by Gary Mintchell | Mar 30, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Technology
Developing testbeds for testing development of technology extensions seems to be hot right now. The Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition has a couple going in conjunction with US government money. There is a bid out from the US government for development of some more, also related to energy efficiency.
The Industrial Internet Consortium announced its first energy-focused testbed: the Communication and Control Testbed for Microgrid Applications. Industrial Internet Consortium member organizations Real-Time Innovations (RTI), National Instruments, and Cisco, are collaborating on the project, working with power utilities CPS Energy and Southern California Edison. Additional industry collaborators include Duke Energy and the power industry organization – Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).
I recently saw where an analyst positioned the IIC with the German Industry 4.0 initiative–while ignoring the US Smart Manufacturing group altogether. These advanced manufacturing strategies are showing some growth. Both of these have commercial technology companies solidly behind them. I would think that they will have more impact in the long run than SMLC. But we’ll see.
Here is some background from the IIC press release. “Today’s power grid relies on a central-station architecture not designed to interconnect distributed and renewable power sources such as roof-top solar and wind turbines. The system must over-generate power to compensate for rapid variation in power generation or demands. As a result, much of the benefit of renewable energy sources in neighborhoods or businesses is lost. Efficiently integrating variable and distributed generation requires architectural innovation.”
The goal of the Communication and Control Testbed is to introduce the flexibility of real-time analytics and control to increase efficiencies in this legacy process – ensuring that power is generated more accurately and reliably to match demand. This testbed proposes re-architecting electric power grids to include a series of distributed microgrids which will control smaller areas of demand with distributed generation and storage capacity.
These microgrids will operate independently from the main electric power grid but will still interact and be coordinated with the existing infrastructure.
The testbed participants will work closely with Duke Energy, which recently published a distributed intelligence reference architecture, as well as SGIP to help ensure a coordinated, accepted architecture based on modern, cross-industry industrial internet technologies.
The Communications and Control framework will be developed in three phases that will culminate in a field deployment that will take place at CPS Energy’s “Grid-of-the-Future” microgrid test area in San Antonio, Texas.
The initial phases will be tested in Southern California Edison’s Controls Lab in Westminster, CA.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 16, 2015 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, News, Operations Management, Safety
Asset management, analytics, modeling, safety—some of the significant trends highlighted at last week’s ARC Industry in Transition Forum in Orlando—all popped up at the Bentley Systems press conference session. Highlights were acquisition of C3global and its Amulet Operational Analytics, acquisition of Acute3D and its reality modeling solution, and added process safety and risk management capabilities.
Operational Analytics
Bentley Systems has acquired U.K.-based C3global, provider of web-based Amulet software for operational analytics. Bentley’s AssetWise platform, which serves configuration management, asset health monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and compliance for infrastructure assets, can now deliver additional actionable insights as asset performance management is extended, through AssetWise Amulet, for asset performance modeling. AssetWise Amulet offers unique value in applying predictive and prescriptive analytics that are easily configurable at industrial scale to leverage just-in-time data for improved operational efficiencies.
Gartner recognizes C3global as part of the industrial analytics transformation helping digital businesses (as noted in Gartner’s “Industrial Analytics Revolutionizes Big Data in the Digital Business” report [G00264728], published August 19, 2014). Among the many infrastructure owner-operators benefiting from Amulet operational analytics are water utilities, oil and gas, and power transmission grids. User organizations include Babcock, BP, Chevron, Danfoss, Emerson, MWH, National Grid, South Australian Water, and Total.
AssetWise Amulet can be readily configured to build sophisticated applications tailored to infrastructure operations needs without having to know a programming language. It bridges the gap between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), enabling advanced analytics to be an integral part of all aspects of the business process. Through AssetWise Amulet’s interactive and easily configurable operational dashboards, owner-operators are provided with the context they need to be confident in their decisions and are afforded an easy method of measuring and managing the outcomes.
AssetWise Amulet is designed to integrate and analyze “big data” generated by a wide range of external applications and systems – from SQL or Oracle databases to enterprise data warehouses, industrial data historians, and control systems, as well as maintenance and work order management systems. The data can be structured or unstructured and include systems data, photos, video, log books, Microsoft Excel files, event failures, scanned notes, witnessed events, and more.
Once data from the IT and OT systems has been captured and aggregated, the software applies the users’ business rules, models, and knowledge to provide an improved view and understanding of operational performance for decision support. In conjunction with AssetWise-certified integrations to SAP EAM, IBM Maximo, and Oracle eAM, AssetWise Amulet will help drive the right actions at the right time, reducing operational risks and improving operational efficiency.
Reality Modeling
Bentley Systems also announced that it has acquired France-based Acute3D, provider of Smart3DCapture software for reality modeling. Through reality modeling, observations of existing conditions are processed into representations for contextual alignment within design modeling and construction modeling environments. Rapid technology advancements in scanning and photography – and especially the burgeoning application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for these purposes – are making the capture of such observations broadly and continuously affordable in sustaining infrastructure.
Acute3D software automates the generation of high-resolution, fully-3D representations from digital photographs taken with any camera, whether highly specialized or embedded in a smartphone. Scalable from site to city, and with precision limited only by the quantity and quality of photography, Acute3D technology can assure that existing conditions are contemporaneously considered throughout the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations of any infrastructure asset. Now that photo sequences from UAVs are likely to become the most feasible source for surveying, construction monitoring, and inspection workflows, Acute3D’s industrial-level accuracy and unlimited scalability are making it a preferred technology for UAV manufacturers and professionals around the world.
Process Safety and Risk Management
AssetWise APM V7.3 the enhanced version of Bentley’s asset performance management (APM) offering – an all-in-one analysis and information management software platform for asset reliability and asset integrity – now also advances process safety.
Alan Kiraly, Bentley senior vice president, server products, said, “Our AssetWise APM V7.3 meets the demanding requirements of reliability, integrity, safety, and maintenance managers and engineers in industries ranging from oil and gas, petrochemical, and mining and metals to power generation and other utilities. The software ensures assets are safe and reliable and that they are inspected and maintained to reduce or eliminate risk. Users further benefit from the elimination of unexpected downtime, increased asset availability and utilization, reduced maintenance costs, and support for regulations and safety standards, including ISA 84, IEC 61511, IEC 61508, and IEC 61882.”
AssetWise APM V7.3’s new process safety features help users manage the integrity of safety systems and hazardous processes, thereby preventing failures and catastrophic incidents and keeping people, assets, and the environment safer. Capabilities include safety instrumented function (SIF) analysis, safety instrumented systems (SIS), safety integrity level (SIL) and safety provisions, overrides, and incidents. AssetWise APM V7.3 also provides version control and approval, the analysis of loss of containment scenarios, and the identification and assessment of risks at the system level, as well as for related assets (risk matrix).
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 17, 2014 | Commentary, News, Operations Management
Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy sent an update about the work of the recent Congress relative to energy efficiency from his blog. Below is his report.
Over the weekend the 113th Congress largely wrapped up its work. It looks like this Congress will pass just over 200 bills, the lowest number since World War II. However, before leaving home for the holidays, Congress took action on several bills that will affect energy efficiency:
- Congress appropriated money for the rest of the 2015 fiscal year for most federal departments. Included was $1.93 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, an increase of nearly $25 million from the previous year. The advanced manufacturing office and weatherization assistance programs received increases of 11% and 9%, respectively, while the buildings, vehicles, and federal energy management programs received small cuts.
- Energy efficiency tax incentives will be extended for another year. The tax extenders package includes provisions on energy-efficient commercial buildings, new homes, and various residential energy-efficiency retrofits (e.g. heating, cooling and water heating systems, insulation, and windows). These provisions all expired in Dec. 31, 2013 and the provision extends through Dec. 31, 2014, allowing these credits to be claimed in 2014. The Senate proposed updating some of the qualification levels, but the House decided to keep the current qualification levels. The Senate is expected to accept the House bill. Information about these credits can be found at energytaxincentives.org. The new Congress will have to decide whether to extend these again to cover 2015.
- The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2014 came close but was not enacted. This bill was introduced by Representatives Welch (D-VT) and McKinley (R-WV) and passed the House of Representatives earlier this year. The Senate version was sponsored by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) and includes four provisions from their more comprehensive energy efficiency bill. The Senate sought unanimous consent to enact the bill but a few conservative senators objected and thus the bill will need to be reintroduced next year. The bill promotes energy efficiency in rental property, promotes commercial building energy-use benchmarking and disclosure, adjusts efficiency standards for “grid-connected” water heaters, and promotes energy efficiency in federal data centers. ACEEE led work on the benchmarking and disclosure provision and played a substantial role in several of the other provisions.
Overall, a disappointing two years for Congress. Hopefully, the 114th Congress that convenes in January can accomplish much more.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 16, 2014 | Automation, News, Organizations, Technology
For the past several years, ABB has made sure that I remember my early electrical engineering teaching—the relative merits of direct current / alternating current, for example. It has been a leading proponent of advanced high voltage DC (HVDC) power systems considering it the superior transmission technology.
In this vein, ABB and Hitachi announced Dec. 16 an agreement to form a joint venture for HVDC system solutions in Japan. The new entity, to be based in Tokyo, will be responsible for the design, engineering, supply and after-sales services related to the DC system of HVDC projects bringing ABB’s latest technologies to the Japanese market where Hitachi will be the prime contractor.
Hitachi and ABB will take equity interests of 51 percent and 49 percent respectively. This is the first step of a strategic partnership between the two companies to contribute to the evolution of Japan’s power network. Hitachi and ABB will explore further strengthening of the relationship and address opportunities to widen the scope for future collaboration.
The joint venture is expected to commence operations in the coming months, subject to the necessary approvals and statutory procedures.
Quotes
“Since the first development in the 1970s, Hitachi has participated in every HVDC project in Japan and has continued to underpin the stabilization of the electricity grid. I am confident that the establishment of a new company combining the strengths of Hitachi and ABB will provide a framework for the timely provision of the new technologies required by the Japanese HVDC market. By enhancing and expanding the HVDC business through its partnership with ABB, which has a strong performance record in the global market, Hitachi will continue to contribute to the stabilization of Japan’s electric power grid.” said Hiroaki Nakanishi, Chairman & CEO of Hitachi, Ltd.
“ABB pioneered HVDC 60 years ago and has continually pushed the boundaries of this technology,” said Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB. “Our presence across half the world’s installed base and our capability to develop and manufacture all major components of the HVDC value chain in-house have put us in a leading position in the industry. We are proud to enter into this partnership with Hitachi, with a solid reputation and extensive, 100 year experience in the Japanese market. Together we can build on our complementary strengths to play our part in the evolution of Japan’s power infrastructure.”
Technology
HVDC is a technology used for transmitting electricity between two grid systems. The supply side power is converted from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) before being transmitted, and is then converted back to AC in the receiving system for use. The system is ideal for long-distance transmission due to the technology’s ability to minimize electricity losses, and to its lower space requirements and construction costs. It is also well suited for interconnections between two different frequencies.
The global HVDC market has seen many projects using line commutated converter technology (LCC)*1 HVDC systems since the 1970s, while the development of voltage source converter (VSC)*2 systems has advanced as a new technology since around 2000. In recent years there has been a particular focus on using HVDC to connect renewable energy sources. This has seen an increase in VSC-HVDC transmission systems, which facilitate grid-stabilization. The technology is ideal for long-distance underground and underwater power links and interconnections, and is increasingly being deployed across a range of applications.
These include the integration of renewable energies from land-based and offshore wind farms, the mainland power supply to islands and offshore oil and gas platforms, city center in-feeds where space is a major constraint, and cross-border interconnections that often require subsea links. Its ability to comply with grid codes ensures robust network connections regardless of application.
In Japan, nine HVDC projects were carried out up to 2006, all of them using the LCC type. Now, with the increasing introduction of renewable energy and innovation in electric power systems, demand for VSC-HVDC systems is expected to increase for applications such as wide-area power transmission grids and connection of offshore wind farms.
Hitachi has participated in every HVDC project in Japan so far. In the Japanese market, which demands a high level of reliability, Hitachi has contributed through technology development and project management to the creation of HVDC systems that maintain high operation rates*3 ranking amongst the best in the world.
ABB pioneered HVDC technology, putting into operation the world’s first commercial link in Sweden in 1954, and was the first to introduce VSC technology (HVDC Light) in the 1990s. The company also holds many other world records in this technology. Over the years ABB has been awarded around 100 HVDC projects representing a total installed capacity of more than 120,000 MW, accounting for about half of the global installed base. ABB’s HVDC Light solution leads the way in VSC technology; the company has delivered 14 of the 15 VSC links that have been commissioned worldwide.
The new joint venture will combine Hitachi’s sales network, project management expertise, quality assurance processes and delivery performance record, with ABB’s state-of-the-art HVDC technologies, and contribute to innovation in electric power systems in Japan.
1. LCC-HVDC*1: A HVDC system with AC/DC converter using power semiconductor devices that requires the passing current to be zero when off (a thyristor). This was the principal method used from the 1970s onward, and there are many examples in operation. The system configuration is simple, and the technology mature; however, its installation entails a large number of restrictions as regards the power grid, necessitating grid stabilization measures in some cases such as reactive power compensation.
2 VSC-HVDC*2: A HVDC system with AC/DC converter using power semiconductor devices that can be switched on and off at any time (IGBTs, etc.). There are fewer power grid restrictions for its installation, compared to LCC type, and it has considerable benefits for grid stabilization, for example with respect to supplying reactive power. Since it does not require any grid stabilization measures, it achieves a simpler overall configuration than LCC-HVDC systems.
3 Reported in “A Survey of the Reliability of HVDC Systems” by the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRÉ), and other sources.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 4, 2014 | Automation, Manufacturing IT, Networking, News, Operations Management
This announcement came to me yesterday afternoon. ABB is joining the Industrial Internet Consortium.
This announcement is interesting in a couple of ways. First, it reminds us that ABB is a large company that plays in the discrete (factory automation) space, as well as, power and process automation. Second, it is the first I’ve seen that ties the Industrial Internet Consortium to Germany’s Industrie 4.0.
Following is the press release:
ABB has for years advanced the Industrial Internet via the company’s control systems, communication technology and industrial sensors. These help customers use data to optimize operations on offshore platforms, in mining and robotics, aboard marine vessels and in the chemical and paper industries.
ABB will join the IIC starting in 2015 to foster collaboration among technology companies as they seek to establish global standards for the Industrial Internet. ABB will work with others to ensure that end users reap the benefits it promises: improved efficiency, reduced costs and higher revenue.
“This gives us more opportunities to influence what is happening in the development of the Industrial Internet,” said Claes Rytoft, ABB Chief Technology Officer. “The Industrial Internet holds incredible promise to transform manufacturing, energy and resource industries.”
The Industrial Internet reflects the accelerating application of sensors, software and improved communication technology, allowing engineers to leverage enormous volumes of data from industrial systems to boost efficiency.
The Industrial Internet is at the core of Industry 4.0, Germany’s initiative for increased computerization of manufacturing. ABB has actively contributed to the creation of the Industry 4.0 vision and is actively working towards implementation of this ambitious undertaking.
“The Industrial Internet is transformational – it changes the way we work,” said Dr. Richard Soley, Executive Director of the Industrial Internet Consortium. “The Industrial Internet presents new opportunities for cost savings, energy savings and other efficiencies.”
ABB centrally monitors thousands of industrial robots and for decades and has helped utilities collect data crucial for a deeper understanding of how to make their electricity grids safer and more reliable. And ABB has thousands of software developers dedicated to improving the functionality of the Industrial Internet, leading to leaner operations and faster response times.
Today, evolving communication technology and lower sensor costs, combined with higher performance of computers, offer new opportunities to collect, evaluate and integrate even more information from industrial facilities to boost efficiency, fine-tune maintenance and trim energy costs.
“The Industrial Internet makes it possible to collect and integrate much more information than we ever have before,” Rytoft said. “The question is, what will that lead to going forward? It’s still a bit early to say, but there are many exciting opportunities.”
