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Contents
A4 What controller fits your application?
Controllers available for modern applications include programmable logic controllers (PLCs),
programmable automation controllers (PACs), distributed control systems (DCS), industrial
PCs (IPCs) or PC-based control, and embedded (board-level) controllers. What criteria
should be used to choose among them and why?

Utility upgrades SCADA and RTU

Clarksville, Ark. needed to upgrate its utility SCADA and HMIs as well as take advantage of
the communications inherent in the protective relays that safeguard electrical circuits from
abnormal conditions.

Water utility upgrades control system

Controls for the water and wastewater systems at the treatment facilities in Russellville, Ark.
were becoming obsolete. The city turned to Brown Engineers for a badly-needed upgrade. A4
A10 Chemical manufacturer tames
alarm management
A southern U.S. chemical manufacturer solved its alarm management issues while
focusing on goals and aligning with industry standards.

A14 Understanding permanent magnet motors

A permanent magnet (PM) motor is an ac motor that uses magnets imbedded into or
attached to the surface of the motor’s rotor. This article provides an elementary understand-
ing behind the terminology, concepts, theory, and physics behind PM motors. A10
C OMMENT
Taking steps in a new direction

I
n this issue, AppliedAutomation begins its focus data acquisition (SCADA), remote terminal unit
on application stories and case studies. Most of (RTU) monitoring, and control of its electric,
the content will explore how system integrators water, and wastewater utilities. In the other case
and control engineers apply automation, instru- study, the author describes how the controls
mentation, and control theories and techniques for Russellville, Ark.’s treatment facilities were
to help you operate your facilities profitably, effi- becoming obsolete, and how the legacy system
ciently, reliably, and securely. was replaced with a secure industrial control sys-
The cover story is presented in three parts. tem, which is now part of an integrated plantwide
Jack Smith The author explains how the plethora of indus- SCADA system.
Editor trial control system choices have evolved and The second article in this issue explains how a
how the lines that separate them continue to southern U.S. chemical manufacturer solved its
blur. He offers selection criteria for modern alarm management issues while focusing on goals
controls and provides valuable decision-making and aligning with industry standards.
criteria. In addition, the author includes two Although the new focus of AppliedAutomation
case studies. Clarksville Light & Water Co. is starts now, tutorial-based content still will be
a municipally-owned utility that has been serv- included. Such is the case with the third article in
ing the Clarksville, Ark. community since 1913. this issue, which provides an elementary under-
He explains how a new control system provides standing behind the terminology, concepts, theory,
a secure platform for supervisory control and and physics behind permanent magnet motors.

ON THE COVER The photo shows one of the four Clarksville, Ark. substations controlled across the city’s new fiber optic network using a supervisory
control and data acquisition (SCADA) remote terminal unit (RTU). Courtesy: Brown Engineers LLC

Applied Automation February 2017 • A3

 C o n t r o l l e r s e l e Ct i o n

What controller fits

your application?
Controllers available for modern applications include programmable logic controllers (PlCs),
programmable automation controllers (PACs), distributed control systems (DCs),
industrial PCs (iPCs) or PC-based control, and embedded (board-level) controllers.
What criteria should be used to choose among them and why?

By Dee Brown PE seems to indicate a lack of standards, which leads to a

Brown Engineers LLC lack of efficiency and reliability with regard to installation

T
and ongoing maintenance of control systems. Because
controllers sometimes last for more than 20 years, they
he choices for a controller are as diverse now often are forgotten behind gray panel doors where no one
as they have been at any time in the history of sees them and they tend to run until failure. Out of sight,
industrial control systems. Many types of con- out of mind, as the saying goes. Many times, there are
trollers are available for discrete, process, and plant expansions or retrofits where a vendor or contractor
hybrid control applications, including program- may install a later version of a controller—or even change
mable logic controllers (PLCs), programmable to a different controller—guided more by personal prefer-
automation controllers (PACs), distributed control sys- ence than overall control system maintenance. Such was
tems (DCS), industrial PCs (IPCs) or PC-based control, the status of operational technology (OT) for many years.
and embedded (board-level) controllers. And the lines Reliability was the key. The emergence of Windows-based
that differentiate them continue to blur. What criteria human-machine interfaces (HMIs) required controllers to
should be used to choose among them and why? add Ethernet connectivity, but even then, control systems
As control system engineers who have designed many were largely isolated from the rest of the business.
utility-based control systems, we see a large variety of
controllers even within the same plant. This diversity Controls for the 21st century
However, Internet connectivity now drives many technol-
ogy decisions. More people are relying on smartphones
and tablets to access data while on the go. Information
technology (IT) changes have exploded and OT and IT
are converging. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
also has moved to center stage and businesses need to
combine OT and IT to make it work. Control systems engi-
neers are well-poised to help this merger because they
understand plant floor operations as well as real-time data
that operates in millisecond timeframes.

Decision time
The convergence of OT and IT now drives the decision
as to which controller best fits a particular application.
Originally, control system engineers and technicians decid-
ed which controller best fit their application and others in
the organization didn’t interfere. Hardware selection was
based on factors, such as processing capability, control-
Figure 1: The photo shows one of the four Clarksville, Ark. substa- ler memory, and modularity where input/output (I/O) could
tions controlled across the city’s new fiber optic network using a easily be added as needed. Consideration was given to
supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) remote terminal availability of spare parts or support. It was up to the pro-
unit (RTU). All graphics courtesy: Brown Engineers LLC grammer or system integrator to use the device with which

A4 • February 2017 Applied Automation

they were familiar. Sometimes as long as a device was
“Ethernet capable” or “Modbus capable,” that was good
enough and that is why companies ended up with so many
different controllers.
That decision model is no longer suitable for industrial
control system (ICS) technology because it now evolves
so quickly. And the data affects and requires input from
more people. As a result, control system selection priori-
ties have changed.

Historical controller selection criteria

In the past, criteria for control system selection deci- Figure 2: Clarksville Light & Water Co. implemented a new secure con-
sions focused primarily on hardware and how it could be trol system from Bedrock Automation to monitor and control its elec-
supported. They included: tric, water, and wastewater utilities. The new control platform is paired
with Inductive Automation’s Ignition software platform to deliver an
n A hardware platform based on central processing integrated, secure open systems solution.
unit (CPU) power and memory
viable. In fact, as long as humans are involved, no true
n Scalability with modular I/O air gap exists. Controllers have been introduced within
the past year that have deep encryption methods, yet
n Availability of spare parts can continue to provide local control functionality during
denial of service attacks on their communications capa-
n Software programming languages bility. They also may include component supply chain
manufacturing security keys to ensure the highest levels
n Programming and support. of hardware and software authentication.
These features alone have changed the game in terms
of control systems. A manager of a utility made this eye-
Modern controller selection criteria opening statement, “Now, the control system decisions
Today, control system selection decisions focus less on are no longer made just by operations and technicians
hardware-centric criteria and more on networking, secu- staff, but it is up to the management to protect our utility’s
rity, and standardization. Modern ICS selection priorities infrastructure by selecting secure control systems plat-
include: forms.” He was wise to arrive at that conclusion, move to
new control system standards, and be willing to present
n Control systems with inherent networking and that challenge to the utility’s board so it could take proper
embedded cybersecurity action.
Robust programming languages for rapid applica-
n Robust programming languages for rapid application tion development: By having a complete tool set for
development controller programming, the integrator already has many
advantages for efficiency and reliability. These are best
n Scalability, standardization across the enterprise, expressed in IEC 61131 with function block (FB) diagram,
and reduced part count structured text (ST), sequential function chart (SFC), and
ladder diagram (LD). Having open (nonproprietary) pro-
n Changing protocols gramming standards that can now be incorporated with
deeply-embedded security keys will aid control system
n Expertise on hand for support and quick modifications, engineers and system integrators to confidently deliver
and features to meet changing business needs (in- the solutions that businesses need. Be sure to check the
house versus an engineering/system integrator). licensing cost of your programming software. Some man-
ufacturers are breaking free from the licensing models
Control systems with inherent networking capabili- and offering integrated development environments that
ties that include embedded cybersecurity features: are free, allow immediate downloading, and can be used
It’s hard to imagine not having data at our fingertips. That immediately.
would not be efficient. Companies need staff at all levels Scalability, standardization across the enterprise,
to have access to real-time data about operations—from and reduced part count: If this appears to be competing
the plant floor to the C-suite. Air gaps are no longer interests, check again. At least one manufacturer whose

Applied Automation February 2017 • A5

 C o n t r o l l e r s e l e Ct i o n

systems we install has broken the mold when it comes to works. During his 25 years of electrical engineering project
leveraging what was once competing standards. Scalable experience, he has specified and supervised numerous
architecture with one backplane (in five-slot, 10-slot, and generator installations and generator system improve-
20-slot options), one power supply, one blazing fast CPU ments, both as stand-alone projects and as components of
module, and a few I/O modules (including a universal much larger construction jobs. Brown has a BSEE and an
module that is software-selectable as input or output and MSEE from Louisiana Tech University.
discrete or analog). The platform is scalable to any size
while reducing part counts to a dozen or so components,
rather than having to select from thousands of part num- n CASE STUDy
bers like some vendors expect of you.
Standardizing on one platform throughout the enterprise
can have a significant benefit. Moving data between con-
Utility upgrades SCADA
trollers for proper automation functions can be a hassle.
Having a single platform that can reach from field remote
and RTU
terminal unit (RTU) all the way up to plant controllers with
DCS functionality of programming and HMI integration By Dee Brown PE
could yield benefits for years to come. Brown Engineers LLC

C
Even the protocols have changed: Even as fast as
software applications change, historically, the base-level larksville, Ark. needed to implement water utility
protocols were fairly constant—not so anymore. Publish/ SCADA and HMIs as well as take advantage of the
subscribe protocols have changed the way we implement communications inherent in the protective relays
networks. No more hammering the networks by polling that safeguard electrical circuits from abnormal conditions.
for data continuously. With the pub/sub model, we have Likewise, power metering equipment had to be integrated.
the ability to push the data—when changing data neces- Because the integration of electrical and power technolo-
sitates—to anywhere in the enterprise: to the ICS, HMIs, gies together would be phased in over many years, the
enterprise resource planning (ERP), inventory control, and solution also had to be easily expandable.
so on. Protocols that do this are available today with mes- Clarksville Light & Water Co. (CLW) is a municipally-
sage queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) and are in pro- owned utility that has been serving the Clarksville, Ark.
cess with OPC UA (OPC-UA stands for OLE for process community at not-for-profit rates since 1913. With annual
control, unified architecture). revenues of approximately $25 million, it provides retail
The right expertise: Having the right expertise on electric, water, and wastewater services to the community
hand to implement modern control technology is still key. as well as wholesale water to eight other cities and water
Whether that expertise is in-house staffing, or outsourced districts in the region.
engineering and integration, users will benefit from hav- A small town with a big vision, the city now is imple-
ing a team that is responsive and agile at quickly meeting menting a plan to realize as much as $2 million in sav-
business needs. Training in industry standards such as ings through improvements in reliable, predictable, and
IEC 61131-3 also will be a plus. consistent utility service levels, which is expected also
There are many disruptive technologies that affect the to attract new investment from the business community
ICS. We are asking more of the industrial control system and stimulate job creation. The plan included enhancing
ICS than ever before. Staying with the status quo is no its municipal infrastructure with 16.7 miles of 288-strand
longer good enough. For digital natives who grew up in fiber-optic cable in redundant loops throughout the city as
this space, the selection criteria will be second nature to part of a long-term vision for locally-owned and operated
them. This requires us to think differently about control fiber optic networking capability.
system platforms, the vendors, and partners to determine CLW general manager John Lester also saw this as an
which systems can now meet these challenges as we look opportunity to leverage overdue monitoring and control of
ahead to increased growth, reliability, and cybersecurity of the city’s four electrical substations, and water treatment
the ICS and the infrastructure it controls. It is time to stop and distribution operations, and eventually its wastewater
thinking about hardware and start demanding the open utility systems, which include supervisory control and data
and secure automation platform and tools required for the acquisition (SCADA) and human-machine interface (HMI)
digital enterprise. implementations (see Figure 1).

Dee Brown, PE is principal and co-founder of Brown Wireless becomes a challenge

Engineers LLC, Little Rock, Ark. He manages projects In the short term, CLW used wireless radio communica-
involving industrial, municipal, and commercial facilities for tions. However, it soon became apparent that wireless
power distribution, software based controls, radio telem- could not deliver the reliability and security that a critical
etry, video surveillance, access control systems, and net- infrastructure demanded. The fiber network communica-

A6 • February 2017 Applied Automation

tion system, solved the communications problem with a
reliable, cost effective, and secure network and the chal-
lenge was to find the most economical way to operate a
SCADA system across it. It was also necessary to protect
the electrical circuits from abnormal conditions. Protective
relays were in place that communicated via a serial port,
but this connection was not being used. Likewise, power
metering equipment had to be integrated. And because
the integration of electrical and power technologies would
be phased in over many years, the solution also had to be
easily expandable.
“We had an immediate need to implement water util-
ity SCADA and HMIs and in the short term had decided
to use wireless radios,” said Lester. “However, it became
apparent that wireless couldn’t deliver the reliability and Figure 3: The new control platform can be deployed as a PLC, DCS,
security that our critical infrastructure demanded. A fiber SCADA, or RTU, which allowed Clarksville to simplify and standard-
network communication system was the most reliable, cost ize on a secure control environment across all of its departments.
effective, and secure network we could put in place. It also
offered the potential to layer in other revenue generation Figure 4: The photo shows
services, both internally and externally.” a supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA)
Solution: One platform for water and power system user in front of a
Clarksville, Ark. selected a control system from San remote terminal unit (RTU)
Jose, Calif.-based Bedrock Automation. Bedrock-certified
marshalling cabinet. This
solution provider Brown Engineers LLC, Little Rock, Ark.
controller is connected to
completed the installation in the second quarter of 2016
and the system is now in full operation. an existing RTU using a
The new control system provides a single, cybersecure DNP3 protocol.
platform for SCADA remote terminal unit (RTU) monitor-
ing and control of its electric, water, and wastewater utili- directs and protects
ties. The new control platform is paired with Inductive data transfers along the
Automation’s Ignition software platform to deliver an inte- new city-wide fiber ring.
grated, secure open systems solution that enables CLW Its design allows all
to proactively manage critical infrastructure assets both five of the new control-
onsite and remotely (see Figure 2). lers to connect directly
“The fiber optic network gave us a way to tap the new to the fiber optic cable
functionality for our remote operations and when we without the need for
learned that choosing the new control system as our RTU additional connectors.
would mean that military-grade cybersecurity was already With this foundation in place, CLW now plans to use
built in,” Lester said. “We also saw a very cost-effective automated circuit switching in addition to monitoring and
way to reduce cyber risks while addressing the looming load balancing on the local grid. This also presents an
North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) opportunity to realize demand-side management for the
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) compliance require- electric utility. CLW expects to realize improved overall
ments.” reliability, shortened response times, and reduced power
Many utility managers are trying to understand what supply costs to the utility and its customers.
they are supposed to do about cyber threats. This new We wanted each substation RTU to have enough horse-
control system, which embeds authentication into the power to aggregate all power meter data and protective
hardware layer, offers the most hardened and easily-imple- relay data for sequence of event recording (see Figure 4).
mented solution we’ve seen. We also considered future development needs of power
The new control platform can be deployed as a PLC, management techniques that allow for demand manage-
DCS, SCADA, or RTU, which allowed CLW to simplify ment and load shedding controls. The new controllers
and standardize on a secure control environment across provide those features in an easy-to-manage integrated
all its departments (see Figure 3). Extending the new development environment (IDE) as well as built in cyber-
SCADA deployment to the grid offers a simple and effec- security protections embedded at the hardware level.
tive way to add secure control and monitoring of remote Protective relays monitor electrical parameters to detect
assets. At each of CLW’s substations, a new controller abnormal conditions that could result in damage to assets

Applied Automation February 2017 • A7

 CONTROLLER SELECTION

Figure 5: HMI Screens of the

Clarksville Light & Water electric util-
ity were developed using Ignition
software from Inductive Automation.
Single-line diagrams of each substa-
tion were developed with pop-up
details for station power meters and
feeder protective relays.

(see Figure 5). At CLW, the exist-

ing protective relays were capa-
ble of communicating via a serial
port, but this connection was not
being used. Brown Engineers
developed an application that
extended the communication
libraries provided by the Bedrock
IDE to allow communication with
the existing protective relays. A model of the protective Reaping the benefits
relays was created in the Bedrock IDE, and a corresponding The flexibility and power of this solution will pay divi-
model was created in Ignition, the software CLW used from dends into the future. In the near term, CLW intends to
Inductive Automation. Both protective relay models were introduce localized backup power generation during peak
connected by configuring a few communication parameters times by extending the new control platform into key
and then the data from the protective relays was made nodes, such as backup generators installed at hospitals
available to Ignition software where it is displayed, stored, or other major facilities. It’s all part of Clarksville’s intelli-
and used to create alert notifications (see Figure 6). gent grid vision for better managing power demand costs
The same methodology was used to integrate power and reducing energy loss.
metering equipment. Design elements common to both With the new system in place, CLW now controls
protective relays and power meters were uniformly incor- functionality via remote access for RTU sites as well as
porated into both models, and only non-common design 24/7 automated and on-demand remote monitoring of
elements were developed in each respective model. If the key assets. That kind of connectivity enables the utility
models for the protective relays and the power meters had to optimize asset maintenance actions through custom
been more similar, a separate model would have been email and text alerts based on real-time data. The system
created with the common design elements and this model already is generating results. “This system has reduced
would have been extended to provide the specific require- overtime—a direct savings,” said Lester. “Problems can
ments for protective relays and power monitors. be identified, sometimes even solved, without having to
physically be at the plant or in
the field. That translates into
cost savings, improved reli-
ability, and higher customer
satisfaction.”
In addition to cost savings,
it’s improving personnel effi-

Figure 6: A dashboard shows the

status of all power facilities under
control. Brown Engineers designed
it using Inductive Automation’s
Ignition supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA) software.
The system display shows weather
conditions and correlates system
demand. Maximum demand each
month is shown in the bar chart.

A8 • February 2017 Applied Automation

ciency and increasing public safety. “I was away from the although it mostly performs the same functions as the
office when two low-level tank alerts popped up on my legacy PLc, the new system is quite different from the
tablet. That saved at least an hour responding to a water legacy PLc. Instead of a traditional pin-based backplane,
line break, helping us prevent low-pressure areas or a it uses an electromagnetic backplane, which eliminates pin
dry-tank event, which would have triggered a boil order corrosion and breakage, improving long-term reliability and
for the public.” enabling embedded security by preventing the possibility
of using counterfeit input/output (I/O) modules. The elec-
tromagnetic backplane also creates a galvanic isolation
n case sTudy barrier between field wiring and the controller, and pro-
vides a high-performance, deterministic I/O update rate to
Water utility upgrades support current functionality and additional planned expan-
sions. The new system also is different from the legacy
control system PLcs in the following ways:

n The new system runs a military-grade safe and

By Dee Brown PE secure real-time operating system, further embedding
Brown Engineers LLC security into the software and firmware used to con-

C
trol the facility.
ontrols for the water and wastewater systems at the
treatment facilities in Russellville, ark. were becom- n It can operate from 90 to 260 V ac or dc power without
ing obsolete. The city turned to Brown engineers for fans or dual inline package (dIP) switches for simplic-
a badly-needed upgrade. ity and robustness; and embeds standard, open sys-
Russellville city corp. has provided Russellville, ark. tem technologies, including OPc ua, a fully compliant
with quality water and wastewater systems for approxi- Iec 61131-3 programming environment, and standard
mately 25 years. The utility oversees 25 square miles of ethernet support at the control and I/O networks.
the water and wastewater systems in Russellville, serving
more than 20,000 customers and supplying drinking water n The new control system consists of only a dozen
to residents living within an additional 240 square miles part numbers, reducing installation and maintenance
outside the city. costs.

Challenges of obsolescence n The system is scalable for more advanced control

The controls for the city’s treatment facilities were functions, such as serving as a supervisory control
becoming obsolete. One of the PLcs running automatic and data acquisition (scada) system, remote transfer
control of the digestion blowers, clarifiers, sludge pumps, unit (RTu), or distributed control system (dcs).
and chlorination chemical feed pumps had failed and it
was necessary to replace it. Instead of replacing it with The new controller is part of an integrated plantwide
more of the same, steve Mallett Jr. Pe, general manager scada system. users connect to that system via Ignition
of Russellville city corp., wanted something that would software from Inductive automation. The software is an
meet future demands. driven in part by concerns of a industrial applications platform that coordinates control and
former u.s. military general who sat on the corporation’s data acquisition for all plant PLcs and RTus.
board, he especially was looking to protect the city’s water
supply from cyber threats. Secure results
“The PLcs running the automatic control of our diges- There is an increased interest in cybersecurity among
tion blowers, clarifiers, sludge pumps, and chlorination municipal utility clients, such as city corp. Many execu-
chemical feed pumps had become obsolete,” said Mallett, tives at these organizations want to control security func-
who is responsible for the arkansas pollution control facil- tions from their tablets and control centers because their
ity. “When one of them failed, we wanted to replace it with networks are getting hammered every day by probes and
something that would provide a path to the future.” attempted intrusions. Russellville’s new controller gives the
company another layer of protection beyond firewalls and
Secure solution virtual private networks (VPNs). It is unique in that as it
The Russellville, ark. water and sewer system, operated powers up, it checks to be sure that all hardware and soft-
by Russellville city corp., replaced its legacy PLc with ware components are validated. Regular PLcs just can’t
a secure industrial control system from san Jose, calif.- do that.
based Bedrock automation. Bedrock-certified solution pro- according to Mallett, since the upgrade was completed,
vider Brown engineers LLc, Little Rock, ark., completed the system has been performing to specifications and run-
the upgrade in November 2015. ning without issue.

Applied Automation February 2017 • A9

 A l Ar m m A nAg e m e n t

Chemical manufacturer tames

alarm management
even after an input/output (I/O) migration, and installing a new distributed control system
(DCS) and safety instrumented system (SIS), a southern U.S. chemical manufacturer
experienced even more alarms. this article explains how the company solved its alarm
management issues while focusing on goals and aligning with industry standards.

By Jack Smith Editor Alarm management statistics showed that operators

AppliedAutomation were flooded with alarms for 35% of their shift, 25% of

A
alarms were chattering, and each operator had more than
80 standing alarms. Chattering alarms were a significant
larm management can become wild over distraction to operators because they had no significant
time as a result of changes in process, immediate consequence. Operators were experiencing
equipment, and personnel. Such was the alarm flooding. However, without context to these alarms,
case at a manufacturing facility in the they were difficult to address and were affecting the oper-
southern U.S. where the automation system ators’ ability to do their jobs efficiently.
was controlled by a mixture of a distributed The facility team decided to perform a migration of
control system (DCS) and programmable logic control- more than 9,000 input/output (I/O) to Emerson’s DeltaV
lers (PLCs) for compounding units. Over time, the plant’s distributed control system (DCS) and DeltaV safety
alarm management had lost efficiency and had grown instrumented system (SIS). But when the team migrated
difficult to manage. The facility leaders knew they had to the new system, new alarms were generated and the
to change the status quo because alarms were dragging alarm count went up. What happened next wouldn’t have
down productivity and efficiency. been possible with the previous control system. The facil-
ity team decided to tame both the new and the old alarms
and created a program to manage the whole alarm sys-
tem more effectively. New functions in the DCS would
make this easier to accomplish.

Setting alarm management goals

and building a team
The team focused on goals first by creating a philoso-
phy document that established standards for address-
ing all aspects of alarm management (see Figure
1). It planned to comply with ANSI/ISA-18.2-2016:
Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries
and align with industry standards, such as less than six
alarms/operator/hour, less than 1% flood time/operator,
and less than nine standing alarms/operator.
To capture and report alarm metrics, the team installed
software that also housed the master alarm database.
Automated reports were quickly set up to ensure resourc-
es were put in the right places at the right times. The

Figure 1: The core of a successful alarm management strategy is

a strong philosophy to guide the project. All graphics courtesy:
Emerson

A10 • February 2017 Applied Automation

reports also highlighted the work that would be required
to reduce the poor metric numbers.
Management: Without support from management,
the improved alarm system project would not have gone
far. Management was required to support the timeline,
approve costs, commit to the time required from groups
(especially maintenance), and support a process site
owner familiar with the alarm system and code.
Shift leaders: Shift alarm leaders were assigned to
enforce the system. They reviewed standing alarms,
enforced use of the alarm summary screen, and at each
shift, reviewed hard copies of suppressed and nuisance
alarms.
Alarm-management subject matter expert (SME):
The alarm management SME was detailed-oriented and Figure 2: Emerson’s AMS asset management software can help
persistent enough to conduct weekly audits of suppressed/ validate alarms by alerting maintenance to issues with instrumen-
bypassed alarms with the shift, create a plan to fix the tation and devices.
issues, and quickly remove the suppression. The SME
also conducted monthly reviews with site staff to assess a wide range of backgrounds and could discuss all sce-
the health of the alarm system, determine the top 10 to 20 narios related to each alarm. Working four days a week,
bad actors, and create action plans for fixes. eight hours per day for six months, the group looked at
Diverse team: To obtain a broad perspective on alarm each alarm—more than 18,000 of them—individually and
requirements, the alarm team included members from risk/ranked the different scenarios. If the scenario quali-
many disciplines: a control systems specialist who under- fied for an alarm in the risk/rank matrix, the matrix pre-
stood the site’s alarm management, production special- scribed the alarm priority.
ists, senior board operators, and process engineers (who The study showed that most “alarms” did not qualify as
changed periodically to involve experts from each plant true alarms. As a result, the team decided to leave about
area and could help later with management-of-change 5,300 enabled alarms. For each enabled alarm, time
approvals). delays were documented as was the dynamic alarming
code for each enabled alarm.
Performing alarm documentation The newly designed master database documentation
and rationalization now meets the ISA 18.2 standard by including alarm tag,
With management support, committed people, and a alarm type, alarm setpoint, potential causes, consequenc-
budget in place, the work really began. The team began es of deviation, corrective action, and allowable response
to assess risk and rank alarms properly because it had time. The facility had specific requirements, however, that
it wanted to meet. Therefore,
the master database also
includes additional informa-
tion, such as alarm on and
off delay, enable conditions
and time delay, disable
conditions and time delay,
and management-of-change
(MOC) notes.

Figure 3: The overall alarm strat-

egy, including conditional alarm-
ing using the DeltaV DCS, has
reduced alarm per operator per
hour from consistently averaging
more than 15 to less than five.

Applied Automation February 2017 • A11

 A l Ar m m A nAg e m e n t

The reduction strategy shift. After research, though, the team realized the alarm
Correcting chattering alarms were first on the to-do numbers were inflated because of the chattering alarms
list. The chattering arose during the conversion to the that were being addressed. Still, the flood conditions eas-
new DCS because there was not any alarm ON or OFF ily could have buried important alarms.
delays. In the rationalization effort, most of the alarm To solve the three remaining issues (per hour aver-
OFF delays ended up being set to 20 seconds, and the age, standing alarms, and alarm floods), tools were
team then decided to set some delays longer on a case- available in the new DCS as were a mix or custom
by-case basis. Most of the alarms were rationalized out templates and codes, out-of-the-box functionality, and
with a 10-second ON delay, but each case was rational- account management.
ized individually to determine if a longer or shorter ON The team chose not to use the out-of-the box analog
delay was appropriate. input (AI), digital input (DI), and proportional, integral,
Implementation of the ON and OFF delays resulted and derivative (PID) block internal alarm parameters
in a significant improvement in alarm metrics. In fact, available in the DCS because the facility’s alarm strategy
chattering alarms were reduced from 25% of the alarm had too many mutually-exclusive conditions with different
count to less than 4% in the first stage. As the project time delays. Instead, the team created custom code for
continued, the chattering alarms fell below 0.25% of the these conditions: dc module fail alarms because of an
monthly alarm count. interlock condition, bad process variable (PV) alarm chat-
ter caused by failing instruments, and operator-initiated
DCS code strategy unit shutdowns that then initiated alarm floods that would
Larger issues awaited the team in the next phase with last for 20 minutes. In addition, Emerson’s AMS asset
per hour average, standing alarms, and flooding. management software assisted by alerting maintenance
Alarms/operator/hour average: When the group ini- of issues with instruments (see Figure 2).
tially formed, it had raw data from the startup of the units. Out-of-the-box conditional alarming parameters were
Standing alarms average: After the DCS conversion, implemented for the AI, DI, and PID modules, which
the team realized it had unknowingly converted I/O points brought a huge improvement in alarm numbers just by
that no longer existed in the field, thus contributing to the adding a 20-second OFF delay to alarms.
standing alarms. Many more alarms indicated that instru- The team created higher-level user accounts that
ments needed repair. The standing alarm numbers put allowed supervisors and specialists to suppress and un-
management support to the test. The maintenance man- suppress alarms. In fact, instead of just suppressing an
ager dedicated a technician to fix or remove the problem alarm, they could change the alarm setpoint to a higher
instruments. or lower value. By allowing the supervisors and special-
Alarm flood percent average: It is very difficult for ists to adjust the alarm setpoints, the alarm still will be
operators to correctly comprehend all the data and react enabled and will alarm if necessary. A hard copy safety
if alarm flood conditions exist for more than 35% of their system bypass form and nuisance alarm form are required
and reviewed at each shift (see Figure 3).

Work continues even after success

The work has paid off. Alarm numbers have sig-
nificantly improved and the facility is now meeting or
exceeding industry-accepted standards. The docu-
mented master database of all alarm data includes
setpoints, priorities, causes, operator responses, con-
sequences, time to respond, and conditional alarming
(see Figure 4).
Alarm management is a never-ending pursuit of con-
tinuous improvement. If left unmanaged, the numbers
will start to creep back up. It is important to continue to
ask if further reductions can be found in alarm averag-
es, standing alarms, and alarm floods. It also is critical
to have a management-of-change process that includes
documenting and rationalizing alarms. The process
must include a requirement that each new alarm has
database information completed and approved before an
Figure 4: Using conditional alarming, available by switching to the alarm is added to the DeltaV system.
DeltaV distributed control system, this facility was able to dramati-
cally overhaul and improve its alarm management process. Compiled from information provided by Emerson.

A12 • February 2017 Applied Automation

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 Back to Basics

Understanding permanent
magnet motors
a permanent magnet (PM) motor is an ac motor that uses magnets imbedded
into or attached to the surface of the motor’s rotor. this article provides an elementary
understanding behind the terminology, concepts, theory, and physics behind PM motors.

By Christopher Jaszczolt In some situations, it is possible to obtain comparably

Ya s k a w a A m e r i c a I n c . precise speed control without the need for feedback

C
sensors. This is made possible using a permanent mag-
net (PM) motor and a process called the “high-frequency
ontrolling the speed of ac motors is accom- signal injection method.”
plished using a variable frequency drive (VFD)
in most cases. While many scenarios involve Induction machines
using VFDs with induction motors with stator An ac induction machine (IM) also is commonly
windings to generate a rotating magnetic field, referred to as an ac motor. A rotating field is generated
they also can achieve precise speed control using speed by the stator winding. The rotating field induces a cur-
or position feedback sensors as a reference to the VFD. rent in the rotor bars. The current generation requires

Figure 1: Magnetic saliency is the inductance variation at the motor terminals according to the rotor position.
All graphics courtesy: Yaskawa America Inc.

A14 • February 2017 Applied Automation

a speed difference between the rotor Key 3-phase ac motor characteristics
and the magnetic field. The interaction
between the field and the current produces Motor type Characteristics
the driving force. Therefore, ac induction
No permanent magnet
machines are the predominant motor oper-
ated by adjustable speed drives. Asynchronous motor
Induction motor
Robust
PM motors (squirrel-cage rotor)
A PM motor is an ac motor that uses Low cost
magnets imbedded into or attached to the Low efficiency
surface of the motor’s rotor. The magnets
are used to generate a constant motor Magnets are mounted on the surface of the rotor
flux instead of requiring the stator field to Surface-mounted
No reluctance torque
generate one by linking to the rotor, as is PM motor
the case with an induction motor. A fourth Mechanically weak, especially at high speed
motor known as a line-start PM (LSPM) Magnets are buried inside the rotor
motor incorporates characteristics of both
More robust than the SPM
motors. An LSPM motor incorporates a Interior-buried
PM motor’s magnets within the rotor and PM motor Good for high speed
a squirrel cage motor’s rotor bars to maxi-
Reluctance and magnetic torque
mize torque and efficiency (see Table 1).
Has both squirrel-cage and PM rotors
Flux, flux linkage, and magnetic flux
Good starting torque
To understand the operation of PM
Line-start
motors, it is important to first understand PM motor
High efficiency
the concepts of magnetic flux, flux linkage, Drives for induction motors can be used
and magnetic flux.
Flux: The flow of current through a Expensive
conductor creates a magnetic field. Flux Source: Yaskawa America Inc.
defines the rate of flow of a property per
Table 1: Key 3-phase ac motor characteristics
unit area. Flux current is the rate of cur-
rent flow through a given conductor cross-
sectional area.
Flux linkage: Flux linkage occurs when a magnetic change of the current that produced the magnetic field.
field interacts with a material such as what would happen The voltage in the conductor is determined by the follow-
when a magnetic field goes through a coil of wire. Flux ing equation:
linkage is determined by the number of windings and flux,
di
where ϕ is used to indicate the instantaneous value of a Conductor voltage: V = L
dt
time-varying flux.

Flux linkage is defined by the following equation: Inductance: Inductance (L) is the constant of propor-
tionality that defines the relationship between the volt-
Flux linkage: λ = Nφ ages induced by a time rate of change in current that
produced a magnetic field. In simpler terms, inductance
Magnetic flux: Magnetic flux is defined as the rate of a is the flux linkage per unit current. It must be made clear
magnetic field flowing through a given conductor’s cross- that inductance is a passive element and is purely a geo-
sectional area. Magnetic flux field is generated by a per- metric property. Inductance is measured in Henrys (H) or
manent magnet within or on the surface of a permanent weber-turns per ampere.
magnet motor. The d axis and q axis: In geometric terms, the “d” and
Inductor: An inductor is a circuit element that con- “q” axes are the single-phase representations of the flux
sists of a conducting wire usually in the form of a coil. contributed by the three separate sinusoidal phase quan-
A conductor carrying a constant current will generate a tities at the same angular velocity. The d axis, also known
constant magnetic field. It can be demonstrated that a as the direct axis, is the axis by which flux is produced
magnetic field and the current that produced it are lin- by the field winding. The q axis, or the quadrature axis is
early related. Changing the magnetic field will induce a the axis on which torque is produced. By convention, the
voltage in a nearby conductor proportional to the rate of quadrature axis always will lead the direct axis electrical-

Applied Automation February 2017 • A15

 Back to Basics

Figure 2: The drawing on the left shows that when high-frequency voltage is injected, motor impedance changes. The graph on the right
shows IPM motor impedance variation according to injection angle.

ly by 90 deg. In simplistic terms, the because the magnets are outside the
d axis is the main flux direction, while
High frequency rotor and do not limit the amount of
the q axis is the main torque produc- iron linked by the stator field.
ing direction. injection is an Magnetic saliency: Salience or
Magnetic permeability: In elec- saliency is the state or quality by which
tromagnetism, permeability is the something stands out relative to its
measure of the ability of a material to inverter methodology neighbors. Magnetic saliency describes
support the formation of a magnetic the relationship between the rotor’s
field within itself. Hence, it is the main flux (d axis) inductance and the
degree of magnetization that a mate- used to detect a main torque-producing (q axis) induc-
rial obtains in response to an applied tance. The magnetic saliency varies
magnetic field. PM motor’s magnetic depending on the position of the rotor
PM motor equivalent circuit: A to the stator field, where maximum
permanent magnet motor can be saliency occurs at 90 electrical deg
represented in a few different motor pole position. from the main flux axis (d axis) (see
models. One of the most common Figure 1).
methods is the d-q motor model. Excitation current: Excitation cur-
PM motor d-axis and q-axis inductance: The d axis rent is “the current in the stator windings required to
and q axis inductances are the inductances measured generate magnetic flux in the rotor core.” Permanent
as the flux path passes through the rotor in relation to magnet machines do not require excitation current
the magnetic pole. The d-axis inductance is the induc- in the stator winding because a PM motor’s magnets
tance measured when flux passes through the magnetic already generate a standing magnetic field.
poles. The q-axis inductance is the inductance measure Secondary current: Secondary current, otherwise
when flux passes between the magnetic poles. known as “the torque-producing current,” is the cur-
In an induction machine, the rotor flux linkage will be rent required to generate motor torque. In a permanent
the same between the d axis and the q axis. However, magnet machine, torque-producing currents make up
in a permanent magnet machine, the magnet reduces the majority of the current draw.
the available iron for flux linkage. A magnet’s perme- Pull-in current: Unlike an amplifier and servo
ability is near that of air. Therefore, the magnet can be matched set intended for motion control, a convention-
viewed as an air gap. The magnet is in the flux path al VFD does not have information about the position
as it travels through the d axis. The flux path traveling of the motor’s rotor magnetic pole. Without knowledge
through the q axis does not cross a magnet. Therefore, of the magnetic pole position, a field cannot be gen-
more iron can be linked with the q-axis flux path, which erated in the stator to maximize torque production.
results in a larger inductance. A motor with an imbedded Therefore, a VFD has the ability to provide dc voltage
magnet will have a larger q-axis inductance than the to lock the magnetic field into a known position. The
d-axis inductance. A motor with surface-mount magnets current draw required to pull in the rotor is called the
will have nearly identical q-axis and d-axis inductances “pull-in current.”

A16 • February 2017 Applied Automation

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 Back to Basics

Figure 3: This drawing shows two common types

of permanent magnet (PM) motors. The magnets
of the surface-mounted permanent magnet (SPM)
motor, shown on the left, are attached on the
surface of the rotor, whereas those of the internal
permanent magnet (IPM) motor are buried inside.

Understanding PM machine torque

An electric machine’s torque can be
broken down into two components:
magnetic torque and reluctance torque.
Reluctance torque is the “force acting on
the magnetic material that tends to align
with the main flux to minimize reluc-
tance.” In other words, reluctance torque
is the torque generated by the alignment
of the rotor shaft to the stator flux field.
High-frequency injection: High frequency injection Magnetic torque is the “torque generated by the interaction
is an inverter methodology used to detect a PM motor’s between the magnet’s flux field and the current in the sta-
magnetic pole position. The method begins by the inverter tor winding.”
injecting a high-frequency, low-voltage signal into the Reluctance torque: Reluctance torque pertains to the
motor at an arbitrary axis. The inverter then swings the torque generated through the alignment of the rotor that
angle of excitation and monitors the current. occurs when the magnetic field forces a desired direct
According to the injection angle, rotor impedance varies. flow from the north stator pole to the south stator pole.
Interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor terminal imped- Magnetic torque: Permanent magnets generate a
ance decreases when the high-frequency signal injecting flux field in the rotor. The stator generates a field that
axis and the magnetic pole axis (d-axis) are aligned, i.e. interacts with the rotor’s magnetic field. Changing the
at 0 deg. The impedance is maximum at ±90 deg. (see position of the stator field with respect to the rotor field
Figure 2) Using this characteristic, the drive can detect causes the rotor to shift. The shift due to this interac-
the rotor position without pulse encoders by injecting high tion is the magnetic torque.
frequency ac voltage/current to the IPM motor. Moreover,
the high-frequency signal injection method can be used for SPM versus IPM
speed detection in the low-speed region where typically A PM motor can be separated into two main categories:
full-load torque control is very difficult because the motor’s surface permanent magnet motors (SPM) and interior
back-emf voltage level is too low. permanent magnet motors (IPM) (see Figure 3). Neither
motor design type contains rotor bars. Both types gener-
Back-emf waveform ate magnetic flux by the permanent magnets affixed to
Back emf is short for back electromotive force, but or inside of the rotor.
also known as the counter-electromotive force. The back SPM motors have the magnets affixed to the exterior
electromotive force is the voltage that occurs in electric of the rotor surface. Because of this mechanical mount-
motors when there is a relative motion between the stator ing, their mechanical strength is weaker than that of
windings and the rotor’s magnetic field. The geometric IPM motors. The weakened mechanical strength limits
properties of the rotor will determine the shape of the the motor’s maximum safe mechanical speed. In addi-
back-emf waveform. These waveforms can be sinusoidal, tion, these motors exhibit very limited magnetic saliency
trapezoidal, triangular, or something in between. (Ld ≈ Lq). Inductance values measured at the rotor ter-
Both induction and PM machines generate back-emf minals are consistent regardless of the rotor position.
waveforms. In an induction machine, the back-emf wave- Because of the near unity saliency ratio, SPM motor
form will decay as the residual rotor field slowly decays designs rely significantly, if not completely, on the mag-
because of the lack of a stator field. However, with a netic torque component to produce torque.
PM machine, the rotor generates its own magnetic field. IPM motors have the permanent magnet imbedded into
Therefore, a voltage can be induced in the stator wind- the rotor itself. Unlike their SPM counterparts, the loca-
ings whenever the rotor is in motion. Back-emf voltage tion of the permanent magnets make IPM motors very
will rise linearly with speed and is a crucial factor in mechanically sound, and suitable for operating at very
determining maximum operating speed. high speeds. These motors also are defined by their rela-

A18 • February 2017 Applied Automation

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 Back to Basics

Figure 4: These four drawings compare the saliency characteristics of surface permanent magnet motors (SPM) and interior permanent
magnet motors (IPM).

tive high magnetic saliency ratio (Lq > Ld). Due to their production. Opposing the flux field will negate the existing
magnetic saliency, an IPM motor has the ability to gener- magnet field of the motor. The reduced magnet field will
ate torque by taking advantage of both the magnetic and limit torque production, but reduce the back-emf voltage.
reluctance torque components of the motor (see Figure 4). The reduced back-emf voltage frees up voltage to push
the motor to operate at higher output speeds. Both types
PM motor structures of operation require additional motor current. The direc-
PM motor structures can be separated into two catego- tion of the motor current across the d axis, provided by the
ries: interior and surface. Each category has its subset motor controller, determines the desired effect.
of categories. A surface PM motor can have its magnets
on or inset into the surface of the rotor, to increase the Angle of excitation
robustness of the design. An interior permanent magnet The angle of excitation is the angle at which the vector
motor positioning and design can vary widely. The IPM sum of the d-axis and q-axis waveforms are excited to
motor’s magnets can be inset as a large block or stag- the motor with respect to the d axis. The d axis is always
gered as they come closer to the core. Another method is viewed to be where the magnet exists. Maximum mag-
to have them imbedded in a spoke pattern. netic flux is achieved at the q axis, which is 90 electrical
deg from the d axis. Therefore, most references of the
PM motor inductance variation with load angle of excitation already take into account the 90-deg
Only so much flux can be linked to a piece of iron to difference from the d axis to the q axis.
generate torque. Eventually, the iron will saturate and
no longer allow flux to link. The result is a reduction to Phase angle and torque
the inductance of the path taken by a flux field. In a PM Magnetic torque is maximized when the stator field
machine, the d-axis and q-axis inductance values will excites the motor rotor 90 electrical deg from the d
reduce with increases to the load current. axis (motor magnet position). Reluctance torque fol-
The d and q axis inductances of an SPM motor are lows a different path and is maximized 45 electrical deg
nearly identical. Because the magnet is outside of the past the q axis. The maximum magnetic torque takes
rotor, the inductance of the q axis will drop at the same advantage of both the motor’s reluctance and magnetic
rate as the d axis inductance. However, the inductance torques. Shifting further away from the q axis reduces
of an IPM motor will reduce differently. Again, the d-axis magnetic toque, but is far outweighed by the gain in
inductance is naturally lower because the magnet is in reluctance torque. The maximum combined magnetic
the flux path and does not generate an inductive property. and reluctance torque occurs near 45 electrical deg
Therefore, there is less iron to saturate in the d axis, which from the q axis, but the exact angle will vary based on
results in a significantly lower reduction in flux with respect the characteristics of the PM motor.
to the q axis.
IPM motor power density
Flux weakening/intensifying A PM motor’s power generation depends on the con-
of PM motors figuration of the motor magnets and the resulting motor
Flux in a permanent magnet motor is generated by the saliency. Motors with a high saliency ratio (Lq > Ld) can
magnets. The flux field follows a certain path, which can increase motor efficiency and torque production by
be boosted or opposed. Boosting or intensifying the flux incorporating the motor’s reluctance torque. An inverter
field will allow the motor to temporarily increase torque can be used to change the angle of excitation with

A20 • February 2017 Applied Automation

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 Back to Basics

Permanent magnet materials and characteristics

Permanent magnet material Characteristics

Very good properties for PM motor magnets, except the Curie temperature is only
Neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B)
150°C; relatively abundant.

Samarium-cobalt (Sm-Co) Excellent high-temperature performance (550°C), but expensive.

Low cost and good properties, however, coercive force is too low and the B-H loop
Aluminum-nickel-cobalt (alnico)
is too square, which means that permanent demagnetization occurs easily.

Low cost, moderately high service temperature (400°C), and a straight-line demag-
Ferrites (barium and strontium) netization curve. However, the Br is low, which means the machine/motor volume
and size would need to be large.
Source: Yaskawa America Inc.

Table 2: Permanent magnet materials and characteristics

respect to the d axis to maximize both the reluctance such as coercivity and retentivity are used to define mag-
torque and magnetic torque of the motor. netic material strength retention capability.
Finally, large electrical disturbances can cause a per-
PM motor magnet types manent magnet to demagnetize. These electrical distur-
There are few types of permanent magnet materials bances can be from the material interacting with a large
currently used for electric motors. Each type of metal has magnetic field or if a large current is passed through the
its advantages and disadvantages (see Table 2). material. Much in the same way a strong magnetic field or
current can be used to align a material’s magnetic dipoles,
Permanent magnet demagnetization another strong magnetic field or current applied to the field
Permanent magnets are hardly permanent and do have generated by the permanent magnet can result in demag-
limited capabilities. Certain forces can be exerted onto netization.
these materials to demagnetize them. In other words, it is
possible to remove the magnetic properties of the perma- Self-sensing versus closed-loop operation
nent magnet material. A permanent magnetic substance Recent advances in drive technology allow standard ac
can become demagnetized if the material is significantly drives to “self-detect” and track the motor magnet position.
strained, allowed to reach significant temperatures, or is A closed-loop system typically uses the z-pulse channel to
impacted by a large electrical disturbance. optimize performance. Through certain routines, the drive
First, straining a permanent magnet is typically done by knows the exact position of the motor magnet by tracking
physical means. A magnetic material can become demag- the A/B channels and correcting for error with the z-chan-
netized, if not weakened, if it was to experience violent nel. Knowing the exact position of the magnet allows for
impacts/falls. A ferromagnetic material has inherent mag- optimum torque production resulting in optimum efficiency.
netic property. However, these magnetic properties can
emit in any multitude of directions. One way ferromagnetic Servomotors
materials are magnetized is by applying a strong magnetic Servomotors are permanent magnet motors used for
field to the material to align its magnetic dipoles. Aligning motion control applications. Typically, in an interior/inter-
these dipoles forces the magnetic field of the material into nal permanent-magnet motor design, these motors are
a specific bath. A violent impact can remove the atomic paired with a specific amplifier as part of a matched set
alignment of the material’s magnetic domains, which weak- to maximize performance. The amplifier has been fine
ens the strength of the intended magnetic field. tuned to the PM motor to reach optimum performance by
Secondly, temperatures also can affect a permanent its manufacturer. The motion amplifier/servo configura-
magnet. Temperatures force the magnetic particles in a tion typically uses motor feedback, which also provides a
permanent magnet to become agitated. The magnetic magnetic pole position and speed feedback.
dipoles have the ability to withstand some amount of
thermal agitation. However, long periods of agitation can Christopher Jaszczolt is a drives product management
weaken a magnet’s strength, even if stored at room tem- specialist at Yaskawa America Inc. He has more than nine
perature. In addition, all magnetic materials have a thresh- years of experience in motion control. In addition to his
old known as the “Curie temperature,” which is a threshold current title, Jaszczolt has worked as a technical support
that defines the temperature at which the thermal agitation engineer and an application engineer. He has a BSEE
causes the material to completely demagnetize. Terms from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Ill.

A22 • February 2017 Applied Automation

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Less does mean more!
To learn more, visit www.Lenze.com or come see us at:
ProMat 2017 Booth #S1831 As easy as that.