In July, the Vaal branch was invited to visit the Gautrain Operational Control Centre (OCC) in Midrand. The visit was arranged by PR company, Craving Novity, on behalf of Invensys who supplied the Wonderware applications and Kentz who designed some of the systems for the project.
Introductions were done by Kentz maintenance technician Hennie van Tonder and Jaco Markwat of Invensys Operations Management. Then presentations were given on some of the systems that were integrated with the scada solution. Design engineer Sheldon Frade explained the tunnel ventilation systems, station and tunnel management system (STMS) and the security and access management system (SAMS). Some of the challenges posed by the project included requirements for high availability and long distances between stations, requirements for redundancy on systems, and, in some cases additional redundancy at the different Gautrain stations. Many of the systems are automated and were designed specifically to provide ease of use and guidance to operators and emergency personnel. Triple redundancy on control systems was required as well as dual power supplies to tunnel equipment.
Systems that are integrated and monitored include CCTV on trains and in the field, public address systems, the STMS, traffic workstations, power management system, telephones, surveillance and access control systems, automatic fare collection system, passenger information display, fire panels and lifts and conveyors. In all of this, the scada is the main system controlling and monitoring all systems and functions.
The visits to the OCC response rooms were the highlight of the visit. The OCC houses a large number of operator interfaces, mimic displays and alarm panels to make it easy for the operators to control the systems. Although the train network seemed quite complex it was easy to spot the stations and progress of trains on the routes. Within the control room itself, every movement and sound was monitored and recorded.
It was a day where we witnessed great technology implemented in a project where C&I experts helped create a First-World public transport system.
Technology evening
As a follow up on the Gautrain visit, Invensys joined the Vaal branch for a presentation on Wonderware scada technology. Presentations were delivered by Markus van der Merwe from Invensys and Sheldon Frade from Kentz who were involved with installation of some of the Gautrain systems and the integration with Wonderware system.
Markus highlighted the type of technical support and management that is available for large projects like the Gautrain and emphasised the importance of having a system that is scalable. Options for up to triple redundancy and very fast data speeds are added benefits of the system.
Some really high-tech equipment and monitoring was installed in the tunnel systems and a high level of reliability was required. Due to the large number of systems, handling alarms was quite a challenge. A method based on displaying alarms per station and floor level was used to simplify the alarm display for control room operators. Alarms are also routed to other systems like maintenance and security.
The presentations were well received and it was clear from the large number of questions that there was much interest and pride in this project.
Due to space constraints this newsletter had to be edited to fit, readers can download the unedited version at http://instrumentation.co.za/+C18187
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