CASE STUDY

Up gradation of Line 1 Kiln HMI

Submitted By:Muhammad Faisal Amin

Employee code:03003060
Department:Power Plant and Automation
Section: Automation

Kohat Cement Company Limited

Kohat, Pakistan.
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Table of Contents

Abstract........................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3
Human Machine Interface. ............................................................................................................ 3

HMI software’s in KCCL .................................................................................................................. 5

Line 1 Automation Background ..................................................................................................... 5

Conversion into Virtual Environment ............................................................................................ 5

Current Status................................................................................................................................. 5

Problems ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Why these problems occur?................................................................................................... 9

Solution ................................................................................................................................ 9

Why InTouch 9.5? .................................................................................................................. 9

Implementation .................................................................................................................... 9
Results.. .............................................................................................................. ……………...15

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Abstract
This case study is about the up gradation of Kiln Line 1 HMI from InTouch 5.0 old version to
InTouch 9.5 new version. InTouch 5.0 is early stage 1994 version which supports Windows 95.
Old system creates a lot of problems in operation, so for smooth and efficient operation the
existing system needs new technology and latest windows supportive software’s. For this
purpose current HMI Is upgraded which is cost free project and it has a lot of advantages like
alarms logging, Historian linking, Windows 7 supportive, user friendly, SQL events logging.

Introduction

Industrial automation is the use of various control devices such as PC / PLC / DCS, which have
been used to operate in different industries without significant human intervention and provide
automatic control performance. In industries, control strategies use a range of technologies
implemented to achieve the desired performance or output, making the automation system the
most essential for industries.

Industrial automation involves the use of advanced control strategies such as cascade
controllers, modern control hardware devices such as PLCs, sensors and other instruments to
detect control variables, signal conditioning equipment to connect signals to control devices ,
drives and other important final control devices, autonomous information systems,
communication systems, alarming systems and HMI (Human Machine Interface).

This case study is related to Only HMI portion of industrial Automation which will discuss the up
gradation of Line 1 Kiln HMI from InTouch 5.0 version to InTouch 9.5 version.

Human Machine Interface

A human-machine interface (HMI) is a user interface or a control panel that connects a person
to a machine, a system or a device. Although the term can be technically applied to any screen
that allows a user to communicate with a device, HMI is more often used in the context of an
industrial process.

In industrial environments, HMI can be used for:

● Visualize the data visually

● Track production time, trends and tags

● Monitor the inputs and outputs of the machine

● And more

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HMIs communicate with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and input / output sensors to
obtain and display information that users can view. HMI screens can be used for a single
function, such as monitoring and tracking, or to perform more advanced operations, such as
disabling machines or increasing production speed, depending on how they are implemented.

Figure 1: Line 3 Coal Mill HMI

The current work environment has been revolutionized by PCs and PC workstations. The most
drastic changes have occurred in industrial control centers and control rooms. Control rooms,
traditionally used to share instrumentation data, have evolved from large panels with support
tools in adjacent room to modern control buildings that support people who communicate with
computers. Following two pictures shows the difference between relay logic control room and
computer based HMI control room.

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 Figure 2: Relay logic based Old control room Cement mill Line 1

Figure 3: New HMI based Line 3 control room

HMI software’s in KCCL

Line 1: Wonderware InTouch version 5.0

Line 2: Wonderware InTouch version 9.5
Line 3: Wonderware InTouch 9.5

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Line 1 Automation Background

The Automation system of Line 1 was upgraded from Relay Logic to computer based PLC system
in 1995 when the plant capacity was enhanced from 800TPD to 1800TPD.

The specifications of PLC at that time were:

• Allen Bradley PLC 5/E40

• Wonderware InTouch 5.0 version HMI
• Windows 95 Operating system

Conversion into Virtual Environment

Till 2008 Line 1 system was on Windows 95 which was running on obsolete systems. After 98
their hardware was very difficult to find in market means there was no new hardware that can
run Windows 95. A new way was introduced by Oracle to run older software’s and applications
in Virtual environments. So old computers were replaced by new one and Windows NT was run
in virtual environment.

Current Status
From 2008 up till now it is running on virtual environment. During all this period the
automation system evolved from standalone PLCs to Corporate Automation environments
which included SCADA to ERP. There are very complex business models and Automation system
is integrated into this model. But our existing system lacks even the basic functionalities and
system needs a lot of improvements for better operation and increased productivity.

Now this time my HOD Mr. Asad Ullah Burki handed me this project to analyze it, spot out the
weak points and improve it to latest standards. First of all I start searching for current problems,
after study the whole system I noticed different issues which will be discussed below in
problems section.

Problems
After the complete study of line 1 automation I came up with following needs of improvement
in Line 1 HMI:

• No events and alarms logging system

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 • Communication errors
• Frequent hanging/getting stuck
• Old graphics
• No historian logging
• Old windows NT supportive
• Virtual box host and guest issues
• Old data graphs
• No integration with RSlinx classic and Historian possible

Following figures shows the old status of Line 1 Kiln HMI.

Figure 4: InTouch 5.0 Kiln main screen HMI

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Figure 5: InTouch 5.0 Graph

Figure 6: InTouch 5.0 Motor drive windows

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Figure 7: InTouch 5.0 Analog Input Window

Figure 8: InTouch 5.0 Kiln Trends

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Why these problems occur?
Following are the main causes of these problems:

• The InTouch 5.0 is old software of innovative stage which runs on Pentium I computers
• In virtual environment we run two windows on one computer due to which system
often get stuck.
• There is no history of Alarms and Historian to get record of events during faults which
make troubleshooting difficult.
So all the problems needs better solution to help in troubleshooting, efficient operation and
increased productivity.

Solution
The only solution to solve the inherited problems is to upgrade the HMI from InTouch 5.0 to
newer Version of InTouch 9.5. This will solve all the above problems and will meet the current
industrial requirement of efficient plant operation.

Why InTouch 9.5?

Following are the few reason of selection of InTouch 9.5:

● Line 3 is already on InTouch 9.5 so it will be free of cost and there will be no license
issue
● It is modern and more stable version which has built in 3D graphics and modern graphs
● Alarms and faults logging
● Historian logging and active factory linking
● Windows 7,Windows XP supportive
● Microsoft SQL server enterprise manager 8.0 supportive
● User friendly for operators

Implementation
Following procedures are used in practical implementation of project:

● Creation of whole program and controller tags in InTouch 9.5

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 ● Creation of more than 250 windows for different motor control, temperatures, graphs
Alarms etc.
● Creation of Main HMI screen
● Linking of tags to HMI objects
● Linking of inTouch HMI application with RSLinx for communication with controller
● Linking of HMI with Microsoft SQL for events logging
● Linking of HMI with historian and active factory to records data

Below are the few new graphics of improved version of HMI:

Figure 9: InTouch 9.5 3D symbols

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Figure 10: InTouch 9.5 Analog Input Control Window

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Figure 11: InTouch 9.5 Motor action Windows

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Figure 12: InTouch 9.5 Current control window

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Figure 13: InTouch 9.5 Motor control Window

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 Figure 14: InTouch 9.5 New Kiln main window

Results
The project of Kiln HMI is successfully tested with controller through RSlinx. Whole operation is
working efficiently. New graphics are simple and according to latest standards. Alarms logging
done through SQL Manager and there history is logged by Historian. Windows NT is replaced by
Windows XP and Virtual environment has been removed. After schedule shutdown this HMI will
be handed over to operator and the project will be extended to other areas of plant like
Crusher, Raw mill, Coal mill, Cement mill and Packing plant.

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