Clever investment
New motor management simplifies plant modernization in a chemicals production

Besides comprehensive protection, control and monitoring functions, a modern motor management system is characterized by a multitude of service functions. Innovene Manufacturing Deutschland Werk Marl is currently converting all pump drives employed in the cumene production to such a system – that is to Simocode pro. In connection with a new process control system, plant transparency and availability are thus increased.

The Marl chemical park in the northern Ruhr district, Germany, is considered as the center of process technology, where companies of the chemical and petrochemical industries manufacture important primary products and finished goods. The plastic division of Innovene, Innovene Marl Monomers, for example produces large quantities of styrene, ethyl benzene and cumene. The Marl plant, which forms a bridge between the petrochemical sector and the mineral oil industry together with the Cologne site, was acquired by BP in 1998. Since 2001, Marl has been a 100 percent subsidiary of Deutsche BP, producing elements for the processing industry.
As the Innovene – Chemicals Production Marl is undergoing a very intensive plant modernization, the pump controls are to be equipped with intelligent low-voltage switchgear to replace the old contactor controls by a future-proof concept. The expectations held by the persons in charge are outlined by the engineer assistant for electrical technology, Dirk Pletowski, as follows: “By the second half of this year, the entire production will be monitored by a new process control system. To realize this, we have to implement the necessary changes on the field level.”
Actually, this would have meant to modernize the existing contactor-motor control and connect the signal technology via the plant control to the new process control system by additionally wiring the control contactors. In this situation, Dirk Pletowski’s division decided in favor of a more modern approach—daring a further quality leap and thus investing in a safe future in the long term: “Even though the new motor management system Simocode pro is not more expensive than a contactor control, it supplies considerably more data and offers the possibility for comprehensive service functionalities.”

The systems for cumene production, for example, are permanently operated almost 365 days a year. Cumene is a primary product synthesized from propylene and benzene for the technical production of phenol and acetone. As an additive, it also increases the octane number of aviation fuel. It is partially even used as solvent. For converting the process technology, 80 pump drives are retrofitted with the new Siemens motor management system Simocode pro in a first step.
The bus is early addressed
The possibility of initially employing the motor management system as stand-alone solution—without PCS support—and processing the acquired data in the control center on site is considered a major advantage by the Marl staff. As soon as the new process control system is in full operation, the devices can be connected via the Profibus DP to the integrated solution without any time delays. “To facilitate this,” explains Dirk Pletowski, “we address the bus already when installing the Simocode-pro devices.”
This can be very easily realized via an addressing plug, which simply has to be shortly plugged onto the system interface to allocate a Profibus address without laptop or programming device. Thanks to the immediate addressing, the team saves very much time as only the already provided lines have to be inserted into the Profibus connections on the devices.
Time is one of the decisive factors in Marl when it comes to the maintenance or modernization of systems. The pump drives, for example, are retrofitted during operation in order not to interrupt the cumene production.
Simocode pro, the successor of the Simocode DP motor protection and control device, which has been successfully applied for years, presents itself as a modularly designed motor management system for motors in the low-voltage range. It combines protection, monitoring and control functions for all motor feeders up to 820A. As opposed to the past, two different variants are now available to meet the special requirements of the users. At Innovene in Marl, for example, the plant engineers installed the Simocode pro C in 79 of the 80 pump drives. ‘C’ stands for ‘compact’ and represents the basic equipment of the new motor management. This comprises a current measuring module, a basic device and an optional operator panel. The modules are electrically interconnected via a cable and—as with the previous model—can either be mechanically connected or separately installed.
“The high flexibility resulting thereof constitutes a major advantage for us”, adds Dirk Pletowski. The current measuring module and the basic device can now be positioned up to two meters apart from each other. This way, a high device density can be attained in the two control rooms for the cumene production, saving space where required. Simocode pro C for direct and reversing starters is currently considered the most efficient communication-capable motor management system of its class. As in the described application at Innovene Monomers, it is suitable for the comfortable conversion of contactor controls to communication-capable motor feeders. The advantages connected therewith are manifold. Apart from motor protection and connection to Profibus DP, especially the measuring of electrical currents is of relevance in practice. Based on these measurement results, it can be immediately identified whether, for example, a pump drive operates in the normal range or whether the process is subject to unusual alterations. Consequently, the operating staff is not only able to rapidly react before substantial damage or even failures occur, but also to extremely easily realize a state-oriented maintenance concept. A fundamental feature of Simocode pro is the autonomous execution of all protection and control functions. This means: Even if the bus system or the process control technology fails, the motor feeder maintains its operativeness and protection. Even a particular behavior for fault cases can be parameterized. The Marl devices will be retrofitted between March and September to ensure that all pump drives can immediately go ‘online’ by the start of the process control system.
Flexible and modular
For one drive, the Innovene staff decided in favor of the Simocode pro V model. ‘V’ stands for ‘variable’ and represents the entire diversity of the new motor management system. In this case, the ‘V’ solution was selected as up to two additional digital modules can be connected to the respective basic device. “We need this solution to be able to scan specific sensor signals”, explains Dirk Pletowski. Especially in process-technology plants, a whole range of sensors has to be taken into account. For this reason, the Siemens developers have considerably extended the characteristics of this motor management system. Besides the two possible digital modules (formerly only one module), an additional, external ground fault module for ground fault detection by means of a summation current transformer, as well as an own temperature module are integrated. Thanks to this component, statements concerning the thermal situation of the entire electrical drive can be made beyond the integrated thermistor motor protection. Three analog sensor measuring circuits in two- or three-wire technology can be evaluated. Within this context, it is irrelevant whether the sensors are of type PTC, NTC, Pt100, Pt1000 or KTY. With the integration of the motor temperature monitoring function into a process control system, the user has enhanced possibilities of positively influencing the plant availability in a preventive manner. In addition to this, the Simocode pro V can be supplemented by a separate analog module, by means of which the filling level values or volume flow rates, which require frequent detection in the field of process technology, can be easily integrated into the motor management system. Via the Profibus connection, the respective values are also available in the process control system.
Two interesting variants
For Innovene Monomers, the persons in charge have set a clear sign and selected intelligent low-voltage controls & distribution. They use the new Simocode pro motor management as it facilitates comprehensive motor management, which contains many pre-defined motor control functions such as reversing or direct start as well as star-delta switchover with and without reversal already as a standard. Particularly for process technology, the two variants ‘compact’ and ‘variable’ are interesting as, on the one hand, they are very cost-efficient and, on the other hand, flexible in application, for example for valve actuations, as actuation for circuit-breakers or soft starters. With its individually adapted equipment, Simocode pro offers phase-sequence detection, power factor as well as current, temperature, power and voltage monitoring. By means of freely parameterizable logic modules, such as truth tables, counters or edge evaluation, further protection and control functions can be adapted. The list of additional features by which the Simocode-DP predecessor was extended is long. As a matter of course, both Simocode pro C and Simocode pro V can be operated together without any additional expenditures. Also by the team around Dirk Pletowski, this innovative motor management was perceived as clever solution. This is reflected by his confidence—before and after the installation of the new process control system: “With the Simocode-pro devices, we have everything we need today and for the future.