HOUSTON – Honeywell today launched its next-generation ExperionProcess Knowledge System (PKS). Experion PKS Orion introduces two major innovations: It is the first industrial process system to use Universal Channel Technology to remotely configure process and safety systems without the need for additional hardware; and it comes equipped with a complete virtualization solution that includes the most advanced and complete package of hardware, software, skills, guidance and best practices, training and support from Honeywell.
In addition to these advancements, Honeywell also announced the Experion platform is the first distributed control system to achieve ISA99 certification, which assures manufacturers that Experion PKS Orion meets the industry's most-rigorous cybersecurity standards.
"Honeywell has a long history of technology leadership in industrial automation, and Experion PKS Orion is a major leap in innovation, system flexibility and cybersecurity," says Jason Urso, vice president-technology, Honeywell Process Solutions. "Universal Channel Technology simplifies engineering and configuration during the design stage of a project, which can save up to 33% of the installation costs. It provides the industry's most complete portfolio of turnkey virtualization solutions for improved open systems management and reliability in the industrial domain, leading to significant reductions in the total cost of ownership."
Honeywell Process Solutions is the only company to use Universal Channel Technology to completely liberate safety and process I/O, as well as the control cabinets, from channel type dependency. This concept offers flexibility in I/O type, thus eliminating the need for custom hardware alignment with different I/O configurations.
"Late changes which often result in costly project delays can now be done through remote access – rather than manipulating hardware in the field. What previously took days or even weeks can now be done in minutes," said Frank Whitsura, vice president and general manager-Projects & Automation Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions. "Our customers will benefit by greatly reducing overall project risk."
With its complete portfolio of turnkey virtualization solutions, Experion PKS Orion benefits both customers implementing new projects, as well as those who want to get more out of their existing operations. For those building new plants, Experion virtualization solutions can extend design freeze dates, delay hardware purchases and provide the option of virtual factory acceptance tests (FAT) to validate configurations remotely.
For existing customers, Experion virtualization solutions significantly reduce system lifecycle management costs by as much as 30% via non-disruptive hardware upgrades, insulation of operating system to computer hardware dependencies, simplified maintenance and provisioning of control system computer nodes, more efficient upgrades, greatly reduced physical node count and increased system availability.
Other major Experion PKS Orion release features include enhancements to Experion Batch Manager, the fastest and most intelligent batch control solution with the ability to increase availability and throughput by executing a complete single unit procedure in a redundant controller. It also includes new operator effectiveness solutions, including leading edge capabilities for operator management of alarms and improvements in human factors. Enhancements in Safety Manager include even tighter integration with Experion PKS Orion, and a new Universal Safety Logic Solver able to execute the safety application independently in a remote module, perfectly suited to geographically distributed installations.
