Family of process control hardware and software solutions
Family of process control hardware and software solutions
Keywords Eurotherm, Process control, Software
Eurotherm Process Automation, part of the recently restructured Eurotherm Limited, reports that it has launched a powerful new family of integrated hardware and software solutions for a wide range of processing industries and applications. Called EurothermSuite® (Plate 1), it is described as a very comprehensive suite of proven solutions developed over a long period of time. The company see EurothermSuite as a dynamic technological asset which has evolved from the company's 25-year track record of control systems design and integration, and which will continue to develop.
Plate 1 EurothermSuite
EPA explains that because of its total flexibility and common architecture,EurothermSuite has the capability of handling the localised control needs of production units and plants, as well as the information needs of enterprise management. In the company's opinion it can provide an almost infinite variety of totally integrated systems which grow with plant needs and investment programmes.
EurothermSuite can be viewed as having four layers: unit, plant and enterprise solutions with one integrated development environment. Together, they reportedly offer complete control over every aspect of a system's lifecycle. Major advantages of the approach include a single point of configuration,central relational database, data import capabilities, prebuilt functionality and well proven automatic system design capabilities.
In operation, real time access to performance measurements is said to allow immediate management action to improve plant throughput "online". This powerful feature is believed to contribute to an outstanding range of solutions which address the needs of operations, engineering, maintenance, financial and plant management.
At the development level, Eurotherm Project Studio is described as a powerful suite of tools and facilities designed to configure and commission all EurothermSuite components. Amongst other features, it offers graphical object oriented engineering and validation tools, a substantial library of pre-defined objects, extensive use of wizards and a useful autobuild feature. It includes the powerful Project Developer feature, which provides a central project database and the development environment to simplify system configuration. Single point tag data entry allows the autobuild facility to automatically create all of the configuration files needed within the system, and all data created here is available globally.
It is also stated that at the unit level, cost-effective solutions can be rapidly provided to control basic plant units such as reactors, mixers,sterilisers and furnaces. The process interfaces available provide high-accuracy measurement and control, and include distributed and modular I/0 with universal configurable inputs.
Visual Supervisor solutions at this level can include plant mimics, VGA touch screens, and advanced control features such as alarm information, data logging,and programmer profiles. Inclusion of a setpoint programmer feature reportedly allows analogue and digital setpoint profiles to be configured, viewed and executed. A powerful network capability is also said to enable the use of unit control solutions as a building block to plant-wide systems.
Plant-wide solutions within EurothermSuite are believed to provide scalable systems which are designed to grow with the business requirement. These are said to be capable of controlling complete plants in key process industries by providing advanced control functions, comprehensive alarm and data logging, and powerful display interfaces. By using a central database, configuration times and system changes are said to be minimised, improving plant efficiency, product quality and distribution of information.
At the enterprise level, Enterprise Clients provide high integrity traceablity, reports, and Open System connectivity including OPC and Active-X. Supported by Information, Batch and Track Manager applications, the system can reportedly provide all of the requirements needed to supervise production and integrate with enterprise management information systems.
Based on MS SQLServerTM, the Information Manager stores all of the data (real time and historic) all of the time. It can provide configuration,event, summary and production data as required. Batch Manager, which is ISA-S88 compliant, provides a flexible, reliable and intuitive approach to the management of any batch process. Track Manager provides the integrated framework for managing and tracking the manufacturing operations.
Simon Windust, general manager of Eurotherm Process Automation, believes that EurothermSuite will be of considerable interest to front line process industry managers globally. He comments:
Uniquely, EurothermSuite combines a number of outstanding features which are simply not available elsewhere. Firstly, it incorporates a number of field proven system solutions which we have developed over 25 years serving the world's process industries. Secondly, it incorporates a number of highly refined proprietary hardware and software solutions, integrated with eminent,world-leading software tools. And finally it is supported by a significant international engineering and technical support organisation operating to very high standards.
Details available from: Eurotherm Limited. Tel: +44 (0) 1903 268500; Fax: +44(0) 1903 695666; e-mail: info@controls.eurotherm.co.ukWeb site: www.eurotherm.co.uk
