Over 30 years of development across multiple platforms and a comprehensive base of installed systems have made the ECS platform the frontrunner in the cement industry.

ECS/ControlCenter sets new standards for flexibility, reliability, scalability,...

ECS /ControlCenter v.1.0

ECS /ControlCenter

The cost of production losses in the process industry makes plant availability the most critical factor when selecting a control system supplier. ECS/ControlCenter is therefore designed to be an

• Effectiveround-the-clockcontrolsystem.Thisisprovedby the product performance at 500+ cement plantsworldwide.

• Efficient control engineering platform enabling theshortestcommissioningtimeforgreenfieldprojectsaswellasupgradeandretrofitprojects.

Today, the ECS/ControlCenter platform is supported and integrated not only by the engineers of FLSmidth Automation in Denmark, but also by various teams and subsidiaries as well as cement producers and their associated engineering companies. This has been made possible through a sound and

reliable product development strategy as well as worldwide support and training services.

The general characteristics of the ECS/ControlCenter for process automation are the following:

Hardware independent. ECS/ControlCenter is designed for easy integration with numerous hardware products e.g. PLC & MCC to allow the user to freely choose the most suitable suppliers for the specific project. A configuration with main motors from one supplier and PLC’s from another is an example where ECS/ControlCenter is highly advantageous as the overall integrating system.

Open and configurable. Being a platform for control system solutions, ECS/ControlCenter is an open environment that fulfils a wide range of requirements in terms of local regula-

Why ECS /ControlCenter ?

HP A 32K

HP 1000 A 600

DEC VAX Open VMS DEC Alpha Open VMS

PC Windows 2000

PC Windows NT

PC Windows 2003 + XP

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The migration path of the product’s development strategy assures the users of reliable support of the control system. Today, a typical installation from the early 90’s can be upgraded to the latest version of MS Windows, without requiring a plant shutdown.

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Expert Control and Optimisation Applications

(ECS)

Laboratory Automationand Quality Assurance

Applications (QCX)

Adaptable Control Engineering Applications

(ACE)

ECS/ControlCenter

tions, group standardisation and equipment functionality. The configurable environment of the platform with its high degree of flexibility makes for customer satisfaction.

State-of-the-art. In step with continuous development of hardware and software, ECS/ControlCenter is known to utilise not only the most recent but also the most reliable technolo-gies in control system solutions.

Scalable. Scalability is a distinguishing characteristic of ECS/ControlCenter. An ECS/ControlCenter server can be used to control a single department with only a few hundred I/Os. The same server concept can later on be used to control additional production units or even the entire plant with high performance.

Using ECS/ControlCenter as the “host platform”, the customer is assured of an integrated system where FLSmidth’s “total supplier” commitment to complete process control and quality assurance throughout the plant is fulfilled. Common operator user interface and smooth data exchange across the products are inherent properties of this integration.

ECS/ControlCenter  is  FLSmidth’s  well-known  software platform  for  process  control  solutions.  The  platform  is continuously being developed ever since its initial versions were launched in the 1970’s.

QCX PGNAA

Quality Control Server

Laboratory

ECS Server A

Management InformationSystem

ECS Server B

Kiln Shell Scanner

ProcessOptimizer

Engineering Room

Control Room

Plant

Sub PLC´s Sub PLC´sSub PLC´s Sub PLC´s Sub PLC´sSub PLC´s Sub PLC´sSub PLC´sSub PLC´sSub PLC´s Sub PLC´sSub PLC´s

Only two ECS/ControlCenter servers interconnected in a redundant configuration are sufficient for complete control and supervision of all departments in a two-line 4000 tpd cement production plant. The two servers handle the I/O task to the process, the entire supervision task for all operator stations of the two lines, the internal data processing, logging and event handling, and any possible engineering and configuration task for the control systems. The two servers are simultaneously

active in all the control tasks, and update each other with any changes that might occur in each of them. Thus a shutdown of any of these servers will not affect the production of this plant. A number of add-on applications for process and quality control are also integrated into the control system. The underly-ing PLC type for this project is Siemens, however the same configuration could be applied for an Allen-Bradley, ABB, or Modicon type of PLC system.

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ECS/ControlCenter consists of several functional building blocks that constitute the added-value of the product for control systems: The I/O Center is a very powerful kernel of the ECS/Control-Center to handle the entire input-output communication with the plant. The Insight Center contains a number of functions and features for efficient control and supervision of the plant. The functions within the Engineering Center make the control systems the strongest and most flexible platform of its type.

The Building Blocks

Last but not least, the Security Center has a number of security-oriented applications to protect the system against unauthorised access. All these functions can be customised to the specifica-tions of a plant or company regarding behaviour, user-interface, etc. Today major cement companies have their own libraries of customised functionalities. ECS/ControlCenter customers can also benefit from a wide range of technical support and services to maximise utilisation of their control system.

The ”group start” mimic shows the motors of a department divided into groups of motors. The start of a motor group, e.g. Kiln Drive, is a simple 2-step procedure. 1) Click and Select to start 2) Click on start button to execute start command. The starting of motors in the group will now begin according to the PLC-defined start sequence. It is possible to select a number of motor groups before the start command is issued. The PLC program will make sure that the groups are started in the correct sequence.In some groups, interlock dots are avail-able. The purpose of interlocks dots is to indicate any interlocks that may prevent the group from starting. While being green in the normal situation, in the case of an interlock problem the dot will turn red. A mouse click on the problematic interlock can now show the reason of interlock in the button status bar of the window.

As the control room operators play a key role in process control and supervision, easy-to-use facilities for fast and reliable  insight  into  the  process  conditions  are  major elements in ECS/ControlCenter.

OpStation. The OpStation module is the main Human Machine Interface, HMI, of the ECS system, allowing process control and supervision through a number of mimics. A number of features characterise OpStation:

• The toolbarofOpStation turns theHMIapplicationintoatrueall-in-oneoperatorstationenablinghighlyefficientplantsupervisionandcontrol.

• Theveryfastmimicupdatetimegivestheoperatoratruesenseofcontrol.

• OpStationmakesitflexibleandeasytoengineerandcustomisethemimicstoprocessconditions.

The OpStation tool bar has several feature buttons: The motor group control allows selection, starting or stopping of a group of motors. Just by one click of the mouse, a complete depart-

ment can be stopped in accordance with the interlocking sequence, or through immediate stop (so-called quick stop). Other buttons handle the alarm supervision tasks for a single object, group, or a complete department. Alarm statistics, dynamic trends and many other functions are available from the OpStation work place.

Several OpStation application windows can be opened concur-rently on the same or other monitors, thus permitting supervision and control of several process departments at once, or supervi-sion of start-up of a department from a main process mimic while initiating all start commands from another window.

Normally, operator mimics are grouped in process diagrams and group start/stop mimics. The mimics may consist of hundreds of static and dynamic symbols. The dynamic symbols can be simple values, colours and shapes as well as animated objects.

Insight Center

ECS /ControlCenter • �

OpStation software follows the strong and flexible client/server architecture. This means that the entire process control and supervision is actually possible from all PC stations, only limited by the user’s access right. This kind of flexibility is not only appreciated by the operators, but is highly important for plant engineers and maintenance staff.

Faceplates. An important feature of the OpStation, all dynamic objects can be associated with a faceplate model. The purpose of a faceplate is to

• Displaydetailedinformationinreal-time• DisplaydetaileddatafetcheddirectlyfromthePLCs• Executedevicespecificcommandsremotely• Enable easy modification of PLC block parameters

suchasPIDsettings,etc.

When an object is double clicked, the generic faceplate of the object is invoked, and the specific PLC block data handling the specific device becomes an active part of the PLC communica-tion driver. Provided the user has the necessary rights, the faceplate-enabled commands and parameter changes can be executed. All changes are simultaneously logged by the ECS event system with the name of the user and details of the changes.

The capabilities of faceplates are clearly related to the underly-ing PLC program. Thus the end-user can easily design custom-ised faceplates to follow a given standard, procedure, device function or PLC block behaviour.

ACESYS. Based on decades of experience, FLSmidth Automa-tion has developed a standard control system design and engineering system for the cement industry.

– an available option for cement control systems.

• Theoperator’sattentionisefficientlyusedbyenablingan automatic hierarchical suppression of irrelevantalarms.

• Theoperator’sworkloadisreducedbyconfiguringthebehaviourofanalarmaccordingtotherequiredalarmhandlingprocedure.

• Theoperatorcaneasilyfindthelocationofanalarmas the alarms are structured in accordance with theplantstructure.

– Alarm System

Operator actions upon alarm detection are also recorded as “information”, and categorised as “control” in the alarm list. The list contains “alarms“, “warnings“ and “information“ in the chronological order.

The Alarm Header displays the alarm last detected by the system. It provides an overview of the overall alarm status in each of the process departments. When an alarm is annunci-ated in the Alarm Header, the operator can be guided into the relevant process mimic for the physical location of the

The system is called Adaptable Control Engineering SYStem, ACESYS and contains a standard library of PLC program-ming framework, ECS database layout, cement plant specific device faceplates and mimics. Included in this system, all device faceplates are extended with off-line Device Simulation capabilities to examine PLC program behaviour against various conditions of a given device.

Faceplates as well as all other user interfaces are generic. This means that the same interface is used regardless of the specific PLCs.

Alarm System. The Alarm System is a fundamental building block in the facilities of Insight Center for plant monitoring and alarm/event supervision. The main objective of the system is to provide efficient and clear information on an alarm condition and thereby assist the operator in finding the cause of the

alarm. The main advantages of the Alarm System are:

ECS /ControlCenter • �

device emitting an alarm. A “silence” button can be used to terminate the annunciation while the “reset” button can be used to initiate a number of procedures in both the alarm and PLC systems. All operator actions to handle the alarms or other process interventions can be configured to be recorded in the system with the operator’s identification. The complete event registration in chronological order assists users in backtracking of the process history.

The Alarm List displays current and historic events for each department. With a hierarchical structure of the objects in the system database, the alarm storage follows the same hierarchical structure, facilitating easy overview at various level of details. Furthermore, the alarm list offers strong features for searching in the list. For example, the alarms can be filtered according to a given category (e.g. process or mechanical) or a given priority. Alarm statistics are computed for every object in

the database. Consequently, if an operator observes a certain device emitting an alarm, a simple click will display the alarm statistics e.g. in the current hour, the previous hour or even the previous shift to find out if the alarm is persistent.

A powerful feature of the Alarm System is its ability to be config-ured to the characteristics and needs of the individual plant. Configuring the alarm system contains a wide range of possibili-ties, notably the scope of action behind alarm silence, alarm reset icons in interaction with the PLC, generic or individual setting of event algorithms determining the behaviour of an alarm regard-ing announcement and registration, associating different voice announcement and/or external horns to each priority level, the entire colour behaviour of alarms, categorisations of alarms and automatic alarm printing set-up. Using these configuration features, group companies or production units can implement their standard alarm philosophy for the group.

Flexible alarm configuration.

– Hierarchical Alarm Suppression

Hierarchical Alarm Suppression. The above advantages of the Alarm System to a great extent reflect the object structur-ing in the database. Relating the plant’s physical layout to the operational contribution of the devices involved in the plant, a hierarchical structure can be obtained. In practical terms, a “plant” consists of “departments” (e.g. raw mill) that each may contain ”groups“ (e.g. raw mill oil pump) that contribute to the main objective in the department. Groups can also contain “routes” representing paths of material transport (e.g. silo 3 to silo 5). We have now reached the lowest level of a plant configuration, namely single object, (e.g. valve 34) named “points”.

Each group, route or collection of points may contain a number of points, one of them being the representative “parent point” (mill main motor) controlling the alarm suppression of all the member points: If the parent point is not in normal status,

the alarms of any other member point will automatically be suppressed. In this way, only the relevant alarms will reach the operator. If desired, the automatic hierarchical alarm suppres-sion can be switched off for selective member points.

RP2

Plant

Department 1

Group 1

Route 1Route 2

P8

Group 2

Department 2

Department ...

GP1

RP1P1

P2 P3

P4

P7

P9 P10

P6

P5

Hierarchical object structuring enables hierarchical alarm suppression.

ECS /ControlCenter • 11

– Trend System

Trend system. This module provides graphical real-time or historic insight into the process conditions. In ECS/Control Center, all values for analog and digital objects, as well as their statistical data are logged automatically and continuously. The logging starts automatically at the time of creating the object in the database. Logged values can be viewed as trend curves for individual objects or in packages. A number of features in the ECS trend module ensure high flexibility for the operators and engineers:

• Extremely fastviewofup to16 trendsupdated inasplitsecond

• Temporary changes to the trend packages e.g. axislimits, canbemodified toexploreagivencondition,withoutchangingthepackagedefaultset-up.

Each package allows defining customised scaling and colours for each trend object. When opening a package, the trends can be shown in any period only limited by the data available. Configurable time horizon buttons (1 hour, 1 day, etc.) can be used for easy and quick toggling of the trend period. Further-more, the individual scaling value, zoom areas, curve highlight-ing, individual trend hide/unhide can be used by the operator to capture the desired information in the process. Individual reset buttons will set the view to the default position.

• Fastzoombyswipinginhorizontal(time)andvertical(value)directionsdisplaysvaluabledetails.

• On-demand trend by a single click on objects forwhichnotrendpackageisconfigured.

– Reporting System

Language Editor

Add new...

• Meeting the plant floor requirement for routine process performance reporting.

• Tracking shift performance using the dedicated shift reports

• Efficient statistical reporting for production, mainte-nance, electrical and control staff

If customised reporting is needed, dedicated MS-Excel add-ins can be provided to develop plant specific report layouts. Furthermore, in other cases of specific requirements for data extraction from the data logging system, the desired data may be easily retrieved by use of the ActiveX interface provided.

On-the-fly language change. ECS/ControlCenter can be supplied in a great number of languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese etc.). The system language

The trend module can also handle any combination of analog and digital object. The trend curve for a digital object is inter-preted as the operating status (e.g. run/stop) of the object.

As the spot values are logged continuously, operators can view full real-time trend curves instantaneously without having to wait for the curve to be built from incoming spot values. If desired the user can export the values of any selected area to the clipboard to be inserted in other media such as MS-Excel sheets.

Reporting System. The ECS system logs statistical informa-tion for all defined objects. Information is stored on a hourly, shift, and daily basis. The ECS reporting module allows for automatic printing of standard reports on a daily or weekly basis. Reports can also be printed on demand. The reporting module ensures

ECS /ControlCenter • 1�

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Configure...

is based on a dual language configuration, a “default“ and a “local” user selected language.

Furthermore, an on-the-fly language change feature enables changing the system language to the default language at any of the ECS stations. For installations where system support and services are carried out by a technical center in another country, this capability ensures that:

• Thesupportengineer’s languagecanbeenabledon-the-flyandatthePCstationoftheengineer,withoutany interruption or language changes for the otheroperatorstations.

In addition to the standard library of supported language, the system has also a new-language-builder feature that enables

system integrators and engineers to extend the standard library with additional languages.

The following highlights the technical aspects of the commu-nication drivers:

Communication redundancy. High data availability is achieved by supporting redundant links to the PLCs. If a PLC is equipped with multiple communication cards, the communication drivers allow for automatic switching between the communication lines in the case of network or communication card failure.

Communication efficiency. Where a standard communication driver reads and writes tag values only, the ECS communication drivers can read and write the entire blocks of data for a given device. With proper PLC programming principles, e.g. FLSA-ACESYS PLC programming standard for the cement industry, utilizing data block layout and structures, each object can be identified with only one ECS point (tag) and associated with its data block. While the point is frequently polled for

• HighdegreeofscalabilityassurestheuserofgradualextensionoftheautomationsolutionusingthesameECSserversystem.

• Flexible PLC supplier selection as the user may havepreferencesregardingPLCsupplieraccordingtolocalconditions,pastexperience,etc.

• Step-by-step control system upgrade from one PLCsuppliertoanother,withECSasoneuniformcontrolroomenvironmentduringtheupgradephases.

• Backward compatibility enabling migration paths tominimise hardware, software and engineeringexpensesinfutureupgrades.

Using ECS with the capabilities of the I/O Center, the users are guaranteed a number of benefits:

ECS I /O CenterABB

ModiconSiemens

Allen-Bradley•

OPC-DA ServerOPC-DA Client

•“Project-driven”

As a PLC independent solution supplier FLSmidth Automa-tion has historically focused on enabling the ECS platform to communicate with various types of PLC systems through its built-in high-performance I/O drivers. 

All the ECS supported communication drivers can run at the same time. This means, for example, that a plant with a step-by-step upgrade project needing a multiple PLC type will benefit from one unified operator interface regardless of the underlying PLC type.

I /O Center

ECS /ControlCenter • 1�

operator status purpose, the data block is only polled upon request, e.g. faceplate view. This strong architecture of the communication drivers creates unmatched efficiency and scalability for large-scale control systems.

No additional I/O server. Unlike some other control system suppliers, the communication drivers of the I/O Center are executed in the same ECS server as the operator HMI server. Therefore, regardless of the control system size, number of PLCs, etc., only one dual ECS server is necessary for a complete and secured control system engine. Fewer servers means less software engineering, complexity and maintenance.

Third party independence. All I/O Center communication drivers run without the use of any third party software or hardware components. This independence ensures best performance and high supportability of the communication drivers.

The behaviour of all communication drivers can be configured through engineering utilities dedicated for each driver. Polling frequency, timeouts, network type (ethernet and serial) are some of the config-urable items for each driver. Also a number of diagnostic facilities provide assistance for supervision and tuning of the driver performance. Polling time statistics, read and write errors, PLC operation status, individual communication link load and performance, data communication maps to optimise PLC block layout are some of the diagnostic features in the communication drivers.

A  professional  control  system  must  be  equipped  with functions  and  facilities  that  ensure  high  security  and protection  of  the  control  system  against  unforeseen events.  The  Security  Center  is  a  suite  of  functions  to accomplish  the  high  priority  requirements  for  control system security. 

Redundant Control. The availability of the control system is clearly of high importance to ensure continuous production. For this purpose, the ECS/ControlCenter servers can be configured to operate as a redundant system. In a redundant configura-tion, 2 servers will be on-line simultaneously, each performing the same task. Therefore, a redundant configuration allows

• Uninterruptedprocessoperation,toleratingtheshut-downofacontrolserverforanyreason(e.g.softwareupgradeandmaintenance).ThisispossibleasoneECSserverisfullysufficienttooperatetheentireplant.

In a redundant server set, all on-line engineering changes of parameter, and mimics on one server are automatically trans-ferred to the other ECS server.

User Access Control. A control system server is the heart of the process control function. In addition to the redundant capabilities explained above, it is also highly important that changes to the system configuration and parameters may only be performed by authorised staff. The built-in UAC, User Access Control of ECS/ControlCenter ensures

• Highprotectionofcontrolsystemconfigurationsagainstunauthorisedstaff.

Using the built-in facilities of the UAC system, the system engineer can create groups of users such as shift operators, chief operators, electrical engineers and system engineers having certain rights and privileges according to the area of responsibilities and skills. The scope of these rights can be

Security Center

ECS /ControlCenter • 1�

selected at a number of detailing levels such as changes to database parameters, PID controller tuning, process set-point changes, etc. Once a group is defined, associated members can be defined as individual users of the system.

Together with the client/server architecture of the ECS system, the UAC control enables a high degree of flexibility for the users to use any connected ECS station to perform their task. This means that the control system engineer who is faced with a problem in a certain area, e.g. a wrong scaling factor or PID controller parameter can just perform the modification by logging into the operator station with his/her own ID. This flexibility is possible as the UAC controls the access privileges regardless of user location.

On-the-fly user registration. In coordination with the UAC system, the ECS system login enables tight control and registra-tion of users. The user access through ECS login ensures

• Automaticuser-actionrecordingandattributionforback-trackinginthehistoricaleventsintheprocessandcontrolsystem.

System operators and engineers will use the on-the-fly ECS login system to register themselves, without any windows

logout. In many other control systems, the lack of a dedicated login facility is often a major reason for operators to use the same username for all users. The on-the-fly ECS login facilitates registration of new users in an easy way.

Remote access. Remote access to the control system is very often an efficient way of extracting information. This capability is both important for support engineers as well as produc-tion and plant-floor managers. At the same time, this kind of remote connection must be secured for unauthorised access to the control network. ECS/ControlCenter offers

• Anefficientcombinationofhighsecurityandeasyremoteaccesstouserinformationatthecontrolnetwork.

Using advanced firewall and other network security techniques, the control network can be isolated from the office or other user-LAN networks. Remote users will then have access to the control network through the supported “Terminal Clients” without any additional software installation on their PC. The User Access Control system mentioned earlier will handle the privileges for a given remote user. This option of ECS/ControlCenter is applied as the technical solution for remote services from the technical centers of FLSmidth Automation.

ECS/ControlCenter offers engineering, configuration and diagnostic  facilities at various  levels. A number of  these tasks,  such  as  changes  to  the  server  database,  mimic updates,  alarm  handling  algorithms,  data  conversion algorithms, and communication performance tuning are  performed directly on  the  server  stations. ECS/SmartSta-tion is a powerful extension of these facilities.

Optionally, in addition to the described standard services, FLSmidth Automation offers a highly project-oriented engineering station that integrates plant/project information into project engineering tools on one PC called ECS/SmartStation. The added-value of the integrated engineering stations is highly visible in troubleshoot-ing and maintenance tasks of a control and electrical nature. ECS/SmartStation may result in:

• Improvedefficiencyintroubleshootingastherelevantinformationiscentralisedinonesinglelocation.

• Fastandeasyinformationaccessthroughtheintegrat-edframeworktotheprojectengineeringtools.

• Flexibilityinaccessinginformationastheengineeringstationcanbesuppliedwithvarioustypesofremoteandwirelessaccesssolutions.

ECS/SmartStation offers fully integrated drawing and document look up facilities for any object in the database. In this way the user obtains a fast overview of all the available documentation, electrical drawings, etc. for a given object. The built-in viewer for various software products enables viewing of the document content. The documents can be edited/updated using the relevant editor package.

The built-in document viewer can be used on various file types such as doc, pdf, dwg, dxf, vsd, mpeg, avi, jpg and bmp.

ECS/SmartStation provides an open environment that allows integration of a wide range of tools for control engineering and project documentation. The system can easily be adapted to the preferences of the users.

ECS/SmartStation is configured as an ECS Client. This means

Engineering Center

ECS /ControlCenter • 1�

that all ECS Client programs such as the live OpStation HMI, the mimic editor, point configuration and engineering programs can be activated from the ECS/SmartStation. The point code of a selected object in OpStation is automatically transferred to ECS/SmartStation where a cross-reference database holds the linking information of the PLC program, drawings and documentation for the object.

ECS/SmartStation includes facilities to set up the rules, and even possibilities to scan documents and drawings for object related information and thereby adding them automatically to the object drawing database.

ECS/SmartStation can be combined with wireless techniques enabling flexibility for engineering in accessing the information while troubleshooting a device on site, or supporting the plant staff remotely, e.g. from the technical center in the head office.

One click takes the electrical engineer automati-cally from the object mimic to the exact position of its PLC program or electrical diagram.

In  order  to  meet  the  functional  requirements  of  the individual end-users as well as technical centers for group customisation,  ECS/ControlCenter  includes  powerful features for a wide range of system customisation. Using these features, major cement producers have developed their own standards of the product.

System Customisation. As described in previous sections, the building blocks, Insight Center, I/O Center, Engineering Center, and Security Center all have their own individual customisa-tion capabilities. Examples of areas where the behaviour of ECS/ControlCenter can be defined by the users are:

• Timeresolutionofloggedvalue• Storagecapacity(timeduration)forloggedvalues• CommunicationmethodstothePLCsystem• Alarmannouncementandloggingbehaviour• ActionstohappeninPLCuponanalarmreset• Detailedpropertiesofvaluedisplayforanalogand

digitalobjects• Thedegreeofcomplexityinoperatormimics

The important aspect of all the above customisations is that no single line of programming is required to obtain them. “Parameterisation” is the keyword in customisation of ECS/ControlCenter behaviour. This aspect is crucial to facilitate backward compatibility and thereby easier system upgrade for the end-users.

Example: Mimic Editor. All operator mimics as well as faceplates in an OpStation system can be edited and modified by the user. In all standard supplies, the built-in mimic editor can be used to maintain the existing mimics as well as drawing new mimics. The editor is based on an object-oriented principle, meaning that a change of an object, e.g. motor symbol, will be visible in all instances of the object in all process mimics without any computer re-boot. In order to facilitate the mimic design, the editor contains a number of model libraries for both static and dynamic symbols. Thus introducing a new symbol, e.g. a

System Customisation

ECS /ControlCenter • 21

new fan in a mimic is just a matter of dragging the symbol into the work space and associating it to a database point. As the new fan is just similar to other existing fans (with similar point configuration), its behaviour is now completely well defined in colour, faceplate pop-up, commands etc.

The object-oriented concept is a crucial element in engineering and maintenance cost. Using the powerful mimic designer, standards for a given corporate group can easily be imple-mented and maintained by the technical centers or system engineering companies.

From object-oriented design environment...

...to customised plant mimics.

FLSmidth Automation offers a wide range of  services  to help  customers  in  securing their  investment  in  ECS/ControlCenter. The  aim  of  these  services  is  to  ensure maximum customer satisfaction as well as product efficiency by improving perform-ance, utilisation, and productivity.

Customer Support for ECS/ControlCenter. FLSmidth Automation provides the following services related to ECS/ControlCenter.

• TrainingCoursesensuringmaximumutilisationoftheproduct.

• Service&MigrationAgreementstosecurealong-terminvestmentbyenablingbeneficialupgradepackages

• Assistance&Maintenancemaximizingtherunfactorofthesystem

• Engineering&Consultancygivingthecustomeraccessto a wide range of experience in control systemengineering.

Training. Training plant staff and keeping them highly quali-fied is important. Training sessions can take place at FLSmidth

Automation offices worldwide, at integrators’ technical office or the end-user premises.

Based on many years of training experience, FLSmidth Automa-tion has divided the courses into Introduction, User, Specialist and Expert levels. Furthermore, specific courses tailored to meet specific requirements of engineering companies and technical centers can also be offered for ECS/ControlCenter. Having gained some experience with the product, a follow-up course is normally recommended. These brush-up and in-depth training courses give the user the necessary knowledge to fully utilise the product.

Service & Migration agreements. When the system commis-sioning and warranty period is finished, a Service Agreement is a prudent investment and gives top priority to emergency assistance. The customer is supported via service visits on site

Customer Support & Services

ECS /ControlCenter • 2�

and/or remotely via hot-line and internet, ensuring reduced system downtime and optimal plant performance. Furthermore, Migration Agreements ensure continuous operation even if replacement of control system equipment is required within the next 3-5 years. Access to the latest releases with service packs, hot-fixes and software upgrades from FLSmidth Automation are some of the benefits in these agreements. Delivery of software licenses, replacement of hardware and one major conversion of software platform during the agreement lifetime of typically 5 years is a typical Migration Agreement package

With a combined Service & Migration Agreement, the system covered is kept up-to-date by FLSmidth Automation.

Remote Services. Remote assistance saves time and travelling costs for specialist visits. FLSmidth Automation Remote Services via modem or internet give unique possibilities for service from

a distance. By allowing access to monitor a software applica-tion it is possible to evaluate problems remotely and even make corrections. This is done on-line while the system engineer or operator can follow every step.

• 24-hourHotline-offeringtelephonesupportwithcriticalissues

• RemoteTroubleshooting-offeringon-linesupportwhenproblemsoccur

• RemoteEngineering-offeringad-hocspecialistassistanceforminorengineeringtasks

• RemoteSoftwareMaintenance-keepingsoftwareproductsupdated

The services are offered as individual subscriptions in yearly service agreements.

Software Quality

Software Quality. ECS software development is based on the world standard for software development, Capability Maturity Model Integration-Software (CMMI-SW). This means high quality software that assures the customers of high availability and reliability of their control system.

ECS is based on the Microsoft ActiveX and Microsoft. Net component technologies. ActiveX is to date the most success-ful and open component software. ActiveX enables software openness and reuse. ECS is an open platform as it provides ActiveX interfaces to core ECS functions such as the log, event and point systems that can be utilised by end-users for custom application. These interfaces are actually the same as those used internally for software development. Thus every user can extend and enhance his ECS system as needed. The fact that ECS is based on a fundamental component technology and not on a myriad of technologies is the first step towards a reliable

round-the-clock control system software. FLSmidth Automa-tion includes only top-of-the-line third party software compo-nents that are not part of our core business software. Thus “re-inventing the wheel” is avoided to focus on the company’s expertise.

In addition, quality assurance of ECS software is to a great extent based on automatic software testing procedures. The procedures allow regression testing, i.e. instead of testing a few times manually, regression testing can be done hundreds and hundreds of times. Furthermore automatic regression testing also makes it possible to do heavy load testing. This means that, instead of testing the software with a few operators, automatic testing can simulate stressing the system with 50 or more operators. In this way we can detect and correct the occasional random error so very well known by control system users.

ECS /ControlCenter • 2�

Basic Software• Client/server architecture• Standard faceplate of

detailed device mimics• User-defined faceplate support• Standard library of data

conversion algorithms• User-defined algorithm support• Hierarchical object grouping

OpStation• Draw-and-configure editor

for process mimics• Standard libraries of static and

dynamic mimic objects• Support for object animation• Object-based drawing of

sub-models for instantiation

Alarm and Event• Automatic hierarchical

alarm suppression• Alarm algorithm selection for

group or individual objects• Configurable alarm philosophy• Alarm annotation support

Security Center• Full redundancy support• User access control• On-the-fly user login and registration• User action logging and attribution

I/O Center• ABB• Siemens• Rockwell/Allen-Bradley• Schneider/Modicon• OPC-DA Server• OPC-DA Client• Concurrent communication

with different PLC types• Support for redundant link to PLC

Data logging• Data logging of both analog

and digital objects• Automatic data logging upon

any new object creation• Configurable time horizon

of data logging• Spot data logging with a

resolution up to 1 sec• Individual logging of statistical

data for hour, shift and day• Excel add-in for data retrieval• Available OLE Automation

interfaces for data retrieval

Trend• Analog and digital values• Horizontal/vertical zoom• Data grabbing for export• User configurable colour scheme• Package-based trend of

groups of objects• On demand trending of single

objects by only a right click• Configurable short cuts for

easy time horizon selection

Report• Automatic value suppression

for reporting• Free time horizon selection• Shift-based time horizon selection• Detailed statistical value reporting

FLSmidth AutomationHøffdingsvej 34DK-2500 ValbyCopenhagenDenmarkTel: +45 - 36 18 27 00Fax: +45 - 36 18 27 99flsa@flsautomation.comwww.flsautomation.com

Data in this brochure is intended for preliminary project planing only. Manufacturer reserves the right to modify equipment details and/or specifications without notice.

www.flsautomation.com

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