A Peek at the Petroleum Refining Equipment from the STEI Laboratory
Electrical Engineering students of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) can now explore further in industrial control systems through the Honeywell DCS 300. Through this tool, it is hoped that students can continue to develop innovations to support and face industry 4.0 where all systems will be integrated and can be accessed in real time anywhere.
Quoted from the ITB press release, the Honeywell 300 DCS tool is located at the Honeywell Control Laboratory, Labtek XIII-ITB, which was inaugurated in 2016. This Honeywell donation tool is a miniature of an ethanol and water mixture separation system consisting of a raw material storage tank, a boiler, and a packed column. This system is found in the petroleum refining industry. All units are equipped with a control system so that the process can be maintained in optimal conditions.
The Honeywell 300 DCS has undergone numerous modifications. For example, the expensive level sensor on the market has been replaced with a simple one assembled by students using a hydrometer and a proximity sensor. The device can even operate using proprietary software, which is being continuously developed by the students. Access to the control system has also been continuously improved.
"From our computer, we can instantly see the tank's level and its condition. The ultimate goal is for it to be visible to people not only in the control room but also anywhere, again, moving towards Industry 4.0," said Fabiola, an assistant at the Honeywell Control Laboratory, better known as Basic Laboratory 05.
The development of the control system, which is currently more focused on the network, is also motivated by the integration of the Honeywell 300 DCS device at ITB with the equipment provided by Honeywell at the University of Indonesia (UI) and Gadjah Mada University (UGM). The device at UI is a smart home, while UGM, which just opened on November 28, 2018, does not receive special equipment but does receive a special network.
"It's a coincidence that Honeywell, in addition to ITB, also donated to UGM and UI. Even though they only have one device, they hope students can experience a different kind of device elsewhere. UGM doesn't have the hardware, so they were given access to this device. Now they can access their data directly from here," said Fabiola.
Regarding the Industry 4.0 network, Irene, a Master's student in Electrical Engineering, and her colleagues are conducting research on the network. The current research focuses on PID computation methods using machine learning systems, data security using cybersecurity, and maintaining real-time data accessibility. This will allow the control system to run automatically, learn from previous events, and implement solutions using machine learning. Data from each industry will be secure, and stakeholders can view it directly from anywhere.
"There's still so much to explore with this tool. So far, it's been limited to our thesis. Hopefully, more will be explored in the future, so the tool's usefulness will increase," said Irene.
Every undergraduate Electrical Engineering student will be introduced to and gain new experience in control systems using the Honeywell DCS 300 in the practicum module in semester 3. Meanwhile, graduate students interested in exploring more deeply can choose topics within the control systems and intelligent systems expertise group. The usefulness of this tool is also not limited to students. As a form of collaboration between ITB and Honeywell, a training was recently held for Pertamina at ITB to introduce Honeywell software.