Plant Management
that they had to be properly certified accordingly to comply to ATEX/IEC60079. To have such certification is mandatory for safety and governance reasons. Therefore this location has to be regarded as being a hazardous area.
overall system cost reduction - due to fewer indicator units being needed.
Fig. 2. SmartGlance takes full advantage of the many powerful display features of touchscreen-based smartphones.
The application required a full range of Hirschmann WLAN products including outdoor access points and modular MICE switches, together with accessories, antennas, switches, media converters and surge arrestors. For enhanced security, the EAGLE firewall was used at the demarcation point to the customer’s process-LAN. To build the backbone, Belden’s PROFInet copper and fibreoptic cables were used, as well as Lumberg Automation Ethernet M12 connectors for all Ethernet devices. At locations where wired LAN access was difficult, wireless point to point links were installed. Significant benefits associated with the project include
improved overall efficiency resulting from both the faster commissioning time for the petrochemical process control system and improved maintenance efficiency, as well as an
Harnessing smart solutions Invensys Operations Management has launched SmartGlance, a new software as a service (SaaS) partner offering that delivers industrial and manufacturing intelligence data, archived in plant automation systems and data stores, to smartphones. The SmartGlance solution will be offered as part of an endorsed partner agreement the company has signed with Sarla Analytics, an innovative supplier of smartphone applications focused on business intelligence. “Web-based reporting tools simply can’t match the speed, functionality or readability of Sarla’s SmartGlance reports,” said Rob McGreevy, vice president, platform and applications, Invensys Operations Management. “The great thing about SmartGlance is that it is a native phone app, not a web client, so you can use advanced touchscreen features on your smartphone to quickly access and scroll through the reports. Everyone has a smartphone these days. They are rapidly becoming an important, everyday tool that can be used to achieve productivity excellence. With SmartGlance, managers, engineers and operators can use them to view the most current process and equipment performance data as well.” The new SaaS offering will be hosted at a secure SmartGlance data centre that minimises the need for customers to have local IT support and maintenance. Invensys Operations Management will supply data connectors that enable data stored in its Wonderware Historian and other products to be included in SmartGlance reports and analytics. The native SmartGlance phone application takes
full advantage of the many powerful display features of touchscreen-based smartphones (Fig. 2). Interactive tabular reports, along with trends, bar charts and pie charts, can be manipulated easily, allowing extensive data drill down capabilities. Users can even issue or share reports with co-workers via e-mail, enhancing real-time collaboration and effectively adding enterprise control capability to smartphones. Following the completion of a recent project, Emerson
Process Management’s Smart Wireless technology has saved Atlas Pipeline-Westex an estimated US$725,000 in installation costs and has improved production efficiency at Atlas’ Benedum natural gas processing facility near Midkiff, Texas.
Streamlining remote services options R
ockwell Automation has reconfigured its TechConnect remote support solution to provide customers with improved troubleshooting, easier programming and product configuration, and a more seamless support experience for improved plantwide optimisation. The offering is available at four different levels: self-assist support, product support, system support and application support. Users also can now add a la carte options to their standard support level, allowing for customisation. “Our world-class support offerings are
22
www.engineerlive.com
designed to provide customers with peace of mind, no matter where they’re located or what their application entails,” explained Jon Furniss, global product manager, Rockwell Automation. “To meet the evolving needs of our customers, we streamlined our remote support offerings and added several new capabilities. TechConnect subscribers can now receive support via email, online chat and interactive user forums. A forthcoming smartphone solution will allow access to support offerings and chat via the mobile Web.”
A la carte options include: continuous monitoring, trending and archiving for as many as 10 000 data points by Rockwell Automation engineers; secure remote connection to a customer’s system via VPN; surveillance and alarming for critical systems; system virtualisation and testing in a safe, non-production environment; control documentation management; and a customisable knowledgebase of the customer’s own questions and solutions, as well as the products used in their manufacturing facility. ■
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52