Emerson Process Experts

Alternative Fuels Regional Summit Coming to Houston

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:08:47 -0600

Finding alternative sources of energy remains a large, global topic. A quick check of Google News returns almost 8,000 news items in the past month alone. The Emerson Alternative Fuels team, led by director Al Novak, is holding a fourth regional summit on December 16 in Houston, Texas. The Alternative Fuels Summit has as its focus the successful commercialization of alternative fuels and coal gasification technologies.

These summits bring together industry leaders, investors, academia, and other experts to discuss the technologies, feedstock issues, and best practice developed to date. The goal is to find ways to reduce risks, lower the costs of production, and find commercial viability for the many types of alternative fuels. Some examples of these alternative fuels include wood waste to ethanol, animal fats to clean diesel fuel, and coal gasification.

The speakers at the Houston event include:

Phil Amick, commercialization director, gasification, Conoco-Phillips, on feedstock conversion technologies
John Derbyshire, senior vice president, KBR, on feedstock conversion technologies
Matt Whitaker, senior vice president, Synthesis Energy Systems, on process commercialization of a new technology
James Childress, executive director, Gasification Technologies Council, on the legislative landscape
James Stanley, manager for alternative fuels for Emerson, on reducing project risk, costs and scheduling - on blueprint to production

I caught up with James Stanley and asked him about some of the key points he planned to discuss. He noted that synfuels from coal, pet coke, and other non-traditional feedstocks would be imperative to the U.S. energy portfolio. Whether a company is retrofitting a brownfield site or building a greenfield site, following processes such as Independent Project Analysis and PEpC are key to success. James also pointed to the trend of increasing process complexity and increasing safety instrumented system (SIS) requirements for gasification projects. Partnering early with a main automation contractor can help reduce risk during project execution, commissioning, and start-up.

The session kicks off with a keynote presentation by Michael Williams, the commissioner for the Railroad Commission of Texas. Beyond its initial charter to regulate railroad charges and tariffs, the commission now regulates all energy in the state of Texas.

If you're involved in the research, funding, design, engineering, or production related to alternative forms of energy, you may want to visit the alternative fuels website and register for one of the 50 slots.

MP3 | iTunes

Express Interface (Xi) Technical Overview Slidecast

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:29:17 -0600

In an earlier post, Secure, Firewall Friendly Communications, I described the new Express Interface (Xi) standard. It overcomes some of the inherent issues in securely communicating information between process automation and asset management systems with other applications in a process manufacturing facility.

I asked Emerson's Lee Neitzel, who was the technical lead for the Xi project, if he would consider doing a slidecast presentation to provide an Xi technical overview of the standard. He agreed, so without further adieu, here is a 15-minute, narrated overview. The presentation is also available for download.

ExpressInterface (Xi) Technical Overview

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In this presentation, Lee provides a layman's overview of what Xi is, why it was developed, and how it is a common interface for the OPC Data Access (DA), OPC Alarms & Events (A&E), and OPC Historical Data Access (HDA). He describes the security and performance models.

After this introduction, the presentation gets more specific and provides more detail for software developers. I found Lee's clear descriptions easy to follow even as a non-software developer.

You can also find out more about the Xi specification and sample code at the Express Interface site.

Using HART Diagnostics in Your Safety Instrumented Systems

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:39:09 -0600

Emerson's Alan Harris has written a new whitepaper, DeltaV SIS HART Capabilities. It describes various HART capabilities that can be used with the DeltaV SIS system as well as HART diagnostics implementation best practices. For those unfamiliar with HART, the HART Communications Foundation describes it:

HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) Protocol is the global standard for sending and receiving digital information across analog wires between smart devices and control or monitoring system.

Alan describes the importance of HART diagnostics in safety applications:

The HART diagnostics provide much more information on the health of a field device than can be determined from a standard 4-20 mA signal. For this reason, greater SIL (by turning Dangerous Undetected failures into Dangerous Detected failures) and longer proof testing intervals can be achieved by field devices running HART diagnostics.

He also makes the strong point that HART is not a safety-rated platform and that you should never substitute HART signals for hardwired signals, when the hardwired signal is being used to detect a hazardous condition with a SIL (safety integrity level) rating. HART only should be used for diagnostic purposes.

Alan does describe ways it can be used, especially in safety instrumented systems like DeltaV SIS that can incorporate these diagnostics directly into the SIS logic. One example is upon recognition of sensor faulty status; the SIS logic can degrade the transmitter voting:

...remove the transmitter from the voting logic (i.e. a 2oo3 voted group of transmitters degrades to 1oo2 or 2oo2 with the bad transmitter viewed as faulty) or the transmitter can be simply alarmed via operator graphics.

In the case of a problem with a final control element with a HART-enabled digital valve controller:

...HART device status signals can be used to trip valves that use a HART-enabled positioner or alarm the valve via operator graphics.

Other conditions the SIS logic can monitor in sensor devices through the HART diagnostics include PV out of limits, analog-digital mismatch, PV output saturated, PV output fixed, loss of digital communications, and field device malfunction.

For safety-application rated digital valve controllers like the Fisher DVC6000 SIS, diagnostics available to the SIS logic or asset management software include: loop current, auxiliary contact status, output pressure, % travel, position, drive signal, valve setpoint, pressure, differential pressure, and DVC internal temperature. Also, this digital communications provides a path for the SIS logic or asset management software to initiate manual or scheduled partial stroke tests (PST), which:

...checks for valve movement without fully stroking the valve. Many applications will allow 10% movements to verify valve response without upsetting the critical process line. Diagnostic data is collected and an alert is given if the valve is stuck.

Alan's whitepaper describes some of the diagnostics available in other Emerson devices such as the Rosemount 3051S pressure and 3144P temperature transmitters, and the Micro Motion Coriolis flow transmitters. He describes the purpose of these diagnostics to give the reader ideas of how they might be incorporated into their SIS logic to improve diagnostic coverage and safely increase overall availability by reducing spurious trips.

If you're responsible for your plant's safety instrumented system, you might consider giving this whitepaper a read.

MP3 | iTunes

Summary of Multi-Supplier EDDL Demonstration at ISA Expo 2009

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:50:27 -0600

Emerson's Jonas Berge, whom you may recall from earlier EDDL-related posts, has written a great summary of the EDDL demonstration at the recent ISA Expo 2009. I'll highlight a few of his key points and embed a slideshow of some pictures from the event.

For those unfamiliar with EDDL or Electronic Device Description Language, Jonas summarized it:

EDDL is the leading international standard for device integration and is known as IEC 61804-3. The EDDL standard enables device management software and handheld communicators to display device information so that technicians can setup and commission a device, calibrate, perform diagnostics and troubleshooting, and other device management tasks.

From a host system perspective, Jonas wrote:

Five different hosts including handheld field communicator, laptop software, and integrated control systems supporting EDDL enhancements were on display, and these are just some of the systems supporting EDDL. All leading DCS have by now passed the Fieldbus Foundation Host Registration Process (HRP), supporting EDDL enhancements. A handheld field communicator with color graphics was shown as well. Visitors to the booth could see how system software interoperates with devices from other manufacturers, implementing the EDDL enhancements. The EDDL standard allows a single software application or a single handheld field communicator to work with different types of devices from many manufacturers. That is, a single open solution takes the place of many proprietary tools.

He briefly summarized the history of the EDDL standard:

Traditional DD was introduced in 1992 but lacked graphics. It became an international standard in 2004. In 2006 the graphical enhancements were added to the standard making it possible to support sophisticated (complex) devices, meeting this and all the other NAMUR NE 105 requirements.

The list of device suppliers who participated was quite impressive. Jonas described it:

Simple temperature and pressure transmitters were provided by Emerson, Endress+Hauser, Microcyber and Siemens. Other devices included pH transmitter from Knick as well as Current to Fieldbus Converter from Microcyber. Sophisticated (complex) devices included radar and magnetostrictive level transmitters from Emerson, ISE-Magtech, Siemens, and Vega as well as control valves with positioners from Emerson, Foxboro-Eckardt, Metso, Samson, and Siemens. A variable speed drive was provided by Siemens and fieldbus diagnostics module (a relatively new type of device that monitors signal and noise level of the bus infrastructure) by MTL.

EDDL extended to WirelessHART devices:

Some HART devices were demonstrated with a WirelessHART adaptor. Since EDDL is independent of the communication path, these devices are integrated using the same EDDL file as when they communicate HART over the wire.

The summary report described aspects of the live demonstration including graphics and wizards, look and feel consistency, settings and diagnostics expert help, ease of integration, integrated device diagnostics, data access, and the EDDL role in automation systems' control strategies.

Jonas concluded the report:

State-of-the-art systems and devices support EDDL enhancements in the 2006 edition of the IEC 61804-3 standard. The ISA104 EDDL demonstration at ISA Expo confirmed what the report from BIS found: EDDL is interoperable and meets the requirements of NAMUR NE 105.

The EDDL.org website remains the best source for news, articles, videos, and other information on this important standard.

MP3 | iTunes

Virtual Training Courses across the Internet

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:07:47 -0600

A few days ago, I saw this Twitter tweet from Emerson's Jeff Hackney:

Train fm home - Emrsn Virtual Training classes for MiMiC V3 (Dec 1, 09) and DeltaV 7009 (Nov 2, 09) http://tiny.cc/Emerson_VLearning

Jeff is part of the Emerson Educational Services team and I was curious to find out more about this virtual training. I discovered what makes this different from traditional e-Learning sessions is the live instruction across the internet as well as remote access to the training equipment. The instructors are based here in Austin, Texas and deliver classes at scheduled times--11/2 and 12/1 as Jeff notes in his tweet. The virtual training course provides internet access to classroom-based equipment such as DeltaV systems and MiMiC simulation software.

One of the barriers in these economic times to taking training courses is the travel and living costs for course. Or, the travel and living costs of the instructor(s) plus the equipment shipping costs for training at a process manufacturer's site.

The first course offered, DeltaV 7009V on November 2, is the virtual training version of the DeltaV Implementation I course, which:

...covers a complete DeltaV system implementation. Upon completion of this course the student will be able to define system capabilities, define nodes, configure continuous and sequential control strategies, operate the system and define users and security.

On Martin Berutti's blog on the Mynah website, he wrote about the December 1 virtual training course for MiMiC:

We strongly recommend this course and are very excited about the new Simulation with MiMiC V-Learning school offered by Emerson Educational Services. MiMiC Simulation Software for DeltaV Testing and Operator Training is a proven technology for saving time and money on DeltaV projects. The Simulation with MiMiC school offers a step-by-step approach to using MiMiC on capital projects or OpEx initiatives. Troy Nelson is an excellent, professional instructor with a deep, practical knowledge of MiMiC and dynamic simulation.

It will be interesting to see the initial feedback from both the DeltaV 7009V and MiMiC courses in having virtual access to the Educational Services instructors and training equipment.

MP3 | iTunes

Improved Distillation Column Recovery and Reduced Energy Usage

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:28:56 -0600

Here's another great presentation from the recent Emerson Exchange from refining & chemicals industry solutions director, Pete Sharpe. You may recall Pete from earlier process optimization-related posts.

His presentation, SmartProcess Distillation Application Improves Recovery and Saves Energy--A Case Study, describes a project to improve operations on a high-purity distillation process at a Goodyear facility. These distillation columns, 11 in total, were part of a purification unit with multiple trains. The ultra-high purity product specifications required very tight quality controls.

Smart Process Distillation Application Improves Recovery And Saves Energy

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From a control strategy standpoint, the process had multiple large, 200+ tray columns with extremely long time constants. Also, different feedstock suppliers provided feed with different qualities. The operators had to have large safety margins to compensate for disturbances caused by the feed variability. These conservative margins reduced the overall recovery rate and increased the energy required per unit output. Overall, the purification unit was a large energy consumer within the plant.

Pete and the APC consultants worked with the engineers to scope a project that included a functional specification that included the design for all 11 columns in the purification unit. The initial implementation phase covered only the first column in the series to:

Have the Goodyear team gain experience with the technology
Develop acceptance by the plant operators
Demonstrate the value of the distillation optimization to the management staff.

The plant engineering staff with support from the Emerson APC consultants would implement subsequent columns.

During the functional design specification phase that included an on-site audit of the installed instrumentation and control strategies, the team identified regulatory control issues including sticking control valves. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, process variability can often be traced back to valve performance problems and these should be addressed first.

After these issues had been addressed, the team installed a SmartProcess Distillation Optimizer that embeds DeltaV model predictive control and neural network function blocks on the first column. The control strategies were based on a "what comes in must go out" approach that included material (overhead to feed ratio) and energy (reflux to feed ratio) balances. The objective of the optimization was to minimize overhead product loss while controlling bottoms impurities to target.

The manipulated variables (MV) for the MPC controller included the distillate rate and reboiler steam. The control variables (CV) included the lower tray pressure-compensated temperature (PCT) and the overhead PCT. The disturbance variables (DV) included the feed flows and reflux temperature. The column constraint variables included measurements from on-line analyzers for overhead product loss and light impurities in the bottoms as well as internal flux rate, column delta pressure and the reflux/distillate ratio.

Pete and the team had to work through reboiler steam temperature instability caused by a process design issue. Also, the overhead pressure controller range was insufficient to handle the difference in temperature between day and night. Two valves controlled the pressure in a condenser system, one large and one small. The pressure swings caused changes in the temperature and quality of the column output. The team developed a control strategy to adjust the large valve to keep the small valve within the correct control range.

A two-week period on-site was required to address these issues, commission the optimizer, and train the operating and engineering staff. The results from this project were impressive. The optimizer immediately started reducing distillate rate and overhead product losses. The average overhead product loss was reduced 22% while the impurities in the bottoms were maintained within specification. Steam usage dropped 7%.

For this one column, this optimization project delivered an estimated annual value of $700,000 (USD) through increased recovery rates and decreased energy usage.

MP3 | iTunes

Update: I've uploaded a copy of Pete's presentation to Slideshare and embedded it within this post. It's also available for download from Slideshare.

Exceptional Process Control Opportunities Greg McMillan Presentation

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:46:12 -0600

ModelingAndControl.com's and Emerson technologist, Greg McMillan, will be presenting tomorrow at the ISA's Boston section. His presentation, Exceptional Process Control Opportunities describes how advances in measurements, valves, and control can make a dramatic difference in important applications such as bioreactor, compressor, exothermic reactor, and neutralizer control. For those that can join this event, Greg has promised:

...giving out 10 free copies of my book The Funnier Side of Retirement for Engineers and People of the Technical Persuasion to balance out the serious stuff.

I asked Greg if I could upload his presentation to SlideShare.net, so that I could embed it here and share it with all of you. He graciously agreed. I'm also hoping social media maven, domesticatingIT blogger, and ISA Boston section president, Jon DiPietro, might have Greg's words recorded so we can turn the presentation into a slidecast.

Exceptional Process Control Opportunities

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Some of the wide-ranging ground Greg covers in this presentation includes wireless measurement and control, sample time concepts, integrating processes such as batch processes, controller tuning, precision control valves for pH control, expertise retention and development, and open loop backup such as compressor surge and U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) pH.

Greg also promises future blog posts for a whole lot of items he's not able to cover including batch profile controls, adaptive feedback control and linearization, adaptive FeedForward control and linearization, full throttle set point response for batch and startup, controller output overdrive, dynamic reset limit, fast and intermittent disturbances and discontinuities, integration of loop, process, and maintenance data, root cause analysis, data visualization, virtual tool for learning and exploring opportunities, peak control. If you have interest in any of these topics you'll want to subscribe to the blog's RSS feed, if you're not already subscribed.

Greg, being a prolific author extraordinaire, also points to a soon-to-be released work, Essentials of Modern Measurements and Final Elements in the Process Industry. He is donating the royalties from this book to the University of Texas Research Campus for Energy and Environmental Resources for development of wireless instrumentation and control.

If you're in the New England-area tomorrow, here's the event page to find out more details. If you're not, look at the embedded presentation and see some of the wisdom Greg shares, particularly in the slide 22: Wireless PID Control Conclusions, slide 24: Sample Time Guideline Notes, slide 33: Integrating and Runaway Process Tuning, and slide 45: Best Practices to Improve Valve Performance.

Update and bump: I sat down with Greg on Friday and recorded an audio track of his presentation and synched it with the presentation to create a Slidecast.

Check out Greg's findings beginning at slide 14 on how the the behavior of wireless PID control had less oscillations to wired PID control. It was somewhat of a surprising finding.

Lower Pressure Drops Translate into Energy Savings

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:41:17 -0600

In an earlier post, I recapped a podcast on ultrasonic flow meters and their use in custody transfer applications. Gerard Hwang and Dave Seiler, at Emerson's Daniel Measurement and Control business shared an interesting energy analysis with me. It was an energy calculation for various flow measurement technologies in a liquid (oil tanker) loading application.

Typically, liquid loading applications such as crude oil custody transfer between parties, involve large volumes and sizable flow rates. It takes energy to pump these liquids from their source to their destination. Any pressure drop caused by the flow measurement can be directly translated into an energy cost.

In addition to diagnostics around fluid flow phenomena (e.g., cross-flow, asymmetry and swirl) which can increase flow measurement uncertainty, a fundamental design advantage ultrasonic flow meters have in high-volume flow measurement applications is that they are "full-bore" meters. This means that there are no restrictions, internal obstructions, or bends, which will cause a pressure drop across the meter--the loss incurred is that of an equal length of straight run pipe.

The example was from a large U.S. pipeline company, which transports oil, gas, and refined petroleum products. In this case, the liquid was crude oil and its viscosity was 23.3 centipoise (cPs). The flow rate ranged from 1,800 to 22,000 barrels per hour (BPH), and the crude oil had a specific gravity (S.G.) of 0.86. The maximum design pressure was ANSI 300# and a temperature range from -10 degC to 40 degC.

At maximum flowrate, a 16" ultrasonic flow meter resulted in a 0.12 psi pressure drop. Other flow measurement technologies required multiple meters in parallel to accommodate the same volumetric throughput and caused any where from 5-12 psi drop. This multi-meter design also increased the number of block and control valves required around the meters.

The energy cost calculation for loading operations 90 days per year at 22,000 BPH is:

(0.12psi x 22,000BPH / 2,448*) x $0.07 USD/KWh x 24 hours x 90 days = $163

*2,448 is a conversion factor from PSI and BPH to hydraulic horsepower (HP) divided by the pump and motor efficiency to get electrical HP multiplied by the conversion from HP to KW to get power.

In other words, the cost of the energy loss from pressure drop across the ultrasonic flow meter is almost negligible. With the differential pressures across other flow meter technologies, energy costs range from $6,800 to over $15,000 per year.

Now if you multiply this cost by all the flow meters performing these large custody transfer applications in your organization, daily, these energy cost savings add up to reduce operational costs.

Update: I received some feedback on the post and cleaned up a few of the paragraphs above.

Tips When Using DeltaV PID Control

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:38:04 -0600

Last year I summarized an Emerson Exchange presentation by James Beall, Advanced PID Functions for Improved Control Performance. At this year's Emerson Exchange, he did a reprise version, Interesting and Useful Features of the DeltaV PID Controller. I'll highlight some additional nuggets of wisdom that he imparted.

Interesting and Useful Features of the DeltaV PID Controller

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When it comes to limits being placed on setpoints and for a loop that is in automatic mode, it's usually best to let the operators have total control on the setpoint and not apply setpoint limits to the PID control when it is in the cascade mode. He did add that when it comes to cascaded loops like a level control master PID loop and a flow slave loop, it's a good idea to set limits on the output of the master loop rather than the sepoint of the slave loop, and that there is a lot of flexibility in the DeltaV PID control algorithm to do this.

With cascade control, James noted that mode tracking and bumpless transfer is provided and that limited conditions in the slave loop are taken care of through the BKCAL feature. DeltaV Books Online describes the input and output:

BKCAL_IN is the analog input value and status from a downstream block's BKCAL_OUT output that is used by a block for bumpless transfer. This connection is necessary if the PID is a master to another controller in a cascade. Without the connection, the slave controller will not make the transition to CAS and the master PID will never be active.

BKCAL_OUT is the value and status sent to an upstream block to prevent reset windup and provide bumpless transfer to closed loop control.

In conditions where the slave loop is limited, you can enable PID external reset. You would most often use it in the primary loop of a cascade and have it compensate for unexpected slow secondary-loop response. This is done by selecting the FRSIPIDOPTS "Dynamic Reset Limiting" on the master loop and the CONTROL_OPTS "Use PV for BKCAL_OUT" on the slave loop.

I summarized James' discussion of gain scheduling, which provides up to three regions of different PID tuning with a smooth transition between regions. This year, he described a parameter FRSIPID_OPTS that modifies the proportional gain as a function of the error (process variable, PV minus setpoint, SP). You can use this non-linear gain function to make the tuning more aggressive as the separation between PV and SP increases. It also can be used to create the "error squared" PID function.

James cautioned that using this non-linear gain function on an integrating process, like levels, can cause oscillations at the reduced gain. For these applications, the reset time should be based on the product of gain and the minimum gain modifier (NL_MINMOD), which will result in a larger reset time to prevent oscillations. He suggests using the gain scheduler to provide non-linear tuning on integrating processes.

There's more wisdom shared on valve output characterization, anti-reset windup limits, adaptive control, and loop simulations, which I'll leave with you should you choose look at the embedded presentation.

MP3 | iTunes

Secure, Firewall Friendly Communications

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:40:40 -0600

One of the issues with the proven OPC standard has been the communications between OPC client and OPC server when a firewall separates them. The cyber-security challenges that process manufacturers face were not envisioned in the original release of the OPC specification in the mid-1990s. The network transport is based on Microsoft's distributed component object model (DCOM), and the challenges of using DCOM with firewalls are well documented.

An initiative was formed among process automation suppliers to solve the security challenges of the DCOM model by using the secure network communications services in Microsoft's .NET framework. Current members of this initiative include Advosol, Emerson Process Management, Honeywell, Iconics, InduSoft, Matrikon, Mobiform, Mynah Technologies, OSIsoft, Smar and TiPS.

The result of their efforts is the Express Interface (Xi) and is described on a newly created Express Interface website:

Express Interface (Xi) is a new Microsoft .NET interface designed for secure and reliable access to automation systems. Xi provides an integrated set of methods for accessing both run-time and historical data, events, and alarms. It has been designed for fast and secure communication through firewalls and for simple implementation and use. Xi defines a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that is based on MMS (Manufacturing Messaging Service) and WCF (Windows Communication Foundation).

The site is primarily for client and server developers and includes a specification overview, specification and sample code downloads, internet-accessible Xi demo servers, and the Xi public license. There are also products and tools available to help accelerate software development.

Express Interface, Xi for Process Manufacturers

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At the recent Emerson Exchange, DeltaV product strategist, Chris Felts, described how the Express Interface communications technology was being incorporated into the upcoming release of the DeltaV system. Like OPC, Xi is a client-server architecture for data exchange between the ISA95 level 2 (control system level) and level 3 (manufacturing execution / operations management level). It also supports the same functionality as OPC Data Access (DA), OPC Historical Data Access (HDA), and OPC Alarms and Events (AE).

Unlike OPC, Xi incorporates the secure aspects of the .NET framework using both firewall-friendly HTTP/HTTPS services and secure web services via Microsoft's Windows Communication Foundation. This communications framework also incorporates levels of robustness not found in the earlier DCOM communications. For example, if communications are lost between the client side and server side, the Xi interface will retain the current state of the connection and allow the client to re-establish communications without losing its original configuration.

At the Emerson Exchange, there were 10 Xi servers and 15 Xi clients in the demonstration area including Emerson's DeltaV system, Ovation system, and Syncade operations management software, as well as ones from Advosol, Iconics, Indusoft, Matrikon, Mobiform, Mynah, OSIsoft, SMAR, and TiPS. Specifically for the DeltaV system, the version 10.3.1 release adds Xi Data Access, Xi Alarms & Events, and Xi Historical Data Access via one Xi interface. The existing DeltaV OPC DA, HDA, and AE servers will remain to support existing OPC applications. Xi and OPC can reside together in the same system.

Chris suggested some uses for the Xi interface including secure communications through firewalls, communications to non-Windows clients, real-time and historical supervisory control and data acquisition, high throughput (100Mb typical bandwidth) and high tag count applications.

MP3 | iTunes

Update: Updated the links above to the ExpressInterface.com site for the change from HTML to ASPX pages.

Flow Meter Verification

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:59:40 -0600

Emerson's Trever Ball presented Smart Meter Verification Enhancements Improve Safety and Process Availability at the 2009 Emerson Exchange conference.

Trever began by defining terms. Calibration is performed at the factory. It establishes the relationship between flow and signal produced by the sensor. Validation confirms flow performance by comparing a primary flow standard to the sensor. Verification establishes confidence in performance by analysis of the secondary variables associated with flow. Many times these terms are used interchangeably. Also, frequently calibration or validation is done when only verification is needed.

During factory calibration, baseline measurements are performed in which the smart device can self-check against once operating in the field. For example, Micro Motion Coriolis meters check tube stiffness and Rosemount E-series magnetic flowmeters check against a magnetic field signature to perform ongoing verification.

Smart meter verification is verification on demand, whenever you want on demand or on a schedule. It provides diagnosis of the whole system including the sensor, drive, and signal processing. This verification process provides absolute confidence in measurement performance

For Micro Motion Coriolis Smart Meter verification, the Coriolis meter has no moving parts. Coating and corrosion can impact the stiffness of the meter tubes. Smart Meter verification measures the meter's mechanical characteristics so when a change in the tube stiffness is detected, performance is checked to see if it remains within factory specifications.

Rosemount magnetic flowmeters also have no moving parts and has an expectation that the meter calibration will never change. Over time, the calibration may be impacted if there is a shift in the coils due to vibration, thermal cycling, etc. Smart Meter verification measures the sensor's magnetic field strength characteristics, and when a change is detected, it determines whether the meter's performance remains within factory specifications.

A final example Trever described was the Rosemount 8800 Vortex flowmeter. The vortex sensor is a piezo crystal, which provides a low-level voltage when it is flexed. Vortices in the flow cause the sensor to pulse. The vortex electronics take the frequency of these pulses to deliver a flow output.

Historically, vortex verification has been difficult. It's become easier since properly functioning electronics can be verified by testing with a known frequency. The vortex sensor can be verified by measuring signal strength with a handheld device or via applications, such as AMS Device Manager software.

Trever closed his presentation with some quantified results of Smart Meter verification savings versus traditional maintenance and verification practices. Maintaining these flow devices within factory specification also improves plant availability, product quality, and reduces waste and rework.

MP3 | iTunes

Wireless versus Fieldbus Cost Comparison

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:28:40 -0600

At last week's Emerson Exchange, John Rezabek of ISP presented Wireless or Fieldbus? You might recall John from his columns in Control magazine and on the ControlGlobal.com site. He presented a cost comparison for a plant expansion considering Foundation fieldbus instruments versus WirelessHART-based ones.

John values the digital integration of field devices, which both technologies provide. I asked if he minded if I blogged his presentation and he was OK with it, as long as I wasn't disruptive (only kidding on the disruptive part!)

John did an analysis on a project to purify a co-product using two distillation columns and adding intermediate and project storage as needed. The process required the measurement and control of flows, pressures, levels, and temperatures around the column. The project included 16 control valves, 14 control loops, and 16 indicate-only measurements.

Conduits, wires, and stainless steel junction boxes are expensive and complex. Wireless has the great promise to save design and installation costs associated with wired systems. Wireless does not replace all wires because of the power consumption requirements on some of the devices like control valves' digital valve controllers. Also, some of the indicate-only devices, such as RTD temperature sensors, required wires and associated cable raceways. This lowers the incremental savings since the tray and junction boxes would still need to be present. John's analysis also considered conduit and basket tray for the wires in both the wireless and Foundation fieldbus cases.

The project would already run a network of RGS conduit and twisted pair fieldbus cable for the control valves. The analysis compared the incremental costs for the wireless instrumentation-related services against Foundation fieldbus device-related services. Also, a home run wiring infrastructure for both cases was considered pre-existing. Other assumptions used for the analysis were list prices for the instruments and local, union, man-hour labor rates.

John calculated the Foundation fieldbus wired case to be just over $25,000 (USD) and the wireless case to be just over $27,000. The main difference is the difference in list prices of the devices and differences in the conduit and terminations required. In his summary, John noted that the actual price of the devices based on the buying agreement might have an impact on the analyses others might conduct.

From an engineering standpoint, John attributes more spec sheets, more devices, device cost, fewer drawing, lower change impact, less power conditioners, and similar configuration to the wireless case versus the Foundation fieldbus case.

From a design effort standpoint, no junction box drawings, fewer terminations, no termination hardware, no field power because of the batteries, less conduit, and less total copper used for the wireless case.

Points John made favoring a wired approach included: uncertainty about column temperature control, uncertainty about update frequency adequacy, spares diversity, signal integrity, and wireless protocol diversity with ISA100. His points favoring the wireless approach included easier infrastructure for future/unforeseen measurements and with things being more-or-less equal--creating a foothold for future opportunities.

He closed noting that 2-wire multi-drop bussed I/O squeezed the wireless installation advantage and the use of basket tray versus conduit tightens this advantage even more. As long as a wired backbone is needed for control services, wired strategies for indicate-only devices are cost comparable. The case for wireless was not a slam-dunk for this project, but (not unlike fieldbus) we all have to do the math for our individual circumstances.

As I noted in an earlier post with wireless devices used in control applications, technology advancements in control, communications, and power over time might alter the necessity of the wired backbone.

MP3 | iTunes

Recapping Emerson Exchange 2009

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:52:00 -0600

I spent the weekend catching my breath after an exciting Emerson Exchange conference last week. I thought I'd give you a roundup on all the news I could find.

First, the real-time Twitter feed on the tag, #EMRex we established seems to be a great success. Here's an archive in three parts of the tweets during the event (part 1, part 2, and part 3). The Read-out Instrumentation Signpost blog has a great recap and captured these Twitter stats (originally developed by Emerson's Aaron Crews):

#EMRex tweeters
99 active participants
950 tweets

#EMRex top tweeters:
@EmersonExchange (142)
@RuneReppenhagen (50)
@JimCahill (44)
@MikeBoudreaux (38)
@nancybartels (36)
@timalosi (28)

The long tail (bottom 80%) of twitter users accounted for more than 30% of the total volume.

If you have a Twitter account and want to follow the folks that made these numbers a reality, visit the Emerson Exchange group in TweepML.

The ControlGlobal.com Emerson Global Users Exchange micro site provided a roundup of the big news and sent out daily email newsletters:

September 28 (print, email)
September 29 (print, email)
September 30 (print, email)
October 1 (print, email)
October 2 (print)

The following press releases and pictures were issued during the Emerson Exchange:

Here's more great coverage by members of the trade press and blogging community:

Now you know why it took me a few days to catch my breath!

Update: Gary Mintchell, on his Feed Forward blog, just posted his podcast interview on the DeltaV S-series release (MP3) with DeltaV product marketing director, Dave Deitz.

Update 2: For those with subscriptions to Andrew Bond's Industrial Automation Insider newsletter, he has a great summary in the October 2009 edition.

Absorber and Distillation Column Control with WirelessHART Measurement Devices

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:00:16 -0600

We're now inside of a week from the Emerson Exchange conference in Orlando. One of the sessions I definitely plan on visiting is one by Dr. Frank Seibert of the University of Texas at Austin and Emerson technologists, Terry Blevins and Mark Nixon. Their presentation, Stripper and Absorber Control Using WirelessHART Transmitters will be held Wed, 9/30 at 3:15pm in the Osceola 1 room and repeated Thurs, 10/1 at 11:00am in the Naples 3 room.

Dr. Seibert is the Technical Manager of the Separations Research Program at UT. This cooperative industry/university program performs fundamental research of interest to chemical, biotechnological, petroleum refining, gas processing, pharmaceutical, and food companies. One key area of focus is CO2 removal from stack gas. An absorption system using air/carbon dioxide/amine solvent is used to remove the CO2. The stack gas is sent to the Absorber unit to absorb the CO2 and then a distillation column / stripper is used to strip the CO2 from the amine stream.

WirelessHART pressure and flow transmitters were installed to test control across WirelessHART. WirelessHART pH transmitters were installed to study the CO2 removal from stack gases. WirelessHART multi-element temperature transmitters were installed to monitor the absorber and stripper temperatures. Dr. Seibert wanted the flexibility to work on the absorber and stripper units without connecting and disconnecting cables. This helped reduce downtime and maintenance. The elimination of grounding issues which impacts the reliability and accuracy of the pH and temperature measurement was another advantage of this approach.

Traditional PID control relies on the underlying assumption that the PID controller executes on a periodic basis, mainly due to the calculated reset and rate action. WirelessHART devices conserve energy by reporting on an exception basis--only when the value changes by a set level. Working with Terry, Mark and the Emerson technologists, a patented method was developed in the DeltaV PID control algorithm to support control from WirelessHART transmitters.

The team compared the control performance using the modified PID algorithm and WirelessHART instruments versus a standard DeltaV PID algorithm with wired devices. Column pressure control and heater stream flow control using WirelessHART transmitters and DeltaV modified PID option provide the same dynamic response and comparable performance to that achieved using wired transmitters and traditional PID. An interesting finding was that this comparable performance was achieved when the number of measured samples was reduced by a factor of 10 for the flow control and by a factor of 6 for the pressure control.

More importantly, the cost to relocate wiring has been eliminated through the installation of WirelessHART transmitters for stripper steam flow, column pressure, column temperatures, and pH. With no grounding issues to contend with, the improved accuracy and reliability of the pH and temperature measurements can improve stripper and absorber operation.

This modified PID algorithm for inputs from non-periodic WirelessHART measurement devices is being incorporated into the DeltaV v11 release.

Update and bump: Here are some additional notes live from the presentation. Dr. Seibert noted that 70-80% of their time was in moving and reusing instrumentation. The work is done on skid mounted systems which will be used in actual applications if the research proves successful.

Terry added that simulation was used for the checkout of the flow and pressure loops to verify operation before the loops were commissioned on-site at UT. He noted that tuning of the changed PID algorithm is identical from an instrument tech's perspective.

Gamechangers: How to Thrive in Chaos

Jim.Cahill@Emerson.com (Jim Cahill) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:40:52 -0600

This week at the Emerson Exchange, Deb Franke and I are presenting, Gamechangers: How to Thrive in Chaos.

Please visit the Exchange Resources area to see the presentation and the associated script. I'll be adding sound to the presentation later today. I'll update the post with the finished presentation.

Update: Here's the presentation with embedded audio:

Gamechangers: How to Thrive in Chaos

View more presentations from Jim Cahill.

Please let Deb and I know your thoughts and add a comment below.