PCS 7 Takes you Beyond the Limits of ...
High Availability
Optimize System Availability to increase your bottom line
According to ARC, over $20B is lost annually to unplanned downtime, which represents 5% of production.* Over 78% of this is preventable, caused primarily by human error and equipment malfunction. One key technique for keeping plants up and running is the use of cost-effective, redundant architectures designed to prevent common cause failures. |
* ”Collaborative Process Automation Drives Return on Assets,” Dave Woll, ARC, June 2002
Redundancy at all Levels
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Figure: Redundancy at all levels maximizes availability and provides fault tolerance for critical processes |
PCS 7 supports the use of redundancy at all levels of a process automation system, even for components such as Batch Managers and Data Historians. Different from other systems on the market is the ability to choose where and how much redundancy is to be used. With PCS 7's Flexible, Modular Redundancy (FMR™) concept you pay for only the redundancy that you need, helping you to minimize lifecycle cost while simultaneously optimizing your system.
For example, PCS 7 supports “Mix and Match” redundancy for I/O allowing you to mix redundant and non-redundant I/O within the same controller. This flexibility allows you to apply redundancy only to process-critical points, thus minimizing your up-front and maintenance costs.
Maximize System Availability by Minimizing Common Cause Failures
Redundancy by itself does not guarantee high availability. To truly maximize availability, your system must be designed to resist common cause failures, such as fires, floods, lightning strikes and errant forklift drivers.
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Figure: Redundant PCS 7 Controllers can be separated by up to 10km via Fiber Optic cables for Communication |
Imagine a pair of redundant controllers that are installed in a single cabinet sharing a common backplane. In the event of a fire, flood or lightning strike it is very likely that both controllers would fail. But what if each controller was installed in their own cabinets which were separated far apart and were mechanically and electrically isolated from each other? The chance of catastrophic failure would be reduced.
PCS 7's controllers and I/O modules, which can be installed in physically separate racks are both designed to maximize availability by preventing common cause failures.