Lookout and FieldPoint SCADA System Provides Increased Efficiency for Pilot Plant

Author(s):
Vivek Nayak - Vista Technologies

Industry:
Water/Wastewater

Products:
Compact FieldPoint, Lookout, FieldPoint,

The Challenge:
Streamlining, controlling, and automating data monitoring and logging for a continuous reactor.

The Solution:
Using National Instruments Lookout HMI/SCADA software and FieldPoint distributed I/O system for implementing the SCADA application.

Nalco Chemical Company, the largest provider of water treatment and process chemicals, services, and systems in the world, operates a large pilot plant facility whose research function is process development and scaleup to manufacturing plants. One of the many pilot plant processes under development uses a continuous reactor, where reactants are fed at multiple feed points in the reactor using positive displacement pumps. To ensure accuracy of the reactants flow rates, we placed these reactants on high precision Mettler-Toledo balances. We calculated the flow rates manually by recording the weight change over time, and the plant operators constantly made flow calculations and manually adjusted the pumps to maintain the required flow rates. This was a tedious process prone to errors and constant drifts resulting in large fluctuations. In addition, there were more than 40 experimental parameters that we needed to monitor and record manually on a 24-hour basis. To streamline the process, have better control, and automate data monitoring and logging, Nalco decided to integrate a SCADA system.

System Requirements
Using Vista Technology Inc., an Alliance Program member, to design and supply the SCADA system, Nalco installed flow meters for controlling the speed of the feed pumps through a feedback PID loop control, and retained the balances as a backup for verifying the flow meter operation. This meant that the scale readings were fed into the SCADA system.

We used National Instruments Lookout HMI/SCADA software and FieldPoint distributed I/O for implementing this application. We provided all of the hardware installed in a NEMA 4 enclosure along with a Dell Pentium-based PC. The PC is equipped with a National Instruments 8-port serial interface PCI board to connect to the balances and to the FieldPoint node, an uninterruptible power supply, and a color printer.

User Friendly System
We configured the SCADA system with an overview screen, showing the entire process in custom 3D graphics. We fed the sensitive balance weight readings, which are prone to vibration noise, into Lookout using Lookout ASCII object. We control the feed pumps using Lookout PID loop control, and each pump has a PID control panel through which the operator can start and stop the pump, operate the pump on manual or automatic modes, and change the set points and the P, I, and D parameters.

The SCADA system has a utility screen for setting alarm set points, disabling and enabling alarms, starting and stopping the automatic data logger, and setting the frequency of data logging. The system includes several process alarms, the set points of which are changed from the
utility screen.

Uninterrupted Process Runs
Because of the intuitive design, we commissioned the system with practically no operator training. Combined with the accurate automated logging of experimental data and easier data retrieval, we have significantly increased the speed and efficiency of this process development research project.

For more information, contact:

Vista Technology Inc.

200 Bright Ridge Drive

Schaumburg, IL 60194

Tel: 847-884-1465

E-mail: vivek.nayak@vistatechinc.com

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