Control Systems

HSE research, published in their book 'Out of Control', shows that 60% of all process industry accidents can be traced back to errors in the design and specification. Too many companies fail to specify what the control system is supposed to do.

Following the IEE guidelines for the documentation of computer software (for real time and interactive systems) from project inception to commissioning and subsequent support avoids many of the pit falls in control system software development.

A basic process control system (BPCS) can be a proprietary distributed control system (DCS); or programmable logic controllers (PLCs) or a combination of both linked to management information systems in the office environment. It invariably forms part of a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system so that monitoring 24 hours a day in various plant locations either on site or remotely. Which ever of these systems you require we can help you design, build, configure and support them. Part of that assistance will focus on process safety, using an overall approach that follows BS EN 61508 and IEC 61511 standards to design in process safety at all levels to reduce the need for safety instrumented systems. But if you do need a safety instrumented system we can also help you design that. ( BS EN 61508/IEC 61511/UKOOA Guidelines )

The integration of the process control systems with the office systems brings new risks to the control system as most office systems have wide spread access to the Internet - with its risk of hackers and viruses as well as spyware and worms. We have experience of designing system architectures to reduce significantly the risk of your control systems being attacked.

With our partner company MCH Konsulting we can provide ABACUS4 a process control and SCADA system which runs under the Linux Operating system on industrial PC hardware using a large range of industrial process I/O subsystems. Its use of Linux Operating System allows the SCADA package to utilise virtual private networks for monitoring remote systems, and contributes to the protection from viral, spyware and worm attack. Within the ABACUS4 package there is an option for a maintenance database linked directly to the main control and SCADA software.