December, 2019
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nologies that our customers require right now,” Murphy says. Since this expansion, one of the key innova-
tions for the SEMI-GAS division has been the Gi- gaGuard™ GSM-V™ controller. The GSM-V mon- itors and regulates delivery of ultra-high-purity gases and was designed specifically to replace the company’s GSM-5™ controller, a legacy system that has become outmoded in Industry 4.0 proj- ects.
Space-Saving Solutions AES developed the GSM-5 three decades ago,
and the approximately 10,000 units installed dur- ing the 1980s and 1990s have begun to show their age. “Though thousands of these legacy products were installed, few received adequate support and maintenance, so their power supplies, electronic components and controls are ap- proaching end of life,” says Stetz. During the design process, Stetz
knew that the GSM-V needed to sup- port the company’s more toward IoT functionality in manufacturing. Adding to the pressure, the project also needed to produce a flawless, plug-and-play solution for end user customers. To meet the latest re- quirements, the GSM-V had to offer faster processing speeds, a more intu- itive HMI and better networking to transmit acquired data and continu- ously monitor gas conditions. The GSM-V also needed to moni-
tor gas conditions effectively to main- tain ultra-high purity levels and en- sure safe working conditions. A slight lapse in the purity level could ruin an entire run of high-value products, so the delivery system needed to send out gases with at least the same purity level they had upon entry — or a high- er purity level after passing through additional filters and purifiers. Abnormal gas conditions could
be a sign of larger, potentially fatal, problems, so the delivery system needed to display real-time monitor- ing results on both the unit’s control panel and other network-connected devices to ensure safe operation. “The main factor in every piece
of equipment we build, both the gas delivery systems and the controls for them, is safety,” Stetz says. “We pri- marily provide a safety system to dis- pense and distribute gases and chem- icals for end user facilities, so safety is always our number one concern.” With the new automation and
controls technology available today, providing all of these features should have been an easy task. Keeping the price point competitive was a concern in the GSM-V project, but the largest issue was that the controller needed to remain the same size while deliv- ering higher performance. All of the components required
to enhance the controller’s function- ality needed to fit in an enclosure 8 x 10 x 12 in. (203 x 254 x 305 mm) in size, which sits on the top edge of a cabinet that supplies gas to produc- tion floor equipment. “Many of these systems are
hardwired in place with additional equipment built around them, such as sprinkler systems or bus docks,” Stetz says. “We could not change the form factor of the equipment and maintain the drop-in replacement ca- pability. That form factor determined the maximum size of the GSM-V equipment, because the easier we make replacements and retrofits, the more likely we are to increase sales and market share.”
• • •
•
Compact Hardware and Open Software Stetz discovered a number of hardware and
software solutions from Beckhoff Automation that would benefit the GSM-V, but what originally cap- tured his attention was the Beckhoff CP6606 panel PC. The size of this cabinet-mounted “economy” controller perfectly fit the gas delivery system’s space requirements. Not only does the panel offer a 7 in. (178 mm)
touchscreen for HMI, but it also minimizes cabinet space by eliminating the need for an additional hardware PLC and maintains a log of active alarms that users can access via the HMI software. The CP6606 contains a 3.5 in. (89 mm) mother- board built by Beckhoff and a fanless ARM Cor- tex™-A8 processor with an integrated graphic adapter. The panel PC includes a standard 512 MB MicroSD card, with the option to upgrade to a 2, 4 or 8 GB card.
TwinCAT 3 automation software runs on the
CP6606 to support all control and display func- tions, which is something Stetz previously had to use multiple programs to accomplish. “TwinCAT 3 integrates both the PLC and HMI in one platform. All of the HMI features that I would normally have to program in a separate software package and run on a separate PC are now combined into one pack- age,” he says. Open-platform, PC-based solutions ensure
that the GSM-V can communicate with any end user’s SCADA and send data to the cloud using the OPC UA command protocol, which is available on all Beckhoff PC-based control hardware. In addi- tion, the scalable HMI software functions as intu- itively on a PC, tablet or smartphone as it does on the built-in HMI display. This makes it easier for the system to alert operators of unusual conditions.
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