Electricity and Control July 2022

COMMENT

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

energy + information in industry

Editor: Leigh Darroll Design & Layout: Darryl James Advertising Manager: Heidi Jandrell Circulation: Karen Smith Editorial Technical Director: Ian Jandrell Publisher: Karen Grant Deputy Publisher: Wilhelm du Plessis OPTIWAVE FMCW radar level trans mitters from KROHNE provide relia ble and accurate level measurement, with the highest safety standards to protect staff and installations. (Read more on page 3.)

Integrated systems are the standard of today

W hat a range of topics in this month’s edition of Electricity + Control . It should never be lost on anyone operating in our modern industry that each of these topics relates to the next one – and so on. It has become increasingly evident that there is a growing number of industrial applications where the boundaries between, say, instrumentation, control, automation, switchgear and protection are more blurred than they once were. There was a time when what happened in the substation was really no-one’s business other than that of the team operating the substation! Also, back in the day, energy was ‘cheap’ and the electrical form of that energy was remarkably reliable. Indeed, back then, our utility was without question one of the world leaders. One could also argue that, back then, instrumentation, control and automation were really related to the process itself – and seldom did the paths of process and control folk ever need to cross those of folk working on the energy system. Remember those days? I vividly recall being in meetings where proponents of the ‘two sides’ would meet to begin to determine where the fault lay – as it were! But we have long been in an environment where the cost of energy is not simply a line item – it is a crucial component that affects the bottom line of our operations.

Instrumentation that optimises the process and feeds data into the control and automation systems must now deal with every single input parameter on the plant – and energy is an increasingly important component of that. Consider also that, in many cases, we need to have strategies in place to deal with those moments when the energy system shuts down. Some operations have backup systems in place; some don’t. Now it is important to manage plant shutdown and start up – often at embarrassingly frequent intervals. Without measuring exactly what is happening at the plant we would have no way of managing it. As we explore measurement and instrumentation, it is important to evaluate whether we are getting all the data we need to manage the plant most efficiently – and keep operations running smoothly. If not, then we need to identify all those input parameters that now have a bearing on plant operation. And feed that information into the plant system to be sure we can extract the best and most efficient operation – even during these rather difficult times.

Audited circulation Quarter 1 (January-March) 2022 Total print and e-editions 12 232

Published monthly by: Crown Publications (Pty) Ltd Cnr Theunis and Sovereign Sts, Bedford Gardens, PO Box 140, Bedfordview 2008 Printed by: Tandym Print Telephone: +27 (0) 11 622 4770

E-mail: ec@crown.co.za; admin@crown.co.za Website: www.crown.co.za/electricity-control

CROSS PLATFORM CONTENT INTEGRATION: * Electricity+Control Magazine * Online Edition * Weekly e-Newsletter * Website* LinkedIn

Electricity+Control is supported by

Ian Jandrell PrEng IntPE(SA), BSc(Eng) GDE PhD, FSAAE FSAIEE SMIEEE

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor, SAAEs, SAEE, CESA or the Copper Development Association Africa

JULY 2022 Electricity + Control

1