PACE.OCT11.PG001.pdf
Page
1
27/9/11,
9:57
AM
www.pacetoday.com.au
PACE PROCESS & CONTROL ENGINEERING
Striving for synergy Rockwell Automation’s Twain Drewett on his new distribution strategy. Conversation 6
Knowledge crises Individual automation systems become more complex and integrated. Special Report 21
Honeywell’s Pacific HUG BARRON GJM Pty. Ltd. P.O. Box 792 • Artarmon NSW 1570 Tel. +61 294361088 • info@barron.com.au
OCTOBER 2011
VOL.64 NO.9
INSIDE THIS ISSUE OF: OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Opinion 10
Machine vision compliance Machine vision systems available with production management or MES technology provide end-toend traceability solutions. Case Study 25
Drives and hoists The Intimate Mode Hoisting System for unison lifting takes Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium to new heights. IICA News & Views 30
Learning opportunities The IICA offers a range of education and training options with the 2012 event calendar out this month.
BY KEVIN GOMEZ THIS year’s Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Symposium held in Fremantle, Western Australia attracted over 250 delegates from 11 countries in the Pacific region. Among the solutions announced at the HUG Symposium was the Remote Collaboration, Optimisation and Operations solution for companies that need to run a distributed network of operational centres. “As organisations grow, it becomes more important for them to work efficiently across different locations to meet growing production demands,” said Ian Brown, Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS). Also launched was the availability of virtualisation support for Honeywell’s core product line, Experion Process Knowledge System for both DCS and SCADA applications. With the latest additions to its virtualisation portfolio, HPS stakes its claim to being the only process industry vendor to offer a comprehensive virtualisation solution. Asset Manager R400, part of Honeywell’s Reliability and Asset Management solutions, was released to the global market in June this year and was on show in the demo room. Asset Manager R400 enables seamless integration with both Honeywell and leading third-party applications, such as IBM Maximo, in order to enable easier decision making, maintain asset integrity and support operations reliability. Around 30 different product offerings were on display in the Demo Room. Here delegates could talk with experienced Honeywell staff assembled from key locations around the world and expe-
ON STAGE: Mark Zyskowski, Executive Vice President for Global Sales, HPS. rience the technology in action. Honeywell also used the occasion to reiterate long-term support for existing systems and its customers. The company has in fact committed to delivering the longest lifecycle of any platform on the market. “We demonstrated that with 30 to 40 years of life on our TDC systems,” said Jason Urso, Vice President, HPS. Honeywell’s Hiway Care program is designed for customer site needs and guarantees continued support up to 2020 or even later. “That’s nearly 50 years of life on Hiway equipment. Absolutely unprecedented in process control and almost unprecedented in the world of
Post Print Approved PP255003/00539
Everything you need... to upgrade your DCS in phases PlantPAx offers a complete process automation solution plus plant-wide control. You will enhance future productivity–without compromising current production. www.rockwellautomation.com.au
electronics,” said Urso who was given a dramatic Mission Impossible themed introduction to the event. Peter Grubnic, project manager, Global CCS Institute, offered delegates an interesting insight into carbon capture and storage. Offshore of Western Australia there are plans afoot to realise the construction and operation of the Gorgon CO2 Injection Project. The depth planned for storage of CO2 at the Gorgon Project is about 2 to 2.5 km. Remarked Grubnic, “It’s been worked out at lower, smaller scales. Not at a large scale.” www.honeywell.com
2
16/09/11,
5:46
PM
| EK11-05E |
AD_PACEBECOCT_11.pdf Page
EtherCAT Terminals. The ultra fast “all-in-one” system for automation. The Beckhoff I/O system integrates terminals for: All standard digital/analog signal types Drive Technology such as for stepper motors, AC/DC motors Gateways for legacy fieldbus systems High-precision instrumentation, Condition Monitoring Safety PLC and safety I/Os High-speed automation (XFC)
www.beckhoff.com.au/EtherCAT-Terminal Real-time Ethernet down to the I/O level Low system costs Flexible topology Maximum performance Easy configuration Simple integration of fieldbus systems and safety devices
IPC I/O Motion Automation
Ethernet directly in the terminal: with full duplex Ethernet ring topology and a telegram for several devices. Connects directly with a standard Ethernet port.
PACE.OCT11.PG003.pdf
Page
3
27/9/11,
1:59
PM
NEWS
EDITOR’S MESSAGE
PACE
Collaborate and win
PROCESS & CONTROL ENGINEERING
Published monthly by Reed Business Information Pty Ltd Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue Chatswood NSW 2067 Locked Bag 2999 Chatswood DC NSW 2067 Tel: (02) 9422 2999 Fax: (02) 9422 2977 ABN 80 132 719 861
Publisher: Michelle Graves Email: michelle.graves@reedbusiness.com.au Editor: Kevin Gomez Tel: (02) 9422 2976 Fax: (02) 9422 2722 Email: kevin.gomez@reedbusiness.com.au
Kevin Gomez Editor
Senior Journalist: Isaac Leung Tel: (02) 9422 2956 Email: isaac.leung@reedbusiness.com.au Key Account Manager: Tim Richards Tel: (02) 9422 2818 Mobile: 0407 948 774 Email: tim.richards@reedbusiness.com.au QLD Sales Manager: Sharon R. Amos PO Box 3136, Bracken Ridge, QLD 4017 Tel: (07) 3261 8857 Fax: (07) 3261 8347 Mobile: 0417 072 625 Email: sharon.amos@reedbusiness.com.au New Business: Alex Evans Tel: (02) 9422 2890 Email: alex.evans@reedbusiness.com.au Graphic Designer: Justine Dunn Email: justine.dunn@reedbusiness.com.au Production Co-ordinator: Jennifer Collinson Tel: (02) 9422 2657 Fax: (02) 9422 2722 Email: jennifer.collinson@reedbusiness.com.au
Next Issue Test & Measurement SCADA & MES ● Motors, Drives & Motion Control ● ●
THERE’s nothing to beat spending time in Western Australia to get a sense of the scope and sheer size of the numerous mining and LNG projects that are powering ahead in the state. Last month, I spent a few days in Fremantle attending the Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Symposium and was able to interact with several professionals. Norman Moore was a no show at HUG. WA’s Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Fisheries; Electoral Affairs must be busy managing a state with a booming economy. The attendees may have understood and excused him. Moore’s stand-in, Tim Griffin from the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum, read from a prepared statement outlining the state government’s initiatives to assist the mineral and energy resources sectors. Not exactly the rousing start Honeywell may have hoped for, but it all seemed to go swimmingly well thereafter. The tour of the Australian Centre for Energy and Process Training (ACEPT) in Munster, south of Perth, was time well spent. The facility is indeed impressive with a fully operational closed loop methanol distillation
tower as well as a Yokogawa simulation of a distillation tower, instrument air, furnaces, heat exchangers, chemical reactor and gas compressors. ACEPT is owned an operated by the Challenger Institute of Technology on behalf of the WA Government. Training Services Director Greg Guppy is one of the driving forces behind the Centre which has received support from Chevron, BHP Billiton, Honeywell and Woodside, among others. With full-scale process plant and process control equipment on site, the Centre is able to provide hands-on experience in a real-life industry environment. A downside? There is only one ACEPT. Australia could do with many more well-equipped, industry-supported training facilities to ease our skills shortage. All three entities – industry, government, educational institutions – must come together. Close cooperation and a shared vision is key. There must be several other noteworthy examples around the country. Drop me an email so we can give them due recognition. No point hiding one’s light under a bushel. Kevin.Gomez@reedbusiness.com.au
VIEWPOINT Printed by: GEON 20 Baker Street, Banksmeadow NSW 2019 Tel: (02) 8333 6555 SUBSCRIPTION: $99 pa incl GST OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTIONS: NZ: $A109 pa & OS: $A119 pa CUSTOMER SERVICE: 1300 360 126
Copyright © Reed Business Information 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
Average Net Distribution Period ending March '11 7,100
64 Tags 128 Tags 256 Tags 500 Tags
FROM
FROM
FROM
FROM
Technology is reshaping the way things get made BY JIM PINTO I RECENTLY completed a white-paper for Intel, discussing the growth of standard computing and communications architectures in the industrial factory automation and process controls environments. [Download the complete paper from http://intel.ly/n0NOAL]. The industrial automation business is changing rapidly. Manufacturing has become more competitive as extremely agile and low-cost producers undercut long-established vendors. Customers meanwhile require ever-faster innovation and shorter product cycles, something most leading manufacturers cannot
easily deliver. New and more agile processes are needed - now. What’s coming is the connected factory, with seamless connectivity between everything in the factory with distributed, intelligent, autonomous I/O. The large, centralised production plant is a thing of the past. The factory of the future will be small and movable (close to resources and customers). Standard computer/ network architectures will spread into all corners of the factory and plant floor. In the five to 10 year timeframe, industrial automation systems will shift from deterministic, hierarchical type
controls towards smaller, more distributed processing and intelligent, autonomous I/O. This will bring major advantages such as robust system performance, predictive diagnostics, and the ability to operate seamlessly with multiple device networks. Billions of intelligent connected devices will need to communicate with other machines, and with the cloud. Intel is broadening the traditional context of machine-to-machine computing by adding capabilities that will enable connected devices to interact intelligently over a network. Jim@JimPinto.com
$908
$2,057
Place your order online! visit www.intouchspecials.com.au
$2,420
for pricing, product options and detailed product specifications.
$1,089
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 3
PACE.OCT11.PG004.pdf
Page
4
27/9/11,
11:36
AM
NEWS
TOP TWEETS
RECYCLING
Here’s what you may have missed this September if you weren’t following @pacetoday on Twitter:
International acclaim for SEQ Water Grid
❏ Tyco separates into three companies. http://dlvr.it/mLZk3
THE SEQ Water Grid’s Luggage Point Advanced Water Treatment Plant has won the 2011 International WateReuse Project of the Year award – the highest accolade in water recycling innovation. SEQ Water Grid spokesperson Barry Dennien said the plant won the award due to its innovative technology and processes. The Luggage Point Advanced Water Treatment Plant beat 47 other nominations from around the world. The Plant has supplied more than 10,150 megalitres of purified recycled water to industrial customers, water that would otherwise come from drinking water supplies. The Luggage Point Advanced Water Treatment Plant is one of three treatment plants, owned and operated by Seqwater, in the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme that produces purified recycled water from wastewater. The Scheme supplies purified recycled water to South East Queensland’s power stations and new industrial customers as required. Seqwater spokesperson Cedric Robillot said the Plant has the ability to provide up to 70 megalitres per day of purified recycled water. “In addition to this primary function, the Plant also provides considerable environmental benefits reflecting extensive testing and research undertaken during construction by the Luggage Point Alliance, in partnership with joint
❏ New machine will test coal seam gas environmental impact. http://dlvr.it/lPBxj ❏ Australia's Profibus Association appoints new chairman. http://dlvr.it/lX8k1 ❏ Waste-free paint reduces pollution in car manufacture. http://dlvr.it/n1lbD ❏ Microinverters and power optimisers grow 500% in 2010. http://dlvr.it/m3gtb ❏ IDE introduces first green RO desal system. http://dlvr.it/lP8J4 ❏ GE and Osmoflo partner to expand water treatment solutions to Australian market. http://dlvr.it/klR81 Follow @pacetoday on Twitter for the latest news, analysis, new product information and commentary. And never miss out again.
RECYCLING: Reverse osmosis is at the heart of the water treatment process.
venture partner CH2M HILL,” he said. “The Plant is significantly reducing the level of nutrients entering the Brisbane River by reclaiming treated wastewater that would otherwise be discharged directly into the River and Moreton Bay.” The process at the Plant involves nutrients and micro-contaminants being extracted as the water passes through a flocculation and settling step followed by a system of micro-filters, reverse osmosis membranes and UV-advanced oxidation reactors.
The Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme has now been awarded 18 international, national and state accolades including winning the 2010 Superior Achievement Award from the International Water Association, the water industry’s highest accolade. The 2011 International WateReuse Project of the Year award was presented by the International WaterReuse Association on September 12, 2011 during the 26th Annual WateReuse Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona. www.watergrid.com.au
High Tolerance Prisms
s Precision FILTERSě ASPHERESě OBJECTIVES BOE NPSF
Hard Coated Filters
s *NNFEJBUF %08/-0"%"#-& COATING CURVES
BOE DRAWINGS s 0WFS 22,700 0QUJDT AVAILABLE IN VOLUME! Precision Aspheric Lenses
WE DESIGN.
WE MANUFACTURE.
WE DELIVER.
NEED A VOLUME OPTICS QUOTE? Contact our Sales Department today or to receive your FREE catalog!
4 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
Tel: 65 6273 6644 | www.edmundoptics.com.sg
PACE.OCT11.PG005.pdf
Page
5
22/9/11,
4:34
PM
NEWS
RESEARCH
CO2 reducing technology wins Honeywell award
WINNING: (L-R) The University of Sydney’s Rajab Khalilpour and Ali Abbas with Garry Mahoney (Director Pacific Sales, Honeywell Process Solutions).
THE University of Sydney’s Rajab Khalilpour has won the inaugural Pacific Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Student Competition. Khalilpour was recognised for his project focusing on the simulation and optimisation of a coal-fired power plant using a solventbased post-combustion carbon capture process. This process captures the emitted CO2 from coal power plants using reactive absorbents. The objective is to capture up to 90 per cent of the CO2 and provide a carbon pollution reduction technology which helps power plants reduce their carbon emissions. Designed to inspire innovation within the fields of industrial processes, the Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) Student competition recognises university and technical students for designing solutions that solve critical manufacturing plant issues. This year, students pursuing degrees in technical fields at universities in Australia and New Zealand were challenged to utilise simulation technology to design solutions that address challenges currently being faced by companies in the process industries. The winner earns the opportunity to present to manufacturing companies and potential employers at the annual Pacific HUG. Khalilpour used UniSim Design to simulate an existing coal-fired power plant and the planned solvent-based
post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) process. This process has become important because of its potential to reduce carbon emissions in power plants. In studying the impact of various solvents and PCC design configurations on overall process performance, Khalilpour demonstrated the potential of heat integration to reduce energy penalties by about 18 per cent – where the penalty is the energy diverted to the PCC process from the power plant which would otherwise have been used for electricity production. “The HUG Competition presented our students with a tremendous opportunity to apply their doctoral research towards very real problems and needs,” said Ali Abbas, senior lecturer and director of the Laboratory for Multiscale Systems for the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Sydney. “Such competitions not only help to uncover the next generation of process industry leaders, but also go a long way towards aligning higher education with the realities and challenges faced in our world today.” “It’s very encouraging to see the critical thinking and innovative ideas put forth in this competition by these students,” said Tony Cosgrove, vice president-Asia Pacific for HPS. “They addressed real-world challenges.”
“We’ve made radar level measurement even easier for you.”
New from VEGA: Radar level measurement with still more precision and certainty. From standard measurement to the most difficult measuring task – the new application oriented instrument parameterisation makes using VEGAPULS radar sensors even simpler. Intelligent software and cutting-edge electronics technologies make it possible. www.vega.com/au/innovation Phone: 1800 817 135
www.honeywellprocess.com OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 5
PACE.OCT11.PG006.pdf
Page
6
27/9/11,
8:36
AM
CONVERSATION
PARTNERSHIPS
We’re striving for synergy Rockwell Automation’s distribution strategy is paying off says Twain Drewett. By Kevin Gomez
“
TWAIN Drewett was appointed Rockwell Automation managing director for Australia and New Zealand mid 2008. Drewett returned to Melbourne to take up this position after spending nearly three years in Hong Kong as the Rockwell Automation’s Asia Pacific director for its Project and Solutions business. Drewett had to work through a major restructuring of the Rockwell Automation distribution channels in Australia and New Zealand. The dust appears to have settled and Drewett took some time off at the recent Executive China-Australia Mining Forum in Brisbane to speak exclusively with PACE.
”
6 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
Where do you see the major opportunities in Australia?
continues to rapidly evolve.
We see a growing opportunity in mining – it’s an industry that is really embracing automation in a significant way, striving to achieve efficient, safe and sustainable operations. We also see opportunities in the food and beverage space – it’s clearly another sector that seems to be moving towards greater automation, keen on removing costs from the business and becoming more information enabled. The whole concept of taking raw data from the shop floor and transforming it into management information that leaders within an organisation can use to make business decisions
What can we expect from Rockwell Automation over the next 12 months in terms of products and services? Rockwell Automation will be introducing a small PLC that was designed out of our Asia Pacific business centres, to assist our OEMs and machine builders remain competitive. We will continue to see a lot of enhancements in our software capability especially in the process control space. In addition, we will be expanding our intelligent motor control line significantly. We have several products that are either close to being released to the
market or will be released through the next 12 to 18 months. Finally, our customers are telling us that their operating costs are skyrocketing, so we will be reinforcing our integrated productivity and energy management solutions. We have reduced customer energy costs by 40 per cent in some instances. You’ll see Rockwell Automation continue to move in this area.
Are we going to see more China-made products from Rockwell Automation? We’re going to see more China-made products and more Asia Pacific made products. A lot of the reason why we build product in certain areas isn’t to
PACE.OCT11.PG007.pdf
export it around the world. It’s to be closer to our customers. We’ve had unique opportunities to influence the technology that’s coming out on these new PLCs for example. It’s just great to be in a region where we can have technology-influencing discussions and see things actually happen. The result is we actually manufacture products that are tightly aligned to our customer’s needs.
Page
7
27/9/11,
8:36
complexities because the solutions might not be final. However several blue chip customers in Australia and New Zealand continue to explore this approach with us as a means to further differentiate their offerings and gain a transient competitive advantage. This means that at times we are able to provide input into our global product organisation, highlighting improvement opportunities tailor-made to our local conditions and customer requirements.
Has your team in Australia contributed to Rockwell Automation globally?
Does the grey market hurt Rockwell Automation?
We do pride ourselves on our domain knowledge and our local customers are quite often early adopters. Locally, we regularly execute projects using some of the absolute latest Rockwell Automation technologies, for example our asset management portfolio, our integrated MES suites and our process automation system, PlantPAx. Our customers often demand the newest and best. Both parties understand that this approach can add
The grey market is not significant in any way because of the value proposition Rockwell Automation and our distributors – NHP Electrical Engineering Products and Inaco Automation Controls – bring to customers. Outside of our authorised channel, the product obtained via the so-called ‘grey market’ will typically not be sold with the standard manufacturer’s warranty and full technical support; additionally they could be outdated,
Beamex® FB Field Temperature Block Beamex® MB Metrology Temperature Block
NEW!
AM
obsolete, used or salvaged. Here’s what concerns our customers – let’s say the fault lies in a ten thousand dollar piece of equipment that’s controlling a large multi million/billion dollar plant, and it fails. Okay, they saved a few dollars in purchasing the control equipment. But now, who are they going to depend on for support? Our customers understand that it takes an investment to develop a structure that’s able to support them. Customers with a long term view understand and support this value proposition, which more than negates the temporary benefits of an exchange rate shift.
Has the dust settled after reorganising your distributor channels? Yes, things have settled nicely, our customers are seeing the benefits and appreciate the new streamlined model. Rockwell Automation is committed to its distributors, and we are both committed to the success of our customers – our model is win-win
or lose-lose. It’s a differentiator for us in the marketplace. We authorise our distributors to be the supplier of our products and our distributors then provide complementary product ranges, services and support around these to maximise the value proposition to our customers.
Is training handled by the partner or by Rockwell Automation? If a customer is unable to tell the difference between Rockwell Automation and our distributor, under all situations, I believe we’ve achieved success. If you understand our model, we are looking for amplification while attempting to reduce duplication and redundancy. Where we’ve got a good core competency, we would ask the distributor to let us do that. Where they have good core competency, we try not to build that ourselves so we can complement each other. We’re striving for synergy – one plus one equals three. au.rockwellautomation.com
Introducing a smarter way to calibrate temperature Beamex introduces a smarter, more efficient and accurate solution for calibrating temperature. Beamex® has two different dry block series: the Beamex® FB Series Field Temperature Blocks and the Beamex® MB Series Temperature Metrology Blocks. The dry blocks in the FB Series are lightweight, high-accuracy temperature dry blocks for industrial field use. The dry blocks in the MB Series deliver bath-level accuracy for industrial applications. Portable calibrators Workstations Calibration software Professional services Industry solutions
www.beamex.com info@beamex.com
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 7
PACE.OCT11.PG008.pdf
Page
8
26/9/11,
3:16
PM
CONVERSATION
TRANSFORMATION
Intuition is the key t Honeywell’s Ian Brown has made a career out of moving and ye
“
Ian Brown worked with Honeywell in Australia 25 years ago in the building management area. He returned to the UK, joined Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) and worked predominantly in management projects in the North Sea. He then crossed sides and ended up being a client of Honeywell for a number of years, eventually forming his own process optimisation consultancy. Brown was looking at remote performance management of turbines, compressors and equipment offshore. During that time he employed Matrikon technology for the projects on which he was working. That relationship with Matrikon grew and Brown moved into upstream well monitoring. In 2004, Matrikon acquired Brown’s business. Brown stayed on, growing that business to 25 percent of Matrikon’s total turnover. In June 2010, Honeywell acquired Matrikon and his career came full circle. Matrikon was integrated into Honeywell Process Solutions, which is part of Honeywell’s Automation and Control Solutions business group. Brown is currently Vice President & General Manager, Advanced Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions. He took some time off at the Honeywell Users Group Symposium in Perth to talk to PACE.
economic growth in Australia, so all those growth drivers are strong areas for us.
There are two parts to Matrikon. The connectivity piece is MatrikonOPC and this has been preserved. It resides in their fuel products business. They’re vendor neutral; building and providing servers to the industry. The other part is the Advanced Solutions business. Through the transition, Matrikon continued to operate as it was, while we looked at the synergies within the technology. The decision was made to form a separate Advanced Solutions business – bring some of the Advanced Solutions business that was in the Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) global organisation together with the Matrikon acquisition to form a dedicated Advanced Solutions business. So the new Advanced Solutions business contains that part of Matrikon, as well as the complementary part of the product suite from Honeywell.
Has Matrikon has developed any solutions in Australia that have been used overseas?
What do you see as growth areas for Honeywell Process Solutions business in Australia?
We were in a transition from traditional DCS vendor to business transformation enabler. Hence our consultancy based approach. Matrikon has always been a standards based organisation. Bringing that ability to connect deeply to any DCS platform, any historian platform or any application in the middle space, really changes our vision of the way we can service our clients. We can move from focusing on the assets that traditionally had Experion, the legacy Honeywell DCS. We can now look at the whole enterprise in the Advanced Solutions space. We want to be in a position to take information that’s in the plan, transform this information and thereby enable our clients to make better, faster decisions. That’s really the foundation of business transformation.
I guess it's the commodity boom, so mining. We have a really strong mining capability here in Australia. The legacy Matrikon business was really founded and focused on mining. A lot of the products we developed in the mining space were actually developed in Newcastle in New South Wales. We have a strong resource pool with 150 people in the Matrikon Australia organisation. Combining this with the upstream oil and gas capability of the legacy Honeywell operation delivers a lot of opportunities. Coal mining is another key strength of the legacy Matrikon organisation. Conventional and unconventional oil and gas would be the other area of focus. I guess these three industries are really driving the 8 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
”
Honeywell had expressed the intention to preserve Matrikon as a separate entity. How has this worked out?
Absolutely. Downtime Reporter was developed in Australia and is used globally within the new Advanced Solutions business. It'll form an integral part of our asset reliability, asset management practice. They’re also developing a product called Mine to Port, which is a supply chain management system to manage everything from the pit site all the way through to the distribution channels. So, again that will become a mainstream mining offering within the Honeywell Advanced Solutions business and applicable all around the world. There are a couple of projects already in development for Mine to Port.
Why is Matrikon often referred to as Honeywell’s most important acquisition?
PACE.OCT11.PG009.pdf
Page
9
26/9/11,
3:17
PM
y to technological development nd yet staying with the winning side. Here he reveals the strong suite of products up his sleeve, writes Kevin Gomez. What innovations can we expect to see from Honeywell Process Solutions? In terms of technology innovation, the main focus is our Intuition platform that will serve the majority of the MES and operational excellence products. This will allow us to focus on the people and the process part of the problem. So technology is only part of the deal. Intuition is a platform that allows us to incorporate the work processes and provide the collaboration to get people working together. You will see innovation in terms of rapid response to emerging industry trends. Take coal seam gas, for example. We quickly took our foundational well monitoring package and refactored it to look after coal seam gas wells. The infrastructure is exactly the same but it’s another algorithm, different KPIs to monitor these coal seam and gas wells. We were able to move that into production within months. An ability to quickly and agilely respond to
industry trends and emerging markets – this is what you will see from the Advanced Solutions business.
How does the skills shortage impact on the way you develop products? In a lot of instances, particularly in Australia, people have staffed up to manage and monitor say 500 offshore or onshore wells. The expansion plans for those businesses may take them to tens of thousands of wells. If you linearly extend the resource from 500 to 10,000, it just doesn’t work. There isn’t that number of skilled resources available. Companies must become smarter in the way they use their limited resource pool. And this really drives the need for technology. Before the technology is implemented, we had a set of operators that drove a route from well to well. Their capacity to physically cover a number of wells governs the manning profile and they
effectively repeat that route loop after loop. Technology allows us to identify and send operators only to wells that really need intervention. We’re able to monitor the rest remotely. You can cover more assets with a small resource pool.
How do you view the Australian market? Our Australian customers have always been among the most innovative. A lot of the clients we work with here are viewed as thought leaders within the industry and have been early adopters of technology. I think it’s a fantastic time to be in Australia. But I think that our clients also have some significant issues to overcome in terms of being able to resource the commodity boom that we are experiencing. It’s going to be a challenge and is one that Honeywell is looking to help its clients overcome. www.honeywell.com
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 9
PACE.OCT11.PG010.pdf
Page
10
22/9/11,
4:39
PM
OPINION
MANUFACTURING
Machine vision compliance Machine vision has boosted productivity on the production line, writes Himanshu Shah.
T
HE age of improving the bottom line by simply pursuing further cost reductions with supplier purchasing agreements has taken its toll on the manufacturing community over the last decade. The automotive industry has been the poster child in this arena as it continued to drive component and subassembly prices steadily down with its suppliers. The food and beverage industries took a slightly different tack with industry consolidation and the rationalising of manufacturing facilities in an effort to gain from manufacturing scales. In the pharmaceutical industry, the age of the blockbuster drug is over and now the industry has placed a greater emphasis on manufacturing operations to improve margins. The latest generation of machine vision technology offers significant benefits for applications outside the semiconductor industry, a primary past beneficiary of huge investments in the technology. Machine vision has brought end users quantifiable benefits by boosting productivity on the production line and ensuring product quality, safety, and security. The landscape is changing as vision companies now provide end-toend solutions. Today’s class of integrated vision systems provides solutions that enable manufacturers to meet regulatory requirements. These include commercially available vision solutions that satisfy both traceability and genealogy capabilities down to the component level. The need for regulatory compliance in pharmaceutical, food & beverage, automotive, and other hybrid and discrete manufacturing industries has created opportunities ma-chine vision technology in areas far beyond typical productivity and quality improvement applications. In response, suppliers have developed end-to-end vertical solutions that support many business and regulatory requirements. Machine vision satisfies two key requirements of the food, pharmaceu-
10 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
Manufacturers are aware of the benefits of production line flexibility but the unique requirements of global regulations pose further challenges when considering flexibility. tical, and other regulated industries: (1) product quality, safety, and security inspection in manufacturing, and (2) product tracking. The industry also has strict regulatory requirements for control system and software as well as subsequent system changes and related standard operated procedures (SOPs). Manufacturers are aware of the benefits of production line flexibility, but the unique requirements of global regula-
tions pose further challenges when considering flexibility. Food, pharmaceutical, and other manufacturers must comply with regulatory requirements for change management. Machine vision systems play a critical role regulated manufacturing industries with heightened requirements for unit-level traceability due to anti-counterfeiting and brand protection, warranty costs, regulatory compliance, and cost avoidance. Manufacturers need to contain potential quality problems before and after the product ships and provide detailed product genealogy information to supply chain partners. Machine vision systems are available with production management or manufacturing execution system technology that provide end-to-end traceability solutions. Integrated machine vision systems and production management software applications are the result of strategic alliances between machine vision
companies and enterprise software companies, integrators, or OEMs to provide tightly coupled system solutions for component level traceability and genealogy. The specific machine vision system architecture is critical to minimise deployment efforts for software and systems on a production line. For example, when an additional camera is added to enhance the process on a currently operating production line, software will generally need to be modified and (potentially) revalidated. Using a distributed architecture with software capable of expanding and adapting to additional cameras reduces implementation efforts due to the reuse of existing application templates. Emerging standard networking technologies, such as Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), also make change easier. [Himanshu Shah (HShah@arcweb.com) is Senior Analyst, ARC Advisory Group.] www.arcweb.com
PACE.OCT11.PG011.pdf
Page
11
23/9/11,
9:41
AM
OPINION
CSG
Young dogs and old tricks The technical standard for coal seam gas needs to be set, writes David Greally.
M
ANY have been questioning the pace at which energy giants seem to be rushing to get gas out of the ground. There may be public misconceptions about the industry particularly surrounding access to the abundant resource, but there’s also some concern with the gas extraction methods. This aside, Australian companies mostly apply world class practices where the practice has been refined over many years. However, with CSG, this is not necessarily the case and in fact a different economic and technical model is mostly required before the project is viable. Scaling any system whether it includes technology, business processes or resource management requires careful operational consideration and generally a lot of trialling. It may have worked for the initial production, but will it work for full production? Even if we think we have the solution, you can be assured you will still be modifying and adapting to the new scale to maintain your position as a low cost producer. One of the most significant costs in a CSG project is the operational cost due to the number of wellheads compared to a similar conventional gas reservoir. And one of the most significant methods to reduce those operational costs is through technology operator integration. There are gas companies leading the
pack in technological solutions that could lead the way to low cost quality production on a large scale ensuring profit. These companies are not shy to try something new, however they insist on best practice, open and maintainable solutions that are fit for purpose. The rush that was on to see who could get gas out of the ground the fastest is now proving to be less efficient than knowing how your asset should operate in an efficient manner for optimum performance during its life. The business costs of manpower on the ground are driving CSG companies to work with automators in developing control systems that ensure their technology design is flexible and open. Knowing how to integrate the latest technology such as RF IP, allows them to adequately monitor and micro control their assets 24/7 from anywhere in the world (including from a smart phone). The right technology approach upfront, means not repeating mistakes as you expand. The cost of replacing downhole equipment and working over a wellhead all because you didn’t know when your pump was about to seize is completely unnecessary. Correlating well attributes with live data ensures you know your field and how best to manage it. One might presume that the standard of today’s control and monitoring technology is great and yet the typical
One of the most significant methods of reducing operational costs is through technology operator integration. standard of technology actually deployed for CSG is mind boggling. Disparate assets, costs and the technological demands of coal seam gas are proving drastically different from conventional gas applications. So in this case it seems, you can’t teach a young dog old tricks! You simply cannot apply plant technology to disparate assets and expect your system to deliver the low cost production results. If only few CSG companies are leading the technology game, what is everyone else waiting for? Perhaps sticking to old methods, legacy technology or more importantly the wrong approach is the reason. For the last 20 years Australia has been proving area wide asset operational issues can be managed effectively. Water, transportation and electrical transmission and distribution industries have been getting great results with successful large-scale disparate operational systems. Their approach is nothing like a service
facility or plant approach and that’s the reason they succeed. Resource planning, remoteness and asset particulars are Australian CSG problems that you can’t solve using a US, Europe or other international model of information management. Not enough gas companies are investing early enough in fit for purpose technology that is perhaps the smallest cost component of CSG capital costs yet supports a low operational cost model and ensures the value of the field is realised earlier. You can have appropriate technology that supports the desire to test new methods without starting again every time. Technical flexibility and core development services will help to deliver again and again. A ‘considered’ design and smart ‘open’ technology choices, mean that the cost need only be borne once in the lifecycle of the coal seam, especially where the newer approach shows that hundreds of assets can be added to a system with little impact on the cost of expansion. Whether or not gas companies see the light in taking up the technical challenge the right way remains to be seen, but what is becoming abundantly clear, is the investment in the right technology approach can only help boost confidence in this new Australian industry. [David Greally is COO, Parasyn.] www.parasyn.com.au
Now direct to you. Faster and smarter. Over 15,000 sensing, connectivity, interface and communications solutions are now available locally and direct from TURCK Australia. 1300-132-566 turck.com.au
©2011 TURCK, Inc.
SENSORS | NETWORKS/FIELDBUS | RFID | CONNECTIVITY | INTRINSIC SAFETY
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 11
PACE.OCT11.PG012.pdf
Page
12
28/9/11,
9:27
AM
BEHIND THE SCENES
New drives help bridge the gap Many of the existing air-driven gantries on Sydney Harbour Bridge had experienced operational difficulties and needed to be refurbished to optimise their functionality, writes Steve Marsh.
C
ONNECTING Sydney City to North Shore at Milsons Point, the Sydney Harbour Bridge provides a key arterial connection for the city. It incorporates eight traffic lanes, two railway lines, a pedestrian pathway, and a cycle lane. Completed in 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge requires regular inspections and maintenance programs to sustain its engineering integrity and preserve its appearance. To facilitate these upkeep programs, the bridge is equipped with a number of moveable gantries located beneath the road and rail deck – some 50m above the Port Jackson waterline. Running on rails, these gantries are designed to
12 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE: By choosing a complete drive package it was possible to substantially minimise the equipment footprint on each gantry.
provide safe access for repair and maintenance teams to the otherwise inaccessible underside areas of the bridge deck.
As part of an improvement and upgrade programme, the Road Traffic Authority (RTA) of NSW decided to upgrade these gantries from the existing pneumatic/hydraulic air-drive system to a new cutting-edge electric-motor-operated variable speed drive (VSD) design. The RTA engaged SAGE Automation, as system integrator for the project. SAGE made the decision to incorporate a complete drive solutions package from SEW-Eurodrive. According to SAGE Group Business Manager, Robert Craig, many of the existing air-driven gantries had experienced operational difficulties, and needed to be refurbished to optimise their functionality. Initially, four of the underdeck gantries were refurbished – two ‘pylon’ gantries, and two ‘wing’ gantries on the eastern side of the bridge. “Rather than try to restore the outdated air-driven system, the decision was made to replace them with electricmotor/VSD solutions,” he says. “This would deliver more reliable systems and more accurate levels of control.” To allow autonomous operation, each upgraded gantry is entirely selfcontained – complete with diesel generator, and all control and drive equipment. “The choice of drive control solution had to be as compact as possible,” says Craig. “By choosing a complete drive package – including motion controller, VSDs, geared brakemotors, encoders and HMI – we were able to substantially minimise the equipment
SNAPSHOT
LINKED IN Connectivity for the various system components is achieved through a combination of S-Bus and Ethernet. S-Bus is used to connect the MoviDrive to the Movi-PLC. Ethernet provides connectivity from the MoviPLC to the SEW-Eurodrive drive operator panel (DOP) colour touchscreen HMI. The DOP shows information regarding status, alarms, speed and position. This allows an operator on the gantry to control the gantry movement easily via a joystick, with all relevant information at his fingertips.
footprint on each gantry.” The pylon gantries are equipped with four SEW-Eurodrive KA57 helical-bevel geared brakemotors, rated at 0.55 kW and 470Nm. The wing gantries use two identical KA57 brakemotors, plus a third larger KA67R37, rated at 0.75kW and 990Nm. An SEW-Eurodrive MoviDrive ‘B’ variable speed frequency inverter drives each brakemotor, and these are supervised by an SEWEurodrive Movi-PLC motion controller on each gantry. This design provides crucial single-point configurable supervisory control of the drive applications. The Movi-PLC features a ‘T1’ SDcard which generates a virtual encoder pulse, to which each of the Hiperface
PACE.OCT11.PG013.pdf
encoders on the motors synchronise. “The T1 card enables pre-written and tested motion function blocks within the Movi-PLC to be used, and this permits the creation of a virtual encoder,” says SEW-Eurodrive NSW Sales Manager, Martin Broglia. “In effect, the virtual encoder is a ‘master’ unit, and the actual Hiperface encoders are ‘slave’ units. This set-up ensures that if any motor or encoder fails, the master is not affected and the remaining slaves are still provided with direction. This facilitates synchronisation of the drives to avoid slewing of the gantry when in motion.” Each gearmotor features a BMK1.5 rail mount brake rectifier and a manual release. “The MoviDrive ‘B’ sends an output to the brake to activate at zero speed,” says Broglia. “The intelligence of the system ensures the motor doesn’t drive through the brake. This means that the end-user saves on having to build their own logics to make the brake engage and disengage.” The main challenges experienced on the project involved access to the bridge
Page
13
28/9/11,
9:28
was completed off-site. All controllers and drive components were delivered to SAGE’s facility, where the electrical cabinets were assembled and configured before being brought to site for installations. The geared brakemotors were transported straight to site. Interestingly, all work was completed in a ‘live-bridge’ environment. “Due to the essential transport link that the Sydney Harbour Bridge provides, it was not possible to close the bridge at any stage,” says Craig. “To accomplish the installation, strategic lane closures – coordinated by the RTA – were kept to an absolute minimum, both in number and duration, and were only used to facilitate the lifting into place of equipment. In this way, impacts to the traffic were effectively mitigated.” Despite these limitations, the installation of the up-rated drive systems for the gantries was accomplished extremely smoothly, and the entire project was completed on schedule. The RTA was so pleased with the finished results that it requested a follow-on project for the
DRIVE: An SEW-Eurodrive MoviDrive ‘B’ variable speed frequency inverter drives each brakemotor.
itself. To alleviate this restriction, the majority of the drive system assembly
Advan-Touch: Out Of The Box, Install And Connect! ct!
AM
remaining two west wing gantries, using exactly the same drive solutions. The project’s success, in Craig’s opinion, has been due in no small part to the SEW-Eurodrive drive solution used, and the company’s ability to deliver a complete end-to-end drive package. “Being able to source all components from the one company has simplified matters enormously,” he says. “All the components are designed to work together, and this delivers a more compact, efficient and robust drive solution than we’d have been able to source from any other drive solutions provider. Moreover, we have the surety from past experience that SEW follows this up with great levels of service and backup.” The four gantries are now in operation, with the remaining two west wing gantries scheduled for completion shortly. The refurbished gantries will provide complete maintenance access to all areas of the bridge underdeck. SEW-Eurodrive 03 9933 1000 www.sew-eurodrive.com.au
rt
Prices sta from
!
$2, 600!! ex GST
Wonderware and Advantech are combining their leading products InTouch visualization and Windows XP Touch Panel Computers to provide the most cost effective SCADA/HMI TPC offering. This unique offering delivers pre-installed Operator Interface units that benefit users as follows: • • • • • •
Fully operational TPC options that are ready to be used Ranging from 64,128,256,500 & 1k Tags Avoid lengthy installation time and compatibility challenges Windows XP OS with full InTouch HMI functionality One development environment without any need for compilation or costly conversions Ideal add-on to existing SCADA or to replace old and antiquated hardware
Call
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 13
PACE.OCT11.PG014.pdf
Page
14
28/9/11,
9:22
AM
BEHIND THE SCENES
PLC upgrade for mining behemoths The rugged and heavy-duty industrial PC ThinkIO delivers high-performance control for Liebherr’s large and powerful mining trucks, writes Andrea Mayer.
M HEAVY DUTY: The Liebherr T 282 C is the most powerful mining truck in the world. It can carry up to 363 metric tons at a top speed of 64 km/h.
14 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
INING trucks are huge transport vehicles used on open-cast mines all over the globe, and the T 282 C made by Liebherr is the most powerful model in the world. High-performance PLC units are required to control these vehicles and to ensure they operate reliably. Liebherr’s heavy-duty mining trucks work hard transporting coal, diamonds and copper. These vehicles have tires that are 4m high –more than twice as tall as a full-grown adult – and weigh in at 5.28 tons, making them the biggest in the world. More impressive is the payload capacity of these beasts. Liebherr’s T 282 C can carry up to 363 metric tons at a top speed of 64 km/h with a relatively low empty vehicle weight of 237 metric tons. A mining truck of this size needs to be able to control all vehicle components efficiently and reliably. For example, it features continuous acceleration and deceleration, which helps reduce wear and tear on parts. This means that when the driver accelerates or brakes, the system logs the position of the pedal and then converts this information is into a command for the electric traction motors located on the rear axle. To ensure the motors get enough energy to perform the command, the necessary rotational speed has to be communicated to the diesel engine. A generator converts the engine’s mechanical power into electrical power that sends exactly the right amount of drive to the wheels. Steering works in a similar way. When the driver turns the wheel, the torque for the two power trains is calculated separately for each according to the steering angle, enabling the mammoth truck to get around the corner safely. Handling all these complex, highspeed control processes requires a powerful, reliable programmable logic controller (PLC).
High-performance In spring 2009, Liebherr decided to equip its mining trucks with a new control unit. One of the main requirements the PLC had to fulfill was the ability to work reliably in extreme temperatures without a cooling fan. Due to the harsh conditions the trucks operate in, the PLC could not include any components sensitive to shocks and vibrations, such as fans and hard drives. Another requirement concerned the other end of the temperature range. Mining trucks need to function flawlessly in regions with extreme climates. The unit has to manage a cold start even in these conditions. Liebherr also needed a PLC with four independent CAN bus interfaces. The truck is equipped with a variety of devices that all have to be connected to the control unit via a field bus. These devices include certain inverters for the power train and peripheral sensors for recording temperature and pressure values. Liebherr wanted to be able to group the devices by function and importance. This would mean that, for example, one CAN bus would handle only data necessary for the power train, while another would transfer less critical signals. This set-up is designed to make the trucks more reliable.
Fault diagnosis The PLC also offers a file system that makes it possible to archive operating data and then retrieve them during maintenance and fault diagnosis. This “condition monitoring” allows engineers to identify, for example, excessive wear and tear on vehicle components such as the air filter. Using the saved information, they can identify what parts need to be replaced soon. Users can retrieve fault files using an Ethernet interface or USB stick and then analyse them at their leisure. This system gives maintenance staff
PACE.OCT11.PG015.pdf
Condition monitoring allows engineers to identify excessive wear and tear on vehicle components. access to up-to-the-minute information on the truck’s sensors and actuators. Technical requirements aside, Liebherr also wanted to find a PLC manufacturer with a sustainable market position. The devices have a service life of at least ten years and replacement parts must be available far beyond this period. In their search for a suitable supplier, the Liebherr team came across Kontron. The latter’s heavy-duty industrial PC ThinkIO met all the requirements the team had identified.
Harsh environments The ThinkIO works with a 1.06GHz Intel Celeron M processor and
Page
15
28/9/11,
9:25
AM
SNAPSHOT
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE THINKIO Processor: Intel Celeron M processor ULV 423, 1MB cache, 533 MHz FSB Memory: 512 MB DDR-SDRAM, 2GB CF onboard, soldered - 512KB MRAM - External CompactFlash (I+II) or microdrives possible Ethernet: 2 x 10/100/1000 Base-TX USB: 2 x USB 2.0 Serial Ports: 1 x RS232 with all handshake lines Digital Input: 7 x 24V, triggerable and opto-isolated, depending on mass Digital Output: 2 x 24V / 0.1 A opto-isolated, short-circuit-proof Relay Output: 1 watchdog output (max. 32 VDC / 1A) DVI-I: Digital and analogue (CRT/VGA connector) RTC: Gold Cap capacitor Status LEDs: 4 x three-colour: IDE /
power, temperature, bus, application Run / Stop: 1 x switch Reset: 1 x button Fieldbus: 4 CAN interfaces, Layer 2 with SJA1000 Modular I/O: Interface to WAGO-I/O-System 750 Operating System: Embedded RTLinux with RT preempt patch for the Linux kernel (OSADL) - CoDeSys 2.3 runtime including target and web visualisation Power Supply: 24V DC (-20% / +30%) Ambient Temperature: -55°C to 60°C Dimensions (LxWxH): 224 x 100 x 70 mm
RUGGED: The ThinkIO has been developed specifically for use in harsh environments and is shock and vibration resistant.
runs Linux OSADL and CoDeSys Version 2.3. Developed specifically for use in harsh environments, it can handle temperatures from -55°C to 60°C and is shock and vibration resistant. The standard version of the ThinkIO only has one CAN bus interface, but Kontron modified it for Liebherr with an additional board to provide the four > interfaces required.
Personal contact is more than phone calls and e-mail. It’s people working together to develop unique solutions. Take the guesswork and risk out of choosing your extended automation team. Selecting a qualified Rockwell Automation Authorised Distributor brings you resources closely matched to your industy or application need. Go to http://www.rockwellautomation.com/distributor/
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 15
PACE.OCT11.PG016.pdf
Page
16
28/9/11,
9:26
AM
BEHIND THE SCENES
ifm offers solutions, not products.
VISUAL: The ThinkIO displays important information on a graphic display in the driver’s cabin.
Position sensors and detection systems for all applications, including robotics, handling, production and logistics.
The graphic interface can connect the monitor in the driver’s cab directly to the PLC.
Fluid sensors suitable for food and hygienic areas, as well as environments with aggressive oils and coolants. 0GVYQTMKPI KFGPVKĆ‚ECVKQP CPF EQPVTQN systems. AS-interface to easily transmit sensor signals to a controller at a low cost. Robust control system ecomatmobile is the perfect solution for mobile applications.
1300 365 088 sales.au@ifm.com www.ifm.com
efector
16 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
Two become one One of the major advantages of this heavy-duty industrial PC ThinkIO is its processing power. Liebherr wanted its new control system to be at least four times as fast as the previous version. The ThinkIO met this target and more, performing at six times the speed of Liebherr’s previous solution. The ThinkIO’s processing power allowed functions previously divided between two control units to be combined into a single device – without even touching on the PLC’s performance limits. So despite the high level of integration, there is plenty of scope for future add-ons, which will save time and money down the road. Another plus of the ThinkIO is the graphic interface. The graphic display is useful for drivers and service staff because it gives them on-screen access to important information on payload, faults, temperatures and so on. From diesel engine diagnostics to brake wear, the
central PLC can record and display on screen everything that can be saved as electronic data and that is essential to vehicle operation.
Visual display The graphic interface can connect the monitor in the driver’s cab directly to the PLC. Previously this required installing and programming a separate visual display device and PLC. Integrating these functions into one device has cut down on time and effort in a number of ways, such as making it unnecessary to update three separate programs for every add-on. A number of mining trucks are now working with the ThinkIO. The first went into operation in late 2009, which means Liebherr engineers have had nearly two years of experience with the new technology. Project manager Bernd Sommer is especially pleased with the new system, “With one unit instead of two handling all the functions, we’ve been able to take a big step forward in terms of development – everything goes much faster now.� Since early 2010, Liebherr has been fitting all its mining trucks with the ThinkIO. [Andrea Mayer is Product Marketing Manager at Kontron Modular Computers.] Kontron Australia 02 9457 0047 www.kontron.com.au
AD_PACEFLUSEP_11.pdf
Page
1
11/08/11,
3:57
PM
You’ll love what we’ve done with your calibrator. The NEW Fluke 754 lets you do the work of several tools. Calibrate temperature, pressure, voltage, current, resistance and frequency. Easily troubleshoot HART instrumentation, not to mention record and document your results. All this plus a brighter screen, newer software, improved battery life, USB port, and improved accuracy with a 99.6 % confidence level. Fluke process calibrators: Work smarter. Work faster.
Find out more at: www.fluke.com.au Contact Fluke Australia P: +61 2 8850 3333 e: sales@flukecom.au
CO M M U N I C AT I O N F O U N DAT I O N
PACE.OCT11.PG018.pdf
Page
18
23/9/11,
2:48
PM
IN FOCUS
Next gen tools for wireless design Engineering managers must coordinate geographically dispersed teams working on different parts of an overall system using different disconnected tools, writes Mike Woodward.
D
ESIGN tools are often targeted at a single design domain (for example, analogue design) and do not work well with tools for other design domains. This makes interaction between engineering teams more difficult than it needs to be. Silo development also introduces verification inefficiencies. It pushes integration testing toward the end of the design process, when bugs are more expensive to fix. Adding to this is the tendency of engineering teams to write test harnesses from scratch, instead of using trusted models created earlier in the design process.
FIGURE 1: Model and plots of a digital pre-distortion system in Simulink.
Link design domains To link different design disciplines, we need to be able to design and simulate different design domains in the same model. This requires a simulation platform that can simulate different types of systems at the same time. Fortunately, such system-level design platforms exist. Figure 2 shows one such platform modelling a digital pre-distortion system including both analogue and digital elements. These multidomain system-level design platforms combine different simulation types and tools, allowing the user to build one system model combining the behaviours of all subsystems.
Standardised interface Further, more than 250 new algorithms with a standardised interface to efficiently process audio, video and other streaming data are now available in MatLab. These algorithms are available as System objects, a new class of MatLab objects that facilitate algorithm design and re-use. MatLab programs that use System objects can also be used directly in Simulink models for system design, simulation, and analysis. By using a multi-domain simulation, we are able to rule out unworkable designs at the start of the project. 18 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
Multidomain system-level design platforms combine different simulation types and tools allowing the user to build one system model combining the behaviours of all subsystems. Effectively we are bringing verification to project inception. In addition, recent addition of SimRF circuit-envelope and harmonic balance simulation techniques to the Simulink environment provides a large component library for modelling RF system architectures and supports multi-frequency RF signals for diverse interference simulations, and multiport architectures for true-to-form RF transceiver representations.
much of our system as early as we can in the design process. To streamline the prototyping process for the digital portions of the design, Simulink HDL Coder now supports rapid design iterations from within Simulink by highlighting critical paths in the model and estimating hardware resource utilisation. It also supports optimisations such as serialisation, resource sharing, and pipelining. An FPGA Workflow Advisor automates synthesis and implementation on Xilinx and Altera FPGAs.
Implementation tools To reuse our “golden reference� system model for verification, we need our system-level design platform to have run-time co-simulation links to implementation tools that enable
Link different tools The most expensive time to find errors in any wireless design is right at the end of the development process, which is unfortunately, where we find most errors. We want to get bad news as soon as possible, so we would like to verify as
FIGURE 2: Silo development methodology.
us to examine the dynamic behaviour of systems. Figure 3 shows two such tools cosimulating, in this case Simulink from MathWorks and ModelSim from Mentor Graphics. Here, the tools are exchanging data at each simulation time step, enabling simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the analogue-digital system. Similar cosimulation links are also available for other popular analogue and circuit-level simulation environments. This co-simulation offers three benefits. First, it enables the system-level model to be reused as a test bench during the implementation phase of the project. Second, the system model acts as a common simulation platform between different disciplines, enabling collaboration via a common model all can understand and use. Third, it enables us to benefit from a more integrated development approach while still using existing tools, reducing adoption risk. This early verification has yielded large savings in several real projects.
Playing nicely together The design flow we are advocating, shown in Figure 4, starts with a systemlevel design and integrates with existing flows to offer efficiency improvements without the risk of revolutionary change. At the early stages of the project, the model unifies different design domains and enables us to make design tradeoffs. This brings verification to the start of the design process and links the different design teams via a common platform that enables earlier and more detailed testing. Finally, we reuse the system model as a test harness and golden reference for verification, comparing the physical wireless prototype with the system model golden reference. Engineering managers today face the challenge of coordinating geographically dispersed teams that are working on different parts of an overall system > using different, disconnected tools.
AD_PACEWEIOCT_11.pdf
Page
1
16/09/11,
5:15
PM
PACE.OCT11.PG020.pdf
Page
20
23/9/11,
2:49
PM
IN FOCUS
Engineering teams can best address this challenge by adopting system-level design in an environment such as Simulink, while expressing some lowerlevel details as text in MatLab. Whether small or large, geographically distributed or located in the same office, engineering teams struggling with discontinuities in their design workflow can apply the technologies discussed in this article to streamline and accelerate the development of complex signal processing and communications systems. [Mike Woodward is Communications Industry Manager, MathWorks.]
FIGURE 3: Co-simulation with Simulink and ModelSim.
MathWorks 02 8669 4700 www.mathworks.com.au
FIGURE 4: Complete Model-Based Design workflow integrating different teams and design stages.
COMMUNICATIONS
OPC-HDA support for Process Historian Data Analysis The process industries are faced with the challenge of quickly analysing the volumes of data they have collected and performing root cause analysis to continually improve operations.
M
ATHWORKS has released a major update of the OPC Toolbox product, offering support for the OPC Foundation Historical Data Access (HDA) standard. MatLab users in the power & utilities, chemical, and oil & gas industries can now access and visualise historical process data from an OPC HDA server, identify trends, and perform root cause analysis to help continually improve their operations. Data acquisition platforms are critical tools for reliably gathering, archiving and serving enterprise data. To perform advanced analyses and extract important information from the massive volumes of process data that is captured requires a powerful analytical engine. With the OPC HDA access in OPC Toolbox, process specialists can more efficiently apply MatLab data visualisation, data analysis, and numeric computation capabilities to historical OPC data. They can also automate common analysis tasks, generate reports, create customised data analysis GUIs, or integrate these analytics back into their process historian. “The process industries are faced with the challenge of quickly analysing 20 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
the volumes of data they have collected and performing root cause analysis to continually improve operations,” said Graham Dudgeon, energy production industry manager, MathWorks. “By providing easier access to this data within MatLab environment, we are enabling process engineers to perform more advanced analyses, such as root cause analysis, which can lead to significant process improvements and cost savings.”
MatLab and Simulink MathWorks has also announced Release 2011b (R2011b) of its MatLab and Simulink product families. The new Simulink Code Inspector, facilitates the review of source code generated from Simulink models. R2011b updates 82 other products, including Polyspace embedded software verification products. MatLab R2011b highlights are: ❏ MatLab: Faster startup on Windows with Startup Accelerator, reading and writing portions of arrays from MATfiles, and new spreadsheet import tool ❏ Parallel Computing Toolbox: Increase in local workers from 8 to 12 ❏ Image Processing Toolbox: Parallel block processing of large images with
Data acquisition platforms are critical tools for reliably gathering data in addition to archiving as well as serving enterprise data. Parallel Computing Toolbox ❏ Global Optimisation Toolbox: Mixed
integer nonlinear programming in genetic algorithm solver ❏ Statistics Toolbox: Lasso and elastic net for linear regression variable selection from high dimensional data sets ❏ Financial Derivatives Toolbox: Pricing and sensitivity calculations for sinking fund provisions, range bonds, and step up/down coupon bonds ❏ Data Acquisition Toolbox: Measurement support for IEPE accelerometers ❏ Instrument Control Toolbox: Bluetooth serial communication support ❏ Bioinformatics Toolbox: NGS Browser for viewing multiple tracks of sequence alignment data stored in SAM/BAM formats
❏ Robust Control Toolbox: Auto-tuning
of arbitrary controller architectures ❏ MatLab Coder: Generation of multi-
core-enabled MEX functions using parallel for-loops R2011b for Simulink includes: ❏ Simulink: Project manager for library, model component, script, and MATfile configuration management ❏ Simulink Coder: Concurrent execution on multicore processors for host-based targets and xPC Target ❏ Embedded Coder: Code coverage with LDRA Testbed and function execution profiling for SIL and PIL testing ❏ Simulink Fixed Point: Autoscaling using derived signal ranges ❏ Simulink Design Optimisation: Frequency-domain constraints for model optimisation ❏ SimElectronics: Semiconductor device models with temperature dependent behaviour and configurable thermal ports ❏ SimEvents: Faster discrete-event simulation and simplified hybrid system modelling ❏ IEC Certification Kit: ISO 26262 support for Simulink Design Verifier and Simulink Verification and Validation
PACE.OCT11.PG021.pdf
Page
21
23/9/11,
3:01
PM
IN FOCUS
Automation knowledge crises Not only are individual automation systems becoming more complex they are increasingly being integrated with each other to facilitate interoperability, writes Chris Lyden.
W
HEN we talk of the socalled “knowledge crisis” in the process industries today, we automatically gravitate toward discussion about the retirement of the baby boomer generation and the loss of practical knowledge associated with that. For example, one American refining company claims to have lost 2,500 manyears of practical knowledge in a single year when 100 of their process operators retired. Australia is no different. In fact, Australia’s manufacturing sector has an older workforce than any of its other economic sectors with more than 40 per cent of the workforce exceeding 45 years of age. Whilst the aging workforce is a significant concern, other factors that are not as commonly discussed further exacerbate the crisis. As it relates to automation, the size, complexity, and interoperability of modern automation systems has increased much more quickly than human ability to document and understand them. For many years now, the number of installed measurements in process automation has increased as the cost of sensors has decreased. As the number of measurements has increased, new software applications that leverage those measurements have also increased. In fact, there is a sort of autocatalytic relationship between the two: lower-cost measurements enabling the justification of more applications; and more applications driving the need for more measurements. The result is larger and more complex automation systems.
More complex Not only are individual automation systems becoming larger and more complex, they are increasingly being integrated with each other to facilitate interoperability requirements. For example, it is very common for a signal brought into a Safety Instrumented System (SIS) to also be used in applications and operating displays within the Distributed Control System (DCS), as
well as to be archived by the plant historian. While the vendors for each of these systems manage the changes to their own databases, none do so across the boundaries between systems, and in many cases, human knowledge is the only record of the integration. An example of this occurred at a North American Petrochemical plant, where plant personnel were conducting a routine test of an interlock in a Safety Instrumented System (SIS). As provided for in the procedure, they bypassed the output of the SIS so that when they exercised the logic to test it, the valve would not actually trip. However, they were unaware that a well-intentioned individual had added
some operator startup assistance logic in the Distributed Control System (DCS) designed to sense when that interlock tripped in the SIS and place all the controllers on the unit in manual and their outputs at 0 per cent. Because the startup assistance logic was undocumented, it was not disabled prior to the test, and the result was that it shut the unit down and a major flaring event occurred. The plant not only lost production during the shutdown, but incurred environmental fines as well. The lesson in this example is that undocumented and unapproved changes to automation systems pose a significant risk to plant operations. Of significant concern is that
automation modifications often go undocumented, and many go unapproved. Exacerbating this problem further is the fact that these types of configuration modifications occur regularly. Automation systems are important tools for process improvement and their configurations are continually modified as part of normal plant operation. Every configuration parameter change is the product of the knowledge and thought processes of the plant’s automation and control professionals, and thus represents an element of practical knowledge about the plant. As such, automation system databases over time archive a tremendous amount of > the process knowledge of humans.
SNAPSHOT
Control Components
MANAGING CHANGE Software alone will never be able to solve all the problems arising from the Automation Knowledge Crisis, but with solutions such as Integrity Software from PAS, the automation systems become much more manageable. Integrity, for example, documents the configurations of more than fifty different automation systems and the changes made to them, making the web-enabled application able to collect data from multiple plant sites and display it anywhere on the company IT network. Integrity iMOC, a module of Integrity, is an intelligent Management of Change (MOC) solution specifically designed for automation. It makes managing changes to automation systems easy by creation of custom Management of Change workflows, identification of all signal connections related to a Management of Change case, the ability to push approvals to the appropriate approver, and full reconciliation of changes to the specific Management of Change cases that authorised them.
Hygienic solutions?
&&LOW ,EVEL 0RESSURE
Switch to Sitron Process Sensors for Food & Beverage
SITRON SITR R FLOW, LEVEL & PRESSURE SENSORS ss 3ANITARY $ESIGNS ss .O MOVING PARTS n LONGER LIFE s !# $# AND 5NIVERSAL POWERED MODELS s 2ELAY OR !NALOGUE OUTPUT AVAILABLE s 4RI #LAMP THREADED mANGED CONNECTIONS
TAKE CONTROL
CCEZY.COM.AU 02 9542 8977
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN &OOD "EVERAGE OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 21
PACE.OCT11.PG022.pdf
Page
22
23/9/11,
3:05
PM
IN FOCUS
CHANGE: The complexity of modern automation systems has increased much more quickly than human ability to document and understand them.
When we recently asked our customers with what frequency they make changes to their automation systems, 37 per cent of the respondents claimed that automation professionals make daily changes to their automation systems, while an additional 35 per cent claimed changes were made at least weekly. In addition, 65 per cent of those participating in our survey admitted that their facility has experienced incidents and/ or process upsets due to modifications to their automation systems. We also asked the question “Do automation system modifications currently require a Management of Change (MOC) process at your facility?� Fifty-three percent of respondents said that it always did, forty-seven percent replied that it sometimes did,
;OL UL^ 9V[HSPU SPULHY HJ[\H[VY PZ H THQVY IYLHR[OYV\NO PU SPULHY J`SPUKLY KLZPNU 7H[LU[LK (\Z[YHSPHU 0UUV]H[PVU
7VZP[PVULYZ 0UKPJH[VYZ 3PTP[ :^P[JOLZ 9L[YHUZTPZZPVU 4VK\SLZ L[J
(; 3(:;
$ 6LPSOH HIĂ€FLHQW FRVW HIIHFWLYH V\VWHP ZKLFK IDFLOLWDWHV WKH GLUHFW PRXQWLQJ RI 1$085 VWDQGDUG URWDU\ DFFHVVRULHV WR D OLQHDU F\OLQGHU 527$/,1 HUDGLFDWHV WKH QHHG IRU WUDGLWLRQDO H[WHUQDO DUPV DQG OLQNDJHV ZKLFK DUH IUDJLOH DW EHVW DQG SURQH WR GDPDJH 7KH /LQHDU WR 5RWDU\ FRQYHUVLRQ LV DFFRPSOLVKHG LQWHUQDOO\ ZLWK D VLPSOH UREXVW GHVLJQ ([WHUQDOO\ WKH PRXQWLQJ LV FRPSDWLEOH ZLWK 1$085 9', 9'( WR DFFRPPRGDWH VWDQGDUG ŇŠRII WKH VKHOIŇ‹ 5RWDU\ DFFHVVRULHV 6WURQJHU DQG OHVV SURQH WR GDPDJH
6DIHU WKDQ FRQYHQWLRQDO V\VWHPV
0RUH FRPSDFW ZLWK QR H[WHUQDO OLQNDJHV
/2:(5 &267
*UHDWHU DFFXUDF\ ZLWK OHVV PRYLQJ SDUWV
22 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
PACE.OCT11.PG023.pdf
Page
and no one responded that it never did. The fact that nearly half the respondents employ an MOC process only sometimes, and that 65 per cent of the same respondents reported experiencing incidents and process upsets resulting from automation modifications, illustrates the potential for future incidents and process upsets due to reliance upon individual recall of a single configuration change among the hundreds or thousands that are made over their career.
23
9:20
AM
/ !
/ ' *
"
# )
Knowledge capture Additionally, due to the aging workforce, those individuals will eventually retire and take this knowledge with them unless a means of capturing their knowledge is employed. The solution to the above problems must take a number of factors into account. First, it must detect and document all modifications to your automation systems. It must provide a mechanism for ensuring that all modifications are authorised to mitigate the risks that undocumented and potentially mali-
28/9/11,
( #
" .+++
-+%+++
.+%+++
,.+%+++
,&
RISING: General trends of measurements and applications in process automation.
cious changes carry. It should provide a graphical interface that presents your automation systems as they currently exist rather than as they were originally built. In addition, it should document full signal genealogies and integration among systems. All of this information must be easily accessible or plant personnel will simply not use it. A solution containing all of these items will ensure that the practical knowledge invested in your automation systems all always be available for future generations. There is no single solution that will provide the capture and recall of the vast amounts of practical knowledge that companies will lose as baby boomers retire. Instead, multiple solutions targeting specific aspects of knowledge retention are much more likely to yield successful results as they will be more relevant to the users of that knowledge. [Chris Lyden is President, PAS.] Apex Optimisation 08 8294 3709 www.apex-opt.com
IDEC’s HMI 2011 models IDEC’s new 8, 10 and 12 inch Touchscreen Features the feature rich, brightest and fastest HMIs on the market. • SVGA 800 x 600 resolution • TFT Screen with 65K colours • Super Bright: 8.4� – 600 cd/m2, 10.4� – 700cd/m² • Remote Monitor & Control feature via built-in web server. • Supports maximum of two MicroSmart I/O expansion modules • Audio out, Ethernet, USB
NEW REMOTE MONITOR & CONTROL
• Supports Modbus TCP/IP and communicates to most major PLC brands
For more information visit www.idec.com/auen OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 23
PACE.OCT11.PG024.pdf
Page
24
28/9/11,
9:37
AM
IN FOCUS
First device to diagnose light signals Automation applications of today must deal with vast and ever increasing amounts of data and at the same time remain immune to electromagnetic interference.
W
EIDMULLER has developed the FreeCon Active Repeater that continuously monitors the signal attenuation of fibre optic transmission links to now make it possible, for the first time ever, to precisely plan when to replace robot cable sets. Designed for deployment in ProfiNet networks, the FreeCon Active Repeater features an integrated diagnostic function which provides accurate diagnosis of light signals of fibre optic transmission solutions in robots to help save
24 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
users both time and money. Automation applications are required to deal with increasing amounts of data while still remaining immune to electromagnetic interference. This has led to the increased use of polymer optic fibres. Complete robot cabling can be constructed using the rugged electromagnetically compatible polymer fibres.
Welding gun This can be from the I/O module on the welding gun through the robot's base to the equipment in the electrical cabinet and from there to the overlying
systems. This includes everything from sensors and actuators in the field through to the management system level. One advantage of polymer fibres is that they are made of a flexible plastic material and are less likely to break. By bending the fibres, however, the attenuation losses increase on the light transmission path, as the light often breaks at the bent section. Polymer fibres also have a crystalline structure which means that they become cloudy as they age and consequently less light can pass through them. This natural aging process successively increases fibre attenuation. When the attenuation has reached a critical point the cable set inevitably needs replacing. As the use of fibre optic transmission solutions in robots increased, the need for exact diagnostic processing of the transmission path also became more critical. In response to this need, Weidmuller developed the FreeCon Active repeater to diagnose light signals. “By monitoring the aging process of the polymer fibres it is possible to determine through a physical measurement, the point at which the data quantity being transmitted is no longer sufficient for the Ethernet connection to the destination and therefore, a cable set requires replacing,” explained Peter Hudson, Business Development Manager, Signal and Data Products at Weidmuller. To ensure the safe transmission of the Ethernet data, FreeCon Active checks in real time the entire transmission path from the electrical cabinet to the robot head. It can send an alarm over ProfiNet to the overlying controller as soon as a
ADVANTAGE: The FreeCon Active Repeater's integrated function provides accurate diagnosis of light signals.
predetermined tolerance is exceeded, signalling that the hose packet for a robot needs to be swapped out.
Active Repeater “With the FreeCon Active Repeater it is now possible to exchange a specific hose packet when it actually needs changing. Before this technology emerged hose packets were changed at intervals based on experience. This inevitably meant that some hose packet changes would have occurred when they were not really needed,” explained Hudson. “Another advantage of the FreeCon Active Repeater is that it saves an enormous amount of time during the commissioning of the equipment. Instead of having to undertake a lengthy measurement, documentation and certification process you can now press a button and the FreeCon Active delivers precise information over the attenuation and length of the cabling,” added Hudson. The FreeCon Active Repeater complies with European automotive specifications and is already in use by many European car manufacturers. “While the ProfiNet repeater is making a big difference in the automotive industry, its application is not limited to this industry,” explained Hudson. Weidmuller 02 9671 9999 www.weidmuller.com.au
PACE.OCT11.PG025.pdf
Page
25
23/9/11,
3:13
PM
BEHIND THE SCENES
Super hoists enable Intimate Mode Etihad Stadium could always do things differently due to its retractable roof. Now the Intimate Mode Hoisting System designed for unison lifting takes it to new heights, writes Hartley Henderson.
E
TIHAD Stadium, in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, is one of Australia’s leading multi-purpose venues designed to cater for major sporting and entertainment events. The stadium, with its fully retractable roof, is capable of seating close to 54,000 patrons. Other than AFL, it hosts many other major sporting codes, interspersed with a number of headline international entertainment acts. Around 90 sports and entertainment events are hosted on the arena each year. The natural turf arena covers a total area of 19,000m2, and from fence to fence the arena dimensions are 169.5 meters from north to south and 140 meters from east to west. For some events, the stadium’s management has seen the need to make the venue ‘smaller’ and more intimate, so a top level design and engineering solution was sought from Harris Movement Engineering (HME). This led to what Etihad Stadium now calls its ‘Intimate Mode’. > HME is a solutions provider in
SMALLER: This digitally enhanced image shows how Intimate Mode could look at Etihad Stadium.
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 25
PACE.OCT11.PG026.pdf
Page
26
23/9/11,
3:15
PM
BEHIND THE SCENES
PULLEYS: The rigging solution ensured that the whole system could be deployed quickly with a minimal crew.
machine and automation design, including meeting various hoisting, rotation and translation challenges. Previous major projects involving HME include responsibility for the concept design, detail design, manufacture and installation of the huge machinery to drive the rotating stage for the technically advanced audiovisual show at the Australia Pavilion at World Expo Shanghai in 2010.
Dolly good idea For the Etihad Stadium project, the solution involved 180 meters of truss holding up 20 meters drops of fabric to form a wall. According to HME’s automation engineer, Chris lland, the design of the truss/ curtain/ dolly idea was simple enough, but lifting them into the air
presented a complicated challenge. “A rigging solution was designed to solve the problem and ensure that the whole system could be deployed quickly with a minimal crew. This was achieved using a high speed and high capacity customised hoist, now called the HME EDH1500 Super Stadium Hoist, which ensured that every lift line always operated in perfect unison,” he explained. “We used three Mitsubishi FR-A741 7.5K drives in the project. They each run a 1.5 meter per second 1,500 kg SWL (Safe Working Load) six-line, 40 metre drift hoist. The hoists, which are wireless controlled, each lift a 60 metre long truss with a 20 metre tall curtain made of black wool and weighing around 1,200 kg. “So in total that’s 180 metres by 20 metres, which
DRUM HOIST: HME’s Super Stadium Hoist ensured that every lift line always operated in perfect unison. 26 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
PACE.OCT11.PG027.pdf
Page
27
23/9/11,
3:16
PM
Innovative valve automation
SELECTED: HME chose the Mitsubishi FR-A741 7.5K drives because of the inbuilt regenerative braking system.
amounts to 3.6 tonnes of curtain, making it what we believe is the biggest curtain in Australia. “HME chose the Mitsubishi FRA741 7.5K drives mainly because of the inbuilt regenerative braking system and the FR-A700’s proven track record. Due to the environmental conditions, having a break resistor on the outside of the cabinet was not an option. By using the FR-A741, HME was able to keep all the components in a suitable IP rated enclosure.”
Unison lifting IIand says the entire Intimate Mode Hoisting System is designed for unison lifting. Each segment can be lifted at a speed of 1.5m per second – so the entire load can be moved from ground to roof or vice versa in well under a minute. “Each hoist manages 240 meters of SWR which is done as six lines of 40 meter drops to pick up each truss. Drums of the hoists are 300 mm in diameter and over two meters in length, and each hoist weighs in at over 800 kg. Dual brake discs and circuits act on the hoist drums to ensure safety is maintained at all times. “The hoists were built to specifically ensure that all components are rated and protected for outdoor use, and each hoist is covered in painted panels to camouflage the system in the ceiling
structure of the stadium.” Alex Prendergast at Mitsubishi distributor, Oceania Automation, says the FR-A741 compact frequency inverter delivers exceptional performance and is ideal for hoist and high-powered machines with torque that can be used for regenerative braking. “The integrated power regeneration function of the FR-A741 makes it possible to use smaller and much less expensive drive systems, and enables simpler and more compact switchgear cabinet layouts. As a result, initial investment outlay and operating costs are kept low,” Prendergast said. “Drive motors usually account for most of the power used in mechanical engineering installations, but the FRA741’s regenerative braking system makes it much more efficient than conventional drive systems, giving it the potential for significant energy savings. “Also, the integrated AC reactor, plus no need for an external braking unit, means that a large amount of wiring is eliminated. These inverters need up to 60 percent less main circuit wiring and occupy up to 40 percent less space than conventional solutions, depending on the output capacity.”
More versatility Etihad Stadium CEO, Ian Collins, said it was felt the Intimate Mode concept would give the stadium more versatility in regards to the staging of some of its events. “The venue has a proven track record of hosting large arena events for up to 70,000 patrons. The new Intimate Mode allows us to cater to a different market and provide an opportunity for events of any size,” he said. “The stadium has always had the capacity to do things differently due to our retractable roof, which allows events to go on without any interruption. We see Intimate Mode as another innovation that will allow Etihad Stadium to stand out from the crowd.” Etihad Stadium www.etihadstadium.com.au 03 8625 7700 HME www.harrismovement.com.au 02 9708 6614 Oceania Automation www.oceaniaautomation.com.au 02 9939 5920
Measure your process & do something about it With modern technology valves are transformed. Seamlessly integrated positioners, feedbacks, pilots, network interfaces or integrated PID process controllers have opened limitless possibilities in process control.
We make ideas flow www.burkert.com.au | 1300 888 868
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 27
PACE.OCT11.PG028.pdf
Page
28
23/9/11,
3:23
PM
SPOTLIGHT
7best of the
PACE showcase of the best engineering technology releases of the month.
AT9000 Advanced Transmitter The Yamatake AT9000 Advanced Transmitter is a microprocessorbased smart transmitter can measure gas, liquid, vapour, and liquid levels. It transmits 4 to 20 mA DC analogue and digital signals according to the measured differential pressure. It can also execute two-way communications between the CommPad (Handy Communicator) or HART 375 communicator, thus facilitating self-diagnosis, range resetting, and automatic zero adjustment. The range of models includes draft range differential pressure, standard differential pressure, high differential pressure, standard differential pressure/ high static pressure, and high differential pressure/ high static pressure models and a wide variety of corrosionresistant materials for wetted parts. A wide measuring range is available from a single model. For example the Model GTX30D/31D/32D offers a range ability: 0.5 to 100 kPa (range ability: 200 to 1). AMS Instrumentation & Calibration 03 9017 8225 www.ams-ic.com.au
Anybus simplifies system integration With the release of the Anybus Xgateway for Modbus TCP, HMS presents a new generation of gateways. With slim housing, web-based configuration, easy cable connection and an SD card slot for simple module replacement, these gateways are designed to make life easier for system integrators. The first versions enable communication between Modbus TCP and PLC networks on Profibus, DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP. As all Anybus gateways, the X-gateway for Modbus TCP solves connectivity issues for system integrators working with industrial network design. These
issues include connecting two otherwise incompatible networks in a factory, migrating to a newer network standard or expanding the length of an existing network. This new release is the first in HMS’s Anybus gateway generation with a new design and look. The gateway design offers many benefits for the user such as easier cable connection, backplane stacking possibilities and a wall-mount option for harsh industrial environments. Global Automation 03 9249 9696 www.anybus.com.au
Low-noise miniature triaxial accelerometers Dytran Instruments has released a series of miniature triaxial accelerometers with TEDS, weighing 4 grams. The 3333MT series were designed for modal analysis testing as well as general purpose vibration testing. They have a laser welded titanium design which includes ceramic sensing element coupled to ultra low noise JFET electronics. The 3333MT features an ultra miniature 4-pin connector. Compared to the industry standard 4-pin connector (1/4-28 thread size), the connector on the 3333MT series is approximately 20% smaller. This size difference allows for a more flexible, lighter weight cable, a smaller diameter for the connector, and also contributes to the overall smaller 28 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
size of the sensor. With a low end frequency response down of 0.65 Hz, the 3333MT series accelerometers offer good phase response at low frequencies. The 3333MT series are available with sensitivities of 5 mV/g, 10 mV/g and 25 mV/g. Featuring a hermetic seal, case isolation and adhesive mount, units are available with IEEE 1451.4 TEDS for larger channel count applications. The titanium housing contributes to its light weight, which provides for minimal mass loading of the test article. Metromatics 07 3868 4255 www.metromatics.com.au
PACE.OCT11.PG029.pdf
Page
29
23/9/11,
3:34
PM
Email your product news to editor@pacetoday.com.au
Equostat 3 Hardness Tester The Equostat 3 Micro-Hardness Tester is designed for inspecting surface layers on scratch-sensitive or polished materials or parts as thin as 130micro m. The Equostat 3 displays the signal curve as well as operating instructions in real time. The operating instructions offer guidance as to when the test loads should be applied and released. This enables users to achieve the most repeatable measurements of any commercially available hardness tester. The Equostat 3 probe integrates with the Equotip 3 indicating device to combine in one instrument the Leeb rebound and Rockwell principles. Russell Fraser Sales 02 9545 4433 www.rfsales.com.au
Water sorption analysis The DVS Intrinsic is an economical research grade water sorption instrument. The compact unit provides high quality isotherms with minimal operator training. Water sorption behaviour is accurately determined on very small samples (1-20 mg) thus providing savings in the time required to reach water sorption equilibrium. The system can perform isoactivity measurements in which materials are kept under constant RH conditions while linearly or stepwise varying the temperature. Traditionally, the water sorption properties of solid materials have been evaluated by storing samples in sealed jars containing saturated salt solutions and then periodically weighing these until equilibrium is reached. Apart from being highly time and labour intensive, this manual method has several other disadvantages including: larger sample sizes needed (10-100g); inability to measure the kinetics of water sorption/ desorption; risk of mould formation and high weight loss/ gain errors. In contrast, the DVS Intrinsic offers an extremely rapid, highly sensitive and accurate means for the determination of moisture sorption properties of solids.
TM18 photoelectric sensor with metal housing for harsh environments
EXAIR’s Vortex Tubes provide a low cost, maintenance free solution to a variety of industrial spot cooling problems. Independent laboratory tests certify that these Vortex Tubes have attained the CE mark. By taking advantage of the characteristics of rapidly rotating air, EXAIR’s Vortex Tubes can convert an ordinary 80-100 psig compressed air supply into a stream of cold air, the temperature of which can be adjusted to be as low as -46°C. These Vortex Tubes have no moving parts to wear out and are constructed of durable, corrosion resistant stainless steel. This Australian-owned company was established in 2004 as a distributor of compressed air operated products and accessories to industrial plants throughout Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Micomax Sensors & Automation have released a new version of Banner Engineering’s TM18 EZ-BEAM compact photoelectric sensor for use in heavy duty environments. The TM18 offers nickel-plated, die-cast zinc metal housing, as well as completely epoxy encapsulated electronics. Rated IP69K, the TM18 provides superior durability and resistance in harsh sensing environments, especially in high pressure washdown applications. Featuring a compact, right angle shape, an 18 mm threaded barrel mount and integral all metal M12 quick disconnect, the TM18 sensor has the ability to fit in tight places and avoid sensor damage during machine assembly, transport, maintenance and operation. Featuring visible red emitter LED models – available in opposed, polarised retroreflective, diffuse and fixed-field (background suppression) modes – the TM18 sensor easily aligns to the desired target. This makes the photoelectric sensor suitable for providing reliable sensing on conveyors in heavy duty machine settings, automotive machining and production equipment, off-road and outdoor equipment, or in high traffic area where the sensor could be bumped or stepped on. Similar to the previous models, the TM18 provides a single-turn potentiometer on the diffuse model, while no adjustment is necessary on the polarized retro, opposed mode and fixed field background suppression models. Models with 4-wire complementary NPN or PNP, or 3-wire I/O block compatible outputs are available.
Compressed Air Australia 1300 787 688 www.caasafety.com.au
Micromax Sensors & Automation 1300 36 26 26 micromaxsa.com.au
ATA Scientific 02 9541 3500 www.atascientific.com.au
Vortex tubes for safe spot cooling
OCTOBER 2011 www.pacetoday.com.au 29
PACE.OCT11.PG030.pdf
Page
30
23/9/11,
3:29
PM
EVENTS & EDUCATION
WHAT’S ON
REVIEW
Certificate in Hazardous Areas for Engineers and Technicians 10 October 2011 - 10 January 2012, Online www.eit.edu.au Certified Profibus Training 24 October - 25 November 2011, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane www.profibusaustralia.com.au Fundamentals of Instrumentation, Process Control, PLCs and SCADA 3-4 November 2011, Sydney www.idc-online.com Practical Motor Protection, Control and Maintenance Technologies 8-9 November 2011, Brisbane www.idc-online.com HIMA Australia facilitated TUV Functional Safety Program 22-25 November 2011, Brisbane www.hima.com.au/tuv
Overview of Industrial Process Automation
The book provides an introduction to automation; explains the concepts through simple illustrations and examples; and describes how to understand technical documents. Man-made or industrial processes, localised or geographically distributed, need be automated in order to ensure they produce quality, consistent, and costeffective goods or services. Automation systems for these
GIVE
For daily updates visit www.pacetoday.com.au
Effective Maintenance Management, Second Edition By Vee Narayan Industrial Press $58.95
Overview of Industrial Process Automation By K. L. S. Sharma Elsevier $105.95
AWAY
processes broadly consist of instrumentation, control, human interface, and communication subsystems. This book introduces the practices of modern automation systems.
Providing readers with a clear rationale for doing maintenance, this completely updated edition and unique guide is written in a language and style that practicing engineers and managers can understand and apply easily. The book examines the role of maintenance in minimising the risks relating to safety or environmental incidents, adverse publicity
and loss of profitability. In addition to discussing risk reduction tools, it explains their applicability to specific situations so the readers can select the tool that fits their requirements.
You could win one of these books by answering the following question: On which page of this magazine will you find "Gigabit Ethernet" mentioned? Email your answer to kevin.gomez@reedbusiness.com.au
Both books are available direct from Elsevier Australia Customer Service, 1800 263 951 or customerserviceau@elsevier.com
IICA NEWS & VIEWS
Learning opportunities are available The IICA offers a range of education and training options, writes Brett Simpson. THE IICA Event Booking Form for 2012 will be released early October for next year’s events. Each year, a wide array of events are available including Technology Expos, Seminars and ISA Professional Development Courses. IICA Technology Expos are a cost effective way for companies involved in the Instrumentation, Control & Automation areas to showcase their products to a range of people from managers and engineers to apprentices and students. IICA Technology Expos are run Australia-wide in capital cities and regional areas providing a one-stop shop and are an economical way to access prospective customers in a friendly, relaxed environment over a drink or nibbly. For exhibitors, various booking rates are applicable dependant 30 www.pacetoday.com.au OCTOBER 2011
on the type of IICA Membership, the number of events booked and whether the early bird discount is applied. Non members are encouraged to join to take advantage of the discounts for IICA members. A saving can be made on booking for just one event. Technology Expo entry for visitors is free. You can expect to see: I = Instrumentation (Sensors): Flow, Level, Pressure, Temperature, Water Analysis, Speed, Linear Displacement, Vibration, Weight, Torque, Ambient Air & Stack Analysis C = Control: Controllers, Signal Conditioners & Transducers, Switches A = Automation: PLCs, Variable Speed Drives, Servo Motors, HMI, DCS & SCADA Systems Other: Test & Measurement
Equipment, Gauges, Data Loggers, Safety Systems, Power Supplies Each year, a topic of interest is chosen for the IICA Seminars which are run Australia wide. Expert speakers in the chosen topic are available to keep IICA members and others up to date with the latest in technology and regulations. The 2012 topic will be ‘Process Control for a Low Carbon World’. Continuous education today is a must-have part of any career path and the IICA strongly believes this as part of its mandate. In conjunction with the ISA and others we offer practical training courses in many of the fields that members consider important. Other courses are being added when available. All instructors are IICA / ISA approved. The IICA / ISA Professional
Development Training Courses and Seminars may be recognised by Engineers Australia in accordance with their CPD Policy Guidelines. Please keep an eye on your inbox for the IICA 2012 Event Booking Form or on the Networking page of the IICA website. Many of the events book out quickly so please do not delay in placing your booking. A sliding scale of discounts is available for those companies that book and pay in full by 1 February 2012. Bookings can also be made early with payment dates scheduled closer to the time of the Event. No discounts apply in this case. Queries regarding any IICA matters can be made to Cathie Tynan on admin@iica.org.au or 03 9036 0166.
AD_PACEMITOCT_11.pdf
Page
1
16/09/11,
5:11
PM
AD_PACESCHJLU_11.pdf
Page
1
30/06/11,
3:21
PM
Are you giving your precious commodities away due to inaccurate weighing? Experts in bulk materials weighing solutions for more than 125 years.
weighing
feeding
screening
Schenck Process Australia Pty Ltd Unit 1, 47 Epping Rd North Ryde NSW 2113, Australia T 1300 551 645 Australia wide T + 61 2 9886 6800 outside of Australia sales@schenckprocess.com.au www.schenckprocess.com.au
automation
When your profitability depends on the weight of the material that you are shipping, the accuracy and repeatability of your weighing systems are a clear priority to your business. At Schenck Process, we have been helping our customers to optimise the profitability of their bulk materials handling operations through precision weighing for 125 years. Our legal-for-trade belt weighers can provide dynamic weighing with repeated accuracies of up to 0.25 % with Australian National Measurement Institute approvals. Because our systems are based on our own German made precision load cells and cutting edge software we can give you the peace of mind that your installation will meet or exceed your process needs and provide you with the profitability that you deserve.
SK010 PressAd - Process & Control Engineering.indd 1
23/06/2011 3:40:14 PM