New national regulations, introduced to clean up pollution and to reduce the visual impact of industrial plants on the landscape, required a coal fired power plant in the USA to upgrade to enable conformance. The following needed to be added:
* Catalytic reduction system to lower nitrous oxide emissions.
* Dry scrubber for capturing sulphur dioxide.
* A baghouse (enclosed coal delivery bunker) to accept deliveries of coal and eliminate particulate emissions when coal is tipped out of the wagons.
Adding oxygen and carbon monoxide measurements into the control system would reduce pollution and the improved combustion efficiency would reduce fuel consumption and lower operating costs. New gas analysers were therefore required to integrate with the Allen Bradley PLC used to control the boiler. Acromag, a supplier of signal conditioners and isolators, was approached to supply a device to read the signals from the analysers and connect them to the PLC.
Acromag supplied two modules (961EN-6006 for analog signals, 983EN-6012 for digital signals) with an Ethernet IP protocol interface for direct connection with the PLC. Using these remote I/O modules, the site engineers were easily able to integrate the gas analyser readings and alarms into the control system. As part of the process, Acromag remote I/O modules were also used to connect the new weather station readings for data-logging and control purposes.
Why secure industrial communication depends on deployment as well
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The Industrial Security Harmonisation Group has released a joint industry perspective highlighting a critical truth in industrial cybersecurity: secure communication is not determined by protocols alone, but by how they are deployed and managed in real-world environments.
Read more...A single platform for all automation functions Beckhoff Automation
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
The introduction of TwinCAT in 1996 marked a decisive evolutionary step for PC-based control. Today, the TwinCAT platform combines all automation functions in a strictly deterministic real-time environment, from PLC and motion control through CNC and measurement technology and beyond, to vision, robotics and pioneering AI tools.
Read more...Loop signature Part 2-4: Feedforward Control: Part 3 Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
In the previous articles in this series, the basic theory behind feedforward control was discussed, and it was also shown how to apply feedforward in practice. In this article, it will be shown how well feedforward can work in practice by giving a couple of examples.
Read more...Control Station and Dimension Software partner to connect control performance monitoring with enterprise operations intelligence
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Control Station has entered into a strategic technology partnership with Dimension Software, a leading provider of industrial operations management platforms. The collaboration connects Control Station’s PlantESP control loop performance monitoring platform with Dimension Software’s Asset Intellect operations intelligence environment, enabling manufacturers to operationalise control performance insights across their organisations.
Read more...Precise, synchronised control for automated steel mesh handling system
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Automation specialist Hambi Maschinenbau has developed a world-first system that automates the cutting, handling and stacking of heavy reinforcing steel mesh – a task that previously required up to six human operators.
Read more...Loop signature Part 2-3: Feedforward Control: Part 2 Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Feedforward control tuning is not nearly as critical as feedback tuning, and fairly simple models are usually fine for the purpose in hand.
Read more...Upgrading radiological surveillance systems in nuclear facilities Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Nuclear plant operators face an uncomfortable reality. Many of the control and monitoring systems still in use today were never designed to support the full operational lifespan of the facilities they serve.
Read more...Next-level CAN Software enables easy access to CAN XL Industrial Data Xchange (IDX)
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
With the release of its PCAN-Explorer 7, PEAK delivers a major update that adds full support for CAN XL, multiple symbol files per connection, Python scripting and flexible licensing including floating licenses.
Read more...Loop signature Part 2-2: Feedforward Control: Part 1 Michael Brown Control Engineering
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Feedforward control is a powerful technique that can dramatically improve control variance in cases where load changes cause big deviations from setpoint and the actual process dynamics are too slow to allow the feedback controller to operate fast enough to catch these disturbances.
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