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LIBPF OPC

On-line Connectivity solution based on LIBPF

 

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The LIBPF OPC (Open Process Connectivity) module is an extension to LIBPF to add plant control system connectivity to the Process Control System using the Classic OPC interface.

You can download a brochure or have a look at this screencast which shows how a LIBPF OPC application is installed and run on Windows 7 in console mode and as a service (note: you will need to install the Adobe Flash player to watch it).

LIBPF connects to the plant control system as an OPC client; the plant control system must expose a Classic OPC compliant Data Access server (OPC DA 2.0.4). Classic OPC is the de-facto standard (http://www.opcfoundation.org) interface for real-time data exchange with field automation in the process industry; all PLC and DCS vendors have an OPC server option according to the OPC-DA interface.

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).

 

An application based on the LIBPF OPC module developed for on-line will operate as a Windows service. Since the process is hidden from the console, to ease troubleshooting a tracing facility with tunable verbosity is available, which redirects messages with operating system pipes to a separate process (trace listener) which can then dump to a text file or to the operating system event log for troubleshooting.

Two operation modes are possible:

  1. In an event-driven configuration the service will sit and wait for update events from the OPC server; when one such event is signaled, it triggers execution.

  2. In a timed-execution configuration the service will start the execution at regular intervals.

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

  • Runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 Workstation and Server, XP, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008 and Windows 7
  • Compatible with OPC DA (data access) 2.0.4 client specification
  • Simple and compact architecture
  • Works with any DCS
  • Configure with a single XML file
  • 1 .. 10 .. 100 soft-sensors in one server
  • Flexible and extensible
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