Scada system facilitates platinum smelter optimisation

SCADA/HMI

March 2002 SCADA/HMI

Impala Platinum's smelter plant in Rustenburg forms part of a continuous process that results in the refining of some of the most costly base metals on earth. It is a process that has little tolerance for inefficiencies and downtimes and which requires careful and constant scrutiny if production levels are to be maintained.

Impala Platinum's smelter plant scada system consists of 14 InTouch workstations connected to a variety of PLCs via an industrial Ethernet. Wonderware's IndustrialSQL server is connected to the same network and configured in such a way as to poll the PLCs directly if necessary. InSQL is also connected to Impala's token ring network which forms part of the mine's information delivery infrastructure. Wonderware's ActiveFactory has been installed on all of the Smelter operational managers' PCs.

ActiveFactory is Wonderware's full-featured suite of client applications that maximise the value of data stored in InSQL Server. The suite allows for the dissemination of information across an intranet network or the Internet. ActiveFactory provides trending analysis of data over time, easy numerical analysis of data using Microsoft Excel, comprehensive data reporting using Microsoft Word as well as ad-hoc access to plant floor historical and realtime information using the corporate information highways.

The Smelter InSQL provides Impala with a realtime record of over 6 000 tags for a 60 to 90 day period. This huge amount of data would be impossible to analyse without the ActiveFactory tools, which have helped Impala aggregate data for specified areas to determine actual plant performance or the cause of failures. Some examples of where ActiveFactory and InSQL helped pinpoint the source of problems include plant performance data, equipment failure, exonerating measurement instrument failure, highlighting the nonperformance of maintenance staff and outside contractors and detecting errors in PLC programs and operational philosophies.

"An important thing to bear in mind," says Jaco van Heerden, senior instrumentation technician, "is that all these tools are 'off the shelf'. Their flexible functionality is helping us to streamline our processes and highlight the cause of problems without the need for special application software or help from third parties."

Mike le Plastrier, Futuristix

011 723 9900

[email protected]

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SCADA/HMI

Scada system facilitates platinum smelter optimisation

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