Vol.58 No.2 (2015)

At this site technical articles published at the YOKOGAWA technical report are introduced.

CENTUM VP R6

FieldDigital and IoT

  • Kimikazu Takahashi*1

*1 : IA Platform Business Headquarters


Yokogawa's Control Systems in the Future

  • Naoki Ura*1
  • Koichi Oya*1

*1 : PA System Business and Product Planning Dept., System Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters

   The business environment of Yokogawa's customers is drastically changing, and their expectations for Yokogawa and its control systems are also changing. In response, Yokogawa is evolving its control systems in accordance with the four key concepts of smart control, smart operation, smart engineering, and sustainable plant, to ensure the long-term, stable operation of customers' plants. This paper introduces how Yokogawa's control systems are evolving as a platform that meets customers' expectations.


A New Approach Based on SFI Concept for Shortening the Plant Construction Period

  • Soichiro Konada*1
  • Kenji Torigoe*2

*1 : PA System Business and Product Planning Dept., System Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters
*2 : PA System Product Management Dept., System Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters

   Conventionally, plant construction work involves two major constraints. One is that designing the I/O part of a production control system incorporating users' specifications and implementing its control and monitoring functions are dependent on each other and thus these specifications must be determined at the same time. The other is that tuning field devices, which are installed in plant sites and connected to the I/O interface of the DCS, and can be checked for wiring integrity only after the DCS is installed.
   This paper introduces a new project execution method based on a system-free instrumentation concept (SFI concept), which resolves these two constraints and reduces the period and cost required for plant construction. New products for CENTUM VP R6 for implementing the SFI concept are also described.


The N-IO System Contributing to the Innovation of the DCS Engineering Environment

  • Shunsuke Hayashi*1

*1 : PA System Product Management Dept., System Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters

   Yokogawa's CENTUM VP R6.01 innovates the engineering environment of DCS. Specifically, it reduces the time and effort required for system construction and engineering. As a further enhancement, a new I/O system, Network I/O (N-IO), was added to the I/O lineup for CENTUM VP. This article describes the features of the N-IO system, outlines its components, and explains its expandability.


Innovating the Engineering Environment with Automation Design Suite

  • Mitsuhiro Yamamoto*1

*1 : PA System Product Management Dept., System Business Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters

   Automation Design Suite (AD Suite) was released as part of CENTUM VP R6.01 to innovate the engineering environment. AD Suite is software that improves the efficiency of engineering and reduces risks during the initial construction, expansion or modification of customers' instrumentation systems, and visualizes the design of the instrumentation system while keeping its information up to date throughout the plant lifecycle.
  This paper describes the structure and final objective of AD Suite and its functions and mechanisms implemented in CENTUM VP R6.01.


APEX: Agile Project Execution

  • Cor Arie Beetsma*1
  • Thomas Schindler*2

*1 : Engineering Marketing Dept., EBD/SS Business Headquarters
*2 : Industrial Marketing Dept., YEF (Germany)

   Customers have traditionally selected products based on their reliability and availability, and so Yokogawa has focused on delivering excellent hardware and software. In recent years, however, the efficiency during project execution and the usability and maintainability throughout the lifecycle have become equally important for customers, in terms of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expense (OPEX), respectively.
   Yokogawa has developed the APEX methodology by integrating a huge amount of knowledge accumulated through project execution (delivery excellence), cooperation with engineers worldwide (smart engineering), and advanced technologies incorporated in the CENTUM VP R6. This paper details a project execution methodology based on iterative engineering in APEX.


A Confocal Quantitative Image Cytometer Ideal for Drug Discovery

  • Yui Toriyabe*1
  • Manabu Fueki*1
  • Takayuki Kei*2

*1 : Sales Department, Life Science Center, Measurement Business Headquarters
*2 : Development Department, Life Science Center, Measurement Business Headquarters

   Yokogawa's CQ1, a Nipkow disk-based confocal quantitative image cytometer, can quickly create high-definition, three-dimensional images of live cells and quantify those images, offering far more powerful analysis than conventional flow cytometers. For example, the CQ1 can observe both morphological and kinetic changes in a cell and identify the threedimensional locations of proteins in it. A newly added incubator function enables time-lapse observation, expanding the CQ1's applications. This paper introduces three applications of the CQ1 in the field of drug discovery.


Techniques for Enhancing the Reliability of Field Wireless Control Data Communication

  • Hitoshi Saito*1
  • Naoyuki Fujimoto*1

*1 : Wireless Development Dept., New Field Development Center, IA Platform Business Headquarters

   With the spread of field wireless devices complying with the ISA100.11a field wireless standard, there is a growing need to use them not only for process monitoring but also for process control, in which a host system wirelessly transmits control data to these devices. This paper describes the wireless transmission of control data and techniques for enhancing its reliability. As an example of products with field wireless control data communication, this paper introduces the FN910 module, which operates pneumatic valve actuators in accordance with wirelessly transmitted instructions.


Yokogawa's Open Innovation with Its Collaboration Schemes

  • Masahito Takagi*1

*1 : Open Innovation Office, Innovation Center, Marketing Headquarters

   To facilitate open innovation, Yokogawa has been developing and implementing collaboration schemes, which are frameworks for establishing globally optimum industryacademia-government collaboration (inbound activities) and for utilizing dormant in-house intellectual property (outbound activities). Among them, this paper introduces collaboration schemes that aim to expand joint research, technology procurement, and use of third-party intellectual property and knowledge. In line with a collaboration scheme, Yokogawa attends matching events or uses open innovation support services, discloses technological challenges or needs to holders of solutions and technological seeds, and solicits technological proposals from them. This paper also introduces an application example of Yokogawa's open-close strategy, an effective strategy for promoting open innovation.


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