Reviewer details
Name:Sylvain Collet-Serret
Position/Designation:Process Control Consultant
Company:Illovo Sugar Ltd
Telephone:(031)508 4399
E-mail: [email protected]
Product details
Vendor:Orsi
Contact person:Dirk Swart
Product name and version:Cube 2.03.03
Telephone:(031)765 4255
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:www.orsiweb.com
General
Q: What industry is the scada being applied in?
A: Complete plant-wide monitoring and control of a sugar mill incorporating the areas of extraction, juice preparation, crystallisation, refining, steam generation and power generation.
Q: Who did the system integration?
A: Illovo Sugar-Technical Services.
Q: How is the after-sales support handled (eg remote-dial-up, e-mail etc)?
A: A combination of e-mail and telephonic support.
Q: What sort of licensing agreement is used on the system?
A: All software is loaded on installation with individual modules being activated via licence code. Only the required modules need to be purchased and additional modules can be activated at any time.
System architecture
Q: How many tag points/I/O does the installation have?
A: Including predefined spares for the PLC there are 6300 floating point tags, 8700 integer/bit tags and 5700 user defined tags comprising of both floating and bit tags all of which exist in one single database. The maximum number of tag points equates to the size of the database, which has a 4 MB limit (approximately 600 000 tags any mix).
Q: What operating system is the scada running on?
A: Windows NT.
Q: What impressed you most about the architecture?
A: Cube is an open system that keeps track with the latest software trends (OPC, Active-X etc). The range of drivers is extensive and they are easy to configure. Due to it being a hybrid system (DCS and scada) it allows for extremely flexible and cost effective configuration that is completely transparent to the operator. The system is fully customisable.
Q: Is the system integrated onto an intranet or the Internet?
A: At present there is no Internet/intranet integration but both remote monitoring and full remote control is possible via user password authentication on both an intranet or Internet system linked to the LAN control system.
Q: What sort of redundancy is built into the system?
A: More than one driver can be connected to the same realtime database. This database can be configured in Hot Back-up together with the software drivers utilised in the application. The alarm/trend/history server can also exist in Hot Back-up. The communications network exists in a redundant configuration.
Graphics
Q: Describe the graphics development process.
A: Development included both the use of library images and developed images.
Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images?
A: Adequate.
Q: Did you use any 'special' images (eg embedded video clips, photographs, 3D images etc)?
A: No.
Compatibility
Q: Did you run the scada in conjunction with any third-party application software?
A: No.
Q: Does the scada allow for the user to create scripts to perform specific tasks?
A: Yes. The programming environment allows for the generation of ladder, block and script programmes with the ability of creating user-defined functions. Mass balances, data reconciliation and consumption criteria can be established.
Management reporting
Q: Is a trending and historical data reporting system included?
A: Yes. It is based on a true distributed client/server architecture. A sophisticated compression algorithm provides for archiving which is only restricted to the size of the computer hard disk. The client can display simultaneously eight windows each with eight trend points with full zoom and scroll capability.
Q: Is a management reporting system included in the package?
A: Yes. Via an ODBC connection realtime data can be passed to and from any compliant software. A standard report manager exists as a module of the software.
Q: Is the system integrated into a manufacturing execution system?
A: Not in this case but MES applications are part of the CUBE software suite.
Q: Is the scada system integrated into a management reporting or control system (eg SAP, Baan)?
A: No.
Conclusion
Q: What impressed you the most about the system?
A: Orsi provides a very cost-effective, fully redundant, open system. The hybrid capability is a big advantage as there are no 'throw-aways' when an existing system is replaced with Orsi. Support from the vendor is nothing short of excellent.
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