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Valves technology
Internet connected PC network Manages
Giant EIFEL valves
by Ingrid Einsiedler and Mario Anich, Kontron
After sixty years of service, the valves and pipes in one of the valve
chambers of the second largest water reservoir in Germany were worn out
and could no longer be repaired, so they had to be replaced. For the
remote controlling functions, the new system relies primarely on PC
technology, with communications via the Internet.
Every second, 100,000 liters of water roars through the two 22 metric ton
valves of the Eifel Rurtalsperre Schwammenauel, the second largest
reservoir in Germany with a capacity of 200 million m³. This reservoir
belongs to the Wasserverband Eifel-Rur (WVER), which operates a total of
six dams with a capacity of 300 million m³ in the northern Eifel. They
serve primarily as flood control, but are also used for the drinking water
supply and as a local recreation area. The Rurtalsperre is the largest of
the six reservoirs and, with the Urfttalsperre, forms a connected lake
region which lies, for the most part, in the Eifel national park.
When it came time to update the electronics of this massive system,
Kontron was chosen as a partner along with its Think IO system. This
system was chosen because it is a maintenance-free system with lots of
connectivity potential.
How does the system work?
Overall, what happens in the pipes, valves, and burst pipe protections
while the torrents of water churn through is illustrated in abstract form
on a flat-screen monitor, installed in the door of the control cabinet in
the valve chamber. If the cabinet is opened, the intelligent “monarch” of
the waters can be seen. The ThinkIO hides its PC functionality and
everything that goes along with it in a compact housing suitable for
control cabinets, just 224 x 100 x 70 mm. It controls, monitors, and
visualizes all of the fittings in the valve chamber.
In addition to the two pipes of the bottom outlet, there is a third which
branches to a small hydroelectric station. It displays a real-time
visualization of the entire facility on the flat panel in the door.
Furthermore, it is connected to the central monitoring of the dam in a
neighboring building via an analog dedicated line; later, the connection
will be realized via the Internet.
Major bottom outlet project
The pipes and valves of the bottom outlet in the valve chamber (this term
is generally used to describe the buildings which house the pipes and
fittings at water facilities) were already implemented in the first
building phase of the Rurtalsperre in 1936. After sixty years of service,
they were worn out and could no longer be repaired, so the WVER had them
replaced, a major project in construction and water technology that was
even presented by German television channel ZDF in its series “Abenteuer
Wissen”.
Electrical engineering
The engineering company Theo Hell Industrieelektrik is responsible for the
electrical engineering of the entire dam association and thus also in the
Rurtalsperren valve chamber. Each dam has its own central monitoring
station, which has been equipped by the Krefeld-based engineers. With
Hell-MDÜS the international, mid-sized company, which employs 230 people,
has developed its own modular data transmission system, which also covers
the communications for the Eifel dam network. Computer protected, it
reports malfunctions, captures measurement data, and offers full PLC
functionality. Together with a partner, Hell specially developed the
Webaqua visualization software for use on water facilities.
PC technology
In the future, Hell will rely primarily on PC technology for HELL-MDÜS
in order to use the wide variety of connectivity and communication
options. With their communications and device interfaces, PCs can be used
in any infrastructure without difficulty and controlled via the Internet.
This is a crucial point, especially in remote systems, such as those
represented by the electronics for the six WVER dams spread across more
than 1000 square kilometers. That is why all 30 remote workstations, which
so far have been connected via a dedicated line, will gradually be
replaced and equipped with top-hat rail PCs (Kontron ThinkIO). Then WVER
can take its pick: DSL, ISDN, GSM, UMTS, LAN, or analog; every
communication medium is possible with the Kontron PC.
Failproof
Besides its appropriate technical specifications, the ThinkIO offers a
complete bundle of qualities and functions: first of all, the top-hat rail
PC is only 70 mm deep, which makes it slimmer than most competing systems,
and it also finds plenty of room in a 90 mm control cabinet. Inside the
robust, heat-dissipating aluminum housing, there are no moving or active
parts like rotating fans or hard drives that are subject to deterioration
or failure. Thus, the Kontron ThinkIO is fail-proof and maintenance-free –
also an absolute must for geographically widely distributed systems. Also
very practical for HELL: with four spring-loaded quick-locks, the control
cabinet PC can be clicked onto the top-hat rails without tools.
With I/O module clamps, and a form-fitting and industrially tight
connection to the computer via the WAGO-I/O system, the ThinkIO is
adaptable and expandable to all applications. Up to 64 clamps can be added
directly and up to 252 are possible with an extension clamp. There are
well over 100 WAGO clamp versions on the market, including interface
modules for ASI, SSI, incremental decoder, RS232 or RS485.
The ThinkIO also earned points on the HELL evaluation checklist with its
software configuration: it is equipped with a real-time Linux operating
system, a web server, and a CoDeSys runtime environment for executing
applications programmed with the l IEC-61131-3-compliant, SOFT-PLC
development environment of the same name.
About the ThinkIO
For the WVER, HELL uses the “small” ThinkIO-C. Its 266MHz Geode processor
is powerful enough to handle the physically sluggish processes in the
pipes and valves. For more complex or time-critical computations, Kontron
offers the ThinkIO-P, which goes to work with Intel Pentium M processors
up to 1.4GHz. It is currently one of the fastest top-hat rail PCs on the
market, particularly since the 1.4GHz of the “mobile” Pentium processor
corresponds to approximately 2.2GHz in a normal desktop PC. And if the
Kontron ThinkIO is to be used in situations where it gets really hot or
cold, there is the extended-temperature version. The Intel Celeron M
processor in this control cabinet PC performs its duties on the top-hat
rail faultlessly in a temperature range from -40 to +70 degrees Celsius.
The Kontron ThinkIO communicates via two Ethernet interfaces with RJ45
plugs and 100 Mb/s, one RS232 interface, a Profibus-Master connection, and
two optional USB ports. More I/Os can be connected via the WAGO-I/O
system.
The processor of the Kontron ThinkIO-C has 128MB of RAM available. The
internal mass storage comes on a CompactFlash card with the same volume.
An additional CompactFlash can be added externally.
The Kontron ThinkIO works with a choice of Linux and Windows CE 5.0. A
CoDeSys runtime system is included in the delivery as an
IEC-61131-3-compliant Soft-PLC. Thus all applications programmed in the
development environment can be run on the Kontron ThinkIO. <<
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