Emerson DeltaV

The DeltaV Distributed Control System (DCS) is a control system that uses standard PC hardware for user interfaces, paired with proprietary controllers and I/O modules around a process plant or factory to control a large number of control loops using a single large system whose hardware can be distributed throughout a process plant or factory and connected with a digital data link.

DeltaV is one of the major players in the DCS market, competing with Honeywell, General Electric, Invensys, and Yokogawa products. DeltaV replaced the widely used Provox DCS on Emerson's product line.

The DeltaV system was created to build an automation system that could integrate with the standards developed at the time.

The DeltaV name is derived from the engineering equation for acceleration: Δv/Δt, the change in velocity over the change in time. The intent of the DeltaV system design was to accelerate the process of planning, engineering, installing, commissioning, training, operating, and maintaining an automation system.

Common uses

DeltaV is used in mines, refiners, process plants, pulp & paper mills, and chemical plants to control a large number of control loops throughout a using a single integrated control system. DeltaV systems can also be used to work with digital signals, such as switches or relays.

DeltaV is used to get better control out of older industrial plants. Because of the integrated nature of DeltaV, and large amounts of memory and CPU capacity available, it can provide advanced Model predictive control, neural networks, fuzzy logic, and variability analysis to plants retrofitted with such DCS systems, allowing tighter control, increasing capacity and quality.

Control hardware

DeltaV hardware consists of a variety of input/output modules connected to a digital control computer located with the I/O modules. This hardware is proprietary. The controllers are attached to a larger redundant DeltaV plant-wide network which includes the PC-based engineering workstations and the operator workstations. Licenses to operate the control system hardware are independent of the hardware itself, and are purchased separately. Redundant hardware at the controller and I/O level is possible with the DeltaV architecture. Redundant hardware increases overall system availability. If redundant hardware is used, it is possible to update firmware while maintaining process control.

Communication

The DeltaV system supports a variety of analog and Digital instrument inputs and outputs. Besides supporting traditional 4-20 milliamp current analog signals from instruments, it also supports directly connecting temperature probes without additional instrumentation. The DeltaV system also works with industrial digital bus protocols. ^[5]

Safety in hazardous environments

The DeltaV system can be used for control in processes with hazardous environments such as Oil and Gas production, Refining and Petrochemicals. DeltaV SIS provides a safety instrumented system which digitally diagnoses the entire safety loop from the DeltaV SIS logic solver to the safety sensor and to the final control element. ^[6]

Operator interface

DeltaV Operate is the application program in the DeltaV suite which presents the interface to the operator and allows the operator to view and manipulate the process.

DeltaV operator interfaces run on dedicated DELL PC hardware and Microsoft Windows XP / Server2003 or Windows Vista / Server2008 (supported in v10 only) operating system software. DeltaV Operate is built off of a version of Intellution iFIX software.

Industrial Communication Standards

DeltaV benefits from being able to communicate throughout a plant. Since it supports open standards like FOUNDATION fieldbus, HART Protocol, OPC and Profibus mean that a DeltaV system can natively communicate with all instruments in a plant. Smart transmitters, valve positioners, analyzers, and other types of field devices contain predictive intelligence and can share possible failures with the DeltaV system in this web. Abnormal situations can be avoided by providing early warning of these predictive alerts to operators and plant maintenance personnel. Emerson calls this ability PlantWeb.

Batch process control

DeltaV Batch is an application of DeltaV that used in batch control. DeltaV Batch supports standard batch concepts and follows the ISA S88.01, Namur NE33 Batch, and IEC 61131-3 standards. The ISA standard defines a consistent set of terminology and models to define the control requirements for batch manufacturing plants. The ISA standard and DeltaV Batch are based on procedural and physical models that emphasize good plant design and operation practices.

Licensing

Software makes up a large part of the cost of a DeltaV system, because Emerson sees the software as being a valuable component. It’s possible, according to Emerson, to build an entire DeltaV system without using Emerson hardware, making it important for them to ensure they're paid for the software in particular.