Performance, Reliability, Efficiency and Management White Papers from Plant Services

PEARL standards bring safety and reliability to secondary electrical distribution channels

Plant Services — Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:59 -0700

Just about every product in the world has two main markets: one for new product and a second market for used — sometimes referred to as surplus, reconditioned, rebuilt or remanufactured — product. Cars, computers, jewelry and electronics are just a few examples of thriving industries that trade in used goods. The commercial and industrial electrical supply markets are no exception.

Electrical equipment, like automobiles and industrial machinery, are designed to last decades. However, like other durable goods, electrical equipment can be dangerous to the inexperienced — whether it is new or used product. The confluence of these two facts means that product safety — not just availability — is critical to a healthy electrical marketplace.

In 1908, the National Association of Electrical Distributors was formed to "establish the electrical distributor as an essential force in the electrical industry and economy," followed by the National Electrical Manufacturer's Association (NEMA) in 1926. These venerable associations eventually expanded to include educational programs and standards to help improve the operations and safety of the electrical supply chain with a focus on new product from electrical original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Related articles:

Save money with certified used, surplus electrical equipment
Keep business competitive and safe while cutting landfill waste and saving the environment.

Bring them back
How to recondition motor controls.

Cloud computing in manufacturing

Plant Services — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:58 -0800

Manufacturers need a directed and informed strategy for cloud investment. This strategy should focus on communicating benefits to senior executives, aligning with line-of-business objectives and recalibrating personnel. Cloud computing will have a very positive impact on IT performance for those firms that take a well considered approach to investment. Drawing on the manufacturing-specific responses from a broad IDC survey, this report details the trends surrounding cloud computing in the industry.

This IDC Manufacturing Insights report details the trends surrounding cloud computing in the industry. The report looks at adoption rates, important characteristics, and business benefits and how those factors will impact manufacturing IT budgets in the next two years.

Related articles:

Examining cloud computing formations
David Berger, P.Eng., contributing editor, explores the dark side, and silver lining, of cloud computing.

CMMS and EAM rise to the cloud
Are plant maintenance and asset management ready for software as a service (SaaS)?

Future safety design: Revision of ISO 13849-1 and performance level

Plant Services — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:57 -0800

ISO 13849-1 is the most important standard for regulating the basic principles and performance required of a safety control system for machines and devices.

This standards was greatly revised in November 2006. The revision is expected to cause major changes in the fundamentals of safety and system design.

This white paper helps explain the content of the revision.

Understanding the electrical performance of Category cables

Plant Services — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:56 -0800

In today's electronic world, the following statement could accurately summarize the rules for data transmission: More data, going longer distances, at a faster rate.

This rule makes perfect sense when you consider the technology of today that includes products, ranging from high definition televisions to cell phones, on which you can perform tasks that include watching movies or browsing the internet. At some point in the data transmission system that enables these and other technology driven products to function properly, we will find wire and cable.

In a majority of these cable applications, Category cable will be the product of choice.

Reducing servomotor instability

Plant Services — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:55 -0800

Instability in a motor is uncontrolled and unintended motion at the motor shaft and can occur at any frequency. It's caused by excessive gain in the speed controller of the drive, and the gain setting of the speed controller determines how much torque the drive will generate. As servo drives become more prevalent in industry, they are being applied in a wider range of applications. Servo motors sometimes make a "growling" noise, which can be eliminated by reducing the gain on the speed controller, but lower speed controller gains can lead to an increase in position error and a decrease in performance. This paper looks at the methods that can be used to eliminate servo instability.

Review of how reducing air system pressure influences compressor power

Plant Services — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:54 -0700

With current financial and market pressures, energy conservation has become a priority. Compressed air is a recognized energy consumer with great opportunities for energy savings with a quick payback. Reducing air system pressure is a common action to drive energy savings but it is typically not well received by production and the potential savings can be misleading. In an effort to drive results, this savings opportunity is frequently over simplified and the savings potential exaggerated. Greater detail regarding this action is discussed in hopes of clarifying issues and improving calculated returns.

This paper is republished with the permission of the Association of Energy Engineers (www.aeecenter.org) and the sponsors of GlobalCon (www.globalconevent.com).

Mean time between failure: Explanation and standards

Plant Services — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:53 -0700

Mean time between failure is a reliable term used loosely throughout many industries and has become widely abused in some. Over the years the original meaning of this term has been altered which has led to confusion and cynicism. MTBF is largely based on assumptions and definition of failure and attention to these details are paramount to proper interpretation. This paper explains the underlying complexities and misconceptions of MTBF and the methods available for estimating it.

Seven types of power problems

Plant Services — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:52 -0700

Many of the mysteries of equipment failure, downtime, software and data corruption are the results of a problematic supply of power. There is also a common problem with describing power problems in a standard way. This white paper will describe the most common types of power disturbances, what can cause them, what they can do to your critical equipment, and how to safeguard your equipment, using the IEEE standards for describing power quality problems.

If you knew how much it cost to run that equipment, could you make better operational and maintenance decisions?

Plant Services — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:51 -0700

Decisions have to be made — to save energy, to save dollars. Having hard data on which to base those decisions removes the "guess factor" and ultimately has a positive effect on the bottom line. Can recording data, analyzing results and then making intelligent decisions really have that large of a dollar effect, though? The answer is "Absolutely yes!"

Integrating process weighing data

Plant Services — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:50 -0700

Efficient transfer of process data to higher level MES or ERP systems, along with intelligent weighing platform system upgrades, can:

Enhance manufacturing process controls
Improve asset use
Lower operating costs
Generate measurable ROI

Clear goal identification — either performed internally, or with the help of weighing process specialists — can ensure that hardware and software investments reap intended process improvement dividends. Considerations for proposed system upgrades include:

Speed of process (for example, high-speed filling), which influences data exchange rates
Existing equipment and potential connectivity
Available budget
Adverse operating conditions, such as high-pressure washdown, corrosive chemicals, hazardous environments and extreme temperature
The data itself-who/what needs it, why and in what format?
Is PLC connectivity is required, or will serial or Ethernet TCP/IP-to-PC work?

This paper explores weighing process integration challenges and provides points to consider when defining operating boundaries and data objectives. Weighing and
communication solutions are more likely to meet objectives and produce measurable ROI when these points are taken into account.

Distributed I/O and remote I/O solution improves performance and reliability

Plant Services — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:49 -0700

In central New York state, recent upgrades at a municipal water plant have provided the means for operators to enhance their process for meeting the water quality needs of customers. As part of the upgrades, the facility modernized its control system utilizing a distributed I/O and remote I/O solution. This technology reduced wiring costs for field instrumentation while improving operational readiness and reliability.

Optimization of energy usage

Plant Services — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:48 -0700

For the industrial sector, energy consumption statistics are eye popping. The industrial sector alone consumes about half of the world's total delivered energy, making it the largest end-use sector. Moreover, although global industrial energy consumption is projected to increase by more than 40%, as measured from the beginning of the recent economic crisis in 2007 to 2035, emerging economies in non-OECD countries will account for approximately 95% of this increase in consumption.

Thus, optimization of energy usage is a natural and necessary expansion of ODVA's application coverage for industrial automation. ODVA envisions an energy solution for the industrial energy consumer that will be comprehensive, scalable, open, and inclusive for both users and their vendors. Within this context, ODVA's vision of optimization of energy usage will emerge as the natural sweet spot to help industrial consumers meet their overall business objectives and achieve greater societal goals for sustainability. ODVA's energy approach will offer broad situational awareness of energy consumption and enable control strategies to optimize energy usage throughout the industrial ecosystem from the plant floor to the grid. This approach will enable businesses to improve productivity and thus profits while concurrently benefiting people and our planet through better utilization of energy resources.

Balanced sequencing of final elements

Plant Services — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:47 -0700

Balanced sequencing of on/off final control elements is a common process control problem with broad-reaching applications. Examples include cooling water pump arrays and wet well level control. These devices typically need to be started and stopped in response to system demand or uncontrolled upsets, and in order to keep the pumps working on their performance curves nearest the best efficiency point (BEP). Doing so ensures system demand is met and process upsets are handled, as well as minimizing power consumption and wear on these expensive electromechanical assets.

Obviously, the minimum number of devices to which this control scheme can be applied is two, with three to five (or more) being typical scenarios. In some cases, the pumps are sized (or the demand constant enough) such that a fixed number of devices are required to run at all times to maintain proper control. In this situation, fixed sequencing works well, where each device is started and stopped on a schedule, ensuring that the required number of devices is operating at any time, and that each is being given an equal amount of runtime. In many cases, however, the downstream system demand or uncontrolled upsets are so variable that any number of pumps may be required at any time. Two scenarios of variable demand pump sequencing will be examined — arrays comprised entirely of fixed speed pumps and those arranged entirely with variable speed pumps.

Proving the value of safety: Justification and ROI of safety programs and machine safety investments

Plant Services — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:46 -0700

Each year, six million workers suffer from non-fatal workplace injuries, resulting in an annual cost of more than $125 billion to United States businesses. Outside the primary objective of reducing injuries to people or property, proving the value of a safety system is an ongoing challenge for safety professionals and risk managers. Many find it difficult to financially justify discretionary investments in safety-related assets and training intended to reduce work-related injuries and insurance premiums.

The ISA S88 standard: A roadmap for automation — A powerful management tool

Plant Services — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:45 -0700

This paper explains the purpose and benefits of ISA's S88 standard and its role as both an engineering guideline and an often overlooked management tool. Because detailed description of the standard's underlying technology frequently obscures the intrinsic value of the standard itself, this paper is not intended to be a tutorial on S88 technology. Rather, the intent is to help the reader understand what S88 is and where it is useful or, perhaps, essential. The focus is on how it can be used to reduce cost and improve the way a manufacturing process operates. Why S88 is important is emphasized along with how it can serve as a common language for better communication about automation opportunities and manufacturing requirements. It includes ways this modular and internally consistent standard can help reduce engineering cost and serve as a management tool, ways it can be used to help control capital expenditure, enable more precise definition of operational requirements, identify what should and should not be automated and aid in definition of optimum levels of automation.

Illumination selection for indicator lights

Plant Services — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:44 -0700

Illumination is a complex subject. Most users of indicating lights do not need to understand the scientific theories explaining the production and transmission of light. When specifying an indicator light, for example, your main concerns revolve around the characteristics of its light, its useful life, and both its purchase price and operating cost.

The purpose of this white paper, then, is to give you the basic background information you need to make intelligent choices when specifying indicator lights. It covers the basic types of lights in common use, how they are rated and how environmental conditions can affect them.

An application of IEEE 1588 to industrial automation

Plant Services — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:43 -0700

This paper describes an application of the IEEE 1588 standard for industrial automation. Key application use cases are identified that can benefit time-based control techniques and improve performance results over traditional control methods. This paper will also briefly discuss how the 1588 standard may be adopted to suit these applications. Application problems specific to industrial automation are enumerated and candidate solutions described.

IEC vs. NEMA push buttons

Plant Services — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:42 -0700

The globalization of industrial manufacturing has resulted in a convergence of electromechanical operator interface device styling and performance standards. That convergence is evident in the design of push button products.

A common misconception holds that any operator manufactured or designed in Europe is, by definition, an IEC push button. Another is that IEC push buttons are manufactured only in IEC countries. Neither belief is true. Conversely, not all NEMA operators are designed, manufactured, or even sold in the United States or Canada.

What is factual is that the traditional target markets for IEC and NEMA rated devices were Europe and North America, respectively. These traditional markets are expanding with the globalization of product manufacturing, product support and product sales.

An industrial operator interface device can be described by four general characteristics: ingress protection, electrical performance, panel opening size and styling.

Guidelines for industrial Ethernet infrastructure implementation: A control engineer's guide

Plant Services — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:41 -0700

As part of a continuing effort to make their organizations more efficient and flexible, manufacturers are rapidly migrating to industrial Ethernet technology to network their industrial automation and control systems. The use of standard Ethernet technology enables organizations to control costs by moving from costly plant-optimized networks to a proven technology that is simpler to integrate, requires widely available skills, and is more secure and reliable while still meeting real-time traffic requirements.

This white paper provides an overview of Ethernet technology and implementation guidelines to implement in the both control and information networking environment. It discusses the requirements and consideration in implementing a switched Ethernet architecture in industrial networking environments.

Contact block performance/selection

Plant Services — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:40 -0700

A combination of many factors affect the dependability, life expectancy, and suitability of a contact block in any given application. Understanding the most important of those factors can help you select the best switch for your needs. In the pages that follow you'll gain a basic understanding of switch materials and properties, and how they affect switch performance.