Page 43 - ITAtube Journal 2/2019

along with management consult- ants maexpartners.
72 per cent of the respondents in the study described the potential to increase revenues and pro ts through digital products and ser- vices as “very relevant” to them. 14 per cent of the participants in the survey, based on this opti- mism, expect an additional pro t of over 10 percent in the coming ve years. A perspective that could help resist the increasing competitive pressure from devel- oping countries like China.
Real-time data processing
A development that the valve manufacturers will join, if they wish to keep up with the trend. Because in the future of man- ufacturing, “information tech- nology will play a big role – not only in the operations and control of production plants but also in bringing together and analysing machine data or information on energy consumption,” forecasts Festo, provider of automation and control technology solutions. Real-time data collection and pro- cessing are becoming increasingly possible. New analysis options are getting created, for example for predictive maintenance or acquir- ing a holistic view of energy ows and consumption.
Integration is not limited to within one’s own factory, but according to Festo, is increasingly supporting data transfer and data synchronisation with external systems. In the future, production sites, suppliers and customers will work increasingly closer with each other, predicts Festo. “To enable this, it is crucial to have standard- ised interfaces and data formats as well as high performance net- works and connections”.
Increasing decentralised automation
Valve manufacturers are on the move. “In the past years, there has been a signi cant increase in decentralised automation of process valves, precisely in step with digital communication,” con- rms Sebastian Kundel, Product Manager Automation Process Valves at Bürkert. The bene ts that can be reaped in the design, planning and construction of plants are in the forefront. Decen- tralised Arti cial Intelligence for the diagnosis and digital transfer of data have been relatively less implemented. In the meanwhile, technical possibilities and soft- ware features would become more self-evident. There is a critical shift of thinking in using status data bene cially, says Kundel. “A transparent view of plants, machines and production pro- cesses will be possible and enable new business models for opera- tions, service and maintenance”.
Digitalization of control valves
According to Samson, to start with, sophisticated valves are tted with position controllers. On the other hand, there are simple valves – for example On/ Off valves – that are still equipped primarily with solenoid valves and/or limit switches. Their digitalization may not be that advanced, although Samson also offers solutions here too. “On the one hand the valves must pass on information to the entire system, and on the other hand they must be capable of receiving informa- tion from the system”. In case of Off/On valves, we are still a “long way” from reaching the high level of digitalization that we see in control valves.
Higher plant availability
Samson is absolutely convinced by digitalization too. It enables round the clock monitoring of valves. Directly ascertainable values like set point, actual value, control deviation and driving pres- sure can be recorded continuously and additional information can be added to these in the future.
The position controller noti es the user in advance of an error con- dition in and on the valve. Noti- cations like “internal leakage” or “actuator defect” require no further data interpretation by the user. Digitalization along with the valve diagnosis feature integrated within the position controller enables increased plant availabil- ity “as potential error conditions can be early detected and recti- ed”. According to Samson, the future goal is to completely avoid error conditions, which could be achieved with approaches like feed forward control and practical maintenance management.
Software equipped eld devices
Signi cant drivers are the general rise in the automation level, plant availability and productivity along with high quality standards. In parallel, software equipped eld devices have become the norm and many devices in the market now come with digitised operations. “The share of digitally automated process valves has strongly increased and has now reached a signi cant level”. With developments like the IO-link, a communication system used for connecting intelligent sensors and actuators to an automation system, the growth has not quite stopped. The de nition of proper- ties that are important for process technology in the speci cation, particularly with respect to func-
Technical Papers
ITAtube Journal No2/May 2019
43