Ultra-efficient data analysis tool uses Opto 22

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 20, 2000

The data capturing qualities of Opto 22 is playing a key role in the success of a new state of the art data analysis tool developed by Cardiff-based Industrial Electronic Automation.

The data capturing qualities of Opto 22 is playing a key role in the success of a new state of the art data analysis tool developed by Cardiff-based Industrial Electronic Automation.

Called ICEberg, the new tool is being hailed as the biggest improvement in efficiency since the introduction of finite scheduling and is a direct response to the need for a usable method of accurately analysing data specifically for the purpose of identifying and increasing business benefits.

At the heart of ICEberg is Oracle's multi dimensional database.

Iceberg is configurable by the production user to link key business measures to the production plant.

To this end, IEA has developed a tool known as ICEcapture which effectively takes remote I/O and scans it into ICEberg.

"We've written drivers to map Opto 22 directly into ICEcapture allowing us to take in many different types of signals," said IEA Systems Manager John Colbourne.

"Opto 22 gives us a lot of flexibility especially with the OptoDisplay runtime advanced HMI," he added.

This type of analysis has traditionally been prohibitively complex due to the large number of variables produced on every production run.

The crucial effects that variations between raw materials, environmental conditions and operation staff have, in the majority of cases have not been fully considered in respect of their impact on production efficiency.

Up to now the basis for improving efficiency has often been mistakenly focused on just updating both plant and control system technology which often results in treating the process symptoms rather than the causes.

This approach does not increase understanding of the process and fails to identify potential business benefits.

So any small increases in production efficiency can be easily wiped out by the associated investment in capital equipment.

It is against this background that IEA developed ICEberg to assist production management make informed decisions.

The primary achievement has been to deliver a product that can not only display production information in a simple, meaningful way, but also empower production managers with the ability to manipulate the information they require to improve their processes.

Also, this information can be easily manipulated to show relationships between different process parameters that may have previously been prohibitively difficult to establish.

As ICEberg is based on relational database technology, every command, action and result is time and date stamped, enabling the relationship between data types to be absolutely precise.

A number of pilot projects using ICEberg and ICEcapture have been under way for 12 months the latest of which is currently being configured at Bromford Iron and Steel in West Bromwich to handle information such as yield and plant utilisation.

John Colbourne is confident that Opto 22 will find many other uses at IEA in the near future: "We're even thinking of using Opto 22 display as a sophisticated HMI (Human Machine Interface)," he said.

"We could buy one from a dedicated HMI supplier, but from an engineering point of view I can buy a PC with a touch-sensitive screen, plug in Opto 22 and configure it to do whatever I want.

It's extremely adaptable." Letchworth-based System Devices is sole UK supplier of Opto 22 devices.