Electricity + Control September 2015

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION

ROUND UP

SIL2-certified wireless gas detection system for LNG facility Yokogawa and GasSecure AS , a Dräger owned company, have produced the world’s first SIL2-certified wireless gas de- tection system for use at an LNG facility in Northern Europe. Yokogawa has been de- veloping a wide variety of ISA100 wireless technologies and field wireless devices such as adapters that enable conventional wired devices to access wireless networks. Yokogawa supplies these technologies and devices to plants and other facilities pri- marily in the upstream oil and gas sector. GasSecure has developed ISA100 Wire- less gas detectors that can detect leaks of explosive hydrocarbon gases and are certified for compliance with the ATEX di- rective and the IEC Ex Certified Equipment Scheme. The gas detectors are installed on offshore oil and gas drilling platforms and at tank farms, industrial plants, and the like. GasSecure has already supplied a number of these products to leading oil and gas companies around the world. In 2014, GasSecure and Yokogawa con- cluded an agreement under which the two companies jointly developed a wireless gas detection system that wouldmeet their customers’ requirements. This system uses GasSecure’s GS01 wireless gas detectors to measure hy- drocarbon gas concentrations. Using the ISA100 Wireless communications protocol, the GS01 establishes a link with a Yokogawa YFGW510 access point and sends data to a host systemvia aYokogawa YFGW410 field wireless management station. Although the GS01 uses a low- power infrared sensor and is very energy efficient, it has a very fast response time. This capability of the GS01 and the utilisa- tion of dual redundant communications by Yokogawa’s field wireless products make them essential components for the construction of a fast and highly reliable monitoring solution. To meet its custom- ers’ safety requirements, GasSecure has made enhancements to the GS01 to obtain SIL2 certification for this device. For its part,Yokogawa has modified theYFGW410 so that it now supports the PROFIsafe safety communication standard, and has verified that both companies’ products perform and operate as specified. Enquiries: Christie Cronje.Tel. 11 831 6300 or email Christie.cronje@za.yokogawa.com

Thermal imaging camera can avert disaster The Land Arc range of cameras are general purpose radiometric thermal imaging cameras which are designed to be rugged enough for industrial applications while being small enough to fit into confined areas. Introduced locally by Protea Automation , the cameras are used to detect hot spots that are above the desired temperature of materials being transported.With parameters stored onboard the camera as well as on the Arc Land Imaging Processing Soft- ware (LIPS), the detection of a hotspot will trigger an alarm and set in motion a sequence of measures to prevent fire and avoid damage to the belt. In the event of the SCADA or control system being unavailable, the onboard intelligence of the camera acts as a failsafe system and still triggers an alarm that will allow appropriate action to be taken. “Management of warm materials on conveyors is a hot topic following a recent fire which destroyed an entire incline conveyor system at a lime manufacturing plant in the Northern Cape which caused millions of Rands' damage to the plant and led to considerable loss of production,” says Gavin. “Following the catastrophe we were called in to design and install a system to prevent a recurrence of this type of event and have subsequently installed Land ArcThermal cameras as well as scanners to identify hotspots, as well as identify trends which show when the temperature of clinker from the rotary kilns is rising above the normal range.With the equip- ment and procedures in place the plant is now able to significantly reduce costly belt repairs, reduce downtime and prevent dangerous situations from occurring in future.” Enquiries: GavinWestley. Email: gavinw@protea.co.za Takes less space in the control cabinet Due to innovative technologies, the newAS-i power supplies from ifm electronic require con- siderably less space in the control cabinet, as compared to common cabinet power supplies. Another advantage of the efficient design is the above average degree of efficiency of up to 94%. This saves energy costs and reduces waste heat in the control cabinet. The switched- mode power supplies provide the specific nominal power across the entire temperature range. Derating only has to be taken into account above an operating temperature of 60 °C. All AS-i switched-mode power supplies are equipped with double terminals.This simpli- fies wiring and provides more clarity in the control cabinet. Instead of an inrush current limitation with a simple NTC, charging the capacitors of the switched-mode power supplies is microprocessor-controlled.This ensures an ideal start-up of the voltage supply. In the de-

velopment of the power supplies, particular importance was attached to the dimension- ing of the components, so that operation is permanently ensured. This results in an excellent MTBF value of about 1,4 million hours. Moreover, all ifm power supplies feature sufficient power reserves to reliably handle even short current spikes. Enquiries:Tel. 012 450 0370 or email info.za@ifm.com

Electricity+Control September ‘15

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