FEATURE Industry 4.0 & Smart Factories
The Industry 4.0 technology
revolution in process automation By Dr. Michael Magerstädt, KROHNE Suisse CEO, Ralf Haut, KROHNE Technical Manager, and Dr. Christoph Spiegel, KROHNE Strategic Product Group Manager
T
he Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) – or Industry 4.0 – has dominated the process industry conversation for several years,
fuelled by the recognition of the benefi ts it can bring. Companies have already invested money in IIoT improvements, but without standardised technologies and common infrastructure widespread rollout has been challenging. Now, a consortium of companies is moving to standardise an Ethernet- based physical layer for data transfer in demanding process industry applications, with the goal of more widespread adoption of advanced automation technology at every level of process control.
NAMUR open architecture Automation is a critical source of increased safety and effi ciency in the process industries, especially as there’s been a shift from employing a large number of highly- trained and expert engineers to manage processes to more streamlined, autonomous operations. However, while automation continues to be managed and overseen by experts, diff erent data must be accessible to diff erent levels of an organisation. The Germany- based User Association of Automation Technology in Process Industries (NAMUR) uses the Purdue reference model, commonly called “automation pyramid” (see fi gure) as reference for the NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA) approach. The NAMUR pyramid achieves higher operational stability and plant availability through strict separation of responsibilities into levels. Components must be confi gured so that data fl ows upwards from the fi eld, from automation but also the management aspects. The NAMUR pyramid manages not only daily operations but also maintenance intervals and emergencies, and fi lters necessary information to management.
Chemical companies implementing IIoT have already recognised there’s a need for data to come out of the NAMUR pyramid and go to other recipients for broader-
14 September 2021 | Automation The automation pyramid
scale process support. So, due to the given historic architecture, there must be a second channel to provide access to additional diagnostics and to process data without interfering with the existing automation architecture. This includes monitoring and optimising data for increased plant effi ciency– from equipment to processes and maintenance timings. For example, fl ow meters might provide their primary (fi rst channel) data about fl ow that is critical to the minute-by-minute plant process, but will also provide additional data on density, temperature and more, to be analysed for plant optimisation. Thus, NOA is a strategy to achieve the goal of vertical integration in process industries through this second channel. This second channel provides process improvement data without impinging on the fi rst channel. The goals of NOA can be realised most easily with combined media, carrying both fi rst and second channel data, based on Ethernet technology.
Advanced physical layer The home or commercial business Ethernet is not the same as the one used in hazardous areas common to chemical plants and other facilities in the process industry. A modifi cation of the physical layer carrying this second channel data is needed. Ethernet-APL (Advanced Physical Layer) is currently being developed by a multi-national consortium of companies, which promise a new, suitable bit-transfer layer, or physical layer, for the process industry and to standardise Ethernet-APL. The original target of the Ethernet-APL
consortium was to defi ne a technology that fulfi lls a long list of specifi c needs: Ethernet-compliance (IEEE 802.3), long wire lengths (to 3,000 feet), high bandwidth (to 10Mbit/s), intrinsic safety (IS; Ex ib for Zone 1, Ex ia for Zone 0 or Class 1 Div. 1 and Div. 2), and two-wire technology with an intrinsically-safe power supply. All these requirements can’t be achieved by a single technology, so there are two versions of Ethernet-APL, one for trunk and the other for spur lines. Trunk lines are two-wire Ethernet lines that off er power supply up to 60W and can reach lengths to 3,000 feet into Zone 1 or Div. 2. Spur lines, on the other hand, are two-wire Ethernet lines that are intrinsically safe, including the power supply, but which can only reach lengths to 600 feet into Zone 0/Div. 1 environments. Ethernet-APL is designed to handle a wide range of protocols, including EtherNet/IP, Profi net, OPC UA, MQTT, HTTP, or even several of these at a time. It enables vertical integration, and supports fi rst- and second-channel data transmission for NOA plants. Development is ongoing, with the expectation of a fi nalised Ethernet-APL standardised system to be completed in the next several years. This is critically important to the ongoing rollout of IIoT and Industry 4.0 in the process industry and its automation.
Although an ongoing standardisation activity, there are some state-of-the-art Ethernet technologies already available that can cover specifi c applications in the process industries. As an example, high- performance four-wire instruments with Profi net or EtherNet/IP can serve as the branching or relay points in line or ring topologies with redundancy. KROHNE already off ers these technologies for fi rst- channel process data and second-channel optimisation data. Also, KROHNE is part of the Ethernet-APL consortium.
CONTACT:
KROHNE
www.KROHNE.com
automationmagazine.co.uk
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
