The key factor driving investment in wastewater treatment all over the world is cost reduction and the way to maintain high standards while reducing costs is to utilise sophisticated measurement and process control technology.
The introduction of Fieldbus communication technologies has boosted the monitoring of instrument status, maintenance and diagnostics. The Profibus International Competence Centre now provides services to a number of sectors of industrial automation. The demand for high-tech automation in the water sector continues to grow in Australia and throughout Asia Pacific.
The company has been accredited by Profibus International (PI) as the first Profibus International Competence Centre (PICC) in Australia. According to Nick Smith, Manager, Tyco Process Automation Division and The Profibus International Competence Centre, The Tyco Process Automation Competence Centre will play a major role in spreading the technology throughout this region.
One of the country’s comprehensive applications of the Profibus philosophy is at the Water Corporation owned Kwinana Water Reclamation Plant (KWRP). This municipal wastewater reuse plant of Australia has implemented Profibus DP and PA communications which are integral to the facility’s success in improving both water efficiency in the Perth basin, and environmental management in the Kwinana industrial area.
Water Corporation has been implementing Profibus DP and PA networks for over five years in its water and wastewater treatment plants. Profibus DP and PA will become an integral part of its planned networking of all the metropolitan water treatment plants over the next five years.
The Corporation’s Principal Engineer, Electrical, in the Mechanical and Electrical Services Branch, is in the trying to connect the five largest water treatment plants within a 50km radius of Perth, to enable after hours operation from the Corporation’s Operations Centre in Leederville. To be successful, an experienced operator in Leederville needs to perform detailed diagnostics of any instrumentation or control problem, and then decide on the action. Profibus technology in the plants makes much of this possible.
As more companies look at enhancing their operational effectiveness, The Profibus International Competence Centre will support companies in design, implementation, new product development, provide technical support for Profibus manufacturers and users, allow demonstrations of interoperability of products and provide a comprehensive range of certified training programmes.
Tyco Automation commenced their Profibus training programme in January this year with the internationally accredited, certified one-day Profibus Installer course. The next 3.5-day certified Profibus Engineers course covering network design, commissioning and live fault finding will be scheduled for March.