Connecting 4,000 Data Points

OPC connectivity standards can be applied in a variety of settings. While plant-to-enterprise connections are becoming more common, much of the use of OPC is internal connections within plants. Sky Harbor International Airport, in Phoenix, Ariz., is an example of using OPC to connect a system to itself. The cooling portion of the airport’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is controlled by software provided by Iconics Inc., Foxborough, Mass. The system monitors and controls water chilling plants that keep three terminals cool.

 Plant managers wanted to connect the Iconics system to 4,000 data points while also creating rich visualization to plant and maintenance managers. The plant also needed the Iconics system to connect to distributed alarms.

The airport also uses a York facility manager. York International Corp., York, Pa., integrated the various applications and devices using OPC connectivity. “The OPC connectivity provides system wide-open connectivity via a site-wide LAN (local area network) that is maintained by the Sky Harbor maintenance team,” says Tim Donaldson, director of marketing at Iconics. “The LAN connectivity is responsible for the distribution of alarms and reports.” Donaldson notes that Iconics was chosen in part because of the connectivity provided by OPC.

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