PLC control solution ensures reliable water supply in Ecuador
Engineering company SEB used an AMC 600 powered control solution to refurbish a pumping station and ensure a reliable water supply in rural Ecuador. The company got the support they needed – plus devices that can take the tropical heat.
Citizens of the Portoviejo and Chico valleys in Ecuador can take a shower or water their crops whenever they want thanks to the Severino pumping station. It covers their needs with water from the La Esperanza reservoir – and thanks to a new, robust control system, it will do so for years to come.
The pumping station is owned and operated by Empresa Pública del Agua (EPA-EP), Ecuador’s national water company. When EPA-EP asked engineering company SEB Energy Group to replace the control system at the pumping station, SEB knew they had to select controllers that would keep working despite the high temperatures and humidity levels in tropical Ecuador. According to Commercial Operations Coordinator Juan Carlos Fuertes Otoya of SEB, it wasn’t a difficult decision.
“We knew that DEIF was the ideal partner to provide controllers that are up to the task,” he says.
Engineering partner with can-do attitude
Headquartered in Ecuador, SEB provides engineering services to clients in a wide range of sectors, from the oil and gas industry to power generation, and in several South American countries. SEB specialises in modernisation of thermal power plants, optimisation of transfer and storage systems, construction and start-up of control and instrumentation projects, and much more.
The company prides itself on its ability to go the extra mile: If something doesn’t exist, SEB will create it – and that can-do attitude is sorely needed in the Ecuadorian water sector: According to the UN, only two thirds of Ecuador’s population have access to safe drinking water, and most of those that do live in cities. Rural areas are experiencing water shortages or contaminated supplies.
Facilities like the Severino pumping station, which was inaugurated in 2001, are slowly improving this situation. After more than 20 years of operation, however, the tough operating conditions had taken their toll on the station’s control system.
AMC 600 powered replacement solution
“There was no automatic control at the plant any longer, the protection equipment was no longer working, and their SCADA system had a control delay of up to 10 minutes,” says Juan Carlos Fuertes Otoya. To solve the problem, SEB built and installed a new control system based on DEIF devices.
The core of the solution is the robust AMC 600 PLC. Its sturdy electronics design makes it ideal for control applications all over the world – even in temperatures up to 70 °C and a relative humidity up to 97%. At the Severino facility, two such devices control the pumps and collect sensor signals. In addition, SEB used an AMC 300 expansion rack, CIO interface modules, an AGI 400 display for controlling and monitoring the solution, and various accessories.
The new system gives the user a good overview of the pumps, protection relays, and transformers. It collects many sensor readings and status messages in one user-friendly interface, for example reservoir level signals, motor vibration signals, power consumption, and transformer input voltage signals. EPA-EP staff can control and supervise the protection relays of the 4.16 kV connections, monitor data from the motor soft starters, condition system start-up, analyse historical data, visualise pump motor conditions, and more. In short, they get efficient operations and planning.
Overcoming a huge challenge together
SEB’s can-do approach served the company well on the successful but challenging project.
“Carrying out a control project from scratch, using equipment that the client had already installed more than 20 years ago, was a huge challenge that we were able to overcome with the help of DEIF,” says Juan Carlos Fuertes Otoya. “We designed an accessible SCADA where the operator can view not only motor data, but also the signals from the protection relays; analogue signals that were never added to the previous SCADA.”
DEIF provided support throughout the project, from sizing the necessary control to be used with the end client, dismantling the previous control, and assembling the new control system. This included making analogue and digital signal connections and setting up communication via optical fibre and Ethernet to the pump group that is located approximately 300 metres from the control room.
“I was able to fully control the plant and finish our project within
the established deadline”
Juan Carlos Fuertes Otoya
Commercial Operations Coordinator, SEB
“DEIF was at our side”
EPA-EP now have a control solution that provides reliable and efficient pumping station control, and the residents of the Portoviejo and Chico valleys have a reliable drinking water supply. Juan Carlos Fuertes Otoya is very satisfied with the performance of DEIF throughout the project.
“We were already familiar with the DEIF brand, we knew the scope of the success stories they have had and, above all, their applications,” he says. “Throughout the project execution process, DEIF was at our side, giving talks on control, the easy communication with equipment of other brands, and the design of screens. They even helped us with practical cases to understand the correct operation of the controllers. We had three days of talks, and with that I was able to fully control the plant and finish our project within the established deadline.”
Branching out into other industries
Juan Carlos Fuertes Otoya’s top three reasons for selecting DEIF were device resistance to challenging environments; easy communication and interpretation of control; and the free utility software – and he adds that the overall experience was so satisfying that SEB is considering working with DEIF again on future control projects in water utility applications and in SEB’s core markets.
“It was a very good experience,” he concludes. “We are currently looking for new opportunities to enter the industry with DEIF, not only in water plants, but also in generation and oil plants which is our main line of business. We want to continue having good results with DEIF.”
SEB Energy Group
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Guayaquil, Ecuador
Activities: Engineering services for companies in the extraction, manufacturing, and power generation industries
Employees: 14
Web: sebenergy.com
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- 90 years of energy pioneering
- Manufactured at the highest standards
- Superior quality
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Products used
Programmable automation controller with EtherCAT based I/O AMC 600
General specifications
- Cold start-up/Operating temperature: -40 to 70 °C
- Storage temperature: -40 to 85 °C
- Climate: 55 °C 97 % RH condensing
- Altitude: < 4000 m
- Vibration : 2.1 g (3.2 to 50 Hz) 1.0g (13.2 to 100 Hz)
- Shock: 50 g, 11 ms, half sine
- Bump: 25 g, 6 ms, half sine
- New platform formfactor – height of just 122 mm; depth 114 mm
- Design lifetime of no less than 10 years at 40 ºC surrounding temperatures
- Backplane mounted rack ensuring stable inter-module communication during operation in the entire products lifetime
- Fully production tested control system units lowering in-sourcing costs for series production at customer
- Suitable for Stationary, mobile, wind turbine retrofit
- Increased mechanical robustness
- Increased electrical protection levels ; ESD up to 6kV, up to 4kV on power inputs and 2kV on all signal and communication power for fast transients protections
- Designed the input circuits with protections against failure connections
- Cold start up in very low-temperature without pre-heating
- Proven electronics design for demanding condensing climates
- Built-in standard EtherCAT as native communication protocol for use as distributed I/O
- High density IO modules
- 24V DC Digital Inputs, Digital Outputs, Voltage / Current Analogue Inputs, PT-100 inputs
- Condition monitoring modules with High Frequency Analogue Inputs
- Support for most widely used fieldbusses : CAN/CANopen, PROFINET, RS-422/485, TCP/IP ( OPC UA, Modbus TCP etc. )
- Warranty: 2 years (not including wearable parts) with option to 5 totally years
System software, Operating System and Programming
- Operating system software with fail-safe update
- DEIF In-house maintained OS
- Real-time Patched Linux
- Web based configuration
- Simplified update procedures (no special tools, same for OS and firmware)
- Secured Certificated based access by standard protocols
- Customer manages all users (Operator, Service and Administrator), rights and credentials
- Network configuration of the 2 independent network interfaces.
- Network Time protocol support as Client
- Fail-safe system software start up with two OS images (active and fault-back)
- Fault-tolerant file system
- Web based configuration
- User management
- Programming with CODESYS V3.5 and C/C++
- Regular updates to newest CODESYS V3.5 Service Packs
- Secure Web based visualization
Advanced Programmable Controller AMC 300
- Fully production tested control system units
- Designed for a lifetime no less than 10 years @ 40 ºC
- Suitable for Offshore, Marine and near shore environments
- Superior robustness to vibrations, bumps and shocks
- Better ESD protection, Surge protection of I/O and Power supply
- Warranty: 2 years (not including wearable parts) with option to 3 years.
- Core specifications:
- Cold start-up/Operating temperature: -40 to 70 °C
- Storage temperature: -40 to 85 °C
- Climate: 55 °C 97 % RH condensing
- Altitude: < 4000 m
- Vibration : 2.1 g (3.2 to 50 Hz) 1.0g (13.2 to 100 Hz)
- Shock: 50 g, 11 ms, half sine
- Bump: 25 g, 6 ms, half sine
- Multifunction I/O modules with 24V DC Digital Inputs, Digital Outputs, Relay Outputs, Voltage / Current Analogue Inputs, Thermocouples, PT100/1000 inputs, Frequency Counter inputs, PWM outputs.
- Direct 3-phase 690 V voltage and 1/5A current measurement with class 0.5 Power measurement
- Modular I/O concept with distributed I/O nodes based on Standard EtherCAT and supporting EtherCAT cable redundancy
- CAN/CANopen, TCP/IP, RS-422/485 serial communication interfaces
- Operating system software with fail-safe update
- DEIF In-house maintained OS
- Real-time Patched Linux
- Discover the device via hostname (mDNS services)
- Web based configuration
- Simplified update procedures (no special tools, same for OS and firmware)
- Secured Certificated based access by standard protocols
- Customer manages all users, rights and credentials
- Network config on build-in 5 port switch (VLANs)
- Network Time protocol support as both Client and Server
- Fail-safe system software start up with two OS images (active and fault-back)
- Fault-tolerant file system
- Open software development with Linux, CODESYS V3 (IEC 61131-3)
- Regular updates to newest CODESYS V3.5 Service Packs
- Modbus TCP Client and Server library
- OPC UA Server (Open62541) library
Advanced graphical interface AGI 400
- Wide screen format
- True glass front
- Capacitive touch screen
- Multi-touch and Gestures
- Robust aluminium housing
- SD card slot for easy storage and updating
- USB hosts for printers, accessories, data storage and updating
- Dimmable LED backlight
- Web server for remote access from i.e. mobile devices
- 3 Ethernet ports with integrated switch
- Serial communication (RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485)
- Wide range of support for industrial protocols
- OPC UA Server and Client
- JAVA scripting
- CODESYS V3 (optional)
- Powerful ARM Cortex-A9 processor
- Plug-in module for CANbus (CANopen/J1939)
- Wide operating temperature -20°C to +60°C
- Marine certifications
- Certified for hazardous environments
- Available in 7", 10", 15" and 21" sizes