Easy and Low Risk Path to Industrial IoT Implementation
Published on : Monday 30-11--0001
Challenges for Plant and Factory
The plant, factory builders and operators are faced with three primary challenges – the amount of risk and investment needed for a successful implementation, handling humongous data and making existing plants ready for the future. The machines and plants are already generating huge data and with IIoT, the amount of data is expected to further increase exponentially. With the newer Greenfield projects, things can be streamlined as the set-up is new and the plant can demand newer functionalities and also have a large budget available. On the other hand, to make existing setup involving multiple vendors, networks and systems with a limited budget act as a major deterrent to implement the IIoT solution in the plant. Achieving horizontal and vertical connectivity is essential in a plant and needs common standards for communication. However, the current market scenario is very different with proprietary communication technologies proving a hindrance for complete plant connectivity.
Control System Ready for IIoT
Gathering data from the field and sending it to the upper layers without using additional interfaces and providing machine-to-machine connectivity are two major activities, which an IIoT ready control system needs to perform.
Using available open source solutions is the answer to the current market situation and breaking the shackles of proprietary solutions. This is also a core of the Industry 4.0 approach. OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) provides a non-real time communication from various machines to the upper layers as well as facilitates a machine-to-machine communication without hassles using the existing systems and controllers. It has robust security mechanism already in place to meet the IIoT needs of the plants. Safety is another crucial aspect in plants. To have a safe horizontal and vertical communication, openSAFETY has been used in the industry for over a decade for transferring safe data. Plant builders and operators can thus benefit from the safe connectivity from field to the cloud as openSAFETY works on POWERLINK, OPC UA, Modbus, Ethernet, CANopen and any network.
APROL is an open DCS platform from B&R enabling the customers to become IIoT ready. It has numerous features coupled with out-of-the-box solutions making it the undoubted choice for plant builders while considering IIoT implementation.
Scalable Architecture
APROL has unique scaling possibilities right from 50 to 500,000 I/O channels. From a basic configuration with a controller and an industrial PC up to a complex client-server system featuring hundreds of controllers and dozens of runtime servers and operator stations – there is an ideal APROL architecture for any set of requirements. Should those requirements change; the system can be expanded modularly at anytime to add new functions. APROL delivers all the advantages of process control without demanding specialist knowledge. These solutions can be expanded into a full-fledged process control system at any time without having to switch to a new system.
Enhancing Software Experience
APROL provides close to 100 control modules under the Process Automation Library (PAL) fitting for all disciplines encapsulating all the pre-packaged solutions. As of today, APROL already has over 4000 installations worldwide. The software provides possibilities of concurrent engineering along with offline engineering of over 25 engineering clients sitting at various locations. Version management is an integral part of the engineering tool, which creates a new version for each change and provides multiple hardware configurations in one project. This makes the job of the programmer and commissioning engineer extremely easy. APROL leverages open source technologies and offers complete connectivity based on OPC UA, POWERLINK and openSAFETY and offers its customers the perfect tools to meet the high industry requirements.
Redundancy at all Levels
APROL provides full transparency and connectivity at all levels. In many processes, high availability must be guaranteed in order to avoid costly downtime. Such plants rely on complete system redundancy. APROL supports redundancy at multiple levels coupled with integrated safety to provide complete scalability. With Ethernet POWERLINK, APROL offers multi-master, media and ring redundancy at the controller level and field level, which has a changeover time of less than 2 POWERLINK cycles. Thus, these controllers having higher availability are able to gather data from the sensors, actuators and many other peripheral devices in real time. APROL enables plant and factory operator’s benefits from redundant operator stations on a redundant Ethernet TCP/IP based operator bus. It also supports redundant OPC servers for connecting to 3rd party OPC clients. At the process level, APROL provides the possibility of redundant runtime servers and runtime stations connecting to the controllers through a redundant process bus working on Ethernet TCP/IP. The process bus can also be connected to redundant gateway servers. Along with controller redundancy on field level on Ethernet POWERLINK as well as Profibus DP APROL supports power supply redundancy and cable and ring redundancy.
APROL as a Middleware
More and more companies are finding themselves obligated – whether through legal standards or customer contracts – to provide rigorous documentation of their manufacturing processes. While this phenomena has traditionally been limited to the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries, today, it has been found that automotive manufacturers, for example, require that their suppliers provide a comprehensive pedigree of each and every component. Not only does a process control system record all relevant production data, it also keeps a history of every operator action and logs every warning or alarm ever generated. It is the perfect tool for the job. B&R’s process data acquisition solution, APROL PDA, is available as an integrated feature of the APROL process control system or as a preconfigured standalone package.
Data Analytics for Creative Data Exploration
Traditional analysis methods based on rigidly defined reports are gradually giving way to more creative exploratory approaches. When dealing with large data sets whose correlations are not fully understood, exploratory data analysis is an approach that uses graphical visualisations to provide insight and help form hypotheses. With access to data from all sources, the analysis can expose important cause-and-effect relationships. APROL features a comprehensive selection of reporting and analytical tools able to generate custom reports at the push of a button. Designing a custom report is as easy as using drag-and-drop. Ad-hoc reports, dashboards and mobile access with server-side authentication ensure that the information you need is available when and where you need it. Figuring this out does not need specialists with IT knowledge. The analytical and reporting features really round off the APROL automation platform. They are a key part of what makes it the ideal tool for meeting the challenges of the future.
Greenfield or Brownfield: Ready for IIoT
B&R provides complete solutions to make new installation as well as existing installation smart and IIoT ready. Gathering data from various controllers on the field and moving it to the MES/ERP or the cloud is realised easily with B&R APROL solutions. For specific applications such as energy monitoring, condition monitoring and advanced process control, APROL offers out-of-the-box solutions that come preinstalled, preconfigured and ready to use. In a single, consistently easy-to-use platform, APROL unifies process automation, factory automation and infrastructure automation.
These enormous benefits of APROL – hardware, software, redundancy and out-of-the-box solutions coupled with open source communication standards such as OPC UA, Ethernet POWERLINK and openSAFETY – enable the factories and plants with a smooth IIoT implementation.
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B&R provides complete solutions for a new installation or an existing installation to become IIoT ready.
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APROL process control – Scalable. Modular. Rugged.
Energy monitoring, condition monitoring and advanced process control, APROL offers out-of-the-box solutions that come preinstalled, preconfigured and ready to use. In a single, consistently easy-to-use platform, APROL unifies process automation, factory automation and infrastructure automation. As of today, APROL already has over 4000 installations worldwide.