OLE For Process Control Research Articles

Constrained model predictive control of an industrial high-rate thickener

High-rate thickeners are used in the mining industry to improve water recovery from slurries and increase their solids ratio. High-rate thickeners operate under strict constraints and several disturbances. To control this process, a constrained model predictive control (MPC) is developed in this paper. For process identification, a historical data-driven methodology is used and a vector autoregressive with exogenous variables (VARX) model structure is considered. The model takes underflow slurry density as both a state variable and the process output, along with turbidity, bed level, rake torque, and cone pressure as additional state variables. It takes feed slurry and flocculant flow rates as manipulated inputs and considers inlet slurry density, slurry circulation flow rate, and underflow slurry flow rate as disturbances. The VARX model structural parameters (orders and delays) and coefficients are estimated using a bilevel optimization method. From the model obtained, a discrete state-space representation is derived. This latter is augmented to obtain a standard formulation without delays. The MPC is then formulated considering the process constraints. To evaluate the control performance, simulations are conducted and a baseline comparison is established using proportional integral (PI) control. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control method outperforms the baseline method by providing reduced settling times (−32%), minimized peak errors (−20%), and constraints handling ability. Accordingly, the proposed MPC is implemented in an industrial environment and compared to existing manual control based on an object linking and embedding (OLE) for process control (OPC) architecture. Finally, the industrial results show that the proposed control method effectively stabilizes the underflow slurry density and handles process constraints, resulting in a minimized average error (−90%) and a reduced standard deviation (−50%) compared to existing manual control.

Design of digital nuclear power small reactor once-through steam generator control system

The once-through steam generator used in the small modular reactor needs to consider the stability of the outlet steam pressure and steam superheat of the secondary circuit to achieve better operating efficiency. For this reason, this paper designs a controllable operation scheme for the steam pressure and superheat of the small reactor once-through steam generator. On this basis, designs a variable universe fuzzy controller, first, design the fuzzy control rules to make the controller adjust the PI controller parameters according to the change of the error; secondly, use the domain adjustment factor to further subdivide the input and output domain of the fuzzy controller according to the change of the error, to improve the system control performance. The simulation results show that the operation scheme proposed in this paper have better system performance than the original scheme of the small reactor system, and controller proposed in this paper have better control performance than traditional PI controller and fuzzy PI controller, what's more, the designed control system also showed better anti-disturbance performance in lifting experiment between 100% and 80% working conditions. Finally, the experimental platform formed by connecting the digital small reactor with Matlab/Simulink through OPC(OLE for Process Control) communication technology also verified the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Position Control of the Suspended Pendulum System with Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

In this study, the suspended pendulum system was controlled by PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller). Obtaining the system parameters was carried out using the PSO (Partical Swarm Optimization) algorithm in the simulation environment. For this purpose, the model of the suspended pendulum system’s model was created. The parameters of the real system were found through the model. Viscous damping coefficient, Moment of Inertia and PID coefficients were calculated as parameters. The calculated values were used in the real system and the real system proved the accuracy of simulation the model. Control of the system was carried out in PLC (Programmable Logical Controller). The force required for the pendulum to reach a certain position was obtained by brushless motor control. ESC (Electronic Speed Control) is used as brushless motor driver and PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is used as control signal of ESC. The encoder is used to measure the position of the system. System data was obtained with MATLAB. Communication between MATLAB and PLC is realized with OPC (OLE for Process Control). End of the study, it was observed that the simulation and optimization algorithm and the control of the real system gave similar results.

A configurable evaluation system for PLC experiments deployed on cloud

AbstractProgrammable logic controller (PLC) is always set as a professional course of automation‐related majors in Chinese universities and colleges. Abundant experiments are required to ensure that the students are sufficiently trained to get qualified practical skills and engineering abilities. The evaluation of abundant PLC experiments is a heavy and time‐consuming task, and it is hard to grade an experiment result precisely and fairly. In this paper, a cloud‐based automatic evaluation system for PLC experiments is accordingly proposed to deal with the above problems. Aliyun is employed to build the system platform. During experiments, client threads on the cloud will be scheduled to accesses the on‐site S7‐1500 PLCs through OLE for process control (OPC) UA protocol. Further, an innovative section‐based experiment management method is proposed to make the system open, configurable, and thus extendable. The system relieves the hard work of the teachers on experiment evaluation and provides accurate evaluation conclusions. In contrast, the students can get more comprehensive feedback information and advice from the system to better understand the experiments and the behind principles. The cloud‐based framework, the standard protocol as OPC UA, and the configurability of the system can be good references for other relevant systems.

A Hybrid Task Crash Recovery Solution for Edge Computing in IoT-Based Manufacturing

Smart factory is the deep integration of technology, business, products, and industry. The R&D of products, the construction of factory information, customer orders, and supply chain data are combined to act on the production. This paper proposes a Hybrid Internet of Things (H-IoT) platform framework, which consists of five layers: intelligent device layer, communication protocol layer, edge computing layer, IoT control layer, and application layer. Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for Process Control (OPC) transmits the received device data to the database of the edge server through the TCP/IP protocol. After the edge server performs preprocessing such as data cleaning, the device data are uniformly collected and distributed through the IoT layer. The various subsystems of the smart factory obtain the required resource data through IoT. To run tasks uninterruptedly and efficiently, we propose a Container-Managed Task Crash Recovery Mechanism for the Edge Computing (EC) layer. We design a reasonable EC hierarchy, then propose a task migration scheduling strategy. Our method ensures the reliability and stability of manufacturing with mass data transmission even in the case of a random crash of partial edge servers.

Supervision and control by SCADA of an automated fire system

<span>The purpose of this article is to describe the development of a prototype of a monitoring and control system for a fire-fighting system, implemented through SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) for which the OPC (OLE for process control) is known. Known KepServerEX6 (single data source connectivity platform), with which the integration of the PLC (programmable logic controller), the human-machine interface (HMI) and the computer will be controlled, with the application of monitoring the operating parameters of a fire fighting system. These parameters are the pressure and flow of the electric pump, the values of the parameters are regularly controlled automatically by means of a frequency variator, according to the sprinkler actuation, the variator varies its operating frequency until achieving the optimal pressure and flow values. The level of correlation between the indicators to be monitored by the SCADA system is highly significant, equal to 0.977, 0.983 and 0.997 respectively. In addition, the dispersion model of the indicators monitored by the SCADA system will be determined, is the quadratic, with a determination factor of 0.999.</span>

Design of neural network and PLC-based water flow controller

Flow rate is a fundamental physical quantity in the fluid transportation system from one place to another. To achieve this, a reliable controller that is able to produce a constant flowrate in industry is needed. The most used flow controllers in industries are PID-based controllers that are implemented using PLCs. However, there are still shortcomings, they can perform poorly in some applications, for example in the highly nonlinear system which cannot be overcome by conventional PID controllers. There are some other limitations of PID controller, such as PID has the overshoot and undershoots in the output of controlled system and PID gives late response in this study, a neural network-based flow controller is proposed to deal with that problems. The controller will be operated in a miniature plant which consists of a water tank, water pump, a control valve, and a flow transmitter. Due to PLC limitation that cannot be programmed with common programming languages such as MATLAB, a personal computer (PC) is used to run the proposed neural network controller. The PC communicates with the PLC using OPC (OLE for Process Control) server, while the PLC reads the flow transmitter and also controls the control valve directly based on the result output of the neural network controller. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed controller, several experiments have been conducted. The performance of the proposed controller has been compared with the conventional PID controller. It shows that neural network-based controller outperformed the conventional PID controller, in terms of maximum overshoot and steady-state error, where the neural network controller has maximum overshoot = 5.36% and steady-state error = 0.85%, while the PID controller has 11.3% for overshoot and 1.10 % for steady-state error.

DESIGN OF DECY-13 CYCLOTRON DAQ SYSTEM

PSTA BATAN (Center of Science and Accelerator Technology) has been developed the 13 MeV cyclotron named DECY-13 for producing radioisotope. That cyclotron has five subsystems and hasn’t established by communication standard protocol yet. In order to make cyclotron communicate effectively, this paper presented the design of data acquisition with OPC (OLE for Process Control) based standard protocol and it has established in DECY-13’s Instrumentation and Control System by case study method. We used Modbus TCP/IP architecture to make all of HMI from five subsystems building communication with each other to Server Computer (OPC Server). OPC Server and OPC Client has configured by NI OPC Server and NI LabVIEW. Data acquisition has monitored by LabVIEW. Configuration of the system for 13 MeV cyclotron and performance test result showed in RMSE value from Reflected Drive Amp Power is 13,94 %, Magnetic Field is 11,2 % ; Forward Final Amp Power is 5,24 % ; Forward Drive Amp Power is 1,98 % ; MPS current is 1,87 % ; Beam Current and A2 Sensor are 1,85 % ; B2 Sensor is 1,77 % ; Bias Current is 1,71%. Based on monitoring and test result, the design of DAQ system has succeeded and established the communication from several different data types from subsystems with OPC protocol standard

Automation of DMPS Manufacturing by using LabView & PLC

<p>This Paper is to enable the Siemens (Programmable Logic Control) CPU 313-5A to communicate with the Lab VIEW and to control the process accuracy by image processing. The communication between CPU 313-5A and Lab VIEW is via OPC (OLE for Process Control).Process Accuracy is achieved with the use of Labview Image Processing and Gray Scale matching Pattern. Accuracy in the gray scale matching will purely depend on the calibration of the camera with respect to the corresponding image. The digital output from the labview is communicated to PLC via Ethernet Protocol for the industrial process control. With the use of Labview the dead time while using the normal image vision module in PLC can be minimized. Labview uses the gray scale matching technique which is more accurate than the normal image vision module used in PLC.</p>

Automation of DMPS Manufacturing by using LabView &PLC

<div class="WordSection1"><p>This Paper is to enable the Siemens (Programmable Logic Control) CPU 313-5A to communicate with the Lab VIEW and to control the process accuracy by image processing. The communication between CPU 313-5A and Lab VIEW is via OPC (OLE for Process Control).Process Accuracy is achieved with the use of Labview Image Processing and Gray Scale matching Pattern. Accuracy in the gray scale matching will purely depend on the calibration of the camera with respect to the corresponding image. The digital output from the labview is communicated to PLC via Ethernet Protocol for the industrial process control. With the use of Labview the dead time while using the normal image vision module in PLC can be minimized. Labview uses the gray scale matching technique which is more accurate than the normal image vision module used in PLC.</p></div>

The virtual commissioning technology applied in the design process of a flexible automation system

This paper describes an application of the virtual commissioning technology applied to the design of a robotized manufacturing cell. Virtual commissioning requires the integration of different technologies, such as PLC (programmable logic controller) programming, device communication with OPC (OLE for process control), off-line robot programming, HIL (hardware-in-the-loop), as well as the design of devices and tools using computer-aided design (CAD) applications. Within this application, the virtual commissioning resource evaluates the operation of an assembly line, simulates several processes in a digital environment, tests real equipment and tools and integrates a system that shares the signals of the sensors and actuators with the simulation environment in the computer. The case study described herein compares a conventional design process of a car floor spot welding station to the design approach using virtual commissioning. The robotic welding cell is controlled by a PLC integrated in a simulation environment that uses two industrial robots created in the Process Simulate Robotics application of Siemens Tecnomatix®.

Using OPC and HL7 Standards to Incorporate an Industrial Big Data Historian in a Health IT Environment.

Health Level Seven (HL7) is one of the standards most used to centralize data from different vital sign monitoring systems. This solution significantly limits the data available for historical analysis, because it typically uses databases that are not effective in storing large volumes of data. In industry, a specific Big Data Historian, known as a Process Information Management System (PIMS), solves this problem. This work proposes the same solution to overcome the restriction on storing vital sign data. The PIMS needs a compatible communication standard to allow storing, and the one most commonly used is the OLE for Process Control (OPC). This paper presents a HL7-OPC Server that permits communication between vital sign monitoring systems with PIMS, thus allowing the storage of long historical series of vital signs. In addition, it carries out a review about local and cloud-based Big Medical Data researches, followed by an analysis of the PIMS in a Health IT Environment. Then it shows the architecture of HL7 and OPC Standards. Finally, it shows the HL7-OPC Server and a sequence of tests that proved its full operation and performance.

Designand Implementation of Networked Control SystemviaEthernetforSelf Excited Induction Generator Using OPC Server

Induction generators are increasingly being used in nonconventional energy systems such as wind, micro/mini hydro, etc. The advantages of using an induction generator instead of a synchronous generator are well known. Some of them are reduced unit cost and size, ruggedness, brushless (in squirrel cage construction), absence of separate dc source, ease of maintenance, self-protection against severe overloads and short circuits, etc. In isolated systems, squirrel cage induction generators with capacitor excitation, known as self-excited induction generators (SEIGs), are very popular. Remotely control applications over a wide area had been commonly used in the industries today. One of the common applications requires remote control and monitoring is output voltage control of SEIGs supplied insensitive frequency loads. Drive system has various types of controller, in order to perform some actions such as control the speed to control the output voltage of SEIGs, switching On or Off loads supplied by the generator. This control system can be done by Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), and with the rise of the technology, Ethernet module will be used in order to achieve the remotecontrol system. Plus the PLC today can be controlled not only using its original software, but 3rd party software as well, such as LabVIEW). LabVIEW is a human machine interfaces design software that is user friendly. It can be easily communicate with different hardware using OLE for Process Control (OPC) server.

In Silico Process Optimization and Quality by Design with Business and Environmental Sustainability Considerations

In designing pharmaceutical manufacturing alongside the principles of quality by design (QbD) and process analytical technology (PAT), unit operations process development and corporate decision-making processes such as business profits and environmental impact assessments are often undertaken separately. This paper presents a strategic three-tier framework linking the process, operations, and business/enterprise levels for process development and improvement alongside an in silico optimization approach. At the process level, first principles reaction kinetics and semi-batch process parameters are used for process simulations. Data exchanges between the process and operations levels were achieved through the OLE for process control (OPC) protocol with real-time chemometrics modeling of in situ spectroscopic measurements. At the operations level, multivariate statistical models were utilized for continuous process improvement in conjunction with profit maximization and environmental waste considerations at the business/enterprise level. In silico optimization of consecutive semi-batch epoxidation reactions was performed using MATLAB/Simulink. Pareto-optimal operating parameters within the design space that considers product quality and process efficiency, profitability, and environmental impact were arrived through systematic simulations conducted using design of experiments (DoE) and partial least squares (PLS) modeling. A simple three-tier methodological framework was proposed to bridge process development, profitability, and environmental assessment. Through such a framework, the links between process, operations, and business/enterprise levels toward sustainable development and product value chain become more transparent. The Pareto-optimal solutions generated demonstrate how process development choices could impact business/enterprise decision-making.

A toolbox using the stochastic optimization algorithm MIPT and ChemCAD for the systematic process retrofit of complex chemical processes

Global optimization techniques using powerful algorithms have led to a wide range of applications to increase the efficiency of chemical processes. Nevertheless, the performance for optimization of process models is limited by a certain complexity, especially accounting for existing processes (retrofit). Due to the great combinatorial diversity of possible alternatives a systematic approach is essential. The local integration of modifications in the overall process leads to changes in internal streams. Therefore new operating points have to be found and resulting effects on the plant performance have to be evaluated. An optimization framework for the purpose of retrofitting using a rigorous process simulation tool is proposed to fulfill this task. Here, flowsheet simulation software packages are offering a high performance for the prediction of new operation points for following units, and for units affected by recycle streams. An optimization approach using flowsheet simulation software and the stochastic optimization algorithm Molecular-Inspired Parallel Tempering (MIPT) implemented in the programming software Matlab™ is presented. Both of these programs are linked via OPC (OLE for process control), a standard communication platform. The toolbox provides a quick evaluation of the process by searching for the global optimum. The MIPT algorithm is suitable for large optimization problems and can handle constraints and infeasibilities. The usage of a rigorous process simulator is providing a high accuracy of the thermodynamic results which is necessary to evaluate the influence of the new process design. Furthermore, a simulation model of the industrial plant can directly be used for the optimization. A complex multicomponent separation process with recycle streams is used to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed toolbox. To simplify the user input a graphical user interface was programmed. The results of a sensitivity analysis and the optimization for different feed compositions are presented.

Challenges and solutions in remote laboratories. Application to a remote laboratory of an electro-pneumatic classification cell

The field of remote laboratories has been developed over the years. These laboratories are valuable educational tools that allow students and faculty interact with real equipment through the Internet, as if they were physically in front of the system. When a remote laboratory is developed, many technical difficulties are found, mainly with respect to the links between the different elements such as physical system, database and clients. In this work, we analyze the challenges and propose approaches to develop remote laboratories that achieve flexibility, scalability and greater educational value. In particular, we present a remote laboratory for automatic control, which includes an electro-pneumatic classification cell. The architecture of the laboratory is based on the three-tier architecture (physical system layer, server layer and client layer). The client layer has been implemented with web standards such as HTML5, AJAX and CSS3, the clients interact with the system using a content management system and the communication interface between the physical system and the database uses a middleware based on OPC (Ole for Process Control). Engineering students have regularly used the remote laboratory and they have evaluated it through surveys.

Combustion system model of a wet process clinker Kiln

En este trabajo se presenta el modelo del proceso de combustión de un horno rotatorio de clinker, el cual se obtiene a partir de un balance de energía representado en el calor que se genera por la combustión de carbón y la forma como se distribuye aquel en todo el proceso. Se utilizan datos de las variables reales del proceso, obtenidas del sistema de control mediante OLE for Process Control, las cuales se operan con datos experimentales y variables que se asumen como constantes. El modelo obtenido se ajusta con dos herramientas: mínimos cuadrados y filtro Infinite Impulse Response de primer orden. Se valida y comprueba el modelo y sus ajustes utilizando dos herramientas estadísticas: diagrama de cajas y bigotes y un método de ocho métricas estadísticas relacionadas por una función difusa. La utilización de estas herramientas evidencia un desempeño satisfactorio del modelo planteado.

Analyzing Cyber-Physical Energy Systems:The INSPIRE Cosimulation of Power and ICT Systems Using HLA

For simulating cyber-physical energy systems, distinct simulation domains need to be integrated for a comprehensive analysis of the interdependent subsystems. In particular, continuous time-based power system simulation and discrete event-based simulation of information and communication technology (ICT) networks are critical for investigating future smart grids. This paper presents the novel cosimulation environment INtegrated coSimulation of Power and ICT systems for Real-time Evaluation (INSPIRE) of power and ICT systems using the high-level architecture (HLA) (IEEE Std. 1516-2010). By applying the HLA standard, the environment is extendable to other simulation domains and a variety of functionalities and models, like thermal load models and additional third-party tools. Moreover, the HLA enables computational performance by distributed execution of each simulator on its own hardware and, thus, the applicability to realistic large-scale scenarios. INSPIRE has been designed under consideration of industrial standards [IEC 61850,object linking and embedding (OLE) for process control (OPC), and the common information model (CIM) (IEC 61968/61970)] in order to enhance interoperability, and to develop and validate solutions close to practice. The simulation results underline the interdependencies of power and ICT systems, and the necessity of an integrated analysis.

Application and Integration of Control Network and Information Network

Enterprise integrated automation is the general trend of industrial control development. The combination of control network and information network provides comprehensive information services for enterprise as production information, production control, planning decisions and sales management as well. The industrial control network and information network integration can realize the information and resources sharing among the enterprises networks and further improve the enterprises informationization and integrated automation level so as to achieve the situation that the enterprise production and management is more efficient and more flexible. The study introduces the information integration of the fieldbus control network and the information network and analyze the information integration technologies such as internetworking, dynamic data exchange (DDE), Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), OLE for Process Control (OPC), control network and information network with unified protocol standards. the integration application of bus system is illustrated with the example of Controller Area Network (CAN) bus.

Development and Realization of Real-time Data Exchange between OPC Client and Multiple Remote Servers

The submitting of OPC (OLE for Process Control) has promoted the progress of the data collection in process control and industrial automation, and formulated the industry standard for the process real-time data exchange. Aiming at the key problem of ensuring the use of application program as OPC client to link multi-remote OPC server and real-time collect process data in control system, OPC technology and the connection and access technology of multi-remote OPC server were introduced and analyzed in detail. The multi-remote OPC server architecture is developed and analyzed based on the OPC technology and the automation interface. And the OPC client application is developed in order to connecting multi-remote OPC server. Multi-remote OPC server communication case is achieved by the design of test software. Therefore the OPC client can calibrate and acquire progress data though calling the interface provided by the OPC server. Finally by establishing the suitable system architecture, configuring the corresponding environment variable and calling the corresponding test software program, the real-time data exchange between OPC client and multiple remote servers are achieved. This method has been successfully applied to develop the DCS I/O communication and control loop error test software, and provided better performance.