Intelligent field devices, pervasive in modern process manufacturing, bring the promise of transforming the way information is utilized related to these devices and to the processes they control. Devices with impending maintenance problems, for example, can be identified earlier, and information can be provided directly to process automation systems, plant asset management systems, or any [...]
Author Archive | Ellen Fussell
All about loop-checking with new ANSI/ISA standard
“All of the instruments and software that work together to make a process measurement or control a process variable are referred to collectively as a loop. After initial installation and periodically during the equipment life, every loop is checked to ensure that it is performing properly. Hence a loop check,” said Jim Federlein, chairman of [...]
Steam temperature controls standard reaffirmed for 2012
The power industry has seen various steam temperature control systems developed over the years to fit the needs of particular applications in the fossil fuel power industry. Plants must consider operating philosophy, plant layout, and type of firing before they ultimately select a system. They do not need a standard that limits the complexity or [...]
Fossil Fuel Committee Publishes Functional Requirements
Posted on March 13, 2012 in Industry, News, Power & Energy, Process Measurement & Control, Publications
Organizations that operate fossil fuel plant control room simulators deal with different operator and training practices. Yet they share common goals when it comes to personnel safety, maximum equipment availability and lifetime, and ensuring efficient operations. When the ISA77.20 subcommittee reviewed the existing standard, ANSI/ISA77.20.01, Fossil Fuel Power Plant Simulators: Functional Requirements, they updated many [...]
Security standards committee completes ballot
The ISA99 committee recently completed a ballot on the standard, ISA-62443.03.03 (99.03.03), Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems: System Security Requirements and Security Assurance Levels. Closing on October 27, 2011, the ballot passed with 18 approval votes and five disapproval votes. Reflecting the widespread interest in the draft, more than 500 comments were received [...]
New Enterprise-Control System Integration Standard Issued for Review/Voting
A new draft standard in the widely used ISA-95 series has been issued for ISA95 committee balloting, as well as ISA and ANSI public review. ISA-d95.00.04, “Enterprise-Control System Integration: Part 4: Objects and Attributes for Manufacturing Operations Management Integration,” defines business-to-object models and attributes of the object models that define some of the information exchanged [...]
Liptak to reveal automation irony in technical world
Posted on October 18, 2011 in Communications, Education, News, Process Measurement & Control, Topics
The automation profession’s big irony, according to consultant Bela Liptak, is this: While universities, scholars, and even technical industries themselves don’t really recognize automation as a profession, “our contribution is potentially the highest compared to any other,” Liptak said. On Thursday at Automation Week in Mobile, Alabama, Liptak will unveil the challenges this unsung industry [...]
IEC Product Properties Working Group Completes Two-Day Meeting at ISA
IEC SC65E Working Group 2 held a meeting at ISA in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina on October 11-12, 2011. The leader of the working group, Dr. Peter Zgorzelski of Bayer Technology Services GmbH, reports significant progress was made on IEC 61987 Part 12 and Part 13, involving data structure and elements in process equipment [...]
Automation Week Keynoter talks real-time optimization
If real-time optimization has been around for the past 30 years, why aren’t more oil and chemical companies reaping its rewards? Charlie Cutler, president of Cutler Technology in San Antonio, Tex., examines this phenomenon during his keynote speech at next week’s ISA Automation Week and comes to a surprising conclusion: This isn’t a technology problem [...]
ISA99 issues security draft for committee ballot
ISA99, Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems, has issued a draft standard for committee ballot. ISA-62443.03.03 (99.03.03): Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems: System Security Requirements and Security Assurance Levels, prescribes the system security requirements related to seven foundational requirements defined in ISA-99.01.01-2007 and assigns system security assurance levels to the system under [...]
