Home » Articles » Montague

Voices: Montague

RSS

Chips Are Up, Part 2

Find Out How More Powerful CPUs Have Improved Process Controllers

By Jim Montague, Executive Editor

Way back in November, I stated that microprocessors were at the root of most, if not all, recent advances in process control devices and systems. However, I realize now that I didn't provide a decent example to back up my claim, and without this real-world support, my opinion would be full of even more hot air than usual. Luckily, there's plenty of  evidence that faster and more powerful CPUs have greatly improved process controllers and the applications they serve. One recent example is from Dave Smith, Houston business unit manager for Wunderlich-Malec (www.wmeng.com) in Minnetonka, Minn. The 30-year-old system integrator and EPC firm and its almost 200 professional staffers  design and build everything from data centers to wastewater plants, and they've seen how rapidly evolving microprocessors make their controllers more intelligent and affect their projects.

"In the past, it was difficult for some large EPCs to get out into a more data-processing-centered world because it was hard to go from simply calculating the price per I/O point of a project to looking at less-tangible, longer-term strategies," says Smith. "When 4-20-mA networking and embedded protocols like HART began to emerge, everyone had to become more familiar with communications protocols, what measurements they were supposed to be delivering, and were they being done accurately. That's when talk began about adding diagnostic capabilities and possibly doing local or remote device maintenance and even process control on the wire via the network."   

For instance, Wunderlich-Malec just finished a project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (www.ornl.gov) and its managing contractor UT-Battelle to deploy and install wireless sensors networks in steel plants, specifically for more sophisticated energy monitoring at CMC Steel's plant in Cayce, S.C., which is part of Commercial Metals Co. (www.cmc.com). In August 2011, Smith and his colleagues designed and installed a network of WirelessHART devices, including about 1000 I/O points at distances up to 850 feet. 

Despite the high levels of electrical noise that occur in virtually all steelmaking applications, CMC Steel uses its WirelessHART network to collect process values, such as stack gas and cooling water temperatures and flows from  the plant's melt shops and arc furnaces. Their data is archived and remotely monitored by CMC and UT-Battelle ORNL for use in their new energy-performance calculations. They can view the plant's operating status online, see health and history of instrumentation signals and retrieve stored data for calculations.

"We realized this system provided a new way of seeing into the plant and enabled much better understanding of its energy use," says Smith.

While the ingenuity and sweat of the project's many engineers and their software tools  deserve much of the credit for bringing wireless into CMC's plant, Smith acknowledges that much of their equipment relies just as heavily on embedded microprocessors. In fact, he adds these CPU-enabled, PC-based platforms are even causing typically separate DCSs and SCADA systems to combine some functions, and deliver them via Internet-based services.

"As microprocessors grow more powerful, smaller and less costly, more control devices can have their own operating systems," explains Smith. "Likewise, instead of having to read and write so much processor code, common CPU platforms are making it easier to run many functions. For example, to get temperature and mass flow data together for the AGA 357 calculations of gas through an orifice plate in a custody transfer application, it used to take many handwritten algorithms and manual programming. Now, we just grab the right software function blocks and schedule and enable them to run in a controller or RTU. So there's no reason why an AGA function for compressibility can't run on an instrument and have its algorithms closer to the actual measurements." How's that for capable?

---

More Voices

Chips Are Up, Part 2
02/07/2012
Find Out How More Powerful CPUs Have Improved Process Controllers

Shared Documents Aid Valve Repairs
01/10/2012
Using New File-Sharing and Procedural Tools in Complex Projects Can Save You Time and Headaches

Protecting the Network, Enclosing the Cloud
01/10/2012
How Can You Protect an Industrial Network or the Cloud from Any Harm?

Industrial Computers, Part 2. Data Processing Escapes the Enclosure
01/10/2012
Whether It Happens on a Cloud-Based Service, Virtualized Server or Plain Old Wireless, Internet or Ethernet, It's Clear That Industrial Computing for Process Control Has Moved Beyond Its Old Laptops and Desktops. So How Can You Protect Such Far-Flung Data Processing?

Fresh Starts on Greener Grass
12/30/2011
We Can Help You Stick to Your New Year's Resolutions. Find Out How

Simplicity = Freedom
12/07/2011
Reducing Wiring Doesn't Just Save Labor, Time and Expenses

Sample Conditioning Systems Need Love Too
12/07/2011
Process Users and Integrators Must Carefully Design and Match SCSs With Application Requirements and Specifications, Complete Application Data Sheets and Deploy Climate-Controlled Shelters

Blending Controls Sweetens Soda Pop
12/06/2011
Schweppes Australia Consolidates Process and Logic Controls in Its Syrup Room With a New Automation and Controls System

Migrating to I/A Series Connects Users to the Enterprise
11/20/2011
Careful Planning Needed to Bring Aging Control System Infrastructure into the Future

Chips Are Up
11/15/2011
The Chasm Between the Plant Floor and the Data Processing Center Remains Huge, Wide and Deep

Sunny Side Security
10/07/2011
It's Just a Matter of Adding New Security Tweaks as Needed, Much Like an Immune System That Evolves to Counter Biological Viruses and Threats

First Aid for Process Security
10/07/2011
Viruses and Cyber Attacks ARE Looming. Help From Governments and Standards Is Lacking. Some Engineers and Managers Are Fighting Back to Protect Their Applications and Companies. Here's How They Do It

Epic Expectations
09/12/2011
Do We Really Need to Believe We're Each on Some Heroic Journey? Don't Kid Yourself. We All Need It

Smarter Searching
09/01/2011
Even in These Web 2.0-, Facebook-Enabled Days, It Can Still Be Devilishly Difficult to Seek and Find Specific Answers on the Internet

Shared Pains in the Neck
08/15/2011
Most Professions and Industries Are Facing the Same Brain Drains, Struggles With IT, Going Green Questions and How to Use Social Media

Bags, Batch Software and Biotech
07/14/2011
Find Out How Shire Biopharmaceuticals Accelarated Their Construction Plans for Their Newest Facility to Accomdate the Making of Six Needed Drugs

Automation Process Knowledge Management
07/11/2011
Tribal Knowledge - New Tools Are Putting Process Know-How into Online Pools, Letting Newbies Access More Useful Knowledge, and Even Awakening Some On-the-Job Training Efforts

Don't Forget Object Lessons
06/13/2011
Can You Become a Prisoner of Your Lego-like Software Modules?

Sustainability: Gagging on Green
04/28/2011
Sustainability Must Mean Questioning and Developing Better Applications, Not Just Making Non-Green Processes More Efficient

Online Articles: Diving Deep Below the Fold
04/28/2011
Many Web Surfers Often Flash Across Stes and Don't Delve Deeply into Any One of Them. This Can Be a Mistake. Come Tour ControlGlobal.com With Me

DAQ in the Delta
04/11/2011
Learn How Luckett Pump Services the Electrical Controls for Various Pumps, Motor Controls and Liquid Level

Hearing Helpful Voices
03/17/2011
The Authors and Experts in One Story Comment On How to Solve Problems in Other Stories

Sumo Showdown on Security
02/16/2011
True Security for Process Control Networks Will Require Users, Engineers and Suppliers to Cooperate Far More Closely Than Ever Before

Automation Standards Are More Like Guidelines
01/14/2011
Heads Up, Oysters! The Evolution of IEC 61131-3 and Other Undermined Standards Efforts Are Just Ongoing Misleading and Unhelpful Arguments by Industry Leaders

Connect the Dots
12/08/2010
The Sad Fact Is Technical Education, Know-How, Experience and Responsibility Go Out the Window When Fast Money Shows Up

The Long View and Valley Power
11/12/2010
Technology Is Only as Good as the People That Use It and Interpret Its Data, so It Takes a Commitment to Training, Setup and Implementation

Whalers and Wayfinders
10/14/2010
There Are Many Parallels Between Whalers and Wayfinders and Profound Lessons One Can Teach the Other

Jury Duties
09/02/2010
The Old "Don't Say Anything Defense" Doesn't Work Anymore. Neither Does the "Corporate Parent Didn't Tell Us" Defense..

Bad Business
08/10/2010
If Anything like BP's Oil Spill or the Financial Crisis Had Happened on a Smaller Scale and In a Smaller Community, the Cops Would Have Been Called, and the Perps Would Have Been Horsewhipped and Thrown in Jail

Big Savings
07/15/2010
A Little Curiosity and an Encouraging Government Program or Two Can Help

Pictures for Polymers
06/07/2010
Be Brave. Be Persistent. Build Displays That Focus on the Values You Truly Need

Industrial Safety Disasters: Not Again-Again and Again
05/05/2010
More Effective Process Safety Rules Are Good and a Good Investment. Maybe the Weight of Both will Be Enough to Make it Happen

Sparking Future Engineers
04/13/2010
All the Future Engineers Are Already Out There - Bubbling and Exploding with Ideas and Enthusiasm

Professional Patience
02/18/2010
Innovators Must Not Be Held Back by Obstacles, Endless Resistance, and the Likely Lack and Withholding of Recognition and Reward

Bad Names
01/12/2010
The Price of Lying Isn't Just in the Deception Itself, but in How It Damages Relationships and Destroys Potential Opportunities

Involving the Uninvolved
12/17/2009
Persistence and Slow Chipping Away Are the Only Ways to Open Paths to Community Members That Are Otherwise Cut Off and Uninvolved

Shell's Long-Time Push for Fieldbus
11/18/2009
What's Next? Making Foundation Fieldbus Systems More Mature. Meaning, Making Them More Broadly Applicable in Projects

Automation: Time to Unspecialize
10/14/2009
Hyper-Specialists Will Research More and More About Less and Less Until They Know Everything About Nothing

Wireless Mind
09/03/2009
It's Easy to Say That a Lightbulb Must Go On Over Someone's Head, but It Can Be Very Hard to Make It Happen

Finding Data Diamonds
08/13/2009
Detecting Problems Early Mean Having the Time and Ability to Make Informed Decisions

Listen to the Kids
07/29/2009
The Latest Social Media and Networking Tools. Are They Being Used by Process Control and Automation Engineers?

Shifting to a Safety Mindset
06/29/2009
Profit Isn't Helped by Meeting Production Targets by Sacrificing People and Equipment Integrity. Accidents Really Are More Costly Than Safety

Process Safety Standards and Rules
05/13/2009
All on You - Process safety Standards and Rules Still Lack Specifics, but Some Tools Are Gaining Ground to Help Users Assess Risk and Implement Safety Solutions

Spring Cleaning
04/03/2009
The Current Economic Climate Has Many End Users and Engineers Realizing They Now Have Time for Non-Traditional Improvement Projects

Bean Control Engineers Needed
03/02/2009
There Are Too Many Parasites Waiting to Steal Working People’s Money, and Executive Editor Jim Montague Thinks Engineers Could Protect Them from Financial Worst Practices

Short on Specifics
02/06/2009
Control Strives to Give Readers Specific Content They Can Use to Make Their Processes and Applications More Efficient and Make Their Stressful Jobs a Little Less So

Voices of Experience
01/12/2009
Some Users Ask Us for Transmitters with 0.10% Accuracy, and Then Buy a Sensor That’s Off by Up to 10 °F at Different Temperature Levels

The Best Gift
12/12/2008
For Kids, Connecting with the Larger World, Including Its Technology and Engineering, Means First Connecting with the People Closest to Them

Security Standards Stewpot Simmering
10/28/2008
Process Controls Engineers, IT Technicians, Manufacturers and End Users Have Been Left Hungry as Government Departments, Trade Organizations and Corporations Struggle to Develop and Coordinate Basic Standards for Securing Industrial Networks and Software

Get Out the Process Control Vote
10/07/2008
Society Could Use Some of that Technical Know-How that Process Control Engineers too often Leave Back at Work

Two Days in Austin
09/09/2008
I’ve Never Attended a Tradeshow Where at Least a Dozen Parents Brought Their Kindergarteners to Try Out the Equipment

Good Talk
08/07/2008
Invite Folks from Other Departments or Organizations In for an Informal Lunch-and-Learn Tour or Some Speed-Dating-Style Tabletop Displays

Skills Shift to Software
07/01/2008
Engineers Must Now Keep Up with a Lot of Microsoft Hot Fixes and Software Patches to Solve Vulnerabilities

Look, Real End Users!
06/24/2008
Wireless case studies are scarce, so it’s ironic that Emerson, Honeywell, Invensys and others are coming up with them.

Paralyzed by Profits
06/12/2008
Unrestrained Prosperity Is a Disease, so It’s Tragic That Drug Manufacturers Don’t Want to Take Their Medicine. Just Like The Rest of Us

Everything Old is New Again
05/04/2008
A Specific Tool May Be obsolete, but the Mental Process That Went into Addressing the Problem It Solves Remains as Instructive as Ever

Worry Wart
04/01/2008
A Flood Around Your Ankles Is a Lot Different Than One Around Your Neck. So Pick Up Your Canoe and Get Moving

A Willingness to Learn
03/20/2008
You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks—and Old Editors and Engineers Too

A Willingness to Learn
03/07/2008
You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks—and Old Editors and Engineers Too.

Watch Your Mouth
02/04/2008
Did We Truly Need to Replace Programmable Logic Controllers with Programmable Automation Controllers? Why Not Just Call Them Computers and Leave It at That?

Pace Yourself
01/03/2008
Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers Become Popular. Oxydizer Projects Ranged between 5 to 7 per Year, Now 1 per Week

Pulling Teeth
12/03/2007
Maybe the U.K. could re-colonize us, so we could get OSHA’s process control-related divisions to be more responsive.

Automation Comes Alive
11/06/2007
The full motion and unfolding sequence of events in videos make the examples clearer and easier to understand.

Wireless Applications Coming to Light
09/27/2007
Wireless case studies are scarce, so it’s ironic that Emerson, Honeywell, Invensys and others are coming up with them.

Follow in Batch’s Footsteps
08/31/2007
Can batch standards, methods and concepts break through their technological limits to the world of ideas?

Action Figures of Summer
08/01/2007
Jim Montague talks about the few process control-related heroes found in the mainstream media and in less-hyped branches of literature and the fine arts.

Survey Snapshots Wireless Users
08/01/2007
CONTROL recently conducted its first SP100 Wireless Survey of almost 500 readers about where and how they use wireless in their plant-floor applications.

Maybe You Didn’t Hear Me
07/13/2007
Why do engineers and their companies tolerate safety standards that aren’t enforced until after accidents occur, and why do they accept safety device certifications that only cover compliance in lab-based settings?

Get up, out and about
06/04/2007
Though some engineers say their industries and job prospects have recovered recently, many say that their administrators’ main mission is to wring as much short-term cash as possible from their operations.

Can we Talk?
05/10/2007
There is some major-league wriggling going on as participants try to avoid simply discussing whether many U.S. oil and gas producers and their supporting industries are doing their best on process safety.

Can Foundation fieldbus (FF) stay hungry?
04/10/2007
FF may be facing unexpected challenges in its task to remain useful as it integrates ever more closely with EDDL, COTS Ethernet, and Internet-bsed and/or wireless networking. Executive Editor Jim Montague reports.

On the same page
03/09/2007
Many plant-floor engineers and IT technicians report they’re coming to a new appreciation of the efficiencies and savings that can be generated by simply integrating their industrial and corporate networks.

Luddites unite!
03/01/2007
Tradition for its own sake is useless, of course, but tradition based on common sense is crucial for the success and safety of process control engineers and their applications.

Real-world education
02/01/2007
Many newly minted control and automation engineers find they need months of training to learn how their employers apply their technologies because of lack of coordination between schools and employers.

Seeds with teeth!
01/05/2007
Senior Tech Editor Jim Montague muses that maybe it's time to think up some new incentive programs for individuals and teams to make more and better innovations in process control applications.

Blood and guts
12/11/2006
Executive Editor Jim Montague notes that taking a closer look at biological processes can help adapt or improve existing process controls and systems. Read why in this month's installment of Control Report.

Industrial PCs take on new functions
11/10/2006
A roundup of products new to the market shows the advanced computing functions and diversification of industrial PCs is allowing new forms and new functions for process control applications.

A big grain of salt
11/01/2006
Executive Editor Jim Montague warns us not to let frequently repeated misconceptions and outright lies about new technology get in the way of statistics, because they can serve almost any purpose.

Oh the humanity!
10/10/2006
In this installment of Control Report, Executive Editor Jim Montague finds the process control and automation field is awash in irony, unexpected twists and tragic comedies that would make O. Henry proud.

Is automation in your future?
09/11/2006
Is automation really a profession? As HMIs and historians fade into the fabric of manufacturing, what has automation done for us lately? Executive Editor Jim Montague muses in this month’s Control Report.

The only evil
09/06/2006
There are two kinds of network security. Real and imagined, and it can be hard to tell them apart, especially if you don't know how they work and the problems they're supposed to solve.

Seeing deeply into process control technologies
08/07/2006
Executive Editor Jim Montague finds that even if there’s nothing new under the sun, what’s truly new may be a deeper understanding and appreciation of what we thought was so familiar.

Use your own head
03/21/2006
Executive Editor Jim Montague implores us to think and act like a reporter, don’t trust opinions (including mine and yours), remember to take all stories with a grain of salt, and of course, don't despair.