Re: [foxboro] Foxboro in a machine paper
- From: "William C Ricker" <wcricker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:37:10 -0500
Pedro,
Over the past several years there have been many paper machine
control projects implemented with Foxboro IA around the world.
In the early days of IA, the 'standard' model for the Foxboro
apps group was Foxboro for Operator consoles and analog control,
with Allen Bradley for contacts. That has been a successful
model. Others do the job with Foxboro alone or connected with
other PLCs.
Foxboro IA installations I personally have worked on run from
small machines of under 100 TPD to large machines running over
2000 TPD, some with two or even three fourdriniers, stock prep
and approach systems. I/O counts run from several hundred to
thousands.
Foxboro has interfaces to HW/Measurex, ABB and Valmet gauging systems
including profile handling built into their display manager system.
Commonly, the gauging software handles the cross machine controls,
and the supervisory level of MD controls, connecting to the IA DCS,
usually with networked communications (though there are some with
hardwired, IO connections). There are, however, some machines with
complete machine direction and cross machine controls in the
Foxboro IA, and just measurement handling in the gauging system.
Drives systems including GE, Siemens, and various of the Allen Bradley
companies are normally connected to the DCS, also through network
connections. Recently we were part of a project which replaced an
Allen-Bradley Stromburg drive system (connected to IA through the ABB
gauging system) with a ControlLogix based controller. The new
ControlLogix connects to IA directly, and now passes drives information
to the ABB.
Having worked with Voith and Valmet (now Metso, I guess) I can say that
both are DCS friendly. They often do the basic machine controls in
PLCs that they supply, relying on "others" for HMI and process controls.
Foxboro has a pretty good set of integration products, so this works
well.
Early on there were concerns that Operator Console speed was not fast
enough for machine control, but 50 series processors cured that. Now
with the Mesh based systems, speed is exceptional.
Also, within the Invensys group there are products geared specifically
to paper mills for data gathering and reporting including the usual
roll/set stuff as the paper comes off the machine.
Again, as the other guys said, drop me a line off-list if you would like
more specifics.
One specifically example; a machine in the US making bleached
board for food packaging includes 240 control loops, 3600
contact I/O (via PLC) and some 500 analog inputs. It connects
to an ABB gauging system with 3 platforms and a GE drive system
for something like 50 sectional drives. The machine includes 3,
on-machine coaters.
All 14 operator consoles carry the same set of displays, which
include process controls, machine controls, gauging system
operations, and drives information. (drives controls like
draw adjustments, etc. are handled by small units supplied
by the drives system manufacturer). The standard operating
crew is 5 people, and they must be able to handle any of the
controls from anywhere in the machine area. That control system
handles all operations from the high density towers through
the reel.
Another, in Mexico, probably in the 1000 or 1500 TPD range. All
furnish is recycled. 3 Fourdriniers, each with its own pulping,
stock prep and approach systems. 3 in-line coaters. Valmet machine,
Voith gauging and cross machine controls, GE drives, 23 sections.
3 Valmet dilution headboxes, with very calculation intensive
controls.
IA DCS handles all controls from pulping the recycled furnish
through the reel. Machine controls are by Allen Bradley PLC-5.
Machine direction weight, moisture, coat weight and ash controls
were designed by Voith are implemented in IA, with a Voith system
handling cross machine controls.
IA handles all process controls, automated grade change including
recipe handling, and includes batching controls for the coating
kitchen. IA provides summary drives information, but a GE
Cimplicity system handles the high speed data gathering and trending
functions for the drives. Connections for the gauging and drives
systems are by Ethernet, with FeedForward integration interfaces. Ops
Consoles carry all IA and Voith displays. The implementation was
done in stages, some by Foxboro Mexico, some by the Mill, some by
FeedForward.
Hope this doesn't sound like a sales pitch. I am not a salesman; I'm
an engineer, but I've worked on Foxboro systems for 35 years now and I
like working on paper machines, so your question struck a familiar note
with me.
Regards,
William C Ricker
FeedForward, Inc
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