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. 

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. 

By Lauren Robeson

Antonio Zamperla SPA, a major theme-park attraction company whose rides can be experienced worldwide, offers something for everyone: coaster-lovers of all ages and their less thrill-seeking friends. Even for the former group, the Disk’O Coaster is surely an adventure: It essentially rocks and spins riders who sit in pedestal seats that face outward, offering a visual smorgasbord while speeding along a 300-foot (100-meter) track at up to 43 miles per hour (70 km/h). A feeling of weightlessness for the riders only adds to the target audience’s thrills. It’s a major attraction for many park visitors, and a prime example of Zamperla’s dedication to thinking outside the box when it comes to artistry and movement in its rides.

All in all, it’s a ride for which you’d want to have as many safety checks as possible.

Three years ago in Altavilla Vicentina, Italy, Zamperla started conducting testing to make the Disk’O Coaster even safer. They had been using a non-Safety I/O PLC with a more conventional Bluetooth wireless system that was based on standard OMNI antennas. Different solutions were considered, and Zamperla eventually decided to opt for a setup involving a Rockwell Automation CompactLogix™ L43S. That solution also involved the communications implementation of ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Hotspot Ethernet radios for safety I/O, along with a Power DC and PowerFlex™ 7S drive on the remote side of the solution.

The addition of ProSoft’s radios came about from the recommendation of Michele Piccoli and Davide Gasparini of Rockwell Automation.

“Thanks to ProSoft Technology’s wireless solution, it was possible to provide a complete proposal to Zamperla,” Mr. Piccoli said. “It was easy to work together to evaluate, test, realize, and set up the solution.”

ProSoft Technology Regional Sales Manager Andrea Mazzucchelli worked with them to come up with a solution that would help ensure the safety of the Disk’O Coaster’s riders.

The main goal in the new communications system was to replace the previous Bluetooth communication setup, incorporating distributed Safety POINT I/O™.  The Safety POINT I/O™ was used on board the ride to monitor the safety belts and the doors of the coaster. ProSoft’s radios also increased reliability and throughput, working in conjunction with the CompactLogix to provide a smooth, safe ride for thrill-seekers. When safety is a top priority and equipment is moving as fast as the Disk’O Coaster often is, highly reliable connections are a must.

The Industrial Hotspot radios have helped improve the communications system, according to Fabio Berti, chief engineer for Zamperla. The radios support fast RF data rates up to 300 Mbps, delivering great packet-per-second performance and ensuring reliable communication. The company also appreciated being able to monitor the radios’ performance and status using an HMI, thanks to diagnostic tags. Between the system performance and ease of use, Zamperla saw that ProSoft’s radios within a Rockwell Automation infrastructure offered a solution that was too good to pass up.

“The goal was to improve the efficiency and the security of the application,” Mr. Berti said. “Thanks to ProSoft’s wireless Ethernet-based solution, it is possible to use Safety I/O and improve the data rate of communication, satisfying Zamperla’s needs.”

An added bonus was ProSoft Technology’s technical support commitment. The company offers technical support for all products, and regional offices around the world ensure that you’ll hear from ProSoft’s experts as soon as possible.

“We’re proud to have been able to provide Zamperla with a wireless solution that’s perfectly fit to keep up with the Disk’O Coaster,” Mr. Mazzucchelli said. 

More Information:

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

For more information about A. Zamperla S.p.A, visit www.zamperla.com.

By Lauren Robeson

Many people use something that’s aluminum-based fairly often. Whether you’re drinking a canned beverage or covering a dish, chances are you’re not thinking of how the material came to be produced. 

The process of aluminum production is a long and potentially hazardous one if precautions are not in place. Clauser Dunkerque, a company based in France, knows the challenges involved and the precision required, and set about to strengthen communications in the aluminum production process for a supplier in the Middle East. 

Clauser Dunkerque primarily manufactures high-current conductors and special machinery for use in aluminum production. In this case, it was manufacturing an earthing trolley for the company, and it needed to ensure strong, clear communications. The device is used in a facility filled with potlines. These reduction pots hold extracted aluminum, and are electrically connected in a series. Once in the pots, the aluminum melts down and is divided. A potline can feature 1,000 or more pots in some cases, with high current to match. 

With such a high-current application, it’s important to ensure that any potential leaky current is taken care of as soon as possible. A leakage can be caused by a variety of factors, including an insulation fault or humidity. In the best-case scenario, a leak left unfixed causes energy loss – and potentially losses in productivity and profit. Worst-case scenario, this can be hazardous to workers and cost a lot of money – if one flash occurs due to an unexpectedly high current, it could kill the substation, costing the company 100 million to 200 million euros. 

So clear communications are a must in this type of facility. But they can be tricky: Running wires or cables from inside the potline to an outside environment wasn’t possible in this operation. And even some wireless radios could face an issue if used in the facility thanks to interference caused by electrical noise. Previously, the communications were hard wired to FLEX™ I/O and had to be connected and unconnected every time the trolley was moved. That led to maintenance issues, with connectors being damaged, and did not allow for monitoring of the current. 

That’s where ProSoft Technology came in.

“We already had a business relationship with ProSoft Technology,” said Clauser Dunkerque Project Manager Fréderic Vervelle, who had worked with Feby Mohammed and Aurélien Fabre of ProSoft’s EMEA office in the past. “We also liked that local support was available.” 

ProSoft Technology’s Weatherproof and Industrial Hotspot radios were used with MIMO antennas in conjunction with a Rockwell Automation® ControlLogix® system. The Weatherproof radios are perfect for this rugged application, and the 802.11n MIMO and channel bonding allows for high-resolution video monitoring while the I/O is being controlled – ideal for this application, where real-time information is crucial. The Industrial Hotspots offer Ultra-Fast access point switchover times of less than 10 ms, which came in handy as the earthing trolley connected to the closest repeater. Two master radios connected on different channels to avoid interference and ensure redundancy between the repeaters.

“Our on-site tests went well. We especially liked that the system was flexible with reduced configuration – it took just half a day to configure the radio system, and less than a week for the full deployment of the application,” Mr. Vervelle said. “We also like that ProSoft’s solution was approved by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority – if it hadn’t been, we would have had declaration fees and a bandwidth-based payment.”

Now this reliable communications network helps ensure safe division and processing of aluminum.

Find out more about ProSoft Technology’s Industrial Wireless Solutions at http://psft.com/BU5.

In Altavilla Vicentina, Italy, a Clever Sleever Machine places and shrink-wraps decorative sleeves on bottles at a rate of 18,000 pieces per hour. That’s five pieces per second. So, imagine how much money would be lost every time they have to stop production to replace a damaged or broken slip ring.

That was the problem facing Clever Machines.

Clever provides a wide variety of sleever machines and heat-shrink tunnel applicators. These machines can perform every type of sleeve application required by the client, at different production speeds, including linear and rotary machines suitable to apply full and partial sleeves and safety seals. These machines can be found in many different packaging applications including food and beverage, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.

“Through constant technological research, in conjunction with our clients, we are committed to finding solutions to our clients’ needs,” said Tagliaferro Silverio, owner of Clever Machines.

So, when a client came to them with the need to reduce downtime on their Sleever Machine because of the time-consuming nature of maintaining slip rings, Clever contacted Rockwell Automation®.  Rockwell Automation suggested they use ProSoft Technology’s Fast Roaming Industrial Hotspot radios and a 5 GHz radiating cable as the antenna.

The Industrial Hotspot supports Access Point, Repeater, and Bridging and Client modes, and delivers fast data rates up to 300 Mbps.

“The Fast Roaming feature of this radio maintains seamless, high-speed connections particularly well-suited for moving equipment like Clever’s Sleever Machine,” said Andrea Mazzucchelli, Regional Sales Manager for ProSoft Technology.

“This was the excellent packet-per-second performance and robust communications we were looking for,” said Andrea Parlato, Electrical Division Technical Manager for Clever.

Now a CompactLogix™ L36 communicates to the POINT I/O™ through ProSoft Technology’s radios, providing fast and reliable data from their rounding tables, which apply the labels and heat-seal them to the bottles. 

The radiating cables essentially replace the slip rings, virtually eliminating the expensive downtime associated with maintaining them. A radiating cable is a long, flexible antenna with slots to radiate RF signals that can be installed around corners, along monorail systems and through tunnels to propagate wireless data signals in situations that are tough or impossible for traditional antennas. Since the radiating cable antenna can be mounted within inches of where the signal needs to be received, it isolates the wireless signal from going to other machines that may be on the plant floor. And the cable comes in multiple lengths to meet the needs of most applications.

“The radiating cables have been specifically tested to work with the 802.11n radios, making this a field-proven solution instead of those expensive-to-maintain slip rings,” Mazzucchelli said.

Learn more about ProSoft Technology’s Wireless Solutions  here.  

now has a whole new meaning…

This car is so good, it’s not allowed to enter Australian car shows anymore.

Lowered with bright purple paint on the outside and a bright red interior, you can tell this isn’t the semi-ordinary 1986 Ford XF Falcon it once was. It’s a muscle car in every sense of the term, and then some. In just one car show “The Psycho” won Top Paint, Top Undercarriage, Top Engine Bay, Top Interior, Top Coupe, Top Five, Top Street Machine, and Australia’s Coolest Ride. It is considered the Top Show Car in Australia today.

But how many muscle cars do you know of that have industrial automation power?

Not many.

Underneath the hood of this baby isn’t just a powerful engine, but a PLC talking to different components of the car via a ProSoft Technology industrial radio.  

PLCs come to mind when talking about automobiles moving down large-scale automotive assembly lines that piece each part of the car together from start to finish. Controlling functions on the car itself is a different story. Since when does a PLC do that?

Since Greg Maskell in Australia integrated them in one of his custom cars. That’s when.  

The phrase “remote controlled car” now has a whole new meaning. Yes, we all have seen cars with the standard remote-start function these days. But remote controlling virtually every other function of the car, from the hood to the trunk and suspension? That’s where a PLC and a Prosoft Technology industrial wireless hotspot come in.

Maskell produces about two to three custom cars a year. “This is the first [PLC] that we have used in a car,” Maskell said.

What would have taken 18 toggle switches to remotely control functions of the car can be done with a few pieces of industrial automation equipment. How’s that for taking home all the car show trophies?

Maskell, of Maskell’s Customs & Classics in Australia, asked Gary Lomer to build a system for a custom car based on his industrial automation knowledge. 

“I used my industrial background to select components that were proven with solid and reliable software and hardware,” Lomer said. 

In this particular car, high-tension coil packs of the ignition are under the dash, as is a Rockwell Automation® MicroLogix™ PLC and a ProSoft Technology Industrial Hotspot.

Each is connected to a PanelView™ Plus through a Hirschmann switch. The HMI functions as the car’s touchscreen. 

Maskell links the car to a PanelView 1000 with two ProSoft Technology radios and can operate the whole car from the remote touch screen. Hood, or bonnet, up, sure. Boot, or trunk, up, no problem. Radio on, sure. Suspension up or down, you got it.

Maskell said they are very happy with the performance of the equipment in the car.

“[The PLC] controls all the electrical systems including start up, shut down, fuel pump, thermo fans, water pump, windscreen wipers, windows, and the radio,” he said.

In addition, the car features a suspension system that can be adjusted through air pressure controlled via the ProSoft hotspot. Also, the car’s doors, bonnet, and boot are controlled via electric actuators through the ProSoft system.

Maskell plans on using the PLC/ProSoft industrial wireless car control system more often when a customer decides they want to control their car remotely, he said.

The Psycho took 10,000 man-hours to build. Its owners are from Hobart, Tasmania, on the southern tip of Australia.

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