Yokogawa Releases CENTUM® VP R6.03 Integrated Production Control System

Ensuring quick and smooth system upgrades

Amersfoort, The Netherlands - 19 May, 2016

Yokogawa Electric Corporation today announced the release of CENTUM VP® R6.03, a new version of the company’s integrated production control system. CENTUM VP® R6.03 will be available from 1st June. 

Yokogawa has been continually making improvements to its flagship CENTUM VP integrated production control system as part of its VigilantPlant® vision for the control business. As well as providing an enhanced product for new customers, R6.03 offers a smooth upgrade path to existing users of CENTUM CS, CENTUM CS 1000, and CENTUM CS 3000 systems. 

Development Background
CENTUM VP provides an optimum operation, monitoring, and engineering environment for every phase of the plant lifecycle, from initial design, engineering, installation of systems and equipment, and start-up to full operation and the ongoing performance of renovations and modifications, through to eventual withdraw a facility from service. 

Over the several decades that a plant will remain in use, upgrades will need to be performed to replace ageing control systems software and hardware, hold down maintenance costs, improve production capacity, and comply with new regulations. To minimize disruptions to production operations, such system upgrades should be quick and trouble-free. CENTUM VP R6.03 was developed to ensure quick and smooth system upgrades, and therefore upgrades of integrated production control systems such as CENTUM also need to be seamless. 

The features provided in R6.03 will make it possible for users of CENTUM CS (released in 1992), CENTUM CS 1000 (released in 1997), and CENTUM CS 3000 (released in 1998) systems to quickly and smoothly upgrade to CENTUM VP. 

The key features and enhancements of CENTUM VP R6.03 include backwards compatibility with all key components of earlier versions. For example, the CENTUM VP input/output (IO) device and application programs have been developed to improve compatibility with CENTUM CS, CENTUM CS 1000, and CENTUM CS 3000 hardware and software, thus easing the system upgrade process and reducing associated risks. 

Compatibility with existing cabinets, terminal blocks, and field instrument cables is also assured. The primary components of a CENTUM system are the human interface stations (HIS) that serve as a monitoring and control interface for operators in a central control room and the field control stations (FCS) that control the actual operation of plant facilities. Each FCS has a controller and numerous IO devices that are connected to valves and the sensors used to measure flow rate, pressure, temperature, and other variables of the production process. 

The functions and shape of the CENTUM VP R6.03 IO device have been designed to be fully interchangeable with RIO, the IO device used with CENTUM CS, CENTUM CS 1000, and certain CENTUM CS 3000 systems. The CENTUM VP R6.03 IO device is thus fully compatible with the FCS cabinets and terminal blocks used with these earlier CENTUM systems. Upgrading to the new CENTUM VP IO is simple: just replace the existing IO module in each FCS cabinet with the new IO module. There is no need to reconfigure the wiring that connects the IO to sensors and valves. Thanks to the modifications made to the CENTUM VP R6.03 IO, users of legacy CENTUM integrated control systems can perform quick and minimum-risk upgrades to CENTUM VP. 

Compatibility with application software developed for earlier CENTUM releases has also been accommodated within CENTUM VP R6.03 which has been developed to ensure enhanced backward compatibility with the application programs used with CENTUM CS, CENTUM CS 1000, and CENTUM CS 3000. The HIS graphics and control logic programs developed for these earlier CENTUM systems can also be used with CENTUM VP R6.03. This allows for increased efficiency in the use of application programs, facilitates quick and minimum-risk system upgrades, and reduces plant downtime. 

Masatoshi Nakahara, a Yokogawa director and executive vice president who heads the Industrial Automation Platform Business Headquarters, comments as follows on this new release: “Yokogawa has continually striven to improve its core CENTUM platform while maintaining backwards compatibility with previous system versions. In the development of CENTUM VP, the following four innovations have been emphasized: Advanced operation [which] empowers operators to make smarter decisions; Smart engineering, a new engineering ecosystem that delivers certainty and confidence; System agility [providing] flexibility, adaptability, and extensibility for plant upgrade and expansion, changes in plant operations, and business exigencies; and sustainable plant [ensuring] optimum system performance throughout the entire lifecycle of the plant. 

“In keeping with its VigilantPlant initiative, Yokogawa will continue to develop and bring to market new products and other types of solutions that will help our customers realize the ideal plant.” 

Major target markets and applications
Yokogawa’s CENTUM VP R6.03 is designed for use in process industries such as oil and natural gas, petrochemicals, chemicals, electric power, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, foods, iron and steel, and water and wastewater. It is used for the operation, monitoring, and automatic control of process plants.