Jack Smith, Senior Editor, Plant Engineering Magazine
Articles
ABCs of DAQs
From datalogging to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), plant processes and maintenance functions frequently require collecting, analyzing, trending, and archiving data from multiple sources. One application is collecting temperature data to find hot spots on a boiler. Another is collecting flow and pressure to troubleshoot flow valves in the field.
Software importance increasing among plant engineers
Today's plant engineer is transcending the longstanding stereotype. The plant engineering function is no longer just nuts and bolts. Today's plant engineer is mature, educated, and tends to stay in his or her job. And the job requires an increasing amount of software.Software is a fact of life on the plant floor of today and tomorrow.
Code changes affect the plant floor
The National Electrical Code typically views an industrial control panel as a piece of equipment with proper installation being the major concern. Titled the “Standard for Safety for Industrial Control Panels,” UL 508A covers industrial control panels intended for general industrial use, operating from a voltage of 600 V AC or less.
Supplying power for electronic circuits
Electronic circuits require dc voltage and current to operate. Some circuits use a "single-sided" power supply, meaning that the reference voltage is 0 V and the operating voltage is some positive value, such as 5, 12 or 15 Vdc. The value of the voltage depends on the type of circuit or equipment to be powered.
Switching power supply fundamentals
The efficiency of a switching mode power supply can be much higher than that of a linear power supply — especially near full load. Switching mode power supply efficiencies can exceed 85% as compared to 50%-60% for typical linear supplies.
Brushing up on dc circuit fundamentals
Before you get out of bed each day, an electronic clock radio awakens you so that you can get ready for your commute to the plant. Perhaps your car or truck has electronic fuel injection — not to mention a main computer that can be serviced only at the dealership. At the plant, you encounter electronic circuits, equipment, and systems — some of which you probably take for granted.
Find the right strategy for control automation
The term control automation strategy has no "official" definition. It was chosen to demonstrate that the traditional roles of automation in manufacturing have changed over the years and the lines that separate them is becoming increasingly blurred. The types of control systems used in manufacturing plants depend on the processes and operations companies use to produce their products.
OPC to launch unified architecture
The OPC Foundation (OPCF) has joined the international cooperative team of the three leading fieldbus organizations, the Fieldbus Foundation (FF), HART Communication Foundation (HCF), and PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PNO), to extend the reach of electronic device descriptions (EDDs) into the OPC unified architecture.
Complying with new electrical safety regulations
A major National Electric Code change that affects industrial control panels becomes enforceable in January 2005. On the surface, it appears that the change affects only OEMs and panel builders. However, because completed industrial control panels make their way to your plant, you need to know how this change affects you.
Should PLCs be networked?
The decision of whether to put a PLC on a network depends on interrelated factors that you define by evaluating your requirements. You must weigh what you want to get out of PLC networking against how much you want to pay for it. Networking a PLC should not be done just because it can be done.
Demo program considerations
The team your plant selected to specify the next software investment, which could require a significant outlay of capital dollars, is looking to you for a recommendation. Your opinion is critical to the team's decision. Where do you start? Perhaps you are upgrading a software suite, or maybe you seek to change vendors.
Why one-line electrical diagrams are essential
At a recent arc flash seminar, the speaker asked the attendees "How many of you work at a plant that has an up-to-date one-line diagram?" He prefaced this question with an explanation of what up-to-date means — not only an accurate drawing, but also the documentation that supports the one-line diagram.
Basics of industrial Ethernet
Ethernet is not the internet; Ethernet is not a fieldbus; and Ethernet is not a control system. Ethernet is a networking standard. Period. Ethernet components An Ethernet network can have up to 1024 nodes, hundreds of cables, and many combinations of network management devices.
Intrinsic safety in hazardous locations
Since the dawn of the industrial age, using electricity in potentially explosive areas has been problematic. Electrical equipment may generate arcs, sparks, or hot surfaces, which could cause an explosion. Hazardous materials such as gases, vapors, dusts, liquids, and fibers are present in many industrial plants.
Basics of power management software
Powerful analytical tools — software, PCs, networks, and the internet — are within a click of the mouse. Power monitoring equipment captures data; software analyzes critical data required for responsible electrical energy management. Power management software tools provide control over how you manage your use of electricity.
Basics of power management equipment
Electrical power enters the plant, drives the equipment, shines the lights, conditions the air, makes the coffee, and runs the printer that prepares your paycheck — and the check to pay for all this electricity. Are you getting your money's worth? Probably not.
Basics of how to minimize harmonics
The August 14, 2003 blackout emphasized that power quality should not be taken lightly. The blackout was caused by, and affected the power grid — our nation's electrical infrastructure. The issues raised by this event should and will come under scrutiny. Just as the nation looks at its power quality issues, plant engineers must look at power quality issues inside the plant.
Temperature calibration basics
The types of calibration applicable to a manufacturing plant include temperature, pressure, flow, and electrical parameters, such as power, voltage, current, and resistance. This article addresses temperature calibration primarily. But much of the information applies to calibration of all instruments.
Outdoor lighting considerations
Whether lighting the front office facade, employee parking lot, storage yard, or flagpole, outdoor lighting requires that plant engineers follow certain guidelines. Outdoor lighting should be more than just decorative. Safety, security, functionality, and efficiency should be considered when designing and specifying lighting systems for a plant's exterior.
PLCs vs. PCs for industrial control
Since the dawn of the programmable logic controller (PLC), plants have come to expect reliability, stability, and simplicity from them. However, software controls running on personal computers (PCs) have made inroads to industrial automation and process control in recent years.
Tracking Trends in CMMS/EAM
Although CMMS has been around for more than two decades, the marketplace is relatively stable, despite high industry vendor turnover in its early days. Only a few new faces appear each year; only a few disappear. EAM is no longer a topic restricted to the plant floor or maintenance organization. It is available to all of the enterprise, regardless of geographic boundaries.
Wiring system design: Cable tray vs. conduit
To be useful, electrical wiring must get from one place to another. Distribution is a necessary phase of system wiring design in order to get power or impulse signals to their final destinations. Historically, wires and cables have been pulled through conduit.
Basics of low-voltage circuit breakers
A circuit breaker is designed to keep an undesirably large amount of current, voltage, or power out of a given part of an electrical circuit. Industrial circuit breaker categories tend to follow voltage classes, which are divided according to magnitude. The IEEE divides voltage systems into four classes listed in the table titled "IEEE voltage classifications.
Are open fieldbuses really open?
With the many instrument and control buses in industry, each claiming to have an open protocol, why do we still have devices and systems that cannot communicate? The reality is, they are all open and they can communicate, but not necessarily with each other. Bill Arnold, Omron Electronics, Schaumburg, IL, defines open protocol: "a technology is 'open' if the development specification is publis...
User conference, pump portal, new company, and FDA compliance
Automation architecture leverages legacy systems Invensys released its new automation architecture at its user conference, Invensys Showcase, held the second week of September in Orlando, FL. ArchestrA is a comprehensive plant automation and information architecture that extends the life of legacy systems by leveraging the latest software available for those systems.
Temperature control basics
A temperature controller is merely a part of a bigger system that depends on feedback (Fig. 1). If you apply heat to a process without knowing the actual temperature of the process, eventually you would have too much heat, or too little. The temperature of a process must be known in order to control it accurately.
Voltage sags and what to do about them
Voltage sags are the most common events that affect power quality. They are also the most costly. Equipment used in modern industrial plants, such as process controllers, PLCs, adjustable speed drives, and robots, becomes more sensitive to voltage sags as the complexity of the equipment increases. Relays and contactors in motor starters are sensitive to voltage sags, resulting in downtime when ...
Mobilizing CMMS/EAM
What if your department no longer had to fill out work orders at the end of a shift? What if you could have an extra hour a day to work on equipment? What if you were able to move your maintenance department from reactive to proactive and predictive? Using mobile CMMS/EAM can answer all these questions in one fell swoop.
Understanding multimeters
Measurement of electrical parameters has evolved considerably during the past century. However the parameters we measure do not change. Measuring volts, amperes, and ohms can be done with an analog volt-ohm-milliammeter (VOM) (Fig. 1.) or a digital multimeter (DMM) (Fig. 2.). VOMs VOMs are electromechanical.
Is project management software right for you?
Small or large, projects require discipline in planning and execution. The success or failure of a project depends on the skill and expertise with which it is managed. Although it cannot replace the intelligence that envisions and implements all of a project's phases, project management software can save plant engineers time and promote effective management by providing tools to simplify comple...
Exploring onsite power generation technology and equipment options
Power outages can disrupt industrial production, destroy data, result in lost materials, and cost a manufacturing plant a boatload of money in lost revenue or spoiled products. Near-constant power is no longer a convenience — it is a vital necessity.Although utility power delivery has become more technologically sophisticated, utility power outages have increased in many areas of th...
Power measurement devices and how they work
The measurement of electrical power has not changed much over the years. A volt is still a volt and a watt is still a watt. However, the devices used to measure these electrical parameters have changed a great deal. What was once mechanical is now electronic; what was once analog is now digital.
What every plant engineer should know about selecting software
Because of features such as improved ease of use, web-enabled functionality, the ability to integrate applications across the enterprise, and much more, software is providing plant engineers with excellent assistance for everything from project management to stress analysis, and from CMMS to CAD.
Terrorist attack affects internet, MRO deliveries
Internet recovers quickly after attackAccording to a statement released by Matrix.Net Inc., a U.S.-based internet performance measurement company, the internet infrastructure in the U.S. appeared to be functioning close to normal, just hours after the series of devastating terrorist attacks struck New York City and Washington, D.
ASP basics
What is an application service provider (ASP)? According to the ASP Industry Consortium (allaboutasp.org), a trade organization that represents ASPs, "Application service providers deliver and manage applications and computer services from remote data centers to multiple users via the internet or a private network.
Managing equipment health
As equipment becomes more sophisticated, monitoring equipment health becomes increasingly important. Condition monitoring systems embedded into equipment provide enhanced management of critical assets by focusing on system wellness.
A guide to smart motor controls
While there is no specific definition to the phrase "smart motor controls," there is no question that ac variable-speed drives are becoming more sophisticated, offering an increasing amount of intelligence. This intelligence is displayed in features such as removable and interchangeable keypads that help plant engineers program drives quickly, sophisticated diagnostics and motor protection, and more.
Internet searches made simple
There are hundreds of millions of web pages accessible via the internet. Some pages may be easy to find; others may not. Unless you are provided with a specific universal resource locator (URL), or are extremely lucky, you must search through the masses for the specific pages that contain the information required.
Finding training, employment, and education on the internet
The internet can be used as a tool, entertainment, resource, time saver, and many other life-enriching ways. For the plant engineer, the internet can also be a tool for professional development in the forms of training, education, and career growth. Training and the internet Training is important to maintaining the health of any organization.