Blog - Post List

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Real-Time and Edge-Computing Virtualization

    Jim Cahill
    Vibhoosh Gupta Virtualization of servers and PCs have come a long way in just a few years. It’s use in Operational Technology (OT)-based applications continues to grow. In a Control Engineering article, Industrial virtualization heads to the pl...

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Real-Time and Edge-Computing Virtualization

    Jim Cahill
    Vibhoosh Gupta Virtualization of servers and PCs have come a long way in just a few years. It’s use in Operational Technology (OT)-based applications continues to grow. In a Control Engineering article, Industrial virtualization heads to the pl...

  • DeltaV Blog: A Glimpse into Future Control Systems

    Jim Cahill
    Let’s end this week before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. with a vision, “…on how plant managers, operators, and engineers may digitally transform the way plants and teams operate.”, with this 3-minute YouTube video, DeltaV Technology for Next-Generation Operations . Technologies shown in this vision include facial recognition for secure operator login, voice & gesture user interface for simplified operations, application…

  • DeltaV Blog: A Glimpse into Future Control Systems

    Jim Cahill
    Let’s end this week before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. with a vision, “…on how plant managers, operators, and engineers may digitally transform the way plants and teams operate.”, with this 3-minute YouTube video, DeltaV Technology for Next-Generation Operations . Technologies shown in this vision include facial recognition for secure operator login, voice & gesture user interface for simplified operations, application…

  • DeltaV Blog: Migrating Legacy Control Systems and PLCs with FlexConnect Solutions

    Jim Cahill
    Scott Ross Now, with these control systems being more than 30+ years old, most of these legacy systems have been placed in to end of life or retired lifecycle status which means no further factory support is available. I caught up with Emerson’s Scott Ross about the choices that must be considered moving forward. Manufacturers and producers face options whether to modernize to a newer family of distributed control…

  • DeltaV Blog: Migrating Legacy PLC-5s to DeltaV

    Jim Cahill
    Way back in the mid-1980’s, when I was a newly-minted engineer working oil & gas production projects offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, a new series of PLCs came on the scene to replace the Allen-Bradley PLC-2’s we had been using. They were the PLC-5 series. Javier DeLuna Now, more than 30 years old, the CPUs used in these PLCs were placed into end of life status which meant no further factory support for the CPUs as…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Approaches to Partial Stroke Testing Safety Valves

    Jim Cahill
    The safety valve within a safety instrumented function (SIF) must be tested regularly to help assure proper operation in the event of a safety demand. Operators usually perform an offline full stroke test during a scheduled shutdown because of the impact of this test on the process. But when a SIF (a.k.a. safety loop) requires more frequent testing, users can perform a partial stroke test (PST) , per the global IEC 61511…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Approaches to Partial Stroke Testing Safety Valves

    Jim Cahill
    The safety valve within a safety instrumented function (SIF) must be tested regularly to help assure proper operation in the event of a safety demand. Operators usually perform an offline full stroke test during a scheduled shutdown because of the impact of this test on the process. But when a SIF (a.k.a. safety loop) requires more frequent testing, users can perform a partial stroke test (PST) , per the global IEC 61511…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Approaches to Partial Stroke Testing Safety Valves

    Jim Cahill
    The safety valve within a safety instrumented function (SIF) must be tested regularly to help assure proper operation in the event of a safety demand. Operators usually perform an offline full stroke test during a scheduled shutdown because of the impact of this test on the process. But when a SIF (a.k.a. safety loop) requires more frequent testing, users can perform a partial stroke test (PST) , per the global IEC 61511…

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Machine Automation Edge Control

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Kyle Hable provided an update on product developments in the Machine Automation Solutions part of the business at the 2019 Emerson Exchange conference. Kyle discussed the RX3i Edge Controllers , which combine the capabilities of traditional...

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Machine Automation Edge Control

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Kyle Hable provided an update on product developments in the Machine Automation Solutions part of the business at the 2019 Emerson Exchange conference. Kyle discussed the RX3i Edge Controllers , which combine the capabilities of tradit...

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Machine Automation Edge Control

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Kyle Hable provided an update on product developments in the Machine Automation Solutions part of the business at the 2019 Emerson Exchange conference. Kyle discussed the RX3i Edge Controllers , which combine the capabilities of tradit...

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Machine Automation Edge Control

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Kyle Hable provided an update on product developments in the Machine Automation Solutions part of the business at the 2019 Emerson Exchange conference. Kyle discussed the RX3i Edge Controllers , which combine the capabilities of tradit...

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Safety Instrumented System Cybersecurity Best Practices

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Sergio Diaz and Alexandre Peixoto presented Best Practices for a Cybersecure SIS at the 2019 Emerson Exchange conference. Sergio opened that the goal of this presentation is to provide practical information to maintain a more defendable security posture for safety instrumented systems (SISs) . Like control systems, defense in depth is an important concept for an SIS. It starts at plant level security, work…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Security for Safety System Logic Solvers-Physical Key Switches and Software Locks

    Jim Cahill
    Sergio Diaz Author: Sergio Diaz As a product marketing manager for DeltaV safety instrumented systems (SIS) , I have been asked a few times why the key switch on the CHARMs Smart Logic Solver (CSLS) does not control the lock state as is common with many safety controllers. DeltaV CHARMs Smart Logic Solver (CSLS) The next question is, “Why does the user still need to lock the CSLS via software?” The reason is…

  • DeltaV Blog: Security for Safety System Logic Solvers-Physical Key Switches and Software Locks

    Jim Cahill
    Sergio Diaz Author: Sergio Diaz As a product marketing manager for DeltaV safety instrumented systems (SIS) , I have been asked a few times why the key switch on the CHARMs Smart Logic Solver (CSLS) does not control the lock state as is common with many safety controllers. DeltaV CHARMs Smart Logic Solver (CSLS) The next question is, “Why does the user still need to lock the CSLS via software?” The reason is…

  • DeltaV Blog: Dynamic Simulations Create Value across Lifecycle

    Jim Cahill
    Simulations can add value across the lifecycle of a manufacturing or production process—from the upfront design work for the capital project portion of the lifecycle to the ongoing operations and maintenance. In a Processing magazine article, Using Life Cycle Dynamic Simulation to Drive Projects And Performance , Emerson’s Sean Sullivan teamed with a third-party consultant working at chemical manufacturing facility…

  • Ovation Blog: Ovation Advanced Condition Monitoring

    Jim Cahill
    Jason King Emerson’s Jason King shares an update on advanced condition monitoring in the Ovation distributed control system at last week’s 2019 Ovation Users’ Group conference. This integrated machinery protection and condition monitoring module built directly into the Ovation system. It is capable of typical equipment protection functions, but also has condition monitoring technology built in, so no separate software…

  • Ovation Blog: Ovation Advanced Condition Monitoring

    Jim Cahill
    Jason King Emerson’s Jason King shares an update on advanced condition monitoring in the Ovation distributed control system at last week’s 2019 Ovation Users’ Group conference. This integrated machinery protection and condition monitoring module built directly into the Ovation system. It is capable of typical equipment protection functions, but also has condition monitoring technology built in, so no separate software…

  • Ovation Blog: Ovation Intelligence Framework

    Jim Cahill
    Alvin Faustino Azime Can-Cimino Emerson’s Alvin Faustino and Azime Can-Cimino discussed plant prognostics with the Ovation Intelligence Framework at the 2019 Ovation Users’ Group conference. Here’s a visual of the framework: Azime opened explaining that prognostic maintenance requires starting with data—sensor data and generated data. This data is pre-processed and used to develop a detection or prediction mode…

  • Ovation Blog: Electrical Generator Excitation Control

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Matt Musko shared the basics and installation best practices for generator excitation controls at the 2019 Ovation Users’ Group conference. Matt opened describing the fundamentals of generator excitation. Three things are necessary to generate electricity: current carrying conductors in the generator armature windings, a magnetic field created by DC current supplied to the field windings, and relative motion…

  • Ovation Blog: Ovation System Forward View

    Jim Cahill
    Rick Kephart rounds out the 2019 Ovation Users’ Group conference with a look into the future around architectures and algorithms. Rick opened with a discussion of Ovation Droplets. It is a lightweight controller that’s part of the 3.7 release. Any Compact Controller can be configured as a Droplet in the Dev Studio configuration software. These compact controllers, configured as standalone, can be adopted as Droplets into…

  • Ovation Blog: Suppressing Plant Alarms

    Jim Cahill
    Ben Poskie Since the early days of distributed control systems, much work has been done to improve alarm management and prevent alarms from flooding operators to prevent them from properly diagnosing and correcting abnormal situations. The ANSI/ISA 18.2 alarm management standard began development back in 2003 and built off of the work of other alarm management initiatives. It published as ANSI/ISA-18.2-2009 Management…

  • Ovation Blog: Suppressing Plant Alarms

    Jim Cahill
    Ben Poskie Since the early days of distributed control systems, much work has been done to improve alarm management and prevent alarms from flooding operators to prevent them from properly diagnosing and correcting abnormal situations. The ANSI/ISA 18.2 alarm management standard began development back in 2003 and built off of the work of other alarm management initiatives. It published as ANSI/ISA-18.2-2009 Management…

  • Ovation Blog: Ovation Compact Controller Update

    Jim Cahill
    Tom Snowdon As renewable energy supplied to electrical grids continues to grow, the need for more scalable options to control these additional sources of energy. In a 2019 Ovation Users’ Group conference presentation on the Ovation Compact Controller (OCC) , Emerson’s Tom Snowdon shared an update on the OCC, the use of 3 rd party I/O and engineering tool options. Tom opened defining a standalone as one controller…

This is the official online community site of the Emerson Exchange, a forum for the free exchange of non-proprietary information among the global user community of all Emerson's products and services. Our goal is to improve the efficiency and use of automation systems and solutions employed at members’ facilities by sharing our knowledge, experiences, and application information.

Community Guidelines | Legal Information | Privacy Policy | Contact Community Manager

Website translation provided by Website Translator

© 2015-2026 Emerson Exchange. All rights reserved.