Not surprisingly, attendance was down somewhat at the annual Global Users Exchange of Emerson Process Management ( www.emersonprocess.com) held in Orlando Sept. 28-Oct. 1. The atmosphere was anything but down, however, as the process automation supplier made several significant product announcements and attendees made ample use of the Twitter social networking application. Indeed, “tweets” were flying prolifically from Blackberries to iPhones and back during the week.

Executives explained that Emerson maintained research and development spending during the downturn, and one result was the launch of a new DeltaV distributed control system (DCS) platform. Emerson used ideas of “human-centered design” as the model for developing new products. In fact, it announced the formation of the Human Centered Design Institute. The announcement culminates more than five years of customer work-practice analysis, new product development re-engineering and organizational training. The stated goal: “Make products that are not only reliable, compatible and cost-effective, but also bring about a significant improvement in ease-of-use and workforce productivity.”

“Process control technologies have come a long way in the past 40 years,” said Peter Zornio, chief strategic officer at Emerson.  “But the industry has invested almost exclusively on feature and technology enhancement, instead of designing around how people actually use the technology.  We believe it’s time technology began serving people, instead of the other way around.”

Premature locks

The ideas came together in the development of the DeltaV S-series digital automation system. “We observed that customer project engineering and design processes across the industry put too much emphasis on locking down designs very early in the project, often before the process design was complete,” noted Zornio.  “Not only does this increase FEED (front end engineering design) and detailed design cost and time, it also exposes the project to increased labor and potentially significant change order costs during construction.  Additionally, the existing wiring processes were time consuming and laborious…and ripe for an innovative approach.”

Sporting a new logo, the S-series DeltaV features “I/O on demand” and electronic marshalling. With I/O on demand, users decide what type of input/output (I/O) configuration they want, whether wireless, Foundation Fieldbus, Hart, analog input, analog output, digital input, digital output, thermocouple or resistance temperature detector (RTD). They decide when they want the I/O, whether for late project changes, during start-up, during operation, or temporary installations; and where they want the I/O, whether in a rack room, remote locations, hazardous areas, safety systems or harsh environments.

Electronic marshalling, a technology that streamlines design and installation for users, eliminates two-thirds of the wiring and connections needed by today’s conventional marshalling cabinets, according to studies done by Emerson. New, single-channel CHARacterization ModuleS (CHARMS) are the foundation of the system. CHARMS relay I/O information to any DeltaV controller via Ethernet backbone. This electronic communications method eliminates the need for users to wire I/O to specific controller I/O cards. These benefits are said to improve plant uptime, and make projects simpler and easier to engineer and implement.

DeltaV S-series hardware with electronic marshalling is said to make changes easy and eliminate re-wiring. Technicians land the field wires, install the CHARMS and electronically marshal it wherever needed. Emerson notes that adapting to change easily allows process manufacturers to shorten project schedules, accommodate late project changes, and simplify the I/O and marshalling design process. This late binding of process changes provides adaptability and can help avoid costly, last minute change orders.

DeltaV S-series includes an enhancement for WirelessHart with redundant communications. It also includes a Foundation Fieldbus I/O card with integrated power supply.

Because Emerson is a major backer of WirelessHart, the wireless industrial standard developed by the Hart Communication Foundation, it was hardly surprising that wireless was featured for at least the third year in a row at the Emerson Exchange. Before bringing a parade of wireless implementers before the media, the spotlight fell on a new product called the Thum. The “Smart Wireless Thum Adapter” installs on existing Hart field instruments in order to “free up diagnostics and process information previously inaccessible in wired legacy system installations.”

Wireless control

Not only did Emerson add redundancy to WirelessHart technology to enhance its applicability for control applications, it reported on two installations demonstrating the effectiveness of wireless for control.

At bioprocess technologies supplier Broadley-James Corp. ( www.broadleyjames.com), Irvine, Calif., WirelessHart pH and temperature transmitters control a single-use disposable bioreactor. “We conducted batch runs using mammalian cell culture,” said Scott Broadley, president of Broadley-James. “The observed pH and temperature control using wireless measurements was equivalent to that achieved using ...