Among the very latest advances in process control technology are a Microsoft.Net/XML web service thatallow users to share energy information via the web, advanced controls for complex processes, non-steadystate control and new LED lighting.

According to Rockwell Automation, its latest technology will help chemical facility managers and engineers to more effectively analyse and address energy-related challenges.
The company has launched RSEnergyMetrix, a web-enabled energy management solution that combines data communication tools, client-server software and advanced web technology to capture, analyse, and store energy information, enabling information-sharing across the enterprise.
"Because manufacturers are among the top consumers of electricity, energy costs can be a major drain on profitability," said Ron Malloy, business manager, power and energy management services, Rockwell Automation. "The key to reducing energy-related expenses is understanding where, when and how much energy is being consumed. With this information, companies can proactively manage load requirements, improve system performance and reduce costs."
RSEnergyMetrix can track energy usage, cost and power quality data. Load profiling, cost-allocation and billing capabilities allow users to correlate energy costs to production costs, and provide accurate cost-accounting based on energy consumption. Users can view real-time data, and create historical trend reports and charts to create energy budgets and forecasts, negotiate better rates, and make decisions on electrical capacity and quality to help avoid unscheduled shutdowns.
The RSEnergyMetrix energy management solution includes a core energy manager that acts as the data logging, reporting, charting and billing package. It includes standard connectivity to Allen-Bradley power monitors and programmable controllers, with optional third-party device connectivity. The energy manager runs on the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and uses Microsoft.Net and XML web services technologies so users can access, configure and share management information via the web.
The manager can be configured for any energy and production-related inputs, including electricity, gas, water and steam meters. Legacy meters can be added manually. Using Microsoft .Net security, meter configuration values can be set up and changed remotely via the web, with multi-level password protection and privileges.
A real-time communications, configuration and data display package allows users to configure and view real-time and historical power monitoring data. It displays waveforms and harmonics in a graphical or log format and works seamlessly with Rockwell Software RSView32 operator interface software to provide a comprehensive electrical system view. Two optional reporting and charting packages provide flexible tools to create custom reports.

Complex process control

Meanwhile Honeywell Industry Solutions has released Experion PKS, its next-generation industrial automation system which controls, monitors and manages complex control processes.
Experion PKS is designed for global manufacturers and mill operators throughout the energy, chemical, and pulp, paper and printing industries to increase productivity, safety and profitability.
"Experion PKS represents Honeywell's unmatched expertise in controls, automation and project management," said Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell Industry Solutions. "With this product, Honeywell has again demonstrated that it provides investment protection to its installed customer base, no matter which of our systems they currently operate. Controllers built from as far back as 1974 can be fully integrated with Experion PKS," he added.
According to Honeywell, Experion PKS is the first control system to introduce the innovative process knowledge system approach which incorporates best-in-class distributed control technologies and advanced applications.
Facilitating the flow of information across the entire organisation, Experion PKS improves employees' ability to make decisions and increases their overall operational effectiveness. Providing employees with the right information at the right time is critical to improving decision-making and reducing abnormal situations, which are estimated to cost the petrochemical industry US$20 billion annually.
Experion PKS is the system platform for Honeywell's complete process knowledge solutionsuite of knowledge-driven applications, technologies and services that help organisations capture and manage information to increase production, safetyand profitability.

Non steady state control

In many chemical plants, significant areas of operation tasks in a non-steady state continue to evade automation and pose tight bottlenecks to raising production efficiency. Such areas include start-ups, shutdowns, changes to the load or grade, and counteractions against incidents. Such tasks rely heavily on the expertise of skilled operators, making it difficult to automate them.
Yokogawa's Exapilot, which made its debut in 1998, enables plant professionals to independently create operation support sequences comprised of a mixture of automatic and manual operations effortlessly via a computer screen. At runtime, these sequences will display sequential guidance whenever a manual action is required, to assist in efficient operations.
Now the company has launched its latest upgrade, Exapilot Release 2.20 (R2.20). It is designed to be a powerful aid in automating those areas ofnon-steady-state operations that up to now have had to be performed manually.
One new feature is an advanced alarm function block. This detects various abnormalities at an early stage that are difficult for usual sensors to detect, such as the quantity of heat or mass balance, slow-paced process changes, and equipment failures. R2.20 is able automatically to perform the appropriate counteractions.
Another advantage is that R2.20 can be adopted immediately without modification of plant facilities. For those using Yokogawa's CENTUM CS 3000 integrated production control system or CENTUMCS 1000 production control system as the DCS, no additional equipment is needed since Exapilot can be installed in the computers used as human interfaces.
Additionally, it involves simplified system configuration. Exapilot applications do not require programming but are written in a flow chart form, thereby negating the need of special software knowledge. Since plant professionals can configure automation sequences independently - unlike conventional methods in which control system engineers at each plant typically built up applications in a DCS - the development and maintenanceman-hours can be sharply reduced. The configured applications are expressed in an easily understood format, enabling transfer of valuable operation expertise over extended periods as well as to multiple plants.
One early customer for the new release is Japanese oil refining company Idemitsu Kosan, which has adopted R2.20 as its plant operation support system.

Flat light for LEDs

Omron's latest offering is the development of 'flat light source' technology which is aimed at becoming a new form of LED illumination.
Use of LEDs, in chemical plant displays for example, has grown in recent years, but there still remains the challenge of improving brightness and cost effectiveness.
Incorporating characteristics of low-profile/large surface area/uniformity not found in lighting sources up until now (light bulbs, fluorescent lamps and existing LED technology), Omron has developed its new technology. Taking full advantage of its small size/long service life - features inherent to the LED - the flat light source will be positioned to realise future unrestricted illumination such as wall-mounted light and portable light.

Using light wave control technology of the currently marketed DR-LED as a base, a precise optics design was implemented for optical beam dispersement to compartmentalise more space, and by doing so increasing the amount of surface area.
The light emitting surface area is 30mm x 30mm with a thickness of 6mm, giving it about 50 times more illumination surface area than a typical bullet-type LED of the same thickness. If a bullet-type LED were to be created to match the same amount of illumination surface area, the thickness would have to be between 10 and 20 per cent greater. Moreover, this technology mixes three colours (blue, green, red) into a single flat light source, thus making any colour possible, something that has proven to be very difficult for light bulbs and fluorescent light.
Honeywell says that combining several flat light source units together creates enough illumination for wall-mounted light or portable light and that its compact size makes it ideal for narrow locations such as walls and columns. Plus colour can be freely adjusted, making it a truly full-colour lighting source.