A number of recent projects demonstrate how important it is to fully understand a process before implementing new control and optimisation strategies.

The new press at Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering exerts a load of 10000 tonnes and is the only one of its kind in Europe. It is used to manufacture heavy forgings of up to 300 tonnes for use in applications such as turbine rotors, bridge supports and propeller shafts for ships.
An integrated robot manipulator is used to pass ingots to the press for forging. At 15metres high, 10metres wide and 20metres long, it is the size of a typical house. Using eight wheels, the manipulator travels up and down a 20-metre long set of rails carrying its ingots to the press.
A state-of-the-art computer system has been installed by Dronfield-based Forgex to provide size control on forged items to ±1mm and to control the integrated manipulator. Opto 22 equipment, supplied by System Devices, handles the 700 points of I/O which are associated with the press, the manipulator and integration of the two. The control, comprising a remote analogue and digital I/O station from the main PC, is fed over a high-speed 115kbaud serial link, each input and output being optically isolated.
Real-time control software running on a ruggedised PC system handles the 60 motors involved with the press and the manipulator, together with a hydraulic servo power pack and a set of proportional valves which control water pressure in the press to ensure that it can reach its peak pressure of 7000psi. The PC uses a Bus card for digital I/O while the manipulator uses remote Mistic I/O to give a mix of digital, analogue and quadrature signals, to feed back the direction of motion of the manipulator. Six PLCs with isolated I/O modules are used to control motor starting and interlocking. All computer I/O is optically isolated, interfacing plant inputs at 24Vdc and solenoid outputs at 110Vdc.
"The biggest advantage on this project has been the use of the Mistic remote I/O system," said Forgex md Mike Dickinson. "Although the manipulator is a mobile vehicle with a run of 20metres, it only needed four wires because the remote I/O eliminates the need for bringing large bundles of wiring back to a central controller. This massively reduced the amount of plant wiring needed and the time to carry it out," he added.

Data capture boosts efficiency

The data capturing qualities of Opto 22 is also playing a key role in the success of a new state of the art data analysis tool developed by Cardiff-based Industrial Electronic Automation.
Called ICEberg, the new tool is being hailed as the biggest improvement in efficiency since the introduction of finite scheduling and is a direct response to the need for a usable method of accurately analysing data specifically for the purpose of identifying and increasing business benefits. At the heart of ICEberg is Oracle's multi-dimensional database. Iceberg is configurable by the production user to link key business measures to the production plant. To this end, IEA has developed a tool known as ICEcapture which effectively takes remote I/O and scans it into ICEberg.
"We've written drivers to map Opto 22 directly into ICEcapture allowing us to take in many different types of signals," said IEA systems manager John Colbourne. "Opto 22 gives us a lot of flexibility especially with the OptoDisplay runtime advanced HMI," he added. This type of analysis has traditionally been prohibitively complex due to the large number of variables produced on every production run. The crucial effects that variations between raw materials, environmental conditions and operation staff have, in the majority of cases have not been fully considered in respect of their impact on production efficiency.

Up to now the basis for improving efficiency has often been mistakenly focused on just updating both plant and control system technology which often results in treating the process symptoms rather than the causes. This approach does not increase understanding of the process and fails to identify potential business benefits. So any small increases in production efficiency can be easily wiped out by the associated investment in capital equipment.
It is against this background that IEA developed ICEberg to assist production management make informed decisions.
The primary achievement has been to deliver a product that can not only display production information in a simple, meaningful way, but also empower production managers with the ability to manipulate the information they require to improve their processes. Also, this information can be easily manipulated to show relationships between different process parameters that may have previously been prohibitively difficult to establish. As ICEberg is based on relational database technology, every command, action and result is time and date stamped, enabling the relationship between data types to be absolutely precise.
A number of pilot projects using ICEberg and ICEcapture have been under way for 12 months the latest of which is currently being configured at Bromford Iron and Steel in West Bromwich to handle information such as yield and plant utilisation. John Colbourne is confident that Opto 22 will find many other uses at IEA in the near future: "We're even thinking of using Opto 22 display as a sophisticated HMI (human machine interface)," he said. "We could buy one from a dedicated HMI supplier, but from an engineering point of view I can buy a PC with a touch-sensitive screen, plug in Opto 22 and configure it to do whatever I want. It's extremely adaptable."

Online solutions from Linnhoff March

Linnhoff March, a leading pinch analysis and process optimisation company, has made its utility system software products available online.
This follows an agreement signed with Texas-based online software engineering provider and hosting service WaveOne.com (www.waveone.com). The deal covers three products: ProSteam, which is used for steam system design, simulation, operation and optimisation; WaterTracker, which provides rapid water and contaminant balancing; and WaterPinch, which minimises freshwater and effluent costs in process plants.
WaveOne.com's website allows products to be purchased directly, on a time-used basis, using a fully automated and secure system. For users, this means rapid access to powerful modelling tools and much easier sharing of results.
"For some time we have been seeking a flexible Internet solution that matched our goals to provide our clients an environment that was both neutral and offered technologies complementary to our own," said Jurg Zollinger, Linnhoff March Software Sales Manager. "The WaveOne.com site matched our vision perfectly. The team-based tools and rapidly developing collaborative engineering capabilities were a bonus we did not anticipate. We are very impressed with the domain expertise of the WaveOne team," he added.
John Dial, president and ceo of WaveOne.com, is delighted to have signed up a company such as Linnhoff March. "WaveOne.com continues to add world class applications to our very robust online environment and toolset. An increasing number of online users are attracted to the site and we are continuing to strengthen the engineering content for current and future users. I am particularly pleased that we are now able to demonstrate the successful completion of one of our long-term goals in combining technologies from around the globe. This achievement builds on our commitment to be the leader in providing complementary team-based tools for process engineering," he said.

WaterTracker, WaterPinch and ProSteam are now available from www.waveone.com