At this site technical articles published at the YOKOGAWA technical report are introduced.
A New Trend in the Product Business
- Yuriko Sawatani*1
*1 : Professor, Entrepreneur program, Bionics, Computer and Media Sciences, Tokyo Engineering University Graduate School
Old yet New Viewpoint of “Value Shift” in Product Design
- Yoshitaka Yuuki*1
- Yukiyo Akisada*2
*1 : Technological Strategy Division, Business Development Center, Marketing Headquarters
*2 : Incubation Division, Innovation Center, Marketing Headquarters
Discussion on the importance of “KOTOZUKURI” (a coined word that means new value creation in the market) has a long history, but it has been heating up again in line with the explosive spread of the IoT (Internet of Things) and Big Data in recent years. In contrast to the fact that the Internet has greatly changed the relationship between people in the world, the IoT has interconnected an enormous number of things (sensors and devices) and has been drastically changing the relationship between things and events. In the general consumer market, which is often called the Business to Consumer (B2C) market, the time has come for many people to co-create totally new value by using wearable devices and sharing information through cloud services. This paper surveys the concept of co-creating value that derives from the services based on the service dominant logic (SDL), and then overviews KOTOZUKURI, the trend of value shift from product to solution, in the B2B and B2B2C markets including Yokogawa products and the ideal vision of manufacturing in the future.
A Solution for Measuring Liquid Levels with Difference Pressure/Pressure Transmitters
- Yasumasa Ishihara*1
- Gaku Okazaki*1
- Keiji Kouno*1
*1 : Transmitter Division, Product Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
Various meters are used for measuring liquid levels depending on the measurement fluid, pressure, temperature, and installation conditions. They include the non-contact ultrasonic type and radar type, and contact float type and pressure type. Since contact type level meters directly contact the liquid to be measured, the materials of wetted parts and the specifications of the connection for measuring pressure vary, and thus it is difficult to maintain the quality and design of these products in accordance with customers’ diverse requirements. Meanwhile, customers are seeking to increase the operation efficiency of their plant production. To satisfy these needs, meter manufacturers are required to offer a product lineup that flexibly responds to such requirements. This paper introduces Yokogawa’s solution to level measurement by using differential pressure and describes the digital remote sensor (DRS) differential pressure transmitter which solves problems regarding level measurement.
Advanced Applications of the DTSX Distributed Temperature Sensor Solutions
- Toru Fukuzawa*1
*1 : Fiber Sensing Division, Product Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
Explosions and fires in a plant could greatly affect results and business continuity since they may damage not only buildings and facilities but also the neighboring area and environment. They could also bring the plant to a stop and disrupt supply chains for a long time. Advanced sensing technology that can detect equipment failure early and data analysis/processing technologies can help prevent such accidents and are thus expected to play an increasingly important role. Although Yokogawa’s DTSX distributed temperature sensor is an ideal tool for detecting fire and leakage, its advanced applications are expected to deliver added value including early detection of abnormalities, and improvement of the efficiency, productivity, and quality of operation. This paper introduces these new applications of the DTSX.
The e-RT3 Plus Real-time-OS-based Controller with Excellent Usability
- Takashi Hayashi*1
- Satoru Ikeda*2
- Masao Horita*3
- Hideyuki Ishinaka*3
*1 : IA Controller Division, Product Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
*2 : Digital Hardware Technology Division, Global Development Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
*3 : Software Technology Division, Global Development Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
The e-RT3 Plus released in December 2015 is the latest model of the e-RT3 series with Linux installed. By integrating customers’ applications, open architecture, and Yokogawa’s technologies, the e-RT3 comes with many useful functions for controlling devices while featuring robustness, real-time performance, and stability. In the e-RT3 Plus, usability has been improved in terms of accessibility, visibility, and applicability, in order to expand application areas from device control to factories and infrastructure, offering an environment in which anyone can develop applications on Linux. This paper describes how the e-RT3 Plus delivers excellent usability, and its scalability.
- Makoto Takei*1
*1 : Product Support Division, Business Innovation Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
Currently, the Japanese steel industry has been working on a long-term national project named “Environmentally Harmonized Steelmaking Process Technology” (CO2 ultimate reduction in steelmaking process by innovative technology for cool earth 50:COURSE50) as a global environment preservation activity for the reduction of CO2 emissions in an industry-government-academia integrated collaboration. We have performed measurements of pressure, temperature, and components of the top and internal points of a test blast furnace by applying a gas chromatograph GC8000 to an analyzer system. With the analyzer system, we achieved the horizontal distribution monitoring of gas components, temperature and pressure at each part of the test blast furnace which was filled with solid materials, thus enabling the CO2 emission reduction during the test to be quantitatively determined.
This paper outlines the COURSE50 project and the test blast furnace measurement, and introduces the analyzer system using a gas chromatograph GC8000 which played an important role in the comprehensive verification tests at the pilot level.
CA330 RTD Calibrator: High-speed Response and High-resolution Resistance Simulator
- Kouki Shouji*1
*1 : Development & Engineering Department 1, Yokogawa Meters & Instruments Corporation
Yokogawa Meters & Instruments Corporation has developed the CA330 handheld process calibrator, a resistance temperature detector (RTD) model. We thoroughly reviewed the design of the ohms source function which has been a long-standing problem. In particular, high resolution and high-speed response were achieved by using a new technology of the improved feedback type PWM method, thus successfully raising the carrier frequency without degrading the PWM resolution. As a result, we changed the demodulation processing of the multiplying digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with pulse width modulation (PWM) from the conventional section integration method to a simple low-pass filter method, increasing the processing speed. As a result, the CA330 has achieved a response of less than 5 msec with the setting resolution of 10 mW. This paper introduces the redesigned ohms source function and improved feedback-type PWM.