Turbomachinery controls.

Solution allows customers to bring industrial plants and assets online quickly and cost-effectively using single interface

ABB has signed a joint development agreement with US company Energy Control Technologies (ECT) to co-design and deliver an integrated turbomachinery controls solution which can be configured, operated and maintained within the ABB Ability™ System 800xA® distributed control system (DCS).

Pic: ECT

The ABB-ECT Integrated Compressor Controls (ICC) with Integrated Control Safety System (ICSS) offers customers a flexible solution that aims to reduce the footprint and complexity of their plant control system and will have the potential to contribute to automation and electrical CAPEX reductions of up to 20 percent for integrated projects, according to ABB estimates.

Turbomachinery, which is widely employed in industries including hydrogen, biofuels, carbon capture and storage, power generation and oil and gas, consumes large amounts of energy. Having integrated controls provides greater visibility to better manage the performance of the equipment and in turn increase energy efficiency, while reducing risk and cost.

The ABB-ECT ICC is achieved by eliminating traditional black box controls from the system architecture and having controls unified within the same 800xA ICSS System. The need for a separate operator workstation, I/O network, servers, networks, switches and other auxiliary systems is removed. This provides faster startup and greater machine protection, safety and stability.

Until now, installing turbomachinery controls has involved multiple systems, often from different suppliers, that need to be interfaced. Now, operators can benefit from one common platform, for both compressor and DCS controls, from which they can monitor the most critical and expensive assets of their plants – turbines, compressors, pumps and generators.

“We are pleased to collaborate with ABB on this innovative solution which will further help customers solve their most complex control issues across many sectors relying on turbomachinery,” said Paul Fisher, President at ECT. “ECT’s superior compressor control algorithms and technology integrated into the ABB Ability™ System 800xA® DCS will allow customers to run their turbomachinery control system in automatic all the time, providing users with increased production, energy efficiency, and machine protection.”

“This collaboration marks a significant development within the integrated turbomachinery control solutions market and we’re excited to already see uptake from some major US customers, with plans to roll out worldwide,” said Per Erik Holsten, President of ABB Energy Industries. “Turbomachinery is essential to industry but ongoing innovation is necessary to enhance energy efficiency. Leveraging ABB’s technology presents an immediate opportunity to achieve our goal of helping customers to reduce energy demand by optimizing industrial processes.”

Under the agreement, ABB is providing the hardware, software and technical support for ECT to develop the turbomachinery solution for the 800xA platform, while ECT is providing the turbomachinery control algorithm and engineering design, among other assets.

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Turbine control migration solution

For decades, companies have depended on GE's Mark™ IV and V series of turbine controls for exceptional performance and reliability. With systems approaching 30 years of continuous service, users now seek to modernize their systems to address obsolescence and take advantage of the many GE offerings to further improve turbine performance, operability, and availability. With tight budgets and short timelines, companies are looking for optimal value. At the 7EA Users Group Annual Conference (26 - 28 October, Memphis, TN US), GE will showcase Mark IV and Mark V control migration solutions at the Vendor Fair on the evening of the 27th October.

To minimize risk, cost, and downtime, GE's migrations upgrade Mark IV and Mark V Control systems to the latest Mark VIe through replacement of critical and obsolete technology only.  All existing turbine devices and wiring terminations remain.

Upgrading to the Mark VIe system provides increased computing power, which enables many new features and algorithms for new turbine functions, such as advanced Dry Low NOx systems and operational flexibility (OpFlex™) enhancements. OpFlex is a suite of software solutions that increases user flexibility, speed and efficiency in turbine control. This upgrade provides a complete modernization of operator stations and networks to current technology. Additional upgrade features and benefits include:

• Minimized Cost & Installation Time: Eliminates the need for new field terminations and turbine devices, reducing downtime.
• Elimination of Out-of-Production Technologies: Solves the problem of difficult-to-obtain spare parts.
• Enhanced Operability: Fully distributable and scalable system offers ease of operation with improved graphics, alarm/event management, trending, and more. Up-to-date I/O capability allows adding and distributing Mark VIe I/O blocks - locally or remotely - and communication via modern, high-speed networks at all levels with Ethernet client/server capability.
• Increased Communications Availability: Provides redundant communications within the control and options for network redundancy between controls and HMIs.
• More Efficient Maintenance: One, modern software tool configures networks, processors, and I/O boards, along with editors, block libraries, and diagnostics.
• Enhanced Compatibility: Compatible with current programs for compliance with cyber security standards, maintenance programs, and remote monitoring and diagnostics.
• Plant-Wide Integration: Complete unit network integration with other Mark VI, Mark VIe, and EX2100 systems used for turbine control, plant control (DCS), generator control, and safety systems. Integration with 3rd party plant DCS systems is also standard.

Above all, this upgrade gives plants a clear path for future enhancements and life cycle support, allowing increased reliability, stability, and operational flexibility of the plant's turbine generator. In addition, this provides an opportunity to install an EX2100 digital front end during the same short outage to modernize aging generator excitation controls.