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DeltaV Blog

DeltaV distributed control system blog
- 713 posts
- Updated 27 days ago
Operations Management Blog
- 77 posts
- Updated over 1 year ago
Ovation Blog
- 89 posts
- Updated 29 days ago
PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog
- 0 posts
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog
- 102 posts
- Updated 2 months ago

Blog - Post List

Jim Cahill
- 17 Jun 2020
DeltaV Blog: Unpredictable Mother Nature Drives New Sugar Production Process

American Crystal Sugar produces a lot of sugar in its six factories. The first step in the process is to wash sugar beets, and this creates a great deal of waste mud that has to be properly disposed. Shifting weather conditions – rainier than average seasons – increased the amount of water in the process, which drove the company to increase use of aged polymer that aids in the flocculation process and helps prevent buildup...
Jim Cahill
- 17 Jun 2020
DeltaV Blog: Unpredictable Mother Nature Drives New Sugar Production Process

American Crystal Sugar produces a lot of sugar in its six factories. The first step in the process is to wash sugar beets, and this creates a great deal of waste mud that has to be properly disposed. Shifting weather conditions – rainier than average seasons – increased the amount of water in the process, which drove the company to increase use of aged polymer that aids in the flocculation process and helps prevent buildup...
Jim Cahill
- 15 Jun 2020
Ovation Blog: Improved Operations for Water and Wastewater Producers

A vital business for every community is the water and wastewater utility. Providing safe, reliable water to consumers and businesses and safely treating wastewater is paramount for the health of the community. In a Water & Wastes Digest (WWD) video interview, The Benefits of Automation for Water & Wastewater Utilities , Emerson’s Pete Gabor highlights the role of automation in accomplishing this important mission....
Jim Cahill
- 8 May 2020
DeltaV Blog: Mobile Information Accessibility Benefits

Mariana Dionisio One of the critical elements in Digital Transformation initiatives is mobile access to information. Mobility enables improvements, collaboration and issue resolution to improve overall operational performance. In a Control Engineering article, Seven benefits to using mobile software in your organization , Emerson’s Mariana Dionisio describes how this mobility helps organizations drive business performance...
Jim Cahill
- 30 Apr 2020
DeltaV Blog: Cybersecurity Considerations for Automation Architectures

Sergio Diaz Alexandre Peixoto Automation architectures extend beyond the instrumentation and control systems to safety instrumented systems, asset management systems, manufacturing execution systems, and more. All these systems and devices must be considered in managing strong cyber defenses. In an Industrial Safety and Security Source article, Considerations in Choosing a Defendable Safety System Architecture...
Jim Cahill
- 30 Apr 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Cybersecurity Considerations for Automation Architectures

Sergio Diaz Alexandre Peixoto Automation architectures extend beyond the instrumentation and control systems to safety instrumented systems, asset management systems, manufacturing execution systems, and more. All these systems and devices must be considered in managing strong cyber defenses. In an Industrial Safety and Security Source article, Considerations in Choosing a Defendable Safety System Architecture...
Jim Cahill
- 16 Apr 2020
DeltaV Blog: Driving a Mobile Human Machine Interface Strategy

Danny Strinden Mariana Dionisio In a recent post, Key Criteria for Mobile HMIs , I shared a recap of an article of things to consider in mobile device displays of control system human machine interfaces (HMIs). Having a strategy for deploying this technology is also key. Changing and streamlining work practices is at the heart of digital transformation initiatives. In a Control Engineering article, A mobile HMI...
Jim Cahill
- 9 Apr 2020
DeltaV Blog: Key Criteria for Mobile HMIs

Mariana Dionisio Camilo Fadul Cindy Scott Smart phones and tablets have been a revolution for connecting us to other people and information more quickly, efficiently, and effectively than was possible prior to their arrival. For manufacturers and producers, one example is the control system human machine interfaces (HMIs) that have arrived in this mobile environment. In a Control Engineering article, Five essential...
Jim Cahill
- 2 Apr 2020
DeltaV Blog: Upgrading Boiler Burner Management and Combustion Control Systems

Bob Sabin Peter Kline Authors: Bob Sabin , Peter Kline The Emerson Industrial Energy consulting team assisted a Northeastern U.S. specialty chemical manufacturer with modernizing the controls on two 1960’s vintage Combustion Engineering “D” Type process steam boilers. These units are critical to site operation as they supply steam to a common header that feeds processes throughout the production facility. For...
Jim Cahill
- 2 Apr 2020
DeltaV Blog: Upgrading Boiler Burner Management and Combustion Control Systems

Bob Sabin Peter Kline Authors: Bob Sabin , Peter Kline The Emerson Industrial Energy consulting team assisted a Northeastern U.S. specialty chemical manufacturer with modernizing the controls on two 1960’s vintage Combustion Engineering “D” Type process steam boilers. These units are critical to site operation as they supply steam to a common header that feeds processes throughout the production facility. For...
Jim Cahill
- 21 Feb 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Safety Shower and Location Awareness Wireless Monitoring

Marcio Donnangelo In an earlier post, How Digital Transformation Can Impact Compliance for Environmental and Safety Regulation , I shared some safety examples. Emerson’s Marcio Donnangelo explored specific examples more deeply in his 2020 4C HSE conference presentation, Safety Showers and Location Awareness – Improving Safety with Wireless Monitoring. Marcio opened describing three ways to help create a safe environment...
Jim Cahill
- 11 Feb 2020
DeltaV Blog: ISASecure Family of Certifications Builds Foundation for Automation Cybersecurity

Alexandre Peixoto Andre Ristaino Authors: Emerson’s Alexandre Peixoto , International Society of Automation (ISA)’s Andre Ristaino Selecting, engineering, implementing, and operating a control system is a significant, long-term investment. Applying a defense-in-depth strategy to protect the process from cybersecurity risks is another significant, long-term investment that can be made more complicated if the inherent...
Jim Cahill
- 6 Feb 2020
DeltaV Blog: Compressor Anti-Surge Control Value Improvement Practice

Pete Sharpe Author: Pete Sharpe An ethylene plant has a number of very large, very critical compressors which will cause the entire plant to shutdown if they ever trip. The cracked gas compressor increases the entire cold-side feed from around 3 psig to ~475 psig, typically through 5 stages. The two refrigeration compressors are the next biggest compressors that can also shut down the entire plant if they trip...
Jim Cahill
- 4 Feb 2020
DeltaV Blog: Modernization of DCS and PLC with Electronic Marshalling

Scott Ross Now, with many control systems being 30+ years old, most of these legacy systems have been placed in to end of life or retired lifecycle status. This means no further factory support is available. I caught up with Emerson’s Scott Ross about some of the choices that must be considered moving forward. Manufacturers and producers face options whether to modernize to a newer family of distributed control systems...
Jim Cahill
- 21 Jan 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Self-Contained Hydraulic Emergency Shutdown System

Sergio Vaz Lopes A safety instrumented function (SIF) in a safety instrumented system (SIS) contains a sensor, logic solver and final element. All must function properly in the event of a safety demand to take the process into a safe state in coordination with other SIFs. The final element consists of several parts including the isolation valve, actuator, pressure pilots, test valves and other components as required...
Jim Cahill
- 21 Jan 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Self-Contained Hydraulic Emergency Shutdown System

Sergio Vaz Lopes A safety instrumented function (SIF) in a safety instrumented system (SIS) contains a sensor, logic solver and final element. All must function properly in the event of a safety demand to take the process into a safe state in coordination with other SIFs. The final element consists of several parts including the isolation valve, actuator, pressure pilots, test valves and other components as required...
Jim Cahill
- 20 Jan 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Non-contacting Radar for Automatic Tank Gauging and Overfill Prevention Systems

Bulk liquid storage tanks often contain fluids that are hazardous, flammable and/or explosive. These tanks require not only a control system to control levels but and overfill prevention system (OPS) as layer of protection beyond the control system. This basic process control system (BPCS) is commonly referred to as an automatic tank gauging (ATG) system and the OPS is the safety instrumented system (SIS). A Fluid...
Jim Cahill
- 20 Jan 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Non-contacting Radar for Automatic Tank Gauging and Overfill Prevention Systems

Bulk liquid storage tanks often contain fluids that are hazardous, flammable and/or explosive. These tanks require not only a control system to control levels but and overfill prevention system (OPS) as layer of protection beyond the control system. This basic process control system (BPCS) is commonly referred to as an automatic tank gauging (ATG) system and the OPS is the safety instrumented system (SIS). A Fluid...
Jim Cahill
- 8 Jan 2020
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Understanding Functional Safety Concepts and Final Element Suitability

Riyaz Ali The world of functional safety has its own tribal language and acronyms, e.g. safety instrumented systems (SISs), safety instrumented functions (SIFs), logic solvers, final elements (FEs), safety integrity level (SIL), probability of failure on demand (PFD), etc. In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Keep in the Safety Loop , Emerson’s Riyaz Ali does an excellent job of defining and demystifying these phrases...
Jim Cahill
- 22 Nov 2019
DeltaV Blog: A Glimpse into Future Control Systems

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...
Jim Cahill
- 22 Nov 2019
DeltaV Blog: A Glimpse into Future Control Systems

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...
Jim Cahill
- 7 Nov 2019
DeltaV Blog: Migrating Legacy Control Systems and PLCs with FlexConnect Solutions

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...
Jim Cahill
- 31 Oct 2019
DeltaV Blog: Migrating Legacy PLC-5s to DeltaV

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...
Jim Cahill
- 23 Oct 2019
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Approaches to Partial Stroke Testing Safety Valves

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...
Jim Cahill
- 23 Oct 2019
Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Approaches to Partial Stroke Testing Safety Valves

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...