Product category:
Plantwide control
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Industries) | Subject: AC 460 controller
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 27 February 2003
Upgraded control for PVC plant
EVC has recently upgraded the distributed control system at its PVC 8 plant at Runcorn, Cheshire.
ABB continues to prove its support of its existing DCS customers with evolution paths to Industrial IT ABB Eutech Process Solutions, a business within the Automation Technologies Division in the UK, has recently replaced the MOD 300 controller on the distributed control system operating at EVC UK's PVC 8 plant at Runcorn, Cheshire
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 27 May 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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An Industrial IT engineering station together with an operator station were also supplied to support EVC's new AC 460 controllers.
Howard Baker, engineering manager for PVC 8 and VC3 said, "I am very pleased with the way the Mod 300 upgrade has been successfully completed.
Upgrading an existing DCS system always has the potential to become a 'tricky' project.
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However, the carefully planned approach ensured that things went well and the problems we did encounter were overcome successfully.
The project execution hit all the key targets and we are now enjoying the benefits of improved operation".
The project took place when EVC's MOD 300 controller had become overloaded and the system experienced intermittent problems due to communication overload.
Ongoing business plans for the PVC 8 plant required the plant control system to be expanded to cater for additional process measurement and control functions.
As a result, EVC was seeking a solution that addressed both of these requirements while avoiding a major investment.
The solution also had to provide a potential migration path for the future, offering the opportunity for incrementally upgrading the control system as the business needs evolved.
The AC 460 controller operates at a much higher speed and has larger memory such that, the 11 controller modules in the original controller could be replaced by a single AC460 module, eliminating the need for intermodule communications.
The migration procedure and the design for the new hardware were developed and implemented by a team from ABB's Automation Technologies division, the projects control and electrical construction was carried out by the ABB Utilities Installation Group, and the Asset Management Group at Daresbury provided an experienced project manager with detailed knowledge of the PVC process in general and of the PVC 8 plant in particular.
"ABB ensured compliance with operational safety and avoided the need for major capital expenditure.
They utilised existing software (with minor modification), increased control system capacity and ensured no loss to production, all of which also needed no additional operator training - resulting in a happy customer", said Peter Flinn, Head of ABB's Process Solutions business.
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