To enable an effective response to intense global competition and major market shifts, industrial processing plants today demand a high degree of certainty and confidence to achieve timely production plus the flexibility to rapidly make changes in product and material specifications.
Without them you might as well pack up and go home.
But that’s not all. Also required is a maximum return on assets and low total cost of ownership to complete the package. Without these you risk losing the race to keep up with the fast pace of the changing competitive landscape and technology.
Yokogawa claims plant operators can now attain an optimum engineering environment that spans the entire plant lifecycle from design, engineering and installation to start-up production, maintenance, and renovation with Centum VP R6. And it meets the stringent industry requirements for safe and reliable plant operations and environmental protection.
R6.01 is an enhanced version of the company’s flagship integrated production control system. It marks the first step in the development of an all-new CENTUM VP that will play a central role in Yokogawa’s global strategy for the IA business.
This first R6-level packs more than mere conventional functional improvements. It brings together smart engineering, advanced operation, system agility, and sustainable plant concepts.
During his opening address at the launch presentation, Yokogawa’s WA Systems Sales Manager, Steve Allan, emphasised those four key pillars.
“Our customers, not just our own R & D people, have made key contributions to the development of R6,” he said.
“This is concrete evidence of our philosophy to earn and nurture long-term loyalty with our clients so they will always receive the most efficient, appropriate and effective upgrades for their particular plant,” he added.
“Our integrated approach is to pursue long-term partnerships with customers based on a shared vision to deliver sustainable plant lifecycle solutions right from the beginning,” he said.
Yokogawa’s Steve Allan explains some of the finer Centum VP R6 benefits to the crowd in Perth.
Centum VP R6 01 features
N-IO I/O Unit. A field I/O device with a versatile I/O module that can handle multiple types of I/O signals. Control systems rely on field I/O devices for the transfer of data to and from sensors, valves, and other types of field instruments.
Using this data, they automatically control a plant’s operations. Depending on instrument models, the type of electric signal used to transfer this data varies. With Yokogawa’s current FIO device, a compatible I/O module is needed for each signal type.
The N-IO, a new CENTUM VP field I/O device, fulfills the functions of universal I/O and signal conditioning, enabling configurable software and flexible I/O assignment.
It has an I/O module that accommodates multiple I/O signal types, accepts up to 16 I/O points, and allows specification of an individual signal type for each point. Both analogue and digital I/O signals, which account for the majority of I/O signal traffic, can be handled solely through software settings.
Pulse and relay I/O signals can be managed by using conditioning adaptors. With the N-IO, it is no longer necessary to replace the I/O module when changing sensor types and/or layouts during a plant revamp.
This significantly reduces the amount of work that has to be performed by plant engineers and maintenance personnel.
FieldMate Validator. A software tool that is used with N-IO devices to check field device wiring and verify that the device operates correctly.
Upon installation of a field instrument and completion of all wiring, the wiring must be checked. Until now, such verification could only be conducted using the CENTUM operation/monitoring screen which would also require the bulk of the Centum DCS system to be installed including controllers and engineering/operator stations.
The new CENTUM VP R6.01 features the FieldMate Validator N-IO loop commissioning software, a software tool that is used to verify the wiring and relevant operations for any newly installed field instrument or field I/O device.
FieldMate Validator is provided with FieldMate, Yokogawa’s field device management PC software. When FieldMate establishes a connection with an N-IO device, the FieldMate Validator tool can check in real time the wiring of all connected field instruments, to verify that they operate correctly and then at a convenient time in the application development, synchronise that field instrumentation data with the Centum VP database.
Yokogawa have termed this ability to configure and bind I/O configuration data without the presence of a controller, ‘flexible binding’.
There is no more the need for the whole CENTUM system to be installed to do this, thus saving significant time and providing added versatility in project execution.
Automation Design Suite (AD Suite). Leveraging its engineering expertise and the experience gained through the execution of myriad projects, Yokogawa has developed the AD Suite integrated engineering environment.
AD Suite is an integrated platform that ingenuously facilitates project execution, system integration, and site execution, bringing certainty and confidence through all project phases and the start-up, operation, maintenance, expansion/upgrade, and extension stages of the plant lifecycle. With advanced program templates for heat exchangers, filters, and other types of equipment commonly used in the field, AD Suite improves engineering efficiency and helps to ensure uniform quality.
It is able to centrally manage the functional design documents that provide the basis for control system engineering, along with all the control program master data stored in the CENTUM database.
This simplifies configuration management when programs are modified and makes certain that the latest design information is available when system expansion, modification, or maintenance is performed.
In essence, AD Suite generates a total engineering environment, with an entirely new database structure that feeds standardized and consistent engineering information, maintains engineering data integrity, eliminates inconsistencies between the design information and the actual system, manages change, and supports the automation lifecycle.
At the same time, it facilitates the reuse of valuable engineering knowhow, eliminating the duplication of work for subsequent projects. This saves time and reduces cost.
Major target markets
Process industries such as oil and natural gas, petrochemicals, minerals processing, chemicals, power generation, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, foods, iron and steel, and water and wastewater.