Predictive intelligence makes the whole enterprise smarter. Emerson’s PlantWeb is a digital plant architecture that uses the power of predictive intelligence to improve plant performance.
Alpret Control Specialists is a leader in South Africa in the field of process control instrumentation and process systems solutions, providing world-renowned products, specialised training, after sales service and technical support. Alpret is the local business partner of Emerson Process Management and represents the company in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
A division of Aveng Africa, Alpret has its head office in Johannesburg with regional offices in Durban, Secunda and Sasolburg. The company supplies and supports field devices and systems that help businesses automate their production, processing and distribution operations in the oil and gas, mining, chemical, pulp and paper, power generation and other industries. Engineers at Alpret Control Specialists are qualified, trained, have solid plant experience and understand the needs of the industries they serve.
Emerson Process Management is an international market leader in the field of process automation whose PlantWeb market offering includes: control valves, regulators, tank gauging equipment and systems, transmitters, analysers, process automation systems, asset management software and engineering and repair services. Brands represented under PlantWeb, include Fisher, Rosemount, Micro Motion, Daniel, Bristol, DeltaV and AMS Suite.
PlantWeb philosophy
The PlantWeb solution is a digital bus-based approach to plant automation and control that incorporates high-speed communications networks, intelligent field devices, asset management software, and bus I/O technologies. This approach offers a number of operational and economic advantages that range from reduced wiring costs, streamlined device configuration and more efficient plant start-up, to long-term operations and maintenance savings.
PlantWeb in action
Emerson is to install its PlantWeb digital architecture with the Ovation expert control system at the Pingdingshan Luyang coal-fired power plant in China’s Henan Province. The plant, which will ultimately feature six 1000 MW units, is particularly significant on two fronts. It marks the first application of Emerson’s Ovation system for direct control of a turbine in a 1000 MW plant, and it is the first large-scale implementation of the PlantWeb architecture utilising Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus DP industry standard communications protocols in a Chinese power plant. For Pingdingshan Luyang, the digital automation solution consists of the Ovation control system, AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager and Scenario simulation technology, as well as HART field devices from Rosemount and Fisher.
Ovation system
At each unit, the Ovation system will perform data acquisition and monitor and control all major plant components, including the Donfang boiler and Harbin turbine. Unifying boiler and turbine operations translates into a number of significant operational benefits. For example, fully coordinated boiler and turbine control has been proven to provide improved unit stability, responsiveness and thermal efficiencies; tighter overall control of plant operations; and a more concise view of key plant and turbine parameters.
The Ovation system will also manage the flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) system, modulating control system, sequence control system, electrical control system and balance of plant processes; as well as water treatment, ash handling, transportation and other auxiliary systems. The Ovation systems will be integrated utilising multinetworking technology.
AMS Suite
The water treatment area will utilise AMS Suite predictive maintenance software, which streamlines device configuration, enabling savings and increased plant start-up efficiency. AMS Device Manager also supports proactive maintenance by providing online access to instrument and valve process information, as well as predictive diagnostic information. It delivers predictive health information and corrective guidelines as needed to plant personnel, and automatically documents all field device maintenance information. The water treatment area will also make extensive use of digital bus-based technologies, with the Ovation system incorporating 12 Foundation Fieldbus segments with a total of 65 Foundation Fieldbus devices, including pressure transmitters, temperature transmitters, level transmitters and flow transmitters; as well as 20 Profibus DP segments, with 180 Profibus DP devices including electric actuators, motors, valves and analytical instruments.
Scenario simulation
To ensure smooth start-up and ongoing operation, Emerson is also providing a high-fidelity Scenario simulation solution. Configured using control logic identical to that of the Pingdingshan Luyang plant, the Scenario solution will offer a highly realistic engineering analysis environment. The simulation solution will feature a virtual architecture, in which the actual Ovation controllers are replaced with virtual controllers that reside on one or more Microsoft Windows-based PCs. Despite the smaller footprint, virtual controllers provide one-to-one functionality that mirrors the Ovation controllers that comprise the plant control system.
“The megawatts the Pingdingshan Luyang power plant will produce are critical to meeting the region’s demand for power,” said Hongzhan Wang, I&C director at CPI. “For a project of this size, scope and importance, the logical choice was Emerson’s industry-leading automation technology.”
For more information contact Luculle Stols, Alpret Control Specialists, +27 (0)11 249 6700, [email protected], www.alpret.co.za
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