Emerson Exchange 2008: Where ideas become solutions

Din Mount and Rack Mount Versions

DeltaV Plan Eliminates Marshalling Cabinets!

The most interesting topic in the DeltaV Roadmap session is Emerson’s development of the CHARM I/O to eliminate marshalling cabinets and simplify wiring.  The goal is to eliminate all the marshaling wiring so the only thing between the field termination cabinet and the control cabinet is an Ethernet wire.  This will be accomplished using modular I/O signal conditioners that are on a local data bus similar to “slice” I/O systems offered by many PLC vendors today.   These clusters will be connected via Ethernet to the controllers.  This approach is envisioned to simplfy wiring, commissioning, and service.

 

DeltaV Performance Boost

New DeltaV MX Controllers will have 2.5 times the performance and twice the memory of current controllers.  The new MX controllers are primarily targeted at large continuous and batch applications and as a replacement for PROVOX controllers with the same form factor as current DeltaV controllers.  The bigger controller should resolve the 100 controller limitation in DeltaV.  The workstation count for the DeltaV system also increases from 60 to 65 with the new version.

 

Redundant Profibus DP

Version 10.3 will also include a redundant Profibus DP card, which is a drop in replace for the existing Profibus card and includes features such as autosense of redundant pairs, requires no added configuration, and features a Profibus DP V1 pass-through.

 

Windows Vista

Version 10.3 of DeltaV will start shipping and be the last version on Windows XP and will also support Windows Vista. 

Emerson stated that it is the first of many companies to begin shipping open standard interoperable WirelessHART™ Automation Products, acknowledging the importance of broad multi-vendor availability.   “We are thrilled that our Smart Wireless products are first to ship with the new WirelessHART standard built in,” stated John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management.  “We’re also excited that customers will have a growing range of WirelessHART applications from the industry-wide member companies of the Hart Communications Foundation that approved the standard in September 2007.”

Customers are Deploying Wireless Now

Emerson customers using wireless products gave impressive presentations describing their applications.

Wireless Monitors Eye Wash and Safety Shower Stations

Prior to utilizing Emerson’s Smart Wireless solution, the Boise Inc. Paper Mill in St. Helens, Oregon plant did not have a monitoring network for its safety stations. Instead, they relied upon individual radio communications to alert the control room.  Now wireless discrete transmitters immediately communicate with the mill’s system to activate an alarm in the facility’s control room.

 

“We have numerous people at our mill -- including drivers who are unloading chemicals who don’t have an avenue to directly communicate with the operators,” said Jeff Taylor of Boise Inc.  “Although we use lots of radios at the plant, none of the contractors and only some of the employees have them.”

 

The estimated cost to use hard wired monitors at the stations was $40,000. “We had looked into installing a wired network monitoring system, but it was cost prohibitive to do so,” Taylor said. “By installing a wireless network instead of a traditional wired network, we were able to save about 60 percent in installation costs.”

 

Biotechnology Production Facility Protects Quality & Meets Insurance Requirements

Genzyme Corporation, a global biotechnology leader, is using Smart Wireless temperature, pressure, and level transmitters from Emerson Process Management to protect product quality and to reduce waste at its Genzyme Therapeutics enzyme manufacturing facility in Allston, Mass. The company’s insurer suggested Genzyme establish a backup method to monitor the temperature in its cold rooms.

“The materials we use and final products we produce at this facility are very expensive.  We have to closely monitor batch and materials storage temperatures throughout every step of the manufacturing process or the batch may have to be scrapped entirely,” said Jim Albert, Genzyme process engineer. “Production of one batch can sometimes take months, and one batch of enzymes can be worth as much as $1 million.”

Installation was much easier and less expensive than it would have been for wired devices.  The facility operates 24/7. Adding a redundant wired monitoring network for the cold rooms would have been economically impractical because of the cost of installing conduit and the associated costs incurred as rooms were shut down for the installation. Installing wires to reach transmitters at the tank farm would have been cost prohibitive because of the farm’s location.

 

Heavy Plate Steel Mill Monitors Bearings to Improve Uptime

Usiminas (Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A.), one of the world’s top steel producers, is using a Smart Wireless network from Emerson Process Management to protect valuable plant assets and to avoid unscheduled stoppages at its heavy plate mill in Ipatinga, Brazil.

The company has proven that Emerson’s wireless technology can endure the abusive environment in the steel mill.  “The wireless equipment is reliable and robust despite the harsh conditions under which it is operating,” said Oliveira. “We have had no problems with the devices, their batteries or communications since installation.”   

Eight Rosemount® wireless temperature transmitters installed on the “backup” rolls that are part of the facility’s process to produce steel plates measure the temperature of the rolls’ bearing oil to automatically monitor the state of bearing health and to keep the steel plate-making process running smoothly.

When roll bearings are damaged, it takes at least six hours to shut down the steel plate-making process and replace the set of backup rolls. Usiminas pays from $40,000 to $175,000 to repair each bearing. The company can also lose a minimum of 600 metric tons in production during such an event.

 “In addition, we plan to use temperature, pressure and vibration monitors at about 1,100 measurement points, and a field wireless network has become an option for us. These measurements are now being read and recorded manually,” Oliveira said. “We would also like to use wireless pH transmitters to monitor wastewater effluent in each area where it’s generated. Currently this data is collected only at the main outfall.”

 

BP Improves Process Equipment Monitoring and Availability

Natalia Kroutikova, technology leader, BP Refining Technology described the first ever industrial mesh network installed at BP’s Cherry Point, Wash., refinery. In 2005 and 2006, BP collaborated with Emerson on installing 15 wireless temperature transmitters in the calciner unit. These transmitters monitor bearing temperature on ID and FD Fans, which cost up to $100,000 to repair and can be down for up to 10 days when they fail catastrophically.

 

In 2007, BP began a 45-transmitter tank farm management network in Naperville, Ill., near the Technical Center outside Chicago. They monitor suction, discharge, level temperature and flow for crude feedstock storage, crude mixing for pilot plant feed and residual crude management and storage.

 
“We expect to upgrade all these installations to WirelessHART,” Kroutikova stated.

 

Wireless Railcar Safety Monitors

Emerson Smart Wireless Solution’s are used to monitor rising temperatures in railcars containing chemicals at Croda Inc, an international specialty chemical manufacturer.  No matter where the railcars may be positioned at the Mill Hall, Pennsylvania plant, a wireless temperature transmitter on each car sends minute-by-minute temperature readings to a central host.  Croda uses this information to improve the performance and safety of their facility.  In this way, Emerson’s wireless system contributes to overall plant safety, making operators aware of any unexpected temperature rise, while saving the company about $15,000 per year in reduced maintenance.

Normally, three railcars are remotely located on-site.  Since the railcars are frequently moved, hard wiring of temperature sensors was not practical.  Previously, an employee had to climb to the top of each car once a day to check the temperatures and record each reading.  This was a time-consuming procedure that during wet or icy conditions presented a fall potential. The wireless temperature transmitters are quickly and easily installed atop a railcar upon its arrival at the site, and they remain there until the car is about to be removed. 

According to Denny Fetters, Instrument and Electrical Designer for Croda, “Emerson’s wireless solution not only saves us time and money, since plant personnel no longer have to monitor those railcars daily, it has also greatly enhanced the overall safety of the plant and our personnel.  We are pleased with the performance of the Rosemount® transmitters and Emerson’s self-organizing wireless network.  No matter where a railcar is positioned on-site, the quality of the transmissions is unaffected, and the signals integrate seamlessly into our control system.”

  

Wireless Network Improves Monitoring of Power Plant Efficiency

Emerson Process Management’s Smart Wireless technology is being employed very successfully by the Laboratory Analysis group (LAPEM) of Mexico’s Federal Electrical Commission (CFE) in helping to determine thermal efficiencies at power generating units throughout Mexico.  LAPEM has five analysis teams that set up temporary measurement facilities at each of 140 power plants, although they can’t cover 100 percent of the plants due to the time required for each.  In contrast to traditional wired measurements, one team’s easy establishment of a temporary wireless network in power plants made it possible to increase its productivity and plant coverage by 10 percent. This led to an annual revenue increase of $512,000 US for LAPEM.  It has also improved the revenue of the Federal Electrical Commission by pushing higher output for each plant while reducing costs.

The ease of use and the reliable performance of Emerson’s Smart Wireless system resulted in a decision by the Laboratory Analysis group to equip all five of its analytical teams with wireless instrumentation. Their productivity is expected to increase by another 40 percent with faster turnaround time between services. As a result, all five teams should perform 25 more assessment services per year, producing an extra $1,375,000 US annually without adding personnel. Each of the 140 power units can now be visited and analyzed every other year.

 

“In the past, we could only cover about 50 plants per year,” said Oscar Martinez Mejia of LAPEM. “We needed to reduce turnaround time at each plant in order to reach every plant on a two-year cycle. Emerson’s Smart Wireless made it possible for the team equipped with wireless devices to cut their on-site time by one-third, enabling them to complete more services in a year’s time and proving the value of wireless.”

 

Return to Atricle

 

State of the Union Address, how is Emerson Process doing?

 

“We are stronger than we have ever been before..."   “We finished 3 quarters of the year with sales up 18%.  If we keep this growth up we should be within shouting distance of growing a full $1 billion in one year...the revenue we get is a vote, a vote of confidence from our customers.”  We are growing worldwide.

 
“...since 2002 we have spent a 12% average annual increase in R&D.  One of the things that is the lynchpin of our existence is that we stress innovation, we stress technology, we want to be the people to bring new and good things to the marketplace to make your jobs better, that’s really what we’re all about.  In good times and in bad times we have increased technology spending and commit to you that we will do that forever.”

 

“In short,  Emerson Process Management is in great shape.”

John told the audience they need to provide Emerson Process with guidance to need to help them focus on where to spend R&D resources and provide the right products.

 

Emerson as Contractor

“It fun being here today...our people and our customers today are starting up some of the world’s biggest projects.  We are acting as the Main Automation Contractor on some of the largest projects on the planet today and many of them right now are in startup mode.”

 

Wireless

“We believe our PlantWEB architecture with Foundation Fieldbus and now with wireless continues to deliver value to our customers and that is why we have been growing - the predictive intelligence in PlantWEB has delivered real business value to our customers.”  “One of the things you will see here is in the last twelve months the wireless business for Emerson has skyrocketed...”  “We have many customers using wireless...”

 

“We all have a chance to get excited about the next thing that will allow us to do a better job to deliver business results in process plants and mills throughout the world and that is wireless.”   “You will see 70 wireless instruments working in this place.”  "I believe as we go forward in the next few years we will see as high as 20% of the measurements being made wirelessly.  The reason I believe is that the advantages are too compelling.”

 

“I am really pleased to announce that last week Emerson made its first shipment of its Wireless HART instruments.”

 

“We are open for business with Wireless HART and taking orders...”

“Let me give you a really quick and simple way to understand what is going on here.   Last fall, the Wireless HART standard was approved, not by a handful of vendors, but by the 202 voting members of the HART communication foundation.  Since that time 16 of the leading companies in the automation business have announced wireless HART products...” Those 16 companies include the number one company in the control systems business, the number one company in the control valve business, and the number one company in the measurements business.  Just recently the IEC approved the Wireless HART standard as a publicly available specification, this is the first step in the process for creating a global standard for wireless HART...”

 

“Is there any real reason to talk about anything else?” 

 

Automation Profession

John talked very personally about the Automation Profession, “I call this profession sincerely a noble profession.  It is noble to do what you do.  Now why is that?”

 
“If you look at all the engineering disciplines across the whole span of things, where else can you have the complete breadth and importance of a job?”

 

“An automation professional still today has to deal with pneumatic and hydraulic, they have to deal with electronic; they have to deal with digital, have to deal with networks, software. Not only that they have to understand the process, process dynamics, fluid mechanics, it all comes together.  This is the most demanding high technology position there is and there aren’t enough of you in the world.”  “ Moreover, if you take the technology now and think about it, think about the tremendous impact this technology has on the operations of plants, refineries, and mills throughout the world.  Nothing else can deliver the business results for a process manufacturer that automation can.”

 
“I salute you, this is the greatest profession there is.”

 

Innovation

John brought his original slide rule a Post Versalog to illustrate a point.  “The reason why I brought this, this is a symbol of the engineering profession and for a long, long time it embodied what it was to be an engineer.  Spacecraft were launched using these, bridges were built using these, it is a marvelous instrument.  I brought it along not dwelling on the past, I brought it along because it’s really a symbol of what the engineering profession should be and is about.  It’s about trying to do things better, it’s about making the world better, safer, more environmentally friendly, energy efficiency, all of that.  Why do I get all of that out of a slide rule?  Think about what this symbolizes, this slide rule was made by a company called Post, How many of the engineering tools do you use today that come from Post?  Some point in time in the 60’s the executives at Post were probably sitting around a strategic planning session / thinking about how to make a better slide rule..."  Meanwhile, around the corner there was someone thinking there must be a better way...calculators...  All of us must understand that there is a time we have to stop making a better slide rule and...” 

 

John's point is that our job is to innovate, push the boundaries, and do things better.

 

Editors Note: Army artillery people still need to know how to use a slide rule in the event of electronics failure.  Want to try a virual slide rule?  Go to this link: Aristo Multilog Nr. 970 Simulator

Steve Sonnenberg