PACE - Process & Control Engineering - March 2013

PACE.MAR13.PG001_r.pdf

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MARCH 2013 | VOL.66 NO.2

PACE marks 60 years For six decades now, PACE magazine has been an integral part of Australia’s process control and automation community. Tell us your story editor@pacetoday.com.au

Engineering software

Minerals processing

Uranium extraction

Modelling solutions fix plant design problems prior to implementation.

Locally developed technology is paying dividends for OreKinetics.

ACE builds relocatable plant for extracting uranium from phosphate fertiliser.

Post Print Approved PP255003/00539

INSIDE PACE

Simply visit www.tesensors.com/au

AD_PACEBECMAR_13.pdf

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PACE.MAR13.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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17 News Update 6

Management 12

PACE Zenith Awards 22

Water treatment Adelaide company to build ship-mounted reverse osmosis plant to supply water to an Australian LNG plant.

Software design Companies can cut their design time and costs through repurposing existing designs.

Sponsor profiles The 2013 PACE Zenith Awards will see an exciting new category added to the line-up.

Case Study 17

IICA Corner 30

Viewpoint 8

Minerals processing Queensland-based company develops unique electrostatic separation technology and exports over 60 percent of its machines.

Training options The IICA can assist with professional training in process control and automation and also offers specialised courses designed by ISA.

Temperature measurements Given the small size of the market few suppliers have invested in their temperature transmitter product line.

ON THE COVER

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF:

MARCH 2013 | VOL.66 NO.1

PACE E marks 60 years For six decades now, PACE E magazine has been an integral part of Australia’s process control and automation community. Tell us your story editor@pacetoday.com.au

Average Net Distribution Period ending September ‘12 6,599

Engineering software

Minerals processing

Uranium extraction

Modelling solutions fix plant design problems prior to implementation.

Locally developed technology is paying dividends for OreKinetics.

ACE builds relocatable plant for extracting uranium from phosphate fertiliser.

Post Print Approved PP255003/00539

INSIDE PACE

Simply visit www.tesensore.com.au

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provides a simplified approach to sensing solutions. Minimising selection complexity allows you to focus on other important areas of your business, such as plant and machine performances.

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PACE.MAR13.PG004.pdf

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COMMENT

WHAT’S ON

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

ATS Knowledge Day – Manufacturing, Quality, IT, Automation, Metrology 12 March 2013, Sydney 14 March 2013, Melbourne www.ats-global.com/au

Becoming a nation of entrepreneurs

3D Machine Vision Technology Day 20 March 2013, Sydney 22 March 2013, Melbourne www.adept.net.au

IT IS an oft-repeated lament that Australia desperately needs more entrepreneurs, especially in the engineering and technology space. It is unlikely we will build a GE or Hyundai in the next decade but we can transform into a nation of small scale, high value companies trading on innovation.

Unfortunately, in the Australian context, being an entrepreneur means buying stuff from China and selling it locally to turn a profit.

There are the usual downers such as lack of government support and banks that do not

Kevin Gomez Editor

IICA Technology Expo 27 March 2013, Wagga Wagga events@iica.org.au National Manufacturing Week (NMW) 2013 7-10 May 2013, Melbourne www.nationalmanufacturingweek. com.au For daily updates visit www.pacetoday.com.au

Next Issue • Motors, Drives & Motion Control • HMIs and Rugged Systems • Wireless Technology • Process Control in Food & Pharmaceuticals

appreciate technology. Perhaps we need industrialists, not entrepreneurs. There are beginnings of a manufacturing shift away from low cost regions, back to home countries where the technology originated and where innovation still resides.

I do hope Australia sees these trends and preserves its engineering capital so as to grab the opportunities that will surely arrive.

We will be happy to hear from our readers regarding success stories (or otherwise).

Do you know of many small local engineering companies

who have become successful despite the odds?

We are also sending a call out to our readers to participate in the PACE 60th anniversary special issue. We are looking at the history, growth and future development of key industries such as: motors and drives, sensors, control systems, process instrumentation, security systems, and robotics and machine control, among many others.

We’d love to hear from you. kevin.gomez@reedbusiness.com.au

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

COMMUNICATIONS

Everything is now connected via smartphones and tablets

By JIm PInTo

and used to display and control most This is where most technology appliFoR several years now, we’ve discussed of the variables in the environment. cations are headed. Because of the rapid the Pervasive Internet and the Internet The hardware used to be a stand-alone worldwide adoption of smartphones of Things (IoT) – a world where nearly device. But it becomes vastly more and tablets, they function as the device everything will be connected to everyuseful when connected. to display, interact and record almost thing else. In the past, this was just an These smart connections are everything. The hardware is made idea. But now, it is starting to emerge expanding rapidly in the realm of smart smarter through the connections and almost everywhere. It’s becoming reality. health and personal sensors. At the recent applications that add value. more and more connected things are Consumer Electronics Show (CES) the The addition of intelligence to vehiaccessible via smartphones and tablets. pavilion for the smart/ connected health cles has already started happening and Hardware intelligence by itself is useless area was huge – body sensor products within just a few years from now, cars without being connected for display gathered information that was displayed will contain more than 50 percent more D _ P by A Cthe E user.

ME T 2 M A R _ 1 2 . with p d smartphone f P a g eapps.1The2hardware 4 / 0 2 / 1 2 smarts , 9 than : 4 they 3 did A Mjust five years ago. As andAcontrol Connected gadgets can be modified, programmed was more than just hardware. we have discussed, the cars of the future

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will indeed be able to drive themselves.

Similar changes are also happening in other aspects of our lives – in factories, transportation, school systems, stadiums and other public venues. Embedded processing is everywhere.

The pieces of the technology puzzle are coming together to accommodate the Pervasive Internet sooner than most people expect. Just as the Internet phenomenon happened not so long ago and caught like wildfire, the IoT will touch every aspect of our lives.

Jim@JimPinto.com

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PACE.MAR13.PG006.pdf

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NEWS

AWARDS

New category added to PACE Zenith Awards THE 2013 PACE Zenith Awards will see an exciting new category added to the line-up.

The ‘Best Fieldbus Implementation’ category will make it a total of 12 categories – ten industry and two people award categories.

Numerous companies across Australia and New Zealand are implementing smart fieldbus solutions to boost productivity, manage complex processes and enhance safety.

The new category will seek out and recognise some outstanding professionals and projects.

The new category is being sponsored

by Beckhoff Automation. “We welcome Beckhoff Automation as a category sponsor in this tenth edition of the annual PACE Zenith Awards program,” says Kevin Gomez, Editor, PACE. “They join the other industry leaders, Honeywell Process Solutions, Schneider Electric, ifm efector, AMS Instrumentation & Calibration, B&R Automation and SICK in identifying and rewarding the best process control related projects and people in Australia and New Zealand.”

“With our vast offering in fieldbus devices, it was a natural partnership,” says Steven Sischy, Managing Director,

Beckhoff Automation.

The company’s New Automation Technology philosophy represents universal and open control and automation solutions that are used in a wide variety of different applications, ranging from CNC-controlled machine tools to intelligent building automation.

Entries to the PACE Zenith Awards close April 5, 2013. The Gala Awards Dinner will be held in Sydney on 13 June 2013.

All finalists receive two free tickets to the event, so hurry and send in your nomination today.

Email editor@pacetoday.com.au or call

02 9422 2976 for more information. www.pacetoday.com.au/awards

PROCESSING

Waste fines recovery cuts costs for Boral SITUATED in Moora, north of Perth, Boral are currently on contract with a quarry facility owned by Simcoa Operations that produces silicon from a site that has been in operation for over 20 years. Boral’s ultimate aim was to produce a high quality quartzite ore for use by Simcoa in their silicon production process.

This ore is typically 75-25 mm in size, with all 0-7 mm size ore previously being sent to the waste lagoons.

Boral essentially wanted to implement a process whereby water could be recycled and recovered from an extremely dry climate where water supply is limited.

CDE Global were called in and the company designed, manufactured and installed a system that eliminated the loss of quality fines (0-5 mm) to nearby settling ponds whilst controlling water levels for reprocessing. Boral then invested in a CDE EvoWash 101 Fines Recovery Sand plant complete with an M1508 Radial Stockpile conveyor and a LQPP 25 flocculant make up and dosing system.

With this equipment in place, the end result is a high quality, fine sand recovery with an efficient cut at 63 micron. Before the introduction of the new CDE fines recovery plant, the oper-

ation was losing a significant proportion of quality fines to the waste ponds.

The main ore product is 75-25 mm and is smelted by Simoca Operations for a variety of purposes including silicon chips, improving the strength of aluminium, optical glass, and use in solar energy, namely for the production of solar panels.

Boral’s quarry manager at Moora, Jeff Post, highlights, “The washing equipment from CDE Global has allowed operations to accurately separate at 63 micron which has in turn, produced a high quality sand product with low moisture levels, whilst rapidly re-circulating

water following treatment processing.

“We are now recovering and producing 25-30 tph of quality sand with the total feed rate to the plant being 225 tph. This technology has allowed us to increase efficiency by reducing the costs incurred through pond dredging to recover sand we had lost using the previous system”.

The by-products of the production process are currently sold off to third parties in the region for various uses including further processing and general aggregate use, thus ensuring that there is zero waste from the process. www.cdeglobal.com

MINING

AMMG produces high purity alumina AUSTRALIA Minerals and Mining Group (AMMG) has successfully produced over 99.9% (3N) of high purity alumina (HPA) using its own unique aluminous clay (kaolin) to alumina processing technology. Using samples from all four of AMMG’s South West HPA projects in Western Australia, the material presented appropriated clean sources of aluminous clay for HPA production using AMMG’s process.

Consulting processing chemists, 6 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

TSW Analytical, independently verified the purity of the company’s HPA, which was greater than 99.9 percent (3N+), and after a simple ‘washing’ process, is expected to reach a purity of 99.99% (4N). TSW were engaged in mid-2012 to determine the lowest energy intensive and most efficient acid-based process for the production of HPA from the Company’s aluminous clay material.

Following the laboratory testing conducted by TSW, which produced

the >99.9 percent HPA, they produced a complete flow sheet for the conversion process, which details the extraction of alumina specifically based on the mineralogy of AMMG’s aluminous clay material.

AMMG Managing Director, Ric Dawson, said “Our unique technology varies from other aluminous clay to alumina technologies in that it uses substantially less energy; the process uses low temperatures and pressures.

This innovative processing technology produces minimal waste and the key reagents are recyclable, therefore, the efficiencies are high.”

“The successful testing should now build on the level of interest the Company has received to date,” he said.

“HPA is a premium high-value product that is used in high-performance electronic applications, such as tablet screens and LEDs,” he added. www.ammg.com.au

PACE.MAR13.PG007.pdf

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NEWS

WatEr

Ship mounted reverse osmosis plant to supply water to Australian LNG plant ADELAIDE-based Osmoflo will build water which will be used to clean genertwo ship-mounted plants to provide ator turbine blades. potable and process water to crew On the second ship, Osmoflo will working on LNG and hydrocarbons build a two pass reverse osmosis system from Ichthys field in the Timor Sea. in two 150kL/d trains to process Following a global tendering process, seawater for potable requirements.

South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding Both reverse osmosis plants are Marine Engineers and Samsung being built at Osmoflo’s main facility in Heavy Industries selected Osmoflo Burton, South Australia. for this project.

The units will be designed to meet The two ships are currently under oil and gas industry, marine and enviconstruction in South Korean yards. ronmental requirements. They will be One vessel will carry a single pass reverse fitted and commissioned before the osmosis plant consisting of two 100 vessels leave the shipyards. kilolitre per day (KL/d) trains which will The ships will be permanently condensate prior its transportation by process seawater to potable standard. moored at a location some 440 km north pipeline to an on-shore processing facility Additional treatment including of Broome and 800 km from Darwin. at Blaydon Point, Darwin. remineralisation, ultra violet (UV) steriThe first will partially process recovered A D _ P A C E A MS MA R _ 1 3 . p d f Pa ge 1 1 2 / 0 2 / 1 3 , 5Currently : 1 0 under P M construction at a lisation will provide high purity process gas to remove water, raw liquids and cost in excess of $40 billion. The Ichthys

Reduce costs and improve quality of calibration Beamex® documenting calibrators and software form an automated paperless calibration system.

EXTRACTION: Gas from the Ichthys Field will undergo preliminary processing at the offshore central processing facility to remove water and raw liquids.

project includes the development of Timor Sea wells, a connecting pipeline to Darwin and the construction of a large processing facility. www.osmoflo.com

AMS AMS INSTRUMENTATION & CALIBRATION PTY LTD Unit 20, 51 Kalman drive Boronia VIC 3155 AUSTRALIA Phone: +61-3-9017 8225 Fax: +61-3-9729 9604 E-mail: sales@ams-ic.com.au Internet: www.ams-ic.com.au

The new Beamex MC6 - more than a calibrator.

Touch-screen, 5.7” color-display. Light-weight, robust (IP65) and long operating time. A meter, calibrator, data logger and full multi-bus field communicator. Pressure, electrical, temperature and frequency signals. HART, Profibus PA, Foundation Fieldbus H1. Seamless communication with calibration software for paperless calibration management.

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March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 7

PACE.MAR13.PG008.pdf

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OPINION

INstrumeNtatION

Temperature measurements are critical Purchasers seek well-documented examples of success in similar applications, writes Inderpreet Shoker.

I

N THE process manufacturing industries, good process control depends on accurate and reliable field devices.

Advancements in the process control industry have helped improve the quality and reliability of field devices and hence the quality of control over the processes.

For example, modern microprocessor-based temperature transmitters offer both highly accurate digital measurement output and bidirectional communications – including device diagnostics – between the field device and the control or asset management system.

This remote access to field device diagnostics supports today’s increasingly important plant asset management (PAM) strategies, a key driver that led many suppliers to make renewed investments in their otherwise neglected temperature product lines. orders from the growing oil & gas, the potential long-term benefits and cost While the temperature transmitter chemical, and electric power industries. savings that come with using temperamarket suffered huge setbacks during Though the global economy is gradture transmitters and, instead, choose the recession that started in 2008, ARC ually recovering, most industrial enterdirect wiring of their RTD or thermoAdvisory Group saw the temperature prises continue to move with caution couple temperature sensors for applicaA D _ P A C E T U R MA R _ 1 3 . p d f Pa ge 1 1 2 / 0 2 / 1 3 , 3 : 4 0 : 3 1 PM AEDT market pick up again in 2011. and tightly control their spending. tions where they believe they can accept This was mainly due to increased This drives many end-users to ignore compromised accuracy.

The risk-averse and price sensitive nature of today’s end users offers little incentive for suppliers to undertake research and development in this area, inhibiting innovation.

ARC believes that this lack of innovation in basic field devices will hurt suppliers and end users alike over the long run.

In the process industries, temperature, flow, level, and pressure are the four most important measurement and control loops.

Wise selection of the associated field devices is crucial for accurately measuring and controlling these four loops.

Previous advancements in the process control industry helped improve the quality and reliability of field devices.

But ARC has not seen significant innovation in basic measurement technology in recent years other than the general movement toward wireless measurements.

In the past, because of the relatively small size of the temperature market, few diversified suppliers invested in their temperature transmitter product line.

Instead, they opted to focus limited resources into more lucrative >

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AD_PACESCHMAR_13.pdf

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PACE.MAR13.PG010.pdf

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OPINION

lines of business such as flowmeters and plant asset management solutions.

The rebound in temperaNow, suppliers have begun to invest ture transmitter shipments in their temperature product lines again, given their importance to plant asset is mainly due to increased management initiatives. orders from the growing ARC’s latest temperature transmitter market study indicates that the transoil and gas and electric mitter market is recovering from the power industries. economic downturn.

This rebound in temperature transmitter shipments is mainly due to increased orders from the growing Users of temperature transmitters oil & gas, chemical, and electric demand more functionality for power industries. less money.

EMEA and North America, the largest Unlike other field measurement techand second largest market for temperature nologies, temperature transmitter innovatransmitters, respectively, have not recovtion has been severely limited ered fully from the recession. by its relatively small market size and low Asia remained the strongest average selling price. throughout the recession.

Without new drivers to expand New plant construction in Asia, espethe market, suppliers are pressured to cially China and India continue to drive reduce cost while embedding affordable supplier revenues. features in an attempt to differentiate ARC also expects industries in other their products.

Asian countries – such as Indonesia, The severe competition among Malaysia, and South Korea – to expand suppliers gives end-users the upper hand andAthus highMdemand D _ contribute P A C E DtoWY A R _ 1for 2 . p in d price f Pnegotiations. a ge 1 1 0 / 0 1 / 1 2 , transmitters from the region.

With the ongoing slowdown in the

10 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

global economy, ARC expects prices to decline in the near future.

End user interest in better solutions has a direct impact on innovation activity in any industry.

However, price-sensitive end users and purchasing agents may not be willing to pay the higher costs typically associated with this innovation.

This appears to be the current situation in the temperature transmitter market.

Furthermore, unlike consumer electronics and many other consumer industries, industrial end users tend to be very conservative.

While the consumer electronics industry enjoys large numbers of early adopters who are willing to take risk on an unproven innovation because they want to be among the first few to get their hands on the latest technology, this clearly is not the case when it comes to industrial field devices.

Here, the “consumers” tend to be extremely cautious and risk averse and prefer to adopt solutions that are fully tested, 9 : field-proven, 4 0 A M and reliable.

Adopting a new solution in this

industry usually involves a large-scale implementation that is both expensive and time consuming.

Depending on the scale, a plant may face downtime for long hours during the upgrade process and plant engineers and workers may require hours of training to operate the new technology.

Industrial purchasing decisions themselves also tend to be very complicated.

Multiple decision makers at different management levels are involved.

Convincing all these decision makers, especially in these tough economic times, can pose a big challenge.

These decision makers want to make well-informed decisions and need welldocumented examples of success in similar applications to be confident of the new technology.

In a price-sensitive industry with a small pool of early adopters and slow adoption rate, suppliers have little incentive to dedicate resources to research and development, thus hampering innovation.

[Inderpreet Shoker (ishoker@arcweb. com) is Analyst, ARC Advisory Group.] www.ARCweb.com

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PACE.MAR13.PG012.pdf

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OPiniOn

Design

Importance of design reuse Companies can cut design time and costs by repurposing existing designs, writes Rajiv Ghatikar.

T

HE Victorian Government recently announced an additional funding to help boost its manufacturing industry.

According to this new budget, the government will provide $58 million of funding over the next four years for new productivity networks, support for new technology and innovation and specialist advice and services for Victorian manufacturers.

A similar initiative took place in last year’s budget, the government also announced a $34.4 million package called the “Buy Australia at Home and Abroad” initiative.

The funds were designed to be used in conjunction with Enterprise Connect, a government initiative designed to boost productivity and increase the competitiveness of Australian small and medium-sized enterprises, to supply small manufacturers with the skills and knowledge needed to compete in the global marketplace in order to deliver on smarter decisions and better products, cost effectively.

Currently too many engineering companies waste valuable resources because they do not realise that a current engineering problem has already been solved or that they can cut design time and costs through repurposing existing designs and components for new projects.

The whole concept of design reuse is very close to something everyone is familiar with, namely recycling. The benefits of recycling are pretty well known. Recycling requires massively less energy than making goods from raw materials, but reuse moves well beyond material cost savings.

In contrast, reuse as it relates to product design is a strategy that provides the ability to reuse project definitions, requirements, components and assemblies. As a result, design reuse allows for faster product innovation, time to market, higher quality and also efficiencies including downstream applications such as simulation, tooling and machining.

There are several key challenges that

12 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

Currently too many engineering companies waste valuable resources because they do not realise that a current engineering problem has already been solved. hinder a designer’s ability to leverage a design reuse strategy. Yet, despite these problems, some engineering organisations are seeing considerable success through intelligent and effective design reuse, when these obstacles are addressed and overcome.

Design reuse delivers a host of benefits to those organisations that can

implement it effectively. Cost savings and reducing design time are two fundamental benefits, but the ability to reuse parts and information moves well beyond just these two elements.

For instance, many manufacturers maintain bloated inventories resulting from the overzealous desire to constantly update designs simply for the sake of it.

When done correctly design reuse can result in major inventory reduction as well as bulk purchasing discounts as large numbers of components can be ordered and used in a variety of products.

This also provides warranty, service benefits and quality assurance as tried and tested parts are included in the design and their tolerances and capabilities are already a known factor.

Another benefit is that starting with an already completed design or a range of pre-approved components allows engineers to avoid starting from scratch

and gives them a solid base to build on as well as providing economies of scale.

In fact, according to an Aberdeen Group survey, 46 per cent of companies are pursuing the ability to better create, capture and reuse product knowledge as a way to increase product revenue while controlling costs. Companies that have taken this approach have realised significant economic benefits and competitive advantage in global markets by improving quality, speeding time-to-market and becoming more cost-competitive.

The benefits of design reuse are multiple and clearly definable but unfortunately, it’s often not a straightforward process. Design models with hundreds of interrelated features can be very difficult to change, and the designers risk spending more time fixing things than if they had simply started from scratch.

Other challenges to effective design

PACE.MAR13.PG013.pdf

reuse include the difficulty of finding existing data, or making ad hoc modifications to those designs when they are located. Similarly, the inability to develop and design reusable parts and templates or adapt designs for efficient and seamless use by downstream processes can be major obstacles.

These challenges are both procedural and technological – but solutions exist to cover all of these aspects.

Effective design reuse is primarily a function of the ethos and methodologies of the engineers themselves, but there are several technologies available that can help aid and streamline this process.

While a majority of manufacturers are pursuing a number of reuse initiatives, there is still a huge disparity of performance between them. The Aberdeen Group research points to the fact that many organisations still struggle to change existing designs into new ones. This problem points back to how the current generation of design tools fundamentally works.

Tackling the issue of finding the right designs comes down to implementing a structured and effective database and search tool. Conventional searches of most databases are based on metadata or attribute comparisons. Successful searches require you to implement and strictly follow consistent naming conventions. Unfortunately, this practice is rarely adopted in real life because it relies on multiple people all consistently following the same set of rules.

The one characteristic that is common across similar parts, no matter how they have been classified or named, is shape. By adding shape to the search criteria, it is easier to improve part reuse, facilitate data cleansing and search across multiple data repositories. A powerful geometric search tool can allow companies to identify redundancies and reuse opportunities, reducing inventories by as much as 52 per cent.

Once designs and parts are easy to locate, the next problem that needs to be addressed is that a single design is composed of many features that have interdependencies. Feature based CAD tools allow users to create a sequence of individual geometric features that collectively form a complete design.

Very often, interdependencies are created within the sequence of features. This interdependency can

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be incredibly powerful in making broad sweeping changes during the work-inprocess phase of design, yet it can also be constraining.

A change to a feature early in the sequence can force a later feature to create invalid geometry. In fact, Aberdeen’s research shows that 48 per cent of companies are continually faced with inflexible models that fail after changes.

One way to overcome this is to train users and increase their CAD skills, but this is very costly and moves the focus away from creating new and innovative designs. This is where a flexible and interoperable design software or application that can work with native and nonnative data is key. This allows designers to edit geometry regardless of how it was created, and intent is applied and preserved, providing predictable results with synchronised

PM

rules, features and geometry.

The next piece of the puzzle is about how to design reusable parts and templates. Although it’s often difficult to anticipate how a model will need to be changed, ultimately this requires planned reuse. Implementing a reuse library provides a common platform for quickly finding a wide range of reusable design objects – including system templates, part libraries, product templates and more – and allows users to take individual objects and drop them into automation workflows.

Finally, a reuse strategy must move beyond just design. In order to gain all the benefits reuse has to offer, one must look at the downstream processes.

Companies must extend their reuse initiatives to include reusing simulation and NC programming content. Again, the right application can provide the

capabilities required for simulation or to quickly prepare geometry for manufacture, thereby allowing the analyst to edit and try multiple design alternatives quickly.

Taking a cue from the Australian government’s plans to invest in manufacturing, it only makes economic sense to use and reuse materials resourcefully in order to reach full product potential at comparatively lower costs. The message is clear – by planning and implementing a systematic and technologically proficient design reuse structure, in conjunction with the search, design and editing tools to support it, companies can maximise productivity while cutting design costs.

Product development organisations not implementing effective design reuse are behind and falling further back every day. Being able to find existing data, make ad-hoc changes to it, develop and design reusable parts and templates and adapt and modify geometry for efficient and seamless use by downstream processes gives designers the freedom to innovate, without ‘reinventing the wheel’.

Understanding the real-world issues discussed in this article is critical for the companies that develop software solutions to address them. The NX CAD/ CAM/CAE solution with synchronous technology allows designers to work with geometry from multiple sources, and the Geolus (a 3D geometry search engine) shape search technology quickly puts similarly shaped CAD models at the designer’s fingertips.

When this technology is combined with tight integration to the Teamcenter digital lifecycle management software, companies can collectively facilitate an increase in design reuse along with a corresponding drop in new product development costs. Furthermore, its collaborative nature means that engineers can work within teams that are geographically separated in real time, further boosting resource efficiency.

This saves time and money and helps companies implement a collaborative environment that facilitates smarter product development decisions, resulting in faster development of better products.

[Rajiv Ghatikar is Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific and Australasia, Siemens PLM Software.] www.siemens.com/plm March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 13

PACE.MAR13.PG014.pdf

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Engineering software enables de The oil and gas industry is characterised by massive projects that rely heavily on complex modelling solutions to design plants and fix problems prior to implementation, writes Kevin Gomez.

SIMULATION: CFD of subsea cooler and outside heat transfer coefficient.

W

HAT links together sour gas, declining fuel pressure and blowdowns in the oil and

gas industry?

Well, they’re just some of the challenges in major projects that Australia’s biggest contractor, WorleyParsons, has grappled with in recent times.

The company recently won yet another contract with BG Group’s $20 billion Curtis LNG facility in Queensland and new CEO Andrew Wood is proud that his company is one of the few that can do major project end-to-end delivery.

A key strategy behind much of WorleyParsons’ success is embracing all five phases of the project asset lifecycle – Identify, Evaluate, Define, Execute, and Operate. Supporting this strategy is a suite of products from AspenTech.

In 2003, WorleyParsons deployed core AspenONE Engineering applications, Aspen HYSYS and Aspen Basic Engineering (ABE), at four global design centres, starting with the Melbourne office.

The initial focus was on basic simulation and the production of PFDs (Process Flow Diagrams), datasheets, and equipment list deliverables, as well as the importing of heat and material balance data from conceptual design. After an 14 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

initial test, the AspenTech solution was expanded and used on increasingly large and complicated projects.

One of the tools employed for the Curtis Island project was Aspen HYSYS (Aspen Process Modeller), which introduced the approach of steady state and dynamic simulations in the same platform, thereby taking process simulation to another level.

The data from Aspen HYSYS is integrated into Aspen Basic Engineering (ABE) then maintained in a single, up-to-date central repository and shared by all team members in any location worldwide. HYSYS information is automatically interfaced into ABE, eliminating any data redundancy and recapturing errors.

WorleyParsons used this to model a gas processing train where there was a declining inlet gas pressure. The challenge was to determine how much flow could be pushed through the gas processing train as a function of the declining inlet gas pressure.

The team outlined the capability of the export compressors, because those were viewed as a potential bottleneck.

By modelling the compressors dynamically in Aspen HYSYS and HYSYS Dynamics, with data such as export pressures or discharge pressures, they were able to build the model to the require-

DYNAMIC: CFD of subsea cooler and seawater velocity.

One of the tools employed for the Curtis Island project introduced the approach of steady state and dynamic simulations in the same platform thereby taking process simulation to another level.

ments at the front end of the plant.

This included modelling elements like gas heat exchanges, low temperature separators and inlet separators. The team was therefore able to generate pressure drops through all of those equipment items as a function of inlet conditions such as inlet arrival pressure and flow rate.

Nathan Smith, Engineering Manager – Process at WorleyParsons Hydrocarbons joined the company eight years ago when AspenTech products were already well and truly entrenched at the company. “Ultimately we were able to grow the operating envelope, not just from the compressor set but from the entire gas train, then marry that up

with the deliverability of the gas wells to tell the customer how much gas they were able to process over the tailing life of the well.”

The intuitive user interface of Aspen HYSYS is a drawcard. WorleyParsons are able to train a range of employees to use the software with a fairly good degree of accuracy very quickly.

“Also, the level of definition is good; we can apply things like discrete pressure drops across specific unit items,” explains Smith. “It’s very easy to set up pipe segments and model pressure drops, so it has the functionality yet the intuitive interface.”

Aspen HYSYS can also be combined with products from other companies as was the case in a subsea project on which WorleyParsons were the engineers. As it emerges from the well, water contained in natural gas mixes with the sour component of the gas (high concentration of H2S), and condenses due to the cooling from the subsea environment.

This can then corrode the upstream section of the carbon steel pipeline.

WorleyParsons used Aspen HYSYS in combination with CFD Modeller package from another vendor to model a subsea cooler made out of a corrosion resistant alloy. A length of corrosion resistant alloy was placed subsea near the gas well just sitting on top of the sea bed.

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es designing for the deep

ter velocity.

The gas is cooled such that the rate of condensation under water is dramatically reduced below 50°C. Once the gas was cooled down to less than 50°C, it was possible to run that gas in a carbon steel pipeline going to the gas plant onshore.

Effectively, the raw gas is pre-cooled in a corrosion resistant alloy. It is then possible to run the remainder of the pipeline in carbon steel, saving enormous costs, because there is going to be far less condensation of the water and little or no corrosion.

“We used HYSYS to model the forced convection heat transfer effects inside the subsea cooler,” explains Smith.

“We used computational fluid dynamics from another package to model the natural convection effects of a hot pipe spool under water.”

The sea water absorbed the heat FLUID: CFD of subsea cooler and seawater temperature. from A D _ P A C E E L E MA R _ 1 3 . p d f Pa ge 1 1 2 / 0 2 / 1 3 , 5 :the 0 gas 9 and, P Mby pairing up Aspen HYSYS with the CFD Modeller, the

WorleyParsons team were able to design the length of spool required to cool the gas from its 90°C flowing temperature to below 50°C. A mechanical subsea cooler has since been designed and installed and the wells are soon to start up. “The well is going to be starting up shortly,” notes Smith, “and we’re all keen to see how that subsea cooler performs.”

WorleyParsons was asked to provide engineering services for a gas plant that was seeking to add a second processing train but wished to retain their existing high pressure vent system.

The WorleyParsons team used the Aspen Flare System Analyzer to understand both the operating velocities and the hydraulics.

The built up back pressures were calculated in certain segments of the vent system to determine how much of the proposed plant could be integrated into >

March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 15

PACE.MAR13.PG016.pdf

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BEHIND THE SCENES

FoCuS oN SwEET SpoT The WorleyParsons advantage In most design tasks, the challenge is not the modelling. Rather, it is understanding the problem and the accuracy to which the engineer needs to work for each element of the project.

Many people in the industry fail to truly understand the challenge first before they begin modelling.

Engineers ought to apply science where it solves problems. It is better for them to focus on the true problem and align themselves with the customer’s project objectives. This can save the customer money by focusing on the EXPERIENCED: Nathan Smith of WorleyParsons Hydrocarbons. sweet spot or the crux of the problem, rather than working the whole model the existing vent system. A sequence or escalating. This emergency escalation with a high degree of accuracy. of gas blowdowns was developed to prevention directs fuel that is inherently There is a saying in the industry ensure that the design pressures or any in the gas plant to a controlled release that you can buy only two-inch (50mm) velocity constraints in the vent system point which is the vent system. pipe and three-inch (80mm) pipe. Do were not exceeded.

“If we’re going to integrate different enough engineering and re-engineering A blowdown is an emergency or new equipment items into the gas to establish whether to use 50mm or reaction – if the operators detect gas plant, we couldn’t blowdown the entire 80mm pipe, don’t design it to be 55.56 released from equipment or if there is plant all at once,” explains Smith. “That millimetres. Their real value-add, says fire detected on a gas plant, they will would exceed the mechanical design WorleyParsons, is the effort to which open up valves to direct the gas through pressure of the system and it would also they go to understand the problem the vent system.

This reduces the likeliexceed constraints of that A D _ P A C E H Y D MA R _ 1 3 . p d f Pa ge 1 6 / 0 2 / 1 3 , 1 0 : certain 5 0 velocity AM before they start the modelling. hood of the adverse scenario growing vent system.”

So the team used Aspen Flare System Analyzer to work out how much of the plant could be blown down at any one time. They also worked out when the peak pressures would subside so that they could then trigger subsequent blowdowns of other areas of the gas plant.

“What we ended up with was a sequence – a plant area versus time on where we can blow the plant down and still use the existing vent system,” notes Smith.

They were able to tell the customer how long it would take to blowdown the entire facility and also ensure that the existing vent system had sufficient integrity to deal with the process.

“We then took those results and applied that to the risk review of the plant fuel over the time of the event and were able to confirm that the time that it took to blowdown the plant was satisfactory and it met their risk levels,” concluded Smith.

WorleyParsons 03 8676 3500 www.worleyparsons.com Aspen Technology 03 9869 7149 www.aspentech.com

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Mineral separators set benchmark Queensland-based OreKinetics has developed unique electrostatic separation technology and exports over 60 percent of its machines to titanium mining operations globally, writes Alan Johnson.

S

MART thinking coupled with innovative technology and ultrareliable equipment are paying dividends for Queensland-based manufacturer OreKinetics.

Despite the strong Australian dollar, the electrostatic separation technology company is exporting over 60 percent of its machines to titanium mining operations all over the world including China, India, South Africa, US, Canada and Indonesia.

Research by Peter Gates, OreKinetics Founder and Managing Director, in 1999 led to the development of the company’s UltraStat conductive induction separator, and the CoronaStat ionised field separator the following year.

“Our electrostatic mineral separators have been widely accepted as the new benchmark in their field, with installations on four continents testament to their rapid and ongoing acceptance.

“Our machines can separate minerals better than any other. That’s the reason for our success; impressive service coupled with innovative IP,” Gates explained.

He said the separators have been specifically developed for mining and associated industries and extensive plant exposure has been gained resulting in a proven and robust process technology.

“The separators greatly improve process efficiency, reduce plant complexity and allow separation of minerals not previously possible.

“Our machines are very robust and capable of processing five to eight tonnes of material an hour on a continuous basis; 8000 hours a year or more, in hot industrial mining environments, in truly tough conditions, where it is extremely dusty and gritty.

“So when it came to choosing the electric motors and the gearboxes to drive our machines, we went with SEW-Eurodrive right from the beginning, and still only use their equipment now 13 years on.

“They are good robust motors and gearboxes that can operate in extremely harsh environments.”

Gates says his customers are often not

The separators greatly improve process efficiency and allow separation of minerals not previously possible.

Representative with SEW-Eurodrive, explained that the electrostatic separation technology company produces a range of machines demanding different quantities of gearmotors.

For example on one separator, there are eight Spiroplan W Series and six parallel shaft helical F Series gearmotors.

High efficiency gearmotors

VOLUMES: The machines are capable of processing five to eight tonnes of material an hour on a continuous basis. at all interested in what motors are inside.

“Our customers just want an efficient, reliable machine. That’s why we choose SEW-Eurodrive for all our motors and gearboxes.

“They offer us the ability to get our larger quantities directly from Germany by the container load. We bought well over 1000 gearboxes from SEW-Eurodrive last year,” Gates said.

“Another key advantage for us is

SEW-Eurodrive’s MEPS 3 higher efficiency motors.

“With high efficiency motors we can set the machine’s overloads at a normal current setting with the benefit that we get slightly higher output torque giving us the capability to set higher brush tensions in our machines if required,” Gates added.

Working closely with OreKinetics, John Bellert Technical Sales

Bellert said the reason OreKinetics choose SEW-Eurodrive gearmotors is because of their reliability and their high efficiency compared to other gearmotors on the market.

“The Spiroplan gearmotors, for example, are economical, robust rightangle gearmotors that feature incredible reliability, low operating noise and lifelong lubrication.

“The gearmotors feature steel-onsteel gearing, special tooth meshing relationships and an aluminium housing ensuring they are very quiet in operation, wear-free and lightweight,” Bellert said.

He explained that the particularly short design and the aluminium housing make for very compact and lightweight drive solutions, while the wear-free gearing and the life-long lubrication facilitate long periods of maintenancefree operation.

And as the oil fill is independent of the mounting position, Bellert said the Spiroplan gearmotors can be installed in any mounting position without altering the quantity of oil.

“Plus, identical hole spacing in the foot and face as well as the equal shaft height to both provides users with diverse mounting options,” he added. > March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 17

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PACE.MAR13.PG019.pdf

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BEHIND THE SCENES

The particularly short design and the aluminium housing make for very compact and lightweight drive solutions.

The F Series gearmotors are used in the mining industry due their high power density, high permitted overhung loads and a multi-stage gear unit for low output speeds.

“These two and three-stage, extraslim parallel shaft helical gearmotors are very robust and are designed for heavy duty applications, high torque and 24/7 operation,” said Bellert. “They are the perfect solution when space is limited.

“The many different sizes and designs ensure that the gearmotors can be used in a wide variety of applications even under the most unfavourable conditions.”

All of the components are manufactured in Germany, with the gearboxes and motors hand assembled in Australia.

Bellert explained that every SEW-Eurodrive motor and gearbox has a unique serial number which allows customers, via a smart phone app, to instantly download a wide range of information on the equipment including type and quantity of oil required, maintenance procedures, and spare parts list.

Separation technologies

In the last 12 years OreKinetics has worked closely with the titanium minerals industry and has supplied its proprietary technology to virtually every processing plant in the world.

Gates said the company has developed unique manufacturing and supply processes to allow rapid and on time delivery of large orders. “And we demand similar capacity from our suppliers,” he added.

“Our machines performance and our delivery capability has seen us become the preferred supplier worldwide for our mineral separation technology. This year we have sold over 130 machines.”

Gates says the advent of OreKinetics CoronaStat has enabled new titanium mineral provinces, particularly where finer minerals are present, to be developed and processed in a viable manner.

He explained that the UltraStat separators use a very different mineral

FIRST: The OreKinetics separators improve process efficiency and allow separation of minerals not previously possible. charging mechanism to ionised field (Corona) separators.

“A strong static electric field is used to selectively induce charge onto the conductive mineral particles (Conductive Induction Charging).”

Gates said the mineral passes beneath a charged electrode that induces a polar opposite charge on the conductor particles; as a result these charged particles are electrostatically attracted to the electrode and are drawn away from the grounded surface.

“A splitter located further in the separation zone separates the conductor particle and non-conductor particle trajectories dividing the feed into mainly non-conductor and conductor fractions.

“The UltraStat separator addresses the major limitations of plate separators with advancements in electrode design, improvements in electrode and plate geometry and the introduction of a patented automatic separation roll surface cleaning system,” he said.

Gates explained that the company’s CoronaStat machines utilise ionised field separator technology combined with a

unique combination of three electrodes to achieve vast performance improvements over conventional HTR (HighTension Roll) separators.

“Customarily, ionised field separators utilise a grounded roll that transports a feed material through a high voltage ionising field (corona) which charges the mineral particles by ion bombardment.

“Conducting particles lose their charge to the earthed roll and are thrown from the roll by centrifugal and gravitational forces.

“Non-conducting particles are pinned to the roll surface and are transported further through the separation zone before their charge either dissipates and they are thrown off or they are removed by mechanical means.”

Combination of three electrodes

Gates said OreKinetics patented induction plate electrodes are designed to concurrently ‘force’ the charge decay of conducting particles as well as apply a holding force to charged nonconducting particles.

“Each electrode used in OreKinetics CoronaStat has a unique function which combined overcome the shortcomings of conventional ionised electrostatic separators,” Gates explained.

Today, OreKinetics is continuing the development of its machines along with the development of new flowsheet and process control concepts particularly with a focus on reduced capitol costs and improved plant control specifically with respect to environmental influences.

As well as OreKinetics, Bellert said SEW-Eurodrive works with many of its customers on their prototypes.

“When it comes to designing a new machine, we can work with them regarding recommendations on different motor power needs and speeds,” Bellert said.

OreKinetics 07 3271 2036 www.orekinetics.com.au SEW-EURODRIVE 1300 739 287 enquiries@sew-eurodrive.com.au March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 19

PACE.MAR13.PG020.pdf

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Race to the finish NX and Teamcenter are the digital backbone for a 600-strong Red Bull Racing team that strives to outsmart and out think its formidable rivals.

20 www.pacetoday.com.au MARCH 2013

A

FTER the Red Bull Racing team finished second in the 2009 Championship, team principal Christian Horner remarked: “There’s no room for complacency in this sport”.

As he spoke, the team was already manufacturing its 2010 car, because Formula 1 success demands an unrelenting focus on evolution and innovation.

“We talk about racing ‘cars’, but they cannot really be compared with what we drive on a normal road,” comments Steve Nevey, Red Bull Racing’s business and technical development manager.

“The flow of air over, under and through a racing car determines its ultimate speed and the way it functions, for example the engine is fed and cooled by airflow. The emphasis on aerodynamics and weight means that we are designing and manufacturing technical machines that are closer to an aircraft than a saloon (sedan) car. They are finely balanced to begin with and then continually refined for speed and accuracy.”

Red Bull Racing’s development process has to be as swift and precise as these vehicles and the company relies on NX software for CAD/CAM/CAE and Teamcenter software to capture and manage knowledge. It is a creative and collaborative, virtual world from which the real, live car emerges almost fully formed and ready to be put to the test on the

track. “We call it our digital backbone,” says Nevey. “NX and Teamcenter sit at the heart of the company and they feed data to our manufacturing facilities.”

Rigorous regulations

Design of the car begins with the overall aerodynamic package and what is referred to as the chassis: the carbon fibre survival cell in which the driver sits. The engine is bolted to the back of the cell and the gearbox attached behind the engine. Systems such as hydraulics and suspension need to fit in and around these components, with the radiators being positioned on either side of the driver.

Formula 1 regulations are refined each year and the design has to meet rigorous criteria. Major changes were instituted for the 2009 season and one of the challenges for the following seasons is how to manage the ban on refuelling during the race.

This means that suspension, transmission and braking systems all have to be fortified to carry a high-capacity fuel tank that is longer, wider and heavier as it must carry twice as much.

A continuing requirement for is that the gearbox has to last for four races so, with the additional fuel, it has to be even more robust, yet as light as ever. In addition, the Restricted Resource Agreement introduced by the Federation International de la Automobile (FIA) is essentially a budget cap,

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Helping to put you in Control Plastic DIN Rail Mount OPTIONS: The car is designed as a core product with a range of interchangeable parts.

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Coin Acceptor - 6 coin types which means that overall efficiency in the design and production process needs to be at the top of the agenda.

The design also has to accommodate the unique properties of each Grand Prix location. Clearance from the ground, known as ride height, is on average 5 to 6 cm, but this figure needs to be varied according to the relative smoothness of the track, as does the stiffness of the suspension.

Aerodynamic downforce, which pushes the car onto the ground, also needs to be modified via wing size and angle. On bumpy, twisty circuits such as Monaco, where downforce is critical, the wings need to be higher.

On circuits where there are many straights, such as Monza, then the wings can be shallower to support sprinting. Nevey notes, “It’s a constant battle between downforce and drag.”

The car is therefore designed as a complete kit: a core product with a range of interchangeable parts that act as alternative build options for different types of terrain. “We end up with a huge bunch of bits,” says Nevey.

“We initially had a dilemma as to what actually constitutes a bill of materials (BOM). After considering our options we decided to think in terms of the whole BOM, so instead of creating different suspension assemblies, for example, we have one that incorporates different springs, dampers and roll bars.”

Modify and manufacture

In addition to planned adjustments, the design team of 180 NX users is on the alert to make performanceenhancing modifications after every race.

There is a continual fine-tuning of the design and any amendments have to be driven from the discussion stage through implementation, testing and manufacturing in the space between races. Sometimes this can be as little as one week and parts are often carried to the circuit within hours of the starting lights going out.

There is no room for error or delay. “NX allows our 180 designers to operate in a virtual world, shaving time off at every step,” says Nevey. Members of Siemens’ professional services team have been helping Nevey and his team to get the most out of their tools.

“They have, for example, demonstrated how to make the most of parametric modelling when we are still at the experimental stage and how to adopt new methods,” he explains. “One of these is the use of stereolithography whereby CAD data is used to ‘print’ on a

tank of liquid resin, solidify certain areas and build up a 3D prototype by creating successive layers.”

Size is significant. Nevey explains, “We are dealing with around 15 major assemblies and about 4,000 parts. The most important element is that our hundreds of engineers and technicians have access to the same accurate data and designers are aware of each other’s changes. With NX and Teamcenter we can see only what is right.”

As NX feeds Teamcenter, Teamcenter feeds Red Bull Racing’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and this enables the BOM to be directly carried over into manufacturing.

“For us that means that there is no duplicated input.

As soon as a design is released it automatically becomes a BOM,” explains Nevey. “Working in a single BOM environment like this we always get accurate and consistent assembly data.”

Energy consumption

While the burning of fuel attracts obvious attention in a Grand Prix, there is a whole story about the responsible use of energy behind Red Bull Racing’s podium wins.

“I defy anyone to find a more energy efficient internal combustion engine,” says Nevey. “The technology that goes into our pursuit of performance eventually spills over into other fields. At the same time we are working with Siemens to make our factory buildings smarter, optimise our production environment and minimise energy use in the whole development process.”

Red Bull Racing is constantly looking to see what it can improve on and off the track. “We need to concentrate on racing so we need partners who understand our business and can advise us on the best tools and methods,” adds Nevey.

Ultimately, all this work behind the scenes has one purpose: shorter lap times. A design change that drops the lap time by a fraction of a second can determine the race.

The digital lifecycle management and visualisation capabilities of Teamcenter complement the knowledgedriven automation capabilities of NX. Both work in sync to provide an integrated design-throughmanufacturing environment – and advantage – to Red Bull Racing.

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PACE ZENITH AWARDS 2013 SPONSORS

Introducing our 2013 sponsors The PACE Zenith Awards recognise technical excellence and leadership in engineering. PACE magazine thanks the sponsors for sponsoring this premier event.

This year sees the addition of the Best Fieldbus Implementation category.

Entries to the PACE Zenith Awards close April 5, 2013.

The Gala Awards Dinner will be held in Sydney on 13 June 2013.

All finalists receive two free tickets to the event, so hurry and send in your nomination today.

Email editor@pacetoday.com.au or call 02 9422 2976 for more information. www.pacetoday.com.au/awards

Mining, Minerals & Exploration Power and Energy Management

The persistently challenging market conditions leave little option for many machine builders and manufacturers other than to adapt or perish. This mantra can become clichéd, but embraced, businesses are transformed by eschewing tradition.

B&R Automation walk this innovation talk, constantly developing tools enabling all manufacturers to constantly build ‘next generation’ equipment, and to do so economically. Their application expertise and unique product range can benefit users of any control system.

“One of B&R’s strengths is the simple structure of their product range,” says Eugene Mayevsky, Sales Manager, Daanet. “Just two I/O platforms support the entire brand. The controller platform is identical from a few points to thousands, whether PLC, HMI embedded or PC based. Similarly, just one software package – Automation Studio – is required to develop solutions across all disciplines.”

This approach has been shown to enable machine builders to scale solutions quickly, from low end and low cost to the most demanding. One doesn’t have to change controller, HMI, I/O and software platform to migrate an existing design because a point count or performance hurdle has been breached.

As machine builders develop their next generation, they find that this scalability is empowering, and they discover that the B&R Automation platform is a powerful enabler of the essence that will propel their success – Constant Innovation.

B&R Automation 1300 322 638 www.daanet.com.au

Young Achiever Award

Schneider Electric Australia is once again delighted to be sponsoring the ‘Mining, Minerals & Exploration’ and ‘Power & Energy Management’ categories of the 2013 PACE Zenith awards.

“The clearly entrenched drivers of sustainability and innovation in today’s business environments, combined with the constantly evolving digital era is providing endless opportunities to deliver substantial energy and cost efficiencies to organisations across the commercial and industrial sectors,” says Scott Wooldridge, Vice President, Industry Business, Schneider Electric Australia.

With the world’s immense demand for raw materials and the global focus on resource scarcity and sustainability, energy management and process optimisation are crucial and direct paths towards helping organisations achieve optimised energy usage, maximised output, high production quality and reduced emissions.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure active energy management architecture was developed for exactly this purpose. By providing expertly tailored solutions, open software platforms and transparent connectivity across the five key domains of power, process & machines, security, building control and white space, EcoStruxure delivers the means for organisations to operate as competitively and efficiently as possible, throughout the entire lifecycle of their operations.

Schneider Electric embraces the challenges of the energy age and the continued enhancement of customer performance - with safety, reliability, productivity and sustainability as key commitment cornerstones.

Schneider Electric 22 www.pacetoday.com.au MARCH 2013

Machine Builder

SICK Pty Ltd is proud to once again be part of the PACE Zenith awards and in particular our involvement in sponsoring the Young Achiever Award. Our investment in the next generation inventor/ engineer is paramount to offering that competitive advantage to Australian Industry as we all face tougher competition through global market activities.

SICK Australia has an enviable record of working with partners to develop well proven innovative safe solutions that continue to push that competitive advantage.

“We like to be referred to as the silent partner from sensors designed to stop conveyors at the supermarket checkout, air travel made easy through automated check in kiosks utilising RFID technology to seamless safety systems protecting humans from heavy mining vehicles and automated machinery,” says Jason Mair, Product & Marketing Manager, SICK Australia/ New Zealand.

Innovation continues to drive our core values of independence and leadership as we focus on the future through education of Industry Specialists who understand the industry language, the processes involved and the challenges faced. Taking industry knowledge and combining it with our extensive product range we offer solutions that will provide high level return on investment that industry require. SICK invests significantly in people and further development of our sensor technologies and solutions to ensure we can support the next generation young achiever and their applications.

SICK Pty Ltd 1800 334 802

PACE.MAR13.PG023.pdf gineering projects.

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

PACE ZENITH AWARDS All finalists2013 will receive free publicity in PACE SPONSORS magazine and two free tickets to the gala

given two free tickets

dinner where the winners will be announced.

/awards

Best Fieldbus Implementation

Automotive & Manufacturing

“BECKHOFF is proud to sponsor the new category in the PACE Zenith awards – Best Fieldbus Implementation,” says Steven Sischy, Managing Director, BECKHOFF Automation. “With BECKHOFF’s vast offering in fieldbus devices, it was a natural partnership.”

The expansion of BECKHOFF into new markets has brought growth in turnover and personnel. We foresee 2013 as a rewarding year for the organisation and the automation industry as a whole. Even with the high Australian dollar, innovative manufacturing in Australia will always find ways to prevail, and this can be brought about with new automation technology.

Australian manufacturers have always been innovators and market leaders when it comes to embracing new automation technology that will reduce costs and manufacturing cycle times. With the extraordinary costs placed on manufacturers by resource companies, savings found in the reduction of energy and other utilities is more important than ever.

It is only through the efficient and effective use of this energy that a significant reduction in costs can be achieved. The BECKHOFF “New Automation Technology” philosophy represents universal and open control and automation solutions that are used worldwide in a wide variety of different applications, ranging from CNC-controlled machine tools to intelligent building automation.

Our strategy in 2013, as always at ifm efector is to focus on innovation, quality, and strong customer service and support.

For 40 years the company has been researching, developing and producing products and technology with the aim of optimising technical processes. ifm continues to invest significantly in R&D, employing 450 development engineers. As a result, ifm continuously optimises technical processes in almost all industries and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers in the automation industry. Our German engineered products all undergo rigid testing in conditions that far exceed their intended application environments to ensure high standard of quality and safety.

Our customers count on ifm to be a reliable partner for their automation and control solutions. We pride ourselves on our service and support. This includes ontime delivery when you need it. ifm hold extensive stock at our warehouse facilities in Australia and New Zealand, and our products can be delivered overnight in over 97% of instances. We provide strong phone based and on-site solution focussed service and support for your application challenges, knowledgeable and efficient customer service and easy order placement. Through our website, customers can also easily check price and availability, track orders, view order history and purchase ifm products using e-shop. From inductive and flow sensors to pressure and temperature sensors – from individual sensors to a complete system solution – our customers can find sensor and control products to suit their requirements.

BECKHOFF Automation 03 9912 5430 www.beckhoff.com.au

ifm efector 1300 365 088

Oil & Gas

Overall Project of the Year

AMS Instrumentation & Calibration Pty Ltd (AMS) has supported the Zenith Awards since its inception ten years ago and has seen it develop into a well-regarded awards presentation for our industry. AMS itself has been in existence for 40 years providing calibration equipment and industrial instrumentation to wide range of industries.

With more than 250 years of instrumentation experience among its staff and with branches in every major city, AMS is confident it can offer its customers the best solution to fill their needs. “Since ‘splitting’ the organisation into three different areas, the company has grown from strength to strength,” says Dirk Kuiper, General Manager, AMS Instrumentation & Calibration.

Calibration hardware and software is one area; Flow, Pressure and Level another; and Analytical Instrumentation is the third. The analytical section has grown considerably since its inception, in particular in the Oil and Gas industries. “We feel we are able to fully assist our end-users to optimise their processes and performance,” says Kuiper.

The majority of the products represented by AMS are widely used in the oil & gas industry, hence AMS’s support for this category. AMS sees the Zenith Awards as a major feature in our industry to reward the innovation and achievements of products and people and as such are very proud to be associated with the awards.

Honeywell Process Solutions is delighted to again sponsor this year’s Zenith Awards as part of its commitment to celebrate new and forward-thinking ideas within process control in Australia.

For over 40 years, Honeywell Process Solutions has supported industrial customers to meet their automation control needs. From production and supply chain management to project management services, control systems and field devices, the strength of Honeywell’s product and service portfolio allows automation solutions to be tailored to meet business needs across a host of industry sectors.

“Honeywell remains at the forefront of innovation and technology through our ability to deliver tailored services that draw on our expertise across various industry sectors,” Garry Mahoney, Pacific Director, Honeywell Process Solutions said.

Using leading technology and services, domain expertise, project management experience, and global engineering and support resources, Honeywell continues to develop solutions to meet the changing needs of its customers across an industry landscape spanning mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, power generation and beyond.

“Honeywell values the opportunity to support new innovations and expertise.

These developments ultimately enhance the industry’s ability to provide solutions that meet the ever-changing needs of our customers. In this way, Honeywell is honoured to sponsor this year’s ‘Overall Project of the Year’ at the Zenith Awards,” Mahoney said.

AMS Instrumentation & Calibration 1800 804 516 www.ams-ic.com.au

Honeywell Process Solutions March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 23

AM3061_ASC_2013_02.pdf

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EARLY BIRD

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OFFER ENDS: 28 MAR

NOT SORRY – BOOK NOW WEDNESDAY 1 MAY 2013 | STAMFORD PLAZA, BRISBANE OPENING AND KEYNOTE ADDRESS

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CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

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STEWART BELL QLD Commissioner for Mine Safety and Health.

• Safety on Site Equipment • Underground Safety Blasting Guidelines • Miners Mental Health • PLUS MORE!

JOCK CUNNINGHAM CSIRO’s Mining Automation Expert DR JENNIFER BOWERS Australasian Centre for Rural & Remote Mental Health

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Book your seats today to receive the early bird offer.

For more information or to register

please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/conference or Contact Francesca Lawrence 02 9422 2896 or email francesca.lawrence@reedbusiness.com.au

PACE.MAR13.PG025.pdf

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AOG PRODUCTS

AOG 2013: Product showcase Several companies used AOG to launch new products.

Here’s a selection from the event this year.

THE Australiasian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference (AOG) offered visitors the opportunity to discover the latest products from over 460 companies.

Visitors were able to check out new developments in subsea technology, asset management, flow control, safety and engineering from oil and gas operators, contractors and supply companies.

Here are some of the products and technologies displayed at AOG 2013.

1. Opus Compact Flotation. This green technology is changing international clean sea standards for the offshore oil and gas sector.

The compact flotation unit purifies produced water before the clean water is safely returned to the sea.

2. Laser Methane Mini. The portable instrument from Crowcon Detection Instruments detects methane gas from a distance and helps protect the operator from potential leak sources.

Utilising Tuneable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS), methane density is measured and displayed, with a separate LED alarm indicator and audible notification.

3. Q.Sonic Plus. The custody transfer ultrasonic gas flow meter is a six-path meter, subject to an enhanced Elster-Instromet patent. Offered

by Landis+Gyr, the meter delivers greater processing power that yields a lower measure-

ment uncertainty.

4. LESER Safety Valves. The safety valves

provide overpressure protection for vessels and other process equipment in case of unexpected malfunction with the facility; piping systems against thermal expansion; pressure increasing stations in case of failure and Christmas trees of oil wells. Pressure Systems represent LESER safety valves in Australia and New Zealand.

5. EasiDrive. This portable valve actuator from Smith Flow Control securely operates valves in oil refineries, power plants, paper mills and chemical processing facilities. One operator can efficiently operate multiple valves with a single tool while reducing fatigue and injury risk. The tool is effective on valves that require a high number of turns or are otherwise difficult to operate due to high torque or adverse climates, such as tropical or desert environments.

6. WFS Through Water Wireless Modems. By combining radio, acoustic and inductive power transfer technologies, the modems can deliver new capabilities to the subsea industry. The technology, offered by Fastwave, enables real time underwater data transmission and inductive power transfer. Data transmission is unaffected by shallow water, bio-fouling, harsh weather and ambient noise.

1 OPUS: Changing international clean sea standards.

2 LEAKS: Laser Methane Mini detects methane gas from a distance.

www.aogexpo.com.au

6

LESER: The valves provide overpressure protection for vessels and process equipment.

3 FASTWAVE: WFS though water wireless modem.

4 MEASUREMENT: Q.Sonic Plus custody transfer ultrasonic gas flow meter.

5 TORQUE: The EasiDrive valve actuator securely operates valves in oil refineries.

MARCH 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 25

PACE.MAR13.PG026.pdf

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Uranium pilot demonstrates recovery An Adelaide firm builds a process to cost effectively extract uranium from phosphoric acid streams as a by-product in the manufacture of phosphate fertilisers, writes Hartley Henderson.

A

UNIQUE relocatable demonstration plant for extracting uranium from phosphate fertiliser streams has been co-designed with Uranium Equities Limited (UEL), built by Adelaide Control Engineering (ACE), and successfully trialled in the US. This new patented PhosEnergy Process technology is aimed at providing client company UEL with a cost effective means of extracting uranium from phosphoric acid streams as a by-product in the production of phosphate fertilisers.

According to UEL’s chief metallurgist, James Davidson, uranium occurs in all sedimentary phosphate deposits but traditional extraction methods were not economically viable due to high capital and operating costs. This meant that uranium valued at more than $1 billion per annum is lost.

“It is estimated that in the world’s 300 million tonnes of reasonably assured phosphate resources there may be as much as 25 million tonnes of recoverable uranium,” he said.

“Recent trial runs of the PhosEnergy demonstration plant on two different phosphate fertiliser acids in the US resulted in consistently high uranium recovery of greater than 90 percent.

Demonstration plant operations also supported the estimated operating costs of US$20-25 per pound.”

World first

Engineering director at ACE, Glenn Jobling, says the PhosEnergy demonstration plant is the first of its type in the world, allowing further demonstration plant operations to be conducted at other phosphate production facilities around the world.

“This 1/1000th scale pilot demonstration plant, based on the process developed by UEL, has been constructed in two 12.5m side opening shipping containers and can be shipped rapidly anywhere in the world. Because of the modular design, there is no need for expensive disassembly and necessary 26 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

DESIGN: All components were modelled in 3D prior to assembly and space usage was optimised. spares are included in the containers to fix any problems that may occur during operation,” Jobling explained.

“All components were modelled in 3D prior to assembly, and space usage was optimised to ensure operability whilst retaining accessibility to the containerised modules.

“Automation and quantity of equipment is similar to a full scale process plant and includes 349 valves and 22 pumps plus flow meters, level transmitters and temperature controllers.”

Key suppliers for the project included Rockwell Allen Bradley (control system), NHP (electrical equipment used in motor control centres), Endress+Hauser (all instrumentation), SEW EuroDrive (all motors and gear boxes), Global Pumps, Tyco (valves), and Sandvik (stainless steel).

Remote control

Full SCADA control is provided, and although the $3.5 million demonstration plant is now located in the US, control and monitoring can be carried out remotely from the ACE facility in Adelaide. Automated switching is enabled between all systems and all electrical equipment can be isolated at usage point without complete shutdown.

The PhosEnergy plant is controlled by a Rockwell Automation ControlLogix PLC which communicates to FLEX I/O modules via ControlNet, and digital and analogue I/O cards are connected to the FLEX I/O modules.

Analogue cards are HART capable and communicate with all instruments supplied by Endress+Hauser, and the HART communication for each instrument allows four analogue feedbacks

to be monitored by the PLC from one analogue connection.

Jobling went on to explain that, for example, a Coriolis meter can provide density, inline temperature, ambient temperature, and pressure measurements back to the PLC from one analogue feedback channel.

“Thus from this demonstration plant we have been able to collect a large number of process variables using approximately 30 percent fewer instruments and field wiring, he said.

“HART configuration software, FieldCare, is also installed at the operator PC. This allows the engineer to configure/ reconfigure and monitor all instruments from the PC without going to each instrument in the field.

“The FieldCare software communicates to each device via Ethernet to the

PACE.MAR13.PG027.pdf

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TRANSPORTABLE: The 1/1000th scale pilot demonstration plant has been constructed in two 12.5m side opening shipping containers and can be shipped rapidly anywhere in the world.

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of the data from the Historian Server.

A touch PC with FactoryTalk Client HMI is installed remotely on a touch screen HMI at the plant floor, which allows the operator to monitor and control the plant at the floor.

FactoryTalk Client receives all HMI pages from the main server, so when changes are required modification is only needed at the server. Jobling points out that this provides the benefit of less engineering costs for graphic development.

A NetComm HSPA Cellular Router is also installed on site and can communicate remotely to another NetComm router at the ACE office. A PC at the ACE office can connect directly to the plant network remotely via the Telstra Cloud, which Jobling says allows support and minor maintenance services to be provided easily from the office.

Several challenges

plant including building the plant in the two shipping containers, which presented a considerable engineering challenge.

“Because the plant is available to be shipped rapidly anywhere in the world, various factors needed to be considered including that the plant can operate with any voltage/frequency, and that it complies with all relevant standards in different countries,” he said.

“For example, we ensured that the plant is designed to comply with international safety standards. HAZID and HAZOP studies were conducted and controls implemented including an automated emergency shutdown system, as well as a secondary containment drain system.”

Adelaide Control Engineering 08 8118 6460 www.adlcontrol.com.au

According to Jobling, several challenges were encountered in designing, developing A and D _ setting P A C up E Pthe C demonstration AJ UN_ 1 2 . p d f

Pa ge

1

Uranium Equities 08 8110 0700 www.uel.com.au 1 5 / 0 5 / 1 2 ,

SAVINGS: The demonstration plant operations supported the estimated operating costs of US$20-25 per pound.

PLC, then ControlNet to the Flexl/O, and analogue wiring to the instruments.

At ACE we can also configure and monitor the instruments remotely from our main office via NetComm routers.

“DOL Motor Contractor controls and feedback are connected to digital I/O cards, and VSD motors are controlled by Rockwell PowerFlex 40 VSD, and the VSD communicates with the PLC using ControlNet. “ControlNet, which contains dual channels to allow redundancy, enables multiple data blocks to be transferred through the network. The PLC can monitor and configure the VSD status, errors, control commands, and feedback through the ControlNet.”

Data integrity

A server PC, which runs Windows 2008 Server, is set up in the control room. Rockwell Automation software FactoryTalk SE Server and Historian Server are installed to supply SCADA and data acquisition for the project.

Jobling emphasises that because this is a demonstration plant, data integrity is vital to the economics and scaling, so this historical data storage is critical to all parts of the business.

A Client Operator PC with Windows 7 runs both FactoryTalk SE Client and VantagePoint for the operator to control the plant. FactoryTalk SE provides the HMI control of the plant and VantagePoint provides trends March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 27

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PACE.MAR13.PG028.pdf

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SPOTLIGHT

7best of the

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

Low noise differential impedance transducers

Hydrostatic level measurement

In response to customer demand for higher resolution in differential position sensing applications, Kaman has released the DIT-5200L, low noise differential impedance transducer. This new low noise version of Kaman’s DIT-5200 offers true differential for common mode rejection, sub nanometer resolution, and high sensitivity: up to 10V/mil (39mV/µm) in both single and dual channel configurations. The DIT-5200L features rugged construction with an MTBF of better than 210,000 hours. Kaman’s DIT-5200L measuring system is a COTS solution offering significant advancements in precision measurement technology. The DIT-5200L provides exceptional resolution, repeatability, and nulling accuracy for detecting the position of optics in tip-tilt applications such as fast steering mirrors, and in precision stage position feed back in semiconductor and atomic force microscopy applications.

Keller AG offers probes to monitor groundwater levels and filling levels in tanks. Depending on requirements, these probes provide autonomous operation or may be used with an integrated data logger, wireless transmission, an ambient pressurecompensating capillary or a separate absolute pressure sensor; options include integrated temperature measurement.

Depending on the sounding tube, probe diameters of 16mm and 18mm up to 22mm are available. With a diameter of 16mm, the DCX-16 can be used in locations where every mm counts.

The pressure sensor is welded into the logger housing. Type DCX-16, which is screwed in position, is watertight and

TRE Measurements 0427 275 327 www.kamansensors.com

operates as an autonomous batterypowered data collector with an absolute pressure sensor. The welded DCX-18 is designed as an autonomous level logger for low-cost, long-term measurements of level and temperature, with rechargeable accumulator-type batteries. Type DCX-22 AA level loggers (diameter of 22mm) compensates for fluctuations in the local barometric pressure with a watertight air pressure sensor fitted on the top end of the sounding tube.

Keller info@keller-druck.com www.keller-druck.com

High-precision calibration of sensors The accuracy of pressure and temperature sensors plays a decisive role for the product quality in the production process. This is why the requirements regarding product certification are periodically increased. Customers - in particular from the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries - demand a calibration certificate for each purchased sensor.

The ifm calibration laboratory holds the DAkkS accreditation for pressure and temperature sensors to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025. ifm efector now offers the calibration of new sensors purchased ex works as well as periodic calibrations. The comparative measurement for the calibration of pressure sensors is 28 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

performed with high-precision pressure compensators by using known mass pieces. The 11-point DAkkS calibration is carried out in the measuring range from -1...700 bar. Depending on the reference pressure, the minimum measurement uncertainty is between 20 µbar and 140 mbar. For temperature sensors, the comparative measurement is carried out in stirred, temperature-controlled liquid baths using reference temperature sensors. DAkkS calibration reports with a different number of measurement points in the range from -20...150°C are offered. ifm efector 1300 365 088 sales.au@ifm.com

PACE.MAR13.PG029.pdf

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

PID controller improves flexibility for process control applications The Red Lion PAX2C PID controller is the newest addition to PAX2 Series that improves flexibility and ease of use for process and temperature control markets. Applications include food & beverage, plastics, packaging, energy, gas, heat treating and glass processing. The PAX2C’s features include a field installable plug-in option cards that simplifies configuration by enabling customers to seamlessly use different cards to build their own controllers. This type of flexibility eliminates the need to order additional products to meet changing application requirements. The dual-line tri-colour display provides a customisable visual representation of up to 16 changing alarm conditions with 7 programmable colour zones. The universal input accepts current, voltage, resistance, temperature and process signals in the same unit. The unit accepts AC or DC power. The PAX2C has flexible plug-in option cards whereby customers can build their own controllers by simply changing cards. This reduces inventory and lowers costs because they only need to stock a single controller and a handful of option cards.

Control Logic 1800 557 705 www.control-logic.com.au

Pumps offer energy saving function NORD DriveSystems has extended its SK 200E family of decentralised drive solutions with a size 4 inverter with a rated power output from 11 to 22 kW. The self-cooling inverters are available for motor-mounting or with a wall mounting kit, and the IP55 housing provides protection from dust and water jets. Models feature sensor-less current vector control, an integrated brake chopper, a control module for an electromagnetic brake, and the safety function ‘Safe Torque Off’. User programming and operation of this distributed inverter range is with a choice of control boxes or via the free NORDCON software. Common applications can be selected via DIP switches. An analogue input allows for variable speed adjustment of an SK 200E pump drive, and if a pressure or flow sensor is connected to the second analogue input, the SK 200E can actively and autonomously control process values. During partial load operation, an integrated energy saving function kicks in to ensure environmental friendliness.

NORD DriveSystems 03 9394 0500 www.nord.com.au

Relative humidity measurement for harsh environments Maintaining reliable relative humidity measurements in harsh or corrosive environments is notoriously difficult as the conditions themselves degrade the sensors and equipment, often in short time-periods. Michell Instruments’ DT722 RH and temperature transmitter provides a solution to this problem. To meet specific application needs, the DT722 series is available in digital (DT722) and analogue (DT722-X18) models. The digital electronic platform version of the DT722 gives high performance measurement with high RH accuracy and delivers consistent and accurate results over changing ambient conditions. The DT722-X18 is an analogue through path measurement device with high mechanical toughness.

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

Parameterisable 3D inclinometers The B2N-360-Q42 3D inclinometer can be adapted by the customer to the requirements of the application via IO-Link. With a double 360° measuring range, the sensor is not limited to a maximum ±85° — as with all comparable models. Users can set individual vibration filters that precisely mask out the vibration frequency of their machine, in addition to defining the zero point, switch points or switch windows according to the mounting position and requirements at hand. As well as vibrations, the sensor also suppresses potential error sources such as accelerations or shocks. The range of assignable param-

eters and the maximum sensing range of 360° on two axes enable the sensors to be suited for virtually any application. The B2N-360-Q42 can also be used for measuring vibration or shock. Turck offers two variants of the sensor: the industrial variant and the e1 variant. The industrial variant features a temperature range from -25 to +75°C, making it suitable for inclination measuring on solar panels or robots. The second variant is designed according to the e1 specification for use in utility vehicles.

TURCK Australia 1300 132 566 www.turck.com.au March 2013 www.pacetoday.com.au 29

PACE.MAR13.PG030.pdf

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CONNECTIONS

5

minutes with...

Mark Hall, Sales Manager, HMA-POGC How did you enter this industry?

I lack the size and speed to have been a professional athlete but a career in sports would have been a dream.

After completing my MBA in Engineering & Change Management, it was more a progression into the role. My career background is mechanical and project management within the oil & gas and mining industries. These are the main industries of focus for HMA. My current role utilises elements of my new qualification and filled some career portfolio gaps.

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

Years ago I would often drive around with a map book on my lap and a general sense of direction. Prior to departing I would have to plan your route and remember the main roads you were looking for.

While this is now a dying art due to the GPS, the only thing that was hard to work out from a map book was the overall distance and hence travel time.

I once had the idea, prior to GPS, of a

pen sized unit that could be set to the scale of the map book and you draw the route of travel. The pen would then calculate the distance and you could then estimate your travel time. Unfortunately they invented the GPS about a year later and my map reading skills have never been the same since.

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

The major gas projects in WA and Queensland while underway lot set to provide some great ongoing business right through to 2018.

Maintenance and spares contracts for these projects will also be nice continuing business. We are also looking forward to the current mining blip to improve even as early as this year.

From a product point of view we have seen increasing interest with regards our fire and gas protection systems and there with wireless networks in the hazardous areas.

What’s the greatest challenge?

The greatest ongoing challenge for my current role is creating company awareness. Many within the industry know HMA-POGC for our products and brands.

Part of my role is to educate customers in our other services. I have been involved in the creating a more recognisable brand for us and for what we are associated.

I have also had a great learning experience in social media and how we can use this as another form of marketing.

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

Like most males I have passion for sports, in particular soccer and NFL. Like most males I claim to have been quite good at both (in my day). While I probably lack the size and speed to have been a professional athlete, a career in sports would have been a dream. mhall@hmagroup.com.au 02 9428 7312 www.hmagroup.com.au

IICA CORNER

Many recognised training options available IICA assists with professional training in process control and automation, writes Graham Moss.

IICA presents specialised courses designed by ISA (International Society of Automation), our sister organisation in North America. ISA training courses are internationally recognised, and the courses presented by IICA have been ‘Australianised’ and updated to local standards. Courses for 2013 include: Safety Instrumented Systems - The Must Know for Implementation (EC50C) This course covers the basics for the design and selection of safety systems.

Included are topics such as: • Guidelines, standards: ANSI/ISA/IEC • General SIS design considerations; Design life cycle; Independent safety layers • Hazard and risk assessment; Determining SILs • Failure modes and redundancy issues 30 www.pacetoday.com.au March 2013

• System technologies • Operation and maintenance; Management of change Overview of Instrumentation and Control Fundamentals FG05C This overview of instrumentation and control uses a generally non-mathematical approach to the following topics: • Process design fundamentals, process flow drawings, P&IDs • Instrumentation design documentation • Industrial sensors for flow, level, pressure and temperature measurement • Control valves and positioners • Process control dynamics, control system hardware, PID loops and tuning Introduction to Industrial Data Networks and Fieldbuses (FG30C) This course introduces you to the range

of industrial data networks. It covers: • Fundamental requirements of a data network, the OSI layer model, networking topologies.

• Ethernet Network Management, different Ethernet network designs, Ethernet solutions offered by vendors • AS-Interface, DeviceNet and Profibus; Benefits and Customer; Topology and Configuration • FOUNDATION Fieldbus (FF); Network design; Function Blocks Grounding and Noise Reduction for Control Equipment (TI21C) This course provides an understanding of grounding, both from an electrical systems relationship and from an instrument loops relationship. The purpose of grounding and electrical systems, grounding for safety, signal noise, signal

wiring systems. Methods used to reduce noise will be covered. Topics include: • Considerations relevant to grounding and protection from electrical shock • Grounding electrical systems • Isolated grounding and measuring effectiveness of ground systems • Ground loops in instrumentation • Electrical noise and interference • Shielding and grounding to reduce noise/interference • Power quality for electronic equipment • Power conditioners and surge suppression devices The Courses may be recognised by Engineers Australia in accordance with their CPD Policy Guidelines [Graham Moss is IICA Training Manager.]

IICA 03 9036 0166 www.iica.org.au

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nominations closing soon

The 10th annual PACE Zenith Awards will be held in Sydney on Thursday 13 June 2013. Nominations close 5 April 2013.

A total of 12 awards will be up for grabs on the night. Each award will celebrate the achievements of the people behind some of the country’s most innovative engineering projects.

• Automotive & Manufacturing • Food & Beverage • Machine Builder • Mining, Minerals & Exploration

• Oil & Gas • Power & Energy Management • Lifetime Achievement Award • Transport, Power & Infrastructure

• Water & Wastewater • Young Achiever • Project of the Year • Best Fieldbus Implementation

All finalists will be profiled in PACE magazine and on the website. They will also be given 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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