Non-Oil and Gas Applications

The applications summarized in this document have been implemented by Fisher Representatives for customers outside of the Oil and Gas Industry. Each application uses one or more of the ROC306, ROC312, ROC364, or FloBoss products. For additional information on any of these applications, contact your Fisher representative.

Chilled Water Monitoring and Control

In this application a stand-alone ROC is used to control a chilled water facility. FST are used to control six pumps filling the chiller based on level. A push-button panel is used as the man-machine interface.

Continuous Emissions Monitoring

This application uses ROC312s and ROC364s at a remote power station to collect data from analyzers which monitor stack NOx emissions at a utility company. The ROC both archives and communicates analysis data to a host system through a dial-up phone line. The monitoring is required for EPA Clean Air Act compliance. The application was implemented by Fluor-Daniel who liked the capabilities of the ROC and the support they received from their Fisher Representative.

Electrical Power Monitoring

In this application a ROC is used to measure electrical power throughput at a power substation. It is connected to a GV110 host 8500 feet away using an RS-485 interface. The ROC is totalizing power consumption, performing interdepartmental billing, and reselling excess power to a private developer.

Kettle Control System in a Chemical Plant

This application uses ROC64s to control two process kettles. A ROC364 is dedicated to each kettle and communicates to a PC running FactoryLink IV software. Each ROC performs kettle heating or cooling mode selection and interlocking; kettle temperature and pressure PID control; pump and agitator control; alarm annunciation, storage tank inventory management, and weigh tank feed tier and reset.

Motor Control of Concentrator Tank in Gold Mining Operation

This application uses a ROC in place of an Allen-Bradley PLC which the customer traditionally would have selected. The ROC is used to control two three-phase 380 VAC motors which operate a rake within a concentrate thickener tank. The ROC provides the logic to control the first motor which keeps the rake rotating within the tank. The ROC also controls the second motor which raises or lowers the rake within a user-selectable range.

River Temperature Monitoring and Reporting (Canada)

In this application an electric utility is allowed to release cooling water into a nearby river only if an acceptable temperature profile downstream of their power plant can be maintained. Five ROCs are used to collect and report water temperature and flow data and to generate hourly river temperature reports for study by Environment Canada.

River Temperature Monitoring and Reporting (New Zealand)

This application uses ROCs to monitor and report the effects of power station discharge on river temperature. Four ROCs are used, one upstream and three downstream of the power station and each ROC measures multiple temperature inputs as well as river level. The ROCs communicate on a report-by-exception basis to a host using FactoryLink IV software.

Snow Making Equipment Control

This application uses ROCs as part of a snow making system at a ski resort. The functions performed by the ROCs include controlling valves, starting and stopping pumps, reading pressures and reservoir levels, and gathering and reporting of data to an Intellution host.

Steam Intake Monitoring

In this application, a municipal facility burns commercial and household refuse for fuel. It supplies steam to a local air force base through a two mile long pipeline. A ROC is used at the air base to monitor steam usage and report back to a PROVOX system at the burn facility.

Tank Level Monitoring of Corn Syrup

This application uses ROCs to monitor and report the level of corn syrup stored in tanks at customer sites. The tank level data is retrieved by the supplier to prevent the tanks from going empty before they are refilled and to eliminate unnecessary trips to the customer site to determine tank levels.

Tank Level Monitoring of Industrial Gases

This application uses ROCs to monitor and report the level of industrial liquid gas (argon, oxygen, nitrogen) stored in tanks at customer sites. The tank level data is retrieved by the supplier to prevent the tanks from going empty before they are refilled and to eliminate unnecessary trips to the customer site to determine tank levels.

Wash Water Control in a Corn Milling Operation

In this application, raw corn is fed by auger-style conveyors to grinding and washing equipment for processing. A solution of water and sulfur dioxide is stored in a tank and added to the corn during processing. The amount of wash water added must be maintained in proportion to the amount of corn being processed.

A ROC364 is used to monitor the speed of each conveyor, calculate and display the grind rate of each conveyor, and total and display the grind rate of all conveyors. The ROC also calculates a setpoint for the wash water pressure loop based on the level of wash water in the storage tank and an operator-entered setpoint bias value.

Water Well Monitoring and Control

This application uses two ROC systems, each with its own host but sharing a single communication system. In the concentrator unit, 12 ROCs (ROC312s and ROC364s) communicate to a PROVOX system through an external interface card (EIC). Ten ROCs perform monitoring and control of remote water wells and pumping stations while two ROCs are used as remote I/O points for the PROVOX system.

At the solvent extraction plants, eight ROCs are supervised by a Wonderware host. Six ROCs are used to control the pumping of acid solutions to the leach fields and pumping of product back to the solvent extraction plants. Two ROCs are used at a new solvent extraction plant to control it remotely from the main control room.

MS-Excel and Modbus Driver

This application uses a ROC364, Microsoft Excel software, and Modbus driver to control a small effluent plant in northern Manitoba. The package is easy to set up and after entering point tags in the Modbus driver, they can be copied into an Excel worksheet. Any value in the ROC can be either read or written to. Also, by using the Excel charting wizard real-time trending can be developed.

The entire Excel-Modbus package offers a graphic host solution for under $1,000 and can be customized using visual basic.

The contents of this publication are presented for informational purposes only. While every effort has been made to ensure informational accuracy, they are not to be construed as warranties or guarantees, express or implied, regarding the products or services described herein or their use or applicability. Fisher Controls reserves the right to modify or improve the designs or specifications of such products at any time without notice.

For information, contact Fisher Controls:
Marshalltown, Iowa 50158 U.S.A. 
Singapore 0512
Cernay 68700 France 
Sao Paulo 05424 Brazil