Intelligent Motor Control: Innovations in Process Optimization

As technology continues to drive innovations, industrial enterprises must keep pace to remain competitive in an ever-changing marketplace. The technology trend is to replace the systems of yesterday with higher-performance, lower-cost, option-rich devices that shorten the return on investment and offer more flexibility. As control system technology evolves, systems migrate to functions that are being increasingly distributed to smarter, more granular control system components capable of performing localized operations. These functions were once the responsibility of a central or master controller. For example, there is integration of intelligent devices, device-level networks, and interrogation software into medium-voltage (MV) and lowvoltage (LV) motor-control centers (MCCs). Technology can deliver improved diagnostics, early warnings for increased system reliability, design flexibility, simplified wiring, and another level of personnel safety for process industries. This article focuses on technology integration, intelligent devices, and device-level information collection to provide convergence of control and information for plantwide optimization.