Yokogawa periodically publishes the Yokogawa Technical Report, which contains articles that take a detailed look at the technologies employed in Yokogawa's products. At this site you will find links to all of the reports that have been published since 1997 as well as links to PDF files containing the full text of selected articles from each issue.
Evolution of Dynamic Process Simulator toward Innovative Plant Operation
Growing Expectations of Dynamic Simulators for Achieving Systems with Resilience
- Akio Gofuku*1
*1 : Vice dean, Professor,
Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology,
Okayama University
Recent Trends of Dynamic Simulator Applications and Prospects for OmegaLandn
- Yasuhiro Kamada*1
*1 : President Omega Simulation Co., Ltd.
Omega Simulation Co., Ltd. (OSC) was established in 1997 as a joint venture of Yokogawa Electric Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. OSC’s mission is to help customers improve their plant operations, by using advanced technologies integrating instrumentation/control technologies from Yokogawa, and modeling/simulation technologies from Mitsui. The OmegaLand integrated dynamic simulation environment, and its core technology, the Visual Modeler plant simulator, are a software package developed by OSC. In recent years, dynamic simulation technologies are increasingly used for multiple purposes in each phase of the plant lifecycle. To respond to this trend, OSC is working with Yokogawa and Mitsui to develop MIRROR PLANT, which applies dynamic simulation to the online real-time environment, in order to improve plant operation. Its demonstration has shown remarkable, excellent results. This paper outlines new applications of these dynamic simulation technologies, as well as the goals of OSC and OmegaLand.
MIRROR PLANT for Innovating Plant Operation
- Makoto Nakaya*1
*1 : PA Application Technology D&E Dept., IA Systems Business Division, Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters
Using plant models throughout the plant lifecycle is proposed for improving plant operation. MIRROR PLANT, a virtual plant simulator, can perfectly simulate the dynamic behavior of plants. MIRROR PLANT has finished verification testing at a Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. commercial plant, and is being prepared for its release. Throughout the plant lifecycle, MIRROR PLANT focuses especially on the plant´s operations phase. MIRROR PLANT not only supports plant operators but also helps technical staff to change plant operation conditions for their optimal operation. This paper compares features and applications of MIRROR PLANT and other plant model products. Unlike conventional Yokogawa products, MIRROR PLANT provides high-level plant service related to users’ production processes.
MIRROR PLANT On-line Plant Simulator and its Applications
- Gentaro Fukano*1
- Katsumi Yokoyama*1
- Yoshihiko Yahata*2
*1 : Package Dept., Simulation Business Division, Omega Simulation Co., Ltd.
*2 : Executive vice president Omega Simulation Co., Ltd.
In recent years, dynamic simulators have been increasingly used throughout the entire plant lifecycle from plant design to operation. Omega Simulation Co., Ltd. (OSC) has developed the OmegaLand integrated dynamic simulation environment, which uses OSC’s Visual Modeler plant simulator as the core simulation engine. Plant models developed by this plant simulator can reproduce behavior of actual plants, and the simulator can therefore be applied not only to operator training but also to the renovation of plants, validation of control logic, and other purposes. OSC has also developed MIRROR PLANT, an on-line operator supporting system that uses tracking and dynamic data reconciliation technologies. MIRROR PLANT is being applied to an actual plant in order to evaluate its operation supporting applications.
HMI of MIRROR PLANT for Facilitating Forecast of Plant Operation
- Emiko Hatsugai*1
- Naoto Takano*2
- Yuya Iketsuki*2
*1 : PA Application Technology D&E Dept., IA Systems Business Division, Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters
*2 : Marketing Planning Dept., Industrial Automation Marketing Headquarters
MIRROR PLANT, a plant simulator based on physical modeling, precisely simulates dynamic plant behaviors. It can also forecast future plant behaviors by running the virtual plant faster. Based on the information from MIRROR PLANT, operators can understand possible conditions which may cause alarms, and run the actual plant much more safely by eliminating such potential alerts. Although this function is very useful, there is a possibility that operators may mistake forecasted information for data from actual plants, or vice versa, because both are displayed on the same screen of the distributed control system (DCS). To prevent such confusion, the human machine interface (HMI) of MIRROR PLANT clearly distinguishes them by dividing the time line from the present time. This paper introduces the design of MIRROR PLANT HMI for forecasting plant operations.
Physical-Statistical Hybrid Model for MIRROR PLANT
- Makoto Nakaya*1
- Xinchun Li*2
*1 : PA Application Technology D&E Dept., IA Systems Business Division, Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquaters
*2 : Development Dept. 3, Yokogawa Beijing Development Center
MIRROR PLANT uses physical plant modeling based on physical and chemical laws. However, the physical model cannot express some phenomena in plants, especially those which are not physically determined yet. We propose a hybrid model of a physical model and a statistical model based on historical plant operation data. Combining the physical model and statistical model improves the estimation accuracy of the statistical model. In addition, by applying the just-in-time (JIT) modeling to the on-line update of the statistical model, it can deliver exact estimation even during rapid changes in plant behaviors.
Operator Training by OmegaLand OTS Enterprise: New Trends for Training Systems
- Takamasa Yumoto*1
*1 : Package Development Dept., Simulation Business Division, Omega Simulation Co.,Ltd.
Omega Simulation Co., Ltd. (OSC) has developed OmegaLand OTS Enterprise, an operator training system (OTS), as a major attractive component of the OmegaLand integrated dynamic simulation environment. It helps provide company-wide or plant-wide occasional training and regular skill upgrading for plant operators and other employees, and can efficiently monitor their training status and understanding. Instructors and trainees can remotely access the training system. Instructors demonstrate operations and provide instructions as in conventional group training, and can also check the operations of respective trainees. Trainees can share information among themselves by learning best practices, drawing lessons from inappropriate operations and so on. Trainees can access the system from their PC at anytime in preparation for group training or for self-learning for follow-up. The OmegaLand OTS Enterprise provides participants and evaluators with various benefits such as an objective evaluation of the training. This system can be set up with only a single web server on the intranet of the company’s or training center’s domain. The OmegaLand OTS Enterprise has the advantage of lowering management and operation costs.
- Ichiro Wake*1
- Yoshihisa Hidaka*2
- Kai Maeda*1
- Makoto Suda*3
- Takuya Yahagi*2
*1 : Yokogawa Europe B.V.
*2 : Industry Marketing Dept., Industrial Automation Marketing Headquarters
*3 : Yokogawa Electric International Pte. Ltd.
Yokogawa has completed many integrated control and safety system projects using the main automation contractor method for risk reduction in projects. These days, markets demand use of dynamic process simulation models during each phase of the project lifecycle in order to reduce risk even further. Taking an LNG liquefaction process as an example, this paper introduces how to meet such market needs, and what value-added services Yokogawa can provide to customers by innovating processes in the project lifecycle.
Enterprise Solutions in the World of Process Automation with FAST/TOOLS
- Charlie Horevoortsn*1
- Neil Unwin*1
*1 : Global SCADA Center, Yokogawa Europe B.V.
The requirements for Enterprise Automation Solutions are driving the needs for anyto-any ‘collaboration’ across different platforms, geographies and corporate networks. The ability for the underlying technology and network to allow any device or application to connect to others seamlessly, managed as a single system, from operations, engineering and maintenance point of view, is the objective. An integrated approach of applications and connected platforms results in a robust, secure, high quality experience reducing the engineering, maintenance and training costs considerably. This will assure far greater adoption and impact since in the end, it is all about the enterprise working more effectively and achieving better results.
A High-precision Color Sensor for the B/M9000VP System
- Atsushi Tsujii*1
- Minoru Terajima*1
- Kazufumi Nishida*1
- Kenichirou Wada*1
*1 : Paper and Web Solutions Dept., Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters
Yokogawa has developed a new LED color sensor for the B/M9000VP paper quality control system. A high brightness LED as a light source ensures accurate and stable measurement, and a high power UV LED enables continuous measurement of the fluorescence whitening effect. In addition the long life light sources reduce maintenance work. The optical system with greater depth of focus and the newly developed wavelength shifting method (WSM) for ranging correction eliminates the influence from paper fluttering and wrinkles. This paper describes the features of this color sensor.
A High-precision IR Moisture Sensor for the B/M9000VP System
- Yasushi Ichizawa*1
- Fumihiko Kobayashi*1
- Kazuki Setsuda*1
- Kumiko Horikoshi*2
*1 : Paper and Web Solution Dept., Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters
*2 : Labor Management Dept., Human Resources Headquarters
The production of paper, especially for cardboard and tissue, is increasing in emerging countries, and control systems for paper machinery are required for improving sensing performance for efficient production. To satisfy this demand, Yokogawa has developed a new IR moisture sensor for the B/M9000 VP system.
With various new technologies incorporated, this sensor measures moistures accurately in various applications. The new technologies include the industry-first semiconductor light source, the innovative optical system, and the single-cell detector for truly simultaneous measurement of single spot. This paper describes the background of the development, its new technologies, and the performance of the sensor.