Obsolete Control System Components Are Putting Our District At Risk For Unplanned Shutdowns. What Is The Most Efficient Way To Upgrade?
What Our Client Said
The effectiveness of our wastewater treatment facility’s control system is directly related to the productivity of our entire treatment process. The current control system is based on an obsolete platform that includes the human-machine interface (HMI), remote I/O communications protocols and controller modules that are no longer supported or available from the manufacturers. As a result, a critical component failure would force our facility to shut down for a significant amount of time.
What We Heard
We need the experts at LSI to modernize the obsolete components throughout our existing control system without any downtime. New components will have to be reliable, dependable and readily available in the local area. Because plant influent flow arrives around the clock, an efficient plan for deployment will be critical to the success of this project.
What We Did
Zero Downtime • Eliminated Risk • Increased Efficiency • Executed 30% Under Budget
LSI’s experienced water & wastewater controls experts began by performing an installed-base assessment on the existing control system in order to prioritize upgrades and address critical process areas.
This knowledge allowed LSI to perform upgrades with minimal disruption to facility operations. From past experience, we determined that Rockwell Automation’s® StepForward migration toolkit would be the best technology to fulfill the customer’s needs. Using Rockwell Automation® project migrator tools, LSI’s engineers converted the existing controller code and legacy operator interface to run on new hardware with a minimum amount of program development and testing time.
LSI provided:
- Systems integration
- Installed-base assessment
- ControlLogix programming
- Simulation and site acceptance test (SAT)
- SCADA graphics
- Alarm database
- Trend database updates
- Updated I/O drawings
The Results Speak For Themselves
Installation without downtime
LSI’s team was able to modernize all necessary plant control system components without the need for installation downtime or system shutdown.
Eliminated risk of component failure
Following project completion, the customer is once again stocked with spare parts. Every new component in the system is a current product, and parts are stocked locally so that spares are readily available if ever needed.
Under-budget execution
LSI completed the project on schedule and 30% under the projected budget.
Greater efficiency
Prior to the upgrade, ethernet communications to several remote racks used the same network port to the HMI/SCADA system. The upgrade segmented the control network and separated remote I/O traffic from SCADA traffic, greatly simplifying the process.
LSI Listened
LSI listened, then we put our experience with wastewater processing to work. We developed a synchronized strategy to integrate modernized control system components in a timely manner. A successful outcome was achieved without requiring plant downtime.
Recognizing the risk of a potential facility shutdown, the customer contacted LSI, and they’re happy that they did. With LSI on the project, all components were updated without the need for a plant shutdown.