how to tailor control for action. - control global | process … · 2014. 3. 21. · march 2014 a...

MA

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H 2

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A Quarter-Century of Asset Management

Herding Controls

Hear the Fieldbus Music

Better Bells and Whistles for Valves

How to tailor control rooms to keep operators relaxed, alert and ready for action.

CT1403_01_CVR.indd 1 3/5/14 10:27 AM

Answers for industry.

usa.siemens.com/process

In this dynamic and advancing world, some may find it hard to remain at the forefront of the competition! That’s why Siemens answered with a control system your business can trust. With the release of SIMATIC PCS 7 Version 8, you’ll have the performance you need to keep up with the latest innovation and technology.

Take advantage of the uniquely scalable and powerful PCS 7 platform featuring enhancements and new functions that will decrease your engineering time and operational costs. Version 8 is a testament on how we’re listening to our customers and helping them meet their challenges. Rely on SIMATIC PCS 7 – performance you trust.

Performance you trustSIMATIC PCS 7 Version 8

© 2

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iem

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s In

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To access Version 8 information, use the code reader on your smart phone, snap a picture and experience.

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Get InTouch

I N T O U C H ® A C C E S S A N Y W H E R E

and shake it up with mobile, real-time visibility.

The world’s leading HMI software is now mobile. Get the power and ease of use of InTouch, wherever and whenever you need it.

Wonderware.com/GetInTouch

© Copyright 2013 Invensys Inc. All rights reserved. Invensys, the Invensys logo, InTouch and Wonderware are trademarks of Invensys plc, its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

INV-364 HMI Ad #4-Control.indd 1 12/13/13 2:37 PMCT1403_full page ads.indd 2 3/4/14 10:15 AM

Answers for industry.

usa.siemens.com/process

In this dynamic and advancing world, some may find it hard to remain at the forefront of the competition! That’s why Siemens answered with a control system your business can trust. With the release of SIMATIC PCS 7 Version 8, you’ll have the performance you need to keep up with the latest innovation and technology.

Take advantage of the uniquely scalable and powerful PCS 7 platform featuring enhancements and new functions that will decrease your engineering time and operational costs. Version 8 is a testament on how we’re listening to our customers and helping them meet their challenges. Rely on SIMATIC PCS 7 – performance you trust.

Performance you trustSIMATIC PCS 7 Version 8

© 2

01

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iem

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s In

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, In

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To access Version 8 information, use the code reader on your smart phone, snap a picture and experience.

PerformanceYouTrust_NEW_Control_SEPT_2012.indd 1 8/23/2012 2:53:12 PM

Get InTouch

I N T O U C H ® A C C E S S A N Y W H E R E

and shake it up with mobile, real-time visibility.

The world’s leading HMI software is now mobile. Get the power and ease of use of InTouch, wherever and whenever you need it.

Wonderware.com/GetInTouch

© Copyright 2013 Invensys Inc. All rights reserved. Invensys, the Invensys logo, InTouch and Wonderware are trademarks of Invensys plc, its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

INV-364 HMI Ad #4-Control.indd 1 12/13/13 2:37 PMCT1403_full page ads.indd 3 3/4/14 10:15 AM

Are you in control?

Naturally.

Of course you are. Your automation software is up-to-date and secure; new cost saving initiatives are in place; your control system is a model of efficiency and ergonomics driving productivity and collaboration to all-time highs.

I guess you don’t need System 800xA after all...

But, if you’re curious, visit us at www.abb.com/800xA

ABB Process Automation Divisionwww.ProcessAutomationInsights.comwww.Youtube.com/user/ABBControlSystems

CONTROL (ISSN 1049-5541) is published monthly by PUTMAN Media COMPANY (also publishers of CONTROL DESIGN, CHEMICAL PROCESSING, FOOD PROCESSING, INDUSTRIAL NETWORKING,

PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING, and PLANT SERVICES ), 1501 E. Wood� eld Rd., Ste. 400N, Schaumburg, IL 60173. (Phone 630/467-1300; Fax 630/467-1124.) Address all correspondence to Editorial and Executive Of� ces,

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without consent of the copyright owner. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CONTROL, P.O. Box 3428, Northbrook, IL 60065-3428. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Quali� ed-reader subscriptions are accepted from Operating Management in the

control industry at no charge. To apply for quali� ed-reader subscription, � ll in subscription form. To non-quali� ed subscribers in the Unites States and its possessions, subscriptions are $96.00 per year. Single copies are $15. International subscriptions

are accepted at $200 (Airmail only.) CONTROL assumes no responsibility for validity of claims in items reported. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40028661. Canadian Mail Distributor Information:

Frontier/BWI,PO Box 1051,Fort Erie,Ontario, Canada, L2A 5N8.

M A R C H / 2 0 1 4 www.controlglobal.com 5

F E AT U R E SC O V E R S T O R Y

32 / Perfect Fit

Tailoring the right combination of situation-aware dis-plays, rationalized alarms, ergonomic consoles and � eld-capable interfaces make for good operator effectiveness.by Jim Montague

2 5 Y E A R S O F C O N T R O L

46 / From Reactive and Preventive to Condition-Based Predictive

The 25-year transformation of maintenance and repair to asset management. by Paul Studebaker

V A L V E S A N D A C T U A T O R S

52 / Valves Get Better Bells and Whistles

Process control valves are adding new, sophisticated and intelligent electronics, networking and other innovations. Here’s how users are applying them for maximum bene� t.by Jim Montague

W E B E X C L U S I V E S

Integrating Wireless Sensor and Switched Ethernet and IP Networks. http://bit.ly/1lx1U7v

Shifting Risks, IT Complexities Mean New Security Strategies. http://bit.ly/1kvBsuO

March 2014 • Volume XXVII • Number 3

CT1403_05_07_TOC.indd 5 3/5/14 11:51 AM

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Sales: 888-ENDRESSService: 800-642-8737Fax: 317-535-8498

The Proof (test) is in the measurement.

When you utilize a safety system such as SIL, SIS or API2350, you are familiar with mandatory level instrument proof tests. Most require you to take your vessel off line and manipulate the level in the vessel or remove the instrument completely for testing.These methods typically:• Require hours to complete the test• Increase risk to personnel by placing maintenance staff on tall vessels• Cost money due to extended down time and lost production

At Endress+Hauser, we can help you migrate to in-situ proof testing using free space radar, guided wave radar or vibrating tuning fork instruments installed in your safety system.This solution provides the ability to:• Verify the health of the instrument and the associated wiring• Significantly reduce downtime and the risk to your staff• Improve your maintenance cycle, productivity and bottom line• Provide up to SIL3 rating in overfill prevention with one device

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Is safety important to you?Solution for in-situ proof testing

Levelflex FMP51Guided wave radar

Micropilot FMR5xFree space radar Liquiphant FTL80

Point level switch

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D E P A R T M E N T S

March 2014 • Volume XXVII • Number 3

Food & Kindred Products............................................ 13.356Chemicals & Allied Products ...................................... 10,257 Systems Integrators & Engineering Design Firms ......... 8,197Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services .................................. 4,313Primary Metal Industries ............................................... 4,312Pharmaceuticals ............................................................ 3,884Petroleum Refining & Related Industries ....................... 3,770

Paper & Allied Products ................................................ 3,413Rubber & Miscellaneous Plastic Products .................... 3,117Miscellaneous Manufacturers ....................................... 2,525Stone, Clay, Glass & Concrete Products ....................... 1,681Textile Mill Products ..................................................... 1,077Tobacco Products ............................................................. 118Total Circulation .......................................................... 60,020

CirCulation audited June 2013

9 / Editor’s PageMissing Links Smart devices offer increasing opportuni-ties for folks who challenge the status quo.

11 / On the WebFebruary’s Hitsreader favorites, the importance of opera-tors and the lifetime achievement award.

13 / Feedbackour readers talk about killer apps and pervasive sensing.

14 / Lessons LearnedHerding Controlslike a cattleman’s dog, a herding control-ler always goes after the variable that’s fur-thest away.

19 / On the BusHear the Fieldbus Music?With a good fieldbus system, you can hear the reassuring song of a properly operating process.

20 / Without WiresFeeding the Asset Management BeastManaging the data available today and con-verting it to knowledge for action.

22 / In ProcessHannover Fair preview, CC-link adds en-ergy management, emerson’s new tech center and more process news.

30 / Resourcesonline information about mastering loop controllers.

56 / Technically SpeakingCondition-Based CalibrationCalibrate only when you need to.

57 / Ask the Expertour experts dissect the difference between direct- and reverse-acting controls.

59 / RoundupGet your pressure instrumentation here.

62 / Product ExclusiveProSoft technology puts ethernet on Blue Hose.

63 / Control TalkMcMillan and Weiner talk about getting from loop control to process performance.

65 / Ad IndexYou know you saw that ad somewhere. Check these pages.

66 / Control ReportSitting Is the New Smokingtoo much chair time is bad for operator awareness and health.

Find out more about Endress+Hauser’s unique training:

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You choose.

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1403-Control-Cmore-MAG.indd 1 2/13/14 12:29 PM


Paul Studebaker Editor in chiEfps [email protected] t

E D I T O R ’ S P A G E

M a r c h / 2 0 1 4 www.controlglobal.com 9

Plants have a large

HART installed

base, and some

67% of

instruments are

intelligent, but

most are

underused.

Perhaps the most specific was Sandy Vasser, facilities I&E manager, ExxonMobil Develop-ment Co. (www.exxonmobil.com), who exhorts his group to “challenge traditional approaches” for engineering and constructing automation projects. The group’s vision would eliminate marshalling cabinets, field programming and acceptance tests by automating device detec-tion, identification, configuration, enablement and documentation, a strategy he calls DICED.

DICED-based designs will use a modular field junction box, built to company standards with a fixed set of smart I/O, to be purchased in quantities that exceed the anticipated I/O requirements of the project, and deployed on the site roughly according to the distribution of field devices. These junction boxes are con-nected directly to the control cabinet by fiber-optics. Installers can wire field devices to the next I/O terminals in the nearest junction box.

Meanwhile, the control strategy is indepen-dently developed and tested by simulation us-ing “virtualized hardware.” Once everything is brought together and hooked up, DICED tech-nology would let the system automatically pre-pare for start-up, almost without human inter-action. “It would just happen,” Vasser says.

The missing technologies are smarter I/O, virtualization for hardware and testing, the DICED capabilities, a third-party interface so-lution using Ethernet, standardized HMI, the IEC 61850 standard for communications in substations, and a suitable wireless system. I wasn’t the only one taking notes.

In other presentations, Chris Muench, C-Labs LLC (www.c-labs.com), said the IoT needs development to be used in manufac-turing. “Industrial applications are different,” Muench says, “They’re not necessarily over the Internet, they can be device-to-device.” High speeds and determinism require transmission

to be fast, so it can’t go through conversions. The cloud can provide outsourced computing power for analysis and historian functions, and the Internet can provide connections to super-visory functions through smart phones and tab-lets, but control must be local. Also, “Security must be baked in, not added on,” he says.

Herman Storey of Herman Storey Consult-ing talked about the ISA-108 standard for com-munication with intelligent devices, which would define how intelligent valves and trans-mitters should deliver self-diagnostics and other information to facilitate maintenance.

Our plants have a large HART installed base and some 67% of instruments are intelligent, but most are underused. ISA-108 intends to fill gaps between intelligent devices in automation systems and the ISO 55000 asset management standard used for everything else in the plant.

The ISA-108 initiative began in September 2012. So far, Storey says, the standards commit-tee has drafted Part 1, Concepts and Terminol-ogy, and has “starting documents” for Part 2, Work Process Specifications, and Part 3, Imple-mentation Guide. It’s a complicated job, and he offered no schedule for its completion.

As sensors and transmitters grow ever smarter and cheaper, data transmission and processing becomes secure and essentially unlimited, and the commercial space carpet-bombs us with innovative applications from trivial to awesomely inspiring. Opportunities abound for folks who can define and imple-ment industrial versions, challenge traditional approaches, and build the missing links that offer a significant competitive edge for their plants and their companies.

In the process of exploring the current status of manufacturing technology, presenters

at the recent ARC Forum highlighted a number missing links: specific products, software

and standards we need for industry to fully benefit from smart devices, pervasive sens-

ing and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Missing Links

CT1403_09_Edit.indd 9 3/5/14 9:48 AM

800 453 6202



Updated every business day, the Control Global online magazine is available at no charge. Go to www.controlglobal.com and follow instructions to register for our free weekly e-newsletters.

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VPN System HarnessesCow Power

Control Talk: Inspiring Future Engineers

Readers Fete

Technology Leadership

in our 22nd Annual

Readers Choice Awards

25 Years of Trying to Connect the Enterprise

Béla Lipták Tells How to Select an Analyzer

CT1401_01_CVR.indd 1 1/8/14 10:55 AM

The New Control System IntegratorIndustry experts discuss how modern

advances in information technology

have changed the role of integrators

today. http://bit.ly/1mXARAy

Understanding NFPA-79NFPA-79 is “intended to minimize the

potential hazard of electrical shock

and electrical fire hazards of industrial

metalworking machine tools, wood-

working machinery, plastics machinery

and mass-produced equipment.” http://

bit.ly/1eVbGbv

Building an HMI That WorksWhat’s wrong with most operator in-

terfaces today, and how can they be

improved? http://bit.ly/1dcvGK8

Smarter SCADA AlarmingPractical ideas for effective alarm

management. http://bit.ly/1ltk3TK

What Are Harmonics and Why Should I Care?Watch this video explaining harmonics

and their implications in process con-

trol. http://bit.ly/1pQu1zg

How Often Should Instruments Be Calibrated?This webinar discusses techniques for

managing your calibration program ef-

fectively. http://bit.ly/1fTI5DH

Big Fish Eat Smaller FishThe Schneider buyout of Invensys has been big news. Our report on the finalization of the deal, found at http://bit.ly/1mXyg9G also gar-nered a lot of attention. At the announcement of the deal’s completion, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman and CEO, Schneider Electric, said, “With Invensys, Schnei-der Electric will reinforce its industrial automation capabilities, boost its positions in key energy-intensive segments, and strengthen its software offering.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award Goes to...The all-time most popular article on Con-trolGlobal.com is “The Beginner’s Guide to Differential Pressure Transmitters” by David Spitzer. He says, “The importance of level measurement can’t be overstated. In-correct or inappropriate measurements can cause levels to be higher or lower than their measured values. Vessels operating at incorrect intermediate levels can result in poor operating conditions and af-fect the accounting of material.” Read it at http://bit.ly/JEXaw0..

It’s All About the OperatorProcess Automation Hall of Fame member William L. Hawkins generated a lot of buzz with his “The Operator’s Role in Process Au-tomation.” He says, “Machines require op-erators because, despite marketing claims, there are no intelligent devices. The only intelligence exists in human brains,” and goes on to trace the operator’s job from the advent of the steam engine in the early 19th century to the problems and promises of his or her role today. This “Other Voices” column from our February issue is at http://bit.ly/1fABGsu.

And the Winners Are...The 2014 Readers’ Choice Awards. Each year, we ask our readers to identify the best solution providers in a broad array of process automation disciplines and technolo-gies—from batch control to safety systems and wireless infrastructure to terminal blocks. Thanks to the partici-pation of readers from across the process industries, this year’s awards represent the expressed brand preferences of nearly 1,000 automation professionals from all corners of the process industries. To check out the choices, go to http://bit.ly/OQveZA.

February’s Web Hits

Mult

iMedia

0% Level

SG = 1.10

LT

1000 mm

SG = 1.10

100% Level

LT0 mm

0% Level

SG = 1.10

1000 mm

SG = 1.10

100% Level

200mm

LT

500 mm 500 mm

0% Level

SG = 1.10

1000 mm

SG = 1.10

100% Level

1300 mm

LT

1300 mm

LT

SG = 1.05(Fill)

SG = 1.05(Fill)

Pressure = 3 bar

LT

200 mm

CT1403_11_WebTOC.indd 11 3/5/14 9:51 AM

break through the

NOISE

Better Signal-to-Noise Ratio Means Better Level Control Performance While transmit pulse amplitude (signal size) has helped to make guided wave radar technology the standard for accurate, reliable level measurement, the fact is signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) represents a far more critical indicator of level control performance. For superior SNR in all process conditions, no other GWR device beats the Eclipse® Model 706 transmitter from Magnetrol®.

The ECLIPSE Model 706 transmitter has a signal-to-noise ratio nearly 3 times higher

than competitors.

magnetrol.com • 1-800-624-8765 • eclipse.magnetrol.com

To learn more about the breakthrough ECLIPSE Model 706 GWR transmitter visit eclipse.magnetrol.com or contact your MAGNETROL representative today.

1.57

4.40

CompetitorSNR

Model 706SNR

3XHigher

© 2014 Magnetrol International, Incorporated

Control Magazine readers voted ECLIPSE into the Contacting Radar 2014 Readers’ Choice Award Category

Magnetrol_Control_January.indd 1 12/17/13 2:59 PM

The Emerson logo is a trademark and service mark of Emerson Electric Co. ©2014 Fisher Controls International LLC. D352316X012 MAA2

You can move forward and run at a higher level with Fisher® control valves and instruments. We understand that you need to keep employees safe and equipment in compliance with regulations. And that’s getting more difficult as the process industry changes. Fisher products can help you maintain a safer operation and meet growing regulatory demands. You can experience our commitment to innovation in process control firsthand with a visit to the Emerson Innovation Center for Fisher Technology. There, Fisher products are rigorously tested and verified beyond industry standards by a staff of dedicated technologists. Watch a video of Fisher product testing at www.Fisher.com/HigherLevel, then schedule a visit.

YOU CAN DO THATIt feels like we’re running in circles tryingto meet regulations and process demands. I wish we could operate at a higher level.



TECHNICALLY SPEAKING F E E D B A C KIN MEMORY OF JULIE CAPPELLETTI-LANGE,

VICE PRESIDENT 1984-2012

1501 E. WOODFIELD ROAD, SUITE 400NSCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS 60173

executive teamPresident & CEO: JOHN M. CAPPELLETTIVP, Circulation: JERRY CLARKVP, CFO: RICK KASPER

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Senior Managing Editor, Digital Media: KATHERINE [email protected] t

Managing Editor: NANCY BARTELSnbar [email protected] t

Senior Technical Editor: DAN HEBERTdheber [email protected] t

Contributing Editor: JOHN REZABEKColumnists: BÉLA LIPTÁK, GREG MCMILLAN, IAN VERHAPPEN, STAN WEINER Editorial Assistant: LORI GOLDBERG

design & production teamVP, Creative Services: STEVE HERNER

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Midwest/Southeast Regional Sales Manager: GREG [email protected] t630/551-2500, Fax : 630/551-2600

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Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional Sales Manager: DAVE FISHER508/543-5172, Fax 508/543-3061df [email protected] t

Inside Accounts Manager: POLLY [email protected] t

Subscriptions/Circulation: JERRY CLARK, JACK JONES888/64 4-1803

foster reprintsCorporate Account Executive: JILL KALETHA

866-879-914 4 x 168, Fax 219-561-2033ji l lk@ fos terpr in t ing.com

FINALIST JESSE H. NEAL AWARD, 2013 JESSE H. NEAL AWARD WINNER ELEVEN ASBPE EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE AWARDSTWENTY-FIVE ASBPE EXCELLENCE IN GRAPHICS AWARDSASBPE 2009 MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR FINALISTFOUR OZZIE AWARDS FOR GRAPHICS EXCELLENCE

Is the 3 a.m., Sunday Morning Replacement the Killer App? [Editor’s note: This comment is in re-sponse to our news of the new specifica-tion for Foundation fieldbus from our January issue at http://bit.ly/OQc9GY.]

Being able to replace a � eld device at the proverbial “3 a.m. on Sunday morning,” now also with a different version device, is a capability users have been seeking for a long time. A device can be replaced by a newer version without touching the con-trol system—just like 4-20 mA. It’s good news for new and existing users of � eld-bus that it’s now possible. That is, the DD � le for the new device is not needed im-mediately; it can be downloaded and cop-ied onto the system a few days later when the system administrator has time. I per-sonally believe this is a major milestone for � eldbus. It makes � eldbus suitable for every plant, not just the energy majors like Shell, Chevron, Reliance, etc.

Learn more about device revision management and backwards compatibil-ity in the device revision management guide found at http://bit.ly/1ohgEVf.

The NAMUR NE107-compli-ant device diag-nostics alarms are great for putting device diagnostics to good use, inte-grating device diagnostics into work processes for daily maintenance and turnaround planning, etc., while at the same time avoiding alarm f looding . They’re at http://bit.ly/OQcQQq.

Guidance for how to incorporate NAMUR NE107 status f lags into the work process is available at http://bit.ly/1ohh7ql.

It’s great that the Fieldbus Founda-tion has listened to the experience from existing fieldbus users like BP, Saudi Aramco, Petrobras and other leading energy majors, and incorporated their ideas into the technology, so that smaller

users can also take advantage of modern digital technology all the way from the very “first meter,” and they can fully use digital systems from sensor to actuator to fully benefit from digital technology.

Existing users of fieldbus systems should upgrade to the latest version of system software to take advantage of the best available usability features to make it easier for the operations, as well as to run and maintain organizations to fully benefit from fieldbus advantages over conventional technology.

JONAS BERGEEMERSON PROCESS MANAGEMENT

Pervasive SensingI enjoyed reading Ian Verhappen’s ar-ticle on pervasive sensors (February 2014, http://bit.ly/1i4vOQf). Our vi-sion of pervasive sensors encouraged us to find innova-tive ways to not just power sensors, but also communicate their data. FYI, we at OptiXtal (http://optixtal.com) have created a prototype of a battery-free, ambient-light-har-vested device that detects temperature and presence and sends it wirelessly to a manager for action. See http://optixtal.com/optixtalwp.htm.

SAGAR VENKATESWARANPRESIDENT, OPTIXTAL

vested device that detects temperature

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25 Years of Analyzers

Level ReachesNew Heights

Project Priorities: This Isn’t aDisney Movie

The Operator’s Role

Flock of Fieldbuses

Control Talk: Robots Are the Last Step

This year’s inductees took very different

paths to earning our highest honor

Certifi ablyFamous

CT1402_01_CVR.indd 1 2/12/14 10:11 AM

work processes for daily maintenance

JAN

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14

VPN System HarnessesCow Power

Control Talk: Inspiring Future Engineers

Readers Fete

Technology Leadership

in our 22nd Annual

Readers Choice Awards

25 Years of Trying to Connect the Enterprise

Béla Lipták Tells How to Select an Analyzer

CT1401_01_CVR.indd 1 1/8/14 10:55 AM

Talk to UsWe love to hear from our readers. To

comment on an article, please email

either Paul Studebaker (pstudebaker@

putman.net) or Nancy Bartels (nbartels@

putman.net). Remember to include the

article about which you are commenting

and your name, company and an email

address. We will withhold your name on

request, but anonymous letters will not

be published.

CT1403_13_Feedback.indd 13 3/5/14 9:58 AM

14 www.controlglobal.com M A R C H / 2 0 1 4

BÉLA LIPTÁKl ip takbela@aol .com

L E S S O N S L E A R N E D

Herding Controls

In my teenage years, I was always fascinated to see that exactly when the church bell

of my village started to ring, the herd of grey cattle always arrived in front of the lit-

tle church where the farmers were waiting for them. It made no difference what the

weather was like or how far from the village the cattle were grazing that day; they

Like a cattleman’s

dog, a herding

controller always

goes after the

variable that is

furthest away.

always made it exactly on time. The farmers were waiting there, discussing the news of the day, and took it for granted that the cattle would always arrive in time for the farmers to get back to their homes for milking, and after that, for dinner, where the goulash with lots of paprika had been slowly boiling all day and would just hit the spot, and � nally get them ready for the pálinka and the storytelling after it.

How did this happen? What cascade control al-gorithm was used to adjust the speed and direc-tion of several hundred animals, and what were the manipulated variables of this cascade loop? By the way, some say that these often one-ton ani-mals were brought to Europe by Attila the Hun (Hun-garian), providing his � ghters with blood and milk—fuel for destroying the Roman Empire.

In any case, the slave controller of this selec-tive PID loop was the herding dog called Bodri, member of the the famous herding breed, the Hungarian puli, whose eyes are permanently hidden, and are believed by some to not even exist. (Other Hungarian breeds include the hunting vizsla and the herding komondor.)

The cascade master of the loop was uncle János, the herdsman, who spoke to his horse and dog in single-word sentences. Based on these one-word setpoint adjustments, Bodri, the slave controller, applied his “herding PID algorithm,” and went after only one animal at a time, always the one that was furthest away from the desired direction or was the slowest.

I used this same algorithm on several jobs. I called it the “Puli Envelope” and later, be-cause nobody knew what a puli was, changed it to “Envelope Optimization.” I used this control strategy when maximizing the heat efficiency of the IBM headquarters building at 590 Madison Avenue in New York. Dur-ing the winter, I herded the heat from the interior offices to the perimeter by throttling one damper at a time (out of hundreds), al-ways the one that was furthest away from the optimum.

I also used this “herding control” to optimize many combustion and boiler control systems. This was done by con� guring a control envelope, such as the one shown in Figure 1, to control

Left: János the control master. Center: Bodri, the cascade slave. Right: The manipulated variables.

THE ELEMENTS OF THE ORIGINAL PULI ALGORITHM

Nik

ona

ft /

Shut

ters

tock

.co

m

CT1403_14_16_Lessons.indd 14 3/5/14 9:59 AM

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L E S S O N S L E A R N E D

several variables simultaneously by switch-ing the control from one measurement to another, depending on which got closest to the border of the envelope.

For example, assuming that the boiler is on CO control, the microprocessor will drive the CO setpoint toward the maxi-mum ef� ciency, but if in so doing, the opacity limit is reached, that will override the CO controller and prevent the opacity limit from being violated. Similarly, if the microprocessor-based envelope is con� g-ured for excess oxygen control, it will keep increasing the boiler ef� ciency by lowering excess O2 until one of the envelope limits is reached. Then control is transferred to that constraint parameter (CO, HC, opacity,

etc.), and through this transfer, the boiler is “herded” to stay within the envelope de-� ned by these constraints. These limits are usually set to keep CO under 400 ppm, opacity below #2 Ringlemann, and HC and NOx below regulations.

Microprocessor-based envelope con-trol systems can also include subroutines for correcting the CO readings for dilu-tion effects or for responding to ambient humidity and temperature variations. As a result, these control systems tend to be both more accurate and faster in response than if control was based on a single variable. The performance levels of a gas-burning boiler under both ex-cess O2 and envelope control are shown in the lower part of Figure 1.

Envelope control also can be imple-mented by analog controllers con� gured in a selective manner (Figure 2). Here, each controller measures a variable and is set to keep that variable under (or over) some limit. The lowest the output signals is selected for controlling the air-fuel ra-tio by adjusting the combustion air � ow, which ensures the controller most in need of help is selected for control. Through

this herding technique, the boiler process is kept within its control envelope. Reset windup in the idle controllers is prevented by using external reset, which provides bumpless transfer from one controller to the next (Figure 2). Operator access is shown by a single auto/manual (A/M) sta-tion. A better solution is providing each controller with an A/M station. Then, if a measurement is lost, only the defective loop needs to be switched to manual, not the whole system.

I was reminded of this herding busi-ness by reading about the “tunnel con-trols” used in sending our robot to Mars, where this fast, missile-guiding process was stabilized (the vehicle was kept on course) not by forcing it to follow a sin-gle line (single setpoint), but allowing it to drift inside a control envelope, and making adjustments only if it reached the side of the control tunnel.

So, in a way, Bodri helped us to get to Mars, and on the other hand, we have reached the age when machines are start-ing to substitute not only for our muscles, but also for some of the routine functions of our brains.

Figure 2. Analog controllers con� gured into a multiple selective loop also can be used to

implement envelope control.

O2meas.

ER~

COmeas.

ER~

Opacitymeas.

ER

ER

A/MCombustion air �ow setpoint

ER = External reset

~

Temp.meas.

ER~

AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH

Figure 1: Multivariable, envelope-based constraint

control can minimize excess oxygen by monitor-

ing some variables while performing constraint

limit checks on excess oxygen, hydrocarbons,

stack temperature and opacity.

Control on: CO

Constraint limit checks on:Excess O2

HCStack temp.Opacity

Monitor only:CO2

H2O

Excess oxygen control

Measured variableCOExcess O2HC (unburnedhydrocarbons)OpacityCO2H2O

Method of detectionInfraredZirconium oxide

InfraredVisible lightInfraredInfrared

% O

xyge

n

Envelopecontrol

Time

2

1

0

THE PULI ALGORITHM AT WORK

CT1403_14_16_Lessons.indd 16 3/5/14 10:00 AM

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See more, do more and be more profitable with the most trusted partner in wireless — Emerson. Emerson is your proven partner with Smart Wireless in more customer sites and with more operating hours than anyone else in the process industry. Smart Wireless has the widest range of technologies to expand your vision into more places across your operations. And its self-organizing mesh network delivers the highest reliability available. It is simply the most intelligent, secure and cost-effective operation-wide wireless option available. See how Smart Wireless can empower your bottom line at EmersonProcess.com/SmartWireless

Using wireless here and there is one thing.But using it across my entire operation? There’s no one I could trust to do that.


O N T H E B U S

john Rezabek contribut ing [email protected]

M a R c h / 2 0 1 4 www.controlglobal.com 19

We want to be

perfect, and when

we are, they don’t

even know we’re

there, sort of like

the background

music in a drama.

just as with a conventional system. There will be some impulse lines that need to be purged, or a DP transmitter that needs to be zeroed at operating pressure—a little different for the technicians, perhaps, but from the point of view of operations, the same.

Start-up can be a tense time as licensors, pro-cess engineers and project managers anxiously await the verdict on their design and imple-mentation. It’s the worst time for the measure-ment and control infrastructure to be any kind of distraction or sideshow. We want to be per-fect, and when we are, they don’t even know we’re there, rather like the background music in a drama.

Consider the term HMI, or human-machine interface. What exactly are these machines with which our operators interface? They in-teract with our “machine” for sure—these days almost certainly a using a Windows box with some real-time graphics capabilities and con-nectivity to the other machines that constitute our DCS, including field devices. But the real operator interaction is with the process.

I suppose you could say a hydrocracker or re-former is a machine, and such processes have plenty of machines such as compressors, pumps and valves routing process fluids through ves-sels and pipelines. But our operator’s ultimate interface is with a process, not a machine. If operators don’t manipulate the process to pro-duce saleable product—hopefully making something more useful and valuable out of something less useful and valuable—then their mission is a failure. The more all the machines just do their job, the more effective the oper-ator can be at keeping the plant safe, reliable and productive. A bit paradoxically, the con-trols specialist strives to deliver measurements and automation transparently, and stay out of the limelight.

Our profession supplies the process’ “ner-vous system,” if you will, providing most of the operator’s sense of its condition. They might hear a little fieldbus music playing when they wonder, “Did the control valve move when I asked it to?” Digitally integrated control valves report their position feedback in real time, and if you’ve taken pains to show this on your HMI (recommended), they can see nearly imme-diately; “I’ve clicked the up-arrow twice and nothing happened,” which in turn validates why a flow hasn’t changed.

More music might play for them when a flow exceeds its calibrated full scale, but keeps on indicating a valid flow, instead of saturating at 21.7 mA. They may not hear it at first, but field-bus brings a whole distinctive layer of data vali-dation. Every device plays a relentless refrain of “I’m here. I’m happy. I’m communicating, and my measured value Y (as a floating point value in engineering units) is valid at timestamp X ±1 millisecond.” An array of conditions that could indicate a measurement is questionable or “bad” are monitored and updated with simi-lar rigor. Where fieldbus devices provide an in-terface to the process, each instance is imbued with a layer of diagnostics and intelligence de-signed to provide a more truthful and reliable version of reality and to instantly inform us when there’s a fault.

Operators may not seem to care much about the nuances of how our “machines” deliver in-formation. But when they’re spending a tense 12 hours guiding the process through the straits of some challenge like extreme weather or an unanticipated feed change, relying on “one ver-sion of the truth” can mean the difference be-tween safe harbors and following a siren-song into the rocks. Operators want to know their in-struments aren’t lying to them. That’s the tune they like.

After your fieldbus project is installed and commissioned, and it’s time to start up the fa-

cility, how will it be different? Chances are, if we’ve done our job, no one should notice

that the automation infrastructure is fieldbus; that is, the start-up should progress just

as if it were a conventional facility. There will be some tuning of control loops required,

can operators Hear the Fieldbus Music?

CT1403_19_OTB.indd 19 3/5/14 10:00 AM

W i t h o u t W i r e s

20 www.controlglobal.com M a r c h / 2 0 1 4

ian verhappenDirector,

inDus trial automation ne t [email protected]

Feeding the asset management Beast

One of the challenges we as an industry now face is how to manage the data available

from today’s integrated systems, and convert it to knowledge for action. I see the pro-

cess of getting from data to action as requiring four levels of transformation: data (raw

data collected from field sensors, operators, purchase orders, inventory levels, etc.),

Unfortunately,

until the

ISA-08 committee

completes its work,

I see a disconnect

between

automation asset

management and

other systems.

information (putting this information into con-text of place, time, relative amounts), knowl-edge (how the change in information affects the stability of the operation), and action (do-ing something to maintain equilibrium in the system).

For the asset management system to even start the four steps, the data has to arrive in a format that can be understood by both the sender and receiver. But data flow is one half of the equation. The other side is the physical layer and associated protocols that are all de-fined by standards, which define the format in which the information is to be converted to bits, then the bits into a signal, so it can be transmit-ted and received as packets of information. It’s likely that a single packet of information mov-ing from a field sensor to the control room and then to the manufacturing execution system (MES) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system will use one or more of these physical media, as well as multiple protocols.

A review of the protocol standards confirms that they too reflect the fact that a single physi-cal layer will not meet all the requirements for getting data from the field to the controller and back to the field, which is why, for example, we have three flavors of HART. And in most cases, once the data enters the controller and control system, other protocols typically using some form of Ethernet packet come into play.

Though each of these protocols presents information in a different way, they’re all de-signed to supply information important to the industry they serve, so the information fits into three broad categories:

• Measurement—The process measurement and often support for secondary and typically up to tertiary variables. For outputs, these can include the primary output as well as feedback information or other process variables.

• Status—One or more bits providing infor-mation on the present health of the device. In the process industries, this information is typ-ically compliant with NAMUR NE-107, Self-Monitoring and Diagnosis of Field Devices.

• Diagnostics—Information on the health of the device, typically including, as a minimum, body temperature, program self-checks, etc., by which the device confirms that it’s operating within its design constraints and assigned/con-figured operating range.

One group trying to help find and make use of the nuggets of information available from today’s smart sensors is the ISA-108 (www.isa.org/isa108), Intelligent Device Management, committee that’s defining standard templates of best practices and work processes for imple-mentation and use of diagnostic and other in-formation provided by intelligent field devices in the process industries. Part of that work will include models for the flow of information from devices through the various systems that help users take the correct action at the right time to keep devices operating within their limits, prevent control action from using unre-liable/bad data, or schedule the maintenance required without impacting operations.

Unfortunately, at least until the ISA-108 committee completes its work, I see a discon-nect between automation asset management systems, which are good at taking the rich amount of data from smart field devices (more about them next month) and converting it to actions for an instrumentation technician or controls engineer, but not so good at linking to other maintenance systems to schedule sup-port labor, such as scaffolders, pipefitters, mill-wrights, etc. Will the work underway at IEC on the digital factory and similar initiatives will help integrate all the disparate standards into a unified whole? Only time will tell.

CT1403_20_Wireless.indd 20 3/5/14 10:02 AM

trusted protection

Pepperl+Fuchs, Inc.Twinsburg, Ohio330.486.0002www.pepperl-fuchs.us

Gaining trust comes with consistency and proven reliabilityAs a market leader of solutions for hazardous areas, Pepperl+Fuchs has built trust and confidence into every element of our product portfolio. With over 60 years of hazardous location and intrinsic safety protection experience, we’ve established ourselves as a trusted partner in the process industry.

Our versatile isolated barriers for DIN rail and termination board applications together with our cost-effective zener diode barriers have made us the world’s leading supplier of intrinsic safety barriers.

With a global sales and support organization, we are able to provide any plant with an adaptable range of interface and network products for advanced process control. For intrinsically safe solutions, go to: www.pepperl-fuchs.us

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See more, do more and be more profitable with the most trusted partner in wireless — Emerson. Emerson is your proven partner with Smart Wireless in more customer sites and with more operating hours than anyone else in the process industry. Smart Wireless has the widest range of technologies to expand your vision into more places across your operations. And its self-organizing mesh network delivers the highest reliability available. It is simply the most intelligent, secure and cost-effective operation-wide wireless option available. See how Smart Wireless can empower your bottom line at EmersonProcess.com/SmartWireless

Using wireless here and there is one thing.But using it across my entire operation? There’s no one I could trust to do that.



I n P r o c e s s

hannover Fair Previews the Smart Factory The fair, April 7-11 in Hannover, Germany, will highlight how intelligent, Internet-enabled

devices will simplify and integrate future manufacturing.

The organizers of the world’s largest and most comprehensive manufactur-ing exhibition, Hannover Messe (www.hannovermesse.de), presented a pre-view of its upcoming 2014 edition on Feb. 11 at the Radialsystem V hall in Berlin.

The fair will be held April 7-11 in more than two dozen huge exhibition spaces in Hannover. The preview al-lowed members of the press to get an early look at some of the event’s major innovations and exhibitors.

The presentations all focused on the theme “Integrated Industry—Next Steps” and the specific steps needed to bring the Smart Factory concept to life using the integrated tools of Industry 4.0, which is being touted as a “fourth industrial revolution” driven by Inter-net-connected devices.

“When people ask me to describe Hannover Messe in a nutshell, I say it’s all about competitiveness,” said Deutsche Messe board member Dr. Jochen Koeckler. “It’s about people coming together to exchange ideas that will produce efficiencies, gener-ate investments, and make them more competitive. These days, it’s no lon-ger about big companies eating small companies; it’s about fast ones eating slow ones. However, to stay competi-tive, manufacturers need flexible, intel-ligent factories of the future in which machines, plant and products can talk to each other.”

More specific steps for achieving the fair’s Integrated Industry concept were presented by Prof. Dr.-ing. De-tlef Zuehlke, scientific director for In-novative Factory Systems at the Ger-man Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (www.dfki.de), which has been developing its Smart Factory KL

program since 2005. “Just as we have smart phones with data available any-where and anytime, and we’re moving toward smart homes and smart cars, we’re also going to need smart facto-ries,” said Zuehlke. “They’ll be more flexible and agile to handle more var-ied products, and have shortened pro-duction steps, such as quicker setup and retooling times and modular com-ponents that are easy to plug and play.”

Besides presenting full-scale mod-els of how smart factories will operate, Hannover Messe’s exhibitors will show many Industry 4.0 tools that can be used to make applications and facili-ties smarter. For example, one Smart Factory demonstration will consist of a five-module production line for as-sembling business card boxes with se-cure RFID tags. The integrated line consists of a quality assurance section by Lapp Kabel, laser engraving sec-tion by Phoenix Contact and three as-sembly sections by Harting and Bosch Rexroth. Each section will have smart

machine components to coordinate tasks with the others, network via TCP/IP, Wi-Fi and RJ45 protocols, and fol-low Han-modular standards for plug-and-play connectors.

Emerson Opens Third Innovation Center Emerson Process Management (www.emersonprocess.com) has officially opened its new Emerson Innovation Center—Process Systems and So-lutions in Round Rock, Texas. The 282,000-sq-ft, nearly $70-million fa-cility will be the global headquarters for the company’s automation systems and project services business, which fo-cuses on operations of facilities in in-dustries such as oil and gas, refining, chemicals, power, life sciences, food and beverages, and metals and mining. The official opening included com-ments by Texas Governor Rick Perry and Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell.

Detlef Zuehlke (left), Dutch ambassador Monique T.G. van Daalan and Jochen Koeck-

ler answer questions at the Hannover Messe preview in Berlin.

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The event included unveiling of a new Integrated Operations (iOps) Center and announcement of an Inte-grated Operations Initiative to addresses customers’ needs for streamlined deci-sion-making, easily accessible expertise and the safe, collaborative co-location of essential personnel.

Comparing an automated manufac-turing facility to the human body, with sensors and transmitters providing sen-sory data, the controller as the brain, and valves/actuators/drives as the mus-cles, “In Austin, we focus on the brain, the DeltaV controller,” said Jim Nyquist, president, systems and solutions busi-ness, Emerson Process Management.

This Innovation Center is the com-pany’s third. The � rst, in Marshall-town, Iowa, develops and tests � ow control applications and technologies, and a second in Pune, India, focuses

on software application development.The Emerson Innovation Center in

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Polk Opens Advanced Training CenterPolk State College (www.polk.edu) celebrates the opening of a 47,000 sq-ft Clear Springs Advanced Tech-nology Center just east of Bar-tow, Fla. Through the donations of Endress+Hauser (www.us.endress.com), Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com) and Tri-Nova (http://www.trinovainc.com/), Polk State College will be the new home to a $1 million, state-of-the-art

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CLPA Adds Energy Management to CC-Link IEThe CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA, www.cclinkamerica.org) has added energy management func-tions to CC-Link IE, the open auto-mation network technology, to cre-ate CC Link IE Energy, a combined energy and production management control system. The new CC-Link IE Energy capabilities allow produc-tion managers to easily monitor en-ergy consumption by individual ma-chines or processes over the same networks they already use for general control purposes.

CC-Link IE is a high-perfor-mance, gigabit Industrial Ethernet open network technology that han-dles both control and information data at high speed to provide effi-cient integrated factory and process automation. With the addition of energy management functions, CC-Link IE Energy provides real-time monitoring of a plant’s many energy-consuming devices, ensuring energy optimization of each device.

Installed using a single cable net-work, CC-Link IE Energy can con-trol entire production systems and feed real-time production informa-tion to enterprise management IT systems. A controller connected to the network analyzes data in real time and issues energy management instructions, facilitating simultane-ous cross-optimization of operational control and energy management.

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Need Loop Controller Information? Check HereControl’s Monthly Resource Guide

Every month, Control’s editors take a specific product area, collect all the latest, significant tools we can find,

and present them here to make your job easier. If you know of any tools and resources we didn’t include, send

them to [email protected] with “Resource” in the subject line, and we’ll add them to the website.

OPEN- AND CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEMSThe basics of open- and closed-loop systems are outlined in these two tu-torials. Both systems are defined, and each tutorial is accompanied by dia-grams and equations illustrating the basic points. Feed-forward and open-loop motor control are discussed at http://bit.ly/1fOgtMy. Closed-loop control, including feedback systems, summing points, transfer functions and the advantages and disadvantages of closed-loop systems are covered at http://bit.ly/1hiWR6I.

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WHAT IS PID ANYWAY?Understanding the concept of PID is basic to mastering loop control the-ory. This brief tutorial outlines the basics of PID, including definitions, drawings, equations and fundamental theory. The direct link is at http://bit.ly/1msNUJZ.

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CONTROLLER LOOP-TUNING BLOGThe Control Notes blog from the Opti-Controls website covers a variety of tun-ing subjects, including cascade control, the Ziegler-Nichols closed-loop tuning method, a PID controller algorithm, level control loops, derivative control, drum level control, control loop per-formance monitoring, typical control-ler settings, steam temperature control, causes of dead time and Lambda tuning rules. The direct link to the blog is at http://blog.opticontrols.com/.

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PID LOOP TUNING, THE MOVIEThese two roughly six-minute videos explain both proportional and pro-portional-integral loop tuning using as a model an HVAC system for an ICU burn unit, where temperature and humidity control are essential. Each link also contains a brief write-up explaining the basic principals il-lustrated. The direct link to Part 1 is at http://bit.ly/1fjuEbB. Part II is at http://bit.ly/1ec8mwF.

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PROCESS CONTROL PDFThis free, no-registration-required, 72-page PDF covers the fundamen-tals of process control, including basics, controller algorithms and tuning, process control loops, and multivariable and advanced con-trol. It also contains a glossary of terms and a section on ISA symbol-ogy. The direct link is at http://bit.ly/1plr4GA.

paCoNtroL.Comw w w.pacontrol .com

ZEN LOOP DYNAMICSF. Greg Shinskey meditates on distur-bance dynamics in this article from the April 2011 issue of Control. He says that managing control loops requires a deep understanding of setpoint, load path and noise. Follow this guru’s teachings on identifying load com-ponents, internal model control, the effects of load on controller tuning, accommodating setpoint changes, cor-rections in the disturbance path and more. The direct link to the article is at http://bit.ly/1gHTVi4.

ControlGlobal .comw w w.controlglobal .com

LOOP CONTROL LIBRARYThis web page contains links to a num-ber of tutorials, including “Observing and Analyzing Process Data,” “High and Low Output Select Logic,” “Col-lecting Data for Controller Tuning” and “Error Squared Controllers.” It also has a brief bibliography of process control books and links to other tutori-als and sites with more loop tuning in-formation. The direct link is at http://bit.ly/1ky6Hm0.

CoNtEk proCEss CoNtroL CoNsuLtaNtsw w w.contek-sys tems.co.uk

INTRODUCTION TO CONTROLThis tutorial is part of a larger one that covers basic control theory. The chapter on control loops and dynam-ics covers open- and closed-loop sys-tems, single- and multi-loop control, cascade control, process dynamics and more. The direct link is http://bit.ly/1hrzKaU.

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CT1403_30_Resources.indd 30 3/5/14 10:05 AM

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O P E R A T O R P E R F O R M A N C E

Enhancing operator performance means tailoring the right combination of situation-aware displays, rationalized alarms, ergonomic consoles and � eld-capable interfaces. Here’s how users maintain operator effectiveness.

by Jim Montague

Ever since people � rst started using labor-saving tools, they’ve gladly accepted whatever occupational dif� culties and hazards that came with them. Just as getting blisters from digging with a shovel is still way better than scratch-ing the earth with bare hands, operating today’s huge min-ing shovels and trucks or running deep-sea oil drilling, ex-traction and distribution facilities is better than each of the old methods they replaced. Who cares if the control room is cramped, poorly lit and spits out cascades of nuisance alarms? It’s still better than what went before, right?

Too true, but the eternally innovative spirit that inspired all these great tools, automation and controls in the � rst place is never completely comfortable or satis� ed because it never really switches off. That’s why engineers are always trying to � nd new and better solutions, and why formerly separate methods of improving operator performance in pro-cess control continue to be perfected, but also are starting to merge into a uni� ed whole that’s tailor-made to better suit the needs of each user and application.

For instance, training is getting out of the classroom to include more realistic simulations; SCADA software and HMIs are using situation-awareness principles and alarm rationalization to build more effective displays; consoles and control rooms are improving ergonomics and even adding balance and aerobics; and � eld-based interfaces are adding more network pathways and Internet links, as well as tablet PCs, smart phones and wearable compo-nents. Bring your own device (BYOD) seems to be going on everywhere, and this presents a bunch of new opportu-nities and new problems to solve.

New Applications, Better EducationBecause so many process applications are retooling or add-ing units to handle new or more varied products, even vet-eran operators are � nding they need some added training along with the rookies. However, everyone is learning their instruction can come in some new, unexpected, multimedia forms and use more real-life input.

CT1403_32_44_CoverStory.indd 32 3/5/14 10:12 AM



For example, China National Petroleum Corp.’s (www.cnpc.com) 40-year-old Qingyang Petrochemcal Co. recently added an oil re� ning facility that can process 3 million tons of products per year, and it implemented ABB’s (www.abb.com) Freelance DCS, which consists of 19 pairs of redun-dant AC 800F controllers to manage 12 processes and aux-iliary systems with approximately 10,000 I/O points. This DCS also includes four engineering stations and 32 operator stations with intuitive interfaces, networking via 100-Mbps, � ber-optic Ethernet, and communications via Pro� bus PA/DP, HART, Foundation � eldbus and Modbus protocols. It uses redundant process control stations, network connec-tions and power supplies to ensure safe production.

However, because this was a new re� nery and many of Qingyang’s operators were unfamiliar with their new equip-ment, ABB also provided its operator training system (OTS) as part of its project delivery, so the staff could quickly learn their new systems and equipment, avoid errors and achieve steady operations. Based on Qingyang’s individual require-ments, ABB didn’t stop with the OTS and also extended Freelance’s standard soft controller functions and added customized functions and corresponding interface software.

Reinforcing AwarenessBesides using training devices linked to actual controller tasks and data for better instruction, operators also are bene� ting from improved displays and greater use of situation-aware-ness recommendations and strategies. However, even though many higher-resolution displays and support tools are avail-able, sometimes operators need to make a cultural change before they can really begin to embrace and use them, says Jason Wright, Plant PAx system marketing manager at Rock-well Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com). “Many operators tell us they want their new displays to look just like their old ones, which means their user experience and ef-fectiveness won’t improve. So we’re trying to convince users to apply some new HMI strategies by presenting them as a workforce solution and implementing them with the least impact to existing systems. This is why our recent Plant PAx Sequencer 3.0 release has display elements and a library that are much easier to program and deploy. They also show per-formance targets, operating ranges and histories, which give operators better context and intelligence. And these elements also remain in synch over time, so they’re easier to track in the future, which also aids acceptance.”

Figure 1: Gail Gas Ltd.’s main master station and back-up master station use Yokogawa Fast/Tools SCADA software, high-availability

computers, and history, client and zonal servers in a triple-redundant con� guration to ensure 24/7 access to data from regional gas

management centers running seven natural gas pipeline networks across India.

F/T host

F/T host

History servers History servers

Backup master station - JaipurMain master station - Noida

Client servers Client serversZonal serversTriple

redundancy

Dualredundancy

Dualredundancy

Zonal servers

F/T host

F/T host

F/T host

F/T hostF/T host F/T host F/T host

F/T host

F/T host

Primary FEP Secondary FEP

Health check

DNP 3.0/IEC-101

Data polling

F/T host

F/T host

RTU

Legend:Fast/Tools (F/T)Remote terminal unit (RTU)Front-end processor (FEP)Zonal server (selects which FEP will poll data from RTUs)DNP 3.0/IEC-101 (remote communication protocol)

RTU RTU RTU RTU RTU

THE BIG PICTURE

Yoko

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O p e r a t O r p e r f O r m a n c e

Roy Tanner, ABB’s 800xA product marketing manager, adds that, “More people are catching on to the value of us-ing high-performance graphics and situation-awareness tactics. Luckily, where only big oil and gas, chemical and power companies used to be able to afford high-perfor-mance graphics and address situation awareness, these days even small water utilities and other small companies can use them and gain better situation awareness, too.”

Stan Devries, senior director of software solutions archi-tectures at Invensys Operations Management (http://iom.in-vensys.com), which is becoming part of Schneider Electric (www.schneider-electric.com), explains, “We need to rethink training to include in-class, on-the-job and regular refreshers, instead of the usual training for a new project before start-up, and then neglecting it later. We’ve found cases where it took eight years of traditional training for operators to reach error-free status, but using established metrics could reduce that time to 1.5 years. This training is also important in pulp and paper, refining and other industries where operators can go seven years between shutdowns and overhauls, so many op-erators have never started their application up from zero.

“Effective training based on best practices is also crucial be-cause more operators are becoming at least partially responsi-ble for business performance, so they’re trying to declutter their displays. This means focusing on quality alarms and grade-

change alerts, but operators also want to know at the console about broader situations that their applications are in. They also want quick look-backs at previous batches to help show next steps, assist situation awareness, and avoid undesired situations or make the most of good situations.”

To help these efforts, Invensys maintains a Situation Awareness Library that works in conjunction with its new Foxboro Evo process control platform and Wonderware In-Touch software. The library’s polar plots, spider charts and other indicators also are combined with Invensys’ Dynamic Performance Measures consulting service, which takes a process unit’s existing economic, quality and efficiency measures, then develops new targets and measures operators can use to make better decisions.

“The library works with our new InTouch 2014 software and Wonderware System Platform 2014, and gives operators a better context for their information instead of just show-ing them values, which they report is allowing them to find significant issues about 40% faster,” says John Krawjewski, Invensys’ product management director for HMI and super-visory control products.

Organize, Supervise, OptimizeOf course, one of the best ways to improve operator—and manager—performance is to provide an overall view of the entire facility and its processes before drilling down to indi-vidual applications or equipment. These big pictures remind users of the full scope of their responsibilities, especially at shift changes, and helps put subsystems and individual ap-plications into a more understandable context, particularly in relation to their upstream and downstream processes.

For instance, India’s state-owned Gail Gas Ltd. (www.gailgas.com) in New Delhi includes all aspects of the natu-ral gas supply process from exploration and production to distribution and customer service. It operates two major liq-uefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipelines, Jamnagar Loni and Vizag Secundrabad, which move gas to bottling plants, and it runs seven natural gas pipelines across India with a total length of more than 10,700 kilometers.

Previously, Gail’s operators used telephones to manually collect operations data for each regional pipeline. How-ever, because its operators and administrators were having increasing problems managing so many different SCADA systems for their LPG and natural pipelines, Gail recently decided to install one centralized SCADA system for all of them, and integrate it with all future pipelines that were ei-ther under construction or planned.

After investigating several solutions, Gail selected Fast/Tools SCADA software from Yokogawa Electric Corp. (www.yokogawa.com), which also designed and implemented a sys-tem architecture suited to Gail’s existing pipeline network

Figure 2: Following a year of studying operators in their control

rooms, Honeywell’s Experion Orion console and collaboration

station incorporated a more ergonomic design, larger and

more flexible display surface, pan and zoom navigation, and

ambient alarm lighting.

OBSERVING OPERATORS

Ho

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ell

Pro

cess

So

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Continued on page 37


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and able to integrate with its expansion requirements. Con-sequently, Gail and Yokogawa replaced the pipelines’ former networks and equipment, installed their new, unified SCADA system and integrated many types of remote terminal units (RTUs) and hundreds of individual devices in just 15 months, ending in July 2012.

The new SCADA system is in a main master station (MMS) that houses all of Gail’s primary SCADA servers, which are located at the National Gas Management Center (NGMC) in Noida. This system was also installed at a hot back-up master station (BMS) in Jaipur in case of a disaster. Along with implementing Fast/Tools, Yokogawa installed a high-availability computing (HAC) solution that uses his-tory, client and zonal servers in a triple-redundant configu-ration (Figure 1). From their terminals in the central control room, operators can view operations data 24/7 for all of their regional pipelines.

Each regional gas management center (RGMC) also has a Fast/Tools-based HAC that uses dual-redundant, front-end processor (FEP) servers for continual monitoring and control. Thanks to this redundant design, operations and

maintenance data from the field also is uninterrupted, and operators, production engineers and analysts at the NGMC have real-time, visual access to information needed to run their nationwide network. In fact, Gail reports system avail-ability for its entire pipeline network has increased to 99.5%, which ensures a steady supply of gas across India.

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Continued from page 34



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In addition, all of Gail’s pipeline networks have been integrated with a gas management system (GMS), so op-erations data can be used directly for gas allocation and billing. Email and short message service (SMS) noti� ca-tion of critical alarms are supported, which allows authorized personnel to access the new SCADA system from anywhere with an Internet connection.

“This is the largest SCADA system ever commissioned by Gail,” says S.K. Agrawal, Gail’s deputy general man-ager. “Work on our new SCADA sys-tem included integration of approxi-mately 400 RTUs of eight different makes. Besides improving operations and maintenance, centralized SCADA has substantially reduced our capital expenditures and operational expendi-tures. All the new pipelines coming up in the next 10 years will be integrated with this SCADA system.”

Right in Front of Your FaceBecause humans take in more than 90% of their information about the world through their eyes, the most crucial de-vices for improving operator effective-ness are still HMI displays and screens. Fortunately, black-background, clut-tered and overly colorful screens have been giving way to simpler, less dis-tracting displays with prioritized colors and concentration on the most impor-tant data values and alerts. These im-provements are largely thanks to the work of the Abnormal Situation Man-agement Consortium (www.asmcon-sortium.net), Center for Operator Per-formance (www.operatorperformance.org) and PAS Inc. (www.pas.com). Many suppliers are following these rec-ommendations for situation awareness, hosting displays on higher-resolution screens, and even offering HMIs that are large enough for several operators to work together when needed.

Stewart Andrew, product manager for Honeywell Process Solutions’ (www.hon-eywellprocess.com) Experion Process

Knowledge System (PKS) HMIs, reports his � rm just spent about a year observing and working with operators as part of its Operator of the Future Initiative to � nd the most effective and ergonomic condi-tions for them to work in, and rede-

signed its consoles as a result. The latest Experion Orion console and collabora-tion station will be released in mid-2014 (Figure 2).

“A key change in our console is that, where we used to have multiple small




screens, Experion Orion will now have one, large, 50-inch, continuous work surface,” says Andrew. “This will allow operators to lay out, display and com-bine information in front of them in the most effective way for each application.

Operators will no longer have to rotate between different screens when check-ing overviews, alarms, etc. Some opera-tors also reported that using Windows and a mouse wasn’t as quick and respon-sive as their former touchscreens and

touchpads, so the new Orion will also have a touchpad component.”

Likewise, Tanner adds ABB recently launched its 800xA Collaboration Ta-ble, which allows several users to exam-ine an application and KPIs at once. It also uses some 3D visualization gained from gaming technology to illustrate those KPIs. “This could be especially useful to shift supervisors as they go through their day or when making sure everyone is on the same page at shift changes,” adds Tanner.

Besides size, resolution and compre-hensive indicators, operators also want the same manipulation capabilities they have on their smart phones and tablet PCs. “Users want the same multi-touch, pinch-and-zoom and sweeping features on their display screens that they have on their smart phones,” says Jeff Payne, automation controls product manager at AutomationDirect (www.automationdi-rect.com). “That’s one reason why we de-veloped and launched our Point of View HMI/SCADA software about six months ago. It has drivers for many PLC families, uses many thin-client functions to give users greater access to their data, can be accessed via mobile clients or web brows-ers, and is able to scale onto any tablet PC or smartphone.”

Of course, this mobility means more interfaces are making their way out into the field, but some operators are even trying to take more experienced eyeballs along with them. To aid this impulse, XOEye Technologies (www.xoeye.com) makes eyeglasses with a 5-megapixel camera, LED lights and audio speakers, which enables an operator to show col-leagues back in the control room exactly what he’s seeing in the field.

rationalize, record, recreateOne of the most important ways to improve the performance of process control operators is to rationalize the streams of nuisance alarms produced by many applications, but deciding on which alarms are significant and

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require action and which aren’t im-portant and can be safely ignored is typically a complex, lengthy and labor-intensive process. These projects are worthwhile, but they usually require a

dedicated team of engineers, so many small organizations can’t afford them.

“One of InTouch’s new features is Alarm Aggregator that allows users to place information about alarms into metadata areas. It then generates alarm

counts, shows where they’re occurring and on what devices, reduces them to four levels of severity, and shows only critical alarms in red,” says Invensys’ Krawjewski. “This means anyone, re-gardless of their skill level, can use these tools.”

Andrew Brodie, Fast/Tools market-ing manager in Yokogawa’s control instruments division, adds that Fast/Tools’ Alarm System Performance Analysis (ASPA) option can assist oper-ators by evaluating alarms in its Alarm Master database, determine which are bad actors, and help users analyze their existing applications more deeply by comparing performance before and af-ter changes are made.

“Operators can add a chronological date range, point it at their alarm da-tabase, and ASPA will work with Yok-ogawa’s historian, which is proficient at gathering alarm data and identifying alarm trends,” explains Brodie. “For smaller facilities, we also do alarm ra-tionalizations as part of our Advanced Decision Support service. We help benchmark current situations, develop an alarm philosophy document, and help phase in an improvement plan.”

Brodie adds that Fast/Tools V.10 was just released, and it has an event-based re-cording tool that can document all moves and mouse clicks in an application, find out what’s been done wrong or right

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Figure 4: Operators in Connexus Energy’s

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during a certain period, and retain targeted recordings of golden batch episodes that can be used later for training. Looking out-side the process, Fast/Tools also has a Collaboration Decision Support Center, which aggregates and displays data sources ex-ternal to the application but still relevant to it (Figure 3).

rise and WalkBeyond being mobile in the field, some developers are encour-aging operators to be more mobile and active at their desks in the control room. Some facilities have exercise equipment next to their control rooms, and some developers are making consoles, desks and chairs that allow operators to stand as well as sit while they’re working. Honeywell’s Andrew adds, “Con-trol room operators are still working many 12-hour shifts, but their roles are changing from manipulating and optimizing processes to hitting economic targets, and this can add a lot of stress. As a result, ergonomic designs are adding sit/stand modes to many workstations, so operators can avoid the health dangers of sitting all the time.”

For instance, Connexus Energy Group (www.connex-usenergy.com) is a customer-owned energy cooperative in Ramsay, Minn., that serves 126,000 members in seven coun-ties north of the Twin Cities. Its operations control center recently needed new consoles as part of an upgrade to a new SCADA system to improve communications with its substa-tions and reduce response time to outages.

Besides enabling all communications functions at each console so operators wouldn’t have jump from station to sta-tion, Connexus also wanted adjustable-height consoles to fit its differently sized operators and reduce their neck and back aches from craning to see stacked-up monitors. So the util-ity adopted Ascend Sit/Stand consoles from Winsted Corp. (www.winstead.com), which allow Connexus’ operators to raise and lower their workstations to whatever level is most comfortable (Figure 4).

“What we didn’t anticipate is that operators are leaving their consoles in the stand position as the default,” says Nick Loehlein, Connexus’ systems operations leader. “We’d as-sumed the standing position would be the exception rather than the rule, but they’re standing during their night shifts. If they want to sit, they take a tall chair and maybe sit for a half an hour, and then they stand right back up again.”

Smart everywhereBecause so many operators, engineers and managers are prac-ticing BYOD in their facilities, many suppliers are scrambling to offer apps for the flood of smart phones and tablet PCs com-ing onto some plant floors. Most of these apps are enabled by the HTML 5 standard that allows their graphics to scale up or down, and fit on different-sized displays.

Mario Mitchell, electronics product manager at Parker

Hannifin Corp. (www.parker.com), reports his company recently launched iOS and Android versions of its Remote Manager app, which can control its Factory Display and Ex-press HMI software. “With just an IP address and a pass-word, operators and managers can view their operations and control processes, see critical information and alarms, and even turn devices on and off.”

While its IntelaTrac mobile, data input devices have been available for years, Invensys recently relaunched its Smart-Glance industrial mobile reporting app, which delivers se-cure, on-demand access to graphical reports from any opera-tions data source via mobile devices. Meanwhile, its InTouch Access Anywhere software also uses HTML 5 to show all indi-cators and controls on any device with a web browser.

Tanner reports that ABB is beginning to explore eye-tracking technology and augmented reality tools to further enhance its interfaces. He adds its augmented reality efforts, such as overlays for displaying temperatures, trends and alarms, can be examined by looking up the 800xA symbol at the Apple iTunes Store (www.apple.com/itunes).

Jim Montague is Control ’s execut ive edi tor.

In its “Set Your Operators Up for Success” supplement to the May

2012 issue of Control, ABB (www.abb.com) explains there are four

cornerstones to help operators achieve their potential despite in-

creasingly complex applications. They share a philosophical shift

that evaluates each operator’s needs, abilities and limitations, and

puts them at the front of the design process. These four pillars are

• Plant system integration: Raw data and other inputs must

be transformed into actionable information in a context that’s

easily viewed, listened to or sensed in an integrated environ-

ment regardless of source. The challenge is to provide seam-

less access to multiple sources of information, but at the same

time not overload operators with irrelevant data.

• High-performance HMIs: User interfaces must be intuitive and

allow operators to manage views dynamically. A high-perfor-

mance interface supports situation awareness through how in-

formation is displayed, as well as abnormal situation handling

through advanced filtering and consolidation strategies.

• Human factors and ergonomics: Just as manufacturing pro-

cesses are designed to be carefully controlled and manipu-

lated to achieve desired outcomes, high-performance control

rooms and operator stations must be designed from the be-

ginning with operator performance in mind.

• Integrated simulation environments: High-fidelity simula-

tor training ensures operator competence and instills con-

fidence, especially in situations seldom encountered in

routine operations. Integrated simulation environments le-

verage graphics and logic developed for the control system

itself, providing a more realistic and more easily maintained

simulation environment.

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When Control magazine launched in 1988, process instrumentation and control systems had little to contribute to their own mainte-nance and calibration, much less the condi-tion of process or auxiliary equipment. Back then, savvy plants performed preventive maintenance, overhauling equipment and calibrating instrumentation on regular schedules during annual—or more frequent—shutdowns. Day-to-day prob-lems were spotted, diagnosed and corrected by experienced

operators, engineers and technicians on the � y. By 1991, we were writing about separate systems

dedicated to monitoring turbines, pumps and com-pressors, mainly by detecting unusual vibration lev-els. At the time, these expensive systems were justi� -able for only the most critical and costly equipment.

In the recession of the early 1990s, engineering and maintenance staffs were reduced and, in many cases, ultimately replaced by outsourcing and automated systems,

From Reactive and Preventive to Condition-Based Predictive

The 25-year transformation of maintenance and repair to asset management.

by Paul Studebaker

T I M E L I N E

1 9 8 9 2 0 1 4

OCTOBER1989Vista Chemical Enters Agreement for Dymac Monitoring Equipment.Spectral Dynamics is awarded a $100,000 contract for machine condition-monitoring systems to be integrated with existing DCS systems.

SEPTEMBER1993Effective Maintenance Is a Team Effort

Now equipped with more computers, but fewer people, plants are relying on specialized training and teamwork

to help keep their plants up and running.

OCTOBER1990Vibration Transmitters Come to Process Control

William Brown of Metrix Instrument Co. explains the operating principles of two-wire vibration transmitters, the

advantages of their electrical noise immunity and their wide variety of process industry applications.

APRIL1989Maintenance Service Markets to Soar to $4.5 BillionAutomation Research Corp. predicts the U.S. market for maintenance services will grow at 9% annually through 1992, from $3 billion in 1987.

JUNE1991Contract Services Providing Quick Fix for Shrinking Engineering Staffs

MARCH1993Maintenance Management Boosts Analyzer PaybackWilliam V. Dailey of Process Analyzer Resources Inc. explains how availability tracking and statistical control charts can help identify troublesome analyzers and improve uptime.

MARCH1994Time to Accept Smart Control ValvesAccording to executive editor Keith Larson, it’s high time for wholesale implementation of self-diagnosing smart valves like the ones � rst introduced in 1990 by Valtek.

OCTOBER1988Control Is Launched at

ISA/88 in HoustonThe inaugural issue’s 284 pages

manage to omit any signi� cant mention of asset management.


CT1403_46_51_Feature2.indd 46 3/5/14 11:20 AM



APRIL2000Top 10 Trends, Number Six: Asset Management Displaces ERP“In the battle of TLA du jour (three-letter acronym of the day), enterprise asset management (EAM) seems to have overtaken enterprise resource planning (ERP),” says Rich Merritt, technical editor. “Though EAM appears to be whatever the marketers say it is, it most de� nitely is the NBT (next big thing) in process control.”

APRIL2003On the Horizon

Fueled by more process data, better plant information and critical decision-making capabilities, 2003’s top

technology trends included number 6: “Condition Monitoring Goes Comprehensive.”

NOVEMBER2000Artifi cial Intelligence Expands Frontiers

in Asset Management“Asset management has evolved as a higher function

of process control,” says Bob Waterbury, senior editor. “It incorporates elements of control with predictive

modeling—and more recently with arti� cial intelligence—to better manage plant operation and maintenance.”

JANUARY1997Risk Analysis to Benefi t from Shared Reliability Data

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Center for Chemical Process Safety has launched the Equipment Reliability Database Project to collect and

share real-world experiences, starting with valves, heat exchangers and pumps.

JANUARY1998Eastman Chemical Tests Pump and

Motor Condition Monitoring SystemThe company’s Kingsport, Tenn., plant moves from

preventive to predictive maintenance with the IQ PreAlert system recently introduced by Rockwell Automation/

Reliance Electric.

OCTOBER1998Asset Management Meets Smart Field DevicesAn asset management system at Lenzing AG’s new Lyocell � ber plant in Austria comes “close to full utilization of the massive amounts of information generated by smart instruments throughout the plant.”

OCTOBER1996Asset Management: The Smart Instrument’s New Frontier“Improvements eked out via optimization schemes are inherently limited,” says editor in chief Keith Larson. “There’s a much bigger carrot out there—variously called reduced downtime or increased availability—and it has to do with improving process equipment maintenance (asset management, in the current vogue).”

OCTOBER1995Fisher Rosemount Accepts Credit Cards

FEBRUARY1996

The Art of TroubleshootingFrom setting traps to circling wagons, William Mostia, PE,

describes 13 methods for solving difficult instrumentation and

control problems.

APRIL1999Asset Management Hits the High Seas

Moving to PLC control of its main propulsion and power generation

equipment allows the latest vessel in the U.S. Navy’s Smartship

program to move from preventive to condition-based predictive

maintenance.

NOVEMBER1997

Hat’s On for Process ControlCivil engineers at the University of Illinois have combined a hard hat with a camcorder, tape recorder, digital camera and electronic notepad. “The compact unit weighs approximately � ve pounds.”

NOVEMBER2001 When Times Are Tough, the Tough Look to Asset ManagementTotal enterprise asset management (TEAM) applies predictive condition monitoring to the plant and throughout the enterprise through remote connectivity, but you don’t have to have it all to � nd fast paybacks.


F E A T U R E E Y E B R O W

MAY2006Machines Staying Healthy

by Getting SmarterExecutive editor Jim Montague describes how machine health

monitoring is going beyond mainstream vibration and oil

analysis by applying high-resolution sensing and prioritized data processing technologies to

process as well as machine data.

JUNE2003Center on Reliability

Forget preventive maintenance—today’s uptime requirements call for

an entirely different approach.

MARCH2008Pulling Together on

Asset Management?New preventive maintenance,

condition-based and optimization tools and techniques are making

asset management pay off—if you can get your maintenance people

to use them.

SEPTEMBER2009Emerson Announces AMS Suite:

Asset Portal 4.0, Powered by Meridium

MARCH2004Linking Asset and Maintenance Management Systems“The easiest integration occurs when linking software programs from the same vendor,” said Dan Hebert, technical editor. Second best is to stay within a framework like IndustrialIT from ABB, ArchestrA from Invensys and FactoryTalk from Rockwell Automation.

MAY2005Predictive Maintenance to the Rescue!As the maintenance skills shortage crisis continues to brew, process control vendors are jumping in with vibration analysis, condition monitoring, equipment diagnostics and predictive maintenance.

AUGUST2005Real-Time Asset Management Powered by OPCMoving away from the traditional reactive approach (� x it when it breaks) to a strategic, proactive methodology requires real-time data from operations to be tied directly into the maintenance management system, says Matrikon’s Paul Miller. “This is where OPC is the perfect � t.”

JUNE2007Anyone Watching Your Assets?Every system bene� ts from having properly trained individuals examining diagnostics and error messages, says contributing editor John Rezabek, but � eldbus has the power to free those savvy techs from tedious hours watching screens.

SEPTEMBER2007Invensys Introduces InFusion Condition ManagerThe real-time asset condition management component works with the company’s InFusion enterprise control system (ECS).

APRIL2008GE Profi cy Maintenance Gateway Closes Loop between Production and Maintenance

OCTOBER2008Emerson and Beamex Ally to Integrate Asset Management and Calibration

JANUARY2010Honeywell Acquires Rights to Shell’s Operator Rounds Technology

NOVEMBER2004

The Art of Asset ManagementMost companies have

accepted the value of asset management, especially in North American brown� eld

plants, where the only two ways to compete with green� eld

competition from overseas are process optimization and asset

management.



a trend that has accelerated ever since, as the knowledge to maintain increasingly complex control systems has become more specialized, rare and costly, while the prices of auto-mation sensors and information technology continue to fall.

Smart Instruments Enable Self-DiagnosticsIn 1996, William Mostia, PE, wrote that, “Most modern mi-croprocessor-based equipment has some ability to provide self-diagnostics. More and more equipment is falling into this category, and with the advent of digital communications and coming � eldbus technology, built-in diagnostics should only get better.”

Instrumentation became smarter, HART and digital � eld-buses gained ground, and more companies adopted the com-puterized maintenance management systems (CMMS) that grew up to be today’s enterprise asset management (EAM) systems. The issues evolved from not having enough data to not being able to use it effectively, in part because instru-mentation and control asset management software (AMS) has been dif� cult to integrate with EAM systems.

In March, 2004, we wrote, “It’s often helpful to augment

the CMMS with asset management software (AMS). Asset management can include everything from relatively simple software that gathers instrument data to highly sophisticated programs that analyze data, predict failures, and direct pre-ventive maintenance.

“When it is time to link a CMMS to an asset management application, there are a wealth of options ranging from man-ual data entry to fully automated data transfers. Although all vendors presently strive to provide standard protocols for integration among different software programs, the easiest integration occurs when linking software programs from the same vendor.

“Second best, in terms of ease of use, is linking software programs developed under the same framework. Most all CMMS and asset management software runs under Win-dows, but vendors are now creating a layer above Windows called a framework.”

We reported on frameworks in detail in our Jan. 2003 is-sue. Some of the products in this category are IndustrialIT from ABB, ArchestrA from Invensys and FactoryTalk from Rockwell Automation.

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MARCH2010MOL Danube Refi nery Named HART Plant of the YearHungarian re� nery is not the � rst (or last) facility to win at least in part by maximizing the bene� ts of HART information for asset management.

MAY2011ABB Acquires MincomABB agrees to acquire Mincom to broaden its software portfolio, and establish the group as a leader in enterprise asset management (EAM) software and services.

SEPTEMBER2012ISA Charters New Standards Committee on Intelligent Device ManagementThe ISA108 Intelligent Device Management committee will de� ne standard templates of best practices and work processes for design, development, installation and use of diagnostic and other information from intelligent � eld devices.

NOVEMBER2010Big-Time Condition MonitoringState-of-the-art condition monitoring is still not easy or inexpensive, but it’s also not an insurmountable challenge, and the expense and effort are well spent when weighed against the cost of downtime for critical assets.

SEPTEMBER2011Take a Bite Out of Lifecycle CostsHow can automation be used to monitor, control and cut lifecycle costs for process equipment and components? The “big three” are reducing stress on equipment, enabling proactive maintenance and cutting energy consumption.

NOVEMBER2013

Cloud-Based Asset ManagementSuppliers can now use the cloud for remote access to plants and equipment, and to analyze data for asset management and other purposes.



OPC Tries to Set Us FreeIn March, 2009, we said OPC has made it practical for plants to take on the integration themselves. “Five years ago, I’d have said no,” said Peter Martin, vice president of strategic ventures at Invensys. “However, connectivity today is better than ever. With OPC, ISA-95, MIMOSA and the OpenO&M standards, packages that comply can go together much more easily. In fact, Invensys often uses AM packages from other vendors.”

As the accompanying timeline indicates, this was a time when automation, CMMS and AMS vendors allied with and/or acquired companies to build their asset man-agement capabilities.

By November 2011, we were routinely reporting detailed success stories of companies reducing automation and plant operating and lifecycle costs with effective asset manage-ment. “New pressures both from the market and from regu-lators to save energy, be more environmentally sensitive and be ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ are pushing maintenance into a more positive light,” wrote managing editor Nancy Bartels. “A well-run maintenance department with a clear focus on energy ef� ciency can be key to both sustainability efforts and clear, bottom-line savings. Who knew?”

But taking full advantage of automation and control as a plant “nervous system” that we can readily tap for in-strumentation and equipment condition information we can use to optimize operations and maintenance is still an elusive goal. That’s the objective of the ISA108 Intelli-gent Device Management standards initiative, formed in September 2012 to define standard templates of best prac-tices and work processes for design, development, instal-lation and use of diagnostic and other information pro-vided by intelligent field devices.

Commercial Technology to the Rescue?Today, cloud-based systems are giving equipment vendors and service providers remote access to condition informa-tion, so they can provide monitoring and analysis for a fee. The cloud also easily supports software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.

“It turns out that SaaS has found a home in the process industries, namely for remote access,” we wrote in Novem-ber 2013. A supplier can create a cloud-based application that can communicate to various types of hardware and soft-ware platforms such as RTUs, PLCs and operator interface terminals installed at remote sites. The application can also communicate to remote-access hardware, including smart phones and tablets, PC-based HMI platforms and databases.

“Using this information, remote support engineers can proactively contact customers, and begin working on is-sues before downtime events occur,” said Anil Gokhale,

PE, global manager, process and process safety technol-ogy for the systems and solutions business at Rockwell Au-tomation. “When an event does occur, having access to historical information greatly reduces the time spent trou-bleshooting, and signi� cantly decreases downtime dura-tion. As we connect to more equipment and collect more data, we can develop additional algorithms and logic to do more predictive analysis to improve asset performance and uptime.”

Going forward, we see relentless development of com-mercial applications based on the burgeoning “Internet of Things (IoT).” This technology is inspiring and em-powering automation and software vendors, control engi-neers, equipment makers and maintenance managers to devise and implement sensors and systems to help them pare operating costs and prevent downtime. As the costs of sensors, bandwidth, communications and computing power continue to fall, this “pervasive sensing” approach has become a most interesting trend in maintenance and asset management.

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V a l V e s a n d a c t u a t o r s

Process control valves are adding new, sophisticated and intelligent electronics, networking and other innovations. Here’s how users are applying them for maximum benefit.

by Jim Montague

From ball screws to butterflies, valves are some of the hardest working and most reliable members of the process control and automation community. And just like those other components, many types of valves have been getting some serious technical makeovers in recent years—to the point that users often don’t know about the helpful skills they’ve acquired.

However, some users are well aware of recent innovations in several primary valve technologies because they rely on them every day. For instance, Ineos Chlor (www.ineos.com) is a ma-jor European producer of chlor-alkali and chlorine derivatives, and it recently reduced process variability by 5% at its plant in Runcorn, U.K., by replacing four traditional butterfly valves with Fisher Control-Disk valves from Emerson Process Man-agement (www.emersonprocess.com). This reduced variabil-ity, enabled the plant to increase throughput, avoid several un-planned shutdowns that could have cost a total of $600,000, and achieve a 96% overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) rat-ing for the unit where the valves were installed (Figure 1).

“For a plant this size, even a modest reduction in variabil-ity can have a significant payback,” explains Barry Make-peace, Ineos Chlor’s control and instrumentation engineer. “Applying the Control-Disk valve not only saved us money, but also enabled us to optimize process control without sac-rificing flow capacity or needing to re-pipe.”

Runcorn previously used its butterfly valves to control the temperature and flow of cooling water to its primary con-densers. Tight control is essential because if the condensers’ temperature is too low, there will be residual chlorine in the system, which has to be removed. If the temperature is too high, there’s an increased risk of a safety trip or plant shut-down. Each trip and subsequent unplanned shutdown can cost up to $100,000.

Unfortunately, the older valves had a small control range and a large dead band, which reduced their response to temperature changes. In the 12 months before replacing its valves, the plant experienced 23 trips and big production losses. However, adopting the Control-Disk valves provided a control range of 15 to 70% of travel, approaching the range of a segmented ball valve. This tighter, more reliable valve control enabled Runcorn’s operators to optimize tempera-ture set points and avoid at least six unplanned shutdowns.

tank Farm retrofit in turkeyOne of the most useful ways that recent valve innovations can be applied is in helping older systems gain a new lease on life. For example, the Tupras Izmit refinery in Kocael province, Tur-key, recently undertook a major modernization program that included retrofitting more than 900 valves at the refinery’s tank

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farms with Rotork’s (www.rotork.com) valve actuators and two-wire digital controls (Figure 2). Located near the Sea of Mar-mara, the 53-year-old refinery is the largest of four refineries operated by the Turkish Petroleum Refineries Co. (www.tupras.com.tr), and it produces more than 11 million tons of LPG, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene and diesel fuel annually.

Besides the retrofit, Tupras was also expanding and build-ing new refinery facilities on an adjacent site with help from Técnicas Reunidas (www.technicasreunidas.es), an EPC con-tractor based in Madrid, Spain. This part of the overall proj-ect required more than 400 of Rotork’s IQ electric actuators.

Back at the retrofit, Tupras Izmit is implementing Ro-tork’s IQ intelligent, ATEX-certified explosion-proof, elec-tric valve actuators to automate manually operated valves on the refinery’s tanks. Nearly 800 of the compact actuators are being installed on existing valves, while 100 will consist of new, actuated valve packages, both of which are able to fit in tight spaces.

In addition, all of the valve actuators will be monitored and controlled via Rotork’s Pakscan P3 two-wire digital bus network, which uses a proprietary, fast-update com-munications protocol, and has built-in redundancy for se-curity. It provides a direct interface with host control and SCADA systems, while simplifying the overall control net-work, which optimizes actuator functionality and increases reliability. Pakscan can monitor and control up to 240 field units without repeaters at up to 20 kilometers. Because of Tupras Izmit’s huge size, groups of IQ actuators in different areas will be monitored and controlled by 20 Pakscan P3 networks, each controlled by a Pakscan P3 master station, which provides a local center for monitoring and control and links the network to the site’s SCADA system.

Meanwhile, non-intrusive hand-held interfaces with se-cure, bidirectional links are used to set control parameters, and commission and download integral data loggers. This system performs all switch setting and commissioning func-tions that traditionally were only performed by removing electrical covers. Using the multilingual menu on the ac-tuators’ display screens, valves can be quickly commissioned with or without main power connected. The same instru-ment can be used to download data to the IQ actuators, or upload diagnostics from their data loggers. These data log-gers enable event-by-event histories of valve activity, includ-ing time- and date-stamped torque profiles produced during each opening and closing, to be generated. Using Rotork’s IQ-Insight software on a PC, this data can be compared with valve torque signature profiles logged during commis-sioning to identify trends, such as valve operating wear.

Much of the retrofit is being carried out by Omas Teknik Pazarlama (www.omasteknik.com.tr), which is based in Istanbul, and represents Rotork in Turkey. Its responsibilities include design and fabrication of valve

adaptations, installing the new actuators, commissioning and on-site support.

Pete Kundin, general manager of Rotork’s eastern U.S. di-vision, reports its smart actuators work with its free Insight 2 software, and enable users to access their data via several avenues. “Bluetooth or infrared devices can download data from our smart actuators, and then upload it to a PC run-ning Insight 2,” says Kundin. “Now our IQ3 actuators allow users to read operating data on a screen on the actuator it-self. Finally, we’ve been gathering valve information via dig-ital networks for 20 years, but valves still need six or seven control wires. However, two-wire, twisted-pair fieldbuses are getting more sophisticated, and our application-specific Pakscan fieldbus lets us put valves right on the network, and our Pakscan master station gateway lets us communicate via Modbus to other fieldbuses and Ethernet networks.”

Also, Kundin reports that Rotork developed and launched two other recent innovations: control valve actuator (CVA) is an electric actuator that’s more accurate than traditional, spring-diaphragm, pneumatic valve actuators and saves on air generation, and compact modulating actuator (CMA) is a more compact device for replacing legacy actuators. “We’re even looking at developing triple-offset butterfly valves as a replacement for standard gate valves,” he adds.

Long Distance, No RunaroundAnother advantage enabled by recent valve innovations is that they’re much better at networking with higher-level control and enterprise systems, which can save operators lots of time-consuming labor and travel. For instance, Santos (www.san-tos.com) is one of Australia’s largest oil and gas suppliers, and it

V a L V e s a N D a c t u a t o R s

Figure 1: Ineos Chlor’s Runcorn plant in the U.K. replaced four

butterfly valves with Fisher Control-Disk valves to achieve

tighter control, maintain optimum temperatures and prevent

residual chlorine in its process application.

Stomping on Variability

Eme

rso

n



recently worked with Emerson Process Management to coor-dinate and improve upcoming operations across its $18.5-bil-lion Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project in Queensland.

Emerson is the GLNG’s main automation contractor (MAC), and it’s providing equipment and expertise to help Santos gather and integrate real-time information from thou-sands of wells. Emerson technologies at the GLNG project include Fisher valves, Bettis actuators, Roxar multiphase meters, DeltaV digital automation system using CHARMS electronic marshalling, Rosemount measurement and ana-lytical instruments, remote operations controllers and AMS Suite predictive maintenance software.

The pioneering project will convert coal seam gas to LNG for export to global markets. Gas from the Bowen and Surat Basins in eastern Queensland will be transported by a 420-kilometer, underground pipeline to an LNG plant on Curtis Island, located near Gladstone on the coast. Mean-while, Santos’ remote operations center in Brisbane is ap-proximately 500 kilometers south of Gladstone, but it inte-grates data from GLNG’s gas fields, pipelines and plant for real-time, 24/7 monitoring and collaboration with teams in the field. The GLNG project is on track to make its first

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Figure 2: These are just a few of 800 Rotork IQ intelligent, electric

valve actuators being installed on existing valves and 100 new valve

actuator packages being installed at the Tupras Izmit refinery’s tank

farms in Turkey.

900 ValVe RetRofitR

oto

rk



LNG shipments in 2015, and initial capacity is planned to be 3 to 4 million tons per year.

Santos and Emerson collaborated to plan and equip the Brisbane remote operations center where management, en-gineers and planners can use real-time information from the intelligent field devices to anticipate issues, collaborate, improve decisions and take actions to maximize key perfor-mance indicators (KPIs). “We’ve developed a remote opera-tions center that’s changed the way our gas fields are op-erated in the Bowen and Surat basins,” says Rob Simpson, Santos’ general operations manager. “We now have the abil-ity to centrally monitor the production and progress of our intelligent assets up to 1,000 kilometers apart.”

Similarly, another recent valve advance from Emerson is its Multiport Flow Selector (MPFS), which is used for test-ing oil and gas well liquids during production. Before MPFS arrived, these requirements were accomplished by opening and closing a series of flow manifolds to individually test the constituents of a hydrocarbon flow from the wellhead. How-ever, MPFS is a single, compact system with a rotating plug that allows the flow from one well to be diverted from pro-duction for testing, which reduces the required number of

valves by two-thirds. When coupled with an Emerson Bettis electric valve actuator specifically designed for it, MPFS can precisely control the flow, and automatically switch diverted well flow remotely from a control network.

Wireless and other FuturesProbably the biggest innovation bringing valves and users together is the ongoing emergence of wireless for delivering field data to control and enterprise applications. “Wireless means cost saving, more intelligence and better diagnostic capabilities,” says John Hancill, Emerson’s strategic market-ing director for R&D in Emerson’s rack-and-pinion actuators division. “We view our Smart Wireless capabilities as creating opportunity for customers to implement solutions that were previously operationally or cost-prohibitive. Also, Emerson’s use of Wireless HART creates a flexible, secure and reliable network, but wireless also allows users to remove people from potentially hazardous environments. Finally, we’re also part-nering and solving customers’ problems using wireless valve operating systems with pneumatic or electric actuators.”

Jim Montague is Control ’s execut ive edi tor.

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CT1402_Essentials_Half.indd 1 2/10/14 10:38 AM


T E C H N I C A L LY S P E A K I N G


DaN hebert, PeSenior Technical ediTor

dheber [email protected] t

“Savings due to

this procedure

were 15 minutes

cut from each

calibration and

more than 500

hours per week of

manual data

entry time.”

Second, it can result in poor operating perfor-mance, as some critical instruments should be calibrated more frequently. Third, plant safety can be compromised if safety-related devices drift out of calibration between intervals.

Calibrating each device only as needed is the better method, and that requires automating the calibration process. Smart devices can provide in-formation to an asset management system (AMS) or a calibration management system (CMS) over a digital data link. These systems use this infor-mation to determine optimal calibration inter-vals. They also send data to documenting calibra-tors, which are used to calibrate the devices. After calibration, these calibrators upload the “as left” condition of the device to the system.

Here’s how it works in practice. “Our customer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Cork, Ireland, with more than 4000 control loops with HART and Foun-dation fieldbus,” says Laura Briggs, the product manager for asset optimization at Emerson Pro-cess Management (www.emersonprocess.com).

Plant personnel were routinely calibrating in-struments that did not need the same level of at-tention as devices that were critical to product quality or safety. To determine which instruments could be moved from the periodic schedule to on-demand calibration, they examined the diagnos-tics generated by every smart field device and digi-tal valve positioner using Emerson’s AMS Suite predictive maintenance software. They began monitoring a select group of less critical instru-ments, waiting for them to indicate that a change had taken place internally requiring attention. As time progressed, all of the smart devices were mi-grated to on-demand calibration.

Streamlining regular calibration procedures is based on optimizing the plant’s periodic cal-ibration schedules using documenting calibra-tors and synchronizing instrument data between

Beamex’s (www.beamex.com) CMX CMS and Emerson’s AMS Suite. Calibration data on every instrument is stored and downloaded directly to a portable calibrator for use by a technician in the field. When the scheduled calibrations are completed, the results are uploaded for certifica-tion and documentation.

“Savings due to this paperless calibration procedure were 15 minutes cut from each cali-bration, 21,000 sheets of paper eliminated each year and more than 500 hours per week of man-ual data entry time eliminated, along with po-tential errors,” notes Briggs.

GSK also extended the interval between calibrations to reduce the overall number of procedures done annually while remaining in compliance with corporate policy and govern-ment regulations. The company achieved this through an ongoing, computer-driven analysis of historical data to identify instruments that didn’t need to be calibrated as often, resulting in an 8% reduction in scheduled calibration.

Substantial upfront effort is required for any calibration optimization project. “The most time-consuming aspect of getting started isn’t the acquisition cost of the equipment or soft-ware, but rather populating and setting up the AMS or CMS software with the information from the critical tags and their calibration attri-butes,” explains Jim Shields, process tool mar-keting manager, Fluke (www.fluke.com).

“Once the CMS is populated, the data can be mined to make more educated determina-tions of instances where maintenance intervals can be adjusted,” Shields adds. “Most CMS packages have tools for drift plot analysis to help examine the performance of a device, its errors and drift since its last calibration. If these or other tools show a device is performing reli-ably, then it’s a good candidate for an extended maintenance interval.”

Process plants abound with instruments, analyzers and control valves, all of which need

calibration to ensure performance as designed. Many plants calibrate these devices at

fixed intervals, but that’s less than optimal for a number of reasons. First, it’s expensive,

as many devices can operate within parameters on extended calibration schedules.

calibration can Be condition-Based

CT1403_56_TechSpeak.indd 56 3/5/14 11:52 AM

a s k t h e e x p e r t s


Direct vs. Reverse-Acting Control

Q As I understand it, if the controller output increases when the measurement value rises, it is a direct-acting controller, and if controller output decreases when the

measurement rises, it is a reverse-acting controller. In addi-tion, at minimum output of the controller, the desired fail-safe action must be achieved. For example, if we have two controllers on a distillation column—reflux and net over-head—where the reflux control valve is fail-open, and net overhead control valve is fail-close, the reflux controller will be reverse-acting, and the net overhead controller will be direct-acting. Is my understanding correct?

Vasant Warke vasant .warke@ril .com

A Valve failure position and controller actions are inde-pendently determined, therefore, let’s talk about them separately.

Valve failure position is determined by safety consider-ations. If, in case of failure, you want your column to go on full reflux, your selection is right (Figure 1). Assuming that the valve actuators are spring-operated pneumatic ones (you did not say what they were), and assuming that you define “failure” as the loss of air supply, the spring will act to open a fail-open (FO) valve and to close a fail-closed (FC) valve, regardless what the controller actions are. (I neglect to men-tion the role of positioners because I don’t like to use them on flow control valves because they can be slower than the flow process and, therefore, they can cause cycling.)

Now let’s turn to the subject of controller action. Assum-ing that your system is as shown in the figure, an increase in column temperature should result in increased cooling, which is accomplished by returning more cold reflux into the column. This means that the temperature controller (TC) has to reduce the reflux flow setpoint, which in turn will increase the level in the accumulator, and to overcome that, the level control (LC) increases the setpoint of the re-flux flow control (FC). So a measurement increase requires the TC to reduce its output (reverse action, R/A), while the LC increases its output upon a level increase (D/A). The response of the slave FC controllers is to increase the flow through their valves as the master raises their setpoint, so with the FC valve, it will be D/A, and with the FO valve, it will be R/A.

Naturally, the control system shown in the figure is a very simple one (does nothing about interactions, etc.), but it is sufficient for explaining the issue at hand.

Béla liptákl ip takbela@aol .com

ADirect action means that the controller output rises if the measurement increases. Indirect (reverse) action means that the controller output drops when the mea-

surement rises.

al paWloWski, peavp2@almont .com

A Not quite right. The control valve failure action (and sometimes the valve positioner action) is also relevant. To ensure that you have an overall negative feedback, you

need to follow the entire loop from sensor (increase/decrease output as variable increases) through the controller (where you

“Ask the Experts” is moderated by Béla Lipták (http://belaliptakpe.com/), an automation and safety consultant, who is also the

editor of the Instrument and Automation Engineers’ Handbook (IAEH). If you have an automation-related question for this col-

umn, write to [email protected].

Figure 1. Action selection if valve failure is to result in full reflux,

and if under normal operation, the distillate flow is manipulated

to keep the column temperature constant while the accumula-

tor level is controlled by manipulating the reflux flow.

LC

FC

PC

TC

LC

FC

FC

FC

R/A

R/A

FO

D/A

D/A

DistillAtion Column ContRolleR ACtion

CT1403_57_58_ATE.indd 57 3/5/14 10:06 AM


a s k t h e e x p e r t s

can reverse the gain) to the positioner (normally direct action, but foolish folks sometimes try to hide mistakes there by revers-ing output) to valve (does increasing stem position increase or decrease the measured variable?).ar naMe

Ian h.GIbsongibs0108@optusnet .com.au

A The controller action is relative to the definition of the error. If error = setpoint – process variable, then a re-verse-acting controller will cause the process variable to

decrease when the controller output increases, and vice versa.Valve fail position is not a function of the controller, but

a function of safety, or zero energy in case of a failure in the energy supply to the final control element. DCSs have dif-ferent ways to deal with fail position and controller action, and the configuration should be made according to what make sense to the operation.

sIGIfredo nInoSNino@SummaControlSolu t ions.com

A I usually like to look at the error reading in the control-ler, meaning the difference between setpoint and pro-cess variable. If an increase in error increases the con-

troller output, it’s direct-acting. If increase in error causes controller output to decrease, it’s a reverse-acting controller.

hIten a. dalal, Pe, PMPhi [email protected]

A The question I always ask is: when the measurement increases, what does the controller output need to do to bring it back to setpoint? For example, if a back-pres-

sure controller (where a control valve opens to decrease the pressure measured upstream of it) sees a rise in pressure, it should increase its output. Increase measurement/increase output is “increase/increase” or direct-acting.

In contrast, nearly every flow controller I’ve seen is “in-crease/decrease” or reverse-acting. Mr. Warke’s reflux loop would be reverse-acting. We want the valve to be “closed” when the controller output is 0% and “open” when it is 100%, regardless of the valve’s failure position. This makes it consistent for the operator. So when the controller sees an increase in flow, it must decrease its output (close the valve) to return it to setpoint.

I don’t think you can generalize in terms of application. Even though a direct-acting flow loop is rare, you could design one or encounter one. If we were dealing strictly with old pneumatics or self-contained mechanical controllers, then your reflux exam-ple would be “direct-acting.” The pneumatic controller would have to increase its signal in response to an increase in flow.

A level controller, whose output controls the valve on the tank inlet, is reverse-acting, but if the valve is on the outlet,

it becomes direct-acting. A temperature application can be controlling cooling water to an exchanger (direct) or a cool-ing water bypass (reverse) I can’t think of a way to make up a rule for a clerk or a computer algorithm that states some simple “if this, then this” for direct- or reverse-acting. Maybe I’m slow, but I still have to think through each application.

John [email protected]

A I believe you have your cause and effect backward. Think only of the controller. Consider the input (pro-cess variable) to the controller as the cause and the

controller output as the effect. If the controller is set for di-rect-acting, then an increase in PV will cause the output to increase. If the controller is set for reverse-acting, an in-crease in PV will cause the output to decrease.

To make the correct setting for direct/reverse-acting, you have to consider the process effect all the way from the controller output to the process variable. Does a controller output cause the valve to open or close? Some valves are fail-open; some are fail-closed. Does an increase in valve po-sition cause the PV to go up or go down? Opening a steam valve to a heat exchanger (HX) would cause the HX output temperature to rise, whereas opening a cooling water valve would cause the HX output temperature to go down.

In summary, considering all the effects between the control-ler output and the PV, if an increase in controller output causes the PV to rise, or a decrease in controller output causes the PV to fall (that is, the PV moves in the same direction as the control-ler output), then the process can be called direct-acting, so the controller should be set for the opposite, reverse-acting. Thus, if a process disturbance causes the PV to rise, the reverse-acting controller will decrease its output. Consequently, this decrease in controller output will cause the direct-acting process variable to decrease, thus moving it in the opposite direction from that which caused the disturbance.

harold WadeHlwade@aol .com

A I believe that your understanding of direct-/reverse-act-ing applied to control valves is correct. However, the fail-safe action has nothing to do with direct/reverse

action. The failure action is dictated purely by the position of the spring against which the pneumatic diaphragm oper-ates in the control valve actuator. They’re defined indepen-dently when the control valve is specified (fail-safe action) and again during configuration of the control valve posi-tioner or the controller outputting to the control valve (di-rect-/reverse-acting).

dIck [email protected]

CT1403_57_58_ATE.indd 58 3/5/14 10:07 AM

R O U N D U P


PRESSURE MEASUREMENT MADE EASY Model 266 pressure transmit-ters, with pressure ranges up to 15.000 psi and maximum working pressure up to 8,700 psi, are easy to use thanks to their new keypad-equipped HMIs. The TTG (through the glass) version allows full explosion-proof transmitter con� guration in hazardous ar-eas without the need of removing the housing cover., reduc-ing commissioning and maintenance costs. ABB SpA www.abb.com/pressure

TUBELESS DP SENSORDeltabar FMD72 electronic differential pressure mea-surement system uses two pressure sensor modules con-nected to one transmitter. Not needing impulse lines or capillaries, the sensors con-nect to the transmitter via a twisted-pair cable. The system has NEMA 4X/6P (IP66/IP68) watertight housings and connections, and is ATEX-, IEC Ex-, CSA- and FM-compliant for hazardous areas.Endress+Hauser 888-ENDRESS; www.us.endress.com/electronic-dp

HEAVY-DUTY PADPAD is a heavy-duty, micro-processor-based, high-perfor-mance industrial differen-tial pressure transmitter with a user-adjustable pressure range and scalable output signal. Communication and con�guration of various pa-rameters is possible via HART protocol. All data is stored via EEPROM. It’s available with either a capacitance-type or a piezoresistive absolute pressure sensor.Kobold USA412-788-2830; http://koboldusa.com

THE ONE FOR SAFETYOne Series safety transmit-ters monitor temperature and pressure, providing a NAMUR 4-20 mA output. An internal high-speed safety relay can initiate an alarm or emergency shutdown directly from the instrument, using built-in sensor and logic solver functions. It’s certi� ed for use in SIL 2 applications and capable of SIL 3 with redundancy, achieving a safe failure fraction of 98.5% .United Electric Controls 617-926-1000; www.ueonline.com

SENSORS FOR HYDRAULIC APPLICATIONSPS500 series pressure sensors for hydraulic applications feature a IP69K-rated design to withstand harsh environ-ments and a rotatable hous-ing for easier installation and accessibility. It’s measuring range is from 3 to 400 bar. Switch point accuracy is 0.5% of the full scale. It’s available in male or female ¼ -in. NPT or G ¼ -in. thread versions with digital or analog (voltage or current) outputs.Turck 800-544-7769; www.turck.usa.com

CALIBRATION UNDER PRESSUREM4 Series handheld preci-sion calibrator/data logger includes one pressure sensor and one mA/V instrument. Choose from differential, gauge, compound or absolute pressure types and ranges from 10-in. H2O to 3300 PSIG full scale. Accuracy is ±0.025% of reading from 10% to 100% of range and ±0.002% of full scale below 10% of range. Accuracy ranges from -20º to +50 ºC (-4º to +122 ºF). Meriam 800-817-7849; www.meriam.com

The Pressure’s OnSensors, transmitters, controllers, switches. Get your pressure instrumentation here.

CT1403_59_61_Roundup.indd 59 3/5/14 10:18 AM

R O U N D U P


SENSE THE PRESSUREModel 40 pneumatic indicat-ing controller is designed to sense pressure and transmit an air signal precisely propor-tional to the measured vari-able. The output signal can be fed to a remotely located final control device. It has a broad selection of control modes; measuring elements for pressure, differential pressure, flow and level; and complies with the EPA’s “Go Green” initiative. Ametek PMT Products 215-355-6900; www.ametekusg.com

ALL IN ONEThe PBS electronic pressure sensor for monitoring and measurement in liquids and gases houses the pressure switch, transmitter and dis-play in one device with three large pushbuttons and an in-tegrated display for intuitive setup. It has a base configuration with two switching points, but also is configurable using PNP/NPN digital outputs or an analog output signal.Sick www.sickusa.com

TOUGH SWITCHES The ProSense MPS25 series mechanical pressure switches come with a choice of an all-welded, 316 stainless steel sealed diaphragm actuator or a direct-acting 316 stain-less steel piston design with a Buna N O-ring and a choice of an integral 6-ft. cable with ½-in. NPT male conduit con-nector or a DIN 175301-803C L-connector. It handles pres-sure ranges from vacuum to 7,500 psig. Automation Direct800-633-0405; www.automationdirect.com

DOUBLE MEASUREDPharp EJA series pressure/DP transmitters simultane-ously measure differential and static pressure. They have a 90-ms response time. The optional ultra-low-cop-per, aluminum housing pro-vides improved corrosion resistance over standard aluminum. They’re IEC61508-compliant and certified for SIL 2 level applications, includ-ing hydrostatic tank gauging.Yokogawa 281-340-3800; www.yokogawa.com/us

FAST AND TOUGHPX409-USBH series high-speed pressure transduc-ers connect directly to com-puters and feature excellent long-term stability, 316L SS wetted parts, 1,000 readings per second and rugged con-struction with a secondary containment. The micro-machined silicon design is suitable for pressure or level applications in laboratory, test platform or bio-pharmaceutical applications. Omega 888-826-6342; www.omega.com

FULLY SUBMERSIBLE PT-500 submersible pressure transducers are now available with added output, cabling, cage, vent cap and installa-tion options. In addition to a 4-20 mA output, they’re now available with Modbus as well as 0-5 Vdc and mV/V. A new Hytrel cable option enables their use in the most chal-lenging environments. Choose between a traditional cage or a patented removable cage that can be reused. Automation Products Group 888-525-7300; www.apgsensors.com


R O U N D U P


TWO FOR ONE Rosemount 3051S multivari-able wireless pressure trans-mitters directly measure two process variables in one in-stallation. They measure both differential and static pressure, reducing pipe pen-etrations and impulse piping. The static pressure sensor is available as either true gauge or absolute. Maintenance-free performance is provided by 10-year stability and a 6.5-year power module life.Emerson Rosemount Measurement www.rosemount.com/3051SMVWireless

SOLID!SolidSense II pressure trans-ducers and transmitters with glass-fused strain gauge tech-nology reduce drift or zero instability. A 316L stainless steel, chromium-rich wet-ted flow path offers superior corrosion resistance. Active temperature compensation improves process pressure mea-surement in plants exposed to wide temperature variations. FM- and ATEX-compliance meets demanding applications.Brooks Instrument 1-888-554-FLOW; www.BrooksInstrument.com

MO’ BETTER PRESSURE SWITCHESHoneywell has added three new series to its pressure switch portfolio: HP Series, HE Series and LE Series. They provide high burst pressure ranges, long lifecy-cle ratings and IP67 sealing. Adaptable for use in most ap-plications, these pressure switches provide a wide tempera-ture range of -40 °C to 120 °C (-40 °F to 248 °F), and accu-racy up to ±2%. Honeywell Sensing and Control 800-537-6945; http.sensing.honeywell.com

GET A HANDLE ON THISA new ergonomic handle, smoother operation and lower torque are available on these 20,000-psi, medium-pressure valves in sizes 1/4-in., 3/8-in. and 9/16-in. Also available with 15,000-psi NPT connec-tions in sizes 1/4-in., 3/8-in. and ½-in., these medium-pressure components use a com-pact, coned-and-threaded connection for larger bore sizes and increased flow rates common in this pressure class. High Pressure Equipment Co. 814-838-2028; www.HighPressure.com

INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH PRESSURE SENSINGAshcroft A2, A2X and A4 pressure transmitters are accurate, rugged, reliable heavy-duty sensors. Available in accuracies up to ±0.25% FS, A2 is offered with a wide variety of electrical connec-tions, analog output signals and pressure ports for most industrial applications. A2X (ex-plosion/flame-proof) and A4 (intrinsically safe) configura-tions are designed for hazardous environments. Ashcroft 800-328-8248; www.ashcroft.com

MEDIUM-HIGH-PRESSURE INSTRUMENTATIONTo service surface and sub-sea installations, process in-strumentation and controls, chemical injection and test-ing equipment, and sam-pling applications, IPT series medium- and high-pressure products include precision valves, fittings and fluid control devices. Products in the IPT series are made standard from 316 stainless steel, cold-worked to maximize strength and corrosion resistance.Swagelok www.swagelok.com


C o n t r o l E x C l u s i v E


Media Converter Puts Ethernet on Blue Hose

to upgrade, but the new Flex I/O requires Ethernet, so they are faced with replacing their network wiring.”

Roslan says there are several hundred thousand Remote I/O systems in use, many using PLC 5 and SLC control-lers connected with Belden 9463 “Blue Hose” wire. “Blue Hose wiring has been the industry standard for Remote I/O networks,” he says. “Over the past 20 years, Belden has pro-duced and sold more than 391 million feet of Blue Hose—enough to circle the globe three times—and much of it is still in use in facilities all over the world.”

Typical systems have 1,000 to 10,000 feet of cable. To put in a new control system, plants would have had to add Eth-ernet using Cat 5 cable and managed switches, with fiber for distances over 300 feet. “Just running the cable itself can be a challenge,” Roslan says. “Then they have to convert programs and schedule downtime to install and commission the new system. That’s when risk starts going up.”

The new converters allow users to upgrade an Allen-Brad-ley Remote I/O system by running Ethernet communica-tions over the existing Remote I/O network. “Your cable company runs cable TV and Ethernet over the same coax cable,” Roslan says. “We applied that same idea, but over Blue Hose, which is twinax.”

These converters support 57.6-K and 115.2-K baud rates, and the units are plug-and-play with no configuration re-quired. “You connect to the Blue Hose and power up. There’s no setup,” Roslan says. “It’s completely transparent, like an Ethernet-to-fiber-optic converter.”

The system is tailored for retrofits. “A lot of this Blue Hose

cable has been out there for many years, at different lengths and various levels of deterioration. The converters monitor communications, and pick the best broadband channel for the installed condition of the cable,” Roslan says.

The converters provide more than the ability to avoid re-placing cable. “You can change one thing at a time during a scheduled shutdown,” Roslan says. “You can continue to use an old controller while you install a new controller, convert the code, and use a remote I/O card to test the code while the plant is running on the old controller, then switch over.”

This approach allows users to upgrade I/O as needed—one node at a time—and move it over to Ethernet. “Being able to simultaneously run Ethernet and Remote I/O lets you make changes with minimal downtime and little risk,” Roslan says. “You can upgrade a node and use the old I/O as spares for other old nodes to buy time before you need to replace them. In effect, you’ll never have to replace the network cable.”

One master handles multiple slaves with cable runs up to about 1,750 feet. As many as eight repeaters can be used to ex-tend runs to 10,000 feet, with as many as 32 nodes, the same maximum network size as Remote I/O. Supporting a mini-mum of 1 to 4 Mbps, speed is at least 10 times as fast as Re-mote I/O, and it can handle bursts as high as 20 to 30 Mbps.

That Automation Fair attendee’s problem has been solved. “Customers who previewed the product said, ‘You can’t do that,’ but that isn’t true anymore,” says Roslan. “It works just like Ethernet over coax; it’s just a different technology.”

For more information, visit psft.com/eiprio.

The inspiration for ProSoft Technology’s new Ethernet to Belden Blue Hose Industrial Media Converter came

two years ago at Rockwell Automation’s Automation Fair. “A customer came to us with a problem with his Re-

mote I/O system,” says Ken Roslan, vice president, global marketing, ProSoft Technology (www.prosoft-tech-

nology.com). “Rockwell Automation is discontinuing Remote I/O and has given a one-year notice. Users need

ProSoft Technology’s new Ethernet to Belden Blue Hose Industrial Media Converter allows users to upgrade I/O as needed—one node at a

time—and move them over to Ethernet.

savE tHE BluE HosE

CT1403_62_Exclusive.indd 62 3/5/14 10:20 AM

C O N T R O L T A L K

GreG McMillanStan weiner, pecontrol ta [email protected] t


From Loop Control to Process Performance

Stan: Last November’s column with George Buckbee, “How to Get the Most out of Your Loop” (November 2013, http://bit.ly/1d10QAr), gave a good introduction to loop performance that set us up for the next step: How do we get from loop control performance to process eco-nomic performance?

Greg: Lewis Gordon, a principal control sys-tems engineer retired from Invensys after 38 years, has submitted some comments on im-proving loop performance to increase plant profitability. Lew specialized in control appli-cations design, tuning and loop performance monitoring software (ExperTune’s PlantTri-age). Here are Lew’s comments on the column with Buckbee and more details from a subse-quent conversation.

lew: George is absolutely right in saying that improving loop performance is about more than tuning. He mentioned some specific ex-amples, including loops in manual, root causes, interaction, stiction, backlash and faulty instru-mentation and/or actuators.

In the case of controllers in manual, this is sometimes not a significant issue. A controller may be in manual simply because it has be-come obsolete (out of service) or because the current process operating mode doesn’t require it. Certainly, a controller that’s always in man-ual is wasting the cost of its installation, as the column makes clear. But installation is a one-time, sunk cost—water under the bridge. As George says, the important questions are: why is it in manual now, and what will be the ben-efit of getting it into auto?

The first issue is where transferring a con-troller into auto triggers an expanding oscilla-tion, forcing a return to manual, even if only under certain operating conditions. This usu-ally happens because the tuning is so tight that

the loop is unstable with the controller in auto. But it’s also possible for each of two reciprocally interacting controllers to be stable so long as only one is in auto, but for both to cycle when they’re in auto at the same time. Both of these situations do happen, but not often. More sig-nificant for the long term are those loops that don’t control well enough during process up-sets. Often, on difficult-to-control loops, the controllers are in auto, but tuned sluggishly to keep the loop stable under most operating con-ditions and hold steady state in the absence of upsets. Then, manual/operator control is used to handle occasional upsets. So two reveal-ing metrics are the frequency of auto/manual transfers and the frequency of output changes in manual, which most loop performance soft-ware also tracks.

Greg McMillan and Stan Weiner bring their wits and more than 66 years of process

control experience to bear on your questions, comments and problems.

Write to them at [email protected].

Among Stan’s and Greg’s “Top 10 Uses of Old Performance Reviews” are as fire starters

“for fun times next to the fireplace or barbecue reading Performance Enhancement Pro-

cess (PEP) stories. ” Find the rest of the list online at http://bit.ly/1hyMfnp.

CT1403_63_64_ControlTalk.indd 63 3/5/14 10:21 AM

C O N T R O L T A L K


Stan: If the output of a controller in manual is not being adjusted by the op-erator, closed-loop control is probably not that important.

Lew: In either case, retuning such loops can improve control perfor-mance, especially during an upset, and reduce operator load. Nevertheless, this improvement is unlikely to have significant economic benefit without changes to the average operating point.

The other examples mentioned cer-tainly exist, and when they’re found and corrected, the benefits will be very welcome. Backlash and stiction are al-most pervasive. They cause oscillation too, but these situations can be distin-guished from gain-driven oscillations because the oscillations they cause are self-limiting. If the deadband and stick-slip are less than 1%, the limit cycle may be more of a nuisance than a significant economic problem (un-less it affects one of the variables men-tioned in the next paragraph). They do create a maintenance issue because of the associated wear and tear on the valve. However, such cases can go on for months and even years without be-ing addressed because their economic and operational impacts are not large enough to demand a solution. Simi-larly, instances of faulty instrumenta-tion that have significant effects, such as George describes, provide surprising and dramatic improvements. However, they’re usually singular situations—not really part of a long-term continuous improvement concept, except as gate-way events.

A process of continuous improve-ment is the real money-maker, enabled by tuning and control loop performance monitoring (CLPM) software. The arti-cle pointed toward the most beneficial reason for using CLPM software to im-prove control performance in auto: to minimize variation (reducing standard deviation) in the PVs that affect plant’s economic performance. The key point is that more stability often allows the

operating point for economically sig-nificant variables to be moved to val-ues that provide increased production rates, higher yields, lower energy costs per unit of production, longer equip-ment life, more uptime and fewer emissions violations and fines. These improvements may be less dramatic than killing a troublesome oscillation, but they’re where the big money is be-cause their return steadily accumulates over time. An improvement in any of these areas of just $150 an hour will re-turn over $1.25 million a year. Every plant is a “target-rich environment” for such opportunities, to borrow George’s phrase. A plant of any size will make millions of dollars’ worth of product a year and consume millions of dollars’ worth of energy. Even small percent-age improvements in either of these factors can generate a huge return on investment (ROI) for the effort re-quired at no capital cost.

Stan: How do you find out if a loop that is not performing affects plant economic performance?

Lew: Identify the process variables that relate to energy, raw material use and product value. Often these process variables are associated with product quality or composition. Maximizing an impurity is a prime opportunity. Two examples are maximizing the moisture in the product from a dryer and air in ice cream packed in a con-tainer, without violating quality specs. This optimization reduces the raw ma-terial and energy used per unit of prod-uct sold. A chemical engineering ex-ample is maximizing the impurity in a higher-value product stream. In distil-lation, this is often the overhead light fraction, and the impurity is the heavy fraction. Reducing over-purification can save a lot of energy and increase product yield per unit of feed.

Stan: Why are operators reluctant to push closer to a constraint?

Lew: Because process gains are of-ten higher and quality violations more likely closer to a constraint. The pos-sibility of a safety system or relief de-vice activation also increases as you get closer to a constraint. This can get op-erators into trouble, but better control performance allows them to control at more profitable points with more sta-bility, safety and confidence.

Greg: Can software automatically point the engineer to the root cause of a problem whose solution can provide significant potential benefits?

Lew: A single variable is often affected by a number of other variables. Loop performance monitoring software uses power spectrum analysis to point to other variables with common frequen-cies that may be major contributors to the variability in a key variable. Inter-action maps use color-coded XY grids to indicate strength of interaction. Still, you need to know how the inter-actions flow. The software does not de-termine if the dog is wagging the tail, or vice-versa. Someone with process understanding, a person who can de-termine what is upstream and down-stream and what happens first, needs to look at how mass and energy flow through the system.

The amplitude and period of an os-cillation also are important clues. If the amplitude is stable, the cause is most likely deadband or stick-slip. If the pe-riod is quite large relative to the dead time, the cause is probably a load dis-turbance. If the amplitude decays or grows, the cause is probably related to controller tuning. Cycling from ag-gressive tuning is the least likely cause, since most loops are tuned sluggishly. The most common cause of oscilla-tions is deadband and stiction. Next are interactions. In the case of interac-tion, you can sometimes minimize the interaction by tuning the two loops to cycle at more separated periods similar to what is done for cascade control.

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C O N T R O L R E P O R T

Jim montague e xecut ive editor

[email protected] t

66 www.controlglobal.com m a r c h / 2 0 1 4

After shooting prey,

ancient hunters

tracked it on foot

for hours until it

fell down, then cut

what they could

carry and walked

all the way home.

Sitting is the New Smoking

So I’m sitting here writing this column. A few days ago, I was sitting here writing this

issue’s “Perfect Fit” cover article on all the different ways to improve operator perfor-

mance. As the years have whizzed by, I’ve noticed after a few hours of sitting that I sort

of begin to congeal like Jell-O in a mold. Now I’m already up to my neck in a tub of

Crisco, metaphorically speaking, but this is dif-ferent than flab because I can tell my bones, muscles, joints and even my skin are growing increasingly rigid. Yes, I have cankles, too.

Luckily, I also get some occasional exercise, and I always feel better when I can stretch, walk or ride the old Schwinn Airdyne exercise bike. Sure, I get pretty winded with most exertion, but I’ve also noticed that it isn’t the activity that makes me sore, but the inactivity afterwards when every muscle contracts and sets like plas-ter. It’s logical that exercise gets the blame for pain, but it’s the long-term sitting or lying down that’s the real enemy, even though rest-ing briefly after exertion is an undeniable bless-ing. It’s the duration of the inactivity. This is an important point.

So while sitting and interviewing sources on the phone for my “Perfect Fit” story over the past few weeks, I perked up when a few men-tioned the potential danger to process appli-cations and operators of sitting too long. They stressed waning awareness of process control indicators, alerts and alarms, but they also fo-cused on the long-term health problems for operators and any desk jockey due to their sed-entary workplaces and lifestyles. A couple even reported hearing a new phrase, “Sitting is the new smoking,” to illustrate how unhealthy in-activity can be. I can believe it.

Of course, lots of research and many articles are available on this topic. Two useful stories were in the New York Times: “Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?” by James Vlahos on April 14, 2011, and at http://tinyurl.com/n8pqkou, and “Don’t Just Sit There” by Gretchen Reynolds on April 28, 2012, and at http://tinyurl.com/o2yztnr.

When I’ve covered operator effectiveness in the past, some control room designers reported adding small exercise rooms next their control rooms. These supposedly help operators get in

short workouts to help revive them. This year, several suppliers explained they’ve been going one step further, and providing consoles and workstations with “sit/stand” options. Honey-well Process Solutions, ABB, Winstead and others offer variations on the sit/stand concept.

The good news is that sit/stand workstations not only fit operators of different sizes to begin with, but also allow them to adjust their work-stations for either activity throughout their shifts. Early reports from users are that being able to shift positions and more around more freely improves comfort and awareness.

So why is this? Well, I’m betting it all goes back to our good, old hunter-gatherer biol-ogy. Legs are bigger than arms because we’ve been walking around for food ever since we left the trees. We’re hardwired, so to speak, to be standing or walking during most of our waking hours.

Long ago, I did a feature story on a bow hunt-ing club in Algonquin, Ill., and their research indicated that most primitive hunters waited in trees for prey to come by, but after getting a shot off, they usually had to walk after it for hours or days until it fell down. Then, they had to cut what they could carry, and walk all the way home. Not easy, but very good aerobics.

In our modern era, the hunt only lasts as long as the five seconds it takes to get to the refrigera-tor. This is much more convenient, of course, but not much of a challenge and not really even a tiny workout. Most of us need to get our blood and other fluids pumping through our biologi-cal process facilities for periods closer to those long walks of old.

So even though I don’t have a sit/stand sta-tion, I will put a cardboard box under my note-pad and PC, and do as many interviews and as much writing as I can in a vertical position.

How about you?

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