PACE - Process & Control Engineering - December 2012

PACE.DEC12.PG001.pdf

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DECEMBER 2012 | VOL.65 NO.11

Wishing all our readers

happy holidays A D _ P A C E E ME D E C _ 1 2 . p d f

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From the team at PACE

1 Billion+ operating hours 10, 700 + networks and growing

Post Print Approved PP255003/00539

WirelessHART now mainstream

Emerson.com/smartwireless

MAR1969_FP_ADv2.pdf

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PACE.DEC12.PG003.pdf

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CONTENTS

Published monthly by Reed Business Information Pty Ltd

Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue Chatswood NSW 2067 Locked Bag 2999 Chatswood DC NSW 2067 Tel: (02) 9422 2999 Fax: (02) 9422 2977 ABN 80 132 719 861 Associate Publisher: Martin Sinclair Email: martin.sinclair@reedbusiness.com.au Editor: Kevin Gomez Tel: (02) 9422 2976 Fax: (02) 9422 2722 Email: kevin.gomez@reedbusiness.com.au

IN THIS ISSUE

Deputy Editor: Isaac Leung Tel: (02) 9422 2956 Email: isaac.leung@reedbusiness.com.au Group Sales Manager: Tim Richards Tel: (02) 9422 2818 Mobile: 0420 550 799 Email: tim.richards@reedbusiness.com.au

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Copyright © Reed Business Information 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Benefit from wireless IPv6 routes packets from field sensors to analytics and location-independent applications.

Technology Report 11

When to calibrate instruments Plants can improve their efficiency and reduce costs by performing calibration history trend analysis.

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF:

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DECEMBER 2012 | VOL.65 NO.11

Wishing all our readers

happy holidays A D _ P A C E E ME D E C _ 1 2 . p d f

From the team at PACE

1 Billion+ operating hours 10, 700 + networks and growing

WirelessHART now mainstream Post Print Approved PP255003/00539

AD_ PACE

Engineering Update 18

Case Study 26

Application Note 22

IICA Corner 30

Energy-efficient policies AdelaideAqua built a climateindependent water source for SA while considering the environment.

The MVSD vs. VFD debate How to decide whether to use mechanical variable-speed or variable frequency drives.

Brewhouse gets high on quality Coopers Brewery replaced its custom-developed quality system with one that stored quality data for years.

The invisible parallel world It is important for us all to pay tribute to those who allow us to enjoy the benefits of our world.

ON THE COVER P ACE . DE C1 2 . P G0 0 1 . p d f

Average Net Distribution R Period O C ending D E March C _ ‘121 6,849

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Emerson.com/smartwireless

Emerson Process Management has announced that more customers than ever have adopted wireless technologies for hard-to-reach, extreme applications, and also for critical, day-to-day process control and monitoring requirements.

Emerson Smart Wireless technology has clocked more than one billion total hours of wireless operations across 10,000+ systems.

Emerson Smart Wireless technology, based is now 5 / on 1 1IEC / 162591 2 , WirelessHART 1 2 : 1 2 standard, PM

implemented in refineries, oil fields, offshore platforms, chemical plants and other industrial facilities to obtain real-time plant data to optimise operations, improve worker and plant safety and reduce environmental impact.

Since its release five years ago, Emerson estimates the total installed savings resulting from Smart Wireless field devices at more than $350 million and reductions in commissioning and installation time totalling 16 man-years.

www2.emersonprocess.com/en-US/plantweb/wireless/Pages/WirelessHomePage-Flash.aspx

Put Integrated Architecture — at the heart of your machine CompactLogix offers a scaleable, integrated control and motion solution to meet your needs simply and effectively, while reducing costs. www.rockwellautomation.com.au

IA_pace-quarter-page_April-2012.indd 1

10-Apr-12 8:57:32 AM DECEMBER 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 3

PACE.DEC12.PG004.pdf

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COMMENT

WHAT’S ON

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

A more competitive year ahead

9th South Australian Exploration & Mining Conference 7 December 2012, Adelaide www.sacome.org.au International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation 6-8 February 2013, Sydney www.rev-conference.org Product Innovation (PI) 2013 19-20 February 2013, berlin www.picongress.com National Manufacturing Week (NMW) 2013 7-10 may 2013, melbourne www.nationalmanufacturingweek. com.au

For daily updates visit www.pacetoday.com.au

Kevin Gomez Editor

Next Issue

• SCADA & MES • Sensors & Analysers • Process Control in Power Generation • Water & Wastewater

IF INTERNATIONAL trends are anything to go by, we may well see a vigorous and more competitive market in the year ahead with buyers being the main beneficiaries.

Some companies are already releasing stripped-down, cheaper versions of their best selling products to penetrate the market even further. There are likely to be more low-cost entry configurations; and software prices should show a downward trend.

Increasingly, users will drive the move towards compatibility and open systems as they source solutions from multiple vendors and seek to tie it all together efficiently.

We will also see more smart phones and tablets creeping into

control and monitoring implementations at process plants.

And hardware makers are responding to the challenge.

Panasonic, for example, talks about the ‘fourth age’ of the tablet where durability, reliability and operating performance are every bit as desirable as portability. Their new Toughpad can rival many rugged automation devices found on the plant floor.

Its IP65 rating ensures it is sealed against dust and water ingression. It is also able to withstand 1.2 metre drops and features a dedicated security core in the chip.

The Toughpad has a multitouch screen and stylus which is operable even when wet, and

when the user has gloves on.

‘Industrial strength’ portable devices such as these have the potential to transform the plant floor and also make our industry more attractive to the incoming PlayStation generation.

This is our last issue for 2012 and I must thank our readers and advertisers who have supported and continue to support PACE over the past year.

I take this opportunity to wish you and yours a safe and enjoyable holiday season. We will be back in the new year with several exciting developments. Say tuned. kevin.gomez@reedbusiness.com.au

Like us on Facebook and join the conversation facebook.com/PACEtoday

COMPUTING

Automation and the Internet of Things in the Cloud

By JIm PINTO Over the past two decades, automation has improved the performance, quality and productivity of manufacturing and process systems. But performance remains at a plateau. Further improvements demand more data in real-time, beyond the processing capability of existing systems.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is about to transform the next decade. Literally everything will be connected to everything. Some estimate that 50 billion devices will be IoT-connected by 2020. The clock on the connected device transition is ticking very loudly.

IoT certainly won’t bear fruit without ways to analyse all the data. Cloud computing is the enabler, the catalyst for that inflection point. It fundamentally changes how masses of data can be stored for interaction. It offers services on demand at the infrastructure, platform and software levels. Big data, the cloud and analytics combine to offer breakthrough productivity solutions.

Glen Allmendinger has been preaching the technology for more than a decade. He believes that “the biggest challenge will be finding enough new technology and industry players to develop all the applications required for this expanding opportunity.”

That’s the growth opportunity.

Cloud-computing technology is now at a maturing phase. Development of both private and public cloud systems has become a priority across a broad spectrum of commercial suppliers and users. Cloud services are becoming inexpensive and widely available.

Already in industrial automation, we’re seeing appli4 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

cations of cloud computing to facilitate preventive and predictive maintenance, a major change-driver.

This requires every possible machine parameter to be collected historically and analysed to drive intelligent decision-making; this is possible only with real-time analysis.

In addition to creating new markets and opportunities, cloud/IoT restructuring will overthrow many

assumptions about who the industry’s leaders will be and how they will establish and maintain leadership.

The insightful Jeremy Pollard writes: “Definitepurpose devices have populated our software and hardware toolboxes for decades. The cloud might change it all.”

As the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Jim@JimPinto.com

PACE.DEC12.PG005.pdf

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NEWS

DEFENCE

SAGE completing $11m defence project A MAJOR investment to enter the defence sector is paying off for SAGE Automation, with the final stage of its $11 million project with Chemring Australia to build countermeasures nearing completion.

Chemring Australia has a long term contract with the Australian Defence Force to supply aircraft mounted countermeasures designed to draw missile attacks away from the aircraft, and as part of that contract has established a state of the art manufacturing plant.

SAGE Automation has been responsible for the development and installation of automated processes for the new facility in the regional Victorian town of Lara (near Geelong), where the countermeasures will be manufactured.

Constructed in four stages, this is the first countermeasure manufacturing plant constructed in the southern hemisphere.

“This is the largest single project undertaken by SAGE across any sector and is a great demonstration of our company’s wide ranging capabilities and expertise,” said Paul Johnson, SAGE’s general manager of defence.

“This project was a unique combination of manual and automated processes and required us to consider issues such as delicate product handling techniques, functional safety requirements, machine guarding, hazardous areas and tight control over temperature and humidity requirements.

“Due to the highly energetic materials involved in constructing countermeasures, it is essential that the processes worked smoothly not only the first time, but every time.”

To give an indication of the scale of this project, SAGE was responsible for the development and integration of 18 different process cells. The first 13 process cells were required to be completely automated and the process is monitored from a central control room, with vision being provided via 50 CCTV cameras.

While featuring significant levels of mechanical assistance, the remaining six process cells included some elements of manual assembly or production.

Integration of the overall facility under a common Siemens WinCC SCADA system was also a requirement of the

CONTROL: Operator interface for the main MCC of the priming/curing/ assembly facility.

COMPLETED: Final assembly operators at work. development process.

“This is a very important contract for us and this production line in Lara complements a similar Chemring facility in the UK,” said Michael Flowers, managing director of Chemring Australia. “Working with SAGE Automation has proved to be an effective partnership and they have

delivered a difficult project with many potential challenges.”

Besides producing countermeasures for the Australian Defence Force, the Lara facility has the ability to produce countermeasures for future export opportunities.

“One of the challenges in undertaking work within the international

defence sector is being compliant with strict compliance standards and meeting ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) requirements,” Johnson said.

ITAR is a set of US government regulations that control the export and import of defence related articles and services on the US Munitions List.

“Being able to demonstrate compliance with defence department standards and having the processes in place to protect defence intellectual property is essential in winning future defence contracts,” he said. “Since entering the defence sector 18 months ago, SAGE has experienced tremendous growth within this market, resulting in the sector contributing to approximately 10 percent of the company’s turnover in 2011/12.”

“The success of this project will further demonstrate our capability within the defence industry and; we believe the defence sector will continue to provide significant future opportunities for SAGE.” The final stage of the project is expected to be completed in early 2013. www.gotoSAGE.com www.chemring.com.au December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 5

PACE.DEC12.PG006.pdf

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NEWs

Oil & Gas

Enhancing accuracy in custody transfer HONEYWELL recently launched an upgrade to boost the performance of all existing and new small volume provers.

The Honeywell Enraf Small Volume Prover (SVP) Controller now allows users to visually monitor and control the operation of the prover in real time on an LCD display.

“This device will not only improve the repeatable uncertainty of Honeywell Enraf small volume provers, but also offers improved performance for all third party provers,” said Greg Williams, Global Product Manager, SVP and Metering, Honeywell Process Solutions.

Small volume provers are essential technology in the oil and gas industry to verify the accuracy of flow meters that gauge the volume of liquids being transferred, for example when loading or unloading ships. The total global meter verification market is estimated at $180 to $200 million. The controller’s six-line LCD displays all critical prover data, including piston position, motor status, error status, cycle value, proving run date and sweep time.

A handheld Local Access Device (LAD), meanwhile, allows users to fully program the controller and provides multiple diagnostics, an active and historical alarm log, secure alarm acknowledgement and clearing, and

VERIFIED: The controller’s six-line LCD displays all critical prover data. with an option kit, management of the water draw sequence.

“Before the launch of Honeywell’s SVP controller, user control of small volume provers had primarily been a blind operation,” Williams told PACE.

“Users relied on blinking LEDs in sequence for the status of operation and diagnostics information. Now, the SVP controller provides a highly visual control system, displaying the critical data needed to monitor operations, with

readable diagnostics, alarm messages and other functions.”

The combination of new features promises significant improvements across the prover’s lifecycle, according to Honeywell. “We expect a significant performance improvement on all small volume provers, regardless if they are from Honeywell or other providers,” noted Williams. “Because all small volume provers are designed with the same information input and output requirements, this new product will work seamlessly with other prover brands from a control and operation standpoint.”

The new controller is available immediately for updating installed and legacy equipment from Calibron and other manufacturer’s provers. It will be fitted to all new Honeywell Enraf prover products beginning in 2013.

Williams believes Honeywell’s SVP controller, while suitable for a variety of markets, is particularly suited for the booming liquid oil and gas market in Australia. “Small volume provers are vital technology in oil and gas, especially when used to increase the accuracy of flow meters used in custody transfers,” he told PACE. “We are expecting to see significant interest from this market in the new SVP controller.” www.honeywellenraf.com

MaNufacturiNG

Helping manufacturers prepare for critical challenges NATIONAL Manufacturing Week (NMW 2013) returns to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre next May 7-10, focusing on helping industry leverage what the Prime Minister’s Taskforce calls “critical challenges” and “rich opportunities” ahead. NMW 2013 will present solutions that help manufacturers target new, higher value sectors as well as boosting productivity in their day-to-day operations.

Co-located with Austech, NMW 2013 will feature – for the first time in Victoria – two new Product Zones: Sustainable Manufacturing and Metals & Composites. The Sustainable 6 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

Manufacturing Zone will focus on opportunities for reducing industry’s environmental footprint; while Metals & Composites presents new developments in industry’s quest to develop reliable, lightweight, easily moulded manufacturing materials.

With the two new Zones, NMW 2013 will present a total of 12 Product Zones. NMW 2013 will also introduce solutions for manufacturers seeking a toehold in emerging industries.

In particular, the NMW team is also working on presenting products, services and solutions that help manufacturers gear up to service fast-growing sectors

including aerospace, mining, biotech, sustainable and food packaging.

NMW 2013 Exhibition Director, Paul Baker commented, “Australian industry needs to focus on being smarter: especially by becoming known the world over for high quality solutions, for innovation and design.

“NMW 2013 will be the forum for companies who want to become part of this push: who want to boost their productivity or gain new capabilities. It will also be a forum in which manufacturers can see and talk about possible next steps for their businesses.” www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au

SUPPORT: NMW 2013 will be the forum for companies who want to gain new capabilities.

AD_PACEAMSJUL_12.pdf

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The impossible made possible: combining advanced functionality with ease-of-use Beamex MC6 Advanced Field Calibrator and Communicator

PACE.DEC12.PG008.pdf

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NEWs

Oil & Gas

Yokogawa wins supply bid on gas project YOKOGAWA Australia has won a supply bid from Bechtel for integrated control and safety systems for the Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project west of Onslow in WA. The contract, which is worth approximately $20 million, will see the majority of the manufacturing work completed at Yokogawa facilities in Australia.

Yokogawa will be supplying the Centum-VP integrated production control system, the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system and Plant Resource Manager (PRM), and the plant asset management system for the two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes per annum.

This supply win follows Yokogawa’s involvement in the upstream portion of the Wheatstone Project where Yokogawa was awarded the supply of control systems for the control and safety systems for the subsea controllers and the topside offshore infrastructure.

Yokogawa Australia’s managing

EXPANSION: Yokogawa opened a new Perth office in 2010 after 21 years in WA and is currently doubling its office space. director, John Hewitt said the latest Bechtel supply win underscored the recognised competence and experi-

ence of Yokogawa Australia in major LNG projects.

“Yokogawa Australia is developing

into a centre of excellence for LNG projects as measured by total gas train capacity which will be controlled by Yokogawa’s Vigilant Plant system,” noted Hewitt.

“Each project comes with its individual challenges and Yokogawa has responded by tailoring solutions including involvement in the front end engineering and design of these key installations and supply of engineering design, fully integrated control systems and precision instrumentation.

“We are also an active participant in the Australian Industry Participation Plan and have both involved and enabled local product and service suppliers to work with Yokogawa on these major projects, utilising the services of the Industry Capability Network (ICN) network around Australia,” said Hewitt.

Bechtel is contracted to Chevron to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the downstream portion of the Wheatstone Project. www.yokogawa.com.au

DEsiGN

Major release of MATLAB and Simulink by Mathworks MATHWORKS recently introduced Release 2012b with major updates to Matlab and Simulink that claim to significantly improve use and navigation. The new Simulink Editor features tabbed windows, smart signal routing and simulation rewind while the Matlab Desktop now includes a toolstrip that offers quick access to frequently used features and a Matlab apps gallery.

In addition, Release 2012b includes a redesigned help system with improved browsing, searching, filtering, and content organisation.

“This is the biggest release in years,” said Stephane Marouani, country manager, MathWorks Australia.

The new user interface and features for Simulink enables faster, more costeffective development of dynamic and embedded systems. The Simulink Editor simplifies modelling through capabilities such as: Tabbed model windows; An 8 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

Explorer bar for navigating model hierarchy; Smart signal routing to determine optimal signal line path; Debugging capabilities that rewind simulations and set conditional breakpoints on signals.

R2012b also introduces Simulink Projects for managing project files and connecting to source control software, and support for running models on target hardware such as Arduino, Lego MindStorms NXT, BeagleBoard, and PandaBoard.

Marouani sees tremendous opportunities for the country in the solar and automotive sectors. “But Australia has to become an advanced manufacturing country to compete,” he told PACE. And advanced simulation software can play a part.

New capabilities in Stateflow simplify modelling. The Stateflow Editor is now unified with the Simulink Editor, and includes smart guides and

transition indicator lines. Other features include state transition tables to model hierarchical state machines in a structured tabular form, and support for Matlab as the action language for states and transitions.

To help both new and experienced users navigate the expanding capabilities within Matlab, MathWorks has updated the Matlab Desktop with two enhancements: The Matlab Toolstrip which displays icons for the most frequently used Matlab features, such as selecting the best plot type for data; and the apps gallery which presents apps from the Matlab product family to allow users to perform common tasks without writing code.

Additional new features help users package Matlab apps for inclusion in the gallery, import data from delimited and fixed-width text files using the Import Tool, and correct

MAJOR: Stephane Marouani believes Release 2012b is MathWorks’ biggest release in years. mistyped functions and variables in the Command Window. www.mathworks.com.au

PACE.DEC12.PG009.pdf

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OPINION

TRAINING

Qualifying process safety Neil Atkinson discusses on the launch of a new international technical process safety qualification.

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HE safety of process plant is paramount and unites us all. Despite efforts to avoid major incidents and losses, Buncefield, Deepwater Horizon and many more before and since are names sadly remembered for all the wrong reasons. Loss of life, injuries, and negative impacts on communities, the environment and businesses are intolerable.

The process industries are highly aware of their responsibilities and companies strive to ensure that safety is ‘designed in’ right from the feasibility studies stage and that plant operations are managed with excellence in process safety as the highest priority.

Despite this focus, there is always scope for improvement.

One particular issue seen worldwide is the shortage of professionals who are demonstrably skilled across the process safety field i.e. having knowledge and competence in hazard identification, safety studies, loss prevention engineering and more.

It may come as a surprise then that up until now there has been no internationally recognised qualification in the process safety field.

How then can companies have full confidence in their abilities to deliver sound process designs and/or operate with safety excellence?

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has for many years the only organisation licenced to award Chartered Chemical Engineer status.

This internationally recognised qualification is the ‘global standard’ for chemical and process engineers all over the world.

Applications for chartered status are assessed via peer review and candidates are required to demonstrate their chemical engineering expertise and experience via written report, references and interview. There are almost 1000 Chartered Chemical Engineers in Australia.

The same principles will underpin the Institution’s new process safety qualification – PEng (process safety).

We want to provide practitioners with a recognised, respected qualifica-

We want to provide practitioners with a recognised and respected qualification at the same professional level of Chartered Engineer or Professional Engineer. tion at the same professional level of Chartered Engineer or Professional Engineer. IChemE is well positioned to provide the qualification because of its long-established pedigree in operating peer-review based qualifications and because of its leadership and strength in process safety. With members all around the world there is great opportunity to reach and encourage process safety professionals to put themselves forward for qualification.

But the qualification is applicable beyond the world of chemical engineering and is open to anyone in a senior process safety role. Applicants are required to be Chartered in their relevant discipline and will have to make a supported application that provides evidence from their professional practice of experience and application of knowledge across a range of competencies.

Russell Scott is chief executive of Melbourne headquartered Uhde Oil & Gas and is supporting the qualification: “The skills demands of the expanding and increasingly global process industries are acute and immediate. And nowhere is this more evident than in the field of technical process safety, “Incidents on High Hazard sites still occur all too frequently, despite advances in technology and the best intentions of employees. The new registration will require candidates to satisfy a robust, rigorous Peer Review, conducted by fellow process safety professionals and that can only be a good thing for industry,” adds Scott who is also

IChemE president.

Helen Fennell, Petrofac Engineering and Consulting’s manager for risk, safety and environment, has been closely involved with the creation of the qualification. “We welcome this initiative which could have huge impact across industry,” she says.

“I personally hope that by achieving this qualification, Petrofac’s process safety engineers will be able to gain international recognition as competent practitioners in the field of technical process safety. They will be able to demonstrate to clients and peers that they are competent safety engineers and committed to high standards of professional conduct,” adds Fennell.

In addition to having a broad knowledge of process safety principles, applicants will be expected to demonstrate technical leadership in one or more of these areas with knowledge of how they relate to process safety as a whole.

In our experience, it is likely that most candidates will have between four and six years’ direct professional experience in the field of process safety to be able to build sufficient experience and competencies to acquire the qualification.

References will be taken, the candidate’s submission report will be independently reviewed by a qualified safety professional and the candidate will be interviewed by two safety professionals before an additional panel decides to make the PEng (process safety) qualification award.

Professional process safety engineers can be found in many fields across various industry sectors. IChemE understands this and recognises that there are many opportunities to gain training and experience across a wide range of roles in industry, and academia. Applications are anticipated from many different fields.

Industry experts are enthusiastic about the new qualification.

IChemE has just staged its Hazards process safety conference in the UK and interest in the new qualification was tangible. The Institution stages its sister Hazards event in Malaysia next April

PROcess sAfeTy

PEng competencies o technical safety principles and aspects o hazard identification o assessment of consequences o control of hazards o risk assessment o application of regulations o protection of the public o incident investigation and lessons learned o emergency planning o process safety management

OPPORTuNITIes

Selected industry fields and sectors employing professional technical process safety engineers o technical area o process plant operation o safety in design o computer applications o project management and administration o instrumentation and control o regulatory organisations o teaching and training o research o design of process plant and equipment

where the first qualified PEng (process safety) candidates will be announced.

Late next year, IChemE stages its first Hazards Australasia event where the first cohort of Australian PEng (process safety) practitioners will take centre stage.

Working with experts from within the community we serve, IChemE will soon take an important step in assuring the safety of the process industries, and with it the people who work in it and the environment and communities that surround it.

[Neil Atkinson (natkinson@icheme. org) is IChemE’s director of qualifications and international development.] www.icheme.org/peng December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 9

PACE.DEC12.PG010.pdf

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OPINION

WIreless

Benefits of new technology The changes in wireless sensor networking have been impressive, writes Harry Forbes.

W

IRELESS sensing is the most important new technology in process measurement to appear in decades. For this reason alone it has attracted the sustained attention of ARC Advisory Group and other industry analyst organizations. While growth of wireless measurements in industrial applications has proven to be slower than most forecasts, wireless continues to grow much faster than the overall automation market.

Looking at the changes in wireless sensor networking (WSN) during the past year, ARC is most impressed by the greater maturity of the industry along with significant new technical achievements. We believe that both will spur market growth because they enable a much larger set of customers to be well served.

Recent events help illustrate how these developments have changed (and will continue to change) the wireless sensing market.

Greater WSN industry maturity has come through a steady series of acquisitions. At present, almost all the pioneering sensor networking ventures have been acquired by much larger companies. Most of the acquirers are well-established semiconductor suppliers.

Virtually all the fabless WSN firms have now been snapped up. Dust Networks has become one of the most recent, acquired in late 2011 by specialist Linear Technology Corporation.

Fortune 1000 companies must carefully manage the technologies they em-ploy if they are to meet their customer expectations.

A technology that is sourced from a group of venture-stage fabless semiconductor firms represents a major supply chain risk to global firms whose customers expect product support for many years going forward. Today, the list of WSN suppliers no longer represents an exceptional risk to the supply chains of global giants like Emerson, GE, Honeywell, and Siemens.

WSN has also grown technically

10 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

IPv6 applications can route packets from field sensors to analytics and applications that are truly location-independent. during the past year. The most important development is the completion of the “e” revision to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

Though the 15.4 standard has been published for years, most commercial WSN applications have used nonstandard medium access (MAC) rules to optimise the performance of their own networks.

WirelessHART, ISA100.11a, ZigBee and IPv6 sensor networks all depended on a customised MAC layer to achieve low power consumption and reliable end-to-end message delivery. This limits the value of the IEEE standard, because applications needed their own specialised MACs. IEEE 802.15.4e makes important changes to the defined MAC layer. It creates a standard and fully defined MAC that can support diverse types of networks. This includes 6LoWPANcompressed IPv6 networks.

It also supports the synchronised TDMA network properties used in industrial low-power applications (e.g.

WirelessHART and ISA100.11a). Finally, 15.4e accommodates extensions, so that these diverse networks (as well as future ones) can extend the standard MAC

without violating the standard itself.

This decouples WSN development from the three- to four-year long IEEE standards development process. It will give the IEEE standard greater value and a much longer life, enable greater interoperability among WSN silicon and network stacks, and enable future WSN technologies to leverage an existing, fully standard MAC. The new standard was developed largely from Dust Network’s technology, with extensive and enthusiastic contributions from many major suppliers, notably including Siemens.

Dust now employs its most recent chip design (which conforms to 15.4e) in both WirelessHART and IPv6 products. Using the latest chipset is a big benefit for the WirelessHART (industrial) customers, since it helps drive down power consumption by roughly 50 percent with each new generation.

In battery-powered industrial devices, this provides an “energy surplus” enabling devices to have longer life and/ or to serve in applications that previously consumed too much battery power.

IPv6 applications can use a wider variety of system architectures. In particular they can route packets from field sensors to analytics and applications that are truly location-independent, including cloud-based applications.

It remains to be seen what impact the cloud will have on the wireless sensing market, but the combination of high scalability and low cost offered by cloud services may well enable new applications that are not feasible when built using traditional WSN gateways.

Another area to watch may be energy harvesting. Though energy harvesting represents an ongoing technical challenge, it is a very active development area at several specialist companies.

Low power products will be the first to benefit from any new harvesting solutions that emerge.

[Harry Forbes (HForbes@ARCweb. com) is senior analyst, ARC Advisory Group.] www.ARCweb.com

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IN FOCUS

When to calibrate instruments

Plants can improve their efficiency and reduce costs by performing calibration history trend analysis.

M

ANUFACTURING plants need to be absolutely confident that their instrumentation products – temperature sensors, pressure transducers, flow meters and the like – are performing and measuring to specified tolerances.

If sensors drift out of their specification range, the consequences can be disastrous for a plant, resulting in costly production downtime, safety issues or possibly leading to batches of inferior quality goods being produced, which then have to be scrapped.

Most process manufacturing plants will have some sort of maintenance plan or schedule in place, which ensures that all instruments used across the site are calibrated at the appropriate times.

However, with increasing demands and cost issues being placed on manufacturers these days, the time and resources required to carry out these calibration checks are often scarce.

This can sometimes lead to instruments being prioritised for calibration, with those deemed critical enough receiving the required regular checks, but for other sensors that are deemed less critical to production, being calibrated less frequently or not at all.

But plants can improve their efficiencies and reduce costs by using calibration history trend analysis. With this function, the plant can analyse whether it should increase or decrease the calibration frequency for all its instruments.

Cost savings can be achieved in several ways. First, by calibrating less frequently where instruments appear to be highly stable according to their calibration history.

Second, by calibrating instruments more often when they are located in critical areas of the plant, ensuring that instruments are checked and corrected before they drift out of tolerance. This type of practise is common in companies that employ an effective preventive maintenance regime.

Current practices

The analyses of historical trends and how a pressure sensor, for example,

FREQUENCY: Sensors that are highly stable need not be re-calibrated as often as sensors that tend to drift. drifts in and out of tolerance over a given time period, is only possible with calibration software that provides this type of functionality.

But in reality, how often do process plants actually calibrate their instruments and how does a maintenance manager or engineer know how often to calibrate a particular sensor?

A few years back, Beamex conducted a survey that asked process manufacturing companies how many instruments in their plant required calibrating and the frequency with which these instruments had to be calibrated. The survey covered all industry sectors, including pharmaceuticals, chemicals,

food and beverage, oil and gas, paper and pulp.

Interestingly, the survey showed that from all industry sectors, 50 percent of the respondents said they calibrated their instruments no more than once a year.

However, in the pharmaceuticals sector, 42 percent said they calibrated once a year and 42 percent said they calibrated twice a year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to it being a highly regulated industry, the study proved also that the pharmaceuticals sector typically possesses a significantly higher number of instruments per plant that require calibrating. In addition, these plants also calibrate their

instruments more frequently than other industry sectors.

Calibration history

But regardless of the industry sector, by analysing an instrument’s drift over time (i.e. the historical trend) companies can reduce costs and improve their efficiencies. Pertti Mäki is area sales manager at Beamex in Finland.

He specialises in selling the Beamex CMX to different customers across all industry sectors. He comments: “The largest savings from using the History Trend Option are in the pharmaceuticals sector, without doubt, but all > industry sectors can benefit from December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 11

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IN FOCUS

The history trend function means that a plant can compare the quality or performance of different sensors from multiple manufacturers in a given location or set of process conditions.

using the software tool, which helps companies identify the optimal calibration intervals for instruments.”

The trick, says Mäki, is determining which sensors should be re-calibrated after a few days, weeks, or even years of operation and which ones can be left for longer periods, without of course sacrificing the quality of the product or process or the safety of the plant and its employees.

Doing this enables maintenance staff to concentrate their efforts only where they are needed, therefore eliminating unnecessary calibration effort and time.

But there are other, perhaps less obvious benefits of looking at the historical drift over time of a particular sensor or set of measuring instruments.

As Mäki explains: “When an engineer buys a particular sensor, the supplier provides a technical specification that includes details on what the maximum drift of that sensor should be over a given time period.

“With CMX’s history trend option, the engineer can now verify that the sensor he or she has purchased, actually performed within the specified tolerance over a certain time period. If it hasn’t, the engineer now has data to present to the supplier to support his findings.”

But that’s not all. The history trend function also means that a plant can now compare the quality or performance of different sensors from multiple manufacturers in a given location or set of process conditions.

This makes it an invaluable tool for maintenance or quality personnel who, in setting up a new process line for example, can use the functionality to compare different sensor types to see which one best suits the new process.

Calibration software such as CMX can also help with the planning of cali12 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

bration operations. Calibration schedules take into account the accuracy required for a particular sensor and the length of time during which it has previously been able to maintain that degree of accuracy.

Sensors that are found to be highly stable need not be re-calibrated as often as sensors that tend to drift.

Analysing trends

The history trend option is basically a utility for viewing calibration history data. It is easy-to-use and is available both for positions and devices. The data is displayed graphically and is also available in numeric format in a table.

The function enables users to plan the optimal calibration intervals for

their instruments. Once implemented, maintenance personnel, for example, can analyse an instrument’s drift over a certain time period.

History trend displays numerically and graphically the instrument’s drift over a given period. Based on this information, it is then possible to make decisions and conclusions regarding the optimal calibration interval and the quality of the instruments with respect to measurement performance.

Users already familiar with CMX may confuse this function with the standard calibration results window, but the history trend window enables users to view key figures of several calibration events simultaneously, allowing to

evaluate the calibrations of a position or a device for a longer time period compared to the normal calibration result view.

For example, the user can get an overview of how a particular device drifts between calibrations and also whether the drift increases with time. Also, the engineer can analyse how different devices are suited for use in a particular area of the plant or process.

Reporting is straightforward and the user can even tailor the reports to suit his or her individual needs, using the report design tool.

AMS Instrumentation & Calibration 03 9017 8225 sales@ams-ic.com.au www.ams-ic.com.au

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Improving solids capture Trihydrate flocculant technology for alumina processing plants will deliver underflow density increases of around 20 percent along with tangible cost savings and environmental benefits.

A

RECENT development in trihydrate flocculant technology for alumina processing plants has been released internationally following successful site trials in plants on three continents.

Based on laboratory testing and results from the trials, this new technology will deliver underflow density increases in the area of 20 percent along with tangible cost savings and environmental benefits.

Developed by chemical solutions provider Nalco, the new HyClass technology was first presented to the industry at the 9th International Alumina Quality Workshop in Perth earlier this year.

It represents the first major breakthrough in trihydrate flocculant technology since such programs were introduced into Bayer Process alumina processing.

Hydrate flocculants have been used in alumina trihydrate classification circuits since introduced by Nalco some 20 years ago. Typically dosed into the secondary overflow launder or tray feed line, they improve overflow clarity, increase settling rates and improve underflow composition and flow.

The test of time has proven the success of hydrate flocculants in alumina processing but as production input costs have risen, the need for improved productivity and cost minimisation methods has created a demand for better technologies. HyClass technology is the result.

The trial results, achieved under operational conditions, mirrored the results and benefits first seen in the extensive laboratory test program.

Reports from the site trials indicate a consistent improvement in fines capture, faster settling rates and tangible improvements in underflow rheology – all of which, along with a range of direct and indirect savings, will contribute to improved productivity.

During the trials the new polymer yielded the same overflow solids ratio as achieved with the former product – but

SIZE MATTERS: QAL in Gladstone is one of the world’s largest alumina refineries.

Overflow solids reductions in the range of 30 to 50 percent were achieved depending on the quality of the base product. with the dose rate reduced by up to 40 percent. Conversely, maintaining the dose at the old rate would see a direct increase in production. At the other end of the equation, overflow solids reductions in the range of 30 to 50 percent were achieved, depending on the quality of the base product.

To extrapolate these figures into a full year analysis, for a generic refinery producing one million tonnes of

alumina (Al2O3) per year, with a circulation flow of 1700 kL/hr, the return on investment results are impressive. Based on full year figures the plant can expect significant savings.

Improvements in yield

For such a generic plant, the captured overflow solids would give a direct production increase of more than 3000 tonnes per year. In addition, improvements in yield due to the increased seed tonnage and surface area translate to increased production of approximately 1500 tonnes a year.

At a net treatment cost of about $60,000/year (replacing old treatment at equivalent dose) this is a 500 percent return on investment.

Further indirect benefits of this new technology derive from improved efficiency – lower unit cost of produc-

tion resulting from more efficient use of raw materials.

Along with savings and productivity increases, this new technology has been shown to extend processing equipment life including rakes and vessels.

With the new technology capturing all the fines, scale build-up is virtually eliminated from processing equipment.

This in turn, has reduced maintenance costs and extended time between major overhauls/rebuilds.

According to a company spokesman, the value of capturing more hydrate provides a substantial ROI over the entire HyClass technology program cost.

Other benefits – including a reduction in water, energy consumption and CO2 emissions – provide additional significant and measurable savings.

Nalco Australia www.nalco.com December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 13

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IN FOCUS

Geared to save energy The biggest problem is that drive technology is growing so quickly that it can be hard to keep up with the changes and understand which is the correct option for individual companies, writes Steve Dumbrell.

I

NDUSTRIAL motors and drives at the heart of a huge range of Australasian businesses represent a major opportunity for energy savings as companies adapt to escalating power prices and carbon taxes.

Industrial motor and drives technology has improved greatly in the last 10 years and, with a large effort being spent on make equipment have a greener foot print, businesses can save a lot of money by re-assessing how they use energy in the day-to-day running of their business.

Even straightforward initiatives – such as the adoption of variable speed drives instead of fixed speed drives – can produce savings that will more than offset the costs of carbon taxes being imposed in Australia and elsewhere.

Variable speed drives can typically reduce the speed required for particular operations by 20 per cent, cutting power bills by more than 30 per cent in common instances and achieving payback in less than a year.

The biggest problem is that the technology is growing so quickly that it can be hard to keep up with all the changes and understand which is the correct option for individual companies. This is especially true if companies haven’t looked at their options for a few years.

Perhaps the government has a role here in sponsoring holistic audits of company energy use which would undoubtedly produce major savings through the use of advanced drives technologies.

Some of the biggest savings can be made simply by seeing if particular companies have any fans or pumps that are not being controlled by a variable speed drive – typically where the flow of the fan or pump is being controlled by a valve or flow regulator.

Installation of a variable speed on these applications has, possibly, the biggest potential to save money and enable a quick payback time by reducing motor speed and thus reducing motor current.

This is because: 14 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

Old practices of running motors direct online and using other means to control flow or temperature are still widely used and cost companies a lot of money. o Variable speed drives are generally

around 94 to 98 percent efficient. o Current on startup is limited to between 150 to 200 percent of total motor current. On the other

hand, direct online motors can draw between five to seven times the full motor current on startup. o In many pumping applications, it can be very cost-effective to replace the direct online start with a variable speed drive (VSD). In some cases, this can see installation payback in less the 12 months. o Where supply authorities penalise companies based upon spikes in demand current, this can be greatly reduced by installing VSD on motors.

Stop-start operation

Motors generally are reasonably efficient when running continuously and, with the MEPS standard for motor efficiencies, this has been improved in recent years.

Where the use of motors becomes costly is when the motor is started and stopped regularly via a direct online start. Direct online starting can draw five to seven times full load current of the motor out of the supply grid.

This high current inrush fatigues motor windings, generates high heat in the motor and in some cases cause supply grid voltage dips which supply authorities do not appreciate (and may lead to penalties).

VSDs, on the other hand, limit the starting current to between 150 percent and 200 percent of full motor current and also smoothly ramp the motor to require speed.

Advances in drive design and control mean users can generate full motor torque down to virtually zero speed.

This will reduce high inrush currents, greatly reduce motor winding fatigue and also allow users to set the correct motor speed for the application.

By putting a VSD onto a common centrifugal pump and reducing the speed by around 20 percent, users can see power savings of around 30 to 50 percent.

VSD can also avoid the need for larger size motors. Cost rises may not be highly significant as specifiers go up a size or two to meet their power needs, but this approach will draws excess energy just to keep the heavier rotor turning.

Outmoded practices

Old practices of running motors direct online and using other means to control flow or temperature are still widely used and cost companies a lot of money.

Many manufacturers and material processors install VSDs Drives to simply allow the machine to have a variable speed, but modern VSDs can also have a variety of industrial sensors incorporated to allow the drive to control the process better, with more control.

They also save on the cost of a PLC or separate controller.

Also, many manufacturers and processors think that installing a soft-starter is a better option than a VSD, but in

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CURRENT: Vectron Active frequency converters offer advanced control of electric motors up to 55 kW.

fact the soft-starter will also draw larger currents and may not be able to accelerate the load.

I was called into look at an application which already had a soft-starter installed but could not drive the full load up a steep incline if it was stopped on the incline. The full load motor current was 25.4 amps but the softstarter was allowing the motor to draw 120 amps. This subsequently melted the cables.

We replaced it with a VSD and programmed it for the application. We could then accelerate the full load carrier to full speed in five seconds, smoothly and the motor was only drawing a maximum of 39 amps. This was a great application to show the improved performance that can be achieved by using a VSD. The basic information for a plant efficiency audit includes: o What motors you have? o What kW size? o For what application are they being used? o Is the resultant effect of the motor being reduced by other means; for example, pump flow being reduced by manual flow valves after the motor?

Once you have this basic information, I would look at the applications

return. If you find you have applications that are being restricted you are in a very good position to benefit from an external energy audit.

Drive design

INRUSH: Advances in drive design and control mean users can generate full motor torque down to virtually zero speed. in which the motor is running at full speed but where the effect of the motor is being limited – as in a control valve limiting water flow, or the motor

continually being turned on and off due to it overworking the application.

These will be the areas that have the largest potential to give the greatest

Drive manufacturers are looking at ways to make their VSDs more beneficial to the customer and are starting to design the drives with low loss drive filters, sleep modes to reduce energy consumption when motors are not running, and load monitoring which will optimise motor current to application to reduce energy supplied to the motor.

Benefits are already delivered by technologies such as the Bonfiglioli Vectron Active series, which offers state of the art control of industrial electric motors up to 55 kW, complementing EAD equipment in styles and configurations up to 800 kW. Generating clean energy – such as sun or wind energy – is expensive and present benefits have been limited. It may be that simply getting your business to run more efficiently will reduce your running cost over the short and long term.

[Steve Dumbrell is Automation Applications Engineer, Bonfiglioli.]

Bonfiglioli Transmission 02 8811 8000 sales@bonfiglioli.com.au December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 15

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Sensors for Precision Measurement

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Pressure measurement

Laser displacement sensor Angle & Tilt measurement

Industrial general purpose accelerometer for vibraƟon measurement

PH: (03) 9540 5100 Email: Enquiry@bestech.com.au www.bestech.com.au

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NEW PRODUCTS

Second gen HygroGen Pocket PLC with two Ethernet ports Galil Motion Control has announced the latest product in their RIO Pocket PLC Series. The RIO-47142 includes an internal switch with two Ethernet ports for daisy-chaining multiple RIO units. This allows management of an unlimited number of inputs and outputs without an external Ethernet switch. With two Ethernet ports instead of one, the RIO-47142 reduces system costs and speeds system set-up when multiple controllers are required. Each RIO unit is self-contained and provides 32 optically isolated digital inputs and outputs, and 16 analogue inputs and outputs. RIOs are intelligent input and output controllers that use a powerful RISC processor for fast handling of I/O and logic. There is on-board nonvolatile memory and multitasking for simultaneous execution of up to four programs. Other standard features include variables and arrays, PID process control loops, timers, counters, web interface, email alerts, data-logging, and the ability to read position and temperature sensors. The RIO controller can be programmed using Galil’s two-letter language which is standard for all Galil motion and I/O controllers. Software is also available for converting a Relay Ladder Logic program (often used by PLC programmers) into code for input into the RIO controller.

Galil Motion Control sales@motion-solutions.com.au www.galilmc.com

HygroGen is a transportable relative humidity (RH) and temperature calibrator suitable for the rapid generation of fixed humidity and temperature conditions. It can save time when performing RH and temperature calibrations. HygroGen is used in the pharmaceutical industry to calibrate instruments and satisfy various compliance regulations. The ability to transport the HygroGen to the installation location means that a complete system qualification is possible. This second generation HygroGen builds on features of the first series. Using an embedded controller, a touch screen user interface has been developed to provide the user with simplified setup and configuration tools. The embedded platform also provides additional features such as an integrated nine port USB hub, external DVI monitor connection, integrated data acquisition and calibration adjustment software.

Pryde Measurement 1800 688 211 www.pryde.com.au

CDN for balanced unshielded wire pairs The Teseq coupling/decoupling network (CDN) model HSS-2 is designed for surge testing of balanced unshielded wire pairs. Examples include Ethernet 1, 2, and 4 pair communication buses and coupling is achieved via a 40 ohm resistive impedance in series with capacitive coupling elements. The Teseq CDN-HSS-2 is suitable for 10, 100, and 1000 Base T as well as for PoE. The Teseq CDN-HSS-2 is safe to use and even with a surge test voltage of 2 kV, auxiliary equipment is subject to 65 volts maximum. The decoupling network provides testing in accordance with IEC 61000-4-5 (edition 3/77/67A/CD2012-05) and provides a surge pulse shape for the equipment under test that is independent of auxiliary equipment. Insertion loss for the CDN is typically 9 dB at 100 MHz. Westek Electronics www.westek.com.au

Eddy current flaw detector The Vantage is a hand-held, fully featured Eddy current flaw detector for use in the NDT, aerospace, offshore, petrochemical, power and rail/axle inspection industries. Rapid defect detection is made possible by the 320 x 240 pixel colour display and a simple side-bar menu that allows direct access to key instrument parameters, with the option of instantly switching to full-screen mode. The menu system is intuitive and an experienced Eddy current operator will be comfortable with the instrument.

The Vantage is housed in an IP65-rated ABS enclosure.

Russell Fraser Sales 02 9545 4433 www.rfsales.com.au

Anybus CompactCom expanded HMS has expanded Anybus CompactCom to gives users the option to choose their level of integration to the host device and the desired performance level. The Anybus CompactCom consists of ready-made communication interfaces for all major fieldbus and industrial Ethernet networks in several form factors. CompactCom Chip is a full network connectivity solution on a single chip for integration into the user’s PCB design. CompactCom Brick is suitable for users who have limited space or want to add their own choice of network connectors. CompactCom Module is a complete and interchangeable communication module gives the

fastest time to market. Regardless of form factor, users still have the interchangeability of Anybus.

The Anybus CompactCom 30-series is tailored for users needing a solution for general automation.

The CompactCom 40-series based on the new NP40 network processor. This series caters mainly for high-performance industrial communication for demanding applications. The CompactCom 40-series is suitable for high-performance applications with fast network cycles and synchronisation demands such as servo drive systems.

Global Automation 03 9249 9696 www.anybus.com.au DECEMBER 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 17

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Energy-efficient insurance policy AdelaideAqua built a climate-independent water source for South Australia, while considering power, control and environmental considerations, writes Isaac Leung.

S

INCE the advent of the Adelaide Desalination Plant at Londsdale, South Australia, a political storm has surrounded the $1.83 billion facility.

Most recently, SA Water announced that the facility would be “mothballed”, prompting many to decry the “waste” of resource spent building the plant.

Other issues have included worker safety during the construction of the plant, the high energy consumption associated with the reverse osmosis desalination process, and the environmental impact of the concentrated saline discharge.

But to talk to some of the engineering brains behind the desalination facility is to gain a perspective into just how much expertise and thought went into every stage of the plant, with energy use, efficiency, reliability and transparency being just some of the key considerations.

Process and power use

The Adelaide Desalination Plant runs on renewable energy from AGL, which, while boosting its green credentials, costs 20 percent more than regular power.

According to Andrew Evenden of ACCIONA Agua, a key focus of the AdelaideAqua consortium was in the effective use and re-use of energy.

“The largest cost for desalinated water is power,” Evenden told PACE magazine. “[But] there are some unique process features of this plant which make it quite efficient.”

The desalination plant is situated on two levels. RL32, which houses the intake and outfall buildings, is 32m above sea level, while the main buildings are situated on RL52, 52m above sea level.

“We have to lift the water from sea level all the way up to RL52 to process it,” said Evenden. “There is a lot of energy involved in doing that.”

With the pump station situated 8m below sea level, 12 intake pump motors are gravity-fed the sea water from a 1.4 km long intake tunnel.

This water is run through three 18 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

The outfall shaft is equipped with two turbine generators that are driven by the water moving down the shaft. rotating band screens which remove solids larger than 3 mm, and then pumped through two separate headers to the RL52 main process area.

In the main process area, the water flows through disc filters, which remove particles larger than 100 micron. This system is cleaned by backwashing every one to two hours.

The water is then ultrafiltered

(UF). This system, utilising porous Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membranes, removes particles larger than 0.04 micron. The UF system is also cleaned by backwashing, and also has a clean-in-place facility using chlorine and acidic solutions.

When the desalination plant is running at full capacity, it takes in 600 megalitres of water a day, approximately 50 percent of which emerges as fresh water. The other 300 megalitres, which consists of seawater used for backwash and saline concentrate, is returned to sea via the outfall shaft.

The outfall shaft is equipped with two turbine generators that are driven by the water moving down the shaft.

The turbines each provide 700 kW of energy which is then reclaimed and used in the process.

To prevent any accidental damage to the highly fragile and expensive reverse osmosis membranes, cartridge filters are situated between the ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis systems.

The reverse osmosis process, which is spread across two buildings of the plant, gets rid of dissolved particles and salts to yield pure molecules of water. The Adelaide Desalination Plant utilises over 40,000 individual RO membrane units each with a surface area of over 40m2.

Saline concentrate

In order to overcome the natural osmosis pressure of seawater, the water is pumped through the membrane at high pressure.

At such pressures, the fresh water passes through the membrane more readily, while leaving the dissolved salts

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behind in the form of a saline concentrate.

The saline concentrate, which emerges from the reverse osmosis rack at high pressure, provides another opportunity to recover some energy using spinning rotors. “We have an energy recovery system that converts the high pressure output of the RO rack to use that energy mechanically to boost the pressure of the feed going into the rack. They provide a significant benefit in terms of saving and efficiency,� Evenden explained.

According to SA Water, about 50 percent of the water entering the reverse osmosis membrane racks is partly pressurised by energy recovered from the wastewater stream.

POWER: A view of the reverse osmosis B1 Rack energy recovery device.

Distribution and control

With all these power requirements, it is no surprise that the Adelaide Desalination Plant is the biggest single electricity user in South Australia.

The facility takes 66 kV from the main grid, toC _ 1 2 . p d f AD _ Pand A Csteps E VitAdown I DE > 11 kV. This then feeds 2.4 mega-

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8.11.2012 11.02 December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 19

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BEHIND THE SCENES

make augmentations to the equipment upon delivery to ensure they met Australian standards.

“I think there are some lessons to be learned, the biggest one of which is to involve the Australian Schneider Electric more actively, earlier on,” said Evenden.

“We left that a little bit late, but we did catch up. We had an incredible amount of support over the last 18 months from Schneider Electric, to overcome some of our core international issues.”

Schneider Electric, on its part, noting the issues faced by international customers, is addressing the challenges internally via a program called “Schneider One”, which aims to unify operations to deal with international buying and localised standards.

Transparent monitoring and control over all this equipment was a key focus for the project and was achieved by implementing a number of networks around the plant. watts of power to each of the 12 pumps for the reverse osmosis process, as well as the other pumps used in the plant.

Besides the pumps, a variety of other control equipment is present at the facility, necessitating 270 columns of switchgear on the site. Schneider Electricowned Magellan Power’s converters, support systems and power monitoring systems enact a key support role.

“In total, we have 280m of lowvoltage switchboards on our site, [with a] maximum rating of 6.6 kA, and we are rated to 60 kA for one second on those switchboards,” Evenden said.

In order to provide power to the Schneider Electric motor control centres, ATS soft starters and variable speed drives, the 11 kV feed is further dropped down to 690V and 400V. According to Evenden, transparent monitoring and control over all this equipment was a key focus for the project, and this was achieved by implementing a number of networks around the plant.

The facility utilises a decentralised control architecture, with the 16 different areas of the plant each covered by a Quantum PLC. “The main network is the level 3 ring around the entire plant,” Evenden said.

“The level 3 ring connects the main [Quantum] PLCs between the different facilities within the plant. It connects to the CITECT-based SCADA system and also to the State Government network.”

This connection to the State Government system allows SA Water to monitor the performance of the plant in real time.

“Below that level, there’s a series of level 2 rings, which connect the individual plant assets in each of those areas.

All those connect together as one network, is visible throughout the whole plant, and the data is available for trend analysis.”

20 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

Implementation CLARIFIERS: Transparent monitoring and control over all equipment was a key focus for the project.

ACCIONA Agua, as part of the AdelaideAqua consortium, opted to use Schneider Electric technology based on existing relationships and experience with the company, especially in past projects around the world.

“This is technology we know. When we looked at Adelaide, we looked for someone who could provide this technology we knew, who could provide a global solution for this, and was supported in the country,” Evenden said.

“The range of [Schneider Electric] products we have in the plant is fairly broad – we probably have one of everything.”

Evenden said the choice to use Schneider Electric’s equipment meshes with the constant conversation that the plant partners had around power consumption.

“There are benefits of using the level of automation and infrastructure that Schneider has. The configurability and the flexibility of those drives [we have in the plant] allow us to optimise power consumption,” he said.

Partnership in design

But ACCIONA Agua would not be simply installing off-the-shelf Schneider Electric products. Rather, as a Global Strategic Account for Schneider Electric, both companies designed the solutions

together, predominantly through partnerships in Europe, where both companies are based.

“Schneider Electric participated in the design of many aspects of the electrical side of the plant,” Evenden said.

“For example, the computer network in plant was a joint ACCIONA Agua/ Schneider Electric design. The protection systems within the plant were also a joint design.”

On its part, Schneider took on feedback from the AdelaideAqua team, and the feature requests from the customer, working them into the R&D of the products.

However, the journey has not been a totally smooth one, with both parties encountering issues with bringing solutions developed in Europe into Australia’s regulatory environment.

“When we buy equipment from around the world, we must ensure it meets the strictest requirements in Australia. That was something we fell down on earlier on,” Evenden explained.

“We bought equipment from lots of different sources, and they met a lot of international and European requirements. But bringing them back into Australia, there needed to be some work on the equipment before they met Australian requirements.”

As a result, the partners had to

The jointly-designed equipment was put in place around 18 months ago, and the plant is still in the commissioning phase.

In December, it will be handed over to its operator, which is a joint venture between ACCIONA Agua and Trility, who will run the facility for 20 years.

According to Evenden, the equipment has worked very well over the past 18 months, and he is confident that it will continue working well for the next 20 years.

“The amount of effort we put in during the design phase sorting out the issues with local standards has paid off,” Evenden said.

While energy efficiency is built into the design of the climate-independent water supply, flexibility and the capacity for future optimisation was also provided for. This means the operator will have the insight and capability to tweak various areas and features to improve energy consumption in the future.

Evenden’s response to comments relating to the plant being mothballed is a measure of his confidence in this builtin flexibility.

“We’ve designed the plant to be able to use a range of capacities. It can be shut down for a short or prolonged period. It was all part of what was contemplated in the design,” he said.

“From a design point of view, it’s a flexible plant which can be shut down and started up quickly. Which is why it’s there: it’s an insurance policy.”

Schneider Electric 1300 369 233 www.schneider-electric.com.au

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NEW PRODUCTS

Serial to Ethernet device server Heat eliminating cold gun In addition to producing a cold stream of air to reduce heat buildup on machining operations, Exair’s Cold Gun Aircoolant System has also attained the CE mark. It is a low cost alternative to mist systems and eliminates the ongoing costs associated with the purchase, filtration and disposal of liquid coolants. In addition, there are no worker related health problems resulting from breathing airborne coolants or slipping on wet shop floors.

The Cold Gun system incorporates a stainless steel vortex tube to convert an ordinary supply of compressed air into a cold -7°C air stream at one end and a hot exhaust at the other. There are no moving parts to wear out. The Cold Gun now features an improved muffler on the hot air exhaust to reduce the noise level to 70 dBA. A flexible ball and socket hose that holds its position is used to direct the cold air to the point of use. A magnetic base provides easy mounting and portability.

Aaxeon Technologies has released a rugged high speed 4-port gateway between Ethernet (TCP/IP) and serial signal communications. The STE-6104C-T unit allows almost any serial device to be connected to a new or existing Ethernet network giving the user the ability to easily monitor, manage and control industrial field devices remotely. The STE-6104C-T has flexible configuration options enabling it to be setup over Ethernet by Telnet, Web browser, Serial console, or other utilities. It is packaged in a metal housing for DIN rail or wall mount with 9-48 VDC wide power input range, and has a wide operating temperature of -40°C to 80°C for harsher environments. The STE-6104C-T comes equipped with Virtual COM software that provides existing Windows based applications to access a serial device by mapping to a remote serial server via Ethernet.

It is also used as a field device to connect Ethernet through TCP/ IP protocol directly. Specifically designed for conjunction with PLCs, HMIs, barcode scanners, data terminals, shop floor control systems, and pick-to-light systems.

Aaxeon Technologies info@aaxeon.com www.aaxeon.com

Plug connecters in miniature format With the M17 compact series of round plug connectors, Phoenix Contact has reduced the size of its standard connectors. The diameter of the cable connector was reduced by 2.6 mm to 18.7 mm; the total length was also reduced by about 15 percent.

Three new housing designs round off the product range: In addition to cable and coupler connectors, there is also a panel feed-through with integrated mounting flange. By interchanging the moulded seal, users can use the panel feed-through for rear and front panel mounting. Eight and nine-pin insulators, which are factory equipped with 1 mm crimp contacts, are also being launched. A new feature is the optional colour marking using plastic rings on the housing, which help prevent false connections being made.

Phoenix Contact 1300 786 411 www.phoenixcontact.com.au

PA Segment coupler adds to COMbricks family In partnership with Procentec, I S Systems has released the PA Segment coupler module as an addition to the COMbricks family. The PA Segment coupler enables seamless integration of PA Networks. The integrated ProfiTrace and oscilloscope make this product suitable for remote maintenance and usage of asset management tools via the included CommDTM. The PA coupler does not require configuration and operates the same way as a regular COMbricks repeater. The COMbricks PA coupler features: Transparent from 9.6 kbps to 1.5 Mbps; Customisable segment supply voltage; Direct replacement of third party non-Ex PA couplers; Usage as a PA bus monitor behind existing third party non-Ex PA couplers; Oscilloscope signals of the PA devices and capturing of minimum and maximum bus signals.

Compressed Air Australia 1300 787 688 www.caasafety.com.au

I S Systems sales@issystems.com.au www.procentec.com/combricks

Handheld combines power measurements with fibre inspection The SmartClass Fiber OLP-87 FTTH PON Meter and OLP-82 Power Meter claim to be the industry’s first optical handheld that combines accurate power measurements with Pass/Fail fibre inspection into a single portable device. It reduces the number of tools and peripherals required to be carried into the field and correctly enables installation, commissioning or troubleshooting of fibre anywhere in the network from day one. Fibre connectivity is rapidly expanding into new environments such as FTTH and FTTA. As user bandwidth demands increases, the margin for error

in network performance is reduced. Each connection point is a potential risk for signal loss and damage as contaminated connectors are the number one cause for troubleshooting in optical networks. Network owners are protecting their investments by demanding compliance to industry standards for endface cleanliness, such as IEC 61300-3-35.

AFC Group 1300 232 476 www.afcgroup.com.au DECEMBER 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 21

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IN FOCUS

Behind the MVSD vs. VFD debate The decision whether to use mechanical variable-speed drives or variable frequency drives should always be based on the optimisation of the total purchase-operation costs, writes Amin Almasi.

T

HE mechanical variable-speed drives (MVSD), particularly the hydrodynamic torque converters, could dampen pulsations generated by the connected machines (such as the synchronous motor produced pulsation torques).

It is particularly true for large dynamic torques in transient situations such as start-up or the short-circuit transient excitations. This mechanical “soft� start and the dampening effects could provide a positive impact on a rotating machine train.

Sometimes, an MVSD could be a cost effective and compact alternative to an electric VFD (variable-frequency drive) system.

However, the behaviour of an MVSD system is very difficult to properly model or predict. The MVSD system is obviously one of the biggest unknowns in the rotating machine industry.

The examples of available mechanical drive options are: o The MVSD speed-control and speedincrease for high output speeds. This is useful in relatively high power applications, say up to 18 MW. o The geared variable-speed coupling.

This is cheaper than the option above, however delivers lower efficiency at part-loads, usually less than 10 MW. o The variable-speed coupling. This offers speed control, no speed increase, is relatively cheap and relatively less efficient.

For example, in a case study for a middle size compressor train, dynamic torques are reduced by a MVSD from around 210 percent of the nominal torque (at the electric motor driven shaft) down to around 95 percent of the nominal torque at the compressor-toMVSD coupling.

A short-circuit (transient) torque is also dampened through the MVSD from an excitation above 380 percent down to around 155 percent of the nominal torque (on the compressor shaft).

Because of the design of the MVSD packages there are some special (and unique) features in the alignment proce22 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

PREDICT: The MVSD system is one of the biggest unknowns in the rotating machine industry.

The most common type of MVSD is a combination of a torque converter and revolving planetary gears.

dures for this equipment that should be understood prior to the order placement.

An MVSD could also need some special requirements in the commissioning works. The MVSD systems (particularly the hydrodynamic torque converters) require a large amount of oil for the operation.

The special oil skid provided by the MVSD manufacturer is usually an integral part of MVSD system base-plate/

package. The main oil pump is most often a shaft driven pump.

This pump should be sized properly to handle all operational situations (an ample margin and a proper match with the oil requirement cases). There should also be a full-sized, second start-up (and stand-by) oil pump.

Sometimes, a rundown tank or a (third) emergency DC electric motor driven backup oil pump system could be required.

A combined oil system with other equipment in the train is a compact option, which requires an excellent coordination between the MVSD manufacturer and the rotating machine vendor(s).

It may not be a popular option for some operators (since usually a manufacturer-standard combined oil skid is offered), but if implemented properly

it could result in a considerable saving.

The MVSD manufacturer usually specifies a typical mineral oil suitable for gear units/machineries.

Complex gear system

Another feature is the planetary gear of a MVSD (which is usually a very complex gear system). The gear system itself is a compact unit and the drive and driven shafts are usually on the same planes (horizontally and vertically).

However, the planetary gear unit (that is usually used) can offer some complex behaviour. An MVSD, because of its complex nature, is a nonlinear system and should be linearised for the modelling (such as the torsional vibration study, and other studies).

The efficiency at a part-load is relatively low. MVSD options are manufac-

PACE.DEC12.PG023.pdf

tured by a few vendors.

Sometimes, very limited options for some components (such as the instruments, bearings, or mechanical parts) are used by the MVSD manufacturer, which means some deviations on the project specifications.

Usually, a relatively long list of deviations should be accepted for an MVSD system. MVSD systems are very special and complex mechanical systems (with many manufacturer standard components), which need a large amount of oil and special oil system accessories.

There could be some design, commercial and operational advantages for an MVSD compared to other options. Less space is required for an MVSD compared to a VFD system.

An MVSD does not generate harmonic pulsations (a problem of some VFD systems) and it offers some vital mechanical dampening effects to some disturbances.

However, for an MVSD, some unknowns are expected, special commissioning (and alignment) procedures are required, and there are very limited options available to the user.

Considering all these factors, the reliability of an MVSD cannot be higher than a certain level. The run time before an unexpected shutdown could be around one-two years.

Unexpected shutdowns are mainly oil-related (the bearing related or the oil system related). An overhaul interval could be three-to-six years. The reference check is extremely important. MVSDs could be used for middle size applications (say 1 to 16 MW).

Planetary gear MVSD

The most common type of MVSD is a combination of a torque converter and revolving planetary gears.

This MVSD comprises a torque converter and two sets of planetary gears: o A superposing planetary gear for the speed variation. o A fixed planetary gear for the reduction of the superposing speed.

The planetary gear is usually of the helical design for smooth operation and superior running properties. The hydrodynamic torque converter is a combination of the hydraulic pump impeller, the hydraulic turbine wheel and adjustable guide vanes.

The hydraulic pump impeller is connected to the input shaft and the hydraulic turbine wheel to the output

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of power) is subject to the hydrodynamic efficiency of the torque converter which could result in a reasonable overall efficiency at the full-load or the loads near the full-loads.

For a lower speed range (a speed below the normal speed), the turbine wheel acts as a hydrodynamic brake (this is a reversal of the power flow). Because of this effect, the MVSD part-load efficiency is usually lower than the VFD. The minimum speed limit of the variable speed gear system (MVSD) could be around 55 to 70 percent of the maximum continuous speed. Some MVSD performance limitations could be the result of the circumferential speed of the annulus gear (driven by the driver).

Generally with increasing the speed ratio, the possible transmitted power (the power rating) is decreasing. Some limitations are usually caused by the geometry of the revolving gear. The higher the gear ratio, the smaller the sun wheel and the smaller the number of planets because of the intersection.

Making the right choice

DEMANDING: An MVSD may need some special requirements in the commissioning works. shaft. The fluid (oil) is accelerated in the hydraulic pump impeller and transmits the energy to the hydraulic turbine wheel.

The fluid flows through the adjustable guide vanes, where the flow and the flow angle are adjusted. Based on the position of the guide vanes (ranging from the fully-closed to the fully-open), the torque and the speed of the turbine wheel can be adjusted.

The actuator can open the guide vanes and accelerate the turbine wheel to properly control the torque/speed of the MVSD system.

The variable-speed planetarygear type MVSD requires oil for two oil circuits: o The power transmission oil system (hydraulic or working oil). o The lubrication oil system which can provide lubrication for the train (including the bearings).

The MVSD is based on the principle of power splitting. The majority

of the power is directly driven through the input shaft to the revolving planetary gear (driving the annulus gear with a fixed speed). The output shaft is connected to the driven equipment.

A small part of the power is driven through the torque converter, where the speed is adjusted and then superimposed in the planetary gear.

All three components of the planetary gear (the annulus gear, the planet carrier and the sun gear) are moving in a superposing planetary gear system.

A variable output speed is obtained by addition or subtraction of speed which is achieved by variation of the planet carrier speed. The turbine wheel of the torque converter is connected to the planet carrier of the superposing planetary gear via the fixed planetary gear. In the superimposing planetary gear the two power flows are combined and transmitted to the output shaft.

Only the power branched-off through the torque converter (a portion

For low voltage electric motors almost always a VFD is preferred, as it is cheaper than an MVSD. MVSDs, such as hydraulic torque converters, are not recommended for large rotating machines (above 18 MW). MVSDs are special variable speed systems which should only be used in a right application, where there are technical, commercial or foot-print benefits.

Successful examples of MVSD systems usually include special revamp/ renovation projects. Giving an indication of the cost difference is not easy and this can change with every application (depending also on the VFD details/ manufacturer). For the right application, an MVSD could probably be 5 to 20 percent cheaper than a VFD. It is difficult to give a general comparison between a VFD and an MVSD, as it depends very much on the application (speed, power, operating characteristics and foot-print). The decision should always be based on the optimisation of the total purchase-operation costs.

[Amin Almasi (amin.almasi@ WorleyParsons.com) is lead rotating equipment engineer at WorleyParsons Services in Brisbane. He specialises in rotating machines including centrifugal, screw and reciprocating compressors, gas and steam turbines, pumps, condition monitoring and reliability.]

December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 23

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IN FOCUS

Keeping analysers cool in the field Anthony Leong and Martin Hess make the case for passive cooling of field-based process analysers sited in harsh environmental conditions and high daytime temperatures.

F

IELD-based process analysers are often sited in remote environments where they need protecting against harsh environmental conditions, and high daytime temperatures.

For optimum performance and reliability, their electronics and sample conditioning systems must be maintained within prescribed temperature limits, requiring that the environmental protection shelter is well insulated and incorporates some form of cooling.

Most analyser shelters currently use air conditioning (AC) systems to protect against high temperatures.

These are expensive – especially if they need to be explosion-proof – and can account for a high percentage of the capital, energy and maintenance costs of a typical oil or gas analyser installation.

Furthermore, they do not easily scale down to suit small shelters, and their performance decreases by as much as two thirds at high ambient temperatures.

One nascent trend is to employ passive cooling technology. Originally developed for pipeline instrumentation shelters in remote desert locations without an electricity supply, passive cooling systems (PCSs) have been deployed successfully over the past decade.

Intertec, for example, has supplied passively cooled shelters for protecting SCADA systems on numerous pipeline projects, which have become renowned for reliable, low maintenance operation.

Despite this take-up, analyser system integrators may be unaware that the performance and choice of passive cooling systems has increased significantly in recent years.

Common misconceptions are that they are big, demand high capacity coolant tanks, and are only suitable for climates with large day-night temperature swings.

Nowadays, however, there is a variety of passive and hybrid-passive cooling technology that can be scaled to suit most analyser and micro-analyser installations, and used in virtually any climate.

24 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

INTERIORS: An engineer installs equipment inside a passive shelter.

There is a variety of passive and hybrid-passive cooling technology that can be scaled to suit most analyser and microanalyser installations.

Cool without power

A purely passive cooling system works by exploiting the difference between day and night temperatures in regions with

high swings, such as arid deserts.

Shelters typically comprise an insulated housing with internal and external heat exchangers – the latter is roofmounted and incorporates a sunshade – together with a thermally stratified heat storage tank and interconnecting pipework forming two closed-loop thermosiphon systems (external and internal).

Water is normally used as the coolant because of its high thermal capacity, and circulates by natural convection. The process is inherently reliable because there are no moving parts.

During the day no thermosiphon circulation occurs in the external circuit because the external heat exchanger

is higher than the storage tank and contains water which is hotter and therefore less dense.

However, thermosiphon circulation causes cold water to be displaced from the bottom of the tank and drawn up through the internal circuit/heat exchanger, cooling the shelter interior by air convection.

At night, water in the external heat exchanger becomes colder than that in the tank, causing circulation. The heat energy stored in the tank is dissipated to the environment by the external heat exchanger, while the internal circuit continues operating normally.

This process consumes no energy, and smooths temperature peaks and troughs over 24 hours.

Figure 1 shows the temperature profiles of a test shelter built by Intertec to compare different cooling technologies. With a footprint of 2.4m x 5.4m, the 3m high shelter is constructed from panels with twin 4 mm walls of Intertec’s low thermal conductivity GRP material, sandwiching a 76 mm PU foam core.

The heat dissipation of equipment inside the shelter is 1 kW, and the ambient 29°C night and 58°C day temperatures represent worst-case summer values in a country like the UAE. Similar conditions exist in parts of Australia.

Good insulation ensures that internal temperature is barely affected by the high daytime ambient, and passive cooling keeps its maximum to within 7°C of the ambient temperature of the preceding night.

Key parameters to consider when configuring a PCS are the heat dissipation of the equipment, maximum permissible temperature inside the shelter, the outside air temperature of the night preceding the hottest day, and the difference between night and day temperatures.

System performance is limited by the sum of the temperature differences, or delta-T, which must be at least 6°K for natural convection. However, if the

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delta-T is too small, forced circulation offers a cost-effective solution.

Cooling performance

Forced circulation effectively doubles PCS performance, allowing operation with a delta-T of just 3°K, and can be realised using small low-power pumps driven by a rechargeable battery and solar panel.

Another major benefit of forced circulation is that water can be routed via heat conduction manifolds instead of an internal water/air heat exchanger.

As thermal conduction is about five times more effective at heat transfer than air convection, direct cooling of manifold-mounted analyser electronics is considerably more efficient than using AC to circulate cooled air, reducing cooling requirements by as much as 80 percent. This lowers capital and operating costs dramatically, and decreases shelter sizes.

One method of cooling analyser shelters that is gaining ground involves a hybrid system. Pioneered by Intertec, this combines a passive cooler with a small external water chiller that only operates on demand, to further reduce the water temperature in the heat storage tank (it’s also possible to build hybrid systems to exploit cool water from any available nearby source, provided its temperature is at least 3°K lower than the shelter’s maximum allowable internal temperature).

The chiller forms part of a closedloop system, feeding a heat exchanger coil in the bottom of the tank (Figure 2).

Designers can easily scale cooling capacity to the application. The passive element can be sized such that in winter its cooling power is sufficient to maintain internal shelter temperatures, while in summer months when the ambient night time temperature is too high, the chiller can be switched on by a thermostat until the tank water is cool enough (a timer ensures it only operates at night).

Intertec’s test results show that hybrid cooling with a 1 kW chiller ensures that the test shelter’s internal temperature never exceeds 27°C, even after the hottest night. The chiller’s capital costs are much less than an AC system, and its energy consumption is about 30 percent lower because it does not have to run when ambient temperature is very high.

Hybrid cooling systems also offer

FIGURE 1: Temperature profiles of a test shelter built by Intertec to compare different cooling technologies.

increased reliability and reduced maintenance costs, through builtin redundancy.

In the event of chiller failure or power loss, even at the hottest time of year the tank’s cold water will keep the shelter below the night time temperature for two successive days; provided the analyser electronics are backed by an uninterruptible power supply, they can operate normally throughout this period.

On the other hand, equipment cooled by conventional AC invariably has to be shut down or revert to a low power mode with limited functionality immediately cooling ceases, to prevent overheating. The fault then needs to be rectified very quickly, which carries high cost overheads.

System economics

FIGURE 2: The chiller forms part of a closed-loop system and feeds a heat exchanger coil in the bottom of the tank.

SCHEMATIC: Identifying the major components of a passive shelter.

Shelters with passive or hybrid cooling systems incur slightly higher capital costs than those with AC. As an example, the total cost of a passively cooled version of Intertec’s test shelter is approximately 20 percent higher than a similar shelter with AC, while a test shelter with hybrid cooling costs about 28 percent more.

However, by far the most important parameter for analyser installations in remote locations is long term cost of ownership.

While a PCS has very low maintenance requirements and requires no power, in extreme environments such as the deserts of South Australia (where daytime temperatures might reach the high 40s Centigrade), the shelter’s room temperature could reach 39°C – permissible for electronics but uncomfortable for personnel.

A hybrid cooling system capable of maintaining the shelter at 25°C under the same conditions would have a power consumption of about 5800 kWh/year, whereas an AC system of comparable performance would consume over 13,000 kWh/year, require regular maintenance and be susceptible to breakdown at peak temperatures.

System integrators seeking a reliable, scalable and cost-effective long term solution for protecting analyser equipment against high temperatures should take a look at passive cooling.

[Anthony Leong is regional sales manager, Intertec; Martin Hess is Intertec president.]

INTERTEC South-East Asia Anthony.Leong@intertec.info www.intertec.info December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 25

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Brewhouse gets high on quality Coopers Brewery replaced its custom-developed quality system with a system that stored quality data for years and also gave staff the ability to analyse the data and make continuous improvements, writes Jeff Salton.

C

OOPERS Brewery – the largest family-owned brewery and the third largest brewery in this country – celebrates its 150th anniversary in this year.

Recently, worldwide demand for Coopers products dictated that the company replace its custom-developed quality system with a modern system that not only would store quality data for years but also give Coopers’ personnel the ability to analyse the data and make continuous improvements. Technology partner Siemens provided the solution with its SIMATIC IT Unilab Laboratory Information Management System (R&D Suite).

Coopers Operations Manager Nick Sterenberg and his team evaluated several information management systems on the market and decided to use the Siemens Unilab solution.

The decision to use Unilab was based on the ability of Unilab to integrate with the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) that Coopers was planning to implement, Unilab’s ability to integrate with the various laboratory instruments and the relationship between Coopers and Siemens.

Over the past 20 years, SIMATIC IT Unilab has been chosen by a number of companies such as Unilever, ABInBev, Cargill, Schering-Plough Labo, to name a few.

“Unilab is easy to implement and easy to use,” said Coopers Laboratory Manager Janie Zimmermann. Siemens provided three weeks of training on Unilab to Coopers’ personnel after which Coopers implemented the system on its own with support from Siemens.

A year later advanced training was provided by Siemens to analyse the collected data.

“Unilab has been operational for the past two years and has provided a significant amount of information to enable us to model and manage the complete workflow of all quality data in the lab and on the production line and enabled us to provide a B2B integration

26 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

DATA: Unilab has been operational for the past two years and has provided a significant amount of information.

with one of our main supplier to provide them with an interface to directly put in quality information using Unilab’s web based capabilities,” said Zimmermann.

One of the drivers behind an increase in the implementation of MES and MES functionality is the involvement of senior management wanting to link manufac-

turing processes to corporate strategies.

These include the need to converge top floor visions and shop floor system and drive overall value through governance, quality and cost management.

Importantly, sustainable value creation processes require optimum market responsiveness.

Software platforms like Siemens Simatic IT provide multi-plant and full supply chain coordination across the different divisions within the plant, taking care of the plant-centric functional requirements. This is achieved through a modular and scalable approach.

“Simatic IT allows companies to

r years .

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Plant operators should look for a solution that fills the gap between business systems and control systems.

FERMENTATION CURVE: Worldwide demand for Coopers products dictated that the company replace its customdeveloped quality system.

TRACKING TRACING: Coopers needed to analyse the data and make continuous improvements. establish an enterprise technology enabler enforcing value-driven strategies from the business to performance measures on the plant,” says Siemens Market Development Manager Food & Beverage, Daraius Battiwalla.

“Plant operators should look for a solution that fills the gap between business systems (typically ERPs) and control systems. The right system should be able to create the conditions for an increase in the efficiency of the overall supply chain.

“For instance, the Simatic IT Production Suite is a collection of highly integrated components with a broad

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LABORATORY: The decision to use Unilab was based on the ability to integrate it with various laboratory instruments. range of functionality designed to coordinate the systems within each factory and standardise production across the entire enterprise for a better performance,” he said.

Battiwalla recommends customers should consult companies that can provide the following key benefits in their MES solution: o Full traceability across the different functional departments o Full transparency of operations at the enterprise level to help ensure quality and governance. Without the comprehensive view of production MES provides, senior managers risk making poor decisions across the rest of the enterprise o Guidance for operators that initiate quality instructions enforcing best practice processes o Data to use for regulatory or customer compliance about the product and its history as well as the process by which it was produced o Accurate and timely information on the detailed production levers that plant employees/ management need to identify and correct – or possibly prevent – problems.

Siemens 137 222 www.siemens.com.au

December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 27

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SPOTLIGHT

7best of the

Large-size element valves Bürkert’s Element range of valves has been extended into larger-format valves and drives, with orifice up to DN50 and actuator to 130mm. This will expand the application area of the valve types, enabling their use at higher process pressures and larger flow rates. Element is a modular valve concept that delivers single-unit controlled valves, with a choice in valve style, and feedbacks, positioner or process controller needs. Element is characterised by a stainless steel housing with intelligent and flexible system architecture. The range further extends to flow, level, and analysis chemistry sensors. The expanded Element line encompasses on/ off Types 2100 angle-seat and 2101 globe valves, the corresponding proportional control Types 2300 angleseat and 2301 globe valves, and the on/off and proportional control 2103 diaphragm valve family. All valves will be available with 50mm ... 130mm actuators, with orifice sizes DN8 to DN50. The valves control fluids, steam, caustic solutions and chemicals, as well as abrasive or high-purity substances in many applications and process environments. The IP65/67 construction enables the Element range to operate in arduous conditions, from hygienic process caustic wash-down areas (FDA and EHEDG certification), to high-dust mineral processing areas.

Bürkert Fluid Control Systems 1300 888 868 sales.au@burkert.com www.burkert.com.au

PACE showcase of the best engineering technology releases of the month.

Fourth generation position control cards Omron Electronics’ CJ1W-NC4 series of position control modules are built for their CJ1 and CJ2 PLC platforms.

The fourth generation CJ1W-NC4 series can produce output pulses at up to 4Mbps for high speed, high resolution position control. Each CJ1W NC4 card can control 2 or 4 axes, using either line driver or open collector output. The axes can be coordinated, for a linear or circular interpolated output. They can drive not only stepper motors and rotary servos but also linear drives and even direct drive motors. The CJ1WNC4 cards include advanced features such as fully closed loop control, where

absolute and incremental encoder signals are fed back directly into the controller card. This allows actual positions to be confirmed. Programming has been simplified by Omron’s CX-One package. It incorporates all the setup functions within the main PLC programming package. It also provides, at no additional charge, over thirty PLCOpen compliant function blocks, for easy programming. Ready made cables to Omron servo drives simplify wiring significantly. They also remove the possibility of incorrect wiring.

Omron Electronics 1300 766 766 www.omron.com.au

Miniature magnetic field sensor Turck has released the BIM-UNTK said to be the shortest magnetic field sensor in this sector for detecting the piston position in compact pneumatic cylinders. The IP67-rated sensor features a length of 19.7 mm, making it suited for measuring particularly short hydraulic cylinders, pneumatic power clamps and grippers. Operators benefit from increased switch point accuracy, in addition to the sensor’s compact mounting form. The sensor disappears completely in the T groove, eliminating potential for any mechanical damage. An LED on the sensor enables the cylinder position to be read directly in the field.

The BIM-UNTK can be fitted into the T groove of 28 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

a cylinder from above or from the side. The sensor may be fastened with one hand in the standard T groove without the need for any additional accessories. Turck offers suitable mounting accessories for different cylinder and groove sizes for other cylinder types such as tie rod cylinders, round cylinders or dovetail groove cylinders. The BIM-UNTK features a polyurethane jacketed cable that is suitable as trailing cable. Turck offers a model with a 2m cable and an open cable end, as well as two 30cm pigtail variants with M8 and M12 connectors.

TURCK Australia 1300 132566 www.turck.com.au

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Email your product news to editor@pacetoday.com.au

Ball and needle valve solutions Bifold’s range of Ball and Needle Valve products have been developed for low/ medium pressure applications with an operating range from 70 bar up to 1380 bar. The products have all been designed to overcome the problems of traditional assemblies on primary isolation and venting duties. Constructed from UNS S31600/ S31603 Stainless Steel (alternative materials available), in compliance with NACE MR-01-75 as standard and with ¼” NPT up to 2” NPT within the range. The Ball Valve range is available as a single piece body design, reducing potential leak paths to the outside environment along with an anti-blow out stem and pressure energised stem seal which ensures seal integrity. The use of PEEK seat and stem seal materials allows operation over a wide temperature range from -20°C to +180°C, with alternative temperature range from -45°C to +225°C. The design incorporates lower and consistent torque to operate and pressure tested in accordance with API 598 and BS EN 12266-1. The valves are proof tested to 1.5 times of maximum working pressure as standard.

Integrated drive-motor system simplifies cabling Machine builders can reduce control-system enclosure size, cut wiring time and simplify cabling when using the new Allen-Bradley Kinetix 6000M integrated drive-motor system from Rockwell Automation. The Kinetix 6000M drive-motor combines the Allen-Bradley MP-Series food-grade servo motor and Kinetix 6000 multi-axis servo drive technologies into a single, compact, on-machine package. Moving servo drives out of the control enclosure and onto the machine delivers space savings, while reducing cabling. Terminating servo motor power and feedback cables at panel-mounted servo drives can take about 20 minutes per axis.

The Kinetix 6000M integrated drive-motor system allows machine builders to do this in approximately 30 seconds, helping to dramatically reduce installation time. The Kinetix 6000M drive-motor is designed to integrate seamlessly with the Kinetix 6000 and Kinetix 6200 multi-axis servo-drive systems and features an integrated drive-motor power interface module that mounts directly to a standard Kinetix 6000 power rail.

Bifold Fluidpower marketing@bifold.co.uk www.bifold.co.uk

Digital analog mass flow meter

Rockwell Automation 03 9757 1111 www.rockwellautomation.com.au

Alicat Scientific’s M Series Digital/Analog Mass Flow Meters are used in processes like leak detection, flow monitoring and atmospheric testing. The latest generation M Series features 200:1 turndown ratio, allowing greater utilty for more applications. Alicat M Series Mass Flow Meters were designed to be used as a stand-alone device. They can measure pressure, temperature and volumetric flow in addition to mass flow. With the native display, a user can change the configuration of the meter without the need for computers, software or scripts. Alicat M Series and V Series flow meters require low power to run. Alicat M Series Mass Flow Meters are available in any flow range from a maximum reading of 0.5SCCM through to 2000SLPM. With the 200:1 turndown, the minimum reading is a 200th of these maxima.

Duff and Macintosh 02 9482 1411 www.duffmac.com.au

Temperature transmitters for the process industry The new temperature transmitters from ifm efector feature integrated drift monitoring as well as diagnostic and backup function to monitor temperatures with an accuracy of 0.2°K. By monitoring each other, the two integrated sensor elements ensure increased process safety. Therefore, occurring drift between the calibration intervals is immediately detected, diagnosed and signalled. If a sensor element fails, the process can be continued with a second measuring element (backup function). Due to the self-monitoring, the calibration intervals can be increased and maintenance

costs reduced. The accuracy of the temperature transmitter TAD is confirmed by the free 5-point calibration certificate supplied with each sensor. In addition to the already established probe lengths of 33mm and 87.5mm, the temperature sensors TAD091 and TAD081 complement the product range with the intermediate length of 50mm.

These two sensors are especially suited to the requirements of the process industry. The sensors are also equipped with IO-Link 1.1. ifm efector 1300 365 088 sales.au@ifm.com December 2012 www.pacetoday.com.au 29

PACE.DEC12.PG030.pdf

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CONNECTIONS

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minutes with...

Lyle van der Veer, National Support & Training Services Manager, Schneider Electric How did you come to be in this industry?

I try to solve the problems of the world with a 1000 km screwdriver.

I returned from paternity leave to discover that the exhibition and display company I was working for at the time had just gone broke.

So my father-in-law, a talented engineer with his own patented technology for water treatment, kindly took me under his wing.

What’s the best business idea you have that you will never use?

Well of course we’re all still waiting for the commercialisation of the ‘jetpack’ as our primary means of daily commute.

In the meantime, an electric car that runs on a solar rechargeable AAA battery and folds up into a briefcase would be a nice alternative.

What do you see are the biggest opportunities for our industry?

I see sustainability and balancing the growth and the wealth of our nation as our biggest opportunity.

Of course, this is clearly dependant on exporting our resources with the health of our nation, which is dependent on addressing the increasing challenges in energy, water and food scarcity and quality.

What’s the greatest challenge in your job?

screwdriver and often they just need me to decipher an acronym.

If you could be anything else, what would it be and why?

I’m already a failed actor so perhaps a director at this stage of my life.

I love the theatre as well as discovering and developing new talent, so this seems a pretty good way to hang around the stage and share my passion ... if only I had the talent to match.

Getting out of the way and listening well.

I have a bad habit of trying to solve the problems of the world with a 1000 km

lyle.vanderveer@schneider-electric.com 02 9125 8115 www.schneider-electric.com.au

IICA CORNER

The invisible parallel world Pay tribute to those who allow us to enjoy the benefits of our world, writes Brett Simpson.

IN THIS final article for 2012, I want to share my observations about a couple of events that I find interesting. At first glance both appear to be totally unrelated, and they are, but both also have quite a lot in common.

I want to begin by talking about the amazing ceremonial processions such as coronations, funerals and weddings. The public gathers in huge numbers to watch in delighted wonder.

The splendid parade often comprises innumerable groups of different but equally magnificent troops accompanying the official vehicles carrying the men and women who are the reason for these events.

The whole show appears to function as if by magic. It almost seems like a single organism moving perfectly forward. Not a step out of place, not a discordant note.

30 www.pacetoday.com.au December 2012

My second spectacular event is one that occurred in Melbourne a few months ago – in the city’s Burnley Tunnel. This was the day that virtually the whole of Melbourne’s traffic ground to a halt. From the beginning of the morning peak hour rush to the return of afternoon traffic heading home, there was chaos, traffic jams and unbelievable gridlocks everywhere. Those who tried to avoid the tunnel found that the side streets had already been swamped with like-minded drivers.

In the end there was no other solution than to sit in resigned patience coupled with simmering rage that such a monstrous event could have occurred.

The cause of the chaos was the failure of the tunnel’s electronic equipment leading to a total shutdown of the tunnel.

Both stories serve as just two examples of the fact that virtually all of our

modern world’s activities, events and projects – large or small – are underpinned by an almost ‘invisible parallel world’ of expert professionals.

These engineers, logistics managers, IT technicians, instrumentation and control systems analysts to name just a few, design, plan, implement, maintain and coordinate much of our comfortable 21st century lives.

This ‘parallel world’, at its best, functions so smoothly that we simply take it for granted and our lives almost resemble those participants of processions who never take a step out of turn. And of course this is exactly what happens most of the time.

It is only on those very rare occasions when something goes drastically wrong, as in the Burnley Tunnel, that we come face to face with the reality that our seemingly well ordered lives are ‘normal’

only because there are people whose jobs it is to ensure that all systems are functioning like clockwork. And despite the very best efforts of highly skilled and intelligent people, these systems sometimes fail.

I want to pay tribute to the countless technical and professional experts in all areas of industry sectors including a very substantial percentage from our own IC&A areas, who are responsible for giving us the luxury of enjoying the benefits that our modern world affords.

While no one can prevent a major disaster happening, we can be very confident that this is the rare exception rather than the rule.

It now remains for me to wish every one of the readers of PACE a very happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

[Brett Simpson is President IICA.] admin@iica.org.au www.iica.org.au

pace_zenith_2013v2.pdf

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Nominations are now open for the 2013 10th Annual PACE Zenith Awards, to be held in Sydney on Thursday 13 June 2013.

A total of 11 awards will be up for grabs on the night, highlighting company’s innovation and excellence in engineering and technological projects.

All finalists will receive free publicity in PACE magazine and two free tickets to the gala dinner where the winners will be announced.

For more information please visit www.pacetoday.com.au/awards

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

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AD_PACETESDEC_12.pdf

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