ABB update: User conference, exhibition, flow, SCADA, wireless

-- Control Engineering, 4/29/2008

Houston, TX – Users and specifiers of process, plant and utility automation equipment, software and services gather here April 29-May 1 to discuss successes, business challenges, and technologies with ABB representatives and others at the ABB Automation World 2008 Users' Conference and Exhibition. SCADA, wireless, flow, and analyzer technologies are among recent ABB product introductions. (See photos below.) 

The electrical integration exhibit at ABB Automation World 2008 offers a glimpse of the future and a taste of what can be accomplished now by integrating electrical equipment and ABB's Extended Automation System 800xA.

On April 29, ABB Chief Executive Michel Demaré opened ABB Automation World, ABB’s largest customer event, by highlighting the benefits of collaboration with customers and partners to accelerate innovation and product development and help businesses concentrate on their strengths. Demaré said collaboration with customers, universities and other partners has become an essential business tool for ABB in a world marked by rapid technological and economic development. Event theme this year is “The Power of Collaboration.”A record 3,300 customers, distributors, channel partners, original equipment manufacturers and ABB employees are expected to attend the three-day trade show and conference that runs through May 1 in Houston, TX.

Products and services from ABB and partners are showcased in a 40,000 sq. ft. exhibition hall. The displays include industry-specific solutions for chemicals, life sciences, marine, metals and mining, oil and gas, pulp and paper, utilities and power generation, water and wastewater. Now in its fifth year, the show includes products from ABB’s five division: Automation Products, Process Automation, Power Products, Power Systems and Robotics, including analytical products, electrical balance of plant, instrumentation, low voltage products and systems, motors and drives, power electronics, robotics and services.

New this year is an electrical integration pavilion, which shows how the integration of electrical equipment and process automation will in the future drive productivity improvements, increased safety and lower costs, and demonstrates why ABB says it is considered the world's leading automation and electrical systems integrator.

ABB also announced the dates and venue for ABB Automation World 2009. The event will be held at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, FL from March 24-26, 2009. ABB expects to post more information at www.abb.com/automationworld.

In separate developments, ABB provided good news about its financial performance: ABB net income up 87% on energy efficiency and infrastructure demand.

Don't call this a flowmeter: G4 series, this new, fourth generation of ABB Totalflow XSeries flow computers (XFCG4) and remote controllers (XRCG4) is designed to monitor, measure, and control oil and natural gas facilities significantly faster and more efficiently than its predecessor, the G3 series.

Brent Barry ABB market & product planning manager shows off the new ABB Totalflow XSeries flow computers (XFCG4) earlier this month in Houston.

The XFCG4 series consists of low-power, microprocessor-based units that can meet a wide range of measurement, automation, monitor, control and alarming applications for a variety of remote oil and gas systems. Compatible XRCG4 series of remote controllers enables customers in the oil and gas industry to monitor, measure and control their facilities from anywhere and at any time with the aid of sophisticated, proprietary software and wireless technology.

With the improved processing speed and memory capacity (203 MHz 32-bit microprocessor and Microsoft Windows CE operating system) of the XFCG4 and XRCG4, customers will now be able to run more applications faster than previously. The G4 series offers 32 MB of program storage space and 16 MB of data storage space, more than G3 models. Ethernet, RS-232, and USB communications enable full networking capabilities.

Base XFCG4 and XRCG4 models are the same price as G3 models, company says; They’re “backward” or functionally compatible with older software. “Every version of ABB Totalflow software works with every version of ABB Totalflow hardware, going back to our earliest units,” says Barry Balzer, ABB Totalflow product manager.

 “We have open systems that are compatible not only with all of our hardware and software systems but also with a wide range of non-ABB systems,” Balzer adds. 

ABB Totalflow NGC 8200 series Online Natural Gas Chromatographs are said to be compact and easy to install.

ABB Totalflow NGC 8200 series Online Natural Gas Chromatographs are efficient, durable, and accurate for online natural gas chromatography, the company says.

The compact size and streamlined, modular design of each NGC 8200 model make it easy to install, use and maintain on natural gas pipelines. Built with standardized, easily replaceable electro-mechanical modules, the user-friendly NGC 8200 can be maintained by personnel with little or no prior knowledge of gas chromatography, which can significantly reduce overall maintenance expenses, company says.

It has an explosion-proof rating, embedded controller, wide operating temperature, and small footprint, so can be installed either on or very close to the sample probe site, which helps reduce sample transport times and overall cost of ownership. 

And, because these sampler sites are often in remote areas, the NGC 8200 is designed to operate on very little power and can be solar-powered, company says.

ABB Totalflow SCADAvantage Software, “uniquely designed for oil and gas operations,” is a first-rate supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, the company says.

ABB Totalflow SCADAvantage Software is designed for oil and gas operations.

With self-configuring maps, smart screen templates, on-screen analysis tools, real-time and historical graphic trends, and reports for managing multiple aspects of the system, the software automates and simplifies system operations for significant lifecycle cost savings. 

“Customers tell us that the SCADAvantage standard daily nomination interface and gas schedule tracking are particularly helpful,” says Ed Smyth, SCADA business development manager for ABB Totalflow. 

“Our system is unique in that these features are part of the existing functionality of the system, rather than a custom application like many other systems,” Smyth adds.

ABB Totalflow Wellcom Wireless Systems helps automate well sites, gets more data, and makes operations more efficient. The system integrates like wire into Totalflow software (PCCU, WinCCU, etc.), has configurable poll rates for lower power consumption and more manageable data, and has the lowest power consumption in the category.

ABB Totalflow Wellcom Wireless Systems can help automate the well site, get more data, and run operations more efficiently.

 The system mirrors wired functions without the cabling, trenching, environmental impact, and other headaches often associated with wireline.

ABB introduced the G4 at the Entelec Conference & Expo, April 9-11, 2008, in Houston, and showed the other recently introduced products there.

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief

Control Engineering News Desk 

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