Q: What is the difference between a Distributed Control System (DCS) and a Process Knowledge System (PKS)?A: A true Process Knowledge System does two things that a DCS cannot. First, a Process Knowledge System captures the knowledge of people in and around a facility and uses that knowledge to take facility performance to higher levels. Second, a Process Knowledge System is integrated. It not only addresses manufacturing operations but all related operations across the facility. Like a DCS, a Process Knowledge System can drive revolutionary gains in performance and profitability for decades to come. Unlike a DCS, the impact will reach far beyond manufacturing and process control. A Process Knowledge System can make operators more effective, make assets work harder, make businesses more agile, and push performance throughout the facility to the next level.
A true Process Knowledge System marries information management with more profound knowledge-based technologies, including model-based control and optimization, simulation, scheduling, abnormal situation management, wireless and advanced sensing, and advanced applications, and delivers that combination in a form perfectly suited to industry.
Q: What does the C200 Process Controller include?A: The C200 Controller consists of a chassis, ControlNet communication module or the FTE Bridge module, the Control Processor module (CPM) and, optionally, the Redundancy Module. The ACE node is hosted on a server-grade PC platform. The C200 Controller is a compact and cost-effective solution located close to the process with direct I/O connections. It is ideal for integrated regulatory, fast logic, sequential, and batch control applications. The ACE node is ideally suited for supervisory control solutions and integration with third-party control systems.
Q: Does Experion integrate HART?A: Beginning with release 200, Experion integrates a best-in-class redundant solution for the HART communication protocol, allowing plant operators and maintenance personnel full access to field device information directly through the Experion system. The HART solution improves system performance and increases process availability, safety and throughput, while reducing life cycle costs for upgrading and maintaining smart field devices.
Q: How can Experion reduce my maintenance costs?A: Experion integrates an advanced, model-based control algorithm in the C200 and ACE node that reduces valve maintenance costs, increases process stability by up to 30 percent and eliminates PID tuning requirements. Honeywell’s patented Profit® Loop algorithm achieves optimal control by using an empirical model of the process dynamics to predict effects of past, present and future control moves on the controlled variable.
Q: What type of Control Network is provided by Experion?A: Beginning with release 200, Experion provides increased fault tolerance capability, security and faster response by using a Fault Tolerant Ethernet (FTE) control network. The FTE design is a patented, advanced networking solution that delivers greater system availability. Because the FTE design uses well-known networking protocols and standards together with standard off-the-shelf equipment that is commercially available, commissioning and maintenance costs are reduced.
Q: What services are offered with Experion?A: Honeywell offers a complete portfolio of high-value Experion services to help you optimize and sustain the business results from your automation control investment. Experion services offer best-in-class delivery. Honeywell projects start-up faster, delivering immediate benefits such as reduced costs and increased production. With more than 8,000 technicians in 67 countries, Honeywell has the resources and project service expertise to deliver projects on time. In fact, over 98 percent of all Honeywell projects are completed on schedule.
Experion services provide continuous evolution. Choosing Experion provides you with peace of mind in knowing that your automation investment is protected. The functionality of your previous Honeywell system is fully maximized when migrating to the Experion system. A Honeywell TDC2000® system installed more than 30 years ago can be seamlessly migrated to Experion.
Q: Does Experion integrate safety management?A: Honeywell’s safety management solutions, including Safety Manager™, are embedded within the Experion platform. Process security is maintained independently from the mainline control system. The result is a unified safety system solution that elevates safety and process availability—as well as production and profitability.
Q: What is the Control Execution Environment (CEE)?A: The Control Execution Environment (CEE) is the foundation for Experion controllers, providing a deterministic and reliable execution and scheduling environment in several Honeywell control platforms, including the C200 Process Controller, Application Control Execution (ACE) node and C200 Simulation Environment.