Wonderware's extensive range of industrial automation solutions is usually associated with manufacturing execution systems and factory scada applications. But, from South Africa's high security prisons and casinos to the mega convention centres of Las Vegas, these same solutions are helping building administrators get the most from their expensive assets by providing them with a sophisticated level of control over their energy management, access control and security needs.
Worldwide, casinos, hotels and convention centres form a multibillion dollar industry that has to meet the demanding needs of millions of customers 24 h/day and 365 days/yr - nonstop. This is big business that cannot tolerate interruptions or customer dissatisfaction for any reason but mainly through disruptions in their power supply.
In Fourways, Sandton, seven electrical substations look after the extensive power needs of the Monte Casino complex. But even this is dwarfed in comparison to Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel and casino complex with its 3000 rooms and sprawling entertainment and casino facilities, all powered by no less than 20 substations. In these and many other cases, the continuous and uninterrupted supply of power is a key factor for the profitable operation of these entertainment and convention centres, which use Wonderware's InTouch scada system to help them manage their critical, realtime operations and maintain customer satisfaction.
"The total power monitoring control system, with the control scenarios that are in place, helps to avoid or at least minimise downtime," says Kevin Hartig, Project Manager for ESC, the system integrator responsible for the InTouch implementation at The Venetian. "If there was a feeder equipment failure on one circuit, the system is designed to automatically switch sources and restore power, keeping systems online. If the system was not designed to operate in this manner, it could take up to 15 minutes just for facilities staff to get to a specific location and identify the problem. Just three circuit faults in a year could cost upwards of US$375 000 under those conditions. This is in addition to the emergency standby systems that are in place to prevent total power loss in the event that Nevada Power experienced delivery problems to the property. Without the standby systems, the loss could be astronomical."
"In an industry where time is quite literally money," says Mike le Plastrier, MD Futuristix-Wonderware, "entertainment and hotel complex operators look to Wonderware's InTouch to also provide them with the information they need to address other key business needs such as accurate cost allocations. The definition of cost centres allows them to determine actual energy usage by operating departments or groups, to evaluate efficiency and determine where energy-reducing strategies such as moving in-peak usage into off-peak periods or shifting from one rate schedule to another could help improve power costs."
Another application is with demand prediction, which can identify costly variations in load profiles by monitoring peak demand usage in all facilities and enabling the implementation of control strategies to avoid unforeseen peak demands that can incur additional power surcharges. This leads to load shedding management that can facilitate the orderly cycle-down of operations during any electrical disturbance.
Continuous system metering provides an accurate picture of energy use so that problems can often be identified and alarmed proactively in order to reduce maintenance and replacements costs. This also applies to the protection and management of generators, which can reduce downtime and maintenance or repair costs as well as make the most efficient use of backup generation capabilities. All this goes hand-in-hand with power quality monitoring which tracks power data such as voltage or current waveforms and harmonic content so that the mix of different power needs - from lighting to computers and lifts - is handled efficiently.
With increasing focus on security, the realtime capabilities of InTouch, InTrack and scadalarm (alarm messaging system) are helping prison administrators cope with the complex environments of high-security prisons throughout South Africa. Typically, these installations need to handle tens of thousands of tags which provide the scada system access to several integrated systems that include camera switching systems, UPS (uninterruptible power supply) units, surge arrestors, tape recorders, access control, generators, door control, lights and audio control. Systems must also be capable of handling several hundred analog and digital I/Os simultaneously to cope with the increased traffic during peak periods such as meal times.
"In the prison environment," says le Plastrier, "hot standby does not just mean providing redundancy. Standby computers also have the tricky job of instantly taking over the realtime control status of the failed system."
When coupled to technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, Wonderware's FactorySuite also helps detect and track costly movable assets such as computers and other equipment, whether in the office or factory. This same technology is also used for personnel identification and access control.
"The key to successful building management," explains le Plastrier, "lies in a holistic approach that addresses and integrates all the elements that contribute to efficiency, productivity and safety. This can only be done through 'intelligent' systems that recognise the interdependence between these elements and that control resources accordingly."
Futuristix
(011) 723 9900
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version