At the last Technology Evening, members of the Durban branch and visitors attended a thought-provoking presentation entitled ‘Roadmap to industrial Ethernet’ at the Westville offices of Dimension Data, who kindly provided refreshments and an excellent venue for some social and professional networking before and afterwards.
The presentation traced the evolution of industrial Ethernet noting the advantages in terms of capability, cost and global availability of system support for Ethernet-based control systems; but also highlighting their vulnerability to hackers, a factor that has largely been ignored until recently some successful attacks demonstrated their vulnerability recently. The risk of attack was shown not to be confined only to scada or PLC control systems, which have been jeopardised by users introducing a virus from a memory stick, but also to the latest generation DCS systems that are integrated into other management-related networks. It was recommended that control systems which are currently being developed need to be designed by process control engineers working closely with their IT counterparts, for systems that are resistant to hacking and procedures that ensure system integrity is maintained.
The two local examples of successful implementation of industrial Ethernet control systems were cited at Moses Mabhida Stadium and King Shaka International Airport.
Forthcoming attractions – NB please note the new venue
The next technology evening will be held on 6 October at the Westville Country Club at the usual time 17h40 for 18h15. The presentation will be on Exi: Intrinsic Safety.
Visitors welcome. For queries contact Jane van der Spuy on +27 (0)83 234 5412.
Intrinsic Safety is the preferred protection technique for many instrumentation installations. We will look at the origins and principles of IS, including hazardous area zoning and the implications of dust. We will also examine and compare the use of zener barriers and galvanic isolators. How loop approvals are done and how cable lengths are calculated. The presentation will end with a brief look at IS for fieldbus and Ethernet.
Presenter: Gary Friend, sales director, Extech Safety Systems.
Gary completed his B.Sc Electrical Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand in 1990 and subsequently joined Temperature Controls. In 1992, he joined LTH Electronics in the UK as a design engineer responsible for process control instrumentation for water quality monitoring.
Gary joined MTL in November 1995 as a design engineer specialising in zener barriers. From there he moved to the MTL8000 process I/O team, where he was responsible for product validation, integration testing and customer support worldwide. From 2005 he program managed the MTL4500 galvanic isolator development team, working closely with Honeywell in the USA to integrate the new MTL4500 in the Honeywell series C GIIS.
In 2006, Gary returned to South Africa and joined Extech Safety Systems. Gary sits on the Ex-steering committee and IS sub-committee of the SA Flameproof Association and is vice-chairman of the Fieldbus Foundation Southern African marketing committee.
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