Product category:
PCs, PLCs, HMIs, control systems, products
News Release from: GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK | Subject: Cimplicity HMI control and monitoring software
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 October 2000
Environmentally friendly waste disposal
controlled
The SCADA system in the central domestic waste disposal installation of CIE, installed by Clemessy, incorporates GE Fanuc PLCs and Cimplicity HMI control and monitoring software.
The latest process control technologies are used in the central domestic waste disposal installation of CIE (Creteil Incineration Energie) All areas are fully integrated on an Ethernet network and are monitored via a client-server architecture with built-in redundancy
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 8 Feb 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Cimplicity HMI provide Potash Refinery control
How sophisticated data mining techniques use CIMPLICITY HMI captured data to provide energy savings in a drying process.
Rugged interfaces offer Pentium and NT power
New Cimplicity Display Station 2020 combines powerful touch-screen Operator Interface and HMI facilities.
The SCADA system, installed by Clemessy, incorporates GE Fanuc PLCs and Cimplicity HMI control and monitoring software.
No smoke, no noise, no smells, but architecture that attracts the attention of the visitor.
If you didn't know, you would hardly guess that the CIE plant in Cr?teil is an industrial installation, and certainly not one that specialises in the incineration of domestic waste and hospital refuse.
Further reading
GE Fanuc control system proves right for DERA
DERA chooses CIMPLICITY HMI with dual redundancy to monitor and control the air supply for testing the simulated flight of the world's most advanced aerospace engines
PLC control for vital electrical generation
GE Fanuc PLCs provide control for vital electrical generation back-up solutions.
2-4 axis motion control added to PLC system
GE Fanuc has added a new, more powerful motion control module offering single point programming and Local Logic support to its Series 90TM-30 family of PLC Modules.
Waste incineration had been carried out on the site since 1979.
However, technical difficulties led to the need for a fundamental reconstruction of the plant.
For financial reasons most of the existing infrastructure was demolished in 1995 and an enormous project led to the construction of a waste incineration plant for 17 local authorities.
In addition to the 15,000 tonnes of hospital waste from medical treatment, it was also planned to dispose of 205,000 tonnes of domestic waste per annum.
CIE called in Ingevalor as general contractor with Clemessy responsible for process control and monitoring.
"The system was based on the successful design of the installation at an existing sister plant using GE Fanuc PLCs and Cimplicity HMI software," explained Mr.Cazemajou, deputy director of the plant.
The waste incineration process requires several additional processes which are used, in particular, to reduce pollution of the environment.
They are used to wash the flue gases and to minimise energy losses.
A majority of the operating sequences are controlled by Series 90-70 PLCs linked to a Cimplicity system.
The delivered domestic waste is first unloaded into an enormous pit.
From there it is conveyed into the bunkers using a grab and then transported to the incineration furnaces, where it is incinerated at 850 øC.
The furnaces are heated up using gas and then continue to burn on their own (with compressed air being forced in as required).
After suitable reprocessing, the residues created during incineration (metallic component parts, glass etc.) are either used as material for the beds of roads or are dumped.
The flue ash is collected under the incineration grates using electric filters and all of it is finally deposited in waste disposal sites.
The flue gases of the furnace are cleaned and used to heat a boiler.
All reprocessing and cleaning measures serve to prevent environmental pollution.
To remove metal dust, the flue gases pass through a filter and are then transported to a washing installation for the recovery of substances such as HCl, CO, heavy metals or SO2.
The flue gas-fired boiler turns water into 45 tonnes of steam an hour at a pressure of 44 bar.
This steam is then either turned back into water or is used to drive a turbo-generator, as required.
Some of the electricity produced by this generator is used on-site; what is left is sold back to the energy utility EDF.
The water from the flue gas washing system runs through a mini-station for purification, where it is treated so that it has a pH value of 7 at the ambient temperature.
There is also a process here for softening the water, which is used by some sections of the incineration plant.
The considerable water consumption of these sections can be up to 66 mü per hour, and is largely covered by two drilled wells.
An innovative architecture includes optical Ethernet connections and a client-server system with a redundant server.
Analog and digital I/Os total around 7500.
Distributed control is by GE Fanuc's Genius? field bus which simplified wiring enormously during installation and reduces the work of diagnosing faults that may arise.
The Ethernet-TCP/IP network can handle data transfer rates of up to 100 Mbit/s at distances of several hundred metres.
It runs between the zones of the installation and links the individual buildings over appreciable distances.
Fibre-optic cable is used for the Ethernet network.
C?dric Mechler of Clemessy explained why, "Firstly, we required immunity against electromagnetic interference, in particular interference caused by lightning.
Secondly we could be sure of achieving maximum transmission rates over long distances by avoiding copper cables." All data is transmitted to the control rooms which are equipped with PCs running Cimplicity HMI software on a Windows NT platform.
Five client workstations are used as monitoring stations in the control room, while further workstations provide information that includes plant production data and other statistics, and also maintenance requirements.
There are also connections to monitoring stations that are located in certain "process zones" that are relevant for commissioning and maintenance work, and there is a 100 Mbit/s link to a video projector in the offices of the conference hall of the company.
"For reasons of data security, we have installed a redundant server system with data archived in parallel on both servers.
This redundancy function is one of the great strengths of Cimplicity HMI.
If a problem occurs in the "master" station, the backup "slave" station cuts in automatically," commented Mechler.
While the monitoring application is relatively complex, containing 23,500 elements,142 main graphics and 150 subgraphics, each screen clearly indicates the application area.
The screens are divided into five areas, four areas of which display simultaneous graphics, while any alarm messages appear in the fifth area.
The buttons on the toolbar at the top of the screen are assigned to the various process graphics and allow drop-down menus to be activated from the relevant graphics.
Below these, the last alarm messages are visualised.
A colour gradation from red to violet gives the operator an impression of the importance of the alarms at a single glance.
The multi-window representation and the short-cut menus are structured.
At any time, the operator can enlarge an area that is of particular interest at that moment.
He can then obtain the information required simply by clicking a certain element on the screen.
If the operator clicks a controller, for example, a window opens to provide relevant information including the PID controller parameters, nominal values, threshold values and much more.
Apart from controllers, Clemessy has also developed short-cut menus for slide valves, motor control units, metering pumps and analog variables (for outputting the threshold values).
The operator can take his time to open and shift, enlarge, reduce or superimpose any number of windows - all of the functions that Windows NT places at his disposal.
"We developed all the graphics.
If one makes a change in one object, this change automatically appears in all process graphics," Mechler continued.
"GE Fanuc's Cimplicity HMI has provided the ideal tool for our redundancy system.
It has proved easy to implement clear graphics for our control room staff to monitor the system.
These screens can quickly be interrogated to home in on part of the operation in detail. Request a free brochure from GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK ...
The Genius field bus and Series 90-70 PLCs are proving very reliable in operation.".
• GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms UK: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
