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than h

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2 ● JANUARY 2013 CONTROL ENGINEERING ● www.controleng.com

38

42

CONTROL ENGINEERING (ISSN 0010-8049, Vol. 60, No. 1, GST #123397457) is published 12x per year, Monthly by CFE Media, LLC, 1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite #250, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Jim Langhenry, Group Publisher /Co-Founder; Steve Rourke CEO/COO/Co-Founder. CONTROL ENGINEERING copyright 2013 by CFE Media, LLC. All rights reserved. CONTROL ENGINEERING is a registered trademark of CFE Media, LLC used under license. Peri-odicals postage paid at Oak Brook, IL 60523 and additional mailing offices. Circulation records are maintained at CFE Media, LLC, 1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite #250, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Telephone: 630/571-4070 x2220. E-mail: [email protected]. Postmaster: send address changes to CONTROL ENGINEERING, 1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite #250, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40685520. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite #250, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Email: [email protected]. Rates for nonqualified subscriptions, including all issues: USA, $ 145/yr; Canada, $ 180/yr (includes 7% GST, GST#123397457); Mexico, $ 172/yr; International air delivery $318/yr. Except for special issues where price changes are indicated, single copies are available for $20.00 US and $25.00 foreign. Please address all subscription mail to CONTROL ENGINEERING, 1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite #250, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Printed in the USA. CFE Media, LLC does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident or any other cause whatsoever.

34

®

Vol. 60Number 1

COVERING CONTROL, INSTRUMENTATION, AND AUTOMATION SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE

34 Make your I/O smarter Improvements in I/O systems for � eld devices can make your process control system installations and upgrades quicker and more cost effective.

38 Sensor networks Multiple stories consider the suitability of Ethernet for sensor networks, and how the right sensor level approach can avoid incompatibilities in Ethernet protocols.

42 Creating an HMI that doesn’t get used When that new equipment skid or machine comes in, it probably has its own HMI, but that equipment will be controlled from a larger system. What should you want that redundant HMI to do?

44 Five ways to enable the next-generation workforce Technology advances challenge and enable industries worldwide, and � ve key factors in� uence the success of future and current engineers in this dynamically changing labor market.

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©2012 Baldor Electric Company

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www.controleng.com ● CONTROL ENGINEERING JANUARY 2013 ● 5

8 Think Again Top articles for 2012

10 Product Exclusive Data acquisition, test, and measurement software

14 IT & Engineering Insight The next big thing is at hand

16 Tech Update Converging automation standards

18 Integrator Update Remote access programming

22 International High-speed memory sharing improves application reliability

25 Machine Safety Risk level assessment priority: Possibility, severity, or frequency?

64 Back to Basics Talking to process instrumentation

departments 26 Yaskawa adds U.S. production; Mars Rover director to present at ARC Summit

28 Industrial computer company acquires system integrator

news

60 Safety controller; ac drive; machine vision; circuit breakers; � owmeters; HMI for CNC

products

Inside ProcessStarts after p. 48. If not, see www.controleng.com/archive for January.

P1 Dynamic simulation predicts steam consumption in unpredictable paper mill application Langerbrugge used simulation analysis to make sure the boiler and steam system could remain stable even during the biggest disruption: a turbine trip.

P8 Hydroelectric generating utility has to control with the � ow Located in an environmentally sensitive area, Box Canyon Dam has to deliver power while remaining invisible to the surrounding community. This means trying to control output around changes in water � ow.

PRODUCT EXCLUSIVE

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COVERING CONTROL, INSTRUMENTATION, AND AUTOMATION SYSTEMS WORLDWIDEOVERING CONTROL, INSTRUMENTATION, AND AUTOMATION SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE®

JANUARY 2013



More Learning, Less Sur� ngExclusive blogs at www.controleng.com/blogs� Real World Engineering: Initial PID values for new controllers� Machine Safety: Top 10 OSHA violations for 2012� Pillar to Post: Getting rid of unused software� IHS Research Analysis: Energy ef� ciency in the elevator industry

Join the discussions at www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1967039 � An eternal question: What is the best process � eld device communication protocol?� How do I choose between an embedded microcontroller and a PLC?� Looking for Websites where I can learn PLC programming—what’s good?

Topic-Speci� c E-NewslettersStart your subscriptions at www.controleng.com/newsletters� Machine Control: Organize your programming, remote access, more small robots� Process & Advanced Control: Decentralizing control, control on the sea � oor, new installations� System Integration: Integrator case studies and tutorials, Ethernet tips, supplier selection� Weekly News: Medium-voltage drives now made in USA, top 10 OSHA violations� Process Instrumentation & Sensors: Selecting � owmeters, how HART works

� Videos and Webcasts on demand

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� Useful white papers on many topics

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Point, Click, Watch VIDEO: The winning system integra-tors in a roundtable discussionVance VanDoren talks to the 2013 winners, Sam Hoff, Jerry Smith, and Todd Williams, in an informal round-table discussion. Find out more about vendor/integra-tor relationships and certi� cations.

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� Channels and new product areasVisit our specialized microsites providing feature articles, news, products, applica-tions, tutorials, research, and more gath-ered for engineering professionals.

� New site search engineFind content from Control Engineering magazines from 1997 to the present.

� Electronic newslettersKeep current with the latest informationand news with electronic newsletters.

� System Integrator GuideConsult our listing of more than 2,300 au-tomation system integrators. You can � nd a speci� c company or run a seven-way multi-parameter search.

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Leading Control Engineering articles in 2012 covered control strategies, pro-gramming, controllers, and human-machine interfaces; best products

and product selection; career advancement and recognition; safety and security; motors, drives, and motion control; industrial net-works and communications; and system integration. Articles emphasize technologies and techniques to make those responsible for control engineering more useful and valuable within their organizations and to others.

The 2013 Control Engineering salary survey and career advice research results emphasized the importance of continuing education, and the high-traffic articles here served that purpose. Starred items also were among 2011 top articles.

1. Control Engineering Engineers’ Choice Awards* – Review the winners and honorable mentions from 2012; see the 2013 finalists. Winners are announced in February. Beyond seeing which products were voted as “Engineers’ Choice” winners, the collection of finalists provide some of the most-useful products to advance automation, control, and instrumentation productivity.

2. CFE Media Apps for Engineers – This app of apps preselects more than 60 engineering-related applications. By cat-egory, there’s a summary of each application with the ability to submit comments. Busy engineers appreciate help finding tools.

3. System Integrator Giants of 2012 – Control Engineering Automation Integrator Guide firms responded to a survey, providing the 100 largest automation integrators based on revenue. The article covers issues critical to system integrators and their clients.

4. Video game or HMI? This article with video shows how technologies used in video games are being used to enhance human-machine interface software used for automa-tion and control applications.

5. System Integrator Hall of Fame – To identify and recognize the best providers of

system integration services, each year Con-trol Engineering judges evaluate applications and name the leading automation integrators. See advice since 2007, including videos.

6. Control Engineering salary survey, career advice – Salary and career survey provides benchmarking and identifies lead-ing trends among survey respondents. A write-in advice section addresses continu-ing education, workplace strategies, attitude, communication, and degree or specialties.

7. Optimizing strategy for boiler drum level control – Optimize level sensing. Avoid trips and maximize steam output by review-ing control equipment, strategy, and tuning.

8. Direct-drive wind turbines flex mus-cles* – New designs aim to increase power output, increase offshore reliability, and lower costs over the system’s lifetime.

9. UML use cases, sequence diagrams:Unified modeling language (UML) can help define a system that can be easily understood by nonprogrammers.

10. Inside Machines: PC versus PLC: Comparing control options* – To choose , compare operation, robustness, serviceabil-ity, hardware integration, security, safety, programming, and cost.


THINK AGAINTHINK AGAINeditorial

Mark T. Hoske, Content [email protected]

Top Control Engineering articles for 2012

1111 W. 22nd St. Suite 250, Oak Brook, IL 60523630-571-4070, Fax 630-214-4504

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Contributing Content SpecialistsFrank J. Bartos, P.E., [email protected]

Jeanine Katzel [email protected]

Vance VanDoren Ph.D., P.E., [email protected]

Suzanne Gill, European [email protected]

Siergiej Guszczin, Control Engineering [email protected]

Marek Kelman, Poland [email protected]

Milan Katrusak, Czech [email protected]

Andy Zhu, Control Engineering [email protected]

Publication ServicesJim Langhenry, Co-Founder/Publisher, CFE Media630-571-4070, x2203; [email protected]

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Rick Ellis, Audience Management DirectorPhone: 303-246-1250; [email protected]

Letters to the editor Please e-mail us your opinions [email protected] or fax us at 630-214-4504. Letters should include name, company, and address,and may be edited for space and clarity.

InformationFor a Media Kit or Editorial Calendar, email Trudy Kelly at [email protected].

ReprintsFor custom reprints or electronic usage, contact: Wright’s Media – Nick Iademarco

Phone: 877-652-5295 ext. 102Email: [email protected]

Publication SalesPatrick Lynch, AL, FL630-571-4070 x2210 [email protected]

Bailey Rice, Midwest630-571-4070 x2206 [email protected]

Iris Seibert, West Coast858-270-3753 [email protected]

Julie Timbol, East Coast978-929-9495 [email protected]

Stuart Smith, InternationalTel. +44 208 464 5577 [email protected]

See more most-read articles for 2012, numbers 11-25, and one more on choosing the best program-ming language.

� Do you know anyone else who could value from a link to this article? Search “Top articles 2012” at www.controleng.com get the URL and e-mail that expanded online version with links to each article.

� Write a tutorial or application story in 2013: www.controleng.com/contribute.

Go Online

Control strategies, optimization, safety andsecurity, and system integration were among top Control Engineering stories for 2012, based on online traffic. Ensure you’ve read these.

CTL1301_Think_V3msFINAL.indd 8 1/15/13 11:49 AM

AD11

304

2012-12-1389 Control Engineering AD11304.indd 1 12/20/12 2:39 PM



Dataforth Corp. now offers IPEmo-tion software with its Dataforth MAQ20 data acquisition and con-

trol system. IPEmotion is an advanced, intuitive, user-friendly data acquisition, test, and measurement software designed for industrial and R&D applications.

Rugged and reliable, this powerful new generation software provides syn-chronized data acquisition and is eas-ily adaptable to all customer specific requirements, including device configu-ration, data acquisition measurement, visualization, and analysis. To meet these requirements, IPEmotion provides auto-matic recognition of connected devices, automatic configuration of all channels, automatic start of measuring, and instant visualization of all measurement values.

“With the addition of IPEmotion, the MAQ20 is now classed with the best data acquisition and control systems on the market,” said Robert Smith, vice presi-dent of sales and marketing.

Measurements include temperature, current and voltage, strain, pressure, fre-quencies, rotational speeds, logging, and diagnostic data. Features include live data display, recording, online and offline math and logic functions; one-click acqui-sition with direct hardware detection, data display, and recording; live adjustment to analyze and verify measurements during active data acquisition and graphic user interface (GUI) adaptation during active measurement and storage; data analysis; post-processing and report generation; easy drag-and-drop; high-speed record-ing; plug-in synchronization; import and export recorded data to standard file formats; scripting option; configurable gauges for wide-ranging applications; and extensive multilingual capabilities. ce

Dataforthwww.dataforth.com

User-friendly data acquisition,test, and measurement softwareHigh-performance Dataforth IPEmotion software isavailable with the Dataforth MAQ20 data acquisitionand control system.

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10 ● JANUARY 2013 CONTROL ENGINEERING

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The dawn of a new standard in level control.Prepare for a total ECLIPSE® of current level and interface control solutions. With superior signal performance, powerful diagnostics and a full line of overfill capable probes, Magnetrol’s ECLIPSE Model 706 guided wave radar transmitter delivers unprecedented reliability.

From routine water storage applications to process media exhibiting corrosive vapors, foam, steam, buildup, agitation, bubbling or boiling, the ECLIPSE Model 706 will take your operation to a new level of safety and process performance.

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The dawn of a new standard in level control.Prepare for a total ECLIPSE® of current level and interface control solutions. With superior signal performance, powerful diagnostics and a full line of overfill capable probes, Magnetrol’s ECLIPSE Model 706 guided wave radar transmitter delivers unprecedented reliability.

From routine water storage applications to process media exhibiting corrosive vapors, foam, steam, buildup, agitation, bubbling or boiling, the ECLIPSE Model 706 will take your operation to a new level of safety and process performance.

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T his is the time of the year when IT departments are looking for The Next Big Thing (TNBT) so they can plan for purchases, system changes, and organi-

zational restructuring. Manufacturing IT depart-ments are also looking for TNBT because it often takes a long time to set up support for TNBT and companies do not want to make investments that will have to be ripped out within the next few years. It may come as a surprise, but you may have TNBT for manufacturing IT already in your hand. TNBT answers the problem of getting any information, at any place, and at any time. We have this today, provided the “any place” is in front of a computer screen. But, operational staff is always on the move, looking and listening to the process.

The next big thing for manu-facturing IT may be second gen-eration smartphones. Today’s smartphone replaces phones, cameras, GPS devices, and other dedicated devices too numerous to list. When combined with additional sensors, the smartphone becomes a tool for medical analysis, electronic signal analysis, and infrared sensing analysis, to name just a few applications. The current gen-eration contains first generation chip sets and applications. Future smartphones will have more processing power. Intel recently announced a prototype 48-core chipset for smartphones. Advances in semiconductor technology will result in more storage capability with terabytes of local data. Imagine this computing power combined with voice recognition and context analysis of Apple’s Siri (www.apple.com/ios/siri) and the knowledge network of IBM’s Watson (www.ibm.com/Watson), in a handheld device. Software and hardware will create TNBT devices that provide “situational awareness.”

Today many systems require an operator in the loop to detect and act on problems because

it is impossible to program the responses for all possible situations in classical control systems. TNBT devices will be able to recognize what is going on inside your area or site and determine when something is out of normal but not yet in alarm. The information for this awareness may come from traditional fixed sensors or even by listening for out-of-normal sounds in frequencies outside of human range. TNBT devices will have video capability, so they can look for abnormal

conditions in visible, infrared, and ultra-violet. TNBT devices will become

true operator assistants, always watching and always listening for out-of-normal conditions.

There are steps to take to be ready for TNBT devices on your

plant floor. These devices will be un-personalized like maintenance

instruments or handheld radios. They will be assigned to people and run

approved applications. You will need to ensure the facility has full Wi-Fi or 4G

coverage. You will probably need to add additional process sensors and have larger

historian databases with finer data resolution (less filtering). Plant blueprints may have to be augmented with location data, or alternately every location should be 2-D barcoded so that a TNBT device can bring up relevant information based on a person’s location.

The next big thing for manufacturing IT may well be the rise of the operator assistant, based on the upcoming second generation of smart-phones. These will be always on, listening and looking for problems and patterns that are not normally visible to operators. They will help resolve problems, document the problems and resolutions, and leave operational staff free to perform value-added work. ce

- Dennis Brandl is president of BR&L Con-sulting in Cary, N.C., www.brlconsulting.com. His firm focuses on manufacturing IT. Contact him at [email protected].

INSIGHTINSIGHTIT & engineering

The next big thing is at hand

Dennis Brandl

‘Smartphone apps will be the eyes and ears of

operators, helping to see patterns and resolve problems, giving staff time to do value-added

work.’

For manufacturing, the next big thing has arrived. Have you noticed? The operator assistant, based on the second generation of smart-phones and the software capability to provide situational awareness, will be the “always-on” eyes and ears of operators, listening and look-ing for problems and patterns not normally visible to operators.

� At www.controleng.com, search on

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Even a casual observer of our industries will soon realize that there are many standards and protocols covering various aspects of hardware, software, and work practices.

They cover safety, communication, form factors, and all sorts of related elements. It’s hard to imag-ine life without them as such standards ensure interoperability in ways we take for granted.

The dark side of this discussion emerges when two competing standards cover the same area but are incompatible. The textbook example was VHS and Beta tape formats for video recorders. These were developed in the 1970s by JVC and Sony, respectively, and did, essentially, exactly the same thing. If you wanted to buy a VCR back then, you had to choose one or the other. Sellers had to have both available. Tape rental stores stocked the same titles in both. Ultimately, natural selection pushed Beta out of the market.

This story has been repeated many times in industrial circles. A number of products and proto-cols have been relegated to the dustbin of history along with Beta tapes. At the same time, a handful of efforts have emerged in various areas to smooth over differences between competing standards and create something new that accommodates both. These are often driven by groups of users and even vendors interested in reducing pointless redundancy. The ultimate goal of such an effort is to structure the solution so that it has backward compatibility with equipment from either camp. This can often be a major technical undertaking.

The most recent positive example is the devel-opment of FDI in an effort to bridge the gap between FDT/DTM and EDDL as device integra-tion platforms. In spite of the technical differences between these two approaches, the group was able to create a new approach that is able to work with both. As vendors implement the new standard, users will not have to choose one or the other, or worse, duplicate efforts and support both.

Another area where some consensus would go a long way is wireless field device communica-tion. In a 2010 Control Engineering article, Her-man Storey, a process industry consultant and

co-chair of the ISA100 committee, argued on behalf of users: “Proprietary technologies limit users’ abilities to select the best system, the best field equipment for an application, and the best integration of system and field equipment with reasonable engineering cost. Proprietary technolo-gies may offer attractive features when working in a single vendor environment, but the downside of these features is their lack of general applica-bility and permanence. Users want interoperable standards-based products and systems. Interoper-ability needs a significant amount of support, but the payoff is improved risk management for ven-dors and users. Users are now demanding interop-erable solutions (the ability to freely mix vendors) for industrial wireless technologies.”

Sadly, sometimes these bridging efforts are not effective. In December, the ISA100 committee disbanded its ISA100.12 subcommittee to create a convergence of ISA100.11a and WirelessHART standards aimed at wireless process instruments. While the two platforms are similar, no ideal technical solution that could work with both had emerged. The group also suffered from conten-tious differences between vendor representatives.

Disbanding this group does not mean such efforts have ceased. Another organization called the Heathrow Wireless Convergence Team contin-ues as an open interest group dedicated to creat-ing a single communication standard for wireless field device networks in process industries. Tech-nical developments go on under this banner and now include WIA-PA from China in addition to the original two. A critical mass of users, vendors, and academic institutions is now behind the effort, providing the best hope for wide support. Writing standards is inherently a slow process which has to move on to the vendors for adoption. A 10-year time span is typical to move from formation to having products available for users.

With some unified effort and a little technical luck, maybe this one will gain some lost ground. ce

Peter Welander is a content manager for Con-trol Engineering. [email protected]

UPDATEUPDATE

Peter Welander

Convergingautomation standards

technology

Competing standards and protocols often cover the same ground but are not compatible, to the dismay of end users. Sometimes they can be brought together to benefit vendors and users.

‘ The ultimate

goal of such an

effort is to structure

the solution so that

it has backward

compatibility with

equipment from

either camp. This

can often be a

major technical

undertaking.’

Read this story atwww.controleng.comfor links to:

� The case for wireless standards convergence

� EDDL team reorganizes for FDI

� FDI Cooperation, LLC: A new company to support FDI technology is founded

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The concept of remotely accessing, monitoring, and tweaking automation systems has been around since the late 1980s, and the Internet seemed to be

the “Promised Land,” just around the corner. Just about the time we were ready to perform a happy dance atop the Internet bandwagon, malware and security issues reared their ugly heads and ruined the party.

The year 1988 was about the time the major PLC manufacturers first made noise about remote access. It was a good idea, but then the only option was a dial-up modem. This required a lot of tinkering and faced three obstacles.

First, the connections were really slow, and even after 20 years, they didn’t get much better. According to Leslie Adams of Chicago’s MAAC Machinery (in 2012), “I remember the frustra-tion associated with trying to monitor machines when it took a long time for information to make its way back via the modem connection. In one instance, we were working with a machine in Australia and the delay ran up to 15 seconds.” With speeds like that, any thoughts of actively making changes on the fly are pretty much shot.

The coups de grace was when the search began for a telephone line on the plant floor. There are issues with getting an analog line down to a machine. When dozens of machines were scat-tered throughout a manufacturing facility, it was nearly impossible. Even today, phone lines can be iffy. James Alongi, MAAC’s president, noted, “Those of us in the U.S. and Canada take solid phone infrastructure for granted. This is not true in other parts of the globe.” Developing countries in Asia, Latin America, and even some first-world nations regularly suffer from spotty phone service.

So modems were applied on some mission-critical systems, ones that could shut down a whole plant. Things like the main ammonia chiller inside a food processing plant might jus-tify having a line, but the rest of the applications went begging, and engineers continued to go on expensive unplanned trips.

Let there be Internet The late 1990s brought an Internet explosion

followed by a logarithmic proliferation of Eth-

ernet devices. In a couple of years, it was Eth-ernet everything. And in 2001 when companies like Rockwell Automation began introducing Ethernet-enabled programmable controllers (and then drives, operator interface devices, and other components), it looked like remote connectivity problems were over. Using plant wide networks hooked to the Internet, it became possible to sit in a comfortable office and fine-tune processors wherever they may be. Expensive and physically exhausting last-minute trips to customer sites would be a thing of the past.

Paradise lost, devils in malwareIn the early days of the Internet, most of us had

no way to imagine the evils of spyware, malware, and code capable of bringing whole companies to their knees. As businesses became networked, one bit of this nasty stuff could shut down million-dol-lar operations. A hell-bent hacker worming into a plant-wide network could conceivably access sen-sitive information, such as private human-resource information, trade secrets, and more. Proprietary processes, formulas for new products, and sensi-tive e-mail correspondence are choice targets. U.S. IT departments switched from utility providers to private detectives. We’re still basking in the red light warning of a new heightened state of securi-ty. Security can create a barrier for those who had hoped to use the Internet to monitor machinery.

Currently, the virtual private network (VPN) is the most common method for allowing employees remote access to a company or plant network. If you can access company e-mail or other files (that aren’t cloud-based) from home or a motel room, it is likely via a VPN. When you joined your orga-nization, someone from the IT department cre-ated an encrypted certificate for you that provides secure network access.

VPN is defined as a network that uses public infrastructure (like the Internet) to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to a private company network. It aims to avoid an expensive array of private or leased lines that can only be used by one company at a time. VPNs encapsulate data transfers between two or more networked devices that are not on the same private network. This keeps the transferred date secure

UPDATEUPDATE

Frank Hurtte

Remote access programming

integrator

Internet promises of better remote access, monitoring, and tweaking of automationsystems have been slowed by malware and other security issues; options are available for secure remote access programming.

‘Proprietary processes, formulas

for new products, and e-mail

correspondence can be targets for hackers, creating

a barrier for those who had

hoped to use the Internet to monitor

machinery.’

Keyconcepts� Remote access to machinery decreases downtime

� External access needs to be secure

� Tools can reduce remote access risk

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from devices on one or more interven-ing local or wide area networks. VPN also is used for remote access to factory machines to allow the machine builder to work remotely. There are four main problems:

� A PC must be installed near the machine with the necessary software to connect to a remote desktop.

� The machine builder must be given a username and password to reach the PC.

� Depending on architecture, this “out-sider” also may have the ability to access the rest of the factory network, which makes most companies very nervous.

� There is a lack of traceability. With-out appropriate software, it is impossible to verify who has been on the system and when and where they made changes.

Simply stated, access through the net-work and VPN is (or should be) highly guarded. Once a user is on the VPN, he may have access to the whole network. And that’s the problem. Corporate IT groups spend enormous resources set-ting up new users and regulating access to the VPN. Nearly every company has a procedure that automatically informs the IT group if someone quits or is termi-nated, and they close off network access immediately.

In most company environments the VPN will be open to automation provid-ers for only a couple of days before or after they work. While this minimizes risk to the customer’s network, it elimi-nates chances of taking a proactive look at the customer’s system. Worse for the engineer involved, once on the customer’s network, the engineer must remember a long string of IP address numbers to find the right PLC. The 30-plus-year war of

wills between control engineers and cor-porate IT departments can add difficulties.

See the future from herePromising technologies are pushing

into the remote access arena. Many come on the verge of Stuxnet and an inherent escalation of the computer-securities war. One such new technology comes from Belgium-based eWon (a systems inte-gration company turned manufacturer). It uses hardware, cloud computing, and VPN router technologies (LAN, PSTN, GPRS, 2G, 3G) in an industrial case. The product establishes a secure Inter-net connection between the user and the machine with minimal effort using the factory LAN. The eWon Talk2M (talk to machine) is a smart Web-based remote access method integrating IT security standards by enabling Internet tunneling between the user and the remote machine without requiring changes to IT network security settings at either end. This allows easy deployment and hides the complex-ity of the IT network infrastructure. Since cloud connections are outbound, fire-walls remain intact to protect the network against malware and viruses, like Stuxnet.

A California-based systems integra-tor specializing in water treatment sys-tems is among early adopters of the eWon technology. Darian Slywka of American Water Technology said, “VPN network connections used to be a major hassle. As you might imagine, there are signifi-cant issues with security relating to utility infrastructure. Opening ports in a firewall creates concerns for both the customer and our own systems.”

American Water Technology uses eWon Talk2M and related services to

An eWON industrial VPN router is connected to an automation system. The devicecombines a modem, an IP router, drivers for serial and Ethernet PLC protocols, and a processor for autonomous management of communication tasks. It offers additional services for PLC parameters. Courtesy: River Heights Consulting


UPDATEUPDATEintegrator

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assign engineers and programmers basedon workload, project dynamics, and busi-ness requirements. They monitor equip-ment access and log the time they spend working remotely. They can monitor, debug, and later troubleshoot literally any device with an Ethernet connection; things like PLCs, drives, instrumentation, and other devices can be connected as easily as if they were within arm’s reach.

The eWon device automatically grabs an IP address, saving the time and effort of assigning one. Talk2M Pro service manages control access between users and the machine. The software only allows communication with eWon devic-es, resolving security issues.

Economic impact, remoteconnections

Remote connectivity is a good eco-nomic decision. With last-minute airfare and a hotel room pushing the thousand-dollar mark, travel costs justify a remote access strategy. When the lost productiv-ity from being out of the office is factored in, costs skyrocket.

MAAC Machinery’s Leslie Adams said eWon use eliminates “50%-70% of our support costs, in addition to signifi-cantly reducing hours of machine down-time normally associated with waiting for a service technician. Travel time wasted on field trips equates to a lot of money. Sitting in airports and driving out to cus-tomer installations means a whole lot of unproductive time—time we prefer our programmers spend working on new machines or fine-tuning existing systems. When these guys are gone, they simply aren’t working on the important stuff.”

Other companies share similar justi-fication. Joe Reilly, VP of technology at Comtec Industries, a manufacturer work-ing with commercial bakeries, said, “In the baking business, downtime is expen-sive. With the Model 2900 operating at 3,600 crusts per hour, downtime could easily reach upwards of $7,000 per hour in lost revenue. With numbers like this, it’s safe to say we will save hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost production over the life of these machines. And, the

money we save our customers when we eliminate a field trip is just icing on the cake (no pun intended). When we drop everything and rush out to a field emer-gency, our costs skyrocket.”

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Consider this...� One downtime incident or security breach could justify enabling remote access connec-tions to critical plant assets.

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In the industrial automation application area of cold rolling and hot rolling, the require-ment for pressure and rotating speed is strict and demanding. Data must be transmitted to

the next node within a very short time to achieve real-time parameter coordination. A very short delay could cause errors and huge waste. Cur-rently, fieldbus and Ethernet cannot satisfy the requirements of high determinacy and timing. Reflective Memory from GE Intelligent Plat-forms targets demanding simulation, process control, and data collection to make up for this insufficiency and fulfills strict real-time require-ments with determinacy, low latency, and high-speed memory sharing.

Low latency, high speedReflective memory is a high-speed network

with a 2.12 G transmission rate; its transmis-sion speed can be as high as 174 Mbytes/s. Shao Jianfeng, an embedded system application engi-neer for GE Intelligent Platforms, said that in the reflective memory optical fiber ring, high-speed synchronization would transmit data to the next node in the network and get ready to insert data at any node any time data was written to a local reflective memory device. Each node receives data from its previous node, decodes the data packet, checks the errors, writes this new data to local backup, and sends it to its next node. When data returns to the starting node, it is deleted from the network. Every computer holds the lat-est local backup of the share memory collection with no software latency and negligible hardware latency. All computers can receive the data writ-ten to reflective memory within 2.1μs (diagram). Low latency is vital for building real-time sys-tems (such as simulators, PLC controllers, testing platforms, and high-availability systems).

All CPUs writing to shared memory in the system will be duplicated to all nodes, up to 256 computers within the network. All subsystems have sufficient and unlimited access authorities.

Beside a ring structure, star topology of reflective memory network is another option,

which enables higher synchronization. Optical fiber hub can bypass any nodes that terminate the operation even if the node interruption is turned off. Every computer holds the latest backup of share memory collection within the network. Backup node can seamlessly take up the opera-tion using the failed node, reducing the negative impact on the productivity, profitability, and per-formance caused by unexpected shutdown.

GE Reflective Memory provides a ring-structured network for data insertion using opti-cal fiber with 2.12 G transmission rate. The range between nodes can be up to 10 km (single mode)/300 meters (multiple mode).

“Compared with Gigabit Ethernet, reflective memory has a higher real-time performance. The latency between two nodes is no more than 750 nanoseconds, while Ethernet and fieldbus can-not achieve this, as the speed of Gigabit Ether-net (including UDP) is only 100 MB/s,” Jianfeng said. (See table.) It is difficult to achieve simi-lar latency using Ethernet as well as other net-work technologies, due to constraints, such as IP protocol cost, addressing, and time to write to memory. Then, can 10 Gigabit Ethernet replace a Reflective Memory network? Jianfeng said that most industrial fieldbuses are still using 10/100 Mbit/s, and currently Gigabit network and 10

Jin Yan

High-speed memory sharing improves application reliabilityData transmission based on the Reflective Memory from GE Intelligent Platforms provides a unique industrial real-time network technology that can boost reliability for many industrial control applications, according to a CE China article.

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Keyconcepts� Real-time backup and fail-over of control for manufacturing information can augment reliability.

� Applications include flight simulators, telecom-munication, rolling mills, aluminum factories, and high-speed test and mea-surement systems.

� High-speed data trans-mission, real time, and determinism are key attri-butes, for up to 256 nodes in a ring topology.

Diagram shows how Reflective Memory from GE Intelligent Platforms reduces the latency of nodes. Courtesy: GE Intelligent Platforms

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Gigabit application are mainly used at server levels. It is pos-sible that a 10 Gigabit network will be used widely in indus-trial field applications, but that will take a long time. GE also is developing 10 G optical fiber to fulfill environmental needs for more demanding real-time performance. Reflective Memory doesn’t rely on network protocol, avoiding additional load limit or terminal rules.

“Hardware can be used in VME (versa module eurocard), PCI/PCI-X, PMC (PCI mezzanine card), PCI Express, and oth-ers, which allow the separate reflective memory network to connect to a different bus. [PCI is peripheral component inter-face.] Design and implementation need not care much about the system compatibility and can build adaptive systems to ease the field system’s building and expanding,” Jianfeng said.

“Protocol means CPU overhead, and thus data could be lost during the transmission. A Reflective Memory network transmits raw data with extreme latency, which means higher determinacy of data transmission and lower CPU overhead.” It monitors and duplicates data transparently and shares data without software overhead (more cost effective, eliminating additional development effort, testing, maintenance, documen-tation, and CPU requirements of traditional communication).

Application scope: VME versus PLCCould this be applied to all industrial environments? The

answer is no. Reflective Memory, a unique GE real-time net-work technology, can be integrated with other GE embedded systems to build real-time systems to achieve remote data transmission. It can be used in all environments where com-puters or programmable logic controllers are connected using Ethernet, optical fiber channels, or other serial networks, such as flight simulators, telecommunication, high-speed progress control (rolling mills and aluminum factories), and high-speed testing and measurement systems. It is not for all environments.

“Reflective Memory is more suitable to systems where real-time communication is top priority. Although the price of Reflective Memory is higher than that of hardware whose per-formance is low, it is rewarding considering its high functional-ity and usability,” Jianfeng said. Of course, he further pointed out that for those industrial environments where the require-

ment of real time is not demanding, it is fine to use a traditional network, considering cost. That is to say, “Reflective Memory is especially suitable to the environment where high-speed data transmission, real time, and determinacy are top priority. Up to 256 nodes can be connected to the ring, and that is enough for industrial environment and simulation applications.”

Real-time, accurately controlled productionThanks to low latency and high determinacy, Reflective

Memory is best applied to applications in metallurgy, steel, and communications environments, where real-time requirements are strict. For example, it can be used to improve the PLC per-formance to control the aluminum or steel rolling process. For an aluminum mill with 3500 ft/min speed, 2-3 feet of alumi-num can pass through within the response time of the executor when using the usual PLC controller. The executer can apply or release pressure to roll out aluminum with various thick-ness. With Reflective Memory, data related to the mill can be input into the PLC, which writes the data to Reflective Memo-ry. Thus data is sent to independent VME computers to trans-mit the complicated control logic algorithm. The system uses Reflective Memory commands to transmit the output control data back to the PLC. Data transmission and computer speed are so high, there is no delay in the PLC operation control loop.

“If there is any delay,” Jianfeng said, “the thickness of steel cannot follow the specifications, and some of the material will be wasted. Reflective Memory based on a VME advanced con-trol system ensures real-time and accurate control to reduce the response time to as short as 4 in. [in this application] and thus improve product quality. Compared with a PLC, Reflec-tive Memory has better real-time performance, achieving high-speed system response with higher cost. Reflective memory is a good supplement to the traditional PLC control, and you can decide which solution to take. If there is some system redun-dancy, you can use Reflective Memory to back up the data in the time-out machine within a few microseconds, which is common in PLC control.” ce

- Sunny Jin (Jin Yan) is senior editor with Control Engi-neering China. This article appeared in an earlier edition of CEC and was edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, CFE Media, for use in Control Engineering, [email protected].

Table compares various attributes of Reflective Memory from GE Intelligent Platforms, 10/100 Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet. Courtesy: GE Intelligent Platforms

Table: Reflective Memory network versus Ethernet

FeatureReflective Memory network (5565/5565PIORC/5565RC)

10/100 Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet

Transmission speed 2.12 Gbit/s 10/100 Mbit/s 1000 Mbit/s

Data transmission speed 174 MB/s 1.25/12.5/125 MB/s 1.25/12.5/125 MB/s

Byte order data transformation Yes No No

Software transparency Yes No No

Network data transmission/Confirmation to receive? Yes No No

Network transmission scheme Data insertion Carrier sense multiple access/Collision detection Token passing

Memory mapping access shared data? Yes No, must create message

applicationNo, must create message

application

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CTL1301_CEInternational_V5msFINAL.indd 24 1/15/13 11:58 AM


Are the three factors of possibil-ity, severity, and frequency of equal importance in determining the risk levels for machine safety hazards?

Industry safety standards seem to treat them as equal because they don’t address any relative importance. However, what’s your experience?

Doesn’t it seem that international and domes-tic standards present these three required fac-tors for assessing risk as independent variables? Although they’re independent, they are also related because when they’re combined they help to determine risk levels of hazards and their related remediation performance requirements. This is shown in the risk reduction graph from ANSI B11.0 – 2010. In this case the qualitative process is determining the Performance Level (PL) for the given hazard.

Using this assessment approach, if you decid-ed that severity (of injury) required a higher priority, would the derived outcome in the risk level be any different? Similarly, would giving the possibility or frequency factors greater prior-ity or lesser priority change the answer? In my opinion, I don’t see it!

Yet when I talk with users about this issue, they frequently present this example. If sever-ity of harm for a given hazard is “death,” they always give that factor a higher priority (S2) and a higher risk level, which drives the high-est circuit performance for machine guarding. The highest circuit performance is PLe, which requires the average probability of dangerous failures per hour of 108 to 107. PLe means control reliable circuits with redundant components and 24/7 monitoring.

So, here’s the dilemma as I see it: If severity is S2 and frequency and possibility are F1 and P1, respectively, your derived risk level is PLc by ISO 13849-1: 2006 standard requirements. After deciding on S2 and depending on your answers for F1 or F2 and P1 or P2, you could arrive at either PLc, Pld, or PLe, per the graph

above. Specifically arriving at PLe by priori-tizing severity (S2) is not straightforward. If using the category system, you could likewise arrive at either Cat 1, 2, 3, or 4 by deciding on S2. Perhaps you can prioritize severity by eliminating frequency and possibility and sim-ply defaulting to PLe or Cat 4. But, by elimi-nating frequency and possibility in your risk analysis, are you in compliance with the stan-dards? Therefore, aren’t all three factors equal in priority?

Does anyone have an answer for this dilem-ma? Your comments or suggestions are always welcome, so please let us know your thoughts. Submit your ideas, experiences, and chal-lenges on this subject in the comments section (online). ce

- J.B. Titus, Certified Functional Safety Expert (CFSE), writes the Control Engineering Machine Safety Blog. Reach him at [email protected].

Amountof risk

reductionrequired

PLr

KeyStarting point for evaluation of safety function’scontribution to risk reductionLow contribution to risk reductionHigh contribution to risk reductionRequired performance level

1

LH

PLr

Risk parametersS

S1S2

FF1F2P

P1P2

Severity of injurySlight (normally reversible injury)Serious (normally irreversible injury or death)Frequency and/or exposure to hazardSeldom-to-less-often and/or exposure time is shortFrequent-to-continuous and/or exposure time is longPossibly of avoiding hazard or limiting harmPossible under specific conditionsScarcely possible

Performance levels from ISO 13849-1: 2006

aP1

F1

S1

1

S2

F2

F1

F2

P2

P1

P2

P1

P2

P1

P2

b

c

d

e

SAFETYSAFETY

Figure D-2: Performance Levels from ISO 13849-1:2006. Reprinted with Per-mission: ANSI B11.0 – 2010, B11 Standards Inc.

machine

Risk level assessment priority: Possibility, severity, or frequency?

J.B. Titus, CFSE

Which factor has the highest priority for assessing hazard risk levels: possibility, severity, or frequency? The ANSI B11.0 – 2010 standard may help.

www.b11standards.com

www.jbtitus.com

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� Quantitative circuit design versus qualitative risk assessment

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CTL1301_Safety_V5msFINAL.indd 25 1/15/13 12:00 PM


Yaskawa Electric Corp. and Yas-kawa America Inc. celebrated the start of U.S. manufacturing for the Yaska-wa MV1000 in a ceremony at the Yas-kawa America Oak Creek, Wis., plant on Nov. 30. Yaskawa offered the medi-um-voltage drive (for motors up to 5000 hp) earlier this year, but ordering and shipping from Japan takes about 6 months. That’s expected to be reduced to 8 weeks or less after more than $3 million is invested by 2014 for new manufacturing and testing areas in the 30,000-sq-ft plant. By late 2013, mod-els serving up to 5,000 hp are expected to be avail-able, including UL and CSA listings.

Yaskawa MV1000 is said to be the smallest 1000 hp drive available, with 30%-60% smaller volume compared to the last generation of Yaskawa prod-uct. It also has the longest mean time between failures (MTBF) at 200,000 hours, a number expected to increase, said those involved. Yaskawa Smart Harmonics Technology reduces input harmonics, meeting IEEE519-1992 and eliminating the need for other filters. Total harmonic distortion (THD) is less than 2.8%. Energy savings for custom-ers derive from 97% or better power

conversion efficiency at rated load and by motor speed control, particularly on variable torque loads such as fans, blowers, and pumps.

Employees, customers, and guests were invited to the plant for a Kagami-Biraki sake ceremony commemorat-ing the new beginning. They celebrat-ed next to the first MV1000 units made there, two of which were ready to ship to a pipe manufacturing customer in Ohio. Another will remain at the Oak Creek plant for demonstration, display, and continued testing.

Yaskawa Oak Creek now employs

115 and will augment engineering, application support, manufacturing, and testing as needed, the company said.

The MV1000 drive uses open-loop vector control, meaning it is highly resistant to load fluctuations, enabling stable continuous operation without using an encoder. High-performance vector control can be used with syn-chronous motors as well as induc-tion motors. The available user inter-face is the same used with Yaskawa 1000-Series low-voltage drives, for easy setting and operation. The Yaska-wa DriveWizard Plus MV helps with setup, maintenance, and troubleshoot-ing. A USB copy device aids with the transfer of parameters from drive to drive. ce

www.yaskawa.com

Yaskawa commemoratesfirst U.S.-manufacturedMV1000 medium-voltage drives

NEWSNEWSindustry

Online atwww.controleng.com/videos

Services forIndustrial computing

New test labwith engineering

New videos Integration 28 Innovation 29

Executives from Yaskawa America, Inc. and Yaskawa Electric Corp. (Japan) open casks at the Kagami Biraki sake cere-mony to commemorate the first Yaskawa medium-voltage drive produced and shipped in the U.S. CFE Media photos by Mark T. Hoske

John Merrison, Yaskawa senior product marketing manager, said the Yaskawa MV1000 medium-voltage drive protects the connected motor and main from harmonics, which extends motor life and avoids electric utility penalty charges, and it saves energy, he said.

Controls for this Yas-kawa MV1000 medium voltage drive are in a slide-out drawer on the right, separate from higher-power areas, reducing requirements for personal protective equipment (PPE) for controls-only access. Configuration options are many.

� CFE Media video demonstrates energy savings with variable frequency drivesYaskawa tops 1 million inverters manufactured

Go Online

CTL1301_News_V6msFINAL.indd 26 1/15/13 12:02 PM


Microsoft SharePoint is commonly used for document storage, intranets, and extranets but falls short for sophisti-cated document control, numbering, and transmittals capabilities. A number of engineering companies have overcome these challenges without custom code.SharePoint can be a great platform for engineering project management. Use-ful functionality includes document classification, version control, search, calendars, tasks lists, alerts, creation of project sites from templates, and oth-ers. Many engineering companies find SharePoint lacking for:

� Document control, including multi-stage approvals and permission management

� Document numbering, for example composite numbering formats including document type, revision, incremental number, etc.

� Transmittals—making available sets of documents to partners or clients and tracking which documents have been transmitted.

Engineering organizations can:� Develop custom software� Purchase one or more specialist

off-the-shelf products� Enhance Microsoft SharePoint with

a third-party tool that enables rapid delivery of the required functionality through configuration rather than code.

Custom development can be slow, risky, and expensive, and can compli-cate future SharePoint upgrades, since customizations need to be upgraded. When business processes and require-ments change, it can be a lengthy pro-cess to re-engage software developers to update the software.

Specialist off-the-shelf products can be good if they meet precise project requirements, but “locking in” to one vendor can add risk, as future needs may not be met. Off-the-shelf products can be expensive to purchase, main-tain, and support. Enhancing Microsoft SharePoint with a third-party tool has worked for several engineering com-panies. Such software can enhance SharePoint by allowing visual construc-tion and configuration of sophisticated workflows for:

� Automatic generation of document numbers according to existing docu-ment numbering policy

� Complex multi-stage, serial, and parallel document approval

� Transmittals management, includ-ing approval, document tracking, pub-

Engineering document control, numbering, transmittals: Build a flexible solution

Book expandson monthly columns

New designwww.controleng.com/newsletters

Manufacturing IT 29 Newsletters

Automation, control, and instrumentation events, conferences, and training in 2013 include:

� ProMat, Jan. 20-24, Chicago www.promatshow.com

� Automate 2013, Jan. 21-24, Chicago www.automate2013.com

� ARC World Forum, Feb. 11-14, Orlando www.arcweb.com

� Robotics Industry Forum, AIA Business Conference, Feb. 20-22, Orlando www.robotics.org/events

� ABB Automation & Power World, March 25-28, Orlando www.abb.com/apworld

� Hannover Messe, April 8-12, Hannover, Germany www.hannovermesse.com

� ESC Design West, April 22-25, San Jose, Calif. www.ubmdesign.com

� Interphex, April 23-25, New York www.interphex.com

� CSIA Executive Conference, May 1-4, St. Petersburg, Fla. www.controlsys.org

� Also see www.controleng.com/webcast.

CALENDAR 2013

lishing of documents to an extranet, and automated generation of e-mails con-taining links to transmitted documents.

Engineers can quickly learn and maintain many workflows at a low cost. Because it is delivered through configu-ration, not code, changes may be imple-mented by a nonspecialist in-house staff person in hours. ce

- Ian Woodgate is managing director of SharePoint business applications specialist PointBeyond Ltd.

www.pointbeyond.com

Director of the Mars Rover project for NASA will keynote the annual ARC World Industry Forum, [http://www.arcweb.com/events/arc-orlando-forum/pages/default.aspx] Feb. 11-14, 2013, in Orlando. The four-day conference and event features manufacturing and engineering-related speakers highlighting new processes and technologies, including Doug McCuiston, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA. McCuiston will discuss the engineering and logis-tics needed to bring the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars. In his presentation, McCuiston will discuss this eight-year journey with a behind-the-scenes story of building Curiosity, getting it to the surface of Mars, its early discover-ies, and what lies ahead for the Mars exploration program.

ARC analysts and a roster of some of the world’s top manufacturers also will share knowledge at the annual

event. Included in the event are four days of educational sessions, displays from some of the top manufacturers, and a series of networking events to bring top manufacturing executives from around the world to exchange ideas.

The theme of the 2013 ARC Advisory Group event is, “Achieving Breakthrough Performance With New Pro-cesses and Technologies.” ARC officials will discuss how to meet the goal of improved performance by identifying key improvement targets, implementing the correct process improvement tools, and generating fresh and unique offer-ings to meet evolving customer needs.

For information on the 2013 ARC World Industry Forum conference program, go to www.arcweb.com. ce

- Edited by Bob Vavra, content manager CFE Media, Control Engineering and Plant Engineering, [email protected].

NASA Mars rover director to keynote ARC Forum in February



Axiomtek USA expands North Amer-ican operations with acquisition of the Suntron Embedded Computing Solu-tions (ECS) business unit.

Axiomtek, a global provider of indus-trial computers, announced that its North American subsidiary, Axiomtek USA, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Methuen, Mass.-based Embedded Computing Solutions (ECS) business unit of Suntron Corp. ECS pro-vides modified commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) based end-to-end outsourcing services, such as embedded designs, sys-tems integration, and extended lifecycle management. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Axiomtek, with more than 700 employees worldwide and operations in five countries, has expanded service to the embedded systems marketplace with the acquisition of ECS, according to a Dec. 21 statement from Axiomtek USA, based in City of Industry, Calif. ECS operations will be renamed Axiomtek Systems and will remain in its current ISO9001-certified Methuen facility. Cur-rent Axiomtek product offerings include single-board computers, industrial com-

puting systems and platforms, digital signage, panel computers, industrial con-nectivity (switches and protocol convert-ers), and related support.

“Attempting to be a standard product company in a world that is demanding

nonstandard solutions can present a tre-mendous challenge to any manufactur-er,” stated YT Yang, Axiomtek CEO and president. “With the added experience and skill set of ECS,” Yang said, “we are now poised to provide our customers with a portfolio of robust industrial com-puting products along with outsourcing services anchored by operational excel-lence. It is a perfect match.”

ECS, established in the early 1990s, provided some of the industry’s first

integration services targeting the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), design-ing complex products based around COTS building blocks, the Axiomtek statement said.

“Over the recent years, the indus-trial computer industry has done a nice job producing standards-based systems for the embedded developer,” said Dave Starrett, VP of sales for Axiomtek USA. “However, the final piece to the ultimate solution is being able to offer the intan-gible services that truly enable the cus-tomer to focus on their core competency. Now we have it.”

Kevin Tiner, ECS director of opera-tions, said, “Axiomtek has been a sup-plier to ECS for over 10 years. We know their products, their capabilities, and their people. We look forward to taking advantage of the synergy that this part-nership has created.”

Lincoln International represented Suntron Corp. in the sale of the ECS business unit. ce

www.axiomtek.comwww.suntroncorp.com/embedded-

computing-solutions.htmlwww.lincolninternational.com

Industrial computer company acquires system integrator

NEWSNEWSindustry

Dr. Fang Yuanbai’s RTU article (Control Engineering, December 2012, p. 12: Control Engineering International: RTU use expands, must make full use of advantages) said RTUs [remote terminal units] started to be used by the U.S. oil and gas industries in the 1980s.

Due to my direct personal experience I am aware of RTU/SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] applications on the Alaska crude oil pipeline. Each of the 12 pump stations had RTUs installed communicating over microwave radio and backed-up satellite communications. Each pump station RTU acted like a sub-master station to control remote gate valves located between pump stations. Each of the remote gate valves was equipped with much smaller RTUs, which were scanned on an hourly basis but reported alarms immediately, report by exception. The pipe-line SCADA system was supplied by Harris Control Corp., Melbourne, Fla., and was installed in 1977 and commissioned in 1978.

Much prior to that I was directly involved with the Serck Controls UK SCADA system that monitored and controlled the first North

Sea gas platforms. The BP gas platforms were equipped with solid-state RTUs; microprocessors were just being developed at that time. This BP North Sea SCADA system was commissioned in 1967. A similar SCADA system for Shell North Sea was commissioned in 1968.

Thirty years later I had occasion to meet the maintenance personnel for these platforms and inquired why these RTUs had not been upgraded. Their response was that the RTUs worked so well that they did not need replacing.

Serck Controls had at that time installed many SCADA systems on a global basis including the Zakum oil fields in Abu Dhabi. In conclusion, there is significant historical data to verify that the term “remote terminal units” had been in common use since the early 1960s and maybe earlier, since I have had occasion to replace relay-based SCADA systems. I am the author of the “Handbook of SCADA Systems for the

Oil/Gas Industry.” ce

- Robert I Williams, PE, Department Manager Instrumentation & Control Systems, Brinder-son, Costa Mesa, Calif., www.brinderson.com. [email protected]

Feedback: RTUs have been used since at least the 1960s

� At www.controleng.com, search RTU use expands.

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‘Outsourcing services allow embedded

computing and industrial computing customers

to focus on core competencies.’



Electrical reliability, efficiency, and safety were key points of emphasis at a ribbon cutting, tour, time capsule open-ing, and lunch for Eaton employees, media, and other selected guests at the new Eaton Menomonee Falls, Wis., facil-ity on Jan. 9. The 104,000-sq-ft sales, marketing, engineering, research and development, and training facility is a showcase for thousands of Eaton prod-ucts. The two-story structure has 184 employees and room for more. An appli-

cation for U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Envi-ronmental Design) Silver certification is pending. The new facility replaces an older, less-efficient, seven-story build-ing on 27th St. in Milwaukee.

“This facility is a recruiting tool for us to help attract and retain talent. We have a lot of excited people who love this kind of work,” explained Brian Carlson, engineering director, Eaton Industrial Control Division.

Alexander (Sandy) M. Cutler, chair-man and CEO, as part of the ribbon-cutting comments before lunch, said the design reflects Eaton’s efforts to emphasize electrical reliability, energy efficiency, and safety, as it provides innovative products and services to its markets. “We provide safe, productive, energy-efficient innovation. We’re large,

diverse and capable global company that’s not going to forget its history and is excited about the future. We expect big things from this site,” Cutler noted.

Change is a matter of course for Eaton lately. It had a facility flood in 2010, 100th anniversary in 2011, and on Nov. 30, 2012, its $13 billion Cooper Industries acquisition was final. While Eaton’s Cooper engineers also have toured the new facility, joint product development isn’t yet underway for the $21.5 billion com-bined company (2011 revenue), now with 100,000 employees. Integration is expected to take 24-36 months.

To accommodate research and test labs, the new building has 16 mil-lion volt-ampere (16 MVA) service, suf-ficient for approximately 4 million sq ft

of typical office space. Energy-saving features include regeneration capabil-ity to capture energy from large motors under test, a solar array, and advanced lighting and building controls, all relying on advanced Eaton technologies. It has an EMC facility, an industrialization lab, product integrity center, model shop, 3D printer, tool room, and labs for reliabil-ity, shock and vibration, dyne, highly accelerated lifecycle testing, and solar, with more than 120 miles of wire. ce

- Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, [email protected].

Information technology is an important element of plant floor operations, and Den-nis Brandl’s monthly column on Manufac-turing IT in Control Engineering magazine covers IT aspects that are critical to modern manufacturing. A new book, “Plant IT: Inte-grating Information Technology into Auto-mated Manufacturing” by Momentum Press,

expands on the information presented in the “Engineering and IT Insight” column. The book describes the wide range of informa-tion technologies that manufacturing pro-fessionals need to understand to effectively operate in the corporate IT environment.

Each section of the book discusses an IT issue important for manufacturers, including practical programming, real-world design considerations, databases and mas-ter data management, knowledge manage-ment, tools and programming languages, cyber security, managing resource informa-tion, and regulations, Brandl said. These topics will allow manufacturing profes-sionals to intelligently discuss IT elements with their IT partners, so that IT can be effectively applied in plant floor operations without impacting production productivity or product quality, he said.

“Software engineering is a foundation for all IT elements, yet many manufacturing engineers are tasked with software develop-ment, when software development is not their area of training. Therefore, this book also covers important aspects of software engineering and software project manage-ment for non-software engineers that must manage or participate in IT projects,” Brandl said. It also provides a strong background for using IT to advance and improve plant floor operations. ce

www.brlconsulting.com

Eaton dedicates new innovation, engineering center near Milwaukee

Manufacturing IT book expands on Control Engineering advice from Dennis Brandl

Feedback: RTUs have been used since at least the 1960s

� www.eaton.com� Search “Eaton dedicates” at www.controleng.com to see a video clip from Carlson, more pho-tos, history, other details.

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“Plant IT: Integrating Infor-mation Technology into Automated Manufactur-ing,” a 152-page book by Momentum Press by Dennis L. Brandl and Donald E. Brandl. Courtesy: Momen-tum Press

At www.controleng.com, search for� Momentum Press to get the link to order.� Best system integration advice for engineer-ing, controls, and IT

Go Online

At the new Menomonee Falls facil-ity, Eaton employees and other guest enjoy lunch at the Jan. 9 dedication.

Sun faces a rooftop solar array (not show) over the new Eaton Menomonee Falls, Wis., facility.

Sampling of Eaton products include a pushbutton near each group, to show what industries they serve. CFE Media photos by Mark T. Hoske


Introduction to PID ControlLee Payne | CEO, Dataforth

Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers are used in most automatic process control applications in indus-try today. They can regulate flow, temperature, pressure, level, and many other industrial process variables. This Application Note reviews the design of PID controllers and explains the P, I, and D control modes used in them.

In essence, the PID controller is the workhorse of modern process control systems as it automates regulation tasks that otherwise would be done manually.

Using temperature as an example, the Application Note describes the tedious process of manual control and then explains how a PID controller works. First, the operator sets the PID controller’s set point to the desired tempera-ture; next, the controller’s output sets the position of the control valve; then, the temperature measurement (the process variable) is transmitted to the PID controller, which compares it to the set point and calculates the difference (or error) between the two signals; finally, the controller calculates the appropriate controller output to set the control valve at the correct position to keep the temperature at the set point.

While the proportional control mode is the main driving force in a controller, each of the three control modes

reacts differently to error and each fulfills a unique function. Proportional and integral control modes are essential for most control loops; the derivative mode is excellent for motion control. Temperature control is a typical application that uses all three control modes.

PID control algorithms come in different designs, and the MAQ®20 system supports both the most common noninteractive algorithm and the parallel algorithm. This versatility makes the MAQ®20 extremely powerful and adaptable for wide ranging process control applications, including test and measurement, factory and process automation, machine automation, military and aerospace, power and energy, oil and gas, and environmental monitoring.

Dataforth was established in 1984 and is the world leader in data acquisition and control, signal conditioning, and data communication products for industrial applications. Worldwide, our products provide rugged signal and data integrity and wide spectrum accuracy. All Dataforth products are manufactured in the USA and have been RoHS Compliant since 2006. The Dataforth Quality Management System is ISO9001:2008 registered.

Email: [email protected] www.dataforth.com

Download this paper now at:http://www.dataforth.com/catalog/ pdf/an122.pdf

The Parallel PID Controller Algorithm

ctl201301_whitePpr_datafrth.indd 1 12/5/2012 2:55:21 PM



The Integrated HMI-PLC Rich Harwell | Advanced Solutions Manager at Eaton Corporation plc

The heart of a “lean automation” solutionLean manufacturing is a proven, powerful tool that boosts efficiencies in production processes. Similar concepts and practices that eliminate “waste”—unnecessary equipment and process steps—can be applied to the design, construction, and support of automation systems. Lean automation solutions enable increased productivity and reliability, and propel best-in-class solutions—yielding a real competitive advantage.

A combination HMI-PLC plays a pivotal role in the design of a truly lean automation solution, providing a host of benefits throughout the life cycle of machine automation. Combining visualization and control means:

• Faster machine design by providing an integrated development environment • Reduced machine construction costs by eliminating components and wiring • Reduced machine support cost and improved operation by centralizing remote access and administration

More than at any other time, there is a range of trends in both control system architecture and manufacturing that are coming together to support an integrated HMI-PLC. For OEMs and control engineers alike, this means that it is easier to build smaller, smarter machines faster—freeing both OEMs and engineers from using controllers and equipment just because of a familiarity and in spite of a prohibitive cost to change.

Control system basicsTo better understand the trends driving HMI and PLC technology, it is useful to first examine the basic architecture of a control system and how the control system itself is evolving. Fundamental changes in control system architecture are making HMI-PLC technology a compelling altenative—streamlining functionality, reducing equipment (and costs), and propelling the next generation of machine control.

To read more, visit www.eaton.com/hmiplc.

www.eaton.com/oi

Download this paper at: www.eaton.com/hmiplc

The Eaton XV and XP Series HMI-PLCs offer a complete solution to any HMI application and communicate with virtually any network, web client, and database.

ctl201301_whitePpr_EatonR3.indd 1 12/20/2012 5:06:31 PM



Calculating and Comparing Differential Pressure Transmitter AccuracyTed Dimm | Marketing Mgr., Field Instrumentation, Honeywell Process Solutions

Differential pressure transmitters are extremely versatile devices, suitable for a wide variety of applications, such as flow, level, density and filter-quality measurement, and leak-detection. These applications have different parameters for pressure-measuring spans, static pressures, and temperatures that will impact device performance. Understanding these process parameters and how they can affect differential pressure transmitter performance should influence your transmitter selection, as well as expectations regarding overall product performance in your particular application.

Basic accuracy statements are published by manufactur-ers and are often used as a basis for comparing devices. These statements typically quote Reference Accuracy. When considering an actual application, Reference Accuracy (RA) is an important factor regarding performance, but it does not provide the entire picture.

For comparison purposes, always look at total probable error to ensure optimum performance.

At the root of all pressure-measuring product designs is the basic pressure-measuring sensor. Considering only reference conditions, many sensors will appear to provide similar performance. For industrial applications, where temperatures can be extreme and, in the case of differential pressure measurement, where static pressures can be elevated or even fluctuating, it is necessary to compensate the basic sensor to maintain accuracy.

As one example, high-performance piezoresistive sensors offer some unique compensation capabilities. These sensors can integrate static pressure and temperature measurements on the same sensor chip, thus allowing the designer to incorporate circuits that automatically correct the sensor’s performance for varying static pressure and temperature conditions. When implemented as an integrated solution, the result is better accuracy over a wider range of customer-application conditions. Devices using sensors without such compensation usually do not perform as well over varying conditions.

www.honeywellprocess.com/smartline

Honeywell SmartLine pressure transmitters offer leading accuracy along with features that lower the total cost of ownership.

Go to www.honeywellprocess.com/smartline and click on the “Resources” tab to download this white paper.

ctl201301_whitePpr_honeywellPg.indd 1 12/21/2012 11:19:45 AM



The Future of Machines: Self-Aware Control SystemsChristian Fritz | Product Manager, National Instruments

Machine builders have made advances in developing technology that can complete repetitive tasks with great speed. See how you can integrate the next generation of machines into your control systems.

When examining machine-industry trends, you often encounter new controller technologies that increase the performance and throughput of high-end machines, motor technologies, or energy-efficient algorithms, or you learn about tools that help lower the cost of machine design. Over the last few decades, machine builders have made considerable advances in developing machines that can complete repetitive tasks with ever-increasing speed. There are other trends and technologies; however, that might have an even more significant influence on the next generation of machines and the way those machines are integrated in your work process.

After spending decades optimizing machinery equipment speed, the industry is running into new limiting boundaries. High speeds and operating machines running at maximum load are increasing the wear and tear of mechanical components and tools. This increases the importance of maintenance and systems that ensure uptime. Additionally, many tasks in the industry are not purely repetitive. Solutions to application problems such as picking randomly shaped parts out of a bin are far from realization. Last, but not least, several manufacturing processes still involve a significant amount of work by humans. The machine industry needs to address safety concerns that arise when humans work alongside machines and robotic systems.

The availability of data and information about the environment, processes, and machine parameters is crucial to addressing these new machine industry challenges. herefore. sensors and measurement technology that can

acquire this informa-tion are playing a significant role for the next generation of machines. The sensor market was very static for decades, but the last few years have brought substantial innovation. Sensor technology advancements have been adopted into many electronic devices, from smart phones to home automation systems, and prices have dropped to all-time lows.

You can use sensors to create systems that are aware of their environment, perform real-time process monitoring, and know every detail about their mechanical component health. However, sensors alone are worth no more than the control systems of the past. The key to solving new challenges is creating control systems that can integrate sensor data, gather information in real time, and use infor-mation from multiple sensors within high-speed control loops. High-performance embedded systems with industrial- grade ruggedness, such as NI CompactRIO programmable automation controllers (PACs), provide direct sensor connectivity through modular I/O devices. You can use the reconfigurable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to preprocess sensor data even before the information is transferred to the real-time processor, which executes custom control or monitoring tasks programmed in the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment.

Register to download this paper at: http://www.controleng.com/index.php?id=6779

www.NI.com

ctl201301_whitePpr_NI.indd 1 12/28/2012 4:12:34 PM




For years, and even decades, connecting field devices to process control systems has used essentially the same technol-ogy. Sure, there have been advances in fieldbus and even wireless networks,

but for plain old wired devices, you connect a cable to a matching slot on an I/O (input/out-put) board at your controller. This works as long as the device matches the slot: a 4-20 mA with HART flowmeter requires a corresponding input. You don’t connect it to a terminal designed for a thermocouple.

Most of the time this sort of thing is toler-ated, but it can cause problems. Let’s say you have a level switch mounted on a tank to trigger when the liquid goes past a specific point. That comes into the system via a digital input. What if your boss wants that changed to a magnetostric-tive level sensor providing a continuous reading? You can’t put that in on the same input channel because it has a different signal type. That means changing the board or adding a new one. But maybe there isn’t room on your I/O rack. A small project can get complicated.

Control system providers hear customers ask things like, “Why can’t I assign the I/O at will to accommodate any kind of field device?” Well, given some product developments over the last few years, often the answer now is, you can. A growing number of manufacturers are now offer-

ing more flexible, or smarter, I/O systems that allow for greater flexibility. How do these work, and what can they do for you?

Depending on which control platform you use, smart I/O uses a combination of hardware and software to talk to field devices. All systems currently available require replacement of at least some components and possibly some wiring.

Two different conceptsThere isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for

I/O, at least not yet. While it’s true that Foun-dation fieldbus, Profibus PA, or other similar approaches are platform agnostic, they require field devices that work with those specific pro-tocols. These new smart I/O systems work with any field devices (within reason), but you need to buy a system that works with your controller. If you are using DeltaV, you need to get a system from Emerson.

There are two conceptual approaches current-ly at work to fill this space: Emerson’s hardware approach vs. a more software-centered idea from others like Honeywell and Invensys’ Foxboro division.

The latter is more modest in its scope. Both Honeywell’s Universal Process I/O (available early 2013) and Foxboro’s FBM247 (available now) use the same I/O device form factor and go into the same cabinets as their current offerings

Peter Welander

Make your I/O smarterImprovements in I/O systems for field devices can make your process control system installations and upgrades quicker and more cost effective.

cover story

Keyconcepts� Smart and flexible I/O for field devices overcomes hardware limitations.

� New systems only work with their corresponding control system, but extend field connectivity.

� Various manufacturers have tailored their own strategy for operational details.

� Arguments for adoption may not drive a larger migration project, but they could influence vendor selection.

CTL1301_F1_Smart IO_V3msFINAL.indd 34 1/15/13 12:03 PM


for Experion series C and I/A series 200, respec-tively. Both are designed such that any channel on any module can be configured through the control system to interact with multiple types of devices:

� Analog in/out plus HART� Digital in/out, or� Pulse.

Foxboro sees it as a small but strategic prod-uct improvement. Thad Frost, director of prod-uct management for control and I/O for Foxboro, explains, “It’s not an entirely new product line; it’s a subset of an existing family. We did that because it’s a proven technology. Our 200 series I/O has been out a long time, so it’s another mod-ule in the family, but it’s a really special mod-ule in that it can support a wide variety of signal types. We can take an existing controller and add this module, and there’s no real difference in the functionality.”

The appeal is apparent where a new sys-tem is being constructed or there is an exten-sive upgrade that may require new or more field devices. The installer does not have to match the signal type to a given input device.

“You can use any channel on the module to serve as any I/O type, and it is all software configurable using the existing control builder tools,” says Joe Bastone, solution manager for Experion control and I/O at Honeywell Process Solutions. “No configuration has to be done in the field to make that happen. You could land all the field wiring on your Universal Process I/O module, close the box, walk away, and never have to open that box again. Everything else is done from the engineering station.”

This concept replaces conventional I/O where the card or module is fixed to communicate with only a single type of device. One obvious advan-tage of this approach is that any module can work in any situation so that only one item is necessary for a backup. Moreover, the configu-ration information is resident in the host system, such that if a module needs to be replaced, one can be taken from the box and plugged in place with no preconfiguration. The host system does that automatically.

Both companies want to carry that concept one major step farther, offering complete cab-inets that can be dropped in place on the plant floor ready to go. The only variable that matters is the number of channels. “The universal cabinet that is under development allows a user to have a set deliverable,” Bastone says. “It’s a remote-ly mounted cabinet that can hold some number of Universal Process I/O modules, perhaps 64, 96, or 128 I/O. It will be equipped with the mod-ules, mounting hardware, power supply, and fiber optic converters to take the I/O link back to the control room.”

A different directionEmerson, on the other

hand, has created a differ-ent approach for its Del-taV architecture. Here every field device commu-nicates via a single small characterization module or Charm. Each field device needs its own Charm that matches its signal type. A cabinet is, for all practical purposes, a 96-channel I/O card.

Keith Bellville, Del-taV SIS product mar-keting manager for Emerson Process Man-agement, explains, “You don’t have the limits of conventional I/O where you had to bring all your field wiring in, land your multi-core cable on a mar-shalling strip, and then pick out the 4-20 mA ana-log inputs to take eight of them over to an individual card. We’ve replaced that marshalling with the actual multi-core coming in, and we character-ize the signal there with the Charms I/O card. Each one of those is an individual channel. It is DeltaV I/O, so it’s designed to work with DeltaV controllers.”

The output from each module is Ethernet, so a single fiber optic cable can carry all the data from the cabinet back to the controller. The prac-tical result is a small cloud within the control network that allows a user to send the informa-tion from a given field device to as many as four controllers. Functionally, this is the largest differ-ence with the other systems already mentioned.

“Typically when you lay out your I/O in the field, it’s grouped by location, not functional-ity,” Bellville adds. “So in a given junction box, you might have cables from some transmitters that are part of your reactor area, but inside that same junction box, you might have transmitters that are really dedicated to the utilities area. With conventional marshalling and conventional I/O, when you bring those in, you have to say, ‘I have to bring these eight channels over to my reac-tor area control cards, and these other 12, I have to bring over to my utilities controller I/O card.’ With electronic marshalling, you bring them all in on one charms I/O card and send them to the reactor controller or the utilities electronically in how you target the device to which control-ler. You don’t have to physically wire it up to the actual I/O card on that controller.”

� Visit the companies men-tioned in this article:

www.emersonprocess.com

www.honeywellprocess.com

http://iom.invensys.com

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Solvay’s PVC polymerization plant at Tavaux, France, (photo left) has deployed Emerson’s Charms with DeltaV version 11. Courtesy: Emerson

Emerson’s approach requires a specific module to match the I/O type, but these can be changed as needed. Courtesy: Emerson



Putting the concept to workThese new approaches offer some functional

benefits:First, users don’t have to be concerned with

the communication method for a given device. If circumstances change and you need to use a different type of field device, you can adjust that either via a software change or, at worst, a single Charm change.

Second, these platforms can facilitate upgrades and migrations, whether that means upgrades of field devices, wiring infrastructure, or the control system itself. However, there is the basic limitation that each platform is tied spe-cifically to its respective control system, so this element could be a sig-nificant point in the ven-dor evaluation process.

Third, these platforms can apply to safety devic-es as well as convention-al I/O. Unlike the others, Honeywell’s first prod-uct in this area relat-ed to safety devices and the company is now readying the standard con-trol system I/O version as a follow-up. Given the more complicated nature of safety-related equip-ment with its associated testing and certification, it decided to approach this first. Emerson has con-ventional, intrinsically safe, and SIS Charms. Fox-boro has safety modules in its product pipeline.

Fourth, hardware flexibility makes for small-er stocks of replacement parts. The ability to use one device for multiple applications has obvious advantages.

What talks to what?As mentioned earlier, one aspect that Emer-

son discusses extensively is its ability to send data from any given field device to any one of up to four controllers. Foxboro and Honeywell have kept the same level of communication function-ality as comes with their standard I/O, so add-ing these new modules doesn’t affect that ability. There are methods to send information from con-troller to controller on a peer-to-peer basis, but these methods are relatively complicated.

“The intimate connection between the I/O module and controller is something that our more sophisticated customers see as beneficial, mainly due to the ever-increasing security concerns that exist today,” says Bob Bristow, product manag-er for series C I/O at Honeywell Process Solu-tions. “This intimate relationship through the I/O

link keeps anything that could happen at that sin-gle fabric layer from getting between the control-ler doing its job and the I/O performing for that controller. Bad things can happen that disconnect the I/O from its integral partner in the control operation. That’s why we picked this particular architecture.”

Foxboro’s Frost echoes that sentiment: “We call it unbounded I/O when an I/O point is not bound to a particular controller. Our I/O is typi-cally bound. To move a specific point to a dif-ferent controller would take some effort. It’s

something we’re look-ing at for the future, but right now we don’t have that ability.”

Could this make you change?

While these new I/O systems offer addition-al functionality and can save both hardware and engineering costs, they are each connected to a specific control sys-tem platform and only that platform. If you are

already using Foxboro I/A series 200 or one of the others, the change is very simple. If not, they’re of no help, but it is reasonable to expect that other manufacturers will follow suit one way or another.

The other choice is to change your control system provider. Adding these capabilities alone is probably not compelling enough to make you undertake a migration, but it might influence a choice of manufacturer if a migration is already planned.

In some respects the most interesting attrac-tion may be what doesn’t exist yet. The modular-ity of these systems makes them easy to modify as circumstances demand. By contrast, one of the things that has impeded adoption of protocols like HART in support of larger asset manage-ment programs has been the difficulty of upgrad-ing older hardwired device-level networks. Operators of those old platforms find it effec-tively impossible to add such capability because the hardware won’t allow it. That type of limita-tion doesn’t have to exist going forward. Adding a new communication method or protocol may require nothing more than switching the appro-priate modules. It may even be changeable via software. ce

Peter Welander is a content manager for Con-trol Engineering. Reach him at [email protected].

cover story

Honeywell’s UniversalI/O will work with Experion series C. Courtesy: Honeywell Process Solutions

Foxboro’s solution is designed to work with its I/A series 200 platform. Courtesy: Invensys

‘Adding these capabilities is probably not compelling enough to make you undertake a migration, but it might

influence the vendor choice if a migration is

already planned.’


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ControlEngg-0113-ol.pdf 1 1/9/2013 2:32:58 PM




Sensors are like the “scouts” of the man-ufacturing world; they collect vital information that keeps a manufactur-ing plant running effectively, efficient-

ly, and with minimum waste, and they report it to the control system, preferably in time to take corrective action when things are trending awry. Today, thanks to Ethernet, sensors can provide their input on the “superhighway” of the plant floor, providing an effective two-way commu-nication stream that can improve efficiency and profitability.

Sensors traditionally fed their information

through wires back to a central location where the signals were decoded and acted upon. A plethora of fieldbus networks evolved that expanded the amounts and kinds of data sensors could communicate, such as complex measure-ments including pressure, level of a substance in a container or closed area, motion detection, and identification of specific patterns. The downside to this, of course, was the job of managing, main-taining, and training for multiple commu-nication protocols.

Now industrial Ethernet is becom-ing the de facto com-munications protocol for plant applica-

Using a sensor network can save time, money, and steer clear of increasing Ether-net protocol and other network incompat-

ibilities at the I/O, sensor, and safety device level. During the late 1990s nearly every PLC manu-

facturer decided to develop a networking technol-ogy suitable for industrial applications. Modbus, Profibus, CC-Link, DeviceNet, and many oth-ers were born in short order, each promising to address the fundamental requirements controls professionals had at the time: reliability, simplicity, and deterministic real-time behavior at a price that was competitive with conventional hardwiring. This led to confusion mainly because all approaches were not interoperable.

Customers preferring a particular brand of PLC were essentially forced to use the networking

technology developed by that manufacturer. If this situation was not bad enough, the whole story was repeated a few years later when each of those PLC manufacturers decided it was time to promote new networks. This time the underlying wire was Ethernet. I will not claim that one such solution is superior to another, but instead ask readers if hav-ing all these options (or should I say edicts) was such a good idea. From the point of view of device manufacturers (RFID systems, drives, HMIs, etc.), it was not.

Wasted resourcesInstead of focusing on a small number of com-

munication interfaces for RFID systems, device manufacturers had to develop a plethora of solu-tions, such as DeviceNet, Modbus TCP, Profinet,

Mike Miclot

Helge Hornis, PhD

Ethernet for sensor networks?Why it makes sense today

Consider a sensor networkto ease connections

Active (smart) enclosure-less I/O blocks for industrial Ethernet can be installed close to the sensors to elim-inate wiring complexities and enable 2-way communi-cations with I/O blocks and PLCs or RTUs.

Do industrial networks meet expectations? Bypass increasing Ethernet and othernetwork incompatibilities at the I/O, sensor, and safety level by using a widelyaccepted sensor network.

Sensor networks

Keyconcepts� Active (or smart) enclosure-less I/O blocks support industrial Eth-ernet

� Eliminate running wire back to a central control panel for each sensor

� Communicate from I/O block to PLCs and RTUs.

Keyconcepts� A sensor network can ease connection complexi-ties

� Avoid Ethernet and other network incompatibilities at the I/O, sensor, and safety level

� AS-interface is supported by about 300 manufactur-ers

CTL1301_F3_Sensor_V3msFINAL.indd 38 1/15/13 12:05 PM


tions. The argument for separate fieldbus proto-cols was always that Ethernet did not fully meet the needs of the factory floor. However, with the advent of deterministic Ethernet protocols and zero failover redundancy protocols, the need for a separate fieldbus for relaying sensor data has diminished dramatically. It is possible and desir-able to deploy an integrated industrial Ethernet infrastructure that extends from the control cen-ter to the very edge of the network—the sensors.

Enclosure-less I/O blocks (also called dis-tribution blocks) are the vehicle that supports running Ethernet all the way to the sensor. Enclo-sure-less I/O blocks can be installed close to the sensors, thus eliminating the logistics complexi-ties of running a wire back to a central control panel for each sensor. Active (or smart) enclo-sure-less I/O blocks, supporting industrial Ether-net, enable two-way communications among the I/O block and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) or remote terminal units (RTUs).

An industrial Ethernet infrastructure facil-itated by enclosure-less I/O blocks has the potential to provide significant manufactur-ing efficiencies and cost savings. Not only can it support control and safety functional-ity, but also data acquisition that can be used

for tracking and traceability, asset management, histori-cal records, and other opera-tions and production needs. In addition, running indus-trial Ethernet all the way out to the sensors allows plants to be operated under one communications protocol, resulting in less hardware (and operational) complex-ity. By connecting sensors to industrial Ethernet via enclosure-less I/O blocks, the opportunities for reduc-ing deployment and maintenance costs while increasing overall performance and reliability increase dramatically. ce

- Mike Miclot is the vice president of mar-keting, industrial solutions division, at Belden Americas Group.

EtherNet/IP, Profibus, CC-Link, and the list goes on. The same was necessary for encoders, cam-era systems, and many other components need-ed to automate a complex machine. And to make matters worse, going forward, even those proto-cols that share Ethernet at the physical layer will need dedicated (that is, incompatible) hardware.

Initially, the situation was not all that bad. For instance, until recently we could manufacture an RFID controller that could host four noncompat-ible communication protocols (Modbus TCP, TCP/IP, Profinet, and EtherNet/IP) simultaneously on the same hardware device. Customers could buy one unit, and, without making adjustments or modifications, connect it to any of the four Ether-net-based networking technologies, and control it from a PLC. In this case fewer options trans-lates into streamlined stocking, better availability, reduced ordering errors, and enhanced familiarity when it comes to installation.

In the near future, due to certain protocol changes (promoted as advancements), this will no longer be possible. The same Profinet unit will require dedicated hardware as will the system using EtherCAT. For the time being, EtherNet/IP and Modbus/TCP can coexist on the same hardware. At this point, one may ask if it offers any advantage that those networks are based on

Ethernet. In a world where engineering resources are free and deadlines do not exist, this would not be an issue. But in reality, duplicate engi-neering drives up costs at all levels. Is this really necessary?

Low-end compatibilityAt the sensor and machine safety level a solu-

tion is accepted and supported by most PLC manufacturers. While the solution is not suitable to interface devices that interchange larger amounts of data (RFID systems, drives, HMIs, etc.), it is an ideal method for bringing binary devices and safety components (like e-stops, door safety switches, and light curtains) to the PLC and give the PLC a way to control simple binary outputs (including valves, horns, and indicators).

In contrast to Ethernet solutions, this system is the result of a joint development effort among 11 industrial automation companies that was open from the beginning. After the basic technology was published and released, others joined this group. Involved companies are known for their PLCs, sensors, valves, and/or safety compo-nents. Introduced in 1994, AS-Interface is now the world’s most successful low-level networking technology, based on information from AS-Inter-national, the governing organization. With nearly

www.belden.com

� Networking articles: www.controleng.com/integration

� Networking products: www.controleng.com/net-works

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Enclosure-less I/O blocks, installed close to sen-sors, remove the need for an additional wire from each sensor to control and active (or smart) enclosure-less I/O blocks enable two-way commu-nications among the I/O block and PLCs or RTUs. Shown is a Belden Profibus-DP - I/O Module. Courtesy: Belden

This 4-input and 4-output I/O module is clamped onto the AS-Interface network cable. It takes one center-mount screw to establish the data and power connection. AS-Interface devices tend to be designed for enclosure-mount applications (IP20) or as field-mount stations (IP65 or better). This module offers protection to IP68 and IP69k. Courtesy: Pepperl+Fuchs

Consider this...� If an Ethernet superhighway runs along the manu-facturing plant floor, can sensors connected via IO blocks improve efficiency and profitability?



20 million installed field devices, it is the closest thing to a universal networking technology in the automation space. Approximately 300 vendors offer:

� Binary I/O modules – These modules allow the switch state of any conventional sensor to be brought to the PLC. AS-interface is a real-time and deterministic technology with a worst-case sensor update time of 10 ms. (Worst-case means that 248 input states are communicated. Fewer I/O connec-tions means faster updates.)

� Analog I/O modules – Most industrial control systems have roughly twice as many digital inputs as outputs plus a small number of analog signals. These types of analog signals tend to be slow compared to binary data. AS-Interface allows such signals to be transmitted alongside the binary data with update times of 35 ms or less.

� Indicators and buttons– Indicators and buttons are another type of I/O signal. Tim-ing is not the main concern, but installation simplicity is. For instance, a four-element stack light is connected in seconds using just two AS-Interface leads.

� Functional safety – For more than 10 years, networking functional safety devices has been the “killer app” of AS-Inter-face because it addresses the cost issue (it is much cheaper than a safety PLC) and the sim-plicity issue (it exploits AS-Inter-face installation advantages). In

most cases, about 90% of the wires needed when constructing a hardwired safety system can be eliminated. Suddenly, designing a safety system is a simple, two-step process. First, the hardware is connected to AS-Interface, and then it connects to required logic using drag-and-drop operations.

Machine builder advantagesMachine builders appreciate other benefits.

Because AS-Interface can be connected to a large number of PLC backplanes and an equally large number of industrial networks, an I/O and safety system designed for a machine controlled by a PLC from manufacturer “A” can easily (and without modification) be reused if a PLC from manufac-turer “B” is used the next time. This feature makes navigating the maze of competing and incompat-ible upper-level Ethernet solutions easy. Only one gateway between the PLC and AS-Interface needs to be swapped out.

End users have enjoyed forward and back-ward compatibility of the network, which is one

of the guiding principles of the governing orga-nization’s member companies. For instance, if a module on 19-year-old network fails, it takes, on average, less than one minute to replace it with a new design. And it is not even necessary to use a product from the original manufacturer. The old system may not be able to use the latest features of the new module, but it will work just as well as the old part did. Similarly, if a decade-old system that feeds into DeviceNet controlled by an older PLC now must operate as part of EtherNet/IP on a new PLC, only the gateway has to be replaced.

It can hardly get any easier. And isn’t technology supposed to make automation simpler, better, and less costly? The industrial Ethernet experiment has not failed, but it unfortunately has not lived up to its potential and customers’ expectations. At least at the I/O connection and safety level, users have a choice that is universally accepted, highly interoperable, and compatible with most PLCs on the market. ce

- Helge Hornis, PhD, is manager, intelligent systems group, Pepperl+Fuchs. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, CFE Media, Control Engineering, [email protected].

www.as-interface.netwww.pepperl-fuchs.us

� Networking articles: www.controleng.com/integration

� Networking products: www.controleng.com/networks

Go Online

most cases, about 90% of the wires needed when This is the latest safety controller for AS-Inter-face and allows the con-nection of up to 35 inde-pendent safety devices. This controller has two built-in electronic safe outputs and is easily capable of controlling eight independent safety zones. Courtesy: Pepperl+Fuchs

AS-Interface products are available from a large number of suppliers. Due to their simplicity and unparalleled interoperability, it is not uncommon to have hardware from multiple manufacturers on the same network. A small field-mount I/O module, a valve assembly, and an enclosure-mounted I/O module from three manufacturers will work flawlessly on the same network. Courtesy: Pepperl+Fuchs

Consider this...� Can flattening a multi-tier hierarchy of networks simplify industrial communications?

‘At the I/O connection and safety level, users

have a choice that is highly interoperable

and compatible with most PLCs.’

Sensor networks


Control Engineering covers relevant, topical articles in a variety of e-Newsletters each and every month:

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Much has been written on how to design intuitive and functional HMIs (human machine inter-faces) across a variety of tech-nical and process platforms.

But have you ever thought about how to design an HMI that rarely gets used? It happens more often than you might think. You can find these devices tucked away in all sorts of process areas on your plant floor where operators rarely seem to go. Want to know more about design best practices in this specialty area? Here are some things that can help you specify and use those industrial orphans.

Come out, come out, wherever you areThe most common place to find a low-use

HMI is in dedicated process equipment subsys-tems that are integrated into larger plant-wide systems. These are referred to as skidded sys-tems and can be found in many diverse appli-cations such as bioreactors, chemical injection systems, clean-in-place systems, chromatog-raphy skids, media/buffer prep systems, waste neutralization systems, pasteurizers, vitamin/mineral injection systems, and much more.

The day-to-day functionality of this equip-ment is usually controlled elsewhere, as part of a larger DCS or HMI/SCADA system. Given that, why put a local HMI at all in such plac-es? There are lots of reasons, ranging from how these subsystems were constructed and validat-ed, to routine maintenance, and even emergen-cy operation. Let’s take a closer look at each of these use cases to get better insight into the best design criteria.

Use it or lose itSkidded systems are often assembled and

validated independently of the larger system. Initial validation and testing is usually a fac-

tory test at the skid manufacturer’s facility. A similar site test is performed when the skid is installed on the plant floor. Depending on the industry and process, these validations might be quite extensive.

A local HMI can facilitate this validation and testing in a variety of ways. During the factory test, it provides a window into the pro-cess equipment that might otherwise be dif-ficult to see without the host system. This includes visibility of all instrumentation and equipment status. Usually the first test ensures everything is operating mechanically and elec-trically as expected. A local HMI can force on or off (with proper security) controlled equip-ment to confirm everything is working as anticipated. Once installed and running on the plant floor, these same features can provide plant maintenance technicians with the abili-ty to monitor and control the equipment on the local skid if needed.

A local HMI can also facilitate testing of automated sequences and phases on the skid. Local monitoring can provide at-a-glance sta-tus of all sensors, control items, sequence, or phase status active on the skid. If desired, a local HMI can also initiate individual control phases and sequences. This provides testing capability without the host system connected, and provides emergency operational service once the skid is installed on the plant floor.

Platform considerationsNow that we have an idea of where we

find these HMIs and how they are used, a key design element is to determine the best hard-ware/software platform to use. You could look to match the host system, or go with something less advanced. There are advantages with each approach.

If matching the host system, the local HMI

David McCarthy

Creating an HMIthat doesn’t get usedWhen that new equipment skid or machine comes in, it probably has its own HMI,but that equipment will be controlled from a larger system. What should you wantthat redundant HMI to do?

operator interface

Keyconcepts� Even though an HMI is remote, it can be useful

� With a little forethought, you can optimize such a system in light of larger needs in your plant

CTL1301_F2_Remote HMIs_V5msFINAL.indd 42 1/15/13 12:07 PM


can be maintained in the same software devel-opment platform, which simplifies archiving, version control, and routine maintenance of the system. This also eliminates procurement, maintenance, and training costs associated with multiple development platforms. Stan-dardized hardware further reduces spare parts inventory and carrying costs. Network connec-tion to the local HMI is the same as the rest of the workstations in the host system. If need-ed, it is generally easy to display host system screen and tag information in the local HMI. If the skid is designed for local maintenance and emergency operations, security is likely more robust with this approach.

A less advanced HMI platform has its own set of advantages. This approach usually has lower upfront hardware and software costs. Programming costs may also be less expen-sive in this environment. These solutions often have smaller physical fingerprints with regard to control panel real estate. Network connec-tions may match the host system, or employ a simpler direct connection to the skid pro-grammable controller, savings network cabling costs.

Bringing it all togetherAs we have discussed, local HMIs may be

used only for testing, or they may play a lon-ger-term role in the maintenance and emergen-cy operation of their associated equipment. They can be on the same platform as the host system or on a less advanced platform.

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you can probably manage with a less advanced and less expensive option:

n Is the skid physically close to a host system workstation?

n Is the local HMI only used for testing?n Is physical control panel space a concern?

n Is the budget really tight?On the other hand, if standardization is your

thing:n Common software development platforms

throughout the processn Similar graphic look and feel across all

workstationsn Common hardware platformsn Standardized network cabling, orn Security concerns keep you up at night.If these are important, think about matching

the host system platform.

For the less advanced option, consider pro-gramming these HMIs with simple text and numeric status limited to instrumentation, equipment, and functional status of the skid. If manual override control is required (this will likely be the case if the skid is not close to a host system workstation), secure this as much as the development platform allows, and program with native objects in the simplest manner pos-sible. Ditto for any emergency control opera-tions you may require.

If your local HMI is on the same platform as the host system, consider presenting status and control information similar to the host system. You may simply want to insert screens or con-trols from the host system into the local HMI for these purposes. If you need information from other areas for effective emergency control, think about inserting host screens from those areas. Be sure that all manual and emergency operations are fully secured.

Although these local HMIs may not be used frequently, they do serve important purposes. Follow these tips to find the right design criteria for your application. ce

David McCarthy is president and chief execu-tive officer of TriCore, Inc.

‘The day-to-day functionality of this equipment

is usually controlled

elsewhere, so why put a local

HMI at all in such places?

There are lots of reasons, ranging from how these

subsystems were constructed

and validated, to routine

maintenance, and even

emergency operation.’

n Learn more about TriCore at www.tricore.com

n For more on HMI design, subscribe to our Information Control eNewsletter at www.controleng.com/newsletters

Go Online

This ingredient-mixing skid built for a food processing plant uses the same HMI as the larger plant control system. As a result, it is more elaborate than would be necessary to provide only the most bare-bones functionality. While it cost more initially, it uses com-mon parts, spares, and software that the plant already has. This can make for lower lifecycle costs. Courtesy: TriCore

CTL1301_F2_Remote HMIs_V5msFINAL.indd 43 1/15/13 12:07 PM

5


Dynamically changing world markets expect constant growth of knowl-edge, skills, and competencies of future engineers, and partnerships among universities and manufactur-

ing and technology companies can help. Market reports show that innovative technologies—such as programmable logic controllers and program-mable automation controllers (PLCs/PACs), digital servodrives, and industrial robots—are increasing market share in industrial applications.

Therefore, modern higher education must upgrade its thinking about incorporating the lat-est industrial trends and technologies. The fol-lowing five key factors critically influence the success of future engineers in this dynamically changing labor market.

STEP 1: Correlate educational offerings with demands of the local labor market.

Tomorrow’s engineers who want to find work in this dynamically changing world seek educa-tional offerings that provide advantages for their future professions. An IT engineer, controls engi-neer, electrical engineer, and mechanical engi-neer will always be among needed specialists in the labor market. Well-prepared alumni in related occupations can expect good salaries and careers in progressive branches of industry.

For these reasons, technical universities must communicate with local industry representatives to evaluate necessary knowledge and critical skills of their future employees. To achieve this goal, it’s helpful to establish a council of selected university educators and area industrial leaders to ensure course offerings are in line with regional needs of employers.

STEP 2: Increase the number of practical courses in the education process.

Besides lectures, the educational process must include laboratory classes and small practical projects to apply knowledge learned. Cooperat-ing with companies that have similar operations profiles to the fields of study at area universities enables additional modern teaching techniques. These include workshops, hands-on labs, and certificated lectures prepared with training mate-rials given by the companies. Moreover, students can perform their theses based on real-world problems provided by cooperating companies.

To help develop and advance students’ prac-tical skills, we must help them participate, with experienced engineers, in supervised engineering internships. External financing from cooperat-ing partners, other institutions, and governments (in our case, EU grants) allows universities to choose the best students, via an application pro-cess, and provide a well-paid engineering intern-ship for a minimum of three months.

This kind of operational model can be suc-cessfully supported by exploiting modern Inter-net-based tools (such as the intranet system of the West Pomeranian University of Technol-ogy Szczecin, Faculty of Electrical Engineer-ing). The system allows cooperating companies to get familiar with the current level of students’ knowledge and skills in selected fields of study. The platform also supports companies’ process of submitting thesis topics.

STEP 3: Allow students to participate in research work.

Constant cooperation between the research faculty and regional companies often results in

Krzysztof Pietrusewicz, Paweł Waszczuk

Five ways to enablethe next generation workforceTechnology advances challenge and enable industries worldwide, and five keyfactors influence the success of future and current engineers in this dynamicallychanging labor market.

automation future

Keyconcepts� Match education to needs of local industry

� Increase hands-on expe-riences in education and research

� University should help local alumni and promote continuing education

CTL1301_F4_Future_V5msFINAL.indd 44 1/15/13 12:10 PM


mutually led R&D projects. This model, which supports participation of the most active stu-dents in research, significantly increases their experiences with high-technology control and measurement equipment, creating elite future alumni as part of the education process. These activities also augment the number and quality of PhD candidates.

STEP 4: Universities should support alumni entering the labor market.

To meet help meet student expectations, technical universities should organize meet-ings with future employers. Described in step 2, a Web-based information exchange platform allows companies to present jobs and intern-ships for highly qualified engineers. The frame-work of a university’s organizational activities should include: cyclic job fairs, presentations of scientific clubs, and meetings organized in cooperation with companies.

By obtaining external financing, universities also can support development of students’ so-called “soft skills,” such as presentation tech-niques, interpersonal skills, and coping with stress and time pressures.

STEP 5: Promote constant growth of the quality of alumni knowledge and skills.

A very important aspect of a university’s activity in the presented model is monitoring and validating the knowledge and skills of can-didates and alumni who have entered the labor market. A survey can provide necessary infor-mation about the most important qualifica-tions students require. This information helps to evaluate and improve the quality of teaching by lecturers. Teachers and students coopera-

tively working to publish articles in scientif-ic journals provide additional engagement and learning.

Monitoring the number of participating alumni and time they spent to get their first job is another possible university role and could provide future opportunities to react and adjust to the dynamically changing environment of the industrial labor market.

Alumnus career paths of the development model described here and in the diagram are consistent with new legal considerations of higher education in Europe. They provide a basis for building close relations among tech-nical universities and industry. Implementing this model for more than 10 years, the faculty of Electrical Engineering on West Pomeranian University of Technology Szczecin have edu-cated many engineers working in Poland and Europe, who now successfully manage depart-ments in leading automation companies. The model presented here has been implemented with 95% of the Electrical Engineering faculty at the university. ce

- Krzysztof Pietrusewicz, DSc, is the director of two EU-funded grants ($3.7 million, almost 700 participating students, including control engineers, electrical engineers, ICT engineers, mechanical engineers, material engineers, and mechatronic engineers), increasing the value of education at the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin. Paweł Waszczuk is a PhD student in electrical engineering there. Both are editors for Control Engineering Poland. Edit-ed by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, CFE Media, Control Engineering, [email protected].

Consider this...� Are you engaging local engineering universities, technical colleges, and high schools to help guide, culti-vate, and take advantage of research and talent there? Send a link of this article to a local engineering pro-fessor to start or enhance cooperation.

Diagram: Resources flow during the educational process—modeling the pathways of industry-academia partnership.

More advice on next page



Ask an engineer about the future of engineering and you are sure to elicit an intense and lively response. Case in point: an ongoing discussion thread

among the LinkedIn Automation & Control Engi-neering Group for the past year. [At www.con-troleng.com click on the “in” box on the home page.] A query about the supply of and demand for young engineers in automation and control engi-neering unleashed a flood of comments, generating hundreds of responses from around the globe. Most participants agreed a problem exists to one degree or another. Unquestionably, each had his or her own take on the topic. A taste of the discussion, ongoing, is presented here. Read more opinions online under this headline at www.controleng.com.

Few younger engineersBrett Israelsen, a young process control engi-

neer at Corning Inc., Oneonta, N.Y., with degrees in mechanical and chemical engineering, noticed there are not many others his age, especially degreed engineers, in this industry. “Even though some companies are trending more to IT, many understand the true value of control engineering and knowledge of the process. This means that there is still a need for competent control engi-neers and will be in the future. I am glad to see this discussion, although I am not sure there is a clear solution. Engineering students need to be interested in control. That requires programs and teachers that show how critical control systems are to industry and pass on the passion.”

Although most felt that the shortage of auto-mation and controls engineers is real, a few disagreed, at least in part. Will Wagoner, PE, president, Wagoner Consulting, process control engineer, Richmond, Va., said no, the problem is that “we have too many automation engineers who

lack the background to understand what they are automating. Young engineers should get operation experience, field experience before launching into this side of the business because they fancy writ-ing programs.”

There won’t be any good automation control design without the engineer touching the process he or she is trying to control, added Veronica Ramos, procurement coordinator at International Consulting Group, Miami. “It doesn’t matter how good you are with PLC programming. When I worked in the pharmaceutical industry, my men-tor never considered having me get involved with the chemical engineering team or with other plant operators before starting the design. Educate the young generation of control engineers on the prac-tice of going to the field first. Getting to know the basics of the process must be primordial for every company.”

The control is important Dean Ford, CAP, VP, automation and informa-

tion solutions at Glenmount Global Solutions, Baltimore, said the real issue is that the profession does not exist as a profession. “None of us on this thread have an automation degree because it doesn’t exist,” he said, “and I would also bet that it is not what you entered the job market expecting to become. Another damaging component is that each industry sees itself as different from other industries. Although there are nuances to each, at our level it really does not matter what is in the pipes, it is the control that is important.”

From a recruiter’s point of view, a shortage of qualified controls and automation engineers—entry level or seasoned—certainly exists, offered Michael Grillo, an engineering recruiter at City and National Employment, Waterloo, Iowa. “Com-panies often use integrators to fulfill engineering needs, and that generally requires a great deal of travel by the controls and automation engineer. And travel is perhaps a reason many do not join the forces. Recruiting a controls and automation engineer for a company is often not too difficult until I tell them they may have to work at different facilities across the country, or around the globe, for that matter,” Grillo said.

Controls engineering is evolving with the times,

Next-generation control engineer adviceThe next-generation workforce: Are young automa-tion and control engineers hard to find? If so, what can be done? Views follow from the LinkedIn Automa-tion & Control Engineering Group, moderated by CFE Media’s Control Engineering magazine.

‘At our level it really does not matter what is in the pipes, it is the control that is important.’

automation future



said Dyana Rollason, project engineer at Emer-son Network Power, Columbus, Ohio. “It’s not all relay logic to control processes anymore. It’s not even all PLC programming. There are communica-tion platforms to learn, operator interfaces to design, address mapping between the interface and the PLC programs,” she noted. “I didn’t learn 80% of what I do in college. Controls engineering is not a defined field; there isn’t a job description. That’s a big reason why there are few young engineers in this area. The current ones evolved into their cur-rent state, as I am doing now,” Rollason said.

Perfect blendAccording to Scot Garner, PE, electrical and

controls department manager at Industrial Turn-Around Corp., Richmond, Va., the perfect controls engineer should possess a blend of process knowl-edge, electrical knowledge, logic theory, software development skills, and instrumentation and IT knowledge. “Someone with all of those characteris-tics is extremely hard to find,” said Garner. “There is more to controls engineering than just analog pro-cess control. There is hardware design, sequential discrete logic, custom software development, motor control, safety circuits, and regulatory requirements. We don’t execute projects in a vacuum. Controls engineers, mechanical engineers, process engi-neers, IT professionals, and project engineers must work as a team to get projects done.”

There is a lack of recruitment for our industry, Garner went on. “Automation companies tend to be small and don’t do a whole lot of recruiting from colleges. Fortune 500 manufacturing companies are downsizing and shipping jobs elsewhere, which is also contributing to the lack of young people in auto-mation and control engineering.”

Doug Brock, manager, Chattanooga territory at Kendall Electric, Chattanooga, Tenn., admits that at the time he graduated from college in electrical engineering, he had never touched a PLC from an automation vendor. “I was well versed in theory but had no industrial automation exposure. Fortu-nately, I found opportunities later and gained that experience. I think it’s harder for new graduates to find those opportunities now. Chattanooga has some neat partnerships between industry and area schools, but most of those are two-year programs. Until there is a concerted effort to team four-year programs with industrial leaders, factory automa-tion manufacturers, associations, and end-users, it will be difficult to provide the quick assimilation that is required to pull young people into the industrial automation and process control fields,” Brock said.

In the view of Chris Stergiou, mechanical and manufacturing systems, Boston, to ask if there is a

lack of young engineers in automation and control engineering is a bit of an oxymoron.

“There is no such field as ‘automation and control engineering,’” Stergiou said. “Automation and control engineering is simply the execution or integration of any to all of the conventional engi-neering fields. It represents a synthesis of process knowledge (so that we can know what we are trying to control), hardware knowledge (so that we can know what tools are available to us to monitor those control points), and a sense of algorithm develop-ment (so that we can devise an architecture that is simple, robust, and repeatable with well-understood and controlled internal reaction times). All of this takes time and experience to cultivate. Just as grad-uates from the most prestigious culinary schools start out chopping lettuce and learning from estab-lished chefs before they can truly become one, systems engineers are grown over time. They can’t come out of school that way,” Stergiou said.

“The issue is obviously complex, added James Federlein, PE, an experienced industrial automa-tion consultant and instructor in the Pittsburgh area and a member of ISA’s Standards and Practices Board.”There are fewer young engineers today,” he said. “Given that baby boomers are retiring in larger numbers than young engineers are graduat-ing, there will be a lack of young engineers in all disciplines.”

Automation is not considered a unique discipline by most colleges and some companies, he contin-ued. “Young engineers don’t graduate with a degree in automation. Even if they had some control cours-es in college, they may not be aware of automation as a field. The level of college education in automa-tion is in no way commensurate with the importance of automation’s and industry’s need.”

Read more comments from LinkedIn Automa-tion & Control Engineering Group forums online at www.controleng.com. LinkedIn members may view complete discussions or raise questions of their own. ce

-Jeanine Katzel is a contributing editor to Control Engineering. Contact her at [email protected].

Interactive� LinkedIn Automation & Control Engineering Group, moderated by CFE Media’s Control Engineering [Click in via the “in” box, upper right, at www.controleng.com], provides an engineer-ing social media platform for automation and controls engineers to share ideas, opinions, and solutions. CFE Media’s Control Engineering manages and monitors this discussion platform, keep-ing its fingers on the pulse of participants as they air issues and offer opinions. We periodically summarize and present some of the group’s observations and insights, with more posted online.

‘We need to take action to attract more young people to engineering and automation if we want to remain competitive in a global world.’

‘Until there is a concerted effort to team four-year programs with industrial leaders, factory automation manufacturers, associations, and end-users, it will be difficult to provide the quick assimilation that is required to pull young people into the industrial automation and process control fields.’


Connecting the Global Engineering CommunityControl Engineering is the leader in connecting the global industrial engineering audience through coverage of and education about automation, control, and instrumentation technologies in a regionally focused, actionable manner through online and print media and in-person events.

ControlEng.com: Visit www.controleng.com for the information you want in the format of your choice, including: articles, podcasts, webcasts, videos, etc. Industry channels provide quick access to focused content on key industries and related technologies.• System Integration • Information Control • Process Control• Machine Control • Sustainable Engineering

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Learn more about how you can connect with the global engineering community at www.ControlEng.com

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www.controleng.com ● CONTROL ENGINEERING JANUARY 2013 ● P1

Stora Enso’s Langerbrugge (Bel-gium) paper mill decided to install a new CFB (circulating fluidized bed) boiler and a condensing tur-bine back in 2008. Pöyry was

chosen as the consultant for the project, and assigned the task of engineering a dynamic sim-ulation of the steam network, which would be used in the process of designing the new instal-lation. This was a particularly complex proj-ect in that the mill had previously purchased steam from an outside supplier and this was a major change to generating and controlling its own steam supply. The underlying idea of using dynamic simulation to assist with the design process is that control specialists take part in the entire engineering cycle, ensuring that once

the plant is started, the controls and process will be capable of handling all process disturbances anticipated, such as paper machine web breaks and turbine trips. This approach proved to be very successful in Langerbrugge, and this dis-cussion explains how the process dynamics part of the engineering was carried out.

Dynamic vs. static simulationsIn spite of the variety of design tools avail-

able today, it seems that much power plant design work is carried out using only stat-ic simulations, such as heat-balance calcula-tions. While these are useful, static simulations typically assume that power-plant operating conditions, such as steam consumption, are completely stable at the given operation point.

Hans Boghaert,Jarno Nyman,Mikael Maasalo

Dynamic simulationpredicts steam consumptionin unpredictable paper mill applicationLangerbrugge used simulation analysis to make sure the boiler and steam system could remain stable even during the biggest disruption: a turbine trip.

inside process

Keyconcepts� Process simulators can characterize a new facility even before construction

� Simulation results can suggest specific con-figurations and equipment choices to ensure desired operating characteristics

CTL1301_InsideProc_01_V5msFINAL.indd 1 1/15/13 12:13 PM

P2 ● JANUARY 2013 CONTROL ENGINEERING ● www.controleng.com

However, day-to-day power plant operation is filled with different kinds of distur-bance situations. Since dynamic simulations have historically been very expensive to carry out, distur-bances have not been tested during engineering. Even today, many ele-ments of the con-trol strategy are pieced together only during the

commissioning, through trial and error.

Pöyry developed a dynamic steam-net simula-tor, Modysim, 10 years ago. The most important feature of Modysim is that the mod-els are simple enough to carry out cost-efficient simulations, but detailed enough to pro-vide accurate results. So far Modysim has been used in over 40 projects, and it has proven to produce accurate results within just a few days once the modeling process has begun.

After Modysim had been used successfully in separate steam-network optimization proj-ects for several years, in 2007, Pöyry decided to modernize its whole power-plant engineer-ing process by adding Modysim simulation in all power-plant engineering phases. Stora Enso Langerbrugge was among the first ones to use this new approach in full.

Dynamic simulation gives a lot of input to process dimensioning, but pays particular atten-tion to power plant control configuration. In Pöyry’s approach, the control specialists who carry out the simulation tests also supervise tur-bine and boiler control configuration and give assistance during commissioning, ensuring that the controls work properly from the first moment when the equipment is started. Expe-rience has shown that if the recommendations obtained from the simulation have been fol-lowed correctly, steam-network control com-missioning is typically over in just a few weeks instead of months.

Dealing with turbine tripsBefore the new boiler project, a significant

part of the Langerbrugge mill’s process steam was purchased from a nearby utility. After the new boiler was installed, the steam pipe to the utility was completely cut off. Since the mill’s process steam pressure had been controlled with a valve at the point where the utility sup-ply came into the mill, the whole steam network control concept had to be redesigned.

Even while the new power-plant concept was still under development, it was obvious that a turbine trip would cause challenges for the operation. Therefore, Stora Enso was very keen on seeing how well Pöyry and the Modysim simulation of the steam network could check the process dimensioning and control behavior during a turbine trip.

The existing pressure control scheme was developed by Pöyry in 2003, so the Langerbrug-ge staff was already familiar with Pöyry’s meth-od of building an integrated control scheme and combining independent control systems. The purpose of the dynamic simulation was not only to check the process dimensioning, but also to connect the new and existing controls together (Figure 1).

Process dimensioning checksDynamic simulation provides a way of

checking process dimensioning. Typically, valve capacities, actuator stroke times, and accumula-tor volume are checked by feeding process dis-turbances, such as paper machine web breaks, into the model. Naturally, in the Langerbrugge case, the existing power-plant process could not be altered. However, at the new CFB plant, a turbine trip provided a lot of challenge.

Initially the bypass to the turbine condens-er was to be connected from the HP (high-pres-sure) header, mainly due to the fact that, for cost reasons, the turbine bypass valve was ini-tially dimensioned only for the minimum load of the new condensing turbine, not for the max-imum load as might be expected. However, a more cost-efficient way would be to connect the bypass from the LP (low-pressure) header. The question was whether the steam network could handle a turbine trip in this way.

The capacities and opening times of the tur-bine bypass, turbine condenser bypass, and CFB start valves were studied as critical elements of the process.

Dynamic simulation and resultsWhen a dynamic simulation model is run-

ning, results come as precise dynamic curves where one can easily see if the selected capac-

inside process

Figure 1. Langerbrugge’s old BFB plant and new CFB plant comprise a somewhat complex steam network, with many different process components affecting each other via the net. Courtesy: Pöyry

Figure 2: Partial Modysim model of the Langerbrugge mill

After Modysim had been used successfully Figure 2: Partial


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ities, actuator speeds, and component connections are enough for the steam net-work to survive the select-ed situations. In this case the selected situations were a paper machine web break and new condensing turbine trip (Figure 2).

The simulation results indicated several operation-al facts:

� During normal opera-tion, the new condensing turbine was able to con-trol low pressure during the worst disturbances, such as web breaks.

� The bypass to the turbine condenser could be connected to the low-pressure header instead of the high-pressure network, resulting in a more cost-efficient solution.

� To make the power plant sur-vive a turbine trip, the turbine and condenser bypass valves had to be opened very quickly, and the start-up valve had to be equipped with a fast pneu-matic actuator.

� The tur-bine control sys-tem needed some modifications to

function well with the exist-ing power plant (Figure 3).

Specification for steam network controls

One interesting fact about steam network sim-ulations has emerged from a growing number of proj-ects. While the process itself has an effect on the results, experience suggests that at least half of the phenomena seen on the curves, especial-ly disturbance magnitude and behavior, come from how the controls have been config-

ured and tuned. Therefore, regardless of how good the simulation results are, they are mean-ingless if the control configuration and tuning parameters developed during the simulations are not implemented. The most important deliv-erable from the dynamic simulations is there-fore a specification for a steam network control configuration where all modifications and deci-sions are explained in the form of a steam net-work control strategy. This control strategy acts as a basis for all control configuration elements, such as the turbine pressure control.

The analysis suggested two very important requirements for the controls:

First, all pressure controllers should use only one pressure transmitter. This makes it possible to avoid measurement errors between different control loops, integrate functions of all pieces of equipment, and stabilize the steam network.

Second, the turbine pressure control algo-rithms had to be modified. Turbine pressure controllers now use external pressure signals, and turbine valve interaction was changed.

The mill decided to follow these recommen-dations from the simulation results, and the design was altered accordingly.

ImplementationPöyry assembled a team comprising engi-

neers from the DCS supplier, the turbine and boiler builders, and mill personnel, which worked in close cooperation. Since there are many control systems that need to interact prop-erly, it is important that everyone interprets the results and implements the specifications in the same and correct way. This can be achieved most easily by good communication between all parties involved. Figure 4 illustrates the imple-mentation time schedule.

After initial testing, the new loops were turned on and tuned one-by-one according to

inside process

Figure 3: Some turbine trip Modysim simulation curves, without and with fast HP blow-out.

Figure 4: Implementation time scheduleFigure 4: Implementation time schedule

‘Regardless of how good the simulation

results are, they are meaningless

if the control configuration and tuning parameters

developed during the simulations are not

implemented.’


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a predetermined procedure. Pöyry also held training sessions for mill personnel to clarify the new steam network control concept. Initial parameters for the controllers were obtained from the simulator model, which sped up the fine-tuning process.

ResultsStart-up of the new equipment went smooth-

ly. The predetermined implementation order was carried out, and step-by-step, the connec-tion to the nearby utility was separated and the new equipment was turned on. After start-up and fine-tuning, the steam network behaved just as it did in the simulator. It was also clear that if the control strategy had not been modified according to the simulation results, any turbine trip would have also caused trips in the CFB and LP header. Figures 5 and 6 compare simula-tion results and actual trend curves.

Stora Enso realized a number of practical benefits from the project:

� The worst types of disturbances that can take place during new power plant operation had already been tested at the beginning of the engineering phase, so they didn’t have to be learned the hard way.

� Process and automation engineering needs were supported during the entire power plant control strategy design process.

� The modifications that were required for the DCS and in the turbine control system were specified at an early stage instead of fixing them by trial and error during commissioning.

� The steam network control system devel-oped during the simulations worked just as pre-dicted from initial start-up, providing very good pressure stability, maintaining ±0.05 bar during normal operation and ±0.1 bar during upsets.

� Steam network control commissioning was over in just a few weeks instead of several months.

� Back-pressure power generation from the turbines is maximized during operation, because pressure remains stable and as low as possible under all circumstances.ce

Hans Boghaert is energy manager for Stora Enso. Jarno Nyman is a power plant controls advisor and Mikael Maasalo is a senior power plant controls advisor for Pöyry Finland.

inside process

Figure 5: PM break: Modysim simulation results vs. actual trend curves after fine tuning

Figure 6: TG trip: Modysim simulation results vs. actual trend curves after fine tuning

� Find information about Stora Enso’s forest products at www.storaenso.com

� Learn more about Pöyry at www.poyry.com

Go Online


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Box Canyon Dam, north of Spokane, Wash., was turning river current into electrical current long before renew-able energy became an environ-mental hot topic. Since 1956, Box

Canyon Dam and its four hydroelectric turbine-generator sets have straddled a narrow section of Washington state’s second-largest river, the Pend Oreille.

The Pend Oreille County Public Utility Dis-trict built and operates the 80 MW hydroelectric plant, which today provides power to 8,500 cus-tomers. Most major hydroelectric plants gener-ate electricity by systematically controlling the release of stored water behind a dam. How-ever, Box Canyon is a run-of-the-river hydro plant, meaning the flow of water from upstream sources drives the submerged turbines without a retention area to help smooth out changes in flow. This means operators at Box Canyon have to maintain the delicate balance between opti-mal power generation and the river’s natural ecosystem.

Seasonal rains, melting snowpack, and other natural forces put pressure on Box Can-

yon, swelling the incoming flow from upstream dams and reservoirs. Swift currents are natural-ly a plus for hydro power production because more water provides more energy to turn the turbines. But state-protected lands behind Box Canyon can’t be allowed to flood because they’re home to sensitive animal habitat and picturesque public parks that attract thousands of visitors annually to Washington’s northeast corner. Consequently, Box Canyon operators work continuously, mostly by hand, to control the amount of water flowing through the dam and the elevation of the river behind it.

Challenges of an aging facilityMost of the original mechanical controls and

hydroelectric equipment—including the four tur-bines, generators, and auxiliary machinery—remained much the same as when they were installed more than 50 years ago. “Even for a team of highly experienced operators, that’s a lot of working parts to monitor and adjust separate-ly,” said Terry Borden, manager of hydro produc-tion at Box Canyon. “We also have to contend with whatever the weather throws at us.”

inside process

Jason Wright

Hydroelectric generating utility has to control with the flow

Keyconcepts� Legacy generating facili-ties need updates, often spurred by regulatory requirements

• Current control systems can replace tedious and expensive manual report-ing processes

Located in an environmentally sensitive area, Box Canyon Dam has to deliver power while remaining invisible to the surrounding community. This means trying to control output around changes in water flow.


input #23 at www.controleng.com/informationCONTROL ENGINEERING JANUARY 2013 ● P9

While the average flow rateat Box Canyon is 26,400 cfs (cubic feet per second), spring thaws and early summer rains can push that level to 80,000 cfs and above. At those rare heights, operators stop the turbines and open the dam’s hydraulic gates to let the river flow unfettered through spillways.

Day-to-day fluctuations in the river are far less dramatic, but still can vary significantly. To contend with those varia-tions, operators constantly monitor flow rates and water eleva-tions behind the dam. They use that information to control the flow through the dam by adjusting the turbines’ wicket gates, the large doors that open to allow water into the turbines. The goal is to keep power production as close to maximum as pos-sible while keeping river levels as stable as possible.

Collecting critical data involved in the power generation process has also been a largely manual process, with operators recording instrument readings by hand. Without an electronic network to share the data, operators had to enter it into Excel spreadsheets and then distribute hard copies to other depart-ments. Purchasing employees, for example, use month-to-month trending data to help calculate power contracts.

“All our systems were out of date,” Borden said. “And because no real upgrade of the control station and the equip-ment had been done since the plant was built, everything was just worn out.”

Regulators want moreThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

recently noted the need for modernization when Box Canyon applied to renew its license for the next half century. FERC granted the license but stipulated the plant had to invest in upgrades to comply with the latest federal standards. “We needed state-of-the art automation to meet all our require-ments, from integrated control to real-time reporting to plant security,” Borden said.

Before the project began, Borden and his team planned on approaching Rockwell Automation to provide the comprehen-sive control solution the plant needed. Borden notes, “We had invested in four Allen-Bradley SLC controllers, one on each turbine’s governor blade control system, so we had some expe-rience with Rockwell Automation.”

The Pend Oreille utility district selected the PlantPAx pro-cess automation system, an integrated control and information solution that combines capabilities of a distributed control sys-tem with access to process information to help achieve plant-wide optimization. Implementation of the PlantPAx solution at Box Canyon is happening in stages, along with the rest of the $150 million project. The district must continue to produce power during the upgrade, using three of the four turbine-gen-erator units at all times. One unit has already been replaced and the second is under way.

The process includes disassembling the unit down to its concrete foundation. Then the new turbine and generator are installed, along with new switch gear, relay-protection systems, pumps, and pipes.

The PlantPAx solution includes two Allen-Bradley Con-

trolLogix PACs (programmable automation controllers) for each unit. One controls the turbine governor system and the other handles general unit controls, auxiliary pumps, and stopping and starting the generators. In the control room, a series of FactoryTalk View supervisory edition HMIs provide operators

with valuable information and diagnostics via EtherNet/IP. FactoryTalk SE Server software consolidates HMI data from the hydro units, allowing Box Canyon operators to monitor and manage system parameters, such as river elevations and flow rates, from a central point. FactoryTalk Historian SE provides for centralized data, event, and alarm databases.

“The PlantPAx system architecture also opens up commu-nication between the PACs and third-party equipment through EtherNet/IP, so valuable information is instantly available to everybody who needs it,” Borden said.

ResultsThe new system has helped increase generating efficiency

at the plant by allowing more exact monitoring of the turbine and generator systems. In turn, operators can detect and correct problems earlier, such as high temperatures in the generator or low flow in cooling systems.

“It’s too soon to put a number on it, but we anticipate this

‘All our systems were out of date, and because no real

upgrade of the control station and the equipment had been done since the plant was built, everything was just worn out.’

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increased reliability and unit uptimewill reduce operating costs once the entire project is complete,” Borden said. “Operators will also be able to perform additional maintenance tasks they don’t have time for now, like digging trash out of the intakes. The ControlLogix con-troller and FactoryTalk software have allowed us to capture more real-time information, and retain it for future anal-ysis and trending. System data is also automatically sent to a corporate net-work database that allows other depart-

Each of the four turbine-generator units was dismantled down to the concrete. Here anew runner is being lowered into place. Courtesy: Rockwell Automation

‘Our new process capabilities will allow the district to monitor and operate remote sites from one central location, saving on both labor and travel costs.’

inside process


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ments to easily access the information,rather than shuffle through print-outs.”

The security features offered by the FactoryTalk Asset Centre software also enable the direct reporting and docu-mentation required under the NERC CIP (North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s critical infrastructure pro-tection) provisions. Once the turbine-gen-erator project is completed, Borden and his team plan to take full advantage of the remote monitoring capabilities offered by the new process control system. The utility district operates a smaller dam and pumping stations outside Box Canyon, and it plans to improve their connection to the district’s SCADA system.

“Our new process capabilities will allow the district to monitor and operate

remote sites from one central location, saving on both labor and travel costs,” Borden said.

Also on the utility’s agenda is anoth-er installation important to Oregonians: adding a fish passage system at the dam. This will protect bull trout and other spe-cies on their downstream and upstream journeys. ce

Jason Wright is Plant PAx productmanager at Rockwell Automation.

n Learn more about Box Canyon and Pend Oreille County Public Utility District at www.popud.com

www.rockwellautomation.com

Go Online

When launching an automation project, you might want to begin by creating a pro-cess narrative. Not sure what that is? Here are some answers

What is a process narrative? A process control narrative is a written description of a manufacturing process that

details the steps needed to start up, maintain an ideal running state, and safely shut down the system. When is it written?

While a narrative can be written anytime, it is often created at the onset of a large capital project, such as the installation of a new system or the retrofit of a legacy sys-tem. Why? Because kicking off a successful capital project requires a common under-standing across several groups of stakeholders on how the manufacturing process will work.Who should write the narrative?

Ideally, the plant engineering and operations team should create the documents. This ensures that the plant operations staff owns and completely understands the process. However, don’t forget that innovation requires collaboration. While plant staff writes the narrative, they should seek opinions and different view points from other stakeholders.What should be included in a narrative?

A proper narrative will include equipment numbers and descriptions, detailed descriptions of the modes and sequence of operation, how the system will respond to upsets, how the system will ensure personnel, food, and environmental safety, and more. The exact details will depend on the nature of your company. There is no fixed format.Is it worth it?

Yes. Let’s consider the benefits:1. Process optimization—A key step to process improvement can be having a

subject matter expert on the system sit down and write out the process step by step. Sharing this description with colleagues challenges them to think of better, faster, or just different ways of doing things.

2. Knowledge transfer—Process knowledge is mission-critical to a manufacturing business. Too often companies lose valuable intellectual property when key resources resign or assume new roles.

3. Documentation for programming team—It provides clear instructions to your process control programming team, whether internal to your organization or a third-party SI. This will decrease development time and help your startups to run smoothly.

Jason Montroy, Maverick Technologies. www.mavtechglobal.com. Read the Real World Engineering blog at www.controleng.com/blogs.

CONTROL ENGINEERING JANUARY 2013 ● P11

More than a story, a process narrative can define your next automation project, and you can write it yourself.



Yokogawa has released its enhanced ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system, featuring I/O modules that operate reliably in high-temperature conditions typically encountered in desert locations. Support of an open communications protocol has also been added, enhancing its compatibil-ity with other vendors’ DCSs.

The new modules can operate at ambient temperatures up to 70 °C (158 °F), even while mounted closely together, which can reduce the system footprint. Also, ProSafe-RS has been enhanced by adding sup-port for Ethernet-based Modbus/TCP communication with other systems. This facilitates fl exible connection of the ProSafe-RS system with DCSs from other vendors, allowing cus-tomers a greater range of choice. An independent certifi cation body has certifi ed that ProSafe-RS conforms to the IEC61508 international safety standard and can be used in SIL3 ap-plications.Yokogawa, www.yokogawa.com/usInput #200 at www.controleng.com/information

Rockwell Automation has extended the ratings of its Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 755 ac drives to 1,500 kW (2,000 hp). The PowerFlex drive family is well suited for a wide variety of applications ranging from simple variable speed and variable torque control to the most demanding systems requiring constant torque control. The latest frame extension delivers the enhanced con-trol capabilities of earlier high-power models, includ-ing features, such as 400/480/600/690 volt ratings and N-1 technology. The power-range extension is one of several enhancements to the PowerFlex 755 drive designed to provide application fl exibility. Additional features and benefi ts available include the following fl oor-mount drives and dual-port EtherNet/IP option module.Rockwell Automationwww.rockwellautomation.comInput #201 at www.controleng.com/information

IDS Imaging Development Sys-tems’ GigE uEye RE camera series offers Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) functionality to allow both power and data to be transferred by one cable, resulting in greater fl exibility when integrated in machine vision systems. The design is suited for harsh industrial environments with features such as a lockable, dust-tight, spray- and water-resistant M12 circular connector that conforms to IP67, and optically decoupled digital I/Os, as well as two general purpose I/Os. The camera also offers M5 mounting holes on all sides for fl exible positioning, along with an I2C bus for triggering peripheral devices.IDSwww.ids-imaging.comInput #202 at www.controleng.com/information

Banner Engineering’s QM26 and QMH26 photoelectric sensors are designed specifi cally for pharmaceutical, food, and beverage applications. Their design was infl uenced by the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG) and food safety initiatives among private businesses.

The QM26 is housed in a non-toxic 316L stainless steel housing to survive high pressure washdowns and temperature cycling. The sensor is Ecolab certifi ed for inexhaustible sensor life in chemically cleaned environments and is intended for splash zone areas. The QMH26 is designed with minimal grooves and crevices and is self-draining for clean-in-place (CIP) applications. Banner Engineeringwww.bannerengineering.comInput #203 at www.controleng.com/information

Safety system aims at upstream oil and natural gas facilities

Power drives for variable speedand torque control now offer extended ratings

Machine vision cameras offer IP65 and IP67 enclosures with PoE

Photoelectric sensors for hygienic environments in food and pharma applications

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CTL1301_Products_V1msFINAL.indd 60 1/15/13 12:19 PM


Non programmable ProSense models are available for thermocouple types J, K, or T, along with three-wire type Pt100 RTDs. Head-mounted models can be mounted in any ProSense connection head or any DIN Form B sensor head and are powered by 8 to 35 Vdc. 35 mm DIN rail-mount models are powered by 12 to 35 Vdc. They are reverse-polarity protected and output is a linearized two-wire 4-20 mA current loop.

Programmable models are available in both head-mount and DIN rail-mount styles. Compatible with a variety of thermocouple and RTD types, models feature linear resis-tance of 10 to 400 Ω and 10 to 2,000 Ω with F and C selectability. Head-mount models are powered by 8 to 35 Vdc and DIN rail-mount models are powered by 12 to 35 Vdc; both styles are reverse-polarity protected.AutomationDirect, www.automationdirect.com/temperature-transmittersInput #204 at www.controleng.com/information

Eaton has introduced its new line of molded-case circuit break-ers (MCCBs) designed for commercial- and utility-scale pho-tovoltaic (PV) systems. Used in solar combiner and inverter applications, Eaton PVGard circuit breakers are rated up to 600 A at 1,000 Vdc. Units in the series meet UL 489B, which requires testing to verify circuit protection that meets the specifi c requirements of PV systems, provid-ing protection, switching, and isolation of PV systems up to 1,000 Vdc. Once the condition that created the fault is iden-tifi ed and repaired, the circuit breaker can simply be reset. They enable reductions in breaker, conductor, and enclosure sizes, and can help promote potential cost savings. Eaton Corporationwww.eaton.comInput #205 at www.controleng.com/information

Omega introduces its new series of turbine meters with a wide range of sizes and capacities. The FTB-630 series features a non-resettable mechanical totalizer built in a rugged package manufactured of cast iron and epoxy-coated for protection. Five sizes are available, including 2-, 3-, 4-, 6-, and 8-in. pipes with fl ange mountings. These durable, accurate, and economical turbine meters have an optional pulse output available, and can be equipped with magnetic pulse reed sensors well suited for remote totalizing, pacing of electronic metering pumps, and water treatment applications.Omega, www.omega.comInput #206 at www.controleng.com/information

Innovasic’s RapID platform network interface for industrial Ethernet connectivity supports high-performance device-level ring (DLR) networks. DLR is the fault recovery protocol endorsed by ODVA for network ring topologies, and can support beacon rates down to 100 µs enabling fault recovery and ring restore times of less than 10 ms. Participation in the DLR ring is transparent to any host processor or host application connected to the RapID platform.

As with all protocol versions of the network interface, the EtherNet/IP version with DLR incorporates PriorityChannel technology, which eliminates the effects of network traffi c loading and ensures real-time EtherNet/IP messages are always processed on-time. A fi eld device incorporating Innovasic’s Network Interface solution is protected from unpredictable packet delays, excessive latency, and connection failure without worrying about network segmentation or switch confi guration.Innovasic,www.innovasic.comInput #207 at www.controleng.com/information

Head and DIN rail mounted temperature transmittersoffer programming options

Molded-case circuit breakers designed for commercial and utility scale photovoltaic systems

Turbine meter with pulse output for water and waste water applications

Network interface for device-level ring networks uses priority channel technology


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Fanuc FA America has introduced an option that al-lows Series 30i/31i/32i-Model B CNCs to be monitored remotely using tablet-type devices. These controllers are now capable of acting as a web server, so a unit can display CNC screens on any device on a network. This ability allows maintenance or production personnel on the shop fl oor to monitor all CNC equipment from across the shop in one location and on one device.

For simultane-ous fi ve-axis high-speed machining, Fanuc’s 30i-B/31i-B5 CNCs use high-speed smooth TCP with new fairing technol-ogy. This reduces cycle times while improving part accuracy and quality. In addition, Fanuc Series 30i-Model B CNCs offer a newly enhanced high-speed and large-capacity, multi-path PMC with large-scale sequence control with a maximum of fi ve concur-rent independent ladders. Fanuc FA Americawww.fanucfa.comInput #209 at www.controleng.com/information

Mitsubishi Electric has introduced its multi-axis M700V Series CNC platform, a stand-alone, compact, integrated con-troller with a built-in display screen for HMI functions. The M700V comes in two models and both feature a high-speed servo network. The M700VW model operates on a Microsoft Windows platform for PC-based control.

Other advances include improvements to basic CNC func-tions, more sophisticated graphic performance, and 66% lower power consumption of the built-in PLC. Designed for a range of metal-cutting, forming, plastic, and woodworking applications, the M700V CNC features simple HMI screens to facilitate navi-gation and operation, including a menu customization function, pop-up screens, and a guidance function. A 64-bit RISC CPU and a proprietary LSI power the CNCs. Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc.www.meau.com Input #208 at www.controleng.com/information

Monitoring CNCs on tablet devicesvia the Internet

Integrated CNC controllerwith Windows-based HMI functions

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CFE Media Contributor Guidelines Overview

Content For Engineers. That’s what CFE Media stands for, and what CFE Media is all about – engineers sharing with their peers. We welcome content submissions for all interested parties in engineering. We will use those materials online, on our website, in print and in newsletters to keep engineers informed about the products, solutions and industry trends.

www.controleng.com/contribute explains how to submit press releases, products, images and graphics, bylined feature articles, case studies, white papers, and other media.

* Content should focus on helping engi-neers solve problems. Articles that are com-mercial in nature or that are critical of other products or organizations will be rejected. (Technology discussions and comparative tables may be accepted if non-promotional and if contributor corroborates information with sources cited.)

* If the content meets criteria noted in guidelines, expect to see it first on our Web-sites. Content for our e-newsletters comes from content already available on our Web-sites. All content for print also will be online. All content that appears in our print maga-zines will appear as space permits, and we will indicate in print if more content from that article is available online.

* Deadlines for feature articles intended for the print magazines are at least two months in advance of the publication date. Again, it is best to discuss all feature articles with the appropri-ate content manager prior to submission.Learn more at:www.controleng.com/contribute

Allied Electronics . . . . . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . www.alliedelec.com

ARC Advisory Group . . . . . . . 37. . . . . . . 19 . . . . . www.arcweb.com/events/arc-orlando-forum

AutomationDirect . . . . . . . . . . C2 . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . www.automationdirect.com

Baldor Electric Company . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . www.baldor.com

Beckhoff Automation LLC. . . . 10. . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . www.beckhoff.com

CFE Media Educational VideoSeries Sponsored By Eaton . . 20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.controleng.com/educationalvideos

Control EngineeringE-Newsletters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.controleng.com/newsletters

CSA Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23. . . . . . . 14 . . . . . www.csagroup.org

Dataforth Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 30. . . 13, 15 . . . . www.dataforth.com

Eaton Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 31 . . . 8, 16 . . . . www.eaton.com

Honeywell Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32. . . . . . . 17 . . . . . www.honeywellprocess.com/smartline

Magnetrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13. . . . . 9 . . . . . . www.Eclipse.magnetrol.com

Mitsubishi ElectricAutomation Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . 11 . . . . . www.meau.com

National Instruments . . . . . . . 7, 33 . . . . 5, 18 . . . . www.ni.com

Omega Engineering Inc . . . . . 1. . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . www.omega.com

Phoenix Contact . . . . . . . . . . . 15. . . . . . . 10 . . . . . www.phoenixcontact.com/etherneteasy

SEW Eurodrive Inc . . . . . . . . . C4 . . . . . . 27 . . . . . www.seweurodrive.com

Siemens Industry Inc . . . . . . . C1, 19. . . . 12 . . . . . www.sea.siemens.com

Solutions for Engineers . . . . . 48. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ControlEng.com

Yaskawa America, Inc . . . . . . . C3 . . . . . . 26 . . . . . www.yaskawa.com

Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9. . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . www.yokogawa.com/us

Inside Process

Emerson ProcessManagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P3. . . . . . . 20 . . . . . www.IOonDemandCalculator.com

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Management RosemountMeasurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . P7. . . . . . . 22 . . . . . www.EmersonProcess.com/SmarWireless

Invensys OperationsManagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . P5. . . . . . . 21 . . . . . http://iom.invensys.com/yourfuture

Load Controls Inc.. . . . . . . . . . P10. . . . . . 24 . . . . . WWW.LOADCONTROLS.COM

Maple Systems Inc . . . . . . . . . P11 . . . . . . 25 . . . . . www.maplesystems.com

Solutions Direct . . . . . . . . . . . P9. . . . . . . 23 . . . . . www.solutionsdirectonline.com

Request more information about products and advertisers in this issue by using the

http://controleng.com/information link and reader service number located near each.

If you’re reading the digital edition, the link will be live. When you contact a company directly,

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Peter Welander

‘ The variety of

signal formats grew

out of a desire to

have the best tool

for a given job, but

the practical result

can be confusing.

At least the number

of signal formats

has thinned out in

recent years.’

The article on page 34 of this issue dis-cusses how control system vendors have to provide a range of I/O (input/output) options for the variety of signal

types that a user might find with process sensors and actuators in a process unit. These include the “big four” process variables (flow, pressure, tem-perature, and level) along with control valves, safety sensors, analyzers, weight cells, and so on.

The article cites three signal formats: ana-log with HART, digital (binary), and pulsations. (We’ll ignore various fieldbus protocols, wire-less, and Ethernet.) Let’s look at all three.

AnalogA sensor measures its variable by modulating

an electrical signal. It can cause a change in volt-age, resistance, or capacitance. For example:

� Thermocouples generate a voltage in rela-tion to temperature

� Strain gages, thermistors, and RTDs change resistance in response to movement or tempera-ture, and

� Some pressure sensor designs use changes in capacitance to quantify changes in pressure.

A raw signal directly from a sensor is usually not suitable for a control system as-is. It needs processing to adjust scaling, linearity, compen-sation, and so on. A device with this capability is typically called a transducer or transmitter. Thermocouples and RTDs are exceptions in that many control systems have I/O cards to take such raw signals directly; however, they are difficult to transmit over any distance so users often insert a transmitter to beef up the signal. In most cases, it will create a 4-20 mA current loop. The trans-mitter will draw a given current level at 24 Vdc from the supply in the I/O connection of the con-trol system, corresponding to the variable. A zero value of the variable will draw 4 mA, and the maximum value draws 20 mA. Anything beyond those limits indicates a malfunction.

A two-wire device powers its internal circuits using only the current it draws from the supply, meaning everything can operate at 4 mA or less. However, some need an external power supply. These are four-wire devices where two wires transmit the process variable and two bring in

power at whatever level it needs. Most manufac-turers have standardized on this signal format, moving on from older voltage signals due to their susceptibility to line loss through wire resistance.

Adding HART to the analog signal is a way to carry additional information by modulating the current signal in a way that allows digital infor-mation to be piggybacked on the analog with-out disrupting the basic process variable. (Read more about HART in the article in our Decem-ber issue.) A close look at the analog signal will show that it is not a flat line, but modulates at 1.2 or 2.2 kHz to carry binary sequences. The I/O connection cannot see the digital signal without a modem, so the process variable doesn’t change.

DigitalIn some cases calling a signal “digital” sug-

gests something like a fieldbus or Ethernet where data is sent in packets. However, here we’re talk-ing about a binary signal, or on or off. There are many process sensors that do not send out sca-lar data. They change their signal state when the variable crosses a specific threshold.

For example, a low-level alarm in a tank switches on when a liquid level gets too close to the bottom. Another might be a pressure switch that turns on a compressor at a given point. Such devices may simply close or open a set of con-tacts like a relay. In other cases, an analog signal may change: 20 mA means on and 4 mA means off, but that’s really an analog device.

PulseSome sensors, particularly turbine flowme-

ters, send their signal as a pulsation, the frequen-cy of which indicates the process variable. Such a flowmeter uses a proximity sensor that triggers each time the turbine propeller passes by. Higher flow makes the turbine spin faster and send puls-es at a higher frequency.

This variety of signal formats grew out of a desire to have the best tool for a given job, but the practical result can be confusing. At least the number of signal formats has thinned out in recent years, and system providers are doing a better job of accommodating those that remain. ce

Peter Welander is a content manager for Con-trol Engineering. [email protected].

BASICSBASICS

Talking to process instrumentation

back to

I/O systems have to offer multiple communication options to accommodatedifferent types of field sensors and transmitters.

� Read the article in this issue: Make your I/O smarter

� Also read: Making HART Communicate, December 2012

� Subscribe to Process Instrumentation & Sensors eNewsletter at www.contro-leng.com/newsletters

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