6K switches upgrade increases performance at Irish Distillers' Midleton plant
“We had used a fibre-optic star topology to network the various SCADA PCs in the different production area control centres, but although it was state of the art when it went in, the network was quickly becoming a limiting factor,” says Michael Tracey, Engineering Manager at the Midleton distillery. “Even at 100Mbps we were finding the fibre connections too slow, while the star topology and the use of unmanaged switches meant that it was difficult to expand the system and diagnose faults.”
Looking for a new solution that would prove faster, simpler to manage and more tolerant of faults to ensure high availability of the network, Michael Tracey turned to GarrettCom Europe and found the answer in its high speed, industrially hardened managed Ethernet switches. Designed to meet modern requirements of high performance and increased configuration flexibility, the 6K Managed Switch family (including the 6K32T chosen at Midleton) combines Gigabit fibre ports with choices of both 100Mb and 10Mb fibre or copper ports, all of which can be mixed and matched within any given switch to best meet the needs of the application. The managed switches are supplied with Garrettcom’s MNS software, which provides a complete range of management services.
Download application note: 6K switches upgrade increases performance at Irish Distillers' Midleton plant [PDF]
TXI Aggregate Group Uses P62F switch to migrate quarry control systems to Ethernet
TXI saw the benefits of connecting its installed programmable logic control (PLC) system using fibre-based Ethernet in its rock quarry at Bridgeport, Texas. Fibre cabling provided an interference-free medium for connecting instrumentation in different areas of the site, and would speed up accurate communications among various control stations in the quarry. However, the system to be installed required the ability to withstand the wide temperature range of the North Texas climate, as well as resist the dirt, dust, and irregular dynamite blasts at the quarry site.
Z Technologies and TXI chose GarrettCom’s P62F Hardened Switch for the deployment of the new Ethernet network. The compact P62F is designed to thrive in rugged environments with a minimum of fuss. Other alternatives required housing an Ethernet switch in a refrigerated box, which would have wasted energy and increased both complexity and cost.
Download application note: TXI Aggregate Group Uses P62F switch to migrate quarry control systems to Ethernet [PDF]
Industrial switches and hubs network treatment Plants in Springfield
The City of Springfield Missouri maintains two Wastewater Treatment Plants. The water treatment plants are 24x7 operations that together collect and treat 39 million gallons of wastewater generated daily by the citizens of Springfield and Greene County. The Southwest Plant is the larger of the two, with a capacity to treat up to 42.5 million gallons per day. The Northwest Plant can treat up to 6.4 million gallons per day.
The Wastewater Treatment Plants needed to expand their SCADA systems. Only two buildings on the nine-building Southwest Plant site had in-building networks, and none of the buildings were interlinked. In addition, there was no network link between the Southwest and Northwest Plants, and the city’s plans called for a more integrated system.
The Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant contacted R. E. Pedrotti Co., Mission, Kansas, to assist in designing a solution. The Pedrotti company has been providing total packages for water and wastewater treatment plants for more than 25 years.
The Pedrotti company explored existing products for industrial environments and recommended the GarrettCom Ethernet product line. The breadth of the products and their built in fibre ports reduced the requirement for extensive numbers of media converters to connect existing copper-media equipment.
Download application note: Industrial switches and hubs network treatment Plants in Springfield [PDF]
PacifiCorp uses GarrettCom Ethernet switches for Safety in coal mine
PacifiCorp operates the Deer Creek Mine, an underground coal mine located in the Wasatch Plateau in Utah. The mine extends for about 18 miles and has used serial technology for information. In designing a systems upgrade, PacifiCorp ran into limitations in both distance into the mine and the total number of serial end-devices that could be supported.
PacifiCorp chose GarrettCom’s switches and the S-ring Redundancy Management Software to meet their application requirements. They chose GarrettCom because of its cost-effective range of managed Ethernet products, fibre port configurability, industrial rating, AC and DC power options, and proven track record in industrial networks.
PacifiCorp has different network SCADA systems and VLAN's to keep track of PLC's, environmental conditions, Longwall mining machines, Beltline conveyors, and pump stations. In addition, they are in the process of adding many IP phones and video cameras. All these networks are connected via the switches.
Download application note: PacifiCorp uses GarrettCom Ethernet switches for Safety in coal mine [PDF]
AMR Corp taps GarrettCom for industrial Ethernet in aircraft maintenance
AMR Corp has been making use of Z-Technologies’ process control expertise for many years. When plans called for creating a profit centre, Z-Tech helped the facility develop a system to collect and communicate information on each job for the IT department. The initial plan was to maintain the legacy Ethernet system using GarrettCom’s 3000X Series Hubs. This bus-oriented implementation ran at 10 Mb using BNC connectors and cabling (an older Ethernet cable type) and fibre. Media converters were used to integrate serial lines.
The final solution takes advantage of the in-place fibre loop to leapfrog to current-generation 1 Gb backbone bandwidth capability including port modularity, network management software, and resilient ring structure support – all for less than a 10% increase in investment over the 10 Mb legacy concept
A combination of 6K25 and 6K16V managed switches, which support Ethernet bandwidth from 10 Mb to 1 Gb, provides the backbone for the facility. The network is currently utilizing a 100 Mb backbone; it can upgrade at any time using plug-in modules. The modular ports capability and the fibre built-in features of the 6Ks made them an ideal fit for the job.
Download application note: AMR Corp taps GarrettCom for industrial Ethernet in aircraft maintenance [PDF]
Sacramento Department of Utilities chooses 6K25 switches for Water Treatment Plant
The Sacramento River and E.A. Fairbairn Water Treatment Plants (established in 1964) account for 85 percent of Sacramento’s water supply. The Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant’s current intake structure was out of compliance with current environmental standards. As a part of the modernization project, CSDU (City of Sacramento Department of Utilities) chose to update its networking system as well. In developing the upgrade plan, CSDU wanted to use state-of-the-art technology that ensured a platform from which future upgrades could be expected to be integrated easily.
The new installations are based on a redundant ring topology, and utilise fibre media to support the distances required in managing the various SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems located throughout the City of Sacramento. The EMI noise immunity of fibre cabling increases operating reliability of the network. The installation uses the less expensive copper cabling for some local devices and computers within control system racks. Cost was an issue as the CSDU wanted to make its funds stretch as far as possible in upgrading the system.
INS recommended the 6K25 fibre switches and INS’ iSNMP (industrial networking management protocol) Network Management Software. The 6K25 took advantage of GarrettCom’s unique modular port structure that enables customers to define on a port-by-port basis the medium they need to use, providing immediate cost savings because of the efficiency of the units, and eliminating the need for media converters.
Download application note: Sacramento Department of Utilities chooses 6K25 switches for Water Treatment Plant [PDF]
