We engineer SCADA for Crude Oil Pipelines.

More land based production means more pipelines.

There is movement in the Crude Oil status quo. Not only did Invensys recently obtain an order to provide a SCADA system on a crude oil pipeline in the UK, but also there is a rapid growth in the production of crude oil in land based formations in the USA. The means more pipelines and more automation to protect the environment. Invensys provides that kind of automation.

We have engineered many SCADA systems on crude oil pipeline networks in the past, having quite large networked SCADA systems installed in China.  It's good to see that pipeline activity is ramping up for us again in the UK.

Modernizing the XY Controller with a 3rd Turtle

Last week I discussed the application specific space saving application of the XY controller.  When having to modernize these, not only do we have to work with the specific constraints of the hardware - [see last weeks post] - but also the fact that at the same time, we might have to jump 40 years in technology.

In this post I extend the conjectured modernization by considering the modernization of an 20th century item of plant control to the 21st century use of lets say semantic technology.  For this example being substation oriented, we should consider going from the Master Slave relay logic direct to it's representation as an IEC 61850 object publication and control. This is not a post about IEC 61850 specifically, but uses that new technology to illustrate the point relating to modernization and re-integration of older technology into the new semantic type technology.

If you have read this far, you might want to know why does that matter ?  I will try to keep to the point in less than 600 words, and the graphic may help, but please read to the end, think for a few minutes and make any comment about modernization you feel relevant.

The Space Saving XY Controller

XY Controller Decoding Matrix

I recently had to revisit an older control application, where the customer wanted to keep everything the same, but replace his older remote terminal unit technology with perhaps a newer one, yet keep the existing wiring and functionality. With some of the older equipment the limitations of space, both physical, and in terms of protocol address space, meant that engineering remote control solutions often meant optimization of space at the expense of urgency and time. The challenge in modernization almost always starts with No change in SPACE, no change in WIRING, and ends in trying to exchange modern high tech equipment into the same cabinets and racks which the older equipment occupies.