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LIBPF OPC

On-line Connectivity solution based on LIBPF

The LIBPF OPC (Open Process Connectivity) module is an extension to LIBPF to add plant control system connectivity.

You can download a brochure.

LIBPF connects to the plant control system as an OPC client; the plant control system must explose an OPC 2.0 compliant Data Access server, see the OPC foundation web site.
Using this vendor-independent multi-platform interface with the plant control system LIBPF can easily talk to:

PLC (Programmable Logic Controller);
DCS (Distributed Control System);
Real-time databases;
SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition).

Applications

First-principle Soft Sensors
Data reconciliation based on mass and energy balances
Pilot Plant monitoring
Process Diagnostic (heat exchanger fouling, catalyst or electrode deactivation)

Features

An application based on the LIBPF OPC module developed for on-line will operate as a service (Windows) or daemon (Unix).

Since the process is hidden from the console, a tunable error logging facility is present, which redirects messages to text files or an external event log service for troubleshooting.

A separate watchdog process monitors the main service CPU usage and activity, and performs restarts if an abnormal situation is detected.

opc scheme

Two operation modes are possible:

In an event-driven configuration the service will sit and wait for update events from the OPC server; when one such event is signalled, it triggers execution.
In a timed-execution configuration the service will start the execution at regular intervals.