Simulation and Testing

If functional analysis and design is one “leg” of building a high quality automation system, then the other leg is certainly process simulation and testing.  The ultimate proof of any automation system is how it performs when installed in the field, and IPACT puts its systems through extensive testing against simulations that reproduce actual conditions in the field as closely as possible.  These tests against robust simulations give us and our customers the highest possible confidence in our systems before going into the commissioning phase.

Methodologies

A typical problem with testing and simulation is that the engineer who implemented the system is also the one who tests that system.  This may in fact uncover some errors, but it does not test that engineer’s understanding of the project requirements, thus opening the door to potential problems.  IPACT takes numerous steps to stop those problems before they can begin.  First, the engineer who creates the simulation is not the same person who implements the system.  Second, we encourage our customer’s technical staff to review or even participate in creating the simulation.  In this way, the implementing engineer’s understanding is cross-checked at a detailed level against the understanding of several other people.  Misunderstandings can be cleared up long before they reach the plant floor.  IPACT has used numerous simulation techniques.  Occasionally, real devices like motors, pulse tachs, etc. are mocked up at our facilities.  More often, an HMI/SCADA package is used to “stand in” for the process.  This works very well if the process is not high speed, and has the added benefit of giving engineers graphical control over the simulation as well as visual feedback from it.  IPACT has also used commercially available simulators (e.g. PICS) for automated simulations.  Where very high speed is required (e.g. a high speed packaging machine), occasionally the best way to simulate is to actually write simulation code in the same processor/PLC where the system is running.

Customer Benefits Prior to Startup

IPACT’s customers find that having “hands-on” access to the automation running against the simulation long before the system reaches their plant has many benefits.  Our simulated tests have frequently alerted them to potential problems in the process that they would not otherwise have considered.  They have also regularly trained operators on IPACT’s simulated systems, thereby giving them real experience with a dynamic system that cannot be even distantly approached by training them on static HMI screens.  In fact, some of these training sessions have occurred at the customer’s plant while the simulation and automation system were staged at IPACT’s facilities, with their HMI(s) linked to ours via a remote PC package like PC Anywhere.  These sessions also offer the operators a chance to provide feedback on HMI screens before they are trying to use them to make product.

Bottom-Line Results

Along with doing the proper up-front functional analysis and design, simulation delivers clearly superior bottom-line results: smooth startups.  When IPACT started up a new Blast Furnace charging system program (that had significant participation by the customer in the simulation), charging was paused for 20 minutes, after which the new program came up and began filling the furnace without further interruptions.  More recently, a snack food customer had IPACT engineer a new automation system for their chocolate processing area, which contained some relatively sophisticated tracking and control features.  The customer had allowed 1½ days for the automation to be “debugged” while running the process in a non-production mode, but wiring and motor problems absorbed all of that time.  Thus, when the automation system was first started up, it was time to make product immediately.  And it did, without a hitch.  These experiences are not the exception for IPACT’s systems - they are the rule.  The only way to get these results is to have proficient engineers apply the proper methodologies in a disciplined fashion.  Anyone can talk the talk.  IPACT walks the walk, on every system, all the time.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies