From 21–23 May, Process Expo 2013 showcased the local instrumentation and control industry in one of the exhibition halls at the Nasrec showground. Visually, my impression on entering the hall was that this is a world class event. The attention to detail on some of the stands was inspiring and the technology on display was all at the cutting edge.
At the Honeywell stand, Paulo da Silva showed us the latest instrumentation concept that the company’s design teams have created. The new pressure transmitters are completely modular and incorporate some lovely engineering finesse. The pushbutton controls, for instance, are completely isolated from the rest of the electronics with switching signals being passed by inductive coupling. I believe this is the first in a range of new offerings from Honeywell; soon the same modular concept will be incorporated in a variety of other transmitters. The beauty, from a spares holding point of view, is that the electronic modules will be common to all and only the sensor aspects will differ. The design also makes the new instruments suitable for hazardous area operation.
Another impressive innovation was the energy harvesting flowmeter that Mecosa had on display. Based on the impeller metering principle, the spinning impeller is also used to generate charge that is stored in a battery to ensure meter operation even in times of no-flow. Henning Klaus Springer explained some interesting applications on the petrol station forecourt, this standalone device also looks ideal for applications in rural areas as it is equipped with wireless capability.
From a local engineering point of view, I thought Adroit Technologies stole the show. At a breakfast briefing on the last day, Dave Wibberley and his team launched the latest Adroit 8.0 Scada, MAPS 3.0, Adroit Scada Intelligence 3.0 and the Adroit Report Suite. The new functionality is slick as was ably shown during the demonstrations that were an integral part of the presentation. Behind the impressive dashboards the system has as its foundation many of the latest new ideas from Microsoft. It was also exciting to see how well the partnership with Mitsubishi is developing and how this is expanding through the low voltage agreement with CBI that will complement the PLC and drive solutions. (More technical details in 'The perfect fit'.)
Despite the attention to detail and enthusiasm from both the organisers and the exhibitors, it was disappointing to see that attendance was down quite substantially on 2011. There are a number of possible explanations for this, not least a slowdown in SA’s key mining sector due to weak commodity prices and ongoing labour disputes. It has also been reported that attendance at similar events around the world has seen a drop-off this year. Who knows what the real reasons are, but suffice it to say that all the little niggles seem to be amplified when the going gets tough. IIG chairman, Rob Mckenzie, nailed it during his closing address when he said that the industry must have an event like this, but that in future the vendors and organisers needed to collaborate much more closely during the planning stages. SAIMC president, Vinesh Maharaj, has this to say in his letter this month: “One of the activities that will definitely be on the SAIMC plan for the next five years will be the Process Expo. This is the premier C&I exhibition in South Africa and we will continue to support it in elevating the profile of our discipline.”
This is the kind of support the organisers will need going forward. I feel sure that we will have a Process Expo 2015, and I hope that it will be the biggest and best ever. It will take hard work and commitment from us all – and it will be worth it.
Scada Reviews
It is the June issue again and so time to publish the 2013 SA Instrumentation and Control Scada Reviews. A vote of thanks to all the vendors who participated in a series of round-table discussions designed to maximise the benefit to end-users and other readers. Andrew has done another amazing job of collating this feature and notes in his introduction: “The outcome of these endeavours is another great insight into real-world implementations of the major scada systems available in our market with perspectives provided by end-users, SIs and vendors.”
Hope you enjoy the issue.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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