Process Control Against the Drought: Automating the World's Largest Desalination

Related Vendors

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH

ProMinent GmbH

Rockwell Automation GmbH

Project development, engineering, programming, configuration and commissioning for the Sorek desalination plant was undertaken by Contel Automation & Control, a company which specialises in the supply of equipment and systems in industrial automation, air conditioning, refrigeration facilities control, building control systems and process control.

At the Plant’s Nerve-Center

The foundation of the plant’s control infrastructure — the Plant Pax process control system from Rockwell Automation — oversees some 11,000 I/O points. Contel Automation & Control deployed the Plant Pax process system as its programmable automation controllers offered increased speeds and could cater to multiple communication connections, which removes the need to split controllers. These savings were also realised by the company that undertook the construction of the facility — fewer controllers means less hardware, which means less wiring and engineering.

The Plant Pax process control system leverages extensive software packages and process libraries to provide a fully integrated architecture environment. This approach provides efficient and individual control of each of the primary redundant controllers, as well as optimising the software development process due to extensive libraries, add-on instructions for the controllers and process equipment as well as the ability to share code.

A Closed Ring Infrastructure for Automation

A closed-ring Ethernet/IP-based communication architecture was adopted, as it offered increased safety and efficiency. If one communication line fails or is damaged, a backup is always available on a different path.

Specific Allen-Bradley I/O modules were also chosen for their embedded Ethernet/IP capabilities and their resilience to the elevated environmental temperatures. Since most of the equipment is located near the sea, where elevated levels of humidity and salt are present, many of the primary modules were treated with conformal coating.

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