Emerson Exchange 365

The final morning of the 2013 Emerson Global Users Exchange featured several “Meet the Experts” panel discussions. Each session gave attendees a chance to ask questions and interact with some of Emerson’s leading technologists.  The discussions were too numerous, extensive, and wide-ranging to capture fully in this report, but here are a few highlights.

Virtualization for DeltaV

Discussion in this session centered on how users can get greater availability from their systems while making maintenance and upgrades easier.  As Emerson panelist Bruce Greenwald put it, “The DeltaV Virtual Studio application enables users to continue running one hardware platform and deal with the software separately.”

Utilizing DeltaV advanced control innovations to improve control performance

If you’re already using a DeltaV system, what else can you do to improve your plant operations?  Emerson technologists Terry Blevins and Willy Wojsznis noted that PID offers a lot of capabilities that users may not even be aware of, many of which can improve control performance. 

Managing the lifecycle of safety instrumented systems

The audience and panel discussed managing systems through each stage of the IEC 61511 safety lifecycle, including the analysis, implementation, and operation phases.  “Without testing your safety instrumented functions on a regular basis,” said DeltaV SIS product marketing manager Keith Bellville, “your system will not stay compliant.”

Power and grounding considerations in an automation system

Much of this session focused on what users can do when they encounter power and grounding problems once the system is up and running – an especially frustrating experience when users feel they have followed best practices.  Emerson panelist Siva Srinivasan pointed out that one solution is to have an expert review your drawings – someone with experience analyzing and troubleshooting such problems.

What’s new with FDI, EDDL, and FDT standards

This panel focused on raising awareness of the FDI standard, which is expected to be released next summer.  While there are currently two different ways (EDDL and FDT) to digitally integrate the information delivered by protocols, noted Marty Zielinski of Emerson, and even slight variations in how the information is integrated into automation systems, the intent is to achieve greater uniformity so it’s easier to integrate information regardless of the supplier and devices used.

Practical approaches to starting and sustaining an effective alarm management program

Todd Stauffer of exida and Kim Van Camp of Emerson led a discussion on applying alarm best practices from ISA-18.2 and EEMUA 191 guidelines to a DeltaV system.  Topics included alarm rationalization using exida’s SILAlarm and how to configure DeltaV Alarm Help directly from the results of the rationalization.

SCADA deep dive

“Most users don’t realize how powerful the data they already get can be in managing their enterprise more effectively,” said Steve Hill, an Emerson technical manager for SCADA.  The session focused on how OpenEnterprise can help leverage this data by supplying it to 3rd party databases, historians, and accounting and asset management systems.

 Topics covered in additional Meet the Experts sessions included

• DeltaV deep dive
• Cybersecurity
• What’s real and what’s not in ways to make operators more effective
• Advances in HART and IEC 62591 (WirelessHART) technology
• Process simulation for testing and training
• Improving regulatory control performance
• Wise choices in the architecture of an automation system
• Valve maintenance planning for sustained reliability
• Diagnostic methods for control valves with smart positioners