Blog - Post List

  • Ovation Blog: Case Study: Modernization of Black Start Power Unit Drastically Increases Reliability

    Jim Cahill
    Scientists have warned for decades that climate change can trigger more frequent and intense weather-related events, such as heatwaves and hurricanes which could cause disruptions to power generation and supply. One major U.S. utility digitally transformed a designated black start gas turbine generator to ensure reliable restoration of their electric system in the event of a widespread outage or full loss of power. …

  • DeltaV Blog: Digital Transformation Key to Vaccine Development and Rollout

    Jim Cahill
    The first doses of a Covid-19 vaccine were administered on Dec 14, 2020, about a year after the disease was first detected. Tested, FDA-approved for emergency use, rapidly manufactured and safely delivered at sub-freezing temperatures, this was, by any measure, the fastest pathway to vaccination in human history. One of the latest examples of development from scratch was the mumps vaccine in the 1960s. It took four…

  • DeltaV Blog: Addressing Common Misconceptions in Safety System Configuration

    Jim Cahill
    Traditional safety systems have a centralized architecture, meaning that a large processor unit runs hundreds of safety instrumented functions (SIF). Modern safety systems have a distributed architecture where multiple smaller processor units execute dozens of SIFs. Distributed safety systems offer many cost and maintenance benefits, but some users worry they’re harder to configure than a centralized safety system. I…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Addressing Common Misconceptions in Safety System Configuration

    Jim Cahill
    Traditional safety systems have a centralized architecture, meaning that a large processor unit runs hundreds of safety instrumented functions (SIF). Modern safety systems have a distributed architecture where multiple smaller processor units execute dozens of SIFs. Distributed safety systems offer many cost and maintenance benefits, but some users worry they’re harder to configure than a centralized safety system. I…

  • DeltaV Blog: Digital Tools and Frameworks for Digital Transformation

    Jim Cahill
    Manufacturers and producers are undertaking digital transformation initiatives across many areas of their businesses—energy & environmental sustainability, production management, people & culture, business insights & analytics, reliability & maintenance, safety & risk management, supply chain management, systems interoperability & governance, and IT security & operations. Their business objectives drive their strategies…

  • DeltaV Blog: PID Algorithm ISA Technical Reference

    Jim Cahill
    Earlier this week, I shared a podcast with James Beall , who as a long-time Control Performance Consultant shared some of his thoughts on common control performance issues and ways to address them. James is quite generous in sharing his expertise at professional and industry events such as ISA and AIChE. Today, I’ll recap one of his AIChE Spring21+17 th GCPS presentations he co-presented with CMiD Solutions’ Mark Darby…

  • DeltaV Blog: Podcast: Process Control Consulting Stories with James Beall

    Jim Cahill
    When the plant is not running the way it should, with excessive variability, alarm conditions or sub-optimized performance, plant engineers often connect with the Emerson Production Performance consultants . I had the opportunity to sit down and record a podcast with Emerson’s James Beall who is a member of the team. You may remember James from an earlier podcast, 5 Questions for Principal Process Control Consultant…

  • DeltaV Blog: Improving Logical Changeover Production Readiness in the Life Sciences

    Jim Cahill
    Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers have long felt the pressures of moving products from discovery to delivery as fast as they can—even given the highly regulated industry in which they operate. Technology has continued to advance and provide ways to assist these companies with production readiness. Improper set up and qualification of automation and information management production applications cause…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Fail-Safe Electric Actuators in Safety Applications

    Jim Cahill
    Valves used in safety shutdown applications require actuators to perform reliably on demand. In a recorded webinar, Smart Electric Valve Actuators for Critical Fail-Safe Applications , Emerson’s Knut Riegel and Umberto Bianchi share how these actuators are well-suited for emergency shutdown (ESD) applications. Knut provides background on ESD valves and their use and addresses the question on if ESD valve applications…

  • DeltaV Blog: Improving Polymer Reactor Control Performance

    Jim Cahill
    The chemical engineering professional organization, AIChE held their 2021 AIChE Spring Meeting & 17th Global Congress on Process Safety as a virtual conference in April. Emerson’s James Beall presented Novel Techniques to Improve Polymer Reactor Tuning based on a project he worked on. Reactor control is complex with many interactions between control loops. The way to tackle this challenge is to start by identifying…

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Bridging IT and OT Systems with Advanced Edge Computing

    Jim Cahill
    Control architectures can play a key role in bridging the Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) systems required for advancing digital transformation initiatives. In the fourth Design World article in a series on Big Data, Edge controllers...

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Deliver better control, reliability, and safety in today’s demanding steam operations with Rosemount 8800 MultiVariable Vortex Flow Meter

    Jim Cahill
    Vortex flow measurement is uniquely adaptive when it comes to handling difficult applications. By virtue of its science, utilizing the von Kármán effect, these instruments are accurate across a wide operating range and effective at withstanding high process pressures and temperatures. In this post, we’re highlighting the latest in our 8800 Flow Meter product portfolio – the MultiVariable Vortex Flow Meter. Designed with…

  • DeltaV Blog: Emerson Technologies Supporting Fast COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Rollout

    Jim Cahill
    In a Pharmaceutical Processing World article, Emerson’s Ben Arriola and Zach Blum discuss technologies advancing vaccine development. It’s safe to say that there has never been a pharmaceutical effort so huge, fast, and successful as developing multiple vaccines for COVID-19. It is truly global in that countries all over the world are developing their own formulations. Making this possible and practical has depended…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Extending Final Element Proof Testing Intervals

    Jim Cahill
    I received a question from a very old post here on the blog, Credit for Partial Stroke Tests in Verification Process . The person was trying to get a better understanding about this chart showing how partial stroke tests (PSTs) can extend the intervals between full stroke tests for final elements in a safety instrumented function (SIF). I turned to Emerson’s Riyaz Ali for help with this question. Riyaz explained that…

  • DeltaV Blog: Operator Control Moves—Too Many or Too Few?

    Jim Cahill
    The Center for Operator Performance (COP) combines industry companies, suppliers, and academia: …to raise the performance level of our operators and improve Health, Safety, and Environmental effectiveness is accomplished through: Openly sharing knowledge and ideas, Including vendors in research decisions, Teaming with leading human factors researchers and universities, and Collaborating with a focus on HS&E…

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: The Roadmap to the Future of Discrete Automation

    Jim Cahill
    The next generation of discrete automation is here, and the future is even more exciting. At the Emerson Users Exchange Live 2021 Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) , Emerson’s Derek Thomas and Vibhoosh Gupta provided an overview of Emerson’s PACSystems...

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Innovative Emerson Technology Helps CVA Improve Management of Hydroelectric Plants

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson control technology offers significant benefits to renewable energy manufacturers. At Emerson Users Exchange Live 2021 Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) , Manuel Bonjean, manager of operations/electromechanical engineering at CVA, an Italian...

  • DeltaV Blog: Control System Strategy is Key to Meeting Long-Term Operational Goals

    Jim Cahill
    Organizations have come to expect that their control systems will operate for many years and often anticipate using the same systems for decades. New improvements in cloud computing coupled with rapid advancement of control system technology has many people wondering if these control system trends will change. Sean Sims , vice president for Emerson’s DeltaV platform, recently spoke with Control Engineering Europe to…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Control System Strategy is Key to Meeting Long-Term Operational Goals

    Jim Cahill
    Organizations have come to expect that their control systems will operate for many years and often anticipate using the same systems for decades. New improvements in cloud computing coupled with rapid advancement of control system technology has many people wondering if these control system trends will change. Sean Sims , vice president for Emerson’s DeltaV platform, recently spoke with Control Engineering Europe to…

  • DeltaV Blog: INVISTA Improves Uptime with State Based Control

    Jim Cahill
    Operators are the heart of any process. Experience, skill, and attentiveness give the best operators an intuitive feel for processes that helps ensure uptime, safety, repeatability, and quality—even in the most infrequent process situations. But with a major shortage of skilled personnel, plants find themselves needing to maintain exceptional performance and safety while simultaneously helping new operators gain experience…

  • DeltaV Blog: Optimizing Hydrocyclone Separation Processes

    Jim Cahill
    Diagram of a hydrocyclone: 1. the liquid-solid mixture enters, 2. heavy solids leave, 3. cleaned liquid leaves. Photo credit: “hydrocyclone” by VanBuren is licensed under CC BY 3.0 In the mining industry, hydrocyclones are mineral processing equipment used in slurry pulps to separate coarse and fine particles according to their size and density. From Wikipedia : The mixture [slurry pulp] is injected into the hydrocyclone…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Diagnostics for Final Elements in Safety Applications

    Jim Cahill
    At the Emerson Exchange Americas virtual series, Emerson’s Mike Hoyme and Stanley Af demonstrated diagnostics in the final elements within a safety instrumented function. Here is their presentation abstract: In this demonstration we will show how to use the FIELDVUE DVC6200 SIS to perform diagnostics on SIS final elements. This device can run full stroke testing, partial stroke testing (PST), solenoid valve (SOV) health…

  • DeltaV Blog: Exploring the Future of the Control System

    Jim Cahill
    Control systems have been a stable foundation for operational excellence and reliable, repeatable performance in manufacturing for decades. However, just as needs have changed across those decades, so too have control systems themselves, evolving to meet the ever-changing requirements of the modern plant and enterprise. In a recent article in Control Engineering magazine , Sean Sims , Emerson’s vice president for the…

  • Safety Instrumented Systems Blog: Augmented Reality Brings Real Benefits to Manufacturing

    Jim Cahill
    Augmented reality (AR) has come a long way since it first made a worldwide splash in mobile video games. No longer considered just a toy or novelty, AR is being implemented for real-world applications that are changing the way we work and learn. One area where AR is taking off quickly is in manufacturing. In a recent article with Automation World entitled, How Augmented Reality Became a Serious Tool for Manufacturing…

  • PAC Systems & Industrial Computing Blog: Digital Transformation in Water and Wastewater Industry

    Jim Cahill
    Access to fresh drinking water is paramount for life. The utilities that provide to the communities in which they operate are constantly challenges in performing this service. In a Water & Wastes digest article, Digital Transformation is the Path...

This is the official online community site of the Emerson Global Users Exchange, a forum for the free exchange of non-proprietary information among the global user community of all Emerson Automation Solution'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.

User Groups | World Areas | Community Guidelines | Legal Information | Privacy Policy | Contact Community Manager

Website translation provided by Website Translator

© 2015-2020 Emerson Global Users Exchange. All rights reserved.