Rockwell Automation has extended the reach of its PlantPAx process automation system to integrate critical rotating assets, such as compressors, pumps, turbines and fans, giving users the ability to manage plant-wide operations with a single platform. The PlantPAx system combines the company’s core process automation capabilities and technologies with those of partners and acquisitions to deliver an integrated control and information solution.
Users now can tie intelligent motor devices into this unified-control architecture, making an immediate and measurable impact on asset availability, operational efficiency and energy management.
PlantPAx system users will have access to diagnostic information on any device in the system from any location - including motor control centres, drives, compressors, pumps, fans and instrumentation. Leveraging the EtherNet/IP network, engineers can monitor process conditions such as electric motor current, vibration signatures of key rotating assets and torque signatures of variable speed drives. This allows plant engineers to predict potential problems and help avoid equipment downtime - resulting in improved productivity and reduced maintenance costs.
Unlike other distributed control systems that require users to manually map data from motor control devices to the control system, the PlantPAx system mirrors the device memory, making data automatically available within the control system. Users can also set up applications in the PlantPAx system to collect and archive performance data from motor control devices into databases for analysis.