White paper by Yokogawa: When distributed control systems (DCS) first appeared on the industrial automation scene in the mid-1970s, the focus was on control and operator interface. While control and human machine interface (HMI) are still im-portant, today’s DCSs have evolved to place increased emphasis on integrating plantwide asset and operational information to enable opera-tional excellence. Furthermore, automation suppliers have moved away from the proprietary hardware, software, and communications of the past, incorporating commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies where practical and appropriate to do so. At the same time, plant engineering and opera-tions groups have adopted many of the same standards already in place at the enterprise IT level, and today’s DCSs reflect this.

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Cogeneration facilities are considered to be among the most modern, energy-efficient producing facilities because of their superior environmental performance. Their purpose is to generate and distribute steam which can be used for heating, domestic hot water heating, humidification, sterilization of water and distilling water. During the cogeneration process, steam passes through a double automatic controlled extraction pressure and condensing steam turbine generator, and as a result, the electricity it produces becomes a beneficial byproduct. The combination of these results in a thermal efficiency greater than that of any plant built strictly for power generation.

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In modern society, water supply plants play an important role in providing daily and clean water to citizens. Essentially, a water-supply system can be divided into three sections: purification, transmission and consumption. The purification of untreated water ensures the water is safe for a variety of purposes. Distribution reservoirs, often built on top of mountains or in the woods, supplement the water transmission system during peak demands and last are the pipes which deliver the water.

Based on this architecture, the traditional operation of a water supply plant consumed a lot of manpower and resources, because the water treatment process needs an extremely accurate dosing control and the outside apparatuses have to be constantly monitored. Therefore, a total solution with advanced technology and robust equipment to control the treatment process and remotely monitor the situations of devices has become an essential measure of water plant management.

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Case Study by Advantech: As many energy companies seek to reduce their footprint on the environment, more efficient power and energy generation is becoming a critical issue. In the power generation and distribution market, maintenance-free power backup systems and IEC 61850-based power transmission & distribution systems improve energy generation and distribution efficiency. Power substations are subsidiaries of electricity generation systems where voltage is transformed from high to low or reversed using transformers. Nowadays, multiple protocols, including many proprietary protocols with custom communication links exist for substation automation and interoperation with devices from different vendors would be a huge advantage to users of substation automation devices.

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