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ON
“SCADA” TECHNOLOGY
INDRODUCTION
Widely used in industry for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition of
industrial processes, SCADA systems are now also penetrating the experimental physics
laboratories for the controls of ancillary systems such as cooling, ventilation, power
distribution, etc. More recently they were also applied for the controls of smaller size
particle detectors such as the L3 muon detector and the NA48.
SCADA systems have made substantial progress over the recent years in terms of
functionality, scalability, performance and openness such that they are an alternative to in
house development even for very demanding and complex control systems as those of
physics experiments.
EVOLUTION:
Phonetics created the SENSAPHONE SCADA 3000, a Y2K-complaint hardware
and software system design to accommodate small to mid-size companies seeking
SCADA control. The system main unit uses two microprocessors to perform all control
and communication functions. In terms of hard ware, the standard SENASAPHONE
SCADA 3000 is equipped with 16 universal inputs, eight relay outputs, two RS-232 ports
for local programming and radio communications, and a four line by 20-characters LCD.
ARCHITECTURE:
1. Hardware Architecture:
One distinguishes two basic layers in a SCADA system: the “client layer” which
caters for man machine interaction and the “data server layer” which handles most of the
process data control activities. The data servers communicate with devices in the field
through process controllers which are connected to data servers.
FUNCTIONALITY:
1. Alarms and Event Monitoring:
A SCADA system must be able to detect, display, and log alarms and events. When
there are problems the SCADA system must notify the operators to take corrective action.
Alarms and event must be recorded so that engineers and programmers can review the
alarms to determine what caused the alarm and prevent them happening again. More
complicated expressions can be developed by creating derived parameters on which status
or limit checking is then performed. The alarms are logically handled centrally, i.e. the
information only exists in one place and all users see the same status, and multiple alarm
priority levels are supported.
2. Data Acquisition:
SCADA must be able to read data from PLCs and other hardware and then to
analyze and graphically present that data to the user. SCADA systems must be able to
read and write multiple sources of data.
3. Operator Interface:
A SCADA system collects all of the information about a process. The SCADA
systems then need to display this data to the operator so that they can comprehend what is
going on with the process.
8. Report Generation:
One can produce reports using SQL type queries to the archive, RTDB or logs.
Although it is sometimes possible to embed EXCEL charts in the report. Facilities exist to
be automatically generated, print and archive reports.
9. Automation:
The majority of the products allow actions to be automatically triggered by events.
Scripting languages provided by the SCADA products allow these actions to be defined.
The concepts of receipts is supported, whereby a particular system configuration can be
saved to a file and then re-loaded at a latter date. Sequencing is also supported; it is
possible to execute a more complex sequence of actions on one or more devices.
Sequences may also react to external events.
OPERATION OF SCADA:
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology collects real-time
data from virtually any environment where there is a need to monitor machinery or
processes, make adjustments based on measurable conditions, measure down time, or
regulate processes to avoid costly problems. The computer-based technology was
designed to do all the things with little human involvement.
From a central reading location, a SCADA system can monitor a number of
remote sites equipped with RTUs. The RTUs measures various conditions and
parameters, including tank levels, temperature, voltage, current, volume, and flow. The
unit reports the data back to the CPU, carrying out the necessary analysis and cost
functions.
Additionally, SCADA technology personal of current or potential alarm
situations, allowing an operator to and fine tune a process. Control can be automatic or
initiated by operator commands, based on the sophistication of the individual system. The
technology is widely accepted as a reliable and efficient control system within numerous
industrial markets.
APPLICATION OF SCADA:
A typical SCADA application requires several low cost distributed RTUs,
controlled by a central station/master.
Common applications for SCADA systems typically include water and waste
treatment, petroleum and hydro carbon processing, power generation, food processing,
steel manufacturing, remote telecommunications and plant machinery maintenance.
Unlike in plant process control systems, SCADA systems typically include a
remote telecommunication link. Real-time measurements and controls at remote stations
are transferred to a CPU through the communication link. Large systems can monitor and
control 10-2000 remote sites, with each site containing as many as 2000 I/O points.
A SCADA system for small applications:
SCADA is not a new technology by any means, but innovations and significant
improvements have been made since its introduction. Until recently, SCADA technology
was often viewed as a luxury item by small industrial companies. The technology was
deemed unobtainable because of high association with that systems could not be fully
used because of their massive I/O capacities.
CASE STUDY:
UPDATING SCADA SYSTEMS AT POWER PLANTS FOR INCREASED
CAPACITY, RELIABILITY.
Companies have long monitored and controlled electric power generating
operations using computer-based Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems.
The new systems use Intel-based computers running the REAL/IX PX operating system.
The UNIX operating system platform is compactable with a number of third party
programs that power plant can integrate into its SCADA or reporting systems at the later
date.
ENGINEERING:
The need for proper Engineering cannot be sufficiently emphasized to reduced
development effort and to reach a system that complies with the requirements, that is
economical in development and maintenance and i.e., reliable and robust. The
Engineering activities specific to the use of a SCADA system includes templates for
different types of panels; Instructions on how to control; a mechanism to prevent
conflicting controls; alarm levels, behavior to be adopted in case of specific alarms.
CONCLUSION:
SCADA systems are used to monitor and control a plant and equipment in
industries. The benefits one can expect from adopting a SCADA system a rich
functionality and extensive development facilities. The systems are used to mission
critical industrial processes where reliability and performance are paramount. These
systems are used to gather and analyze “real time data”.
REFERENCES:
www.marineeng.com/scada.
www.modcomp.com/scada/virgina_power.html.
www.electronics_x.com/electronic/waste water.html
www.modular-scada.co.uk/what -is-scada.html
www.electronics.com/power generation/scada.html
Under the Guidance of Chinna Subbanna.
A.Daneels, W.Salter, “technology survey summary of survey report.