SSE-14 Invensys Simulation System

Rio Tinto is expanding its Cape Lambert iron ore offloading site. Rio Tinto’s Cape Lambert Port B (CLB) will process 100 million tonnes per year. The engineering company behind the expansion, SKM, contracted Invensys to build a simulation system for development and testing of the PLC control system for CLB.

With the process model outside of the PLC code, this allows SKM to: Test the complex IO mapping in advance Eliminate the need to remove “simulation” blocks from the PLC code after Factory Acceptance.

Invensys’ simulation group utilized DYNSIM and its Mining, Metals, & Minerals (M3) object library to model the processes. The M3 Conveyor object was expanded to include functionality for the extreme and diverse situations of the offloading site.

The fidelity of the M3 library and the flexibility of DYNSIM allows SKM to rigorously test their high- level “Task Management System” - independent of the 26 lower-level PLCs.

Invensys also enhanced its Modbus communications link between DYNSIM and the Schneider PLCs to include the specialized IO cards and intelligent devices used extensively throughout CLB.

The simulation system is currently leading the development of many systems of the controls – SKM’s controls engineers are testing their logic at every stage leading up to and including Factory Acceptance Testing (FATs).

SKM and Rio Tinto have plans to expand the CLB simulation system for operator training once the controls are complete.