SCADA, Telematics & GPS Technologies

Sometime, the GPRS coverage & priority issue is a turning down subject in our AVLS operations. Despite of GPS data errors and interferences, we choose to add SMS  mode for failsafe function to our AVLS architecture. It’s not really a big deal to develope the back engine, but in considering the alarm dispacthing functions. Maybe, it will become another turning down factor in our bussiness. the dispatcher should be really intelligent to determine the raw data despite of many of uncertainty factors that always bother. We bought a quad-core dell 1U rack server in order to replace our old beloved application server, a 4 pentium 4 Dell 5U tower server. We done doing upgrades to database server, and now working on the back-end & front-end application test. In another hand, we are migrating the Telemery System for waterworks…. developing a friendly GUI for Flood Monitoring System plus testing the alarm dispatching functions, still handling data loses in ABB EM meters integrations… sigh!

Evonik Industries, a leading chemical, energy and real estate company based in Essen, Germany, is the world’s largest producer of ultra-pure chemicals for the photovoltaic industry. It chose ABB’s flagship System 800xA automation platform to control the complex production process at its new site expansion in Germany.

The expansion will enable Evonik to triple production of ultra-pure chlorosilanes, raw material in the production of photovoltaic (PV) silicon. PV silicon is the substance from which solar-grade silicon wafers are made, which are the key components in solar cells and solar power systems.

Photovoltaic or solar cells convert sunlight directly into electricity, and are commonly made of silicon (like the blocks above), a semiconductor material. When light strikes the cell, it creates a flow of electrons, or an electrical current.

Evonik is the world’s leading supplier of ultra-pure chlorosilanes, and the only company to operate dedicated chlorosilane production sites for the fast-growing solar energy industry.

The company’s lead site for the production of ultra-pure chlorosilanes is at Bitterfeld in Germany, which is one of the largest chemical parks in Europe.

When the Bitterfeld plant expansion is completed early in 2009, it will be linked by pipeline to an adjoining factory currently being built by PV Crystalox Solar, the world’s largest manufacturer of multi-crystalline wafers for solar cell modules.

To ensure production reliability and process excellence at the site, Evonik selected ABB to evolve and expand the existing distributed control system into a new plant-wide solution.

The solution is based on ABB’s flagship automation platform, Extended Automation System 800xA – ranked by automation industry analyst ARC Advisory Group as the world’s leading distributed control system.

Solar cell technology has progressed significantly, and the energy payback time of a modern photovoltaic module is typically from 1 to 4 years.

The solution enables Evonik to enhance its existing ABB Advant open control system to the latest version of System 800xA without interrupting production at the plant.

It allows Evonik to retain existing application programs and AC450 controllers and integrate them with new AC800M and AC800M HI (high integrity) controllers, Information Management software and System 800xA workplaces. ABB is also providing S900 explosion-proof I/O modules for high-risk production zones.

ABB supplied a similar solution for chlorosilane production to Wacker Chemie in for its production plant in Neunchritz, Germany, and is supplying the power plant automation system for Europe’s largest solar power plant, currently under construction in Spain.

Key features of Evonik’s installation based on System 800xA include:

• integrated safety and control functions
• emergency shutdown and rapid restart in critical situations
• full installation without interrupting production at the existing plant
• Evonik retains existing application programs which are integrated with new controllers, software and workplaces

Source: ABB

Telegesis UK has won a major order to supply its advanced Zigbee module products to TBN Energoservice of Russia TBN Energoservice specialises in the development of automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems using the latest technical developments.

TBN is implementing a major wireless water AMR system based on ZigBee radio technology.The system uses ZigBee mesh networking software and silicon delivered in module form via the ETRX2 module produced by Telegesis.In Russia, domestic water has traditionally been preheated in dedicated power plants and pumped directly to consumer’s apartments.

TBN is implementing a major wireless water AMR system based on ZigBee radio technology. The system uses ZigBee mesh networking software and silicon delivered in module form via the ETRX2 module produced by Telegesis. In Russia, domestic water has traditionally been preheated in dedicated power plants and pumped directly to consumer’s apartments. Read more on this article…

Well here we go again. I just read some editorials in the latest issue of CONTROL magazine. Greed and ego are proving to trump logic and reason once again. Users need a standard, a single open protocol standard for Wireless communications. In existence today with products being marketed offering this capability are Wireless HART…. that’s it. The Honeywell wireless is a proprietary protocol that Honeywell is batting to shove down the throats of the ISA100 committee that have been gathered for three years now trying to develop a standard. While the battle has been quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, been raging in the ISA100 committee, Wireless HART has been working hard and growing its installed base. By the end of 2008 there will be even more products offering it, including the measurement instrumentation giant Endress & Hauser and Emerson Process. I’m with them, Wireless HART is the way to go… and so is wireless in general.

Source: Monitor Technologies

Search giant Google signed a deal with Dulles, Va. startup GeoEye to use imagery from its newest satellite after it launches in September of this year.

This is not the first time Google has dealt with GeoEye. It already uses images from its IKONOS satellite, as well as from other sources including DigitalGlobe. As part of the new deal, GeoEye would exclusively provide its imagery to Google.
The half-billion dollar satellite is expected to provide the highest resolution images of any imaging satellite currently available. Google would even get a bit of promotion during launch: Its logo appears on the first-stage rocket.According to the two companies, Google did not pay for the logo to appear on the rocket, nor does it have any direct or indirect financial interest in the launch. It appears the Google logo is only on the rocket in recognition of its support for the project.

GeoEye says it hopes to launch the rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on September 4. If all goes well, it should be in its proper orbit within an hour-and-a-half of launch.

Imagery will be received by Google beginning in late October or early November, although it’s not clear how long it will take for the images to begin to appear on Google Maps. Imagery could conceivably be available at as high as 0.41 meters in black and white, and 1.65 meters in color.

How fine-grained is that? An Italian research project three years ago to study whether it was possible to discern certain types of automobiles that travel around the city of Baghdad (if you work in Baghdad, you’d understand why this is important) from satellite imagery alone, used pictures that had 0.68 meters resolution. And under federal law, only images with as high as 0.5 meters resolution can be used commercially.

Source: Beta News Related links: Google Earth, Geo Eye

Fishery researchers in Thailand plan to adopt an RFID-enabled system to track the broodstock – the fish kept isolated for breeding purposes – of several fish species key to the country’s export business. With the system, researchers can track the development of the broodstock and supervise crossbreeding programs to improve the species.

Researchers at the Department of Fisheries Science at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Lad-krabang are embedding RFID chips in three aquatic species, the Giant Prawn, Nile Tilapia and Walking Catfish. The three species are crucial to Thailand’s economy, with an export value of about 2 billion bahts a year.

Since last year, the team has embedded RFID chips into more than a thousand of the three aquatic species. Researchers are working to determine the least disruptive way to insert the tags into the tiny juvenile creatures. To keep the system simple, the tags will only include a serial number to identify the individual. Other information, such as the animal’s breed, its growth and diet, will be maintained in a database.

“We will track an animal’s growth on a monthly basis, to monitor its overall development. The software will help us analyze the data. If we find that the animal is not growing well, we will implement cross breeding to improve the species,” said project leader Rungtawan Panakulchaiwit.

The project has received funding from the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, as well as support from two private RFID companies, Silicon Craft Technology and IE Technology. After the pilot program is completed, the research center plans to promote the technology to private aquatic-animal farms across the country to help improve their farm management.

Source: RFID News

Photo: Rekhan

GlobalTrak’s Remote Sensor Nodes (RSNs) increase the shipper’s ability to monitor cargo condition with a variable set of sensors for door status, humidity, temperature, a 3-axis accelerometer, and now an extremely sensitive gamma detector, a long term stable sensor with built-in temperature compensation and low power consumption.

Richard C. Meyers, CEO of GlobalTrak, described how the sensors on an RSN add important cargo data for GlobalTrak’s customers, “Remote Sensor Nodes send reports and real-time alerts to any GlobalTrak AMU over a ZigBee protocol wireless network, allowing the data to be communicated to stakeholders. This is a flexible and convenient way of placing sensors where they need to be within a loaded container, truck trailer, or railcar.”

In a radiation monitoring application, the GlobalTrak AMU is mounted on the exterior of the container, truck trailer, or railcar with one or more RSNs equipped with the gamma detector positioned inside the load in best detection positions. The detectors have low and high alarm thresholds to accommodate varying levels of background radiation, such as might be encountered in an ocean transit versus a land route.

The same ZigBee wireless network that allows RSNs to report their status through the AMU can be used to enhance shipment security by monitoring the status of EJ Brooks’ electronic strap seals on individual packages within the shipment or bolt seals on the door of a container, truck trailer, or rail car.

Source: MarketWatch

Image: MaritimeInstituteOnline

In a move toward controlling datacenter energy consumption, Microsoft is deploying sensors that will trace work distribution to help plot for optimization

To better control energy consumption in its datacenters, Microsoft has deployed 2,000 internally built temperature and humidity sensors in several of its facilities.

The sensors use ZigBee wireless technology to transmit the data to databases that analyze the information. Data-center administrators can look at a graphical image of the datacenter that is color-coded based on temperature and at a glance see areas that are getting hot.

Ultimately, Microsoft would like to be able to distribute computational load in the datacenters based on the temperature of servers, and it is beginning to work on such a system, said Jie Liu, a Microsoft researcher working on the deployment. He showed off the devices and a view of the database at the annual Microsoft Research Faculty Summit in Redmond, Washington, on Tuesday.

Source: InfoWorld

While the air in Beijing, and efforts to improve it, have been a concern for the Olympic organizers and competitors, they could prove a boon for researchers.

Beginning tomorrow, a UC-San Diego professor will be sending unmanned aerial vehicles into the pollution clouds emanating from the city to measure the impacts of the government’s industrial shutdowns and traffic bans on the region surrounding Beijing.

“We have a huge and unprecedented opportunity to observe a large reduction in everyday emissions from a region that’s very industrially active,” said atmospheric scientist V. Ram Ramanathan, who also works with the Scripps Oceanographic Institution.

While it does not appear that Beijing’s plan has reduced particulate matter levels to World Health Organization recommended levels, the attempts still represent a large and unique science experiment. Chinese officials say they’ve reduced industrial activity by as much as 30 percent, although questions persist about the effectiveness of the shutdowns. Independent and government monitoring station data have been mixed since the program was instituted. (more…)

An ABB innovation has increased the performance of generator circuit breakers by more than 25 percent while simultaneously reducing the footprint, weight, noise levels and maintenance requirements of these critical power plant components.

The innovation has enabled ABB to increase the nominal current of its HECS family of generator circuit breakers (GCBs) from 18,000 amps (A) to 23,000 A, an increase of almost 28 percent.

Previously GCBs of this rating required a so-called ‘forced’ cooling system of pumps, fans or motors to counteract heat dissipation and keep sensitive breaker components within their rated temperature tolerances.

About 70 percent of the world’s GCBs are engineered and manufactured by ABB, which is launching three new GCBs with heat pipe cooling in 2008

ABB has eliminated the need for these cooling devices by developing an innovative heat pipe cooling system that makes the HECS range lighter, slimmer and quieter than was previously possible.

In addition to offering a substantial increase in nominal current capability, the maintenance requirements of the new GCBs are – as with all HECS breakers - extremely low.

Nominal and short-circuit currents generate a tremendous amount of heat. The higher the nominal current, the more heat is generated. A cooling system – either natural or forced - is therefore required to keep the breaker within its temperature limit.

A forced cooling system is itself a generator of heat, which in turn limits the nominal current capability of the GCB to 18,000 A, as well as creating extra weight and a larger footprint.

Natural cooling has its own engineering challenges and only becomes feasible for nominal currents above 13,000 A by increasing the dimensions, weight and footprint of the breaker components.

The success of the ABB heat pipe solution is to solve the limitations of the two existing technologies. It requires no electricity to operate and is virtually maintenance-free and silent.

Generator circuit breakers are a critical component in power plants, protecting both the generator and the power transformer. ABB has the broadest GCB portfolio on the market, covering power ratings of more than 1500 MVA and nominal currents in excess of 50,000 A.

Source: ABB