In the last few months, we have shared on how IIOT is useful for Power, Oil and Gas and Water Industry: In Power Industry, IIoT is intricately linked to the implementation of Smart Grid and IEC61850. In Oil and Gas where profitability is a bigger concern than ever, IIoT can help to reduce operations cost and minimizes downtime by allowing for predictive maintenance. For the water industry, we shared a possible scenario whereby IIoT is adopted by a facilities manager to understand about his systems.

If you have not already read those articles, click on the images below.

IIOT for Power

IIOT for Water

IIOT for Oil and Gas

How Phoenix Contact IIOT can help you get started

After engaging our customers in this topic, we have gained further insights and in this article, we will like to share some of these concerns and how we have helped customer overcome them.

1. How do we know for sure that we will have returns of investment from implementing IIoT?
   There are indeed risks when it comes to Industrial Internet of Things, especially when data mining (finding patterns from database of data with no seemingly no use) is involved. Compared to traditional engineering methods where an engineer spot a problem or area of improvement and work to improve it, Big Data and IIoT is very much about not knowing problems, not knowing areas of improvements, yet hoping for some “miracle” to happen.Phoenix Contact reduces this risk in several ways:
   1. We provide free demos for customers to try.
   2. We provide data analytical and preparation services for customers to greatly enhance the odds of IIoT succeeding. This may seem easy, but data preparation and combination from disparate sources with different formats and different headers is really a tougher challenge than many expected. At least that’s what we gathered from feedbacks anyway
   3. We encourage our partners to start with a system that is well known to benefit from IIoT. For example: Energy Savings, Predictive Maintenance and we help our partners along the way to achieve it.

2. 2. How do I collect data from many sources and combine them together! It’s so complicated. How about reliability, cybersecurity, electrical surge ……
      Phoenix Contact addresses this by:
      1. Our Phoenix Contact IIOT Connectivity Solution is a portable, plug and play box including softwares that are able to ingest data of any format.
      2. PICS is fully customizable, which means that you can add Phoenix Contact reliable and extensive range of products to form a solution just right for you. This includes a wide range of data connectors including IP67 rated connectors for wet/dusty/oily industrial areas!
      3. Phoenix Contact will partner you along this journey and overcome these difficulties with you!

2. IIoT is expensive!!Phoenix Contact products are not only inexpensive, but the ROI it provides is way more than the initial cost! And as explained in point 1, we even provide you with full working demo and data analysis so you don’t have to spend till you are convinced!

To help you get started, we have a Phoenix Contact IIOT Quick Start Guide. Get your copy today!

If you will like to consult with us with regards to implementing IIoT, leave us your contact at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg and we will get in touch with you shortly.

In most companies, the Information Technology (IT) departments are usually the team responsible for hardware configuration, physical implementations, software installation and many other services in relations to PCs within the company.

As a business, having downtime and substandard quality in their PCs or IT-related infrastructure could affect overall performance.

This may not bode well as lacking behind could open up advantages to competitors and slow reaction time to meet customers’ demands.

To ensure that your business keeps up with the Joneses or perhaps even outperforms against competition, you need to rely on Industrial PCs.

Why, you asked?

Simple! Because off-the-shelf solutions may not work for some as there could exist limitations.

Here are 5 reasons:

1. Form Factor
   Industrial PC is an option you should consider because it comes in multiple form factors. If a 19” rack mount solution is required, various options are available.
   

   Rack-mounted PCs

   In instances where a smaller cabinet or tight space limit the size of the PC, you can utilize a 6-slot/8-slot Wall Mount or Desktop.

   If space and air flow both play a major factor in your decision-making, you can go with a Din-Rail, Stand mount or Wall mount Embedded PC. If you’d like to combine a HMI with the Embedded PC, there are a myriad of 4:3 and widescreen touch/multi-touch solutions available.

   If a stand-alone HMI is preferable, you can configure a Touch Panel Computer, Panel PC or Industrial Panel PC to meet your specific requirements.

   For Phoenix Contact, we offer varying types of PCs and HMI to suit different applications. Again, because it’s designed to be space saving and comes in different form factors, you won’t have any issues selecting the right solution for the right task.

Industrial PC

2. Performance
   There is a common misunderstanding that Industrial PCs can’t run as fast as some of the off-the-shelf PCs.In reality, performance is the forefront of most Industrial Computer manufacturers. The majority of industrial computer manufacturers partner with CPU providers (such as Intel) to continuously develop product lines based on CPU trends and long-term availability.Our CPU comes suited for the application, with the latest generation of high-performance and energy-efficient Intel^® Atom™, Celeron^® or Core™ i processors.
   Not to mention, running on operating systems for every application from Windows^® 7 or 10 and even Windows^® Embedded Standard 7.

Panel PC

3. Endurance & Durability
   Industrial computers are characterized by long hours of operation, resistance to vibration and shock from occasional thumps.Commercial-grade computers are not designed to withstand long operating hours without overheating and potentially damaging its internal components.On the other hand, industrial grade computers have integrated cooling “fans” or device to help dissipate heat efficiently. In fact, the most common reason for failure in consumer-grade computer is the low grade power supply and electronics used.
   If you plan on acquiring commercial grade computers for your industry to be used more than 25 hours per week or even 24 x 7, you should definitely reconsider an industrial PC.
   

   Designline PC

4. Display Technology
   Display is one key technology that is most often neglected. A display that is suitable for indoor use is not necessarily suitable to be used in the outdoor environment.One might argue that you can increase the brightness of the display to the maximum when used outdoors, however it will never be enough to compensate for the brightness of the sun. Thanks to optical bonding, the displays of our outdoor HMIs and industrial PCs can be read effectively at any time.In addition to this, they are provided with an anti-reflection coating (AR coating) and can therefore even be read in dazzling sunlight. An integrated UV and IR filter also ensures a long service life for the industrial PCs.
   

   Designline PC

5. Customization
   The ability to customize your Industrial PC configuration to tailor exactly to your application’s specifications is valued more than everything else.Many, if not all, of the off-the-shelf PCs are limited in customization and although they provide the minimal performance, they generally do not allow various customizations.
   Users require configuration flexibility due to the multiple CPUs, varying amounts of memory and multiple I/O card required.With an Industrial PC, you could provide hundreds of “one-off” solutions that can enable you to fulfill your every requirement; for each task without costing you additional on hardware/software configuration.If you still doubt the quality of our HMI, you can watch the physical test we ran (*We highly advice you not to try such stunts as we won’t be responsible if you hurt yourself).

Want to find out more? Feel free to contact us at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg!

The term Internets of Things (IoT) was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999 and the big corporate players like Google, Facebook, Apple, Samsung and LG have been practicing it for years. In recent years, it has become a hot topic and IoT ‘tech’ has started to flood the market.

Now, every ‘Thing’ would need to look smart and cool, hence not only has the phone started to “think and talk”, the Smart Devices, Smart Appliances, Smart Home, Smart Car, Smart Factory, Smart City are starting to form a Smart World.

How can the Water Industry catch up with this “smart” trend?

Let’s see what have the big players done so far. GE has launched Predix, a cloud-based platform that enables asset functionality monitoring.  IBM® Intelligent Water software has been developed to deliver smarter water management through insights from data to help utilities manage pressure, detect leaks, reduce water consumption, mitigate sewer overflow, and better manage their water infrastructure, assets and operations. According to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the researchers at Clemson University are building the “Intelligent River” to provide real-time monitoring, analysis and management of water resources.

Of course, it would be cool if we can apply Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) across entire assets, collect the big data from all the facilities perform a thorough analysis in order to find out the insights to improve operational efficiency, enhance productivity and create new opportunities. However, this ideal case unlikely to happen due to the limitations of knowledge, budget, risk, standardization and legacy installed base.

I believe a lot of people will agree with me that we need to “start small” for new ventures in order to gain experience, take the calculated risk and predicted outcome. Let me share a case here to demonstrate how we can achieve that in the water industry.

IIoT Implementation

A reservoir is surrounded by a few pumps / lift stations; the reservoir is 100km away from the centralized SCADA system. A standalone PLC and Ethernet Remote I/O is in place to control and monitor the water level of both reservoir and pump stations.

Kelvin, the Facilities Manager is being assigned to explore the implementation of IIoT within a timeframe of 3 months with budget of less than US$7,000. It should have low cyber security risk, justifiable benefits and consideration of future extension.

Kelvin has decided to pursue a simple IIoT project by partnering with an IIoT service provider. They deploy more sensors at field (e.g. weather stations, thermistors, BTU meter) and install a connectivity box next to the PLC. The sensors will collect more data such as temperature, humidity, energy consumption and water quality.

The connectivity box can take in additional signals and the I/O is expandable for future extension and the box is designed with unique connector for easy plug and play. The box is also equipped with 4G router in order to send the data back to the centralized SCADA and subsequently send to the IIoT platform securely (data is encrypted).

The collected data is in real-time and can be analysed individually (e.g. pump energy usage) and interoperability (e.g. pump can run at lower speed during the hot weather). The analysed data can be used to predict pump failure, save pump energy, early detection of the contamination or give early flood sign.

Kelvin has accomplished his mission and now his ‘THINGS’ look ‘smart’. In addition, he can easily communicate with his team about the current status, problem or performance of each facility by using the dashboard and generate a report in the structured data format (e.g. text, graph, image, video) for his management to discuss further improvement or to identify new opportunities. Do you think now Kelvin also looks “smart and cool”?

There are plenty of ways for you to implement the IIoT platform depending on your current situation (e.g. remote area, existing with or without SCADA system, multiple sites) and technical and commercial requirement (e.g. cyber security, cloud-based, redundancy, future expansion, budget).

Phoenix Contact offers flexible and customize IIoT solutions inclusive of the connectivity box, please feel free to drop me an email eexinchong@phoenixcontact.com.sg for clarification or discussion.

or register for our free e-book.

As more factories go into automation, more networks and fieldbuses are used for communicating between machines and people.

RJ45 is one of the most commonly used connector.

What is this RJ45?

It is a type of standard connector for network cables, especially Ethernet.

Some of the common issues faced with RJ45 connector include intermittent data. Most RJ45 connectors in the market come with a plastic clip.

The plastic clip helps to form a secure connection between the connector and the socket. It also ensures that the connector stays seated on the socket.

You would need to exert some pressure on the plastic clip in order to unplug the connector. However, the plastic clip is usually fragile.

It breaks easily when bend backwards or when the connector is dropped on the floor. Without the plastic clip, the transmission of data is not guaranteed. The RJ45 would then be used with the nearest trash bin – if you know what I mean.

Often times, even when the plastic clip is intact, intermittent data could occur due to vibration from the surrounding machines.

Other issues surrounding the RJ45

Moreover, the process of crimping a RJ45 can be tedious. In order for the connector to function properly, the cable (with as many as 8 cores) has to be crimped into specific standards, namely T568S and T568B, with a special crimping tool.

Crimping is a manual process and depends very much on the workmanship of the person who is doing the job.

If it is not done properly, the crimp contact will not sit properly within the connector and the data transmission will be affected.

Crimping is an irreversible process. If the connector is crimped wrongly, it cannot be un-crimped (word of caution).

It has to be scrapped and the damaged cable has to be cut which causes wastage.

Problems, problems and more problems. So what’s the solution?

At Phoenix Contact we build innovations based on issues that every day people, like you and me, have.

Phoenix Contact Industrial RJ45 is equipped with 2 springs at the top of the connector to ensure that the connector is sitting snuggly within the socket, even during high vibration applications (yes, even the extreme ones).

Phoenix Contact plastic RJ45 connector is made of special plastic. It could not only bend 180 degree without breaking but it could also resist the impact of dropping on the ground.

Phoenix contact QUICKON RJ45 connector allows you to terminate cable without the need to strip the cable and the use of expensive crimping tool.

The connector is colour-coded so there is no need to memorise the standards.

In addition, the connector is able to reconnect up to 10 times. Meaning to say, there is no need to scrap the connector if it’s connected wrongly. Just follow the simple steps below to terminate the cable.

Or alternatively, if reading is a chore, you can watch this video right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm2wNf9DUCk

See how easy that was? At this rate you’ll be producing thousands of RJ45 within seconds.

So if you’re looking for a reliable and problem-free RJ45 cable, look no further.

Leave us an email at marketing@phoenixcontact.com.sg to request a product demo today!