Engineering solution implemented at Hillside Aluminium

May 2002 System Integration & Control Systems Design

Industrial IT and Supply Chain Solutions company Streamworks have secured an order from ABB South Africa, part of the global power and automation technology group, to implement and commission an engineering solution for Hillside Aluminium, the 506 000 ton p.a. primary aluminium producer based in Richards Bay.

ABB won the order to replace the existing 14 22 kV power factor correction equipment (PFC) with three 110MVAR 132 kV harmonic filter banks and a new 132 kV incoming substation. One incoming bay and PFC bay will be added to each of the three incoming 132 kV Eskom feeders.

The automation section of the contract for the above project has been awarded to Streamworks. A PLC panel with one Allen Bradley PLC 5/40 and one SLC500 and all the software engineering will be supplied. The main objective is to seamlessly integrate into the existing central substation automation system. The main functions of the new automation system is to automatically switch the PFC banks according to the MVAr requirement, to provide a fault logging function and substation remote control.

Jan Löffler, Streamworks project engineer, comments: "This solution is unique in that it offers digital input time stamping at 5 ms intervals for fault-finding purposes. For the required time accuracy all time stamping is done on a PLC/SLC level rather than on a scada level. The time stamped input signals from the ABB switchgear protection equipment is then printed on either a fault or status printer in the substation control room. This system has proven invaluable in past and present fault analysis."

Streamworks, who are regionally based, also specialise in providing a total turnkey service including specialist engineering advice, engineering design and implementation, and ongoing hardware and software support. For more information on Streamworks' offering please visit our website: www.streamworks.co.za

ABB ( www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering their environmental impact. ABB has 160 000 employees in more than 100 countries.

Garry Rippon, Streamworks

031 903 4503

[email protected]

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