Hot Mill Supervisory Computer System

As part of its automation modernization, major Aluminum company contracted IPACT to migrate its existing MODCOMP supervisory computer system to a newer platform.  In addition, the level 1 control system and the HMI were also being replaced because of obsolescence.  The replacement of both systems and the new partitioning of the functions, the supervisory control system was required to be completely rewritten.  The only exception to a complete rewrite was the finishing mill and roughing mill setup models were to be migrated in functionality.  However, these models were modified to repair setup flaws, commented, and redesigned to function in the new environment.

The supervisory system received data from the plants ERP system via the furnace control system.  The supervisory system tracked and provided the setup for reversing roughing mill and the three stand finishing mill to the level 1 control system.  The supervisory system also set up the x-ray and pyrometer gauges based on the product being rolled.  All production data was then placed into an Oracle database and provided to the ERP system.

Communication between the supervisory system and the Level 1 control system was accomplished using VMIC Reflective memory ring.  A protocol was developed between the Level 1 supplier to ensure consistent data.  All process data was available in reflective memory for display on the Intellution HMI.  A custom reflective memory driver was supplied for the Intellution HMI I/O server.  IPACT’s expertise in writing OpenVMS device drivers allowed IPACT to modify the vendor supplied driver for OpenVMS to prevent it from crashing the OpenVMS system.  In addition, IPACT provided a system service that allowed for more efficient utilization of the reflective memory.  The configuration of the reflective memory was also done using a configuration utility that mapped the reflective memory for all of the Level 1 nodes and the HMI.

Because of the reflective memory, IPACT was able to fully simulate and test the supervisory system at its facility on its own OpenVMS Alphas and Windows servers.  Data was captured from current running facility using the reflective memory (customer was able place a reflective memory board into the existing Modcomp computer) and remapped to the future locations for the new Level 1 system.  In addition, the furnace system, the HMI, and all of the peripheral devices were all simulated to ensure that the factory acceptance test represented the actual operations of the mill.  The simulation was done so well that the supervisory system was commissioned without the Level 1 system by using the remapping program used during simulation.  This method allowed the new supervisory system to shadow the old supervisory and Level 1 control systems without commissioning the new Level 1 system.

Products

OpenVMS on Alpha Server

Oracle Relational Database and Pro-FORTRAN

VMIC Reflective Memory

Intellution HMI

BEA Message Q

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies