Just as I was wondering about anything new in process control, this release about Yokogawa releasing its next-generation CENTUM VP Integrated Production Control System came my way.
They say that this celebrates the 50th anniversary of the announcement of the world’s first distributed control system and 10 generations of the current iteration.
Yokogawa Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6841) announces the unveiling of the next-generation Release 7 concept and the launch of Release 7.01 of the CENTUM VP integrated production control system, a core product in the OpreX Control and Safety System lineup. This is the 10th generation of the CENTUM series, and its release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the announcement of CENTUM as the world’s first*1 distributed control system (DCS), on June 19, 1975.
Yokogawa has based its development of CENTUM VP Release 7 on the concept of enabling autonomous operations. With CENTUM, Yokogawa is helping its customers attain sustainability by improving energy efficiency, accelerating decarbonization, and providing a safe and secure working environment. While maintaining the reliability, stability, continuity, robust security, and comprehensive engineering and service network that have been hallmarks of the CENTUM series since its inception, Yokogawa adds the following three areas:
1. Expanded scope of control and monitoring—By securely aggregating a wide range of data scattered throughout the plant, the status of the entire plant can be monitored, and the scope of automated operation can be expanded, enabling safer and more secure operations.
2. Predictive monitoring through process condition monitoring—By extracting and identifying process-specific events related to operations and predicting deviations from expected values, operators can anticipate changes and take action, helping to achieve more stable operations and improve energy efficiency.
3. Reduction of operator workload—By presenting future scenarios that leverage operator knowledge and know-how, it supports the operator in making accurate decisions. In addition, autonomous control AI*3 can take over from operators to achieve long-term stable operation. This reduces operator workload and mental stress.
Main Features of Release 7.01
1. Enhanced security—This release adopts industry security benchmarks to strengthen the cybersecurity of the components that make up control systems and enhance the overall security level of the system.
2. Expansion of control and monitoring scope with CENTUM—By integrating OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) connectivity, the range of plant equipment and devices that can be controlled and monitored by CENTUM is expanded. In this update, OPC UA client functionality has been added to CENTUM.
3. Enhanced engineering capabilities for large-scale projects—To promote operational optimization by integrating various systems within the plant, a feature has been added that allows the merging and testing of multiple engineering databases related to CENTUM. This enhancement will enable high-quality and efficient engineering, contributing to the rapid startup of new plants and restart of upgraded plants.
