Citect project at Anglo Platinum PPL
March 2005
SCADA/HMI
Access Control & Identity Management
Citect has completed the installation of a CitectScada system for an opencast platinum mine at Anglo Platinum PPL (Potgietersrus Platinum Ltd). The system, which consists of three unlimited I/O point servers, 11 unlimited I/O point display clients (full control) and 25 unlimited I/O point manager clients (view only), has a total of 27 334 I/O tags and took 5760 man hours to complete. It runs on Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 2000 Server, in conjunction with Minovex Expert System and IDX OPC software.
Redundancy is essential in any environment where process failure will have substantial cost implications, and CitectScada makes use of full redundant distributed system architecture. The system consists of two redundant CitectScada I/O servers; a third party implemented PLC redundancy.
From the Citect manager nodes, information is sent to a standard intranet for distribution to the relevant management levels. The management reporting system installed at PPL includes Plant2Business with Crystal Reports for generating shift and run hour reports, which are available on the Plant2Net portal. CitectScada's distributed trending system handles large numbers of variables without compromising performance or data integrity. Pre-configured trend pages provide clear data representation with customisable views. The trends are a seamless combination of realtime and historical data.
The control graphics at PPL were compiled by Citect's internal graphics artists and system engineers, and makes full use of the functionality available in CitectScada. Although Citect graphics consist of standard graphic symbols for different industries, customised graphics sets can be created to suit client requirements. 3D images of the crushers and site overview were generated and digital photos of the site were used for the start-up screen.
CitectScada's own programming language, Cicode, allows users to create user-defined functions for performing project specific tasks. Cicode gives the user access to and control over elements in the runtime system, for example, realtime data, alarms, reports, trends, historical data and operator display. It also allows the user to have access to the computer system, such as the operating system and communication ports.
Plant upgrades are costly and prolonged use of a new system must be guaranteed. Citect's system architecture can easily be scaled to meet future plant upgrades and expansions without having to modify existing hardware or software. The wide range of drivers available makes it simple to set up communications to different PLCs.
Citect is one of the world's largest independent suppliers of scada, industrial automation and industrial information management (IIM) solutions with proven reliability in mining automation software.
For more information contact Niconette du Toit, Citect, 011 699 6600, [email protected], www.citect.com
Further reading:
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