Plant review
With increasing regulatory scrutiny and rising energy costs, now more than ever plant engineers need to review and reduce plant consumption. Simon Ellam suggests a three-phase approach based on existing process automation technology
PC versus PLC controls
PC-based automation, in various forms, has been around for decades, but PLCs and related systems remain as popular as ever. Brian Tinham examines the differences and establishes which approach makes most sense where
Instruments for control
Help is at hand for plant engineers facing up to the challenge of handling instrumentation and control. Brian Tinham reports on recent developments
Liquid assets
Water and waste treatment plants are among the oldest around anywhere, but don't imagine they're bereft of developments. Brian Tinham reports
Spoilt for choice
As process control systems advance and digital networks develop, is there still a place for 4–20mA analogue signalling? Brian Tinham talks to Chris Hoey, of Bürkert, about making the right choices.
Electric Engineers
It's often said that one of the biggest differences between plants in, say, the chemical or pharmaceutical industries, as opposed to those in power generation, is that the former are developed in a laboratory pilot (where the learning is done) and scaled up for mass production, while the latter are built to produce power from day one, but then evolve constantly over time, as efforts are made to improve efficiency and output.
Discovery machine
CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the planet's most powerful subatomic particle accelerator - made it into the record books when, at 10.28am on Wednesday 10 September, in front of the world's hyped-up media, the first beam was successfully steered around its 27km ring. Then, just nine short days later, there was an incident that resulted in a large leak of helium into the beam tunnel, forcing shutdown of this amazing project until spring of next year.
Automatic for the people
REM probably didn't have plant automation on their minds when they released that album in 1992, but computing for the masses is reinvigorating control, writes Brian Tinham
Automation upgrade
With computing technology not known for standing still, it should come as no surprise that the control systems it underpins are getting cleverer and cheaper. Brian Tinham reports
Friends reunited
Most manufacturers, process plant operators and utilities that have invested in PLCs, legacy systems and the like for monitoring and controlling machines, plant and equipment must, at some time, have considered a wholesale upgrade to common systems to get over the communication problem.