SCADA, Telematics & GPS Technologies

Audon Electronics is offering the Edam-9000 range of Ethernet-based industrial data acquisition and control RTU devices.

The Edam-9000 range is based on 10/100 Ethernet networking standards and supports the Modus/TCP protocol.

The Edam-9000 also supports UDP protocol over Ethernet networking.

There are six models in the range, covering voltage, thermocouple and PRT analogue inputs, digital inputs, pulse counting and transistor outputs.

All have a 10-30VDC power supply range, full opto-isolation and are housed in robust DIN rail mount enclosures.

Users can add Edam-9000 I/O modules to existing Ethernet networks or use Edam-9000 modules in new or existing SCADA systems.

source: Processing Talks

Yokogawa Electric has released the DXadvanced R3 data acquisition and display station for networks.

The product is an enhanced version of the Daqstation series of paperless recorders designed for more efficient monitoring of production lines.

The DXadvanced has a built-in panel and offers integrated display, recording and communication functions.

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!

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

RS Hydro have recently won two seperate contracts to supply anWater Quality Sonde with Remote Monitoring Telemetry Troll Link Systemd install the Troll 9500 multiparameter water quality sonde in remote locations in Wales. Two further units are being supplied as stand-alone platforms.

The clients are using the Troll 9500 XP Professional platform along with the Troll Link solar powered telemetry system with plug and play sensors including turbidity, level, temperature, conductivity and pH/ORP. One of the clients is using the Troll 9500 to provide an early warning alarm to inform the client if any of their remedial works on a dam face are having an influence on the water quality of the compensation flow from the reservoir. The other client is using 4 units to measure water quality in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) over a period of two years.

Both clients are using RS Hydro’s FlowView platform to provide all the data on a daily basis. Should any of the alarm thresholds be exceeded, text (SMS) messages will be sent direct to the client. It is possible to view a demo of the Troll 9500 on our local river. Before you think there are errors in the conductivity readings, they are correct! The Salwarpe RIver is partly fed by Droitiwch Spa’s naturally occuring brine baths, hence at low flows, conductivity rises dramatically.

Source: RS Hydro

Thailand’s Hom Mali project is testing the use of RFID applications in its rice production supply chain. The Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) has created a prototype system which tracks the flow of rice in the Roi-Kaen Sarn cluster area of the country.

The system tracks the flow of rice from the Khon Kaen Bank of Agricultural Cooperatives, where the rice is grown, to the cooperatives’ community mill. Rice trucks will be tagged at the time of loading and then scanned when it reaches the mill, to confirm the receipt of the rice and its point of origin. The tags will include additional information such as weight loads and truck numbers. For the pilot project, 500 tags will be used.

SIPA representatives hope the pilot project, which is expected to conclude in September, will develop into a system that enables local farmers to better compete in the global market. In an effort to further boost the regional economy, the project also encourages local software companies to adopt domestic supply-chain management software instead of importing it from abroad.

The system’s prototype will also be tested on other local agricultural products such as tapioca.

Source: RFID News

The AVR-Based House Monitoring System is designed around the ATmega8515 microcontroller. The system offers hard-wired and wireless control along with a 1-Wire temperature network. A web-based, user-friendly interface enhances the project. [source]

AVR-Based House Monitoring System - [Download Project] [View Abstract]

Wow, this could grow into something quite awesome. Pachube is -

a web service that enables people to tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices and spaces around the world, facilitating interaction between remote environments, both physical and virtual. The idea is to make it relatively simple to “plug” together interactive projects and buildings around the world, as well as to create embeddable graphs of sensor feeds.

Only eighteen feeds conected at the time of this post - but the datastreams are already quite interesting - from a Japanese living room to a swing in Sweden. Head over to the site to learn how to connect your own sensor/stream - Pachube

Source: MAKE

Efficient management of water in some of the driest, most drought affected farming areas in NSW has reached a new world standard thanks to automated ordering systems that allow irrigation farmers to control water delivery at the touch of a keypad.

Coleambally Irrigation Co-operative Limited (CICL) is a co-operative business that manages infrastructure, systems and services for delivering water to and from more than 450 farms in the NSW Riverina region.

The CICL sources its water from the Murrumbidgee river, through an open channel system whose main canal can flow at up to 6000 megaliters a day. The majority of farms it services are 200 hectare farms growing large area crops such as rice, sorghum, soy beans, maize, wheat and barley.

The CICL system delivers water to farms through some 700km of channels, driven emission free by gravity. The farms that CICL services have suffered their worst two years on record for water allocations, and have endured severe drought conditions since the turn of the century.

But an automated water management system from Rubicon Systems, rolled out in 2003 and due for completion next year, is helping to turn the tide in the farmer’s favor when it comes to efficient delivery and use of water.

There are about 700 outlets in the CICL system, 100 of which are automated FlumeGates that, upon receiving an order for water via a farmer’s computer, can deliver precisely the amount of water required without any human interaction, and in a fraction of the time it would take under manual control.

CICL’s senior operations engineer, Austin Evans, said the automated outlets can deliver higher flow rates which help the farmers water their farms more efficiently. They can get their water on quickly or turn it off from their laptops, improving their field efficiency. Read more on this article.