Rockwell Automation

RSLogix 5000 Version 20
RSLogix 5000 Version 20 delivers the high performance of an integrated control system in a scalable package. Users can scale from 200 to 10,000 I/O points on a single control platform. The software brings motion capabilities on an EtherNet/IP network to the Allen-Bradley Compact Logix controller family. RSLogix 5000 v20 offers increased hardware support and text-file-based electronic datasheet integration. The QuickConnect function allows easy device connectivity and provides start-up times of approximately 100 ms.

PlantPAx process automation system
Plant-wide operations can now be managed with a single platform, the PlantPAx process automation system. Newly upgraded PlantPAx integrates devices such as compressors, pumps, turbines, and fans. This platform mirrors the motor device memory, making data available within the control system. Users can set up applications in PlantPAx to collect and archive performance data in order to monitor electric motor current, vibration of rotating assets, and torque of variable-speed drives over time. Potential problems can be identified more easily, reducing equipment downtime. The platform utilizes an EtherNet/IP network that allows users to access diagnostic information on any device in the system from any location.

Arena simulation software Version 14.0
The potential impacts of business decisions can now be effectively analyzed with the Arena simulation software Version 14.0. This software allows users to visualize process changes before they are made, which minimizes the associated risk and promotes faster change implementation. Arena includes a visual designer tool that can be used to build realistic 3D animations and import content from popular 3D modeling programs, such as Google SketchUp, AutoDesk, and Blender. It also features a drag-and-drop interface for the creation of dynamic graphic dashboards. Arena is designed to run on the Microsoft .NET framework.

Pump Energy Savings Calculator
This program calculates the potential energy savings that may be realized using variable frequency drives (VFDs) to power pumps and fans. It allows users to compare the costs of conventional methods, such as valves for pump control and dampers for fan control, to those of VFDs. Energy use can be calculated based on built-in sample data, or by entering the minimum pump or flow percentages, annual operating hours, cost per kilowatt, and other site-specific information. The tool is available as an online calculator or a mobile application for an iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, or Android system.

Rockwell Automation Energy Evaluator
The Rockwell Automation Energy Evaluator is a free online tool for evaluating energy management behavior and identifying opportunities for improvements. It provides a complete analysis of current water, air, gas, electric, and steam (WAGES) management performance, and enables a company to compare its operating strategies with those of peers in the same industry and across other sectors. After the user completes a 20-min online assessment, the software generates a real-time report outlining the plant’s WAGES management baseline. This allows employees to identify and implement strategic changes, and to set improvement goals both for single facilities and across the entire organization. The report can be exported into Excel, PDF, or printable HTML formats so users can easily share and manipulate data to visualize the impacts of operational and behavioral improvements. Users can also continuously access the report and update information to track the facility’s progress. Rockwell Automation Industrial GreenPrint consultants are available to help analyze results and identify customized, holistic strategies for implementing improvements.

Alliance Improves Graphics for HMI/SCADA Applications
An agreement between Software Toolbox and Rockwell Automation brings Symbol Factory technology graphics to FactoryTalk View Site Edition and FactoryTalk View Machine Edition. Symbol Factory is a graphics symbol manipulation and management application with a library of more than 5,000 industrial automation graphics. This technology expands users’ choices for building engaging, high-quality operator screens in human machine interface (HMI) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) applications. FactoryTalk View Site Edition is a supervisory HMI software application designed for enterprise solutions, while FactoryTalk Machine Edition features a machine-level HMI capability that provides users with a consistent operator interface across multiple platforms, including MS Windows CE, Windows XP and Vista. These applications enable operators to share and integrate data easily with other FactoryTalk-enabled products, as well as to configure applications from anywhere on the network. They also allow users to make changes to a running system with remote multi-user configuration capabilities and initiate data-logging for historical trending analysis. They support ActiveX and OPC technologies. Software Toolbox (www.softwaretoolbox.com) and Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com)

FactoryTalk AssetCentre Version 2.31
Version 2.31 of FactoryTalk AssetCentre asset-management software is available with Field Device Tool (FDT) technology to assist manufacturers in the centralized management and maintenance of production environments. The FDT technology standardizes the communication interface between field devices and control systems, which is particularly useful because most facilities use a wide variety of field devices. The process device configuration uses the interpreter device type manager (iDTM) for the HART Communication Protocol to integrate data from the HART device descriptor (DD) file and the graphical FDT for use in any Hart-registered device descriptor. The software allows engineering staff to remotely conduct instrument diagnostics, to view and edit device configurations, and to quickly swap out or reconfigure devices with the last-known good configuration. This increases the reliability of instrumentation, simplifies regulatory reporting compliance efforts, and improves product quality in applications where conditions are tied directly to process parameters such as temperature, pressure and flow.

InSite Services
InSite Services provides 24/7/365 access to more than 300 engineering and manufacturing IT professionals who offer expertise in 15 languages. The suite of services includes six components: surveillance, diagnostics, optimization, administration, knowledge, and visualization. Application engineers in the InSite Operation Center proactively monitor the customer’s critical systems through a secure, high-speed connection, looking for deviations from acceptable process, production, line or machine parameters and key performance indicators (KPI). When a parameter or KPI is out of range, they immediately notify the facility, enabling the plant to initiate corrective action before a major system or equipment malfunction or failure occurs. To aid in future monitoring activities, all data, alarms and events are archived and stored in a central data center. Additional activities and services include troubleshooting and root-cause and failure modes and effects analyses (diagnostics); support for Six Sigma teams, advanced modeling, and user training (optimization); application management, disaster recovery, version control and upgrades, and system performance tuning (administration); and a custom database that captures, manages and maintains technical and support information specific to the customer’s system and/or process.     

FactoryTalk VantagePoint
The VantagePoint addition to FactoryTalk Integrated Production and Performance Suite allows users to configure web-based dashboards, trends and reports without requiring expensive, time-consuming support resources. Its easy-to-use interface reduces installation times to as little as a few hours, which allows virtually immediate access for monitoring and management of productivity, as well as control over high-profile operations such as energy efficiency and global supply-chain execution. It handles applications from maintenance and production to quality to enterprise and supply-chain planning. It incorporates the manufacturer’s recently acquired IncuityEMI technology, which provides a data-modeling framework that is both flexible and extendable, and can capture and maintain complex relationships between a virtually unconstrained set of data sources.

Allen-Bradley SLC 500-Series controllers
New features of the Allen-Bradley SLC 500-Series controllers include improved messaging over Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)-based networks and enhanced security capabilities. Instruction updates allow generic CIP commands to be initiated in devices, such as drives, that communicate on Ethernet/IP, ControlNet and DeviceNet networks, simplifying the programming, configuring, monitoring and troubleshooting of explicit messages. A new firmware release includes a secured processor capability through Rockwell Software RSAssetSecurity, which enables the RSLogix 500 programming software to configure a processor so that it will be more secure against unauthorized access. A new Read Program Checksum (RPC) instruction can help determine whether online edits have changed the program or verify that the program in the memory module matches that in the processor’s RAM. And, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) provides flexible IP address assignment for the SLC 5/05 processor Channel One Ethernet port.

Enpac Ex
The Enpac Ex data collector utilizes the latest advances in analog and digital electronics, including digital signal processing (DSP) and a powerful Sigma-Delta A/D converter to provide both speed and accuracy in the data collection process. It was specifically designed to meet ATEX Zone 0, a European Union category designation for areas where an explosive atmosphere is continuously present or present for long periods.