Control Engineering Europe – March 2019

http://www.controlengeurope.com

EDITOR’S CHOICE

6 March 2019 Control Engineering Europe

AI controller reduces downtime

Simplified plant floor to business systems communication

HD optical gas imaging camera

Safety module

saves control

cabinet space

FLIR Systems has introduced a high-

definition (HD) handheld optical gas

imaging (OGI) camera to help improve

inspection safety.

The FLIR GF620 is designed for

the oil and gas industry and is said

to set a new standard for detecting

and visualisng invisible leaks of

hydrocarbons, such as methane, and

common volatile organic compounds

(VOCs).

The HD resolution of the GF

helps inspectors survey for fugitive

hydrocarbon emissions from further,

safer distances than possible with

lower-resolution OGI cameras.

Equipped with a 640x480 infrared

detector the camera is calibrated to

measure temperature, allowing the

user to assess the thermal contrast

between the gas and the background

scene, and adjust it to improve visibility.

The FLIR GF620 also includes a high

sensitivity mode, which accentuates

plume movement to improve

detectability in low-contrast scenes.

A new B&R digital output module, the

X20SO6530, provides six safety relays

on a unit with a width of just 25mm,

offering a cost-effective and space-

saving solution for applications where

numerous floating signals are required.

To meet safety requirements,

positively driven feedback contacts

must be evaluated in a manner that

is appropriate for safety technology.

The new X20 module evaluates this

data internally, making it just as

easy to use the six safe relay outputs

as it is to use semiconductor-based

outputs. The digital output module has

single-channel isolated outputs with

a maximum switching capacity of 230

VAC / 6 A or 24 VDC / 6 A.

A new solution for predictive

maintenance and control is available

from Omron Industrial Automation

Europe in the shape of an AI machine

automation controller with a Sysmac

library which fuses control functions of

manufacturing lines and equipment with

AI processing at manufacturing sites in

real time.

This new solution aims to help reduce

the risk of equipment damage and

downtime by detecting issues early.

The process of collecting raw data

from machines is completely automated

by the new controller which operates on

the Edge, within the machine, ensuring

higher data fidelity and consistency.

In addition, the controller

automatically creates data models

from correlation analysis and monitors

machine status based on that model.

The AI functionality in the controller

is able to identify unforeseen machine

behaviour without being explicitly

programmed to do so. Since there

could be many different factors and

measurements that indicate an issue

when observed together, automating

the feature extraction process saves

time and resources. Rather than being

a cloud solution, Omron’s approach to

AI-based control involves hardware,

software and in-person service. No

internet connectivity is required. The

hardware is based on the Sysmac NY5 IPC

and the NX7 CPU and includes Omron’s

AI Application Components, a library of

pre-programmed predictive maintenance

function blocks. Several additional AI

specific utilities are included, such as the

Time Series Database Function, which

collects and accumulates time series data

synchronised with the control cycle at

high speed, and the AI Engine, which

detects unforeseen abnormalities at high

speed and accuracy based on the data.

Red Lion Controls has added new

capabilities to its Crimson software,

including an OPC UA Client driver with

encrypted password support, OPC UA

Historical Access, an MQTT connector

for Google Cloud and store and

forward buffering for all Crimson cloud

connectors.

With an OPC UA client driver the

Crimson 3.1 is able to capture attributes

such as diagnostic and performance

information of the data tags of a target

OPC UA server. With this added capability,

most Crimson 3.1-based devices can

act as both OPC UA server and OPC

UA client. This is said to simplify system

architectures, increase scalability and

accelerate data integration initiatives

with no need for additional hardware

and with no software customisation

required. In addition, OPC UA Historical

Access ensures the transmission of

real-time and historical data directly to

enterprise business systems using a single,

easy-to-use environment.

On devices with an SD card, the

MQTT connectors of the software can

be configured to buffer data within the

device when a connection to the target

platform is not available. This feature can

be set to indicate whether data should

be buffered just to memory, or whether

the device’s SD card should be used to

provide further storage that will survive

a power cycle – enhancing reliability and

increasing resilience.