With a capability of connecting 62 AS-i slaves or 992 inputs and outputs, the AS-i master communication module automatically organizes data traffic on a connected line. It also is ideal for signal scanning, parameter setting, monitoring, and diagnostic functions. Integrated functions include Sirius M200D AS-i motor starter configuration without additional function blocks and access via a Web interface.

Configuration and commissioning the AS-i master is simple with Siemens TIA Portal software. AS-i engineering is performed directly in the TIA Portal and is similar to configuring Profibus and Profinet. No additional software is required. The TIA Portal shows the topology of the connected AS-i network with a click of the mouse. Operators can also adapt the parameters of the slaves on screen. A standard power supply can be connected via an optional DCM 1271 data coupling module for an affordable AS-i Power24V network.

The AS-i master CM1243-2 communication module is standardized in accordance with EN 50295 and IEC 62026-2. All components by Siemens comply with the AS-i specification and are correspondingly tested and certified. The AS-i standard is manufacturer-neutral.

For more information about the AS-i master CM1243-2 communication module, please click here.

Securing industrial networks from threats both inside and outside the firewall requires multiple strategies vs. relying on one particular technique.

The shift to Ethernet, wireless technologies and remote access has brought many benefits, but this connectivity has also eliminated the system protection strategy of years past: security through obscurity. Automation system managers must now focus on protecting networks from attacks that come from inside or outside the corporate boundaries.

When Profibus, DeviceNet and other industrial networks were largely segregated from the outside world, most companies didn’t have to worry much about the possibility that hackers, extortionists, competitors and others could cause problems or steal proprietary information. But in today’s environment, those who don’t install security patches, set up firewalls and use passwords are setting themselves up for trouble.

“If this doesn’t scare you, you’re not aware of the potential problems. The consequences of an attack are serious, including loss of production, the potential for physical damage or personal injury and the theft of proprietary information,” Murray McKay of Siemens says in a recorded Webinar entitled “Best Practices for Increasing the Security of an Automation System.”

McKay’s solutions address the broad range of threats and vulnerabilities, hackers, nation states and extortionists who will demand payment for not shutting down a facility are only a few of them. Denial of service attacks, viruses, high school hackers and disgruntled employees are equally dangerous. The latter is often overlooked by companies that feel their employees are all happy. But McKay noted that if only 99.99 are moral and upright, the person who’s mad about something poses a challenge because he or she attacks from within.

There are many threats, so managers must deploy multiple solutions. McKay describes many of them, noting that the best defense is to combine many of them into a multi-layered strategy.

“The best strategy is defense in depth, you want to use every procedure possible to make it as difficult as possible for someone to get in. You want to make it difficult enough so an attacker will give up or that if they get in, it will take time so you can detect the attack before they gain critical access,” McKay said.

Virus scanners are one of the simplest protections, providing protection against known attacks. Firewalls are also a solid mainstay, stopping many attacks that come from the outside. Whitelisting is another solid strategy, since it only lets specified programs run on specific systems or sub-networks.

However, no defense is foolproof. While McKay recommends these technologies, he underscored their weaknesses in his call for deploying an array of products that have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, firewalls won’t help if employees fall for phishing scams, while whitelisting is often vulnerable to memory intrusion attacks.

Employee training is not only important for phishing attacks. The Stuxnet virus dramatically demonstrated that employees shouldn’t randomly insert USB sticks into networked computers. As part of their protection strategy, companies must teach employees about media access control and enforce rules when personnel use devices that aren’t approved.

Role-based authentication is another personnel-based approach. This concept limits what each employee can do on a system. If their authorization is limited to running programs, they can’t install any software or hook up a potentially-infected laptop with the intention to run diagnostics, for example. This approach can also limit the damage done if employees do something problematic, since they can’t access all machines on the network.

While much of a company’s security strategy should focus on networks within the corporate walls, those boundaries are no longer an effective barrier. Employees have many reasons to enter from homes or trade show sites, and equipment suppliers are often allowed access so they can run diagnostics and upgrade software.

One technique for allowing remote access is the virtual public network. VPN links provide secure communications between two or more computers, making this a popular strategy. However, it’s got pitfalls, as do all protection schemes.

“If one of the computers on the VPN is compromised, all the computers can be compromised. A VPN is useful but it’s brittle,” McKay says.

McKay also describes a new strategy called the data diode. This approach introduces an artificial air gap, which effectively inserts a gap that prevents data from going beyond this gap. Data diodes then introduce proxies that make information on one network available on another network. Only pre-configured data can go between proxies.

“It’s a good approach, but it violates some of the protocols of the Internet, so you have to make sure it works in your environment with the ports you use. It won’t work if you use remote access,” McKay says.

While these strategies all play a role in the overall scheme, users who deploy them along with other techniques won’t be able to forget about security. “Nothing is static,” McKay says. “You always have to make sure that what you designed at the beginning is still adequate.”

One way to ensure that everything is kept up to date is to set up a centralized administration system. This approach helps managers ensure that complex systems are handled correctly since there’s one central point instead of many disparate sections that have their own idiosyncrasies. Though this centralized computer is a weak spot, McKay contends that the benefits outweigh the downsides.

There’s plenty of help out there for companies that want to beef up their security or start adding protection. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has many documents and guidelines, and standards such as ISA 99 and IEC 62443 are the bedrock of many security systems, he explains. Suppliers like Siemens are also very interested in helping companies ensure that their networks don’t fall prey to the many vulnerabilities of the connected world.

To access a recorded webinar, titled “Best Practices for Increasing the Security of an Automation System,” please click here.

With the SIMATIC HMI KP32F PN, Siemens is offering a new keypad control panel with 32 large, easy-to-operate keys. The device comes ready-to-install and pre-assembled, making the time-consuming individual mounting and wiring required for conventional control panels unnecessary. Typical fields of keypad control panels are applications requiring a deterministic transmission of operating commands. For optimum ease-of-use, the SIMATIC HMI KP32F PN provides tactile feedback when pressing a key. Function and color can be easily configured for each key. The configurability of the color (white, green, red, yellow, blue) increases the ease-of-use; variable dimming of the backlight improves the readability under difficult lighting conditions, such as in extremely bright or dark environments. Keys can be individually labeled and customized to the application by means of slide-in strips. The connection with the controllers takes place over PROFINET. An integrated 2-port PROFINET switch enables the set up of a line structure without additional modules.

In addition, the back of the SIMATIC HMI KP32F PN offers 16 integrated I/Os with which additional control elements, such as indicator lights or key-operated switches, can be connected. In contrast to individual components, this saves the time-consuming installation and wiring. Furthermore, the SIMATIC HMI KP32F PN offers four failsafe, 24-V-capable digital inputs for the integration of sensors with potential-free contacts (e.g., emergency stop push buttons). When utilizing the failsafe functionality, the communication takes place over the PROFIsafe protocol.

For more information about SIMATIC HMI KP32F PN, please click here.

The challenge: keeping 1.2 million gallons of water flowing and sparkling clear throughout all four seasons

To commemorate those who died at the World Trade Center, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation was established to oversee construction of a memorial on the site of the twin towers.

The foundation opened a worldwide design competition and received over 5,000 submissions from 63 nations.

The winning design, “Reflecting Absence,” was submitted by Israeli-American architect Michael Arad of Handel Architects, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm. Arad worked with landscape architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design that called for a forest of 400 trees and two square pools. Each pool is nearly an acre and covers the former physical footprint of each of the Twin Towers.

Pooling Resources

In each of these deep, reflecting pools, water pours over smooth stainless steel weirs that stretch horizontally atop the pool’s four walls, and then falls into a catch basin to be recirculated. The falling water provides a soothing, acoustic backdrop to the tranquil reflective surface of the water in the center.

When the architects began looking for a manufacturer to help them refine the pools’ design, then engineer, build, and operate them, only a few U.S. fountain companies were capable of handling a project of this size. (Upon completion, they became the two largest pools in the world.) Jacksonville, Fla.-based Delta Fountains, a 22-year-old firm specializing in architectural and floating fountains, was selected for the project.

According to Joe Petry and Scott Johnston, co-owners of Delta Fountains, the project needed massive plumbing, pumps, filters, water chemistry tanks, and precision controls to keep it running smoothly 24/7 all year round. Their company was also awarded a two-year consulting/monitoring agreement for the pools, and they wanted to be able to monitor all systems from their home base in Jacksonville.

“Keeping the water sparkling clean and its acoustic and visual counterpoints consistent minute-to-minute is no small feat,” says Johnston, noting that each pool holds 600,000 gallons of water pumped at a rate of up to 30,000 gallons per minute and filtered at a rate of 6,000 gallons per minute.

Visitors are expected from around the world every day at any time of day, so Delta has to ensure that the reflective and acoustic properties of the pools are the same regardless of the weather or time of day or year. To help ensure a consistent visitor experience, the weirs, which stretch a quarter mile around the pools’ walls, are all mechanically adjustable horizontally and vertically to within a sixteenth of an inch. “This allows us to counterbalance the angle and fall of the water against any expansion in the concrete walls due to a rise or fall in air temperature,” says Petry.

Partners in Performance

Despite the project’s size and complexity, Petry and Johnston knew their company was up to the task. They had built a strategic relationship with Siemens, a partner in numerous prior projects; they trusted Siemens to bring the very best from its technology portfolio and human resources. This relationship was especially important to this project because Delta needed a partner whose technical solution would succeed at the project’s outset and could be easily upgraded as technology advanced over the course of the building project, which took five years.

Petry and Johnston stated that they called on Siemens because they “knew they could deliver.” Siemens brought in its top application engineers from across three of its Industry divisions to work both with Delta and one of Siemens’ distributors, AWC, Inc. Together, they determined specifications and the best hardware and software to meet the project’s needs. The pools’ operating complexities required a master control system with a distributed input/output architecture and local slave controls with onboard CPUs for redundancy.

For the master controller, they implemented the Siemens Simatic S7-300 programmable controller. The S7-300 communicates over a Profibus fieldbus network to 16 Simatic ET 200S distributed I/O nodes with integrated CPUs that provide local control for the same number of motorized pumps that keep each pool’s water moving at 30,000 gallons per minute. With its onboard CPU, the ET 200S distributed I/O nodes can offload computing tasks from the S7-300 master controller and permit much faster responses to time-critical signals.

Variable frequency drives (VFDs) were also needed for each pool’s pumps so that Delta Fountains could have more precise control over water flow and pressure rates to help maintain the water’s consistency, whether falling over weirs or gathering in the reflective center.

The automation system was modified through the project cycle from a single controller to multiple controllers with two control levels for redundancy. The VFDs changed from MicroMaster 4 technology to the Sinamics G120 VFD units with the CU230-P Control Unit (designed specifically for fans and pumps) that was released in summer 2010. The solution also provided Siemens motor protection and pilot devices for control and annunciation for each of more than 32 cabinets housing the equipment.

“The G120 VFDs provide precision flow control and dramatically reduce energy consumption,” says Johnston. This was important to keep operating costs down and because the Memorial’s overall design was seeking the Gold certification under the LEED New Construction program of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Core Advantages

Adaptability and flexibility of the solutions’ open architecture is the core technology of Siemens Totally Integrated Automation (TIA). This provided Delta Fountain engineers with more options—a big advantage in such a massive and complex project with long design and approval cycles. Despite being a fixed-priced project, engineers could make design changes to incorporate new technology without having a negative financial impact.

With the S7-300 controller, Delta Fountains can also take real-time inputs from the many sensors in the pools and plumbing that measure temperature, pressure, chemistry, wind and much more, and use the data to automate the controls and keep the water and systems in balance.

Over time, the historical data will build baseline operating profiles, barometric pressure, humidity and a host of other parameters according to time of day, month, and year to further automate the pool operations. “There are just so many operating variables,” says Petry, “that even with all this sophisticated Siemens automation, we’ll initially have to watch everything closely. But over time, these baseline profiles will help anticipate periodic conditions and automatically adjust the parameters as the sensors begin to detect a certain combination of conditions that fit the profile.”

The human machine interface (HMI) software used is Siemens Simatic WinCC Flexible, on both the main HMI operator station and on each individual pump VFD panel. All HMI stations provide easy operational visualization of the connected controllers, I/O nodes, and VFD devices. With WinCC Flexible, technicians can operate the pools remotely over the Internet just as if they were onsite.

Upon Further Reflection

Delta’s principals say that without the Siemens technology, their technicians would not have achieved the degree of precision control they have. “For example, the Siemens system can sample the water every five seconds and adjust the bromine levels to keep a constant pH,” says Petry. In contrast, manual sampling could only test the water four or five times daily, and the readings would not be as precise, nor the response adjustments as rapid.

Delta estimates that the Siemens solution saves the labor of about two technicians: the equivalent of $150,000 to $200,000 a year. Further, because day-to-day operations can be controlled remotely from Jacksonville, the high costs in New York can be avoided as well.

“The Siemens team worked well with our staff to diminish the automation issues,” concludes Petry. “Since we were using some first-generation technology, Siemens provided us with top field staff, not only to educate us, but also to make us look good in front of our client. We look forward to working on many more projects with this great group of people.”

This product line, which now includes the new 416-5H model, has also been improved with a larger memory and an expanded quantity structure for data and function block as well as function calls.

The PROFINET interface with a 2-port switch is used for plant communication and supports fault tolerant H-connections via TCP/IP (ISO on TCP).  Similar to the integrated MPI/DP and PROFIBUS DP interfaces, the interface permits the system-redundant connection of IO devices.  Using fiber-optic cables, data synchronization between controllers is possible at distances of  up to 10 kilometers.

The full SIMATIC S7-400H portfolio now includes a new 416-5H controller with 16 MB RAM, together with the innovated 412-5H CPU with 1 MB, 414-5H with 4 MB, and the 417-5H with 32 MB RAM.  The controllers are programmed and configured using the SIMATIC STEP 7 engineering tool.

For more information about SIMATIC S7-400H, please click here.

Major grant and technology donations support development of Mechatronics Engineering program

Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) is a residential, co-educational member of the University System of Georgia. Located on 203 acres of naturally wooded landscape in the historic and vibrant city of Marietta, SPSU is just 20 minutes from downtown Atlanta. Approximately 5,500 students from 36 states and 64 countries study here.

Focused on the practical study of science and technology to provide a balanced and career-based education, SPSU has partnered with Siemens Automation to establish one of the nation’s leading undergraduate mechatronics engineering programs. The specific objectives of the BSMtrE degree are to provide engineering graduates who:

• Understand the interdisciplinary fundamentals of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, control systems, and their integration.
• Have strong team skills to solve complex problems that span disciplinary boundaries.
• Perform research, design, and implementation of intelligent engineered products and processes enabled by the integration of mechanical, electronic, computer, and software engineering technologies.

A broader objective of the program is to help address what the National Science Board (NSB) has called “a troubling decline in the number of U.S. citizens who are training to become scientists and engineers.” This decrease is particularly alarming as the number of jobs requiring science and engineering skills is growing at five times the rate of the rest of the labor force.

The lack of mechatronics engineers is a case in point. Rick Myers, vice president of business development at Siemens Industry, notes that he would have hired 20 mechatronics engineers in each of the last two years if he could have found them. Instead, mechanical and electrical engineers were hired and internally trained in an intensive mechatronics course.

Mechatronics in Perspective

The term mechatronics was introduced in Japan in 1969 to describe the integration of mechanics and electronics. The term is widely used in Europe and generally understood by engineers in the United States, but is less recognized by the general public.

Today’s perspective of mechatronics has evolved with technology. SPSU uses the industry-evolved definition of mechatronics adopted by the IEEE/ASME Transactions of Mechatronics Index to define the discipline as:

• The synergistic integration of mechanical engineering with electronics
• Intelligent computer control in the design and manufacture of products and processes
• The blending of mechanical, electronic, software, and control theory engineering topics into a unified framework that enhances the design process

Mechatronic systems can be a complete product or a sub-component of a product. Examples of mechatronic systems include aircraft flight control and navigation systems; automotive electronic fuel injection and anti-lock brake systems; automated manufacturing systems, including robots, numerical control machining centers, packaging systems and plastic injection-molding systems; artificial organs; health monitoring and surgical systems; copy machines; and more. A common element of these systems is the integration of analog and digital circuits, microprocessors and computers, mechanical devices, sensors, actuators, and controls.

The development of Mechatronics Engineering is leading to increased technological innovation due to its focus on interdisciplinary thinking. An example of this can be seen in the packaging machinery industry. According to Douglas Machine, a regional partner of the Center for Automation and Motion Control (CAMC) in Alexandria, Minn., North American packaging machinery manufacturers are finding that their competitors in Germany and Italy are benefitting from an earlier commitment by their industries to mechatronics, as well as their governments’ support for a mechatronics curriculum at the university level. Advancing beyond the mechanical timing paradigms of the past, mechatronics engineers are able to design and manufacture the next generation of advanced packaging machines.

Dr. Ken Ryan, director of the CAMC, explains further: “It’s quite possible that within the next five years, there won’t be a machine made that doesn’t use mechatronics in some aspect of its operation.”

Meeting a Growing Need

Despite a growing need for mechatronics expertise in industry, development of undergraduate mechatronics engineering curricula has been slow. As of 2006, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology had recognized only 42 undergraduate mechatronics engineering programs worldwide, and only one in the United States.

Citing industry demand for trained professionals in mechatronics, Siemens Industry has provided a $225,000 grant to support undergraduate education in this field at Southern Polytechnic State University. Further, Siemens has donated approximately $250,000 in laboratory equipment, including a plastic injection molding system, nine manufacturing automation training systems, and SIMATIC STEP7 automation and control software tools for the SPSU Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory.

Professor Glen Allen (retired) , SPSU’s champion for the Mechatronics Engineering program,  noted that this is the latest support of high-technology education that Siemens has provided through Southern Polytechnic. The company has been a sponsor and booster of the annual Georgia BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) high school competitions hosted by SPSU.

“Siemens is the kind of responsible company that recognizes the impact of education in the science and technology fields on our state’s—and our nation’s—economy,” says Allen. “The future will be very bright for those with undergraduate mechatronics knowledge and skills. They, in turn, can brighten the future efficiency, productivity, and growth of business and industry.”

Professor Erhan Ilksoy mentions that thanks to timely automation equipment (PLCs) loan/donation, set-up assistance, in-class presentations and instructor training provided by the Siemens Cooperates with Education program, (via Robert Carper of Siemens), smooth transitioning of lab equipment into new SPSU engineering building was possible. “This was a great example of industry-university collaboration” adds Prof. Ilksoy.

According to Robert Carper, “Siemens investing in technical and education-based programs such as the development of a mechatronics degree program at SPSU enables our organization to support the development of the next generation of engineers and scientists who will advance tomorrow’s technology.”

Siemens’ support of Mechatronics Engineering at SPSU is part of its Siemens Automation Cooperates with Education (SCE) program. This program provides comprehensive support for educational institutions worldwide. For more information on the SCE program, go to www.usa.siemens.com/sce.

The switches provide industry-specific communication with layer 2 and layer 3 functions, including static and dynamic routing for connection to networks on the company’s IT system. They also make it easy to separate automation levels in different network segments.

Numerous redundancy functions are offered, including ring, RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol) and MSTP (Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol), supplemented with standby functions and VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network).

The availability of the switches increases when two redundant network devices are used with the integrated VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol). To activate layer 3 functions, an optional removable medium with key function (Key Plug) is used or may be added later without a hardware exchange.

The X500 comes in two form factors: the Scalance XR528-6M model offers up to 24 ports and has six slots for 4-port media modules, and the Scalance XR552-12M provides up to 48 ports and comes with 12 slots for media modules.  Both units are capable of managing data speeds ranging from 10 to 1,000 Mbit/s. Additionally, both models offer four slots for SFP+ (Small Form-factor, pluggable) transceivers with a 10 Gigabit/s Ethernet connection making them suitable for any industry production or process application.

The switches are powered by the PS598-1 external 300 W power supply unit that may be installed above or below the switch or directly docked on the back with a plug-in connection. Two power supplies may be installed for added redundancy.

For more information visit: www.siemens.com/switches.

The new product line starts with two basic designs in several versions: the Simatic IPC227D Nanobox PC and the Simatic HMI IPC177D Nanopanel PC.

Designed for maintenance-free, 24 hour service—even when subjected to high temperatures, vibration, shock, and electromagnetic interference—the Nano IPCs feature the latest generation of Intel’s Atom processors at their core.

They are suitable for simple control, visualization, and communication tasks, and can be used as data loggers in areas such as machine building, traffic control, automation systems building, and energy transmission. Units can be put into service immediately, as they are available with pre-loaded software.

The IPCs power-optimized Atom processors deliver high-speed data processing and communications with low heat dissipation and power consumption starting at only 8 watts.

Both the IPC227D Nanobox and HMI IPC177D Nanopanel feature extraordinary resistance to vibration and shock, along with an integral 24V industrial power supply unit. For maintenance-free use, the units can be operated without ambient fans at temperatures up to 50°C (122°F). Compact flash cards with up to 8 GB capacity or solid-state devices (SSD) of up to 50 GB can be used with the computers as robust bulk storage devices.

“As another option, we offer a 250 GB hard disk for the Nanobox PC,” says Sidney McLaurin, Jr., product marketing manager, Automation Systems, at Siemens Industry. “Retentive memory of up to 512 KB can also be integrated, if required, and used for applications without batteries. This is another example of how flexible these IPCs are.”

The Simatic IPC227D Nanobox PC

With dimensions of 191x100x60 mm, the Nanobox PC fits easily inside small control cabinets, but also can be mounted directly onto a machine or machine base. It can be readily installed in the four standard versions of DIN rail, wall, portrait, or landscape mounting, and provides all interfaces on a single side to simplify cable connections.

In its basic configuration, the Nanobox PC is completely maintenance-free due to its dustproof enclosure and the absence of battery, fan, or hard disk. For expansion purposes, the IPC227D has the option of one PCIe slot, three serial interfaces, or four digital inputs and outputs. For fast device diagnosis, it has four status LEDs, three of which are fully programmable. Diagnostic software is pre-installed to provide comprehensive analysis ability.

 The Simatic HMI IPC227 Nanopanel PC

This IPC is available with 7-inch, 9-inch, and 12-inch, high-resolution industrial touch displays in wide-screen format, with a wide viewing angle. (Devices with larger displays are currently under development.)

The power consumption of the Nanopanel can be significantly reduced because of its LED backlighting, dimmable up to 100 percent.

The HMI IPC227D is equipped with at least three USB 2.0 ports. It has a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports with teaming capability, one of which can be used, optionally, as a Profinet interface with real-time functionality. An RS232 interface is available as a serial port.

“These IPCs can be configured online and supplied on request with a pre-installed and activated operating system,” notes McLaurin. “Currently they are available with Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Windows Embedded Standard 2009, but versions with Windows 7 and Windows Embedded Standard 7 are under development.”

For more information on these Nanos, please go to www.siemens.com/simatic-ipc.

On Jan. 25, 2012, Underwriters Laboratories will explain significant changes to the 2012 version of the NFPA 79 electrical standard for industrial machinery. Read this article for an overview of what will be presented, and to register.

Critical changes in the 2012 NFPA 79 include:

• New definitions and revised rules for expanded wireless and cableless technology that align with IEC 60204-1
• New sections recognizing deadly arc flash and stored energy hazards to protect workers and correlate with the 2012 NFPA 70E
• New rules for selecting overcurrent devices for motors, and the important addition of a 90 degree C temperature column to the conductor ampacity table
• A first-time section addressing concerns from the field details conditions where Appliance Wiring Material (AWM) can be used as special cables with clarifications on determining suitability for use under specific conditions

“Engineers and product developers are going to find a number of changes to the standard of particular interest,” says Kovacik . These include  short circuit ratings for control panels: the prospective symmetrical fault current at a nominal voltage to which an apparatus or system can be connected without sustaining damage exceeding defined acceptance criteria. There has long been a requirement for marking equipment with this rating, but the rating has never been defined well until now. This version of NFPA 79 has added a definition that was in the National Electrical Code to bring clarity to the issue.

“Short circuit current rating has been a very hot topic for the last decade,” says Kovacik . “A lot of people don’t know how to calculate it; if it is done wrong, it can be both limiting and dangerous. There have been many instances where a rating that underrates the equipment has been taken, the lowest possible rating, and that could pose a hazard in the field should a short circuit occur.”

Another important aspect of this rating is the perspective of the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), as this is one item on their punch list for compliance. AHJs look very carefully at equipment to make sure the short circuit rating correlates with the available short circuit current being provided by the supply to the equipment.

According to Kovacik , the arc flash changes are another important aspect of the new version of NFPA 79. “It’s an issue for a number of different standards, not just this one,” he says. This would include the NEC and NFPA 70E.  “Arc flash is something that is becoming more important in terms of visibility, because people weren’t aware of the potential damage it can do, especially bodily harm,” continues Kovacik . During the webinar, Kovacik  will address its relevance to industrial machinery, specifically the additional requirements for warnings to make users aware of the potential for arc flash hazard.

Time to Get up to Speed

The changes in NFPA 79 are already in effect, as the new edition (2012) was published in July of this year. Standards organizations such as UL are in the process of incorporating the requirements of the NFPA 79 changes into their own standards, where applicable. “It’s important that customers are aware that these changes are coming so that they can react to them,” says Kovacik .

The new NFPA 79, the benchmark for industrial machinery safety, is aligned with the NEC® and NFPA 70E®.

Click here to register for the webinar.

New tools for the S71200 PLC include an SCL scripting editor. This is a high level programming language that is similar to PASCAL and structured text, and is ideal for complex calculations and algorithms.

The V11 SP2 release also allows the user to make changes to the program and then download these to a running S71200 without stopping the PLC. The focus is in code changes within OBs, FBs, FCs and DBs. Renaming and rewiring of tags is also allowed.

For WinCC V11 SP2 Siemens has added SCADA Migration capabilities, such as migrating from WinCC V7 to WinCC V11. SCADA communication with the S7-1200 PLC is also provided.