An overhead monorail system transports car body carriers around a loop that travels through the 100-meter-long paint-shop building.

At the paint-shop loading station at one end of the process line, car bodies are loaded onto these mobile carriers, lifted eight meters off the floor, and attached to an overhead monorail system. The carriers run above a process line with 14 sequential stations. At each station, the carriers stop to allow two on-board hoists to lower the car bodies into a chemical immersion bath. When the process is completed at one station, the hoists lift the car body and the carrier moves along the monorail to the next station in the chain, as soon as it's empty. After the last process station, the car bodies are unloaded from the carriers at the other side of the building, 120 meters from where they began.

The Problem – Obsolete Mobile Connectivity

Each mobile overhead carrier contains an on-board controller to operate the on-board hoists. A single, stationary master controller located near the loading station manages the carrier controllers. The master issues commands via a legacy serial protocol through a conductor rail system that connects it to the carrier controllers.
  
The protocol is slower than newer industrial protocols and is difficult to transmit wirelessly. The facility management recognized that to increase communication speed and bandwidth they would need to use a new protocol. And, the original network design did not require or include peer-to-peer communication between carrier controllers. They determined that adding peer-to-peer communication capability could also help increase production.

The sliding-contact conductor rail system that carried messages came with its own set of problems. The sliding-contact system required significant maintenance to operate at peak efficiency. But even at peak efficiency, when network bandwidth utilization approached maximum capacity, high transmission error rates plagued this hardware-based rubbing connector system. Low capacity and high error rates created another problem. Even though the paint-shop process line had 14 stations, the conductor rail system had enough bandwidth for data from only 13 carriers at a time, which was restricting paint-shop throughput.

The Goal – Increase Production Capacity with Minimal Modifications

Plant engineers wanted to retain the advantages of having mobile, on-board controllers for each carrier. They wanted to eliminate the communication bottleneck imposed by the older serial protocol. They wanted to eliminate the maintenance headaches and bandwidth limitations of the conductor rail network. They wanted to be able to use all 14 stations simultaneously, and add four to six new carriers to cope with increased production demands. So, they began rethinking their network strategy.

The Solution – Marrying Old and New Technologies

Working closely with an engineering service and local distributor, the company elected to migrate to the faster, more robust Ethernet communication network in order to increase their bandwidth capabilities. But, the processors mounted in the mobile carrier cabinets had no Ethernet ports. The manufacturer did not want to replace all the mobile PLCs with Ethernet-capable processors, so they installed a serial-to-Ethernet gateway in each controller cabinet. This enabled the stationary master processor to receive process data from the mobile processors via Ethernet. The existing legacy master PLC was replaced with a newer version, giving the master controller sufficient Ethernet connectivity bandwidth to handle the large volume of data from the mobile controllers.
  
The sliding contact network system was not well-suited for Ethernet communication and too unreliable and costly to maintain. Eliminating the outdated sliding contact system and replacing it with a modern wireless system seemed like an obvious and necessary choice. The mobile carriers and the stationary master controller could then communicate via Ethernet through a high-speed, high-volume wireless network solution. But wireless networks can have their own set of limitations. Radio waves reflect off metal objects and bounce in all directions, creating a potential problem known as radio multipath interference.
  
Engineers were doubtful wireless would be reliable for heavy industry, in an environment surrounded by moving metal. The paint shop has metal walls and a metal roof. The carriers are massive steel objects, as are the car bodies they carry. These constantly moving metal masses result in an ever-changing radio frequency environment, increasing opportunities for radio interference to interrupt or corrupt data flow. But ProSoft’s industrial radios use highly effective filtering algorithms and allow emitted power adjustment. Both of these features help overcome multipath interference problems. Plus, ProSoft Technology's expert advice regarding proper antenna selection and placement was a major factor contributing to the application's overall success.
  
“We saved at least 2-3 days of engineering work while designing the network,” remembers Mike Dean, the system integrator from DACs. “And of course, we saved on installation time, having less hardware to handle, manipulate, and install in the field. In fact, installation and validation of the network were very quick. When adopting a new technology, the learning curve typically runs through one or two projects. But, with [the radios] and with support from ProSoft Technology, our learning process was very short.”

The Results - DRAMATIC

Production capacity increased more than 53 percent.
  
The wireless radios provided all the speed and bandwidth engineers needed to achieve their design goals. Wireless networking brought the transmission speed and reliability that were missing with the old conductor-rail, sliding-contact system. The wireless solution was easy to implement and much easier to maintain, requiring less downtime. And the number of carriers that could simultaneously be in use in the paint-shop loop increased from 13 with the old network to 20 with the new network.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s wireless solutions here. 

We all do it. Gaze out oblong windows from seats in their upright positions; feel the deceleration of the plane as it floats down the glide slope of the approach; watch our smooth descent toward two retreating columns of light defining the runway ahead. It is part of the experience of flying and much of your personal safety rests on the reliability of the airfield lighting systems that serve as the pilots’ visual aids during take-off and landing.

Without reliable lighting systems to facilitate aircraft movements, flights can be delayed or canceled, causing an onerous ripple effect for travelers, businesses, and airlines alike. Worst case, an incursion can occur at an active runway intersection with a potential for fatal results.
 
The Architecture of Airfield Lighting Control Systems
 
Lighting infrastructure on the airfield includes runway and taxiway edge lights, threshold lighting, airfield guidance signs, and apron areas where aircraft are loaded and refueled.
  
Power is distributed to the lighting circuits by underground cables from electrical vaults installed at selected locations on the site. These vaults contain the power distribution equipment for the lighting circuits, and are controlled by an Airfield Lighting Control & Monitoring System (ALCMS).
  
A Canada equipment manufacturer holds over 30 years’ experience designing airfield lighting power and control systems, including those for airports in Houston and Toronto. They’ve seen it all and understand the consequences of failure of the lights airside.
  
“If a network communication problem means a major airport cannot control the approach and runway lighting, the airport may be forced to delay or divert the flights. That’s a big deal,” the company’s president said. “That’s why we use robust industrial-grade products and multiple levels of redundancy in our control system products.”
  
While the company’s power and control system solutions are application-specific, the core hardware and software products employed in their system design remain constant.
  
At the heart of each ALCMS system are Rockwell Automation® ControlLogix® PACs. The lighting circuit status is served to a FactoryTalk® View SCADA operator console located in the Air Traffic Control Tower, providing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controllers with a touch-screen interface from which they control the various lighting circuits on the airfield.
  
FactoryTalk View is part of a unified suite of monitoring and control solutions designed to span stand-alone machine-level applications up through supervisory-level HMI applications across a network. This suite offers a common development environment and application reuse such that system engineers can improve productivity while helping clients reduce maintenance costs and improve airfield safety overall.
  
Fiber optic cable is used as the primary communications medium. In many cases, a secondary parallel fiber network is installed as a backup. While reliable, fiber-based communications does have shortcomings, field conditions may be such that:

• Airside construction can compromise communications and thus operations.
• Communications duct banks lay under concrete slab runways and taxiways, which are very costly to install and maintain.
• Redundant fiber networks normally run parallel to the primary line, and thus are subject to common risks, especially when a duct bank is compromised by a negligent back hoe operator.

Independent Wireless Redundancy

Airports are a dynamic entity, with runway and taxiway expansions and surface rehabilitation ongoing. Construction and maintenance airside is a common event, whether for new construction or maintenance purposes. With fiber optic cable runs all around, there exists the risk that the fiber can be damaged during construction and the control system will be knocked offline.
  
As industrial wireless solutions began to emerge, the Canadian system integrator considered their distinct advantages as backup communications to the fiber lines. Cost reduction associated with installation, maintenance, and replacement of fiber was a major driver, but even more valuable was the assurance of increasing uptime by implementing an independent backup communication system.
  
“Uptime and maintenance aspects are a huge consideration. If the system goes down, a maintenance team must be brought in. The costs of this can be significant, particularly if the occurrence is at night or on a weekend. But, if the system is able to automatically switch over to the wireless backup, this cost is avoided,” said the company’s Control Systems Product Manager.
  
The company had been using Wireless Ethernet products successfully since the late 1990s, but began to experience problems as the amount of multicast I/O traffic on their network increased. After some research and consultation with the automation group at Gerrie Electric Distribution, the company discovered that ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Hotspots were better able support their application needs.
  
“This is an exciting company to work with because they are highly innovative, always seeking new and better technology,” said the Automation Product Manager for Gerrie. “When ProSoft Technology released these radios, which were specifically designed and optimized for EtherNet/IP, it made for the right solution and the customer was quick to take advantage of it.”
  
“We went with ProSoft because they are able to handle high multicast traffic, and upon using the radios we also found the configuration tools were much more simplified,” said a representative for the customer. “From our standpoint as a system integrator, we were able to reduce development and installation costs because we could employ the same local electrical contractors that perform the installation of our electrical equipment to mount the data radios.”

Seamless Transition to Backup Communication

In one installation, the system integrator supplied the airfield lighting control system for an airfield providing deployment support for military and humanitarian efforts around the world. The basic system relies on wireless backup for the ALCMS functions. In a later system expansion, eight new Rockwell Automation POINT I/O™ drops were added to the wireless network, providing real-time control and monitoring of high mast apron lighting around the airfield. The cost to install seven wireless nodes to the network came in at less than half of the cost of a conventional hardwired configuration.
  
After installation, the unexpected did happen. A contractor dug through a major telecommunications duct bank containing the main fiber optic communication cables for the airfield lighting. Communications and airport operations continued flawlessly on the wireless radio network for the next week while new cables were procured and installed.

Reaching Remote Sites

In a majority of airside projects, site equipment is deployed over a large physical area. Locations may involve a few I/O points and remote operator consoles which are potentially distributed over distances up to five miles. In these situations, it’s often not economical to run fiber, and wireless becomes the primary line of communication.
  
In fact, the Canadian system integrator has standardized on wireless as the primary network for the more distributed applications on the airfield, including control from Central De-icing Facilities. De-icing is essential to safe aircraft operation in winter. An anti-freezing agent called glycol is used for this process. Because of its toxicity, environmental regulations now require modern airports to designate an area for the de-icing process, where glycol used to spray the planes is collected into reservoirs, cleaned and discharged. These de-icing facilities are generally remote from the main terminals, so independent lighting systems are used to guide planes into the appropriate bays for spraying.

Mobile Connectivity, Maintenance, and Transferability

To take things one step further, one Canadian airport’s Central De-icing Facility lighting is controlled by a mobile laptop PC using a high-speed wireless EtherNet/IP communications module.
  
The lighting infrastructure of de-icing pads resembles a mini airport, where an individual called the Iceman controls the movement of aircraft within the de-icing area. The Iceman’s mobility is quite important as he moves about the facility and guides aircraft in and out under the most severe winter conditions.
  
Wireless mobile units are becoming common on the airfield, not just for de-icing but for mobile maintenance units, like one designed for an Arizona airport. The airport uses ProSoft Technology’s IP66 weatherproof radios to communicate from the maintenance vehicles to the main control system locations including the control tower and two electrical vaults.
  
If a runway is closed for maintenance, airport electricians can roam the airfield performing mandatory light checks while manually controlling each circuit from their mobile wireless computer. In the past, they would have had to contact the tower to switch circuits on/off for them, a tedious and time-consuming procedure at best.

Challenges

Wireless communications has proven to be very successful, but not without its challenges.
  
“When you run fiber, you dig a trench and put it in the ground,” the Canadian system integrator’s representative said. “You know it’s there. With wireless the biggest difficulty is pinpointing a point of interference if, for example, the airline implements an overlapping unrelated wireless network in the terminal. We can’t control who else is in the spectrum tomorrow.”
  
All in all, he noted, the benefits outweigh the costs for the system integrator and its customers.
  
“We’ve had a very positive experience,” he said. “ProSoft is responsive when issues arise during installation. The support guys are always very helpful, good to work with, and we can’t see building our systems any other way today.”

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s wireless solutions here

We tend to think about it only when disturbances occur, but wastewater treatment is a basic public service that affects all of us:

it is vital to keep our living environment hygienic and healthy and our watercourses clean. Behind the scene, the wastewater treatment process combines microbiology and chemistry with mechanical engineering, instrumentation, and automation techniques that offer high performance in a progressive way.
  
 Industrial wastewater treatment
 The central wastewater treatment plant of a Finnish company receives household and industrial wastewater from different communities and utilities. "Around 60 percent of the water treated here is industrial wastewater," said the plant’s operating chief. Treatment of sewage including animal waste is especially laborious. "Compared to industrial sewage, we consider household wastewater to be clean enough to be used as a drink," he jokes. The automation of the whole system has to be considered with care.
  
 

Part of the company’s work involves maintaining central wastewater treatment plant in a nearby city. This is where the automation system had to be renewed.

An accurately controlled process
 The process starts with the primary treatment, where the influent sewage water is strained to remove all large objects and the oxygen level of the water is increased to facilitate microbe activities (microbes clean the water by feeding on its impurities). During this biological treatment phase, the microbes in the wastewater are given suitable growing conditions in terms of temperature, oxygen level, and nutrition.

The next phase includes chemical secondary sedimentation, where aluminum-based chemicals are added to the water from the biological treatment to prompt flocculation of slowly-degrading organic and other materials. In the last phase, the remaining sludge is treated by removing water from it. The water separated from the sludge is taken back to the beginning of the treatment process, and the solid sludge is taken to the biogas plant.
High-tech automation system
The central wastewater treatment plant is fully automated. The automation system from 1992 reached the end of the road. Requirements for the technology selected to renew the wastewater treatment plant were:

• Ease of installation and maintenance
• Flexibility to adapt to fast-changing regulation
• Improvement of the overall solution
• Compliance with existing applications and methodologies

 
 The whole system was renewed in 2008 in collaboration with Schneider Electric®. “The old automation system had served its time. We have been using it every day for the past 16 years," the operating chief explained. The original automation system involved six controllers from the TSX7 series, with Monitor 77/2 software environment, and used MAPWAY communication protocol. In the new solution, six Modicon® Premium™ controllers are implemented with Monitor Pro v7.6 and are using Modbus® TCP/IP over wireless, using nine of ProSoft Technology's industrial radios. About 2000 process variables are transiting over the wireless network, which is also used for programming and maintenance purposes.
 

Why wireless? 
 A total of seven locations had to be integrated into one single tight network. The 6 Modicon Premium controllers are located in different buildings at the wastewater treatment plant, and the plant has two control rooms. "We put the second computer here in this higher building so that our feet never get wet," the operating chief said. The plant is situated in an area prone to flooding. Of course, the plant can continue to operate even if the computers are down.

From the user point of view, the first advantage of the wireless networking option was the cost and time savings for the installation: no need to dig tranches, and no need to clean up existing cable paths.

From the integrator’s point of view, the wireless network was "the easiest part of the implementation. We didn't have any problems. These radios are very easy to configure, and mounting recommendations given by ProSoft Technology were very clear. Schneider Electric made some tests in their office and then explained to us how to implement the wireless network on the field."

From Schneider Electric’s point of view, the engineering of the network was reduced to a minimum. "When we started the project, we did not locally have any specific RF expertise," explains the then-Application Sales and Key Account Manager, Wood and BioEnergy, at Schneider Electric Finland. "We talked to ProSoft Technology Technical Support Engineers and provided them with the basic engineering and layout of the network. They made some calculations that where necessary for this type of application and they provided us with the recommended lists of accessories for each radio location: cables, antenna, lightning protector, etc. They also provided all the necessary recommendations for mounting and implementation in the field. The wireless network implementation was an easy job for us and our integrator.”

Long term investments 
"The controls have been defined largely in the same way as in the old system," the plant’s operating chief explained. "Some of the old controls have remained the same, some have been added, and we have changed the commands a little bit." Since 1992, the plant has acquired a new sludge drying centrifuge and the treatment process has been modified by a new chemical treatment with aluminum. The automation system had to evolve accordingly.

"No controller can remain the same forever. There are always some additions and changes along the way. In this industry in particular, the regulations change quite a lot over the years as well," said the Schneider Electric sales manager, who took part in the plant’s original automation project in 1992.

The new setup is working well.

"We have not had any problems with the implementation of the new automation system. The graphics of the user interface have remained practically the same so we are familiar with the screens and don't need additional training," the plant’s operating chief said.

The reporting program in use is separate from the SCADA, but it reads data directly from the Modicon Premium controllers as well, via the same network.

In the future, the controllers can be easily modified or complemented when necessary with additional input or output modules. On the network side, the wireless option provides an additional degree of flexibility.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Wireless Solutions here.

Once named the oil capital of the world, Tulsa, Oklahoma rests near the foothills of the Southern Ozark Mountains.

Winding among these wooded hills and across the open wheatlands is a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipeline belonging to a midstream oil company.

Nationwide, pipeline operational data is monitored in real time from the company's office control center in Texas. For security, safety, and real-time accessibility, all critical data is transmitted via satellite to the SCADA control center.

To improve line integrity, the engineering team responsible for this 100-mile LPG pipeline wanted to increase monitoring for some non-critical data points at 12 PLCs along the length of the pipeline. The crux: how to do so when their standardized satellite solution would be cost-prohibitive for these non-critical, low-data-transfer locations. Without additional monitoring points, they were left with visibility at only three points on the pipeline. In the event of a leak, discovery requires an operator to physically drive the entire length of the pipeline between point A and point B to locate the leak, which in this case could be anywhere along a 20-, 30- or 40-mile stretch of pipeline. From a line integrity standpoint, having nothing in between these points meant less resolution as to what was happening on the pipeline, and though leaks are rare, when they occur it’s essential to find and isolate them quickly for the safety of personnel, collateral, and the environment.
  
With the plethora of wireless products now available, the engineering team began investigating alternatives to satellite for these non-critical locations.

"When I was first approached about this opportunity, I immediately thought of ProSoft," said Brian White from Rexel. "With its extensive line of products and services and history of assistance to Rexel in Oklahoma, I felt confident they could provide a viable option for this application."

Originally, 900 MHz industrial radios were considered for these stations, because of their long-range capabilities and ability to penetrate foliage. Because of the dramatically different landscape, however, a site survey concluded that of these twelve locations, three lacked the required line-of-sight. To bring these sites onto the network, towers would have to be built, which would have brought the cost of implementation close to $100,000, rendering yet another solution infeasible.
  
Luckily, every site had cell service.
  
"Cellular technology is fantastic for real-time network access to industrial devices around the world," said the Wireless Product Marketing Manager at ProSoft Technology. "This application highlights the ease with which devices in remote areas can be made accessible at an affordable price."

Within three weeks from the time the order was placed, the radios were onsite. Installation was a challenge for the company only in that they had never worked with cellular. ProSoft Technology’s technician engineer walked them through the setup process, and with 15 minutes of setup per device, had the radios talking.

Results

The cellular radios are scattered along that length of the pipeline, monitoring line pressure and valve statuses along the way. Each radio is wired to a PLC via serial Modbus®, gathering information from their remote locations. A thirteenth cellular radio is connected to the satellite network, relaying data from all twelve points back to the control center in Texas.
  
By adding these data points to the network, the company was able to minimize risk while keeping the application safe and operational. In fact, using cellular has enabled them to pinpoint line pressures to 5-mile intervals versus 40, so should pressure drop off between two of these points, they can quickly isolate leaks with as little impact as possible. 

For more information about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions, click here.

 
With a pumping station that is 25 stories tall, the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, located on the diamond-shaped island of Singapore

, is the cornerstone of the Singapore Deep Water Sewage System. This system is responsible for purifying wastewater for consumption throughout the City/State of Singapore. The NEWater plant, which went online last summer, produces 50 million gallons of treated water daily. That’s the equivalent of 90 Olympic –sized swimming pools.
 
"The designers have incorporated a space saving design concept - things like stack treatment tanks and also stack treatment facilities like our sludge treatment facilities. All the treatment facilities are stacked on top of the other so as to save space," said Yong Wei Hin, assistant director of Changi Water Reclamation Plant.
Such a concept is the first in the world.
 
This monumental project needed low maintenance costs, real-time communication, with remote diagnostics and needed to be integrated with an already existing asset management system. Due to mandatory connectivity requirements, it was decided to use PROFIBUS DP V1 as the protocol for communication. This complicated matters since both Schneider Electric and Rockwell Automation PLCs were both used in the plant.
 
Schneider Electric contacted ProSoft Technology to allow the PLCs to communicate with PROFIBUS DP. With the PROFIBUS integration via 160 ProSoft Technology PROFIBUS DP V1 Quantum modules, the plant’s overall system architecture now provides high-speed communication as well as power to devices over the bus, making it possible to have very large networks.
 
The addition of the PROFIBUS DP V1 module to ProSoft’s ProTalk line of Quantum modules has helped Schneider Electric open a new avenue of communication possibilities.
 
"Schneider Electric is very strong in the process industry and wanted to bring valuable solutions with PROFIBUS and FDT/DTM technology," said Ken Roslan, Strategic Marketing Manager for ProSoft Technology. "We were able to help them expedite time-to-market and get the customer acceptance and final buy-in."
 
The Changi Water Reclamation Plant is equipped with 160 ProSoft PROFIBUS DP V1 Master modules allowing constant communication with end devices. The mega-water treatment project has a long list of field devices in a wide-ranging PROFIBUS network including Magnetic Flow Meters, Thermal Mass Flow Meters, Pressure and Differential Pressure Level Transmitters, Radar/Ultrasonic Transmitters, Dissolved Oxygen Analyzers, Temperature Transmitters and Electric Actuators.
 
The PROFIBUS DP slave devices mainly came from vendors like SIEMENS (ET200M I/O’s), Yokogawa (Flow transmitter & Differential Pressure sensor), Vega (Ultra Sonic sensors, Level sensors, etc), ABB (VSD), Schneider Electric (VSD & DOL starters) and Siemens (VSD).
With Intelligent Field Device Management (FDT/DTM), ProSoft Technology as a third party has helped Schneider Electric to integrate PROFIBUS device level to its PLC.
 
The PTQ-PDPMV1 functions as a PROFIBUS DPV1 Master. Developed upon Quantum backplane transfer technology the protocol module sends information back and forth through the Quantum processor. It collects all the necessary information on the configured PROFIBUS DP network. Built on Siemens ASIC ASPC2 Step E with Infineon C165 Microprocessor, the module’s Firmware is flash-upgradeable, and allows for slave messaging, extended diagnostics and alarm handling, and notification, and more.
 
The Changi Water Reclamation Plant has been operating successfully since June 2009.

A water utility in Oregon needed to update the control equipment in its filter plant.

Some of the equipment was 25 years old and could only start a pump and give a run confirmation. The utility needed more information, including flow and pressure. It had legacy PLCs reporting through expensive phone lines. Industrial Systems was the contractor who sold the water district on installing Allen-Bradley® PLCs using a ProSoft Technology migration module to communicate with the older equipment via Modbus®.

Three Allen-Bradley® PLCs were installed with a ProSoft module in each for the remote site, the pump station, and the reservoir site. Modems were used to communicate to the master station. They are now able to get the data they needed.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Migration Solutions here.

A major company known for engineering, building, and managing water treatment plants was faced with a new challenge.

At a French treatment facility designed by the company, an innovative method was implemented for a common wastewater treatment application involving sludge drying.

The sludge drying process is a residual element of the application that takes place once water has been cleaned and decanted.

 Radios and robots

In the solar sludge drying process developed by a subsidiary of the manufacturer, sludge is treated by a centrifuge and laid out in windrows in a greenhouse heated by solar radiation. An automated robotic turner is used to aerate the sludge and accelerate water evaporation. The robots are radio-controlled, which provides a more robust solution than the traditional wired approach. With wireless control of the robots, the entire operation is automated, and there is no further need for operators to enter the greenhouse.
  
The company decided to attach radios to the robots to enable information to be sent to and from the control station. This means the operator can control the robot remotely, program its movements, and know its current position. The robot has an onboard controller that interfaces with the radio.

“Implementation proved to be very simple, thanks in particular to ProSoft Technology’s technical support,” explained a representative of the system integrator. “As far as the choice of supplier was concerned, we stuck to the specifications given by RG2I, their local distributor. Our major concern was reliability. We had to have a reliable solution, with none of our users encountering any problems. This is indeed the case with ProSoft Technology´s wireless solution.”
  
So far, ProSoft Technology radios have been installed at half a dozen of the company´s sites.

A reliable transmission system

The wireless solution brought all of the advantages of wireless connection to industrial automation applications, while still offering high levels of reliability. In addition to its ability to withstand harsh operating conditions, it also improves the transmission of Ethernet data packets.

The standards set out in IEEE 802.11 (commonly known as “Wi-Fi”) bring an extremely high level of security, flexibility, and interoperability to industrial automation applications. Originally designed for office and home applications, these less-robust technologies have limitations when it comes to industrial protocol transfer, resulting in transmission problems for industrial automation systems associated with the radio transmission method used for Ethernet packets. But ProSoft’s wireless solutions ensure optimal transfer of data packets. To improve data packet transfer, the radios use a specific signal processing algorithm implemented by ProSoft Technology, which allows better use of the full bandwidth and supports the fast data transmission speeds demanded by industrial automation engineers. This is particularly vital for industrial applications (involving protocols such as EtherNet/IP™) with a need to transport non-critical messaging data but also critical industrial I/O data.
  
With its “Power over Ethernet” (PoE) specification, the power supply and connection of the radio system to the wired Ethernet is done via a single cable (instead of two), which greatly simplifies installation and reduces set-up times. Another valuable function of the wireless solution is that it supports serial encapsulation, which means that serial peripherals can be used and integrated into the main Ethernet architecture of the control system. The radio used in this application ensures high performance for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band configurations.
  
These wireless solutions are ideal for industrial applications: industrial grade enclosures, extended operating temperature ranges, compliance with shock and vibration resistance standards, certification for use on sites where there is a risk of explosion, fitting to DIN rails, and more. These factors were important to the system integrator in their decision to select a ProSoft wireless solution for their application.

To learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions, click here.

A mine in Australia is a deposit of very rich copper and zinc and has yielded significant amounts of gold since its opening in 1998. In order to overcome several environmental issues, the ore concentrate needed to be transported 70 km via several large slurry pipelines to the nearest rail link.

There, the ore would be extracted from the water, which is then pumped back to the mine’s site to be recycled. Because of the volumes of critical data generated at the de-watering plant and to ensure that environmental regulations were not breached, it was essential that the field data be continuously transferred to a central DCS system.
 
The mine is centrally operated using a Yokogawa DCS, while a distributed Allen-Bradley® control system handles control in the field. To integrate the Allen-Bradley controller into the Yokogawa DCS system, Modbus® was selected as the common communication protocol.
 
Because the Yokogawa DCS system lacked the ability to send the strings necessary to dial a telephone modem, an intermediate "sub-master" A-B system with a ProSoft Technology Modbus communication solution was added at the mine’s site. The communication solution had the added capability of initiating telephone modem dialing built into the product. The sub-master acts as a transparent link between the Yokogawa DCS and the remote A-B controller at the dewatering plant.
 
In the mine’s sub-master controller, Port 1 on the communication solution is configured as a Modbus Master port with dialing and is connected to a telephone modem. Port 2, configured as a Slave, is connected directly to the Yokogawa DCS. The mine’s processor initiates all Read and Write commands to the remote system at the site 70 km away through the dial-up modem. The Yokogawa DCS, acting as the Modbus Master, simply accesses the data out of the local communication module's memory. To provide additional robustness in the system, a watchdog function was added between the A-B controllers to ensure that the Yokogawa DCS would positively identify a communications failure.
 
Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Modbus solutions here.

A packaging machinery company in Chicago wanted to provide a control solution for one of their applications that was non-proprietary, enabling packaging professionals easy access to update applications when needed. The company required the flexibility of a PLC and the processing speed of an industrial computer to have optimal performance in their multihead weigher/vertical form fill seal bag machine (VFFS) application. The company found a solution in a Rockwell Automation® ControlLogix® with ProSoft Technology's in-rack PC.

 
“The in-rack PC’s high-speed communications across the ControlLogix backplane permits the tightly integrated PC-based application the company was looking for," said the ProSoft Regional Sales Manager who helped the customer. “This is the ideal solution for this type of analytical and data-centric application."
 
The industrialized in-rack PC delivers the processing power required to control the speed of the multihead weigher. ProSoft’s solution connects directly to the backplane of the ControlLogix, which gives the application an extremely high data exchange rate between the in-rack PC and the PLC. The speed of the calculations for the multihead weigher is pivotal to the speed and efficiency of the integrated scale/VFFS application, as some of the larger applications have up to 18 buckets per Multihead Weigher system.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for Rockwell Automation platforms here.

Danetta Bramhall
 
A hundred years ago, grain was ground into flour using two large stones, called millstones. Since then, the science of milling grain into flour has changed dramatically. Improved equipment, better transportation and particularly computerization have increased milling capacity, allowing mills to expand their production.
 
Four recently constructed mills in Egypt are a prime example. In an effort to cut costs and produce a higher grade flour, developers have built new, modern mills in the same buildings where giant millstones used to stand.

 
Old Stones to PLC Control

Danish company, United Milling Systems (UMS), designed and built four new mills in Egypt with Automatic Syd A/S as sub-supplier of the electrical system. Two of the mills, located in Cairo and Ibrahim Awad, Alexandria, were actually converted from old stone mills into modern milling plants. The other two, located in Sowahey and Moharam Bey, Alexandria, were turnkey projects, rehabilitating old roller mills.
 
UMS installed a total of 34 of the new Satake SRMA roller mills in 3 of the locations. The SRMA not only incorporates the very latest technology, such as fully electronic feeder units and a toothed belt differential drive, but is also simple and user friendly. In the fourth mill, UMS installed a short milling system based on their own developed disc mill. This new solution allows the El Tppin mill, (South Cairo & Giza Flour Mills & Bakery Co.), to produce nearly twice as much flour per day, in a substantially reduced area, compared to a conventional roller mill.
 
Automatic Syd specializes in the design and manufacture of electrical switchboards, control panels and the development of customized PLC and PC software. It was their job to supply a centralized control station that would allow one miller to monitor the entire plant. UMS and Automatic Syd faced a choice: they could install their own version of a proprietary system, running closed applications or, they could opt for an open communication platform.
 
Ten years ago, proprietary systems were the norm. But companies soon found that these closed systems were, in the long run, user unfriendly, making the process of integrating new processes and equipment difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, requiring diversified skills and tools. Today, these closed systems are slowly being replaced by open communication platforms.
 
The Modbus protocol is one of these open applications. It has become so popular, that in many instances it is accepted as the defacto industry standard. This was the application chosen for the mills.
 
Allen-Bradley PLC5 processors were connected to the mill equipment. However, the A-B processors are not inherently Modbus compatible. Therefore, a Modbus interface was needed.
 
Modbus Interface Needed
Automatic Syd contacted Rockwell Automation-Denmark for a possible solution. They recommended ProSoft Technology's 3100-MCM module. This module acts as a Modbus interface, providing highly configurable Modbus Master and Slave capabilities to Allen-Bradley PLC and SLC applications.
 
"Quite simply, the ProSoft Modbus communication interface makes it possible for Allen-Bradley platforms to communicate with a multitude of industrial devices," said Doug Sharratt, lead developer for ProSoft Technology. "Because of our partnership with Rockwell Automation, our Modbus module is designed to fit in the A-B rack, allowing all data exchange to occur over the backplane."
 
The A-B PLC with the ProSoft module installed in the rack, collects the data and displays it on the miller's PC using Allen-Bradley's RSView.
 
Centralized Control Cuts Costs

"With the ProSoft module," said Arne Sigfredsen of Automatic Syd, "One miller can easily monitor the entire plant and, in case of emergencies, temporarily take over control until another miller has reached the specific machine to solve the problem. This is a cost effective savings, since it takes fewer personnel and you get a lot of information such as alarms, stock levels, motor loads, etc. from the plant."
 
"The 3100-MCM Modbus module was one of the first products manufactured by ProSoft Technology," said Alain Chevalin, ProSoft's Regional Sales Manager for Europe and the Middle East. "But eleven years after its invention we are still finding new uses for it. Many industrial devices available today have implemented communications using the Modbus protocol. With our communication interfaces, users in a variety of industries are able to gather a great deal of data which can enhance the understanding of the process or, as in the case of these flour mills, allow the system to be controlled more efficiently."
 
The Alexandria Flour Mills and Bakery Co., located in Ibrahim Awad and Moharam Bey were the first two mills to go on-line in 1998, producing 150 tons and 225 tons of flour per day. A third, located in Sowahey began operating in December of 1999, also producing 225 tons of flour per day.
 
The fourth mill is located in El Tppin in Cairo. This new disc mill solution allows the El Tppin mill to produce 450 tons of flour per day. The El Tppin mill has been operating successfully since May of 2000.
 
United Milling Systems

Accomplishing the task of building modern flour mills where millstones used to stand is a complex undertaking. It takes the combined efforts of a number of companies, all working together in their area of expertise.
 
It was nothing new for United Milling Systems to receive the contract to convert old stone and roller mills into modern milling plants. The Danish firm is considered an expert engineering company, pioneering the development of many modern milling techniques. Working with internationally renowned scientists, UMS is continually updating their product development and process optimization, developing many of their own patents.
 
Since they supply complete turnkey milling plants and processing lines, they sub-contracted Automatic Syd A/S, also a Danish company, to supply the electrical needs for the four mills.
 
One of Automatic Syd's tasks required that all of the roller mills (in some cases for as many as 30 roller mills) in each plant be connected to a centralized control panel.
 
"Every mill has a keypad, where the miller can take over the control of the mill in emergencies," said Arne Sigfredsen of Automatic Syd. "But some of the mills have 30 roller mills, and without centralized control, it is impossible to monitor all roller mills."
 
In order to incorporate the most modern equipment and processes available, UMS and Automatic Syd chose Allen-Bradley hardware because of its nationally recognized name brand and the availability of future product support. The Modbus protocol was chosen because of its 'open' communication, making future expansion and change easy and cost effective.
 
Making It Happen
 
ProSoft Technology, Inc.

Integrating multiple applications was exactly what was needed for the Egytian flour mills, since the specifications called for the Modbus protocol. That was where ProSoft Technology stepped in.
 
"One of the things we pride ourselves in is our ability to fit our products to a particular application and, when needed, to quickly develop solutions based on the market needs and specific customer requests," said Doug Sharratt, President and Lead Developer for ProSoft Technology. "We are a major supplier of protocol emulation modules for the Allen-Bradley family of products."
 
"What we do may seem like a small part of the big picture," said Alain Chevalin, ProSoft's Regional Sales Manger for Europe and the Middle East. "But the fact is, our interface modules allow companies like United Milling Systems, Allen-Bradley and Automatic Syd to use the equipment they feel is best suited for the situation without having to worry about specific protocols. If we don't have an application interface that will work for a particular client, we're willing to seriously look at developing one. We view ourselves as a 'market driven company.'"
 
Rockwell Automation is known worldwide as a recognized leader in industrial automation technology.

"Complete Automation expresses Rockwell Automation's commitment to promise and deliver integrated open solutions, superior value-added services, global supply and local delivery, and world-class components," said Randy Freeman, vice-president of global marketing for Rockwell Automation in a recent interview with Iron & Steel Review.
 
"The core of this company is great products that differentiate us from many, many other suppliers," said Keith Nosbusch, President of Rockwell Automation Control Systems in an interview for AB Journal in March of last year. "The seamless integration of multiple applications that Rockwell Automation offers lets our manufacturing customers become more flexible, agile, and responsive to the needs of their customers."

In the massive warehouse, a forklift zips down the box-laden aisle. The driver stops and pulls a box from a pallet to the forklift.

The instant the driver is back behind the wheel, the lift is off again. This is a scene that is re-enacted millions of times a day in warehouses around the world.
  
Order fulfillment is probably the most labor-intensive function in any warehouse or distribution center. So, in order to increase efficiency and reduce these labor-intensive costs, it is only natural that companies look for ways to automate this process. A manufacturer of installation equipment, wiring devices, and telecommunication products in Norway wanted to do just that … improve their processes through automation.

The Need

The end user contacted Goodtech Products, the Norwegian distributor for ProSoft Technology. Some of the main objectives the end user needed were to have the ordering system "smart enough" to be able to define, and adjust in real time, the best route for picking the goods from the warehouse, as well as to "know" when restocking was needed. Avoiding the need for printing-out the pick-lists (one per order) of goods to be taken from the warehouse was also essential. The final objective was to have workers receive information digitally, at the right time and in the right sequence, on their way between the shelves.
  
Key to this improvement was the mobility of handheld devices for each operator, and key to this mobility was the reliability and security of the wireless network. For that, Goodtech recommended ProSoft Technology’s Industrial High-Speed Ethernet Hotspot radios. 

The end user’s warehouse contains a lot of steel and concrete, and long distances.
  
"The signals from a traditional wireless network, like the ones commonly found in Norwegian homes, do not work here," says an Account Manager at Goodtech Products. "And if the signals do not do their job, the customers do not receive their goods – and the end user loses money. We need wireless signals that reach the site from a reliable wireless network – regardless of the working conditions."

The Solution

Twenty industrial routers were installed from the ceiling beams in the production hall and warehouse. They transmit the wireless signals, regardless of any obstacles, and can tolerate intensive use for long periods of time.
  
The work of moving goods from the shelf to the forklift is now much easier. Workers no longer need to manually track which goods they have to retrieve, and where and when they have to do it, because they receive real-time instructions wirelessly via their hand-held PDA.
  
A computer system calculates the most efficient sequence in which workers need to take goods off the shelves. Stacks of paper containing pick-lists have been replaced by simple messages. These messages are updated and refreshed in real-time. The warehouse workers are now able to pick three times more goods during the day than they did before the new wireless system was introduced.
  
"It's faster. It's easier. And I find it more motivational to work than before," one of the workers said. 
  
"We are very pleased with this system," said the end user’s Systems Consultant. "The routers are reliable and the system works. We save time and money."

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions here.

Each day, a Chinese river’s raw water is collected, filtered and purified, and then sold to the country’s tap water companies.  

A while back, one of those tap water companies began construction of a water factory. Phase I of the project established a SCADA system for the factory consisting of an ABB Modcell Multiloop Controller/Processor communicating with Modbus® and a proprietary network.

 
Clean water could then be pumped through a series of pipes to supply the daily tap water needs for over 43,000 Shanghai residents.
 
"When the factory was established, it used a SCADA system only to supervise the working processes without any control functionality,” said the manager at Shanghai Yuandong Science & Technology Ltd. (SYST), the system integrator.
 
In any water system as complex as this one, the water flow can vary dramatically from hour to hour and day to day, depending on domestic demand cycles and the more unpredictable aspects such as rainfall and storms. This makes it essential that the Master Control System be equipped not only with monitoring capabilities but control as well.

Control Ability

"The second phase of the project planned to add control ability to the plant," the SYST manager said. "But they found it impossible since the substations were communicating as slaves, and thus couldn't exchange data and information between each other. The main problem was that data exchanged between the slaves needed to be accomplished through the master node. As long as a personal computer carried out the master task, we could not count on its performance, steadiness, and security. Use of a PLC instead of the PC was preferred."
 
In order to add the control needed, SYST added an Allen-Bradley® PLC-5®20E with Ethernet capabilities. However, since the original SCADA system was ABB communicating with Modbus, an interface was needed to allow the Modbus end devices to communicate with the A-B system. The solution SYST found was ProSoft Technology’s Modbus communication module.

 
Since the module communicates over the backplane, needing only standard ladder programming, it provided highly configurable Modbus Master and Slave capability to the existing A-B PLC.
 
"It was the first time Shanghai Yuandong Science and Technology had used this particular module," said the ProSoft Regional Sales Manager who worked on the application. "But it certainly wasn't the last. They also installed the module in the control system for the compressors in a major automotive plant. Since the module fits directly into the controller, in both instances, it provided a seamless integration of technologies."
 
"The Modbus module played an important role in the second phase of this project," said the SYST manager. "Without the ProSoft module, this phase could not have been realized."
 
When asked what the deciding factors were in choosing the ProSoft module for this project, the SYST general manager noted the solution’s ease of operation and implementation, and the higher profits the new setup helped lead to.

A Unique Partnership

This unique partnership of integrated technologies between Rockwell Automation® and ProSoft Technology has enabled SCADA systems around the world to gather data and control operations in a multitude of plants just like the end user’s.

 
"The Modbus module was also used at a similar facility elsewhere in China,” the ProSoft sales manager said. "According to Rockwell Automation, the customer needed to collect data from Diris Power Meters, which have embedded Modbus communications. They elected to use the module, which allowed them to collect 30 parameters from the power meters instead of the 3 parameters they would have gotten using Analog I/O. The bottom line is, our interface module made more data available for better control and monitoring."
 
"We take great pride in our ability to help Rockwell Automation interface with alternate networks," said Doug Sharratt, ProSoft founder, said at the time of this application. "We have been able to provide a number of solutions for the water and wastewater industry in China.”

The seamless integration of Rockwell Automation and ProSoft Technology is helping China realize its goal of enough clean, fresh water for all of its citizens.
 
Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for Water and Wastewater applications here.

The Application

In Chakan, Pune, India, a market-leading manufacturer of utility vehicles built a modern greenfield facility from the ground up with state-of-the-art equipment.

At the heart of the plant is the Electrified Monorail System (EMS) conveyor, designed to deliver reliable, safe, quiet, and efficient transportation of the vehicles from one work station to another along the assembly line. The EMS runs throughout the entire length of the Trim, Chassis and Final assembly (TCF) line of the vehicle in the general assembly shop. The light truck manufactured in this facility is transported by a wireless EMS conveyor. The TCF line is considered the final stage in production, where components are added to the vehicle, including “trim” components such as windshield glass and seats, and operational components such as the engine and wheels, before final vehicle testing.

Control and Communication Automation

For consulting, specifying and planning of this project, the manufacturer worked with Yantra Automation, one of the largest Rockwell Automation® distributors in India, in conjunction with their local Rockwell Automation account manager, and with the system integration company Precision Automation and Robotics India Limited (PARI). The team worked closely to develop the best overall solution for this sophisticated project.
  
This being a new system and a greenfield plant, they were not bound by constraints associated with some of the older monorail systems found in manufacturing plants. Thus, they were able to design a system that easily conformed to the goals of the project and the manufacturer’s commitment toward flexible and lean manufacturing. This entailed the following goals:

• To eliminate communication issues and concerns associated with rigid copper bus bars and brush collectors commonly used for communication with EMS carriers
• To optimize reliability and uptime of the EMS conveyor system
• To deliver real-time communication with Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs) and Input/Output (I/O) modules for enhanced conveyor control
• And ultimately, to achieve optimum response times for managing the EMS vehicle carriers

 
From Yantra Automation, Ajay Kulkarni and Manish Sahni began the challenge of designing a complex wireless communication system for the assembly manufacturing line - an ambitious goal in a large-scale project involving multiple carriers in continuous motion along the overhead Electric Monorail System. Together, the team selected a Rockwell Automation control solution supported by ProSoft Technology wireless Ethernet radios. The challenge: creating a seamless and reliable communication system between each carrier and the controller as they move throughout the plant.

Implementation

PARI was commissioned for the design and implementation of the specific assembly line. PARI is a turnkey integration company specializing in top-to-bottom conveyor system design, robotics, and controls and communication automation in the automotive industry in India.
  
PARI designed the full vehicle assembly line to operate in real time on the EtherNet/IP™ control network, using several Rockwell Automation ControlLogix® PACs and supporting peripherals on the shop floor, including I/O and Variable Frequency Drives. The decision to go with ProSoft Technology Industrial Hotspot radios was made primarily because of their industrial hardware and solid reputation for supporting Rockwell Automation controls and communication interfaces seamlessly, in addition to the ease of operation.
  
Movement of the EMS carriers for transporting vehicles through the different stages of assembly is handled over a wireless EtherNet/IP network. The control system consists of one ControlLogix PAC on the conveyor and one ControlLogix PAC on the engine decking system for body marriage. The conveyor PAC is hardwired to two ProSoft Technology master radios, while the engine decking PAC is hardwired to a third master radio. The conveyor PAC is wirelessly connected with 33 individual carriers along the EMS, while the engine decking PAC is connected wirelessly with 3 engine carriers. Each independent EMS carrier has a local control panel with Rockwell Automation I/O and a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD), and a ProSoft Technology access point acting as a repeater to establish wireless communication between the main control panel equipment and their respective PAC. The carrier radios communicate with each other, as well as with the master radios.
  
This EMS application is time-critical, so each repeater radio is connected with its parent master radio at all times to avoid switching delays as communications change from one master radio to another while the carriers are in motion. The master radio in each conveyor PAC has two Omni antennas with a splitter to deal with multipath fading effect. The architecture fully supports seamless roaming by the carriers.

Results

After some initial challenges with line-of-sight issues, which were resolved by adding another master radio and elevating their locations, the system is now able to provide real-time communication between the EMS carriers and the PACs on the assembly-plant floor, including real-time I/O status for conveyor movement control. The system also enables wireless synchronization between the floor-mounted engine trolleys and the overhead EMS carrier, for the smooth decking of the engine.
  
The flexible architecture permits independent operation of each vehicle carrier, enabling carriers to be programmed for different speeds based upon their location on the conveyor path. The conveyor speeds are seamlessly switched in the process zones, transit zones, straight and curve zones, manual speed zones, and slow-and-stop speed zones. Limit switches in the vertical elevators enable ramp-up and ramp-down velocities for elevation changes, ensuring the safety of the carriers on the line. Buffers in the conveyors can be adjusted based upon prevailing production pull systems.
  
By opting for this wireless network, the manufacturer was able to gain several benefits, including:

• The ability to control the EMS conveyor and the engine decking carrier in real time and synchronizing the VFDs with the engine decking carriers
• Elimination of complex wiring/cabling and cat tracks for communication cable
• Elimination of additional bus bars for communications with associated complex communications interfaces
• Seamless and robust communication between the PACs and the I/O
• Determinism with all the I/Os on each EMS carrier for better scan time management

What Happened Next

Since the project went live, the manufacturer has seen an increase in uptime, reliability and consistency in production output, enhancing their commitment toward lean manufacturing. 

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions  here.

A while back, a major oil company took a good look at their legacy system and didn’t like what it saw.

The centralized control system, which had been installed in 1978, used multi-drop, leased telephone lines. Four operators at consoles in Houston, Texas, controlled the pipelines for 12 hours a day. This left large stretches of its pipeline unmanned, with no support. The system was already operating at maximum capacity and had many technical risks. They were concerned about the availability of replacement parts for the old RTUs, loop controllers, and alarm annunciators. They needed to know the exact contents of a pipeline, wherever it was, instead of the meter-in/meter-out leak detection they had. Their data entry system was cumbersome, in some cases requiring that data be entered two or three times.

“We reviewed our control system strategy and concluded that we had a unique and hard-to-maintain system. It consisted of dedicated, custom-built and programmed RTUs, along with a lot of odds and ends,” said the company’s lead project engineer.

In short, the company needed to improve its pipeline reporting system by adopting a platform that would let it automate the manual activities to improve efficiency in its small-diameter, high-pressure pipelines running throughout the United States.

First, the company abandoned its old leased telephone lines and went to a VSAT satellite system. The VSAT Ku Band Network system supports 170 sites where the company has 200 PLCs and RTU addresses handling about 20,000 I/O points.

In addition to the VSAT, the company installed a dial backup using analog lines and communicating via the Modbus® protocol to 140 critical sites.

 “When the company installed the new equipment, the old equipment couldn’t communicate with it,” said Ken Hopwood, Software Engineering Manager at ProSoft Technology. “So, they used a ProSoft Modbus module as an interface.”

“When the company approached us, they needed to eliminate the need for continuous polling that was necessary on their old system,” Mr. Hopwood said. “It created communication delays when using the satellite which were expensive. The module we created for them is basically a Modbus Slave but with a few modifications. One, it has Report by Exception, giving it the ability to send timed, unsolicited data reports to the Master Station in Houston. This eliminated the need for continuous polling. The CMS module also contains some specialized data that is unique to the company.”

“In the past, many communication systems were closed,” said the ProSoft Regional Sales Manager who helped the company. “Since the Modbus protocol is open, it has become a de facto industry standard for many industrial devices today, especially in the oil and gas industry. The popularity of our Modbus module doesn’t really surprise me. I see instances like this company’s on a weekly basis. Using the Modbus module to communicate from old equipment to new equipment is simply the most cost-effective way (and in some cases, the only way) to accomplish their goals.”

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for the Oil and Gas industry here.

Meter Maintenance & Controls Inc. (MMCI) is a system integrator and technology supplier in Redlands, California, that specializes in true turnkey liquid measurement solutions. They have set up or retrofitted plants for a major international paint and coatings company in a number of cities. New plants receive a top-to-bottom paint blending and batching system, with everything from the piping, to the electrical, to the process equipment and programming being supplied, installed, and programmed by MMCI.

To handle the paint blending process in each of these plants, MMCI recommends Emerson Process Micro Motion flow meters. These flow meters measure mass flow, volume flow, and density and temperature variables, and provide precise control measurement of the various ingredients that are blended together to create a given batch of paint.

From a management and operation standpoint, the end user wanted a system that would allow the entire enterprise to be integrated, from the plant floor controls to the information systems. Plant operators need diagnostic information for monitoring of the process and for identifying maintenance needs or problems on the line without requiring that the operator be trained on the control system. The laboratory also needed access to this information for quality control and trending.

As a loyal Rockwell Automation® customer, MMCI chose to use a Rockwell Automation Process Automation System (PAS) to extract data from the flow meters. As each flow meter batches a raw material into a mixing tank, the process variables are recorded by RSSql™ and ultimately presented to the end user’s operators in a Rockwell Automation RSView® HMI. In RSView an alarm system is implemented with predetermined setpoints that, when triggered, alert the operator and provide cues indicating the proper action can be taken. These process variables are also pulled into RSSql to give the end user’s laboratory access to historical data for all past batches.

Challenge

With the ideal equipment selected for the plant, what remained was a networking problem.

Emerson Process developed the HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) Multi-drop protocol in the 1980s, so naturally the Micro Motion systems are programmable and communicate via the protocol. HART is a highly accurate and robust protocol, making it ideal in process industries, but to push this diagnostic information through to the HMI, MMCI needed to convert this data somewhere along the line to Rockwell Automation’s EtherNet/IP™ protocol.

“Rockwell Automation Ethernet communication is like the golden child. With other providers of HART interfaces we have used, we have needed to use an OPC server to collect and distribute the information, which required that we write our own code,” said a programmer and systems engineer for MMCI. “We just needed a way to communicate between our ControlLogix® PAC and the flow meters.”

Solution

Terry Davis, CEO of MMCI, approached Tom Thuerbach, Branch Manager for Royal Wholesale Electric in Riverside, California, to help him find a solution. Thuerbach recommended ProSoft Technology’s EtherNet/IP-to-HART multi-drop communication gateway.

"I know Terry Davis demands high-quality, reliable products for his customers. It was an easy decision to recommend Rockwell Automation and ProSoft products," Thuerbach said.

A Process Automation Business Manager for Rockwell Automation added: "EtherNet/IP is core to Rockwell Automation's Integrated Architecture that helps end-users like this one converge industrial and business technologies plant-wide. ProSoft's gateway offering leverages the EtherNet/IP backbone to create a powerful process control application that can easily communicate with other plant-floor and information systems."

“MMCI has been using Rockwell and ProSoft products for years…possibly since we first started as a company in 1989,” Davis said. “We use ProSoft’s Modbus® ControlLogix cards all the time, so it was a no-brainer. Now we try to use their HART gateway in all the paint plants we work in, and have plans to apply it in many other industries we serve. Just recently MMCI replaced a Pepperl + Fuchs HART Multiplexer system with ProSoft’s in a facility. We were glad to find a modern solution for an old communication platform.”

Implementation

In all, MMCI has set up five plants for the end user, with each project involving anywhere from 30 to 50 flow meters.

In a general application, MMCI has all HART flow meters linked up to a single ProSoft gateway. The gateway routes the data over Ethernet to the ControlLogix. The ProSoft module acts as a bridge, allowing the PAS to communicate seamlessly with the flow meters. Once data is extracted from the meters it can be distributed to RSSql and RSView.

Conclusion

The greatest benefits of the new system are streamlined efficiency, simplified monitoring and operation, and the creation of a quality-control process for preventative and predictive maintenance.

“Our plants are happy with the feedback that we are now receiving from our meters,” says the end user’s director of engineering. “Using this information, we have been able to modify our preventative maintenance plans to stay ahead of any issues before they occur. For example, we began changing out filter bags before the pumps and meters. In the past if the bag wasn't changed out we would reduce the flow to the point that we would have meter inaccuracies. Now that the system tracks this data, we have been able to see how often we should be changing these bags to avoid any errors when batching, and are able to act before an error occurs.

“Also, in the past if someone had a theory that a metering problem caused a quality issue with a batch, we could not prove or disprove them. We had to look at the meter the next time it was used. Now, with stored data several times per minute for each meter charge, we can go to the real data from the questioned charge and either prove or disprove this theory. The ability to avoid meter inaccuracies will definitely help us from a quality standpoint.”

The end user’s Lead Engineer added: “With the HART system we can track and standardize flow rates of materials between sites. We also use the density outputs to monitor solids levels in our slurry tanks. Logging the history enables us to track line cloggages and take preventive action. In several situations we have used the historical HART data in conjunction with RSSql to troubleshoot issues that have occurred within the batching system itself... meters faulting out, misdirected flows, incorrect RSSql transactions, and more.”

From a monitoring and operations standpoint, the process allows any person in the plant at any given time to view activity on the floor, the Watch Dog Timers set up by MMCI, and any other critical information. This saves money and time for the end user in regard to hiring and training employees, plus the rework and maintenance that would otherwise have to be done by a technician. The system has a user-friendly manner and because the measurement system is so accurate, the system nearly runs itself and downtime is mostly eliminated.

“I know the end user appreciates not having to call us out there every time they run into a maintenance hiccup, though the systems still operate without issue today,” Davis said.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s communication solutions for Rockwell Automation platforms here.

Renewable energy is the way of the future. We see hydropower towers on river beds, wind farms on hillsides, and solar panels on rooftops. Now a company in Pennsylvania has perfected a way to produce biogas, or a gas fuel derived from the decay of organic matter, by extracting methane from decomposing landfill waste and supplying it to customers as an alternative “greenhouse” fuel.

Unharnessed, methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. The end user’s project uses wells to both oxygenate the waste mass — expediting the decomposition process — and to trap the raw biogas before it can escape into the atmosphere. Separators are then used to clean the gas by extracting methane from the remaining gas substance (composed of carbon dioxide and trace elements) for use as a natural gas alternative.

The whole process creates a symbiotic eco-relationship between waste and energy by aiding in the waste degradation process; repurposing methane that would have otherwise been emitted into the atmosphere; providing a less expensive form of energy to the world; and providing an alternative to less eco-friendly options.

Biogas Distribution

One of the company’s biggest customers, a major international food supplier, uses the green energy as a natural gas substitute to power the boilers that keep its entire plant operating. Because the biogas supplied by the company is approximately half the cost of natural gas, the customer is able to significantly decrease their power costs without much of an upfront investment. To utilize the company’s biogas product, the customer had to customize their boiler system, but that required little more than increasing pipe sizes and installing an alternate piping system to be used in lieu of their natural gas or fuel supply.

“It’s just another supply link that has to be put in and retrofitted into the existing scheme of things. This cost is recouped quickly by the savings they receive from our program,” said an electrical engineer with the biogas-production company.

Monitoring Consumption

The plant is relatively large and spread out, with metering panels located throughout the various buildings on site to track the amount of gas used. Inside each of the three panels is a Rockwell Automation® CompactLogix™ PAC, which monitors gas flow variables to measure consumption at the facility.

To connect the biogas company’s main facility to its customers, a T1 hardwired phone line is used. The next decision was how to link up the end of the phone line at the customer site to the three PACs.

“Because the plants are so spread out, we opted to use wireless at those points to save on installation. We just needed to find a product that is robust and easy to implement,” the electrical engineer said. ProSoft Technology’s water- and dust-tight Industrial Hotspot radios were selected.

“We use CAT-5 cable and Power over Ethernet (PoE) for both power supply to the radio and communication between the radio and the PAC. PoE allows us to plug the radios right into our PACs, plus the casing allows them to be mounted outside without weather concerns,” the engineer said.

The Result: A Fully Automated System

The T1 connection links the plant back to a master PAC in the biogas company’s main plant, which is constantly pulling meter data from the remote customer sites and feeding the information up the chain to corporate for billing.

The bandwidth allows them to see things in real-time, and is entirely automated so there is no need to go onsite at the customer’s facility to collect meter information.

“The radios are great. They saved us on installation and simplified implementation. I would recommend them to anyone,” the engineer said. “My ProSoft sales representative was incredibly helpful, involved in the process, and knowledgeable on the technology and application. He deserves kudos.”

Benefits

The biogas company is a carbon-negative facility. They convert their own product onsite into electricity using an electrical generator to run their facility, so they are entirely self-sustained. The balance of remaining unused electricity is sold to the local utilities company, reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

The food manufacturer can feel good too. By using repurposed methane, the highly potent greenhouse gas was not emitted into the atmosphere.

“Landfill-gas-to-energy is not just an environmentally responsible choice, it makes sense financially,” the biogas company’s engineer said. “Another one of our customers was able to save enough money using our natural gas substitute to add a third shift during the week and schedule weekends into production. The extra shifts mean extra jobs. It’s a nice feeling.”

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Wireless Solutions here.

Californians have always been faced with the problem of how best to conserve, control and move water. California has a wide diversity of climactic and geographical contrasts. The northern part of the state, with its alpine forests receives as much as 100 inches or more of rain per year, while the central and southern parts of the state range from arid desert to fertile farm land with some areas receiving less than 2 inches per year. Population centers have grown up in locations where there is not a sufficient water supply. The central valley, running from Sacramento to Bakersfield, contains some of the most fertile farm land in the world, most of which is dependent on irrigation. Because of this need to conserve, control and move water to areas of need, California developed the State Water Project, the largest state-built water development project in the United States

One water district is a small part of this statewide water project. Located in the southern portion of California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, the district supplies irrigation water for over 45,000 acres of crops including grapes, citrus, almonds, and pistachios.

A while back, the district decided that the level of reliability was not acceptable in its current system. Parts were no longer available for their legacy system and buried wire was degrading with age. So, the district decided to upgrade its system to allow remote control of facilities and monitoring of power usage and quality, and to enhance the ability to perform load shifting for remote facilities.

“The water district needed a name-brand solution with local support,” said the operations manager for Prousys, Inc., the system integrator chosen to construct the new system. “We recommended Allen-Bradley® hardware.”
 

Allen-Bradley processors were installed to replace the aging Westinghouse PLCs at each of the five remote well sites. In order to monitor power usage and detect anomalies in the Multilin PQM Power Monitors, a ProSoft Technology Modbus Communication Module was installed in each processor.

“This is a perfect example of how ProSoft modules are used ever day to connect Allen-Bradley hardware with other networks,” said the ProSoft Regional Sales Manager who worked with the district. “We receive numerous requests on a daily basis for modules in the water/wastewater industry. Because our modules are designed to be used as ‘in-rack’ solutions for Allen-Bradley processors, it is a cost-effective way for plant managers to use their existing Allen-Bradley equipment with other network’s protocols.”
 

A SCADA Master Control system was also installed consisting of an Intellution Fix/DMACS HMI and an Allen-Bradley PLC with two ProSoft DF1 Communication Modules in order to poll five well sites, three pump stations, four reservoirs, and five check stations via a Data-Linc radio and modem.
 

Redundancy is a key factor in most water systems. Prousys installed and configured a second Intellution HMI to provide control redundancy. In the event of a failure in the primary controller, the system switches to the backup, ensuring seamless control in the plant.

“The system will keep right on running if the HMI goes down,” explained Prousys’ operations manager.

 The system’s pump stations are controlled according to the levels in the associated wells. The precise operation of the system depends on the accurate measurement of system levels and flows across the entire water system. Flow and level meters relay these measures back to the central control room for monitoring and control. Allen-Bradley PanelView™ terminals were installed at each of the three pump stations.
 

“The new system now gives the water district full control of all remote sites,” said Prousys’ operations manager. “The SCADA system can now track station flow rates, overflow events, well level, in-flow, and out-flow. They also have the capability to detect numerous system failures including power, high/low voltage, phase imbalance, high/low amperes, frequency, load factor, and low water level. Since the ProSoft modules communicate over the backplane with the Allen-Bradley processors, they were critical to the success of this project. ProSoft provided the ‘missing link’ in the communication chain, seamlessly allowing connectivity between these differing networks.”
  
 Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for Rockwell Automation® platforms here.

In an Illinois city, the water department’s 28 employees were scrambling to meet the needs of their consumers. The treatment division’s responsibilities included the operation and maintenance of fourteen wells, a lime softening treatment plant, three booster pumping stations, four elevated tanks, and one ground storage reservoir. The distribution division was charged with operating and maintaining 170 miles of water mains, reading and maintaining more than 13,000 services, and the installation and repair of water mains, valves and hydrants.

All of this activity was being accomplished with an outdated system containing RTUs that performed only minimal SCADA and licensed-frequency radios that sent data at a mere 300 bits per second. Overall, the system was complicated to understand, expensive to service and difficult to repair.

The water department turned to SCADAware, a local system integration firm, and expressed their desire for a new system, built from the ground up. In an effort to control costs, and allow the city to create, install, maintain, and repair its new system with minimal outside help, SCADAware’s president recommended a PC-driven, license-free, frequency hopping spread spectrum solution.

The water department’s new system now uses a primary and secondary server within its water treatment plant for HMI and PC-based control. The computers collect and monitor data from all of the city’s wells, tanks, and lift stations via a ProSoft Technology wireless serial network. Programmable Field Couplers allow water treatment personnel to make adjustments and activate controls. A SIXNET Ethernet-to-Serial is used to convert the incoming serial data to Ethernet, allowing the data to be accessed on the plant’s LAN.

“The monitoring of wells and tanks using the wireless network cut down on drive time and time away from the department,” said ProSoft’s Wireless Manager. “The sophisticated software alerts water department employees of problems, reducing response times.”

Although justifying upgrades of this nature can be very challenging for municipal departments, the team at the water department felt that this upgrade would have an immediate, positive economic impact on performance and efficiency. They were right.

“The easily administered SCADA system and the wireless network allowed the city to have the flexibility to upgrade and change their system as the need arises,” said a ProSoft Wireless Engineer. “Future expansion has now become more affordable for the water department. The present solution has also become much more efficient and less burdensome to maintain.”

For more information about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions, click here.

No matter which direction you look in Gainesville, Texas, you see the same thing: rolling hills, grassy prairie dotted with cattle, and oil wells. The city is located in Cooke County, just 70 miles north of Dallas, where 82 percent of the county’s income comes from cattle. This makes it an environmentally sensitive area for oil companies.

A while back, an oil field there began experiencing interference in its 150 MHz licensed-frequency radio network. The end user contacted Jeff Walters of Automation Alternatives in Weatherford, Texas, to see if he could diagnose the problem. Using a spectrum analyzer, Walters quickly found that the radios were experiencing elevated noise zones from power-grid interference, which caused the system to overload and shut down spontaneously.

“The radios were simply unable to differentiate between their own network traffic and the interfering radio signals around it,” Walters said.

There were other concerns facing Walters in his search for an upgraded system. Since the field was located in an environmentally sensitive area, it needed to be monitored 24 hours a day. Should there be an alarm condition, the SCADA system needed the capability to automatically shut down all or parts of the field.

Walters’ solution incorporated an interesting and effective blend of technology. Both Schneider Electric® and Rockwell Automation® PLCs receive analog and discrete data from the field. The data is then transmitted wirelessly using 22 ProSoft Technology serial radios. Since the radio network is inherently able to accommodate multiple protocols simultaneously, transmitting both Modbus and DF1 protocols presents no problem.

National Instruments Lookout was chosen as the SCADA system, allowing facilities to be polled every five minutes. Tank levels, line pressures, LACT readings, and a variety of discrete alarms trigger call-outs 24 hours a day. Because much of the oil field has trees and deep creek beds, chloride sensors are also monitored for possible spills.

“The new wireless system has eliminated a number of expenses for the end user,” said the ProSoft Regional Sales Manager who worked on the application. “Our radios are 2.4 GHz license-free, which saves the expense associated with licensed radios. The wireless system also allows an operator to monitor the field 24 hours a day from a central location, saving on employee overtime.”

ProSoft Technology’s 2.4 GHz radios experience no interference or downtime, making this wireless solution very reliable. As the oil field’s radio network grows, more radios can easily be added to the network and can continue to accommodate multiple protocols. 

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions here. 

See The Video

This isn’t your ordinary zip line. SkySurfer is a zip line and roller coaster combined into one. People ride SkySurfer standing, sitting, or laying flat on one of three open-air carts, without cages or handrails, as it goes up and down around the nearly one-mile cable through the urban and wooded area. Two other adventurers are also going along the rollercoaster-zip line hybrid on their own separate carts, with the three moving simultaneously at different spots on the course. This requires the utmost safety measures to be in place.

Before people were able to experience this thrill ride, it had to pass several tests. One of the tests required each slave Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) on the three carts to communicate with the Allen-Bradley® MicroLogix™ 1100 master PLC on the flight deck. The master PLC has an HMI connected to it so an operator can start a cart and monitor data.

The Problem

The original wireless radio communication system that was installed to communicate the distance between the carts wasn’t working properly. There was a 40-second delay in data reception, which is an eternity when it comes to safety. The main purpose for the wireless system is collision avoidance.

Each cart has an encoder on it, which tells how far along the cart is on the track based on each time the wheel spins. Each slave PLC is doing the math and the radio is supposed to send the encoder signal to the master PLC, which can tell the cart to slow down if it gets too close to another cart. The original radio communication system wasn’t performing its job.

Project Manager Jared Story spent months trying just about everything he could to get his original radio communication system to work. He originally thought it was a software issue. It wasn’t. Story wanted to open in time for the holiday crowds. Time was running short. It was early November and Story still couldn’t get his original wireless radio system to work.

Technical support from the original radio system company was non-existent. Their excuse for not sending out technical support was that Story didn’t buy the radios directly from them. “They refused to help me. It didn’t make me happy,” he said.

The Solution

Story heard about ProSoft Technology through an engineer who had used ProSoft solutions. He then contacted an automation distributor in Springfield, Mo. Its field representative suggested he contact ProSoft Technology.

The solution was ProSoft Technology’s 900 MHz Industrial Frequency Hopping Ethernet radios. One was installed on each of the three carts, with one at the Master PLC.

Eric Lockman, a Wireless Support Engineer from ProSoft Technology, received a call on Nov. 4 and performed onsite support only a few days later. Lockman had the ProSoft Technology Frequency Hopping Ethernet radios performing the job in a mere four hours.

Once Lockman arrived, he performed a site analysis and installed three ProSoft radios. A ping test showed there was connectivity all the way around the track, as Lockman and the SkySurfer crew sent the carts off along the course. Lockman had received satellite views of the area a few days before.

“There was full signal all the way around,” Lockman said. And that was with only a small gain antenna. “Even with the small gain antenna, it did well.”

Story bought the radios from the distributor, SMC Electric, that day.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions  here. 

By Lauren Robeson

ARC Resources is a major oil and gas company centered on four areas across Western Canada. In such a large operation, efficiency is key.

The company was looking to minimize cabinet space and streamline its operations. On a multi-well pad site in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, they had a Rockwell Automation® ControlLogix® system with standalone flow computers that were used to meter natural gas. The flow computers were only able to handle 8 meter runs apiece, however, which wasn’t optimal for such a large operation that had its sights on future expansion. The company also found it was difficult to get meter data from the standalone units into their ControlLogix system. For real-time information and control of their equipment, that integration needed to be seamless.

In ProSoft Technology’s Enhanced Flow Computer, ARC Resources found a solution that would allow the company to minimize space and left room for expansion in the future.

By the end of the project, the company saw a variety of benefits, including:

• Reduced wiring
• Data integration
• Fewer flow computers
• No licensing fees
• Smaller cabinet

ProSoft’s team and Rockwell Automation’s Calgary sales group, working with Rexel Westburne (the local distributor), helped the company see the benefits of this simplified setup.

 “ProSoft’s in-chassis flow computers fit right into their controller, which has helped streamline data integration and reduced their wiring,” said Scott Monton, Regional Sales Manager at ProSoft.

This streamlined setup has also enabled the company to make better use of its cabinet space.

And those limited meter runs? No longer an issue.

“With this solution, we’re now able to do 16 meter runs per flow computer, limiting the number of units we need,” said Charlie Kettner, Programming Specialist at ARC Resources. “We also like that the system can be expanded later if we need more meter runs.”

With the decreased number of units and their placement in the PAC, the company has been able to reduce wiring and labor costs, and use a smaller cabinet – all of which has helped ARC Resources lower its overall system cost, which was a major goal. Licensing costs have also been eliminated with the addition of ProSoft’s solution, since they will no longer need separate licenses for gas and liquid metering.

With this streamlined setup, ARC Resources is able to optimize their space and resources, and receive important data even more quickly.

Find out more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for the Oil and Gas industry here.

A while back, a manufacturer of color picture tubes (CPTs) installed a new barcode tracking system in its India facility.

Using Rockwell Automation’s ControlLogix® platform and ProSoft Technology’s interface modules, the new tracking system allows better monitoring of the entire manufacturing process.

The company’s facility has a production capacity for manufacturing 3.2 million CPTs per year. Line one in the facility manufactures 21” and 20” CPTs. Line two is dedicated to manufacturing 14” CPTs.

In order to raise their market share to 50% in the next three years, the CEO wanted the company to have “more efficient capacity utilization and greater manufacturing efficiencies. Our mantra for success is to stay ahead of the competition using differentiation in products and services...We have taken many technological initiatives in order to improve our CPT market share.”

One of the ways the company found to help them improve their market share and increase the quality of their products was the implementation of a barcode tracking system in their facility.

The plant was already equipped with the Rockwell Automation® ControlLogix platform containing a 1756-ADN card. The company installed over 100 barcode scanners communicating via the RS-485 network. ProSoft Technology’s ASCII communication modules were added to connect the ControlLogix system to the barcode scanners.

“Since the barcode scanners are ASCII devices, an interface was needed to allow the data collected by the scanners to be transmitted over an RS-485 network to the ControlLogix system,” said the ProSoft Regional Sales Manager who worked on the application. “The ProSoft modules were installed (a maximum of 15 scanners per module), allowing the scanners to communicate over the backplane to the DeviceNet Adapter.”

“A ‘C’ application in the ProSoft module polls all of the scanners, reads the barcode ID and, using direct I/O instructions, writes to the ControlLogix PLC,” said the application’s Project Implementation Manager. “The data collected via the barcode IDs is presented as Crystal reports to the Main Server using an Oracle database. This information has helped the company achieve better monitoring of the manufacturing process, which translates into better-quality products.”

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Modbus solutions here.

Editor’s note: Remember Y2K and how everyone was worried that the systems would go haywire when presented with a year that ended with “00”? Us too. It’s easy to see it as a joke now but there were some real concerns about it in the late 1990s - understandably! Luckily, everything went OK. We’re all about having your systems prepared for whatever may come, though, which is just what this city did. Read our original case study for an interesting throwback!

Y2K. We’re all aware of it, but do we really know what it could mean to our daily lives? According to Bob Bennett, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Y2K, there doesn’t seem to be anyone who can fully answer that question.

“I can’t tell you, are we going to be all right?” said Bennett at a Y2K Task Force Public Forum. “I haven’t got any idea. I can make some guesses and they may be educated guesses, but until the whole system really goes through this there’s no way really to test it in advance. Everything is so interconnected. The power grid is going to work. Of course the power grid is going to work. That’s based on the assumption that the telephones will work. And the telephone system is going to work, and that’s based on the assumption that the power grid is up. And so on, all the way through."
 

John Hamre, Deputy Secretary of Defense, agrees.

“The Y2K problem is the electronic equivalent of El Niño, and there will be nasty surprises around the globe,” Hamre said.
 

Amazingly, it seems that industrial automation is more sensitive to incorrect dates than had been originally anticipated.

“At each one of our factories there are catastrophic problems,” said Ralph Szygenda, Chief Information Officer for General Motors, speaking with Fortune Magazine. “When we tested robotic devices for transition into the year 2000, for example, they just froze and stopped operating.”

The American Water Works Association released a survey. It found that many of our nation’s municipal water providers are not prepared for the year 2000. Another survey conducted by a national wastewater association found that only 35 percent of the survey’s respondents expected to complete Year 2000 repairs. During an American-Canadian meeting it was revealed that 10 percent of the large urban water suppliers in the U.S. will not be Y2K compliant when the millennium arrives.

We’ve all read the news concerning the computer glitch that happened during a Y2K test in Los Angeles. At the Hyperion Treatment Plant over 2,000 alarms were triggered in the first hour of the test. It took officials an hour and 15 minutes to realize that nearly 3 million gallons of raw sewage had spilled into a local park.

One northwest city has a different story to tell. Early last year they completed an analysis on the current pump station equipment relative to Y2K, and decided to replace their outdated system with a SCADA system connected to smart PLCs or RTUs.
 

The city’s senior software engineer in charge of embedded systems conducted a Y2K analysis on the pump station equipment and found problems in the software and hardware as well. He also reported that much of the field equipment was obsolete or unsupported.

Regulatory Requirements

 The city also needed to meet new regulatory requirements issued by the Department of Ecology. These regulations required that the current pump station network be able to quantify an overflow at any given permitted site. This was not possible with the older monitoring and data collection equipment in place at the time. When it was installed in the 1980s, data collection was expensive, forcing officials to limit data collection parameters to only minimal data necessary to perform the city’s current business and permit requirements..

Designing the New System

 The city decided that in order to meet both the regulatory requirements and avoid any potential for a Y2K incident, a new system was in order. Specifically, one that could provide more data from their field equipment and add intelligence to the remote sites to compute and log lift station flow rates and increase the accuracy of data during overflow events.

Systems Interface Inc. and Rockwell Automation® teamed up and designed just such a system.
 

“The customer preferred a nationally recognized, name-brand solution with local distribution and required Modbus® protocol,” said the municipal business manager for Systems Interface. “The solution had to be PLC-compatible and the customer preferred the Allen-Bradley® hardware, yet A-B couldn’t accommodate the need for Modbus.”

ProSoft Steps In 

“That’s where ProSoft Technology stepped in,” said Doug Sharratt, President and Lead Developer for ProSoft. “A large number of SCADA projects in the Oil and Gas and Water and Wastewater industries have been specified with the Modbus protocol. ProSoft’s processor, developed jointly by ProSoft Technology and Allen-Bradley, is aimed specifically at these opportunities. It is an Allen-Bradley SLC 5/03 processor that has been modified to include the Modbus Slave protocol.”

Once the Modbus protocol is activated, a Modbus host can read and write data from all the common Modbus data types. In addition, support has been provided for the transfer of Floating Point data. A host can also access the processor Status File S2 to remotely monitor the health of the unit or do such things as setting the real time clock.
 

“The city couldn’t compute station flow rates, including overflow events, with the past system,” said Systems Interface’s municipal business manager. “Now they can track the well level and integrate it over time to accurately compute and log well inflow, outflow, and how much overflow has occurred.”

More Control, More Information

The new telemetry system consists of a hot backup, redundant, dual processor headquarter master station talking to 72 RTUs at each of the city’s sewer pump stations. 

“ProSoft’s Modbus Communication Modules function independent of the PLC, sharing the task of communications and allowing the processor module to concentrate on control and data functions,” said a Systems Interface project manager.
 

The RTUs monitor the pump station activities and control the operation of the sewage removal equipment, which consists of either pumps or air compressors. The headquarter master polls each RTU via a modem connection, and staff at the headquarters monitor the status and alarms in order to track pertinent data and be able to respond to emergency situations. This is far different from the previous system, which couldn’t track or control any station flow rates. 
 

The new SCADA system, scheduled for completion in late October 1999, will change all of that.
 

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for Rockwell Automation platforms here.

If you listen you can hear warblers and flycatchers in the undeveloped wilderness of northern Ontario. As your ears become attuned to the solitude of this beautiful area of Canada, you will also hear another sound…rushing water, in the local power generating station.

The station is a 250MW hydropower facility that provides power to northern Ontario. A while back, the power utility approached AVAD Industrial Sales for help in upgrading their SCADA system. The old GE Harris system, communicating to a remote (Ranger 10) control room, was very limited in its capabilities. It could not track alarms and give operators the information required to run the new generators. AVAD Industrial proposed implementing a Schneider Electric® Quantum™ controller that was easily able to monitor all the points of the system and log data to the Vijeo HMI. However, in order to communicate with the new generators via the DNP 3.0 protocol, the Quantum controller needed a cost-effective connectivity option.

ProSoft Technology developed an in-rack module allowing the Quantum controller direct connectivity to the DNP3 network.

“ProSoft’s protocol module for the Quantum processor was the only in-rack solution available,” said a representative from AVAD Industrial.  “It was this type of quality solution that helped eliminate the need for a third-party ‘black box’ converter, thus eliminating a potential point of failure. It also allowed AVAD to provide local service and support for all of the equipment.”

With this new system, control operators receive all the information they need regardless of whether they are located on site or in the remote control room. As a result, the financial benefits will be represented in “Total Cost of Ownership.” The utility will no longer have to rely on outside assistance. This new system allows the plant to run more efficiently, and the maintenance crew can handle any issues should they arise.

“This solution has improved every aspect of the plant, i.e. functionality, speed, and convenience. We are looking at the possibility of converting three neighboring plants to this solution. This would standardize the facilities and make the ProSoft Technology interface module a very important part of the Canadian hydro electricity market,” said the AVAD Industrial representative. 

Learn more about ProSoft Technology solutions for Schneider Electric® platforms here.

In the Northwest United States, a Glaucous-winged Gull lands on a straw-covered hilltop. The bird squawks among a flock of gulls and is watched by a town below.

For the bird, the hill may seem like any other. But to knowledgeable residents, this gull just landed on the most visible 40-acre portion of a landfill in post-closure stages. Mimicking a natural hilltop environment, the gull-covered hill represents a highly maintained landfill site where strict vegetation, irrigation, and gas process extraction must be carefully maintained.

Preserving the Environment 
 The landfill overlooks countless rows of houses, just one of the cities the landfill serves. For many in the surrounding communities, the landfill is really a marvel in creative landscaping. Now teeming with wildlife and vegetation, the ingenuity of creative landfill planners – and the availability and flexibility of ProSoft Technology's Ethernet wireless radios – have made the landfill a lucrative and positive community project in preserving a natural-looking environment and way of life.

"Our wireless radio network is invisible," said a representative from ProSoft Technology. "All power and water lines for the landfill are buried underground, which complements the county's desire to make this area as visually pleasing as possible. With the real-time access to landfill data provided by ProSoft's radios, the county can make informed decisions affecting the safety and health of residents and landfill employees."

A New System 
 Using collected gate fees, the Solid Waste Management Department was able to integrate wireless technology into their closure and post-closure care of a portion of the landfill facility. One master and one repeater radio are used to integrate landfill closure, final cover construction, landfill operations, organics recycling, hazardous waste management, and waste screening and engineering. This includes one irrigation pump station and 14 metering stations on the surface, as well as soil sensors that measure ground moisture beneath the surface of the landfill.

After a 40-acre portion of the landfill reached designed capacity, an engineering and construction management firm installed a gas extraction and irrigation system that could be managed through a wireless radio network. This was all part of the closure process that included visually pleasing aspects. This included a landfill cover (evaparo-transpiration cap) as well as wireless radio-maintained irrigation of special soil and vegetation needed to prevent water from infiltrating the landfill.

As trash decomposes in the landfill, underground gas is created that must be extracted. Components of methane and carbon dioxide gases can be flammable, corrosive, poisonous, and unpleasant to smell. They can be difficult to maintain and extract but are more easily maintained with the industrial wireless radio network that can withstand the changing nature of gases, and extreme hot and cold temperatures.

Going Wireless 
 Small amounts of methane, carbon dioxide, and oxygen gases are sampled at multiple locations. Test data is then sent wirelessly back to the department’s computer network, where the gases are pumped through pipes below ground to two enclosed flares to be processed and burned. Wireless access allows real-time monitoring of what occurs beneath the landfill surface and can be easily expanded in the years to come.

Future expansion has been prepared for through 3D-modeled path studies that establish present and future well and piping layout. 2.4 GHz radio bandwidth requires line-of-sight paths that include projected topographical contours of the landfill site so that each 8dB Omni Antenna can currently, and in the years to come, properly transmit data. Such preparation has been much more efficient than Ethernet cables strewn across the hillsides, which would not have fared well in the unsettling nature of landfills, where differential settling can cause point-to-point network lengths to vary.

"ProSoft's wireless network that controls and monitors the landfill was a cost-effective solution for the county," said the representative from ProSoft. "It requires little human intervention, operates on the license-free 2.4 GHz frequency, and can be expanded in the future."

The success of the landfill has enabled transplanted hilltop vegetation endemic to the area to flourish and to be properly maintained. Because of carefully planned extraction methods, landfill gases that are heavier than air do not flow from the landfill site into nearby towns. ProSoft's wireless technology has also provided a communications system that is more inherently secure from interference and hacking. Spread-spectrum Ethernet radios with enabled encryption allow for an extremely secure setting in a carefully maintained and balanced landfill site that has no room for failure.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Wireless Solutions here.

Not every company knows how to take off their training wheels and ride into the streets of wireless industrial automation.

Shed the wheels of network cables and a company can potentially get more flexibility than ever before while moving data securely. Sure, industrial wireless security needs to be cost-effective and reliable. Buying the right modems and keeping up-to-date with the latest high-tech wizardry in wireless know-how can loosen the cables that bind applications and devices to costly networks. Nowadays, the idea of being wireless, secure, and cost-effective means companies can escape the thought of wiring across miles and miles of uncharted terrain. Just see what a Tennessee utilities board did when it wanted to move data through remote substations.

The company had to route data through thirteen substations, two of which were tucked away in the Cumberland Mountains. It knew laying ground wires in such an operation with remote locales would not be cheap. Wires would have to be installed over vast distances or laid locally. In order to access data, staff would have to visit hard-to-get areas. And who has that kind of time?

A while back, the end user had installed a SCADA system through Survalent Technology, then set up an Ethernet network using fiber optic cables transporting DNP 3.0 over TCP/IP to poll the RTUs in each substation. That was in 11 out of their 13 electrical distribution substations. The other two substations, given their locations in extremely isolated mountainous terrain, simply were not cost-effective when it came to fiber installation. Both remote substations are outage-prone, with the furthest an approximate one-hour drive through winding mountain roads. The board realized that there would be huge benefits if communications could be established to these two stations.

Surrounded by rugged terrain at two remote substations, the utilities board decided to improve data management by exploring various data-gathering methods. It researched options such as leased phone lines, licensed radio, unlicensed radio, and even satellite. After a thorough evaluation, the board concluded unlicensed radios offered a cost-effective, reliable, and secure solution. They opted for ProSoft Technology’s industrial-grade solutions.

The two Cumberland substations presented major obstacles in trying to obtain line of sight communications back to the end user’s main offices. ProSoft Technology’s technical support personnel helped develop a path study that identified locations along mountaintops where repeaters could obtain the desired path. The first repeater location posed no problem. The company had already set up a mountaintop radio repeater for licensed voice communications to company vehicles. The second repeater location made for a difficult challenge. The proposed remote mountain site was located using a GPS unit. Inaccessible to any ordinary vehicle, the end user hired a local grading contractor to transport a 60-foot wood pole to the site to install using a bulldozer. ProSoft Technology used a solar repeater kit and necessary antennas to complete the project.

ProSoft installed Frequency Hopping Ethernet radios with serial servers in both substations.

“We are pleased with ProSoft Technology’s wireless equipment. Instead of having to install separate networks, we have been able to build a single wireless network to meet the needs of our Ethernet equipment, as well as our serial equipment,” a representative of the utilities board said.

He noted that the utility has “been able to save numerous man-hours by being able to remotely monitor and control devices that normally would take us hours just to get to.”

In the first substation, one radio monitors station-loading from a Schlumberger Q1000 meter using the DNP 3.0 protocol. The meter has an RS-232 connection to the radio’s serial port, and is directly polled from the SCADA master station using the IP address and port of the radio. The old feeder breakers in this station have been replaced with new Cooper VSA breakers and Form 6 controls, which provide Ethernet connectivity. The new electronic controls are connected to the ProSoft Technology radio through an additional Ruggedcom Ethernet switch, thus prohibiting the need to ever install an RTU in this station.

The second substation has a Schlumberger Q1000 meter connected to the serial port of the radio, while a Cooper Form 6 control connects to the Ethernet port of the radio. Both are polled using DNP 3.0 over TCP/IP directly from the SCADA master station. Future planning will upgrade the regulator controls within the station to Beckwith M2001C controls that also have available Ethernet ports and use DNP 3.0. An additional Ethernet switch or hub is needed, although only requiring a single radio and no RTU.

The end user has begun the second phase of its SCADA system installation: communications with pole top devices (i.e. reclosers, regulator controls, automated switch controls, capacitor controls) located on distribution lines. The primary method for communicating to these devices will be with ProSoft Technology’s radios. Currently ProSoft’s radios have successfully connected to and are communicating with Cooper Form 4C recloser controls, Cooper Form 6 recloser controls, and S&C Model 5801 automated switch controls. The only protocol available for the Cooper Form 4C control is Cooper 2179, which is not available on the SCADA master. The communications path to these Form 4C controls comes off of a comm port on a substation RTU, hits a serial radio, then hits the same repeaters that are used for substation communications, finally ending up at a serial radio connected to the control.

The end user plans to connect to approximately 10-15 additional Cooper recloser controls, both Form 4C’s and Form 6’s. The 4C’s will be connected to a serial radio and polled from an RTU, whereas the Form 6’s will be connected to a Ethernet radio and polled directly from the SCADA master. There are plans to upgrade 15-20 regulator controls with Beckwith M2001C controls that provide Ethernet connectivity and are polled directly from the SCADA master. Because S&C automated switch controls only have serial ports available, plans to install additional controls require Ethernet radios with an embedded serial server. Connectivity through the required radios allows the controls to be polled using DNP 3.0 over TCP/IP directly from the SCADA master, without the need of an RTU. There are also plans to use ProSoft Technology radios for communications to capacitor controls for the purpose of power factor correction.

The utility appreciates the ability to use the same radio network, and therefore the same set of repeaters, no matter which type of radio (serial, Ethernet, Ethernet with embedded serial server) that they need to install. The company originally installed 23 radios, which they hope to double within the next 6 months. With such robust integration in their remote networks, any installed radio can then become a repeater for future radios.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions here. 

The overhead crane gracefully rides down 240 feet of track with its 8,500 lbs. of cargo.

Iron Manufacturer Goes Wireless

The material is placed into one of ten, single-channel induction furnaces and melted to a temperature of 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit to make molten iron. Hot metal carriers then transport the molten iron to an automatic pouring unit. Along the way, an alloy is added that converts the base iron to ductile iron that will be made into finished castings.

The manufacturer has six plants in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Tennessee. At plant No. 4 in Marionette, Wisconsin, 1,500 tons of ductile iron is melted every day to make castings for automotive, agriculture, hydraulics, heavy truck, material handling, power transmission, and off-highway vehicles. With over 3,600 people employed, the combined melt capacity of the six plants is over 9,500 tons of gray and ductile iron each day.

Plant No. 4 prides itself on using state-of-the-art technology in its production processes.

“When we began looking at ways to improve the efficiency and ability of the melt department at Plant 4, we found there were actually three main factors to look at in making decisions on how to proceed,” said the project manager for the wireless automation project:

∙ Record-keeping: To meet ISO and customer requirements, the materials used and chemistries of the iron had to be traceable throughout the entire production process. For the melt department, this meant keeping a record of the incoming charge material from the vendors and alloy used in the process, along with the amounts of each material used in a charge, plus the time the charge was melted, removed from the furnace, and delivered to the automatic pouring units. They found that the inventory records of what was delivered and what was consumed seldom matched.

∙ Accuracy: Many of the parts made by the company are safety-critical components. The chemistries and dimensions must be exact. Following the purpose of their quality management system - “To establish, document and maintain a quality system in accordance with current editions of ANSI/ASQC QS9002 and ISO/TS 16949” - this problem had to be addressed. Even if the scales were in perfect calibration, the information being logged was only as good as the operator’s entries. They needed to eliminate as much paperwork, phone, and two-way radio communications as possible.

∙ Cost reduction: The company rates the production cost in man-hours per ton of iron. When the melt department started looking at how to reduce costs, they had to look at staffing and what each position added to the value of the finished product.

“The first phase of automation was the alloy addition,” the project manager said. “There were two people on each shift manually weighing up the alloy in pails up to a total weight of 200 lbs. They then opened up a hatch on the lid of the ladles used to transport the molten iron. With the heat and flame coming out of the hatch, they would dump the alloy into the ladles. There was a high rate of injury in this job from strains and burns. Recording what was added to each ladle was done on a clipboard that later had to be typed into the system for record-keeping. We were relying on the person to read and record the information into the system accurately.”

The plant was able to reduce seven staff positions by incorporating an automated batching system with the alloy addition weights calculated by a PLC with information provided by the metal lab on a touch screen. The results were real-time accurate weights and record-keeping.

Completing this part of the project cost over $250,000 in material and labor. However, the cost savings in eliminating the six full-time positions and one relief man’s hours provided an annual savings estimated at $320,000.

Next they turned their attention to the charge yard, where the batches to be melted are made. There, two overhead cranes with electromagnets lift material and place it on an automated shaker system. The melt control room operator would use a telephone to communicate the required weight of each of the four items that make up a batch to the preheat control operator. The preheat control operator would relay this information to the two crane operators using a two-way radio and type it into his PC. As the crane operators would lift and place the material on the shakers, they would call down the weights of each item and the preheat operator would type that information into the computer.

“Distractions would cause the preheat operator to miss what weight numbers were called down, and which shaker they were placed in,” the project manager said. “This delayed the process of getting material to the preheat units. The total amount of material needed for each item could not be lifted at one time, so the crane operators would add the amounts in their head or jot it on a paper. If a crane operator forgot what he had said, or wasn’t watching the scale display, they would guess at what was placed in the shakers and invalid information was recorded. In looking over the amounts of material used and compared with the delivery slips, the inventory seldom ever matched. If the resulting chemistry of the iron was wrong because of operator error, there was no way to backtrack the cause of the problem with any accuracy.”

The company knew they needed to look at a system that could get information to and from the overhead cranes automatically and eliminate the human error. Since the cranes are mobile equipment, this presented a unique problem to get a communications system to function properly. They finally decided to place a separate PLC on each of the cranes and chose SIMATIC® S7 units, which were compatible with the Texas Instruments 505 series that was already running in preheat control.

“One of our other plants had in place a PROFIBUS radio system that looked promising, but we found it wouldn’t handle the volume of information we wanted to transmit and receive,” the project manager said. “In speaking with our PLC vendor, Professional Control Corp., they suggested we try using wireless Ethernet radios for PLC-to-PLC communication. There was some concern there may be cross-talk with the wireless bar code readers on our forklifts already in use. Also there was concern the 4.5 million watts of power used in the melt department might somehow interfere with the signals.

“The first step in testing was to hardwire the Texas Instruments and Siemens® Ethernet cards on a bench test to verify the ability to communicate the database information. Our PLC vendor made arrangements for ProSoft Technology, the wireless Ethernet radio manufacturer, to loan us a couple of units for testing. Testing proved out that the wireless Ethernet solution would work. We already were using the Ethernet port on the preheat control PLC to talk with the server, so we simply added another Ethernet card available from C.T.I. to the PLC rack in the preheat control room. This card then connected to the master radio.”

An S7™ PLC with Ethernet, the other I/O cards needed, and the ProSoft radios were installed on each crane. Mounting the touch screens in the cab of each crane on swing arms made it possible for each operator to position them comfortably.

“We were impressed with the ease of setting up the wireless Ethernet radios using the provided software that gave us the signal strength information for the best mounting location,” the project manager said.

The time saved by not having to relay the information verbally allows them to make up to six batches in advance, instead of three previously. This allows for smooth transitions between the different chemistries needed for production. Crane-to-crane communication allows both cranes to see what the other has already added to the batch, speeding up the process and preventing duplication errors. The parts and labor cost for this portion of the upgrade was $22,887, while the total annual savings were $173,380.

With the success of their first wireless Ethernet installation on mobile equipment under their belt, the plant addressed another problem: their hot metal carriers, or HMCs. There are over 950 feet of monorail loops through the facility on which the HMCs travel. The HMC drivers were using two-way radio communication to exchange information with the metal lab, melt control room operator, and each other. The amount of time between receiving the alloy, filling the ladle, delivering the treated iron to the pouring device, and getting the iron poured in the sand mold is critical. Once the iron is treated in the ladle, it has to be poured into the mold within 25 minutes or the chemistry will change and the iron is unusable. It must then be removed from the pouring device. This is called “pigging.” Depending on the chemistry and the job specifications, “fresh” treated iron may have to be added to the pouring device and possibly pigged to flush the vessel. Iron that has been pigged has to run through the whole melt process again, thus costing twice as much for melting and treating the same amount of product poured. The cost of iron at the spout is about 19 cents a pound, so reprocessing an 8,000-pound ladle of iron cost the company an extra $1,520. If the chemistries weren’t within specifications, there was uncertainty as to the cause.

“We identified some of the problems as being missed communications between the metal lab, melt control room operator, and the HMC drivers,” the project manager said. “Other problems were taking the wrong iron weight, getting iron from the wrong furnace number, and delivering iron to the wrong pouring unit.”

Putting PLCs and wireless Ethernet communications on the HMCs wasn’t as easy as in the crane application. One of the major hurdles to overcome was power loss on the power rail distribution. If the rails lose power because of a collector shoe arcing, or for any other reason, the HMCs will switch to diesel power to drive the hydraulics. If the PLC were to shut down, they’d be having the same problems as before.

“We solved this problem by adding another 12-volt battery on the HMC next to the diesel starting battery,” the project manager said. “This battery is kept charged with a ‘float’-type charger powered by the 120 volts on the unit. The 12 volts is then brought to an inverter to convert it back to 120VAC. This system is only used to filter and keep power on the PLC, Ethernet radio and the operator touch panel in the cab. It gives us up to 48 hours of run time so repairs can be made to the electrical distribution system.”

Another problem that had to be overcome was that the HMCs were not always in line-of-sight of the master radio. To overcome this problem, they placed one repeater unit out in the plant. The HMCs communicate with the repeater and then to the master unit. The metal lab, melt control room, the alloy station, and the three metal carriers exchange information in real time.

By adding an incremental encoder to an idler wheel on the drive, they were able to track each carrier throughout the plant with an accuracy of ¼ inch. Mapping out the monorail locations of each furnace pour spout and pouring device receiver location resolved one of their major issues. Now if any HMC stops in the wrong location while taking or delivering iron, an audible alarm sounds on that HMC, and the lab and the melt operator’s screens indicate the alarm is active.

“In tracking the time and frequency of the alarm going off, we found there were 14 times in the first month of recording data that, had it not been for the alarm, there may have been chemistry problems in the final product,” the project manager said. 

“Probably one of the biggest lessons learned from completing this project was the amount of data we thought was good was actually bad,” he continued. “Now whenever there is a mistake involving human error, the problem is addressed by making it error-proof using technology if possible.”

The annual total savings at one plant totaled $600,000.

The company is currently making plans to use ProSoft Technology’s wireless radios instead of underground fiber between their power generator building and their main plant.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions  here. 

A petroleum company had its sights set on an ambitious enhanced oil recovery project in the Texas panhandle. The company uses state-of-the-art technology and methods to successfully recover oil from wells that would have once been considered “tapped.” The waterflooding process uses pressurized water to move through the formation, driving raw crude oil out of the ground from wells.

Boss Automation was brought in to design and install the discrete automation platform and a control network to monitor pressure and flow of this water into the wells. With their experience in automation, control, and process optimization, the project evolved into the design and implementation of a new, fully automated, self-monitored SCADA system. The system was designed to gather, assemble, and transmit data from the wells and injectors and ultimately bring it back to a master station. This allowed the day-to-day operation of the field to be monitored and controlled from these sites, and allowed the collected data to be used to produce detailed production models.

Considerations for the system included reliability, maintainability, ease of use, and the ability to obtain local support. With the aid of the distributor Rexel, Boss Automation decided on a winning combination of Allen-Bradley® hardware, Rockwell Automation® software, and ProSoft Technology wireless communication solutions. Boss Automation’s familiarity and past success with these automation products made them confident in the combined solution.

The SCADA system consists of one ControlLogix® at a main master station tied to four ControlLogix slave sub-stations and over 100 custom-built RTUs, each comprised of an Allen-Bradley MicroLogix™ 1100 PLC and a ProSoft Technology Industrial Hotspot radio. The main master station and four sub-stations represent the backbone network of the project. Each of the four sub-stations acts as a master for its respective sub-network. All communication from the wells and injectors to the sub-stations, and from the sub-stations to the main master station, is handled wirelessly using ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Hotspot solution.

A business development manager for Rockwell Automation noted: “For this application, ProSoft’s wireless technology provides the backbone communication for the integration of this system, creating a reliable, industrial, and transparent network that allows the petroleum company to successfully monitor their process data remotely."

At the main master station, an HMI application for the system was developed using Rockwell Automation’s RSView® 32 software. The graphical interface screens have proven to be user-friendly, and the Messenger Pro feature provides the operators with detailed information about alarm conditions in a human voice, by automatically calling the cell phone of the person on call.

An impressive amount of data—over 3500 discrete Input/Output as well as 1000 analog points—is gathered and moved across the wireless network at about 11 Mbps to the main master station, where it is then assembled into data log models, then interfaced by the end user’s own proprietary modeling software.

Rexel was instrumental in providing logistical and technical support for the project. With respect to the large-scale wireless network, ProSoft Technology provided engineering support throughout the length of the project.

“From the technical side of the project, the main reason this is a success story is because of the planning and care taken before starting the project,” said the ProSoft Wireless Engineer who worked with the end user. “I spent time with Boss Automation control engineers on a path study. We worked very closely together, before and throughout the installation of the project, not only on the layout of the network but on the strategy for PLC messaging.”

The overall network covered approximately 12 square miles, with the longest link being only about 2 miles, and a bulk of the radios were positioned in an area of about 3 square miles, which presented a concern.

“In a radio network of this size it is imperative that care be taken in setting up the PLC messaging,” ProSoft’s Wireless Engineer said. “If all radios are trying to communicate at the same time, you can quickly swamp your bandwidth with RF collisions and retries. With this in mind, we discussed the need to create a polling-style network rather than having all the radios trying to communicate at the same time. It takes a lot of planning up front to successfully install a radio installation of this size, and ProSoft’s Technical Support group provides an excellent planning resource.”

After the application’s implementation, the setup has had near-zero downtime. “The wireless network works so seamlessly and reliably that it is virtually transparent to the user,” a Boss Automation representative said. “When all was said and done I asked the customer how they liked the wireless network. Their response: What wireless network?”

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s solutions for Oil and Gas applications here.

The problem

Two transfer presses at a plant had been causing a ruckus. At least once a quarter, the hardwired network suffered cable degradation, and each occurrence caused the entire operation to shut down for up to two hours. Something had to be done.

The two presses produced up to 1,800 parts per hour. The presses were hardwired and faced frequent downtime from cable breakage or damage, frustrating the team on the plant floor.

It cost Gestamp approximately $14,500 each time they had to replace the RG-6 coaxial cable, plus the value of the 1,500-2,400 parts that could not be produced during the outage. They’d see this process play out about every 2 to 3 months per press.

The Application

Each press consists of one ram, two dies, and two bolsters. The bolsters are mobile metal plates on which the dies are mounted. A die is used as a mold that defines the shape that the part will take. In this application each die is roughly the size of a one-ton pick-up truck.

During the process, a metal sheet is fed across one bolster and comes to a rest above the dies. The ram rises and drops with a force of 800 to 1,400 metric tons, sandwiching the metal sheet between itself and the die to stamp out the parts. While one of the bolsters stamps parts, the second is loaded.

The Challenge

The cable wasn’t as much the problem as the demands placed on it. The cable’s path ran along a corner that required it to achieve such a sharp angle that the cable inevitably wore in this area.

Nevertheless, the end user needed a more reliable network, but there was a question about whether a wireless system would be effective given that wireless points would need to be affixed in a partially obstructed location beneath the bolsters.

The Solution

The company spoke with the local Rockwell Automation® distributor, who recommended using six Frequency Hopping Ethernet radios from ProSoft Technology, along with the end user’s existing ControlLogix® PACs.

ProSoft Technology’s Strategic Product Manager for Wireless Technologies said, “When the direct path (line-of-sight) is obstructed, a signal will reflect off of other objects, taking an alternate path to the receiving radio. Because there are multiple reflections, the signals arrive at the receiving radio at different times, so the radio needs to be able to distinguish between the different signals. ProSoft Technology’s Frequency Hopping radios are able to work with reflected signals because of the narrow band ‘hops’ and changing frequencies, making them less impacted by multipath interference compared to higher-speed, wider-band technologies such as 802.11.”

The Wireless Network

Each press is automated by a dedicated ControlLogix. To replace the hardwired system, four FLEX™ I/O ControlNet™ communication adapters — one for each bolster — were replaced with EtherNet/IP™ adapters and an Ethernet radio. Each PAC was fitted with a second 1756-ENBT Ethernet card and an Ethernet radio.

Performance

“We’ve got a unique application here, involving large moving hunks of steel. Our initial concerns that the steel would impede the radio performance turned out to be unfounded. When the bolsters interfere with line-of-sight, the radios continuously try to read through the bolsters,” a representative for the end user said. 

This specific application shows that though the laws of physics cannot be changed, the obstacles they present can be circumvented when armed with the right technology: in this case, a high-quality industrial wireless solution. By using ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Frequency Hopping radios, the end user has been able to eliminate the downtime plaguing its facility, translating into a savings of up to $174,000 per year, plus the value of parts produced during that time. The wireless system has been live for a while now and the end user is still pleased with the performance of the radios. “In fact, the radios work better than expected. We’ve been very happy with them.”

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions here. 

Automatic cranes improve productivity

A leading manufacturer of aluminum cable products operates a production line with four cable presses at a site in Australia. However, to increase capacity, the finishing stations and warehousing areas had to be restructured.

The peak performances of the presses were to be better buffered and the supply and output from the press lines and the warehousing areas was to become more efficient. It was also essential to achieve consistent loading of the workstations and optimized handling of baskets and bulk packaging.

All this mandated a powerful logistic base to transport the profile baskets and profile packs. In addition, the complete material transport of a wide variety of packing - in other words, handling of baskets and bulk packaging, which was formerly done conventionally with forklifts - is achieved with a system consisting of two automatic cranes.

The aluminum company decided on this solution not only to improve its ability to buffer the peak performances of the presses, but also to achieve a degree of redundancy that would provide better security against failure. Both the cranes needed to be able to operate over a distance of approximately 220 meters at two levels and carry out completely independent transport movements over the full length of the system. Two levels are essential because both cranes have to be driven independently over the full distance, and also have to perform lifting and turning movements.

Wireless technology provides the solution

It was important to the company to entrust the solution to this problem to experienced suppliers. Vollert was accordingly appointed prime contractor. Aberle Automation, for many years a supplier of control systems and a partner for Vollert, the system builder, was entrusted with the complete control system.

Both companies have considerable experience in the logistics and intra-logistics field, and this project was not by any means unexplored territory for either of them. However, using wireless communication to solve the problem was new to them. In the former systems, photo data sensors had been installed, and these could now no longer be used over a distance of 220 meters.

Aberle worked out, based on its established knowledge of material handling and turnkey logistic systems, a sophisticated automation solution. This was achieved in close collaboration with NemaSystems, a renowned Rockwell Automation® solution provider. NemaSystems delivered all Rockwell Automation and ProSoft Technology products, and was also jointly responsible for choosing the right control concept. The Württemberg-based company provided consultancy and support in selecting and configuring the control system components, and was also available as support and backup during the commissioning.

The automation solution could not have been completed without the active contribution by Rockwell Automation, as the manufacturer of a suitable control platform, and by ProSoft Technology, as the supplier of the necessary wireless products and on-site support in Australia. The core element of the solution is a Rockwell Automation ControlLogix® system with EtherNet/IP™ as the control network. A principal reason for choosing the Logix control platform was that the end user was already using Logix control systems from Rockwell Automation. Aberle had also already developed a software standard for similar crane systems based on Logix, which facilitated a secure integration.

The challenge in the new project was now the coupling of the decentralized peripherals moving in parallel on the cranes. A line-of-sight radio path covering the entire movement route of approximately 220 meters for both cranes, moving independently of one another, was absolutely essential. A technical solution other than driving the peripherals in parallel was impossible, because the drives and the corresponding I/O modules had to sit directly on the crane. Given these restrictions, the decentralized I/O modules and motor-drives frequency converters were coupled over EtherNet/IP with Industrial Hotspots from ProSoft Technology. The end user was already using various wireless systems but, in the crane systems area, the aluminum manufacturer decided on standardization with ProSoft Technology modules. In the beginning, there were still communication faults while transporting the profile baskets and profile packs as a result of reflections and other wireless networks that were set up on the same channels. Nonetheless, this problem could be rectified by ProSoft Technology directly on site.

Certainly there are similar systems fitted with wireless Ethernet across the world, but the project was still a challenge: The high update rate required and communication security for controlling the drives and I/O modules by means of EtherNet/IP was not guaranteed to be without problems.

Future-proof and effective

Using EtherNet/IP as a control network is undoubtedly also a feature of the automation solution, as is control of the I/O modules and drives over wireless LAN. This is how a comprehensive network was created, from the management level to decentralized I/O module and drive. The expenditure for installing this control network appeared relatively small, given the fact that the alternative offered was a considerably more complicated solution using leaky cable technology.

Of course, the correct antenna positioning and dimensioning demanded a certain amount of experience, but this was not, in the final analysis, one of the reasons for choosing ProSoft Technology. The ProSoft specialists ensured that the susceptibility to failure of the I/O modules and drives in this innovative crane system was no worse than in “normal,” cable-connected applications. Wireless transfer means that the crane modules and drives can be connected to the EtherNet/IP network, and accordingly the wiring and maintenance costs were minimized in comparison with conventional systems. WLAN transfer is reliable in operation, because communication monitoring is also intrinsic to the system. However, if faults should occur, then the system could be stopped immediately.

Savings arise compared with conventional systems, not only because of lower installation costs. Faster software design and IBN through the Ethernet network are also relevant cost factors. There is also simpler and better remote maintenance, carried out by Aberle over a VPN connection. This connection allows, as a result of the use of Ethernet as the control network, access to the drives and the decentralized I/O modules. The highly integrated control architecture is rounded off by viewing the system via a PanelView™ terminal with FactoryTalk® View for ME, which is also integrated with the Ethernet network. FT View's viewing gives a very good overview of the expanded system and provides the necessary tools to respond to any system faults in near-real time.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s wireless solutions here. 

In the San Joaquin Valley, located in the heart of central California, the nutrient-rich soil from which some of the nation’s agricultural products are derived also happens to be home to the largest petroleum-producing region in the state. These vastly different industries converge in the South Belridge Field just outside of Bakersfield, where the sight of cattle grazing between wells can be seen.

It is here that one company transformed their steam injection metering and data acquisition systems into a highly sophisticated, automated process comprised of a large network of WirelessHART transmitters and industrial broadband radios.

The Application

The company’s lease consists of over 200 wells distributed over a little more than a square mile. As an enhanced oil recovery project, continuous steam injectors play a critical role in the amount of oil produced by a given well. Placed adjacent to each producing well, steam is injected into the surrounding reservoir to help mobilize the oil toward the producing well.
  
Originally, each injector was fitted with a chart recorder, which metered and recorded steam. To track these readings, operators were required to visit each of the approximate 120 injection wells every day to visually interpret the chart recorders’ graphical readings, log it on a clipboard, manually convert this measure to a flow rate, key it into a spreadsheet, and send it to the office in Bakersfield, where a data-entry clerk keyed the figures into a database.

The Problem

This steam metering method was very manpower-intensive. The chart recorders themselves required recalibration every three months, and it was difficult to accurately interpret their readings. Secondly, concerns existed about data integrity from potential recording errors during the several handoffs and manual entry steps required. Lastly, the process consumed much of the operators’ time and provided only one data point per day, so should a problem arise at a well, the company suffered response lag times in dealing with the issues.
  
The company’s Project Facilities Engineer saw these inefficiencies as another opportunity to improve processes. After equipment investigation, analysis, and discussion with operations, he was able to implement a new wireless metering and monitoring system, employing the latest technologies to deliver a real-time system, which resulted in substantial benefits to the company. The opportunity to implement a wireless solution made deployment quick and economical. Without these technologies, separate power and communication lines would be run to each well, making the retrofit project very costly and time-consuming. Additionally, maintenance of the system without the miles of power and communication lines was eliminated.

A Proven Solution

With close coordination with operations personnel, the new, state-of-the-art automation system began as a pilot project, during which ten Rosemount 3051S WirelessHART Pressure Transmitters were installed at four wells. Two transmitters were placed on each well to measure the downstream pressure at the wellhead and the upstream pressure before the steam passes through a choke. On dual-stream wells, a third transmitter is installed so that each stream has its own downstream transmitter and a shared upstream transmitter. The pressure transmitters communicated through the self-organizing mesh network to the Emerson WirelessHART gateway, where the process variables, process diagnostics, and instrument diagnostics were converted to Modbus® TCP/IP data. ProSoft Technology 802.11 industrial radios connected gateways in the field to an industrial PC in the office a mile away, forming the backhaul network, or an alternate wireless communication system that moves data from points in the field to the business system. 
  
During the pilot project, the end user brought in a company that tests steam levels and is able to report a true number for the amount of steam being injected to a well. They compared the steam test results for both the wireless transmitters and the chart recorders and found the transmitters’ readings to be around ten times more accurate on average.
  
“We were surprised by how much more accurate of a reading this new technology was able to deliver,” said the end user’s Project Facilities Engineer. From a reservoir perspective, inaccurate steam metering translates into expensive repairs. Over-injecting of steam also leads to higher-than-necessary operating costs. Under-injection results in missed production opportunities where oil that could have been extracted is instead left in the ground.
  
After the project was validated, and with relative ease, the plan was rolled out across approximately 120 wells. In total, 249 Rosemount WirelessHART transmitters were installed, with four gateways aggregating this data and three ProSoft Technology industrial radios communicating this data to an industrial PC in the field office. From there, data is sent to the company’s intranet, where it is tied into two ProGauge Technologies custom-designed Web-based software packages. One enables operators to log in and view well data, print reports, and view alarms. The other is a statistical analysis tool with historical data, designed to provide a higher-level look at the field for trending. It provides a visual overlay of the well sites, enabling reservoir and production engineers to view data by clicking on a well, or they can see trend data, calculate steam to oil ratios (SORs), and more.
  
 A .csv file is generated daily and imported into the end user’s reporting database, from which allocations are determined and distributed to various internal and external entities.

The Implementation

As a whole the project went very smoothly and quickly.
  
"Installation of the Emerson pressure transmitters was merely a matter of removing a mechanical pressure gauge and screwing on the new instrumentation," the Project Facilities Engineer said. "Installation of the ProSoft radios was as simple as mounting the radios onto a backboard. The installation of the ProSoft radios took no more than a day."
  
The biggest attribute of this system is that it allows operators to see performance problems more quickly and react with better priority and increased time efficiency.

In enhanced oil extraction projects, steam costs can account for anywhere from 40-65 percent of a producer's costs and are responsible for much of the revenue derived from a well. As a result of the newly automated wireless process and data acquisition system, the end user expects to see oil production increase, in addition to the benefits of greater efficiencies and reduced costs. The savings will more than pay for the entire system within the first couple months of operation, and the benefits will be seen year after year. The operation will benefit from:
  
Reduced maintenance 
Calibration cycles for the Rosemount WirelessHART transmitters, which were delivered pre-calibrated, are recommended by Emerson only once every 5 years - a dramatic improvement from the 3-month cycle suggested for the chart recorders.
  
Real-time data: improved response times and smarter decision-making 
Live data feeds to the field office, where operators can monitor present well status or query a range of conditions. Predetermined set points trigger notifications for operators to see instantaneously if a well deviates from goals. Data is archived permanently and can be trended for better analysis and decision-making down the road.
  
Increased efficiencies 
The new system gives operators the data they need to better prioritize their day as soon as they arrive on site rather than visiting all 120 wells, not really knowing where to start. This frees them to focus on more productive activities.

Profitability stemming from greater accuracy and distribution of resources 
At the time of installation, the cost of steam at the lease exceeded $10 million annually, and with the new system in place, the end user can distribute their steam with improved accuracy compared to the chart recorders.

The Future

This lease is a significant asset of the end user’s in the Central Valley, and their long-term goal is to continually improve their operations with solutions such as this. The company noted it will be reviewing where deployment of this technology can benefit their other operations.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions here. 

A legacy slip ring automation system was replaced with a new high-tech solution using ProSoft Technology's radios to communicate via EtherNet/IP™ to CompactLogix™ and FLEX™ I/O, saving the end user thousands in investments and downtime.

The need
 A manufacturing company that makes powders from agricultural products began experiencing automation problems in one of its silos. The legacy control system used slip rings and a relay-based system. Because slip rings are subject to constant movement, they need continual maintenance to avoid degradation of the rotating electrical connection caused by normal wear and debris. When a slip ring fails, production stops and critical data packets can sometimes be dropped.

The solution
 Original estimates to replace the slip ring contacts were 60,000 to 80,000 euros. So, Rockwell Automation®, together with Stevens Engineering, offered the end user a more viable solution. The new automation architecture incorporates CompactLogix and FLEX I/O PLCs transferring data wirelessly via EtherNet/IP using ProSoft Technology's industrial radios.

The benefits
 From the end user's point of view, there are multiple benefits to this new system. First, the cost for the wireless system was much less than the cost to replace the slip rings. Second, the short implementation time necessary for configuring and installing the three radios dramatically reduced factory downtime. And lastly, the silo now operates without any communication issues and no maintenance is necessary to keep this new system operating at peak performance.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Wireless Solutions here.