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
Intrinsically safe?
Hazardous areas and electrical/electronic circuits have been treated with caution ever since the Senghenydd colliery disaster of 1913. Brian Tinham provides a technology update
Make sense of data to boost profit
Significant advances are constantly being made in gathering information about what is really going on in process and industrial plant - especially where located in more remote locations - and in processing this information to reduce downtime and improve profitability.
Health check-ups reap big rewards
In the age of lean, condition monitoring of capital equipment is an obvious aid to efficient operation, as opposed to waiting for something to break down. As Chris Haines, Rockwell director of customer support and maintenance UK and Ireland observes, "in an effort to improve business performance and meet shareholder expectations, many engineering, operations and maintenance departments are faced with the reality of having to do more with less. A manufacturer who views maintenance operations as a long-term investment can reap the benefits of significant returns and process improvements".
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.
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
A new approach to SCADA
Times have changed since the 1980s, says Tobias Antius, CEO of Novotek. Power suits are out, Madonna is no longer on MTV and IBM’s first PC now looks extremely outdated. So shouldn’t SCADA have developed, too?
Allessa Chemie improves plant monitoring with mobile SCADA
Speciality chemicals manufacturer, Allessa Chemie has implemented SCHAD's Extend7000 Mobile SCADA system to get instant notification of critical power plant problems.
Cheap as CHPs
Combined heat and power (CHP) isn't only about CCGT (combined cycle gas turbine) installations that generate hundreds of megawatts. Especially in these times of expensive energy and environmental awareness, all of us need to be considering much more modest CHP plants. Why? Because they're typically more than twice as efficient as conventional generation, in terms of converting fossil fuels into energy.