GE Fanuc launches Quickpanel remote telemetry unit

A GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 29, 2009

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, has unveiled its Quickpanel remote telemetry unit (RTU).

The company claims that this applied solution enables water and wastewater companies to monitor, diagnose and maintain water assets and processes through flexible communication architectures.

The solution lowers maintenance costs by approximately USD50,000 (GBP34,000) per year and reduces 10-year asset lifecycle costs by nearly USD1m over competitive products, according to the company.

The Quickpanel RTU provides a sustainable advantage with a combination of advanced software and embedded and automation solutions.

It is an integrated visualisation and control solution that provides the tools required for today's remote-application needs, according to GE Fanuc.

A combination of bright touch-screen displays and Proficy Machine Edition software, the Quickpanel RTU delivers flexible, scalable performance on a rugged hardware platform.

Alan Hinchman, global industry director of water/wastewater for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, said: 'GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has been partnering with water operations all over the world to help them seamlessly integrate critical water data.

'Leveraging the latest remote monitoring technology, the Quickpanel RTU can track and compare distribution flows with sales, offering a proven approach that enables utilities to significantly reduce their non-revenue water,' he added.

It can integrate with existing PLC hardware locally and other RTUs throughout the system, delivering connectivity across operations.

The Quickpanel RTU's open communication makes it suitable for mixed system architectures as it can connect directly to existing PLCs to upgrade legacy PLCs and RTUs to Ethernet communications with store and forward capabilities.

A visual interface for local operators allows site equipment to be operated manually, mitigating the operational impact of remote communication disruptions.

The integrated controller keeps automatic equipment running through an outage.

Once communications are restored, store-and-forward capabilities and local time stamping of alarms ensure that nothing is missed.

The Quickpanel RTU can range from simple, low input/output (I/O) count applications to complex automation solutions that require the support of large numbers of I/O.

It provides an information-rich graphical interface and has the inherent benefits of providing a smaller footprint, centralised time synchronisation, local alarm time stamping, full IEC 61131-3 language support and remote diagnostics and maintenance via a web hosting client.

Built on a Microsoft Windows CE operating system, the Quickpanel RTU offers enhanced data buffering and built-in web publishing capabilities to effectively link remote assets to business systems.

Key personnel - from operators to managers - can access accurate, comprehensive and integrated information when and where they need it, according to the company.

The device includes: a range of display sizes from 6in (15cm) to 15in; a choice of monochrome or colour-TFT displays; expandable memory and communications options; and easy configuration to run the same program on different-size models.

Addressing the need to integrate existing and future applications from different vendors and multiple architectures, the Quickpanel RTU enables connection to a variety of automation devices.

With a large number of built-in drivers, it can be flexibly networked back to a centralised SCADA system using a phone line, radio, satellite and cellular topology.