ECS/ControlCenter

The cost of production losses in the process industry makes plant availability the most critical factor when selecting a control system supplier.

Characteristics
The Building Blocks

ECS/ControlCenter™

Today, the ECS/ControlCenter platform is supported and integrated not only by the engineers of FLSmidth in Denmark, but also by various teams and subsidiaries as well as cement and minerals producers and their associated engineering companies. This has been made possible through a sound and reliable product development strategy as well as worldwide support and training services.

	ECS/ControlCenter
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Characteristics

The general characteristics of the ECS/ControlCenter for process automation are the following:

Hardware independent. ECS/ControlCenter is based on distributed architecture and designed for easy integration with numerous hardware products to allow the user to freely choose the most suitable suppliers for the specific project. A configuration with main motors from one supplier and process controllers from another is an example where ECS/ControlCenter is highly advantageous as the overall integrating system.

Open and configurable. Being a platform for control system solutions, ECS/ControlCenter is an open environment that fulfils a wide range of requirements in terms of local regulations, group standardisation and equipment functionality. The configurable environment of the platform with its high degree of flexibility makes for customer satisfaction.

State-of-the-art. In step with continuous development of hardware and software, ECS/ControlCenter is known to utilise not only the most recent but also the most reliable technologies in control system solutions.

Scalable. Scalability is a distinguishing characteristic of ECS/ControlCenter. An ECS/ControlCenter server can be used to control a single department with only a few hundred I/Os. The same server concept can later on be used to control additional production units or even the entire plant with high performance.

Dual configuration

Only two ECS/ControlCenter servers interconnected in a redundant configuration are sufficient for complete control and supervision of all departments in large production plant. The two servers handle I/O communication with the process controllers, the entire supervision task for all operator stations of the two lines, internal data processing, logging and event handling, and any possible engineering and configuration task for the control systems.

The two servers are simultaneously active in all the control tasks, and update each other with any changes that might occur in each of them. Thus a shutdown of any of these servers will not affect the production of this plant.

A number of add-on applications for process and quality control can also be integrated into the control system.

The ECS/ControlCenter control systems from FLSmidth are based on distributed architecture using advanced process controllers on ABB, Rockwell, Schneider and Siemens hardware platforms.

ECS/ControlCenter consists of several functional building blocks that constitute the added-value of the product for control systems. Each building block has been carefully designed to match the precise requirements of our customers in cement and minerals industries exacly.

Functional building blocks

The I/O Center is a very powerful kernel of the ECS/ControlCenter to handle the entire input-output communication with the plant.
The Operator Insight Center contains a number of functions and features for efficient control and supervision of the plant.
The functions within the Engineering Center make the control systems the strongest and most flexible platform of its type.
Last but not least, the Security Center has a number of security-oriented applications to protect the system against unauthorised access.

All these functions can be customised to the specifications of a plant or company regarding behaviour, user-interface, etc. ECS/ControlCenter customers can also benefit from a wide range of add-on products, technical support and other services to maximise utilisation of their control system.

Process Control