Elipse FlexControl DCS

Architecture

Elipse FlexControl DCS offers an innovative way to develop automation systems: it adds an abstraction layer for configuring the process between the supervisory system and the controller.

This tool lets you define the main entities of a system and give them meaning. The supervisory system then automatically builds a matching data model, which is bound automatically to the same entities declared in the process controller. The FlexControl DCS Editor can be accessed from any operating console.

Because it is built on Elipse E3 and other Elipse products, FlexControl DCS inherits all the benefits of a robust, highly flexible solution:

• Virtual or physical environments: runs on virtual machines or physical servers
• Server redundancy: supports redundant server pairs (domains), with load splitting and sharing according to the size of the application
• Integrated power system: the electrical system is fully integrated with the process, so both are operated from the same system, and Elipse Power connects to any type of equipment through native drivers and intelligent modules such as load shedding, oscillography collection, state estimation, and operator training, as well as power generation, transmission, and distribution operation
• Alarm management: complies with ISA 18.2 and EEMUA 191 through native features, reports, and actions suggested by Elipse Alarm Manager (ELAM)
• Historian and analytics: integration with Elipse Plant Manager (EPM) provides history and intelligence on all process data, including:
  • Add-in for Microsoft Excel
  • OPC UA server
  • Dashboard portal
  • Powerful Python-based calculation tool
  • Trend tools with integrated Python calculations and annotations
  • Integration with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

User Profiles

Elipse FlexControl DCS was designed for the different user profiles commonly found in industrial plants:

• Integration engineers: responsible for system architecture and modeling
• Process engineers: modify system logic or operating instructions when the process changes, equipment is replaced, or other events occur
• Operators: keep the system stable and receive intelligent warnings about issues
• Maintenance technicians: need fast, reliable information about equipment or process issues to prevent stops or shorten them
• Process managers: focus on plant productivity, work to improve the process, and need to be alerted to any major issues

Tools

• FlexControl DCS Editor: defines the main entities of the system at a high level, provides diagnostics, and changes the meaning of variables, with changes applied automatically to the production environment
• Controller programming: provided by the controller vendor, sets up the operating logic or process rules specific to each entity
• E3 Studio: configures all other system entities, operating interfaces, and synoptic screens used by operators
• E3 Viewer: the system’s operating and visualization interface
• EPM: historian and analysis tool that provides statistics and reports on system performance and behavior, supporting corrective actions and process improvements
• EAM (optional): collects the history of alarms and events generated by the system and offers reports and suggested operating actions through a web interface
• Elipse Mobile (optional): lets users interact with the plant from anywhere, viewing process conditions, exchanging messages, collecting data, or even sending commands with security controls and permissions

FlexControl Entities

Elipse FlexControl DCS offers a robust application development standard based on a set of configurable entities:

• PLC: a process controller supported by the system and responsible for a given area of the process. The system supports hundreds of controllers, often arranged in redundant pairs called domains, depending on the architecture. Supported controllers currently include the models below, and new ones can be added on demand or by adapting existing ones:
  • Rockwell ControlLogix
  • Siemens S7-300, S7-400, S7-1200, and S7-1500
  • GE PACSystems RX3i and RX7i
  • Schneider Modicon Premium and Quantum
  • Altus Nexto

• Analog: analog process variables, with filtering and alarms configured independently in the controller and in the system
• Parameters: setpoints or analog configuration parameters
• Equipment: a data structure that represents a device to be controlled, a subsystem, or a component, defined during engineering according to each device’s relevance. It also includes:
  • Digital: groups discrete signals and their meanings
  • Commands: define actions and their authorizations and interlocks
  • Faults, interlocks, alerts, and permissives: conditions for starting, stopping, running, protection, and warnings
  • Hour meter: measures on and off time
  • Analog and parameters: list of associated variables shown on the operating faceplate
• PID: PID control loops in the process
• Totalizers: continuously integrate analog values, usually material flow measurements, to generate production or consumption reports by hour, shift, day, or month, among others
• Digital: digital variables not tied to a specific device, such as system items or general commands

Modeling

Configuring entities in the editor generates a process data model that is automatically connected to the system’s I/O driver. Tags are created automatically in the communication interface (driver).

Control Object Libraries

Elipse FlexControl DCS provides libraries of standard objects for each supported controller. These objects define the data exchange area between FlexControl DCS and each entity, as well as the implementation of the control block.

The controller programmer sets up the data exchange areas according to the standard object definitions and adds the process logic for each object.

Benefits

• Robustness and reliability
• Versatile, high-capacity communication
• Server redundancy and distribution
• Virtualization support
• Suitability for any continuous process, such as mining, steel, oil and gas, chemicals, pulp and paper, sugar and ethanol, agribusiness, and water and wastewater
• Freedom to choose hardware suppliers
• Lower development costs
• Shorter configuration and maintenance time
• Higher system quality for end users