Minimising downtime at a chrome furnace

May 2005 System Integration & Control Systems Design

When one is faced with the task of improving and optimising the production of a chrome furnace, it is rarely to be achieved by looking for areas that may be improved in the PLC network and scada software system.

The instrumentation personnel at Assmang Machadodorp Furnace 1, and in particular Ian Myers, an acting senior instrumentation technician, were willing to do whatever was necessary to put an end to the production delays that were caused by sporadic network problems arising from incorrect network and scada configurations. These problems were brought on by an increased reliance of the operating personnel on the WinCC scada that was implemented as part of the furnace installation project earlier.

Due to the expanded use of the scada, the Ethernet network that served both the PLC and scada networks was becoming overloaded resulting in sporadic connectivity - at times bad enough to result in total loss of scada functionality. Naturally these difficulties were most prevalent during those critical periods - at startup, and whenever network load increased.

In conjunction with Siemens and Systems Management and Services (SMS), a system integrator in Witbank, Myers initiated a project to improve these conditions.

This solution involved splitting the PLC and scada networks as well as the implementation of the redundant scada server option that is available with WinCC. A simultaneous decision was made to upgrade to the latest Siemens scada platform (WinCC V 6.0) so that Assmang would stay abreast with technological advances in scada. There were also some improvements to be made to the functionality of the scada user software that would improve the operations as well as maintainability of the control system.

The resultant project was completed without any furnace downtime and the results have shown this project to be a resounding success. Since the implementation approximately a year and a half ago, there have been no furnace downtimes or production delays attributed to the scada or network systems. In fact, the furnace has since enjoyed 100% scada availability due mainly to an improved control interface and the underlying WinCC Redundancy software.

Reduced network loading has also improved the maintainability of the control system as a whole, and has resulted in improved operations control reaction times, giving the production personnel a solid base to monitor and control furnace activity with.

For more information contact Paul Mulder, Systems Management & Services, 013 656 0736, [email protected]

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