What Tools Are Available for Optimizing the CS 3000 and Centum VP DCS?

Yokogawa is one of several giant OEMs that dominate the automation industry. They’re recognized as the fastest growing distributed control system (DCS) solution provider in the world, and they are the clear market leader within the Asia-Pacific region. In spite of its size and reputation, Yokogawa still benefits from partnerships and the technologies provided by specialty firms. That probably comes as no surprise.

As a supervisory control platform Yokogawa’s DCS, whether the CS 3000 or the Centum VP, oversees plant-wide production. It manages the underlying regulatory control layer in an effort to maximize production output and efficiency. That regulatory layer is generally based on the PID controller. Given the importance of the PID in controlling a facility’s production-critical processes, Yokogawa looked to Control Station for a best-in-class controller tuning and process optimization solution. If you thought we only supported Rockwell Automation, that may be a surprise.

• Award-Winning

Through its membership in the YMAC partnership, Chevron assisted Yokogawa Corporation of America both in the selection of a technology partner and in the development of the original product specifications. Those specifications would emphasize model accuracy and ease-of-use. csTuner leverages our Non-Steady State Modeling Innovation and it was officially launched in May 2009. Within its first year csTuner was recognized with the Engineers’ Choice Award from Control Engineering magazine.

• Fully Integrated

Integration is key to ease-of-use so csTuner was designed to integrate seamlessly with both the CS 3000 and the Centum VP DCSs. It launches directly from the HIS faceplate and connects live to the process. From existing tuning parameters and PID algorithm to controller spans, csTuner gathers all the information needed for dynamic process modeling and PID loop optimization.

• Multi-Platform

csTuner has already been deployed globally at manufacturing facilities spanning core segments of the process industries. The newest release of csTuner equips users with advanced process analysis tools, and it supports the offline tuning of every major industrial controller, whether PLC or DCS. It equips users with a more powerful, multi-platform capability for tackling their facility’s process optimization needs.

Yokogawa’s DCS solutions are equipped with only basic PID tuning capabilities. Like the tuning products from other large OEMs Yokogawa’s are suitable for use on processes that are generally steady and that are influenced by only limited levels of noise. However, for those customers with processes that are oscillatory and noisy a more robust modeling and tuning tool is needed. Yokogawa recommends csTuner for those industrial-grade tuning challenges.

If you’re using a DCS from Yokogawa and consider your processes industrial-grade, then give us a call and learn what the hubbub is all about!