Chemical Processing - February 2008 - (Page 39)

MAKING IT WORK << Orlando plant pioneers HMI migration strategy company’s standardization initiative passes crucial first test By Todd Stauffer, Siemens Energy & Automation Frank Berry oF air Products and chemicals, inc. was given a challenging assignment. the allentown, Pa.-based firm, which operates in more than 30 countries and is a leading global supplier of industrial gases, asked him to develop a company-wide replacement strategy for the multitude of human machine interfaces (hmi) at its hundreds of plants. air Products wanted a migration path that would minimize the number of different operating platforms, reduce re-engineering costs, provide a robust hmi system that would enhance operator confidence and maximize hmi commonality plant to plant. Berry, control systems group leader of the firm’s Global support services Group for the americas and asia, and his team had much to consider in developing a strategy and putting it into practice. “air Products has several hundred plants operating on different legacy platforms and hmi systems,” Berry noted. his team had to weigh the costs to migrate to a new hmi system, the lifecycle costs to sustain it, and the expenses to replicate it, all the while keeping in mind that the plants encompassed many different cultures and business demands. Berry didn’t want to change for change’s sake but to gain new capabilities through upgrading that would pay back the investment. “as a group, the air Products Global support services Group is sustaining a couple of hundred plants,” Berry noted. “We have a fixed number of resources in the group. everybody has an hmi for sale. to choose one to standardize on is a difficult task. each one has benefits and a role in the marketplace. We had a lot of choices. the Pcs 7/90 os appears to be the best cost value and gives us the connectivity, commonality and robustness we were looking for in a hmi migration solution.” A key test air Products’ cryogenic air-separation plant in orlando, Fla., was chosen as the beta test for the migration. it was an ideal beta site, noted Berry, because it isn’t pipeline based and has liquid backup, like most of the company’s facilities worldwide. the plant could be taken down one day and started up the next and still achieve inventory projections, he added. the project involved replacing three legacy operator www.chemicalprocessing.com consoles dating back to the early 1980s with siemens Pcs 7/90 os hmi terminals. the plant kept the existing legacy distributed control system intact, including controller hardware, input/output (i/o) modules and field wiring. this strategy allowed swapping out only the most-difficult-to-sustain components, while maximizing the value of air Products existing investment in hardware and application software. the Pcs 7/90 os servers connect to the legacy controllers via oPc using standard legacy interface cards. the migration, which was completed in late 2004, took place in phases without interrupting the operation of the plant. For the first six months of the installation, the three existing legacy consoles and the Pcs 7/90 os system ran in parallel to help the operators become familiar with the new system. configured with simatic Pcs 7 os software, the new hmi consoles have predefined faceplates and graphic symbols for interaction with the function-block-based controller code. operators retain the consistent look and feel of the legacy system, thus minimizing the impact of change on them. in addition, the new operator stations provide diagnostic capabilities, display controller alarms and messages, and provide the engineering tools required to update/ maintain the configuration in the legacy controllers. The importance of connectivity the orlando air separation plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. secure remote operator connectivity to the hmi system is critical, noted Berry, because the plant is unmanned during certain periods. February 2008 • 39 http://www.chemicalprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chemical Processing - February 2008

Chemical Processing - February 2008 Contents From the Editor ChemicalProcessing.com Field Notes In Process Energy Saver Compliance Advisor Nanoparticle Safety Raises Questions Take the Pressure Off Vacuum Systems Achieve Optimum Centrifugal Pump Performance Rethink Batch-Manufacturing Alarm Systems Dr. Gooddata Orlando Plant Pioneers HMI Migration Strategy Process Puzzler Plant InSites Equipment & Services Ad Index Product Spotlight/Classifieds End Point

Chemical Processing - February 2008

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