Advanced Wireless Infrastructure

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Actemium Automation Helps Container Terminal Operator to Give its Cranes Diagnostics a Lift with Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Solutions A Rockwell Automation solution was installed, which included: • Allen-Bradley ControlLogix Ethernet Gateway to existing SLC5/04 Controllers over DH+ • Data centralisation via FactoryTalk View SE SCADA • FactoryTalk Transaction Manager • FactoryTalk Historian

Results • Access to pertinent real-time information • Information available both on crane and in the central control room • Wireless network to cope with large area • Better decision making due to real time access • Easier report generation • Faster remedial action

Background The client is the second largest container terminal in the UK. The terminal, which lies on the south coast of the UK, covers a site of 88 hectares. It operates one short-sea berth and four deep-water berths, which can accommodate vessels up to 400m in length.

Like all businesses, this client operates more effectively when it has access to pertinent, real-time information relating to the operational effectiveness of its assets. It was this desire for information collation and delivery that prompted it to involve Actemium Automation and Rockwell Automation in a project that would significantly help to enhance its crane-tocontrol room communications infrastructure

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100% DEDICATED TO INDUSTRY Challenge The project was to cover a number of large cranes, positioned over a very large area, which are used to load /unload container vessels.

The client already had an existing diagnostic-data-capture solution on these cranes, but they were not interlinked. Getting the information from the cranes to the central control facility was often tortuous and sometimes involved photographing HMI displays in order to yield data that was then hand-entered into reporting programmes later down the line.

“What we needed was a way of collecting the information and then delivering it in the most effective way possible to the central control room,” explains Brian Kelly, Engineering Manager, cranes and ancillaries. “We also had to take into account the size of the site and the issues this would present with regards to the data transport infrastructure.”

Solution

Each crane was already equipped with an Allen-Bradley SLC504 PLC coupled to local motors drives and HMIs using DH+. This solution was adequate for the clients’ data capture needs, but it needed a means of subsequently capturing this data and then transferring it to the central control location.

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“We were recommended to the client by Rockwell Automation’s distributor Routeco ,” explains Simon Pape, at Actemium Automation, a Rockwell Automation Recognised System Integrator. “We surveyed the project with Rockwell Automation and Routeco and developed a SCADA-based solution that could gather the data from the six cranes and then transmit it back to the control room. We were also able to duplicate the existing HMI visualisation on the remote SCADA, fostering instant familiarity with the new approach.”

Very early on in the project it was determined that a wireless solution was the only sensible approach to a site this size. While the client sourced and installed the wireless mesh, Actemium got to work with the Allen-Bradley based solution.

Each crane now has a ControlLogix Gateway, a four slot rack which houses DH+ and Ethernet cards. In operations, the existing PLCs perform all the data capture operations before feeding the information to the Gateway using DH+. This information is then transmitted wirelessly to the control room via the Ethernet card in the gateway. The control room houses a server PC running FactoryTalk View SE SCADA, FactoryTalk Historian and FactoryTalk Transaction Manager.

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As far as I am concerned it’s more reliable, easier to integrate and maintain. I also know that I will get good support, either from Actemium or Rockwell Automation. All of which are determining factors in selecting a vendor.

“We weren’t changing any of the existing control or functionality,” Kelly elaborates, “we just needed centralised data capture in order to monitor the cranes’ operations in real time. Our cranes are very sophisticated; there is a lot of I/O on each unit. The data being collected was predominantly diagnostic information, pertaining to fault finding, alarms, operational shift data and hours run.”

Results

The client now has exactly what it set out to achieve. A contemporary data capture and transmission infrastructure that is able to deliver real-time information in a recognisable format so that the site’s engineers can make qualified, timely decision, helping with maximum uptime and optimum operating conditions.

Commenting on his relationship with Rockwell Automation, Simon Pape explains: “It’s all about relationships. I know the Rockwell Automation guys very well and I work very closely with my local contact; it is a very open and honest relationship.”

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So, what does the client think of its new system and the team that helped develop it? “We already had Allen-Bradley hardware on site and we had a good relationship with Routeco, so we were happy with its recommendation of Actemium Automation,” the Technical Superintendent explains. “I am very familiar with Rockwell Automation equipment and the Logix environment and was the main driver to the adoption of Allen-Bradley hardware.

“I can’t fault Actemium,” he continues, “they were very flexible and we had effective and friendly communications throughout the project. They were also flexible to our needs and everything came in within budget. I also know the Rockwell Automation product group very well and have done for a long time.

As far as I am concerned it’s more reliable, easier to integrate and maintain. I also know that I will get good support, either from Actemium or Rockwell Automation. All of which are determining factors in selecting a vendor.”