SCE's runner wins endurance marathon

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IBG - SA Instrumentation & Control Buyers' Guide

December 2009 News

Supervisory & Control Expertise SA, a local supplier of telemetry and control equipment designed for use in extreme environments, recently sponsored Dirk Cloete to victory in the Kalahari Extreme Marathon.

Dirk Cloete soaking up the heat at the front of the endurance run

The South African Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon is a test of self-sufficiency run over seven days with distances set for each day ranging from 28 to 75 km. Participants are required to carry all their supplies, clothes and compulsory survival equipment for the duration of the event. Water supply is controlled and distributed during the race. Shelter in overnight camps is the only luxury. The event encompasses far more than just covering the 250 kilometre course under the toughest of conditions; it is a challenge to achieve personal goals by pushing oneself beyond the limits that most normal people would regard as just plain crazy.

Every entrant is inspected prior to the start to ensure that they are carrying all their compulsory equipment and that their daily food’s calorie count is sufficient to sustain them; after this any further outside assistance results in disqualification from the race. Managing the ratio of calories eaten to energy expended is a vital part of the strategy for getting across the finish line.

The route offers great contrasts with details only given to participants on registration day to ensure that no unfair advantage can be gained during preparation. Landscapes range from fertile vineyards to the vast desert outstretches of the Kalahari. Temperatures vary from the mid 40°C during the day to single figures in the evenings.

“It was this concept of energy efficiency coupled with endurance in an ultra demanding environment that caught our attention,” says SCE’s Jaco Hoogenboezem. “And now Dirk’s achievement has given us the ideal showcase for our range of SCADAPack PLCs which are designed to give similarly effective performance in the tough conditions found in many industrial environments. As a runner myself I picked up the synergy immediately: the win was a bonus for us.”

The SCADAPack series of compact PLCs provide RTU functionality for use in scada and telemetry applications. The controllers are programmable in a variety of programming environments including relay ladder logic, IEC 61131-3 and multitasking C/C++. An unlimited number of PID controllers for feedback control are provided and I/O expansion for large counts is easily accomplished.

TNK-BP, a leading Russian oil company based in Moscow, recently conducted an internal comparison on competing PLCs to guide their future purchasing decisions for oilfield installations. The main criteria of the tests included:

* Ability to perform common and highly specialised technical tasks.

* Cost of the system.

* Compliance with Russian standards.

* Compliance with safety requirements.

Information and technical specifications were provided by a wide range of well known global and local automation suppliers. The results are available to managers and technical specialists within the automation departments of TNK-BP to support future recommendations of control system projects.

Readers interested to find out why the Control Microsystems SCADAPack 334 has been selected as the controller of choice for future modernisation of control systems at TNK-BP oilfields should visit: http://instrumentation.co.za/+C13337

For more information contact Jaco Hoogenboezem, Supervisory & Control Expertise SA, +27 (0)83 282 5706, [email protected], www.sce.co.za

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