OpsManage’09

Evolution of world of wonder!

Earlier this year many asked Why WonderWorld is Evolving to OpsManage’09? We were told that this expanded event would “add even more value and deliver what you have come to expect at WonderWorld.”

We have attended Wonderware conferences in Ireland and Britain including WonderWorld 2006 in Daventry (GB) and found it fascinating with a large mix of attendees from industry and systems builders from Europe in attendance for an intensive selection of talks and discussions packed into two days.

Sudipta Bhattacharya Of course there were many releases issued to co-incide with the event. 3rd November: Virtual Realty Training System from Invensys to Help Advance Clean Coal Power for US Department of Energy – the US Department of Energy (DOE) is to utilise the company’s EYESim™ virtual reality training solution as the centerpiece of a new state-of-the-art training center to assist in the development of new generation zero-emission integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants with carbon capture. 4th November: Invensys Announces Wonderware Intelligence 1.0 – this new EMI solution features best-in-class data analysis, presentation and reporting with HMI-like ease of use. InFusion SCADA 2.0 Offering from Invensys Delivers New Functionality, Flexibility and Security for Remote Operations – Comprehensive solution has RTUs for oil & gas, water & wastewater applications. Invensys Announces Availability of Industrial Utilities Monitoring and Optimization Solution Built On ROMeo 5.2 – New solution enables both demand- and supply side energy management 5th November: Invensys Introduces Corporate Energy Management Application – Out-of-the-box application provides new visibility is to help achieve energy efficiency. Wonderware to partner with B&B Automation at METS 2009 – IOM has partnered with highly experienced industrial automation specialists B&B Automation in order to attend METS 2009, Europe’s prime marine equipment showcase.

We have not been at any other these events on the other side of the Atlantic so we were looking forward being vicariously present at the “New WonderWorld”, OpsManage’09, which was held in Anaheim (CA US) through tweets from the participants at this “One Multi-Discipline Event Where You Can Learn How to Empower Your Sustainable Success!”

Were we disappointed? Yes, frankly we were. Although attendance at this event was significantly more than in previous years, the number of tweets emanating from participants was few and far between. Admittedly we are measuring it against the extraordinary almost blow by blow tweets from the Emerson User Group which undoubtedly set the standard against which all such tweetable events will be measured until somebody surpasses them or tweeterdom collapses under the weight of its own success.

But there were some tweets and click here to see them all. A lot were from Wonderware giving details of the product launches but one’s like those from Longwatch “Sudipta is good presenter/leader. Does history repeat itself?” or “some charts are strikingly familiar from times past. Same issues, new paths..” and the intriguing “..half the audience is doing “the Blackberry prayer.” We would have liked it better if they were tweeting on them! This from “Sudi Bhat,” “Great start to the Invensys OpsManage conference. Customer and partner attendance up by 16% in a tough economy. Great job team!” But then perhaps he was biased! And on the final day this from Wonderware: “Sessions packed, theaters bursting, software experiences have clients on the edge of their seats!” Tell us more!

For Automation World its Managing Editor, Wes Iversen, was there with his trusty recorder and secured a number of interesting interviews. These do give some idea of the flavour of the occasion and of themes and direction indicated by this event:

• Energy Mamagement Interview with Peter Martin, VP IOM.
• A new simulation-based energy management product
  Harpreet Gulati, Director, Simulation & Optimization at IOM.

• New Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) product Maryanne Steidinger, Director, Commercialisation, Operations & Information Products, for IOM.
• He also managed to produce a video interview on A display technology concept that the company has developed for use with Wonderware systems Jeff Miller, Director of MES Solutions for E-Technologies Solution, a West Chester, Ohio-based systems integrator.

David Greenfield of Control Engineering filed a report (5th November) entitled Sustainability positioned as key driver of Invensys Operations Management strategy, where he highlights the keynote of Frito-Ley’s David Haft. He also has a report of Sudipta Bhattacharya’s address where he stressed IOM’s change of focus from stresses on issues control and safety, as well as simulation, optimisation and execution rather than on products

The event comprised of Industry Forums, Technical Paper Sessions, Training, Hands-on Software Experiences, and Special Interest Meetings. In addition in the background there was a “Collaboration EXPO” with over fifty stands with “demonstrations addressing real issues.”

The conference was an opportunity for Invensys Operations Management to announce the North American winners of its annual Wonderware Open competition. The “Best Industry Solution” winner was Pepsi Bottling Ventures. The “Best Manufacturing Execution System Application” was awarded to Johnson & Johnson. Campbell Soup was recognized for “Best Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence Application.” The “Best Mobile Solution” was given to OxyChem Taft and the China Ministry of Railway was awarded “Best HMI / SCADA.” More….

One of the first tweets was an invitation from APEX manufacturing Solutions to a sneak preview their new FactoryWidgets™ for WonderwareT™, low cost mini-applications that display Wonderware-based manufacturing KPIs . FactoryWidgets reside on your PC desktop without need for thick client software or even a browser. They can be in view at all times and dragged anywhere on your screen.

This was one of many exhibits from many complimentary enterprises divided into three “zones”, Manufacturing, Energy and Infrastructure, which were further subdivided into areas of interest such as food, water & wastewater and power generation. There was a further “Product” zone which seems to have been focussed on Wonderware applications and allied IOM products.

Russ Fadel tweets at the end Leaving Invensys OpsManage Conference-lots of buzz on sustainability.”

We will try to include links other reports on this “happening” as they are published and welcome information on these.

Wireless communicates

Global communications for the disabled
Facilitated by wireless modules

LPRS has been selected by MRI Services to provide wireless communications for wheelchair users. This is a consultancy mostly known for specialist services to dental surgeons. In addition to bespoke design work MRI Services also offers equipment installation and updating as well as service and maintenance.

Toby Hewson with the LPRS wireless modules employed in his wheelchair comms systems.

The design inspiration was to provide a flexible personal communication system for Toby Hewson. Toby is the founder of JUST DIFFERENT, a charity that was started in 2007 to make a positive difference to the lives of disabled and non-disabled people. Toby, aged 28, has cerebral palsy, and cannot walk or speak (except through his pathfinder voice synthesiser) and requires 24 hour care. With no hand ability Toby has to operate the synthesiser just with his elbow. He is very intelligent and articulate with a good sense of humour and has travelled all over the world.

JUST DIFFERENT aims to raise awareness among schoolchildren of how much disabled people can do and it is a great success; with others they visit schools all over Britain to give workshops that are linked to the National Curriculum. The children are fascinated with all Toby’s gadgets and amazed at his presentation skills.

Currently Toby is chairman of Communication Matters, a British National charitable organisation of members concerned with the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs of people with complex communication requirements and he attends many conferences involving issues related to disability and equality in society.

The wheelchair communication system is comprised of a transmitter located on the wheelchair that sends the output of the Pathfinder synthesiser to a receiver connected into a laptop computer through which Skype™ communication is carried out. The incoming messages are transmitted from a second transmitter fitted to the laptop, which are then sent to the receiver unit on the wheelchair to which headphones are connected. There is a mixer in the laptop unit, which enables Toby to hear what he is sending out as well as what is received. The object of the system is to provide Toby with private communications and therefore carers or bystanders hear no sound unless intended. The synthesiser can produce Toby’s output either in speech for normal conversations or muted for private communication or writing.

“Our first thought was to use Bluetooth which was easy enough to buy although we had to find two systems that wouldn’t interfere. Pairing was a bit of a hassle, and it was difficult to package the proprietary equipment to suit our specific needs on the wheelchair.” Says Mike Ingle, Director of MRI Services. “Range wasn’t really an issue but output quality from the Bluetooth could be variable.”

He continues, “I finally chose the LPRS’ modules because I’d used other products of theirs and they regularly send me updates of their latest products. As we were having problems using Bluetooth successfully I suggested to our electronics designer that we try Circuit Design’s WATX/RX-03-R wireless modules. The modules were very competitively priced at LPRS, even for small quantities and they proved completely successful. We achieved a much better signal, increased range and instant connection. All in all the LPRS’ modules gave us a clearer communication system that worked as soon as power was applied.”

Peter Cubbage, Sales Director of LPRS commented, ”We are really pleased that the Circuit Design modules have proved themselves to be a reliable solution to this fairly unique wireless communication requirement. We have more than 10 years experience of supplying short range modules for unregulated wireless applications and we are happy to share our expertise with our customers to ensure they get the best solution to their wireless needs and the shortest time to market for their projects.”

Typical applications for Circuit Design’s wireless modules include industrial monitoring and control systems, alarm and security systems and communications systems. Full details of Circuit Design, easy-Radio or other wireless modules and accessories are available from LPRS.

Communicating

Almost six months on…
A personal account on how I use this new thing!

As a relative neophyte to this new thing called social media (who isn’t?) perhaps you will allow me to make a few observations.

In July published here was our comment on this as seen then which we called “What are you doing?“. This title was of course based on the question asked when you open Facebook or twitter.

Have things changed in the interim? Well, yes and no! As a publisher of material in the automation discipline. There are a few applications or platforms that I tend to use, some more than others, some for one purpose and some for others.

twitter
I check twitter every day. I use it almost exclusively for business. I find out through the postings here what is happening in the automation world. It is very interesting to see the companies which are harnessing this medium. Foremost of the automation companies is Emerson Process Management. For those interested there was almost a blow by blow account of happenings at their User Group meeting in Orlando at the end of September. This was primarily because they fostered and encouraged attendees to engage in social media and the result was that many people not attending (like this correspondent) could experience this event. Indeed some people felt that their experience was more comprehensive than had they attended in person. We published a report on this called “#EMRex tweets rule!” which was the hash tag that developed for it. Earlier there were user group meetings like NI Week ( Whose listening? Aug 2009) and the Honeywell User Group (HUG) which showed how the use of twitter was growing. The ISAExpo’09, which turned out to be the final exhibition from ISA in this format, and which we therfore reported as “The last picture show!” had some twittering but nothing as comprehensive as the EPM event, possible because it wasn’t embraced with the same enthusiasm by the principles or by those exhibiting.

The upcoming events Invensys OpWeek (this week in US) Rockwell Automation Fair (November 11-12) will be interesting to observe from this point of view.

We will, I assume have the usual reports from the various publications that serve world automation but these are “batch” reports while the “real-time” tweets are far more exciting and immediate.

One of the problems that this user has with twitter is the background noise where some of our automation professionals have interests outside of automation so one gets esoteric references to American Football (or is it Baseball) and to other interests including gardening, language activists, etc , etc. But they are but mild irritants in comparison to the information one can gain by daily perusal of twitter. The introduction recently of a “list” application to twitter may help to lessen this.

Facebook
I check this from time to time. Mostly I use this for hobbies and other interests. There are some businesses that do use it but I usually avoid using facebook for business. I might use it to announce a new blog or something that I think is interesting in the area of social networking. Check “The chat room/forum problem” from Robert Scoble on facebook.

LinkedIn
This is an almost exclusively business oriented platform. I am linked up to various groups and there are interesting discussions on some of these. One of the most interesting is the discussion with the provocative title of “Is ISA dying?” I don’t feel however that this is being used to its full capability or potential in the area of automation with a superfluity of announcements rather than much deep discussion.

NING
This is the final platform that I use. This is an interesting one is that it permits secure networks for discussions, fora, chat even video conferencing (using a nice simple application called Tokbox). As a free platform it will I feel be a superb utility for the small business in whatever industry.

More and more I have noticed that these platforms point to blogs or blog-type web pages which allow for comments. This is of course the very nature of what is happening. The web presence that “wins” is the web presence that is easy to access, does not have a series of hoops to go through before you can actually get to the meat and finally does not charge for services that are available more easily and better presented than they are.

I often go to a site and start looking for information say on a product and the price and am confronted with a request to “register.” I don’t want to register I just want to know if you have a product that will do what I want and how much it is. Why do you need my email address? In just go away!
(Our own website read-out.net is completely free, you can see prices etc and it is only if you want to advertise or subscribe to our printed journal — €50 for two years — that we request your details. It is however an old site — like so many on the web and needs to “catch-up” with the latest that WEB advances have to offer. As they say “Watch this space!”)

One final point is the slowness of many manufacturers to use these platforms. The Emerson use of social networking is streets ahead of any of the others. The have staff, interested in social media and whom they appear to have given their head. This policy has advanced the company ahead of the others. One very interesting blogger is their Mike Boudreaux who tweets major plant disasters as they occur and updates as results of enquiry results are published. National Instruments too are not bad. They have an unique blogger in Todd, an Engineering Mind, who gets the message across with a smile. Companies like Invensys, Rockwell, Siemens and Endress + Hauser seem to post links rather than anything more stimulating.

Undoubtedly this is a difficult transition for many companies. It is difficult to assess how best to use this incredible resource. Many are afraid of it. All change is frightening and this is a momentous one. However it is exciting. It is an adventure.

Let’s embrace it!

Safety & SM

Social media writes articles!
Integrated safety under the social media microscope!

We usually use Facebook for personal stuff, family and hobbies and “unimportant” stuff like that. Serious business and professional stuff we leave to twitter and LinkedIn or NING sites.

And the future? Control Engineering has experienced an unexpected success in attracting industry professionals to its social media groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Nearly 6,000 members have joined the groups in just their first several months of existence. The high level of interactivity by the groups’ members has led to a continuous stream of spirited discussions across the sites. While regularly reviewing the discussions taking place on the group sites, we found that the keen insights and opinions shared in the course of topic discussions were not only informative, but often entertaining. That’s why we are extending the discussions from our social media groups to Control Engineering’s printed page and our Website—so that all members of our audience can view these discussions and weigh in on them.

However we have made some business Facebook friends as well, especially early on in our Facebook existance when we were trying to work out what this social media (SM) thing was all about. (We’re still trying!)

Anyway that is just a preamble to tell you about an email message that appeared in our mailbox this morning. I think it is self explanatory.

“I just wanted to let everyone know that our first feature article–created entirely from discussions on Control Engineering’s Facebook and LinkedIn social media groups–has been published in print and online.
“The article “Integrated Safety: Has its Time Arrived?” appears in the October 2009 issue and can be accessed online.
“In the article, engineers, integrators, and industry representatives offer a variety of viewpoints on this hot button topic.”

The message was from Control Engineering’s Editorial Director David Greenfield.

Naturally we clicked and found a most interesting and different article. Nothing is solved here. Indeed at the outset we are told that hrough all the discussion, one thing was clear: “Consensus has yet to be reached.” and they ask the provocative question, “Where do you stand on this issue?”

However the one thing that stood out for this reader is the breadth of experience of the contributors. It is very doubtful that this particular group of professional could be, or perhaps would be, gathered together in the compilation of a conventional article.

Perhaps this is the future of publishing and the role of editors in the future – making order of the sometimes chaotic nature of contributions to the various social media networking platforms.

Control Engineering is to be congratulated for this insight.

We were wrong!
Never state something was the FIRST. You’re bound to be wrong! Walt Boyes tweets: “…the Integrated Safety thing from CTE, I should note that we (Control) did it LAST
MONTH and have been doing it a long time now.”

Read-out 09.05

Time machines and temperature

Read-out is distributed free of charge to named automation professionals within Ireland. Unfortunately we have to make a nominal charge to deliver to overseas readers! Subscribe Details Our Advertisers Blue-White

No we aren’t getting in to a Wellsian saga here just the current issue of our print periodical, Read-out, Ireland’s journal of instrumentation, control and automation! This, the September/October’09 issue is packed with news, views and people in the automation world in Ireland. The products especially dealt with temperature measurement.

The lead story features the genuinely unique product launched by Longwatch, their Console Recorder. This according to the article made their PR guy, Rich Merrit go into paeons of hyperbolic praise as “breakthrough, best-in-class leading edge…etc…” When we managed to calm him down he told us what it was! Basically it is a plant monitoring system which not only monitors the signals in a process plant but also accomodates video signals from an unlimited number of HMIs to show what the operators were watchnig at the time of an event, alarm or process upset.

We usually call the article on page two the Inside Front” article, and this issue features the Joe Gillespie’s (ARC Advisory Group) report on Coriolis flowmeters entitled Expanding Range of Applications Drive Coriolis Flowmeter Market Growth in 2008. This report predicts continued growth in Asia, Middle East and Latin America whereas Europe and North America will largely rely on replacement rather than new business.

Among the products mentioned is the temperature calibration system from Eurolec. Their CS Series comprises comprises two dry block “black body” sources for calibration with a temperature control system and a pocket for a reference thermometer. The Quadtemp 2000 4-channel thermocouple logger from Madgetech also features.

Another interesting article is one which first appeared in HazardEX, entitled “Are your temperture sensors safe?” It discusses the impact of European regulations, specifically Directive 94/9/EC for equipment used in explosive atmospheres. It appears that not everybody is in complience with this and this could have disastrous consequences.

Other items include Nationa Instruments’ new LabView 2009 which “targets the new technologies;” Omega’s fibreoptic Infrared transmitter OS4000 and a recomendation for JR Leigh’s book “Temperature Measurement & Control,” published by IEE.

The forthcoming dissolution of the over twenty year partnership of GE Fanuc is also featured as is the one hundreth anniversary of the Rotameter company (now known as Rota Yogagawa). There is also some news of Yokagawa’s continued expansion in Ireland.

There are some pictures of interest to Irish readers from the ISAExpo 2009, which it turned out is the last ISAExpo after a proud history of nearly fifty years. There sre details and links for some local and international events, past and future, also.

The next issue (Nov/Dec’09) will cover the parameter of PRESSURE. The deadline for material for this issue is 28th November 2009.

#ISAExpo

The last picture show!
The end of an era signals many changes at the International Society of Automation

ISA held what turned out to be the last ISAExpo in Houston, (TX US) early in October.

The last ISAExpo! (Pic Ken Keiser)

Comments, reports & discussions on ISAExpo’09 We welcome information on and will link to other reports! 2/11/2009 More on ISA Expo (Gary Mintchel – includes some stand reviews!) Last ISAExpo, first outing for ISA100 wireless standard (Ethernet Book) 30/10/2009 Summary of Multi-Supplier EDDL Demonstration at ISA Expo 2009 23/10/2009 ISA Unveils Plans for ISA Automation Week 2010 in Houston, Texas (ISA Release!) 2 22/10/2009 Show attracts thousands, features Dozens of Special Events (ISA’s release) 19/10/2009 Invensys’ Peter Martin Receives Prestigious ISA Life Achievement Award (see also our critique on his book Automation made Easy). 16/10/2009 More ISA thoughts (Gary Mintchel – Automation Weekly) 10/10/2009 ISA Expo run ends (Gary Mintchel – Automation Weekly) 9/10/2009 Genesis64 demos at ISA Expo 8/10/2009 ISA Expo Showcases Automation Technology Trends (Managing Automation) Industry Trade Shows Diverge (ISA Automation Marketing & Sales LinkedIn Discussion Group) ISA Announces Automation Week show (automation.com) 7/10/2009 Report from ISA Expo: Interoperability (Peter Welander-ControlGlobal) 30/9/2009 ISA: One Members Vision (Domesticating IT) Feb’09 to Oct’09 Exhibitor Press Releases Siemens Introduces the SITRANS SL ACR Systems Wat-R Your Needs? Meridium Launches New SIS Management Module AVEVA Unveils Instrumentation Product to Enhance AVEVA Plant ISA Expo’s posterous - there are interesting pieces on the events at the show on this posterous site. (the dead simple place to post everything!) Before, during and after the show, twitter was active, though, unlike the Emerson Meeting the previous week this was not enthusiastically fostered by the organisers. These tweets may be seen by the #ISAExpo search. See also LinkedIn discussion Social Media has been dubiously minimal at the ISA show on the Process Automation Social Media Club. Steve Toteda on ISA100 Compliance Institute Stand

The size of the show was smaller and the attendance was down too but despite that and despite the encroaching sunami of the “great depression” there was a buzz and even cheerfulness in the air.

Prior to the show we had seen some indications of a desire for change which we noted in our contribution Whether ISA? at the end of September. The ISA is apparently going through its own crisis and word was filtering out about some serious cuts in that organisation. Staff cuts, changes in the regularity of its periodical InTech from a monthly to a bimonthly albeit supported by a more regular internet presence. Their weekly InTech e-news will be produced as a co-branded weekly e-newsletter, with Automation Weekly, in addition to a number of topic-specific e-newsletters. The resulting co-branded e-newsletters will be distributed to Automation.com’s subscribers, ISA members and customers, and InTech subscribers, creating a combined total distribution of more than 90,000 world-wide automation professionals.

On the show front this is to be replaced by Automation Week, “a new knowledge-based conference event, focusing on delivering critical knowledge on the application of automation technologies in processing and manufacturing environments to top professionals.”

“It’s all about knowledge,” says ISA President Jerry Cockrell, who visited the Ireland Section last Spring. “ISA is a knowledge society. We have 30,000 members and we train, we educate, we run seminars and symposia, we have standards, books, educational programs — everything we disseminate is based on knowledge. We’re excited about what ISA Automation Week can offer,” he adds.

This new event will have a small limited table-top segment for vendors to present their wares and services. Bookings appeared to be brisk as the Expo drew to a close.

But back to the show.

There were two emphases I was interested to see this year, one was industrial wireless. The ISA100.11 Standard has just been approved so not surprisingly there was a lot of hype about that. Prior to the show a press tour was arranged to the Arkema plant just north of Houston. This showed that it actually worked. Indeed, Gary Mintchel, Chief Editor of the American publication Automation World tweeted, “ISA 100 works!”. (See also detail on this installation with pictures on the Industrial Ethernet Book.)

A tour of some of the stands was organized by WINA the Wireless and Networking association lead by Steve Toteda of DUST Networks, and current President of WINA. He spoke at the Wireless Track at Pharmatex here in Ireland some years ago.

The second emphasis was on security. This was a very US biased emphasis and included speakers who were heavily involved in the US Department of Homeland Security endevours in this field. Although of somewhat limited interest to non-US nationals it did attract attention and it was fascinating to see their concerns and anxieties. However we did hear a number of comments saying that the focus was too narrow for the International Society of Automation. (See also our item Industrial Security! in show preamble!).

There were other emphases or “Exchanges” at the show, safety, process automation & control, enterprise integration, and, energy & environment. This latter segment has achieved a higher profile in the US with the change in administration and a catching up with many other regions of the world.

One thing that impressed this visitor was the location of “pods” in each of these areas, well signposted where short presentations on various exchanges. These free presentations were remarkable in that though they were out in the show hall were acoustically sound and attendees could hear them without been disturbed by the general hub-bub in the rest of the show.

Attendance at the show hovered between 8000 and 9000, including conference and training attendance.

In box at the side we have endevoured to include links of the various commentaries, reports and blogs and other sites connected with this the last ISAExpo. The earliest are at the bottom leading up to the latest at the top.

Next year? It is difficult to say. Will the new format of Automation Week attract the automation professional? Will it prove the naysayers wrong? Only time will tell!

This correspondant wishes it and the Society well. Floreat!

Diamond sharp

Sensor hones in on sharp operators!

We discussed Emerson’s Charms in a recent blog and now we add a bit of sparkle in this release from Tony Ingham of Sensor Technology!

Torque sense at University of Greenwich!

Risk is being driven out of the use of heavy duty diamond cutting tools thanks to a €800,000 EU-backed research programme at the University of Greenwich near London (GB), to determine the true operating characteristics of such equipment.

At the heart of this vital work is a high tech torque sensor from Sensor Technology in Banbury, which proved to be the only effective way of measuring the true toque in the rotating saw blades and drill bits.

Previous research has simply estimated the torque by calculation from the drive motors’ current requirements and consumption. This was known to be highly inaccurate, because every motor has its own unique signature of characteristics, which can have a significant effect on actual performance in highly demanding applications, such as drilling 1000mm bore holes through reinforced concrete, or sawing through the barnacle encrusted steel of sub-sea structures.

In order to accurately profile the performance of each tool, it is necessary to measure the torque of the blade or cutting tip as it rotates; and for this a non-contact sensor is required. The Greenwich team considered several options around which to build their test rig, and the clear winner was the TorqSense unit from Sensor Technology.

This is a transducer that requires no physical contact between the sensor mounted on the high speed tool and its adjacent static pick-up, instead using Rayleigh Waves or surface acoustic waves (SAWs).

Such waves were originally identified by Lord Rayleigh, (awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1904) as being the destructive force in front of earthquakes, but now Sensor Technology is able to harness their power to measure torque.

To do this they first create waves by passing an alternating voltage across the terminals of two interleaved comb-shaped arrays, laid onto one end of a piezoelectric substrate. A receiving array at the other end of the transducer converts the wave into an electric signal, the frequency of which is dependant upon the spacing of the teeth. Tension in the transducer reduces the operating frequency while compression increases it.

Thus to measure torque, two sensors are bonded to a shaft at 45deg to the axis of rotation. When the shaft is subjected to torque, a signal is produced which is transmitted to a stationary pick up via a capacitive couple comprising two discs, one of which rotates with the shaft, the other being static.

For this project the sensor had to be mounted so that it could move linearly to accommodate the cutting progress of the tool. This proved quite difficult at first and lead to some inaccurate data, but careful tuning and damping of the electronic noise along with an accurate mechanism to allow the sensor to shadow the progression of the transducer was developed and the research could continue.

Until about 10 years ago, the existing research into heavy duty tools was adequate for the needs of the day. But in recent times more demanding operating standards will become legal requirements, while simultaneously the number of poorer quality tools imported from outside the European Union has risen sharply. (Often these masquerade under the livery of brands recognised for their quality, but are in fact made by unscrupulous ‘copycat’ manufacturers.)

In order to advance the state of the art it was necessary to build a database of the torque, power and other characteristics by the actual tools themselves under a great variety of operating conditions. This could then be used to profile the tools’ performance and thus allow accurate forecasting of their performance in the field. In order to log the performance data as accurately as possible it was fundamentally important to measure the true torque at the tools’ shaft rather than to estimate it from a more convenient measurement at the motor. The SAW techniques offered through TorqSense has proven to be the only effective way to do this, and in fact have proven to be remarkably simple and straightforward to implement.

“The level of danger to operators was becoming untenable as the number of ‘rip off’ tools grew,” says Dr Alec D Coutroubis, who is leading the Greenwich project and who has been awarded his doctorate for the fundamental research involved. “Also the European tool manufacturers were seeing their business severely undermined by the imports, which otherwise look absolutely identical to quality tools.”

Improved tolerance

The British distributor for Contelec Variohm Eurosensor presents this technical note on non-contact rotary sensors!
New applications opened up by non-contact angle sensors

Whether for axial offsets, excessive torque or the necessity for transmissive measurements, conventional angle sensors – despite their refined state of development – are not suitable for all applications. It is therefore hardly surprising that non-contact rotary sensors with offset magnetic transducers represent a virtually perfect alternative in a large number of fields, with impressive benefits.

Contelec Rotary Contelec Vert-XE Contelec XYZ

Reliable linkage of an angle sensor to the self-rotating element is – one would have thought – an established and unproblematic issue. That is not always the case, as is clearly illustrated in applications such as those where there are axial offsets between the customer’s rotating component and the sensor axis, attributable to design features and manufacturing tolerances. High-resolution, precision rotary sensors tolerate no torsion of the linkage, and when this is in evidence, it has a negative influence on the measured results, since a twist of the axis generates erroneous angle data. Despite this fact, there are still a host of so-called “over-engineered designs” that can be encountered in practical applications, in which there is rigid linkage between the sensor axis and the rotating element supplied by the customer. Systems of this kind can lead to a number of problems, including increasing mechanical wear of the sensor bearings, resulting from transverse forces, and even possible fracturing of the sensor axis.

New degrees of freedom
A remedy for these situations is offered by state-of-the-art noncontact angle sensors, in which there is no direct contact between the rotating magnet and the actual measurement system. On non-contact rotary sensors, the customer normally secures the permanent magnet to the rotating object (shaft), so that the axis and the measurement system are completely separated. As a consequence, there are no axially or radially acting forces, which could cause increased wear and adversely affect the life of the sensor. The working distance between the magnet and measurement system and the permissible installation tolerance in Z can be optimised by choosing a suitable magnet. Depending on the size of the magnet, a range of axial offset distances is possible in the XY direction, while maintaining constant linearity. The actual configuration represents a compromise between the magnet size and the possible axial offsets. Axial offsets in XY and Z, however, do not in any way change the reproducibility.

Non-contact rotary sensors are based on a magnetic, contactless sensor principle. They are accordingly not only free of wear and extremely robust in withstanding external influences, but demonstrate impressive long life, precision and resolution. They are available both as standard components and as customer-specific designs and, depending on the version, have tolerances of several millimetres in terms of axial offsets. They also boast convincing performance features, such as maximum 14-bit resolution and 10-bit precision at a linearity of 0.3%.

Transmissive and torque-free
Non-contact rotary sensors are not just suitable for applications with axial offsets (XYZ tolerances). They are also ideal for other tasks that are very difficult – or even completely impossible – to implement with conventional rotary sensors. These include transmissive measurements, in which it is necessary to measure the angle through liquid or solid materials.

A further area can be found in applications in which minimum torque is essential – for example in devices for measuring wind direction. Hitherto, solutions of this kind have required extremely expensive sensors and bearing systems to achieve torque levels as low as 0.002 to 0.003 Ncm. This is an application that is virtually made for non-contact sensors, since the mechanical separation of the sensor and permanent magnet ensures that there is no torque (no rotary axis bearings – and consequently no friction). The new sensors even allow affordable implementation of redundant systems without essentially increasing torque. With existing rotary sensors with jewel bearings, it has not been possible to improve on torque levels of 0.004 to 0.006 Ncm. Another deficiency of conventional low-torque systems is their inadequate seal tightness for a large number of applications. In many cases, the maximum seal tightness class is IP60, since at any higher values, the O-ring would effect an excessive increase in the torque. Non-contact rotary sensors, by contrast, allow the production of extremely seal-tight sensors, because the only part of the sensor that needs sealing is the one on which there are no moving components.

In contrast to conventional low torque angle sensors, which require an intricate manufacturing process and expensive materials, another attractive feature of non-contact rotary sensors is their price. The simpler makeup leads to a significant reduction of production costs – and consequently to considerably lower prices.

Countering interference fields
In applications requiring a low torque level of the angle sensor, the earth’s magnetic field comes into play. This acts on the permanent magnet, trying to align this in parallel with the north-south magnetic poles (identical to the principle of a compass, in which the compass needle aligns to the earth’s magnetic field), and by doing so imposes a torque on the magnet. However, in the case of small permanent magnets with simple dipole magnetisation, this torque is in the order of magnitude of 0.0002 Ncm and, as a consequence, is generally non-critical. A considerably greater influence can be exerted by static or dynamic magnetic fields generated by external sources.

Motors, live coils or permanent magnets positioned nearby can interfere with sensors working on the magnetic measurement principle. It is therefore important to screen the sensors from magnetic interference fields. The screening is performed by surrounding the magnet and sensor with a material that conducts magnetic flux. To ensure that the performance of the sensor is not impaired, this material has to have special properties. The use of a simple magnetic steel sheet is frequently insufficient for this purpose.

The precision of the sensor can also be influenced by electrical interference fields. These can be screened by an electrically conductive body, though this does not eliminate line-linked interference that penetrates into the sensor through the cables. Protection against interference of this kind is primarily provided by suitable electrical circuit elements. Appropriate EMC tests must be carried out to ensure that the sensors are suitable for the required conditions.

Overcoming existing limits
Some benefits that make noncontact and contactless rotary sensors so valuable are shared by optical encoders. However, in the latter case, these advantages are frequently eliminated by major disadvantages, such as size, price, possible fogging and breakage of the code disk. By contrast, the latest generation angle sensors achieve specifications that would be inconceivable with optical systems. These include miniature sensors with weight-optimised magnets and magnet carriers with impressively low external diameters of just 13 mm, resolutions of up to 14 bit and precision of up to 10 bit. Solutions are also available that are particularly suited to heavy-duty applications, which are unsusceptible to intense vibrations and impacts. A key feature here is that, in addition to standard products, custom solutions with individualised performance features and designs are obtainable. They differ in aspects such as body shape, magnetic transducer, distance between the permanent magnet and the measurement system and permitted tolerances. Solutions with body diameters from 13 mm to 37 mm, resolutions of up to 14 bit, IP69K-specified versions and versions for the temperature range between -40ºC and +125ºC are available as both standard components and custom designs.

In addition, a range of different connection technologies and output signals make an important contribution to application orientated individualisation. Available options include analogue outputs, with various voltage and current levels, and digital interfaces, such as PWM, SPI or SSI. Connection can be by stranded wire, straight cable or pin-connector packages. Other advantages of magnetic rotary sensors include the possibility of free programming of the rotary angle from 0º to 360º. A remarkable feature here is that the full resolution and precision are available even at angles less than 360º. Some solutions even allow individual configuration of the direction of rotation and the index point.

Charm informs!

Eliminating the ’spaghetti wiring’
Emerson puts emphasis on ease of use as DeltaV S-series overturns 35 years of industry thinking on I/O

When DCSs first began to replace discrete recorders and controllers more than 30 years ago, the sight of operators seated in front of banks of VDUs rather than standing, white coated and clip board at the ready, in front of panels that stretched into the distance, seemed to usher in a brave new world. It was of course all an illusion and an illusion that has been maintained in pretty much the same way for the intervening three decades. For behind the back wall of the control room, little or nothing has changed. Even today, nearly 10 years after ratification of the infamous IEC 61158 fieldbus standard and just weeks after approval of its wire- less cousin, ISA 100.11a, getting the signals from the field and into the DCS still for the most part requires the same thousands of miles of cable, serried ranks of marshalling cabinets and multiple racks of I/O as it did in the days of discrete controllers.

IAI is Europe's foremost commentator on automation ● Wireless control comes a step nearer with the announcement by Emerson of full redundancy for WirelessHART-based Smart Wireless networks, interfaced with DeltaV S-series systems. The solution protects the wireless network from any single point of failure by allowing primary failover to ensure that data is always delivered, even if there is a malfunction. It includes redundant Wireless I/O, power and communications and a redundant Smart Wireless Remote Link which can be mounted in class 1/Div 1/zone 0. DeltaV S-series includes a special PID algorithm optimized for high accuracy control in wireless-based exception reporting environments. The concept has been validated on bioreactor control at bioprocess technologies supplier Broadley James and stripper and absorber control at the University of Texas. ● Emerson is to integrate its Syncade operations management (don’t call it MES) software suite with the existing PlantWeb installation at Lonza’s biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Lonza is a leading contract manufacturer of therapeutic proteins and monoclonal antibodies from mammalian cell culture and selected Syncade for the Portsmouth facility based on previous success at its facility in Visp, Switzerland. Emerson has been working with the company to develop a detailed understanding of the Portsmouth site requirements for electronic batch records. The new implementation will provide manufacturing IT support for work in process material tracking, equipment use status management, electronic manufacturing procedure execution, electronic batch record management, quality assurance review by exception and plant floor integration with ERP.

Fundamental rethink
But not for much longer, or so Emerson would have us believe. Last week in Orlando, as vice president of platform strategy Duncan Schleiss had predicted back in July (INSIDER, August 2009, page 1), Emerson took the opportunity of its Global Users Exchange in Orlando to re- veal arguably the most fundamental re- think of the DCS since the then Fisher Rosemount introduced DeltaV in 1996. In July Schleiss had predicted that DeltaX, as it had been dubbed by industry pundits, would make an impact “at least as big as DeltaV SIS”, the integrated safety solution which caused such consternation when it was first announced in 2004. What he now tells us he meant to say was “at least as big as DeltaV itself” but, in fact, the DeltaV S-series platform, as we must now get used to calling it, while the centre piece, is nevertheless just one aspect of the version 11 release which also includes major enhancements to all of the systems’ I/O processing, operator displays, asset management, batch capability and system security. And even then it’s not at this stage clear whether it’s as significant a development in the longer term as Emerson’s simultaneous announcement of its Human Centered Design Institute whose origins, one suspects, can be found both in Chief Strategic Officer Peter Zornio’s time with Honeywell and Schleiss’ own acknowledged admiration, if that’s the right word, for the Honeywell-led Abnormal Situations Management consortium. Despite those caveats, however, there seems little doubt that it’s the S-series platform and its innovative approach to I/O which most delegates, journalists and analysts will be recalling from their three days in the Florida sunshine. It is perhaps ironic that it was an almost as radical approach to I/O – buying it in from MTL – which was one of the key characteristics of the original DeltaV in 1996. S- series finally lays that concept to rest however with the introduction of what is being called ‘I/O on Demand’.

What, when and where
Because of its complexity, traditional I/O, wiring and marshalling had to be designed and committed to at an early stage in any project with the inevitable later stage changes incurring high levels of additional cost and delay. By contrast DeltaV S-series allows users to decide what type of I/O they want, be it wireless, FF, HART, AI, AO, DI, DO, DP, T/C or RTD; when they want it, be that for late project changes, during start-up, during operation or for temporary installations; and where they want it, in rack rooms, remote locations, hazardous areas, safety systems or harsh environments. Key to this flexibility is a second major innovation, Electronic Marshalling. Se- lectively previewed at last year’s Emerson Exchange in Washington, it essentially eliminates the need for a physical path from signal source to controller. Instead new single channel CHARacterization ModuleS or CHARMS relay I/O information via the Ethernet backbone to any controller and provide single channel integrity and flexibility down to the channel level. Not only does this approach drastically reduce engineering time but it ensures that changes to the original design can be readily accommodated without rewiring.

On a typical project with 15,341 hardwired points, Zornio claimed that Electronic Marshalling alone can cut the number of cabinets by 50% and their footprint by 40% while eliminating as much as 90% of intracabinet wiring. “We’re completely eliminating the ‘spa- ghetti wiring’ used to connect marshal- ling terminals to I/O terminals and then to controllers,” he said.

WirelessHART
But the benefits of the new technology aren’t just confined to conventional wired I/O. The S-series also incorporates a major enhancement for WirelessHART networks which, in addition to the existing provision of native wireless integration, supports fully redundant communication and renders wireless applicable to a much wider range of monitoring and control applications. Indeed Schleiss claimed that “Forty-four percent of proc- ess control inputs can be wireless with no difficulty” while Zornio reckoned that I/O on Demand can cut wireless net- work design time by some 20%. “Getting rid of wires eliminates most activities associated with wiring design and installation. Cabinets, wire, terminations, cable tray design, fusing, installation drawings and a host of other activities are gone,” he stressed.

More bad news for MTL, and for all their rivals in the fieldbus power business, in how the S-series handles Foundation fieldbus, integrating fieldbus power conditioners on to H1 cards and thus eliminating third-party power conditioners and bulk power supplies. “S-series I/O on Demand lowers costs and engineering, while built-in diagnostics also lower cost, eliminate special tools and special training,” said Zornio.

Emerson claims that many of the enhancements incorporated in DeltaV S-series are a direct result of the new focus on usability at the centre of its newly established Human Centered Design Institute. According to its director, Duane Toavs, the ‘virtual’ institute was developed in collaboration with Carnegie Melon University and draws its staff from all of Emerson’s brands. The institute had its origins in the original work to develop Smart Wireless. It approaches the analysis of user needs by developing ‘personas’ and ‘stakeholder maps’, based on interviews with actual users, which in turn led to an understanding of how users interact with technology. “Process control technologies have come a long way in the past 40 years,” said Zornio. “But the industry has invested almost exclusively on feature and technology enhancement, instead of designing around how people actually use the technology.” The DeltaV S-series platform, with its claimed reductions in project engineering costs is one result of this
new approach but just as profound is likely to be its effect on theday-to-day activities of operators and maintenance staff. “We evaluated device interfaces across the industry and found a common problem,” said Zornio. “Routine steps which operators and maintenance personnel perform frequently were cumbersome, confusing and illogically laid out. It’s an endemic problem throughout the industry.”

Demographic challenge
Based on that analysis, all Emerson’s Device Dashboards have been overhauled while the same thinking has been incorporated into a complete set of new ‘visually-focused’ operator displays for DeltaV, designed to enable operators to recognize alerts more rapidly and gain access to the information needed to understand their nature and respond promptly and correctly. The contention is that only by putting usability and productivity at the heart of product design can the process industries meet the twin challenges of skills shortages in emerging markets and an aging experienced workforce in the developed world. “By putting increased emphasis on ease-of- use, we can meet this demographic challenge head-on and simply make it easier to extract value from technology investments,” argued Zornio. European journalists and analysts – and no doubt key users – will have the opportunity to make their own assessment when Zornio and Schleiss bring the S-series circus to Emerson’s Rijswijk, Netherlands facility in mid-November.

This article from Andrew Bond is taken from the October 2009i issue of Industrial Automation Insider (IAI).
See also #EMRex tweets rule, our account of this event!

Sundae, bloody sundae!

Is your marketing out of synch?

Recently, in our post Whether ISA?, we drew attention to Jon DiPietro’s ideas as an ordinary member on the future of the International Society of Automation (ISA). During last weekend’s leaders meeting of that organisation he was given the opportunity of talking specifically about social media, or perhaps more correctly social networking and how it can help ISA during the current difficult times. (We talked about social media way back in July 2009 , how time flies!)

A meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas.

In the course of his talk he mentioned a publication, a book by a gentleman called Seth Godin with the unusual title of Meatball Sundae, a somewhat inedible concoction one might think!. (ISBN 978b-1-59184-174-6 Published 2007).

As I returned from the ISAExpo 2009 in Houston (TX US), what looks like the last ISAExpo, I managed to secure a copy and started to read it on the nine hour flight to Europe. (The entire journey back to Conamara was about 24 hours but as we say obver here “sin scéal eile!” – that’s another story!)

This little 232 page volume asks the very pertinent question, very relevant today, “Is your marketing out of synch?”

What a read! While I do not intend to go too deep into a critique of the book I would like to comment on one or two messages that leaped out at me.

First the title. The meatballs as I understand it are the old models (pre-internet up to the beginning of this century) of marketing. The “interruptive style” which I suppose is like a gun firing leadshot. Advertising to the masses and hoping that some would stick, very expensive advertising campaigns, mail-shots etc etc. This was to support equally expensive industrial plant which produced middle of the road product to “feed the masses” a sort of lower common denominator product which we – the masses- could buy or “consume.”

Then along come this new-fangled internet thing, all shiny and new and attractive and fun like a sundae with a cherry on the top. So the advertising gurus leapt on this new wonderful medium as a means of furthering the old paradigm. Another way of presenting the wares they wanted to foist on the masses. But it didn’t and it doesn’t. And this book shows why.

As somebody who had invested in the Waterford Wedgewood company I view his use of as an example of somebody who caught a new marketing idea and ran with as it somewhat ironic.

Josiah Wedgwood

Yes, here was a pioneer in marketing, with imagination and verve who latched onto to the great marketing boom that coincided with the industrial revolution. It is sad but illuminating that his company finally succumbed earlier this year arguably because it could not or would not embrace the new marketing paradigm after millions and millions of pounds, euros and dollars were spent by “sensible” businessmen in trying to rescue it. Waterford Crystal bought the Wedgewood company – interesting isn’t it that I don’t really fell the need to say what these two brands are! They had the name but an inability to change sufficiently to harness the new marketing paradigm. They just poured more and more money into maintaining the old one until there was no more available. Ironic indeed that the company was liquidated and sold off in the 250th year of it’s foundation.

So Seth Godin says, “If JosiahWedgewood were alive today, he’d be saying, ‘Let me out of this box. It’s dark! It’s dark!’ Sorry, I meant, if Josiah Wedgwood were alive today, he would rebuild everyone of his factories and get his organisation in syncc with the realities of the new marketing.” It is such a pity that Sir Anthony O’Reilly and his team didn’t have him still sitting on the board. If he had, perhaps I would have had some valuable shares instead of some useless pieces of paper!

There is one paragraph in this book which, for me, summarised what this new marketing thing is and I think it bears quoting in full.

‘After just a few mins of conversation at the older non-profit (organisation), one person realised. “So, if we embrace this approach, we don’t have to just change our website – we are going to have to change everything about our organisation. our mission, our structure, our decision making…” Exactly!’

I usually avoid business books and business gurus like the plague. They strike me usually as been dense, jargon filled, here today and gone tommorrow, American and difficult to read. The last one I read, enjoyed, and tried to use, was Robert Waterman’s and Tom Peters’ In search of excellence! in the eighties.

Yes this book is very American, there were several references which as a mere European I could not relate to. Not everything American is bad and this little book IS a good read, either all in one go or for dipping into. It will certainly stimulate you and maybe make you start thinking in a completely different way about your own enterprise.

Oh yes another interesting this about this book is that where in all other managment books (Is this a manageemnt book?) it assumes that the people making decisions are men, “He this and he that” or the even more tiresome bisexual – or is it cross gender?- “he/she.” Seth Godin is no fence sitter he goes for the “she and her” everytime. The fact that I notice that probably says more about me than about the author.

But then he is the stimulating raconteur, the storyteller, of this major paradigm shift. The new marketing revolution.

Read it and viva la revolution!