Now showing on an HMI screen near you

By Lisa Polisar

ControlGlobal.com

New HMI technology is putting a whole new (inter) face on control information, allowing plant management to view manufacturing processes from their offices or on the road.

t used to take three or four people pouring over paper charts and digital readouts to determine whether or not the water levels were right at the waterworks at Pigeon Forge, Tenn. "It took us a lot more time and a lot more personnel to see what was going on," says Lynn Light, City of Pigeon Forge's water superintendent. The utility’s engineers installed a Rockwell automation system that has monitoring capability to allow Light to view the entire plant. "Now we can constantly monitor the plant from beginning to end. We can see if our system needs more or less water, and we can speed up or slow down the pumps based on demand."

The ability to monitor the entire plant from one location also gives Light better quality control and has decreased the cost of operating the plant. "We’ve seen a 5–10% reduction, and we can sit at a computer monitor and see every area of the plant. Before none of this was on computer." Light’s ability to view all functions of his plant from one location has dramatically changed his job. The result is gains in both efficiency and quality. Now five workers don’t need to scramble across the plant trying to scrounge up data–all that information is on Light’s monitor.

HMI Advances
Over the past three years, advances in HMI technology have affected every sector of discrete and process manufacturing, making both small and substantial impacts on software functionality and efficiency. New HMI products offer a high number of communication ports, as well as inherent gateways for the web enabling of nearly any device. Significant advances have included developments in wireless interfaces, as well as the availability of both larger and smaller panels depending on the user’s need. In addition, cost reductions in HMI products have made many of these advances affordable for manufacturers.

Developments in monitors and monitoring also allow companies to get a view of all manufacturing processes from either centralized or remote locations. Terminals are now enabled with advanced functions such as animation, trending, data logging and object math and logic expressions for added efficiency. The ability to diagnose problems remotely from the plant floor is emerging as another key operational advantage as well.

Advanced HMI technologies are now being paired with the more traditional HMI features, such SCADA, to create even more flexibility in their use and application. However, manufacturers have been slow to adopt and market these new tools.

It’s a Control Thing
Pigeon Forge’s new monitoring system was laid on top of its Rockwell legacy RSView 32, WebServer-based system. The new system includes centralized monitoring, which allows users to see all of the control data. "Say you want to look at temperature. It’s a control item. The system goes to that control and brings back that value," says Pradeep David, business manager, HMI and middleware products, Rockwell Automation. "As long as you can get on a web browser, you can see the entire plant from anywhere." 

Not only can you see the plant from anywhere, but with new HMI developments, anyone can see it. Much of the system is now on open standards and can be viewed on a web browser in a Windows context. "Windows provides a nice user experience, which is becoming more important as computers become more prevalent among non-engineers and non-technical people," says Paul Shelton, HMI expert at Siemens AG of Munich.

Shelton also notes that the adoption of open standards has had a significant influence on HMI technology. "From my 16 years of HMI experience, the biggest change has been the move away from proprietary systems," says Shelton. "They made sense at the time, but the open-standard systems that followed since then are easier to use and cost less." Open standards also allow the ability to plug-and-play multiple applications.

Monitors Big and Small
Advances in flat panels are offering users both bigger screens for desktop and control room monitors, as well as smaller screens for systems installed in tighter spaces. "People are moving from the 12-in. to the bigger display to present more information," says Ann Ke, product marketing manager for panels and tablets at Wonderware, a subsidiary of Invensys, Foxboro, Mass. "They’re going to 15-in. Some are going to 19-in." Ke says that automation systems provide more information on plant operations now, and the larger flat panel screen allows operators to see more data at one time.