YEP visit www.drive.tech
Cybathlon and maxon The second Cybathlon is going to take place on May 2 and 3, 2020 in Zurch, Switzerland. Once again, people with physical disabilities compete against each other in exciting races –supported by state-of-the-art technical assistance systems. There are new challenges for the contestants and the engineers in all disciplines. As a Presenting Partner, maxon is at the forefront. The drive specialist maxon already supported the Cybathlon 2016 as a partner. Among other contributions, the trainees
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of the company built a height-adjustable podium. maxon joined the second event without hesitation, this time as a Presenting Partner. CEO Eugen Elmiger says: “We believe that excellent engineers with a curiosity for new things can make the world a better place. This is why maxon has supported the Cybathlon right from the start.” The company is involved in many of the participating teams, offering support with discounted drives and know-how through its Young Engineers Program.
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Discover our Young Engineers Program maxon‘s Young Engineers Program (YEP) supports innovative projects with discounted drive systems and technical advice. Find out more: www.drive.tech
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Control, Instrumentation and Automation in the Process and Manufacturing Industries March 2020
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