Westermo acquires Virtual Access Ltd

Westermo, a business entity of the Beijer Group, has acquired 100% of Virtual Access Limited, an Ireland-based technology company specialising in wireless industrial routers and gateways, plus managed connectivity services for customers in the utility, traffic management and telecommunications sectors.

Virtual Access has 40 employees and operations in Dublin, Ireland, with annual sales of approximately Euro12M (~130 MSEK). With the earlier acquisition of Neratec Solutions AG, a specialist in WLAN solutions used within the railway industry, this latest acquisition provides Westermo with an extensive industrial wireless portfolio to support remote data networking applications in a broad range of demanding applications.

“I am pleased that we today announce this second complementary acquisition to the business entity Westermo. We operate in markets where digitalisation is growing rapidly in an increasingly connected world and the acquisition of Virtual Access strengthens our position further”, said Per Samuelsson, President and CEO of Beijer Group.

Jenny Sjödahl, CEO of Westermo added: “The acquisition of Virtual Access will strengthen Westermo’s offering to the power distribution and utility markets, by providing an expanded remote access technology portfolio supported by our worldwide sales network. This acquisition supports our ‘WeGrow’ strategy in a superb way. Virtual Access in Ireland will become the technology centre for cellular remote access solutions within Westermo”.

Henry Brankin, Managing Director of Virtual Access Ltd, commented “We are very happy to join Westermo and the Beijer Group. Westermo’s worldwide sales organisation will ensure further global market reach and our complementary technologies will create a strong offering to a range of industries”.

The acquisition will have limited impact on Beijer Group’s earnings in 2019 and is expected to contribute in 2020 in line with the forecast Westermo profitability level.

Left to right: Tom Hughes (Former Chairman), Philip Duffy (CFO) & Henry Brankin (MD) from Virtual Access, accompanied by Jenny Sjödahl (CEO, Westermo), Per Samuelsson (CEO, Beijer Group) and Joakim Laurén (CFO, Beijer Group).

Deutsche Telekom and Endress+Hauser co-operate over 5G data

With its campus networks, Deutsche Telekom offers an infrastructure for the smart factory of tomorrow. Together with partners from industry, Europe’s largest telecommunications company wants to further expand its 5G ecosystem for industry. In the process automation sector, Deutsche Telekom is now co-operating with Endress+Hauser.

The aim of the co-operation is to develop joint offers in the field of measurement and automation technology for the process industry. This involves the integration of measuring instruments and accessories into the next generation of mobile communication networks, as well as the development of digital services based on them. Both companies have signed a corresponding memorandum of understanding and are now working on a co-ordinated timetable.

Measuring instruments with a mobile communication module

Endress+Hauser is one of the first manufacturers to equip its field devices with mobile communication modules and to connect existing installations to 5G networks – via newly developed HART gateways. This enables a large number of instruments to transmit a wealth of process and device data in parallel and in real time. These can, for example, be used in cloud applications for the predictive maintenance of process plants.

Campus networks open second signal path

“In addition to the actual measured values, our instruments record a wealth of information from the process and about the sensor,” said Matthias Altendorf, CEO of Endress+Hauser. “5G campus networks open up a second signal path that is independent of the main plant control system: this makes it possible to separately tap this potential. This will enable E+H to link value chains more closely across company boundaries and make industrial processes more efficient.”

Strong partners for smart production

“Building a complete 5G ecosystem for industry will accelerate the pace of digitalization in industry,” explains Claudia Nemat, member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management, Technology and Innovation. “We look forward to working with renowned and experienced partners.” In addition to the partnership with network supplier Ericsson, the telecommunications company now also cooperates with E&K Automation, a manufacturer of driverless transport systems, and Konica Minolta, which offers augmented reality glasses, among other products.

The European Scene

The German organisation Profibus & Profinet International (PI) publishes annual statistics on the numbers of devices installed with interfaces equipped with their communication technologies, which also include ProfiSafe and IO-Link. The trend towards Profinet increased in 2017, with 4.5 million new nodes installed, an increase of 25% on the previous year figure, which brings the total number installed to 21 million. Possibly because of the rise in Profinet systems, the Profibus DP numbers added seem to have reached a plateau over recent years, with a population of 60 million.

Profibus PA and ProfiSafe node numbers are growing strongly in the process automation field, with the ProfiSafe adoption growing 25% in the year, adding 2m nodes to reach 9 million in total. Similarly IO-Link device numbers installed in the year increased 50%, adding 2.8m to achieve a population of 8.1 million, linking sensors and actuators to a PLC as a subsidiary network below the fieldbus/Profinet level. PI recently published an IO-Link wireless specification, and demonstrated the technology at the Hanover Trade Show earlier this year.

Government Interferences

Legislative rulings have affected businesses and consumers across the EU recently, with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) causing avalanches of email asking for a subscriber’s permission to be re-registered with every firm they have ever dealt with, to allow them to record the fact. Even companies from outside the EU will face financial penalties, if they send out emailed newsletters or promotional messages into EU subscribers, without having these permissions confirmed, registered and recorded!

In the USA, the EPA, under the Trump administration, has dropped most of the more Draconian measures that they had originally proposed to impose on chemical plants, after the explosion at West Fertilizers in Texas that killed 15 fire-fighters and injured 260 people. The CSB report on the incident also listed 19 other Texas facilities that store large amounts of Ammonium Nitrate fertiliser, and are located within half a mile of a school, hospital or nursing home. One regulation that will be introduced in Texas is that local fire marshals will inspect all sites storing ammonium nitrate, once a year. Hopefully this might help prevent any further explosions that might result in large off- site consequences.

The changes that were proposed by the EPA and that will not now be introduced include (1) the need to evaluate options for safer technology and procedures that would mitigate hazards; (2) the requirement to conduct a root-cause analysis after a catastrophic chemical release or potential release incident; and (3) performing a third-party compliance audit after an accident at a plant involving the release or potential release of chemicals.

In the UK, Barclays Bank, rather than the Government, is reassuring UK exporters worried about Brexit and trading afterwards, with a survey that shows 39% of International customers would be more inclined to buy a product if it displayed the Union Jack. This was especially true for consumers in Asia and the Middle East (India, 67%; UAE, 62%; China, 61%), and also for younger consumers generally, where nearly half said this would encourage them to make a purchase. For over 55 year olds (who maybe had more life experience) the figure dropped to a quarter. It’s all statistics!)

Research projects

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen was first demonstrated by Fujishima and Honda using a titanium dioxide electrode. Since then, scientists have been on the hunt for the ideal material to perform the task, as Hydrogen is a very useful, green fuel for portable power. Now, a team from Exeter University has made a significant hydrogen energy breakthrough, developing an electrode that splits water using only light. The photo-electrode, which is made from nanoparticles of lanthanum, iron and oxygen, absorbs light before initialising electrochemical transformations to extract hydrogen from water. The team is currently working on further improving this material to
make it more efficient, to produce more hydrogen.

At the Drives & Controls Exhibition in the UK this year all the motor manufacturers were showing the condition monitoring capabilities of their offering, usually measured by vibration monitoring sensors. Possibly ABB went one step further, showing a sensor assembly that can be attached to almost any low-voltage motor, existing or on a new project. Transmitting information over Bluetooth, the sensors require no wiring, and are attached directly to the motor’s frame. Within the unit, sensors collect vital data points like vibration, sound and temperature, and upload that information via an ABB gateway or Smartphone to the cloud, where it is analysed. The results are sent back for optimising performance and predictive maintenance, just like a roving maintenance engineer!

This article was written for the July issue of the South African Journal of Instrumentation and Control, published by technews.co.za

ABB automation increases capacity 10x for Tate & Lyle food additive plant

When Tate & Lyle acquired Biovelop, a Swedish manufacturer of oat based food ingredients in 2013, the factory in Kimstad, Sweden was modernized and expanded by installing automation systems, variable speed drives, motors, motor control cabinets  and valve positioners from ABB Automation. In 2016 the remodeled plant celebrated the first anniversary of operations with the new systems and significantly increased production capacity.

The global market for specialty food ingredients, including health and wellness products, is growing, with annual sales of $51 billion and annual growth rate of 4-5%. Oat ingredients have been actively involved with this trend as they offer some key nutritional and functional benefits. In particular, oat contains beta glucan, a soluble fiber that has been shown to lower cholesterol and reduce post prandial glycaemic response – claims that have been approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In fact, it was these properties of the grain that made the sector an attractive one to Tate & Lyle, and triggered the decision to diversify its portfolio into this sector.

“We have seen a more than tenfold increase in capacity with the same number of shift operators compared to four years ago,” said Annika Werneman, Tate & Lyle plant manager. “It’s a huge change in such a short time, and it means that we’ve gone from a low-level facility to one that can deliver high quality product to our customers globally.”

Advanced automation technologies in the plant run critical food processing equipment -including pumps and decanters: material handling machinery is also used to transport the dry food products. ABB delivered automation equipment that included 85 variable speed drives (VSDs), with power ratings ranging from 0.37 kW to 55 kW, as well as ABB MNS 3.0 motor control cabinets and low voltage motors. ABB also delivered 44 Digital Electro pneumatic positioners (TZID-C) , which use the Hart protocol to communicate with the control valves.

“We needed a process that was highly automated and could run 24 hours, seven days a week, all year long,” Werneman continued. This meant building a system that enabled Tate & Lyle engineers to digitally interact with the system, commission (start) devices, and diagnose performance deviations or failures from anywhere in the world. This not only helps ensure operational consistency, but also reduce the total cost of ownership by enabling staff to manage the processes without being physically present at each site.

Such interactivity was enabled by the ABB fieldbus automation for the drive controls, providing flexibility as well as remote monitoring of the plant performance. “I like that ABB designed the system so that the fieldbus responsible for device control is split from the fieldbus used for asset management,” explained Leo Dijkstra, power & controls team leader Europe at Tate & Lyle. “This ensures that I can make any changes to the configuration of the devices without the risk of the whole network going down.”

At Tate & Lyle, they place great importance not just on what they do, but how they do it. “We are working continuously wherever we can to reduce the environmental footprint of our operations,” said Dijkstra. ABB was well placed to help as it has developed a portfolio of products and solutions that improve industrial energy efficiency.

“In our pump applications alone, we are using up to 50 percent less energy thanks to the variable speed drives, and these have been running non-stop for the last two years without a single failure,” Dijkstra continued. “What’s more, ABB was so quick to deliver products that we even had the first VSD delivered in just a few days.”

Although the nearest ABB support is only a ten-minute drive away from the Kimstad factory, the fieldbus flexibilities in the drives enable Tate & Lyle to rely on its own staff to handle the ABB equipment remotely. “Our work with Tate & Lyle illustrates the benefits of digitization, which can yield immense productivity and output gains from existing facilities,” said Petter Hollertz, area sales manager at ABB. “The improvements at this plant also show what great teamwork between the equipment supplier and the user can accomplish, as we worked together as true partners on this project.”

Time-Sensitive Networking in Profinet

Bob Squirrell of PI and the UK Profibus Group advises that Time-sensitive Networking is planned for integration into Profinet. The release is as follows: 

“A promising new IEEE technology for Ethernet that combines the bandwidth of IT (information technology) networks with the latency of OT (operational technology) networks is in the offing in the form of TSN (Time-sensitive Networking). TSN consists of a tool kit of standardized mechanisms that can be used in Ethernet-based networks. In the PI (Profibus & Profinet International) “Industry 4.0” working group, the requirements and goals for the future use of TSN in Profinet have now been worked out.

The focus of the work is first and foremost on easy handling for Profinet users. They should be able to use the new technology easily in their devices or systems while still taking advantage of the existing knowledge. Furthermore, services such as diagnosis, parameterization, etc. should be identical as in the current landscape. The engineering, i.e. the configuration of the network, should also be performed in the familiar way. In this way PI permits an easy transition to the new Ethernet landscape and ensures broad acceptance among users.

In addition, PI relies on standard Ethernet technology so it can both draw on a broad selection of Ethernet chips for the implementation of the Profinet interface on devices and also benefit from the further developments of IEEE technology such as gigabit bandwidths. Furthermore, synchronous networks can be implemented for isochronous applications with TSN. Previously, networks had to be set up separately and integrated in dedicated chips in the devices. This is the only way to ensure not only that Profinet remains future-proof for users, but also that simpler setups will be possible.

Besides a stack architecture that is easy to integrate and scale, a further crucial goal for the use of the technology is a high degree of determinism and robustness to IP-based traffic that is not real-time capable. The reliability increases, since TSN allows bandwidth to be reserved on the network for individual tasks so they are not disrupted by other traffic. This is especially important, since a variety of protocols will be used side by side in future in Industry 4.0 networks. In this way PI incorporates parallel communication via OPC UA between stations on the system level or from devices on the field level to the cloud right from the start.

However, with the introduction of TSN, it is also necessary to simplify the engineering of the network for more complex systems, until they become plug-and-work-capable networks that permit reconfiguration during ongoing operation. In addition, the TSN mechanisms that arise alongside the real-time protocol procedure offer the options that PI is consistently pursuing.

Karsten Schneider, Chairman of PI, summarizes the benefits of this approach thus: “PI will expand Profinet with the mechanisms of TSN in layer 2, retaining the application layer on the higher levels. This makes it possible to migrate the applications to the new technology simply and incrementally and to take advantage of the advantages of an open, globally standardized IT technology.”

 

ABB’s acquisition of B&R examined

Alex West, principal analyst at IHS Markit in Wellingborough, UK, discusses whether the B&R acquisition will give ABB a boost in industrial automation.

The recent acquisition of B&R Automation is ABB’s latest acquisition and it brings an established range of PLCs, industrial PCs, HMIs, I/O modules, servo drives, and servo motors to the ABB portfolio. This is a move which gives ABB, one of the leading vendors in process automation, a step-up in terms of a discrete automation portfolio, which was an obvious gap in its offering.

It also brings access to discrete automation sectors and an established business with over 4,000 machine builders. By acquiring B&R Automation, ABB has expanded its ‘knowledge’ pool. It now has more expertise in discrete automation, which has strengthened its capability of providing products, and IoT solutions to OEMs in sectors like packaging machinery. There is certainly opportunity to expand its IoT solution business as the uptake of IoT technology has so far been faster in discrete sectors, particularly those that are consumer related.

ABB Chief Executive Officer, Ulrich Speisshofer, states that the combined global customer base will create huge opportunities for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with an “installed base of more than 70 million connected devices, 70,000 control systems and now more than 3 million automated machines and 27,000 factory installations around the world”. It does sound impressive. Does this make the combined company a concern for other leading suppliers of industrial automation components?

Globally there is little change to the competitive environment in terms of supplier rankings. According to IHS Markit’s Industrial Automation Equipment Tracker, at a global level ABB shows little advancement in the market share ranking.  It will gain share for products such as industrial PCs, PLCs, servo drives and servo motors. The latter two product rankings show the greatest changes for the combined company. ABB was estimated to be ranked number 32 of servo drive suppliers and now moves to a top 15 position. For servo motors, ABB was ranked number 35 globally in 2015; the combined business is now estimated to put them at number 14. A significant change, but not enough to pose a threat to the leading suppliers to these markets.

This acquisition brings the combined company into more direct competition with Schneider Electric as it now has comparable global market shares for I/O modules, industrial PCs, position control hardware, servo drives, and servo motors. The greatest market share increase is estimated for the industrial PC market, with a market share increase of 3% to place the combined company as the seventh largest supplier in revenue terms. The market share increase is estimated at around 3% for the operator terminal and PLC markets. This puts ABB as the tenth largest supplier of operator terminals and sixth largest for PLCs at a global level.

EMEA market impact

ABB will also gain the ability to scale the machine automation business in Europe, where B&R Automation generates around 65% of global sales. In the EMEA region, ABB’s market share is estimated to increase by around 3% for I/O modules when using 2015 base figures. This moves ABB to second place of the leading suppliers to the EMEA market, above Schneider Electric. In EMEA the combined company is estimated to have gained market share of over 4% for operator terminals and PLCs, making it one of the top five leading suppliers for these products.

Industrial communications

Another area of likely change is that of industrial communication protocols. B&R Automation’s POWERLINK and openSAFETY protocols could now become the standard for ABB’s automation products. According to IHS Markit’s Industrial Communications Intelligence Service, POWERLINK is estimated to be the seventh largest industrial protocol at a global level in terms of 2015 new node connections; sixth in the EMEA region. For openSAFETY, it is estimated to be the eighth largest safety protocol at a global level by new node connections. ABB’s acquisition of B&R Automation may see these protocols’ being more widely supported with a larger product portfolio, which could impact share of other leading industrial communication protocols.

Smart manufacturing

An area that may be worth watching is the ABB Ability Platform and how it will develop over the next few years. With trends to IIoT and smart manufacturing it is becoming increasingly important for industrial automation companies to develop and support software portfolios. This may be a driver of further ABB acquisitions as Spiesshofer explained to reporters “There will be more acquisitions…as one of the drivers of growth going forward, but there is no ‘must haves’ we are desperate about.”

The ABB acquisition of B&R Automation will fill a gap in the existing portfolio and will give them access to an established and loyal machine builder customer base. This will certainly be a concern for other leading suppliers to these product markets and sectors. The combined company will likely represent more of a challenge to some of the leading suppliers of I/O modules, industrial PCs, servo drives, and servo motors. At a global level, the acquisition is estimated to have made marginal improvements to the supplier rankings for machinery automation.

The value of Specialist Automation Suppliers

Engineers around the world are looking at how to benefit from the various solutions to the IIOT on offer: the article posted on 2 February entitled “How DCS Vendors see their IIOT future” covered the approaches being adopted by some of the major DCS vendors. This follow-up article, written for and first published in South Africa, in the Technews South African Instrumentation & Control Journal, March 2017, covers the approach of some of the smaller, specialist suppliers to their own selected sectors of the process industries.

While the major DCS suppliers try to work out how to provide revenue earning services from the growth of the IIOT, there are many specialist engineering product and systems suppliers who are investing in making their products easier for engineers to use in networks, and operate within the IIOT.

Most of these specialists are primarily focussed on the production of their valves, sensors, controllers or drives: this is their business – and they need their products to work with any interface the customer requires. Their expertise in interfacing their own products is the best available, they have an in-house systems knowledge base and capability. Most now offer this capability to their would-be product users as a service – offering a custom designed system incorporating the products. So look to these suppliers to offer the best engineering at an economic price, within their specialist field.

Typically these single-minded companies were set up by a design engineer with a good original product idea, and this has been developed and refined over the years. Often the company is family owned – and engineering / R&D investment takes precedence over profit distribution. Some such companies still exist in the USA, and a few in the UK, like JCB and Rolls Royce. Several specialist engineering product examples are found in suppliers originating from Germany, Scandinavia and middle Europe, where the culture seems to have encouraged their survival.

Beckhoff Automation

Arnold Beckhoff started his company in 1953: Beckhoff Automation now has a turnover of Euro 620 million, and employs 3350 people. The company implements open automation systems based on PC control technology, scalable from high performance Industrial PCs to mini PLCs, I/O and fieldbus components, plus drive technology and automation software. Supplying systems to many industries, Beckhoff works with and supplies components for over 15 major fieldbus systems. Motion control solutions solve single and multiple axis positioning tasks, and their servomotors offer combined power and feedback over a standard motor cable.

The Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 engineering and control automation software integrates real-time control with PLC, NC and CNC functions in a single package, and then all Beckhoff controllers are programmed using TwinCAT in accordance with IEC 61131-3. While the built-in TwinCAT condition monitoring libraries allow the on-site controllers to monitor the status of the sensors, to reduce downtime and maintenance costs, it also allows wider comparisons with connections to such cloud services as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. Other data connections are available, for example a smartphone app enables immediate local and mobile display of a machine‘s alarm and status messages.

Bürkert Fluid Control Systems

Bürkert was founded in 1946 by Christian Bürkert: it now has sales of Euro 412 million and employs over 2500 people. The product base is gas and liquid control valves, systems for measuring and controlling gases and liquids, plus sensors for monitoring such fluids, extending to complete automation solutions and fluid systems – this capability is known as their ‘Systemhaus’. While their products are now applied across many industries, their particular specialisations have been in sanitary, sterile and hygienic applications (food, beverage, biotech and pharmaceuticals), micro applications (medical, inkjet and beverage mixing/vending), and water treatment industries.

From the UK operation, Bürkert provide locally engineered solutions and systems for their pharma, food and brewery customers in particular. Locally made craft beers are a major growth area in the UK, and most start small, with no real automation. One example was Stroud Brewery, who needed to expand production by a factor of 5x, and preferably not increase their staff numbers: Bürkert designed a PLC system and intelligent control panel, which automated the temperature control of the cold and hot liquor tanks, and in the mash pan. In addition a system for controlling the run-off rate from the mash tun simply uses three separate Bürkert level sensors.

Bürkert also have developed their own ‘Device Cloud’, they call this ‘mySITE’. This collects data from Bürkert sensors around the world, using an on-site interface known as mxConnect – which can also accept data inputs from other sensors.

National Instruments

National Instruments was only started in 1976, in the USA, by Dr James Truchard and a colleague, who are still involved in the business. Now sales are $1320 million, and they have 7400 employees worldwide. Their declared Mission is to “equip scientists and engineers with systems that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery” – and their focus has always been to supply research establishments and engineers with open, software-centric platforms with modular, expandable hardware. This gives its own logistics problems, with 35,000 customers served annually.

It is difficult for me, as an outside observer, to relate the NI systems to an oil refinery or chemical plant application: but it comes into its own when the data handling grows in complexity – for example in pharmaceutical and biotech applications, and the sort of plants where engineers have a major input in monitoring the application. Mention cyclotron or Tokomak, CERN or the Large Hadron Collider, and NI and its LabView are embedded in their engineering control systems. All 108 collimators on the LHC are position controlled using LabView.

National Grid UK, which controls the distribution and transmission of electric power round the country, has adopted a control system based on the NI CompactRIO for the whole network. With many new power generating sources, HVDC connections, variable inputs from solar and wind farms, and the phasing out of major fossil fuelled plants, National Grid found that traditional measurement systems did not offer adequate coverage or response speed to handle these new challenges and risks. They adopted a platform, based on the CompactRIO, to provide more measurements – and also adapt with the evolving grid for generations to come. This interconnected network includes 136 systems, with 110 permanently installed in substations throughout England and Wales and 26 portable units that provide on-the-go spot coverage as needed.  The associated software systems provide their engineers with customized measurement solutions that can be upgraded in the future as new grid modernization challenges arise.

In terms of IoT developments, NI has just opened an Industrial IoT lab at the NI Austin HQ in the USA, to focus on intelligent systems that connect operational technology, information technology and the companies working on these systems. Many other companies are co-operating in this venture, like Cisco and SparkCognition, and the lab intends to foster such collaboration to improve overall interoperability. In addition NI has partnered with IBM and SparkCognition to collaborate on a condition monitoring and predictive maintenance testbed: this will use the SparkCognition cognitive analytics to proactively avoid unplanned equipment fatigue and failure of critical assets.

(c) Nick Denbow 2017

KROHNE emphasises networking R+D with new CTO Attila Bilgic

The Advisory Board of the Krohne Group has appointed Dr Ing Attila Bilgic as CTO and Managing Director of Ludwig Krohne GmbH & Co KG. He assumes global responsibility for research and development (R+D) and extends the managing board of the Krohne Group alongside the existing Directors, Michael Rademacher-Dubbick and Stephan Neuburger.

New Krohne CTO Dr Attila Bilgic

Dr Bilgic’s main task is the “digitization” of the Krohne measuring devices and measuring systems, their networking and their integration amongst themselves, as well as with and into the digital systems of the users. The area of “smart sensors”, which Krohne has already pioneered with various research projects under his leadership, is also of particular significance. With more than 350 employees, The Krohne Group currently employs about 10% of all staff in research and development, with more than 350 R+D employees and a budget of approximately 8% of the total group turnover (in 2015 the turnover was approximately EURO 500 million).

The topic of networking has been the major topic in the previous career of Dr. Bilgic: prior to joining Krohne, he held various positions in the “Communication Solutions” division of Infineon Technologies AG from 2000 to 2009, most recently as Director of System Engineering. From 2007 to 2009, he was head of the Department of Integrated Systems at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Since 2016, he has been a member of the board of the VDI / VDE Society of Measuring and Automation Technology. He is also a member of the German Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Training on Profibus, Profinet and IO-Link in Industrial Automation

A highly informative training day will address the key practical issues arising from the use of these digital communications technologies in automated manufacturing applications. The event is free of charge, and will be held from 0900 to 1530 on 29^th March in Manchester, UK. On 30th March there will be a similar FOC event for users in the Process and Hybrid industries.

With particular emphasis on Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things, the event will cover the use of Profibus, Profinet and IO-Link in key application areas such as utilities, pharmaceutical, packaging, printing, electrical and electronics assembly, robotics, automotive engineering, mechanical handling and logistics, control systems and energy management, from system design and safety considerations through to maintenance and fault-finding.

Supported by demonstrations of actual tools used in configuration and maintenance, the seminar will be of great value to Designers, Production/System Engineers, Instrument Technicians/Engineers and C&I Engineers involved in design, operation and maintenance of modern automated factories and process plant.

The presentations include:

Introduction of Exhibitor stands and Profibus & Profinet Update, by Mark Freeman: Profibus DP – Successful Commissioning and Maintenance, by Dave Tomlin: EMC and Equipotential Bonding in Profibus and Profinet networks, and EN503102016, by Peter Thomas: PROFIsafe as a tool for Safety in Automation and Control Networks,by Peter Brown; Designing a Profinet system, by Andy Verwer: Profibus system engineering and monitoring, by Andy Verwer: Profinet for IoT, IIoT and Industry 4.0, by Derek Lane: The Features and Benefits of IO-Link, by Russell Smith.

Coffee breaks and lunch will be provided, for delegates also to visit the Exhibition of relevant equipment.

This seminar is ably presented by network specialists from member companies of PI UK, the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to support of advanced manufacturing technologies for the benefit of UK industry. Attendance is free of charge to pre-registered delegates from the user community, i.e. companies that own, operate, design, build or maintain automated plant. The event will provide delegates with an excellent networking opportunity and the ability to speak to the varied experts from the PI UK membership.

For more information please contact PI UK, or send an email enquiry. Online registration is now open.

For companies in the Process & Hybrid Industries …

Companies involved in the Process Industries may be interested to attend another of the PI UK events, to be held in Manchester the following day, March 30th. Entitled Practical Aspects of Profibus and Profinet in Process, the event specifically addresses the key issues involved in the use of advanced network communications in Process and Hybrid Industry applications.

More information on this event is available here, or send an email enquiry.

Ethernet added to Emerson Coriolis meter

Emerson Process Management has upgraded the Micro Motion model 5700 transmitter with a native Ethernet connection to improve connectivity and functionality, allowing for easier access to measurement information. Announced by the South African Instrumentation and Control Journal, the native Ethernet upgrade includes dual redundant Ethernet ports, directly integrated in the device with no need for extra converters or adapters. The dual port architecture means multiple devices can be installed in a variety of configurations, minimizing wiring and switch needs for space and cost savings.

Additionally, the transmitter incorporates a configurable I/O channel, which can be used as a discrete input or set to a mA, frequency or discrete output. This enables powerful application options with minimal equipment. For example, the discrete input can be used as a totaliser reset, the discrete output can control a valve in conjunction with the integrated batch control software, the frequency output enables a quick connection for proving applications, or the mA output can be used to tie into existing or legacy control systems.

The Ethernet upgrade is available with multiple protocol choices including EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, and Profinet.

To speed integration and connection with Ethernet/IP systems, the transmitter contains an EDS (electronic data sheet) file for fast access to instrument information with little to no manual setup. This also enables automatic AOP (add-on profile) generation for quick and powerful system integration. Pre-configured input assemblies allow users to select exactly what is needed from a wealth of information in a Coriolis meter, without burdening the network with unwanted traffic.

“The Micro Motion Model 5700 Coriolis transmitter has delivered proven value and unique differentiation to users. The rugged housing is certified for tough field environments, including extensive hazardous area certifications and approvals. The housing was engineered to provide easy access for installation, mounting, and maintenance,” said Jason Leapley, product manager. “Now, with the option for native Ethernet, users can easily access process information without going out to the instrument.”

ProcessingTalk.info readers will be aware that Endress+Hauser has used Ethernet on their Coriolis meters since the 2011 Rockwell Automation Fair: their unit was launched in about 2010.

(c) ProcessingTalk.info