PI is the Host for the MTP and NOA Technologies
With PI technologies, users in the process industry not only benefit from increased efficiency of their systems, but also from reduced maintenance and repair costs. This is demonstrated by the new technologies under the PI umbrella: MTP and NOA.
How can innovative approaches be integrated more quickly into plants in the process industry? And how can the efficiency of large plants be combined with the flexibility of smaller batch plants? From an automation technology perspective, two technologies have recently made a name for themselves for such tasks. With MTP (Module Type Package) and NOA (NAMUR Open Architecture), new solutions are available not only for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, but also for the daily work in the process industry.
Respond Faster and More Flexibly to Market Requirements
There is no getting around modular systems if you want to respond more quickly and flexibly to changing market requirements. However, the integration of such modules has previously been very complex from an automation perspective. MTP now offers enormous advantages here: With MTP, process engineering modules, machines, and package units can be orchestrated much more efficiently than before. This offers a whole range of advantages for users: More precise process control improves yield and quality. Even small batch sizes become economically interesting. And above all, changes to the product or the market can be implemented more quickly because devices can be easily rearranged in a modular design and connected via MTP. The aggregation and contextualization of data throughout the entire product life cycle also enables continuous improvements to processes and systems. And finally, modular plant technology is also interesting with regards to CO2 reduction, since more targeted use of raw materials not only produces less waste but also requires less energy.
Reliable Specification for Market Acceptance
The fact that MTP is already being used successfully in some plants is not least due to early adopters of the technology and a very active community. NAMUR, ZVEI and PI are now driving the MTP technology further forward. PI took over MTP as host in autumn 2023 and, as a first step, ensured that a reliable specification and conformance tests were available to the market. The issue of interoperability plays a major role here. These steps are crucial for market acceptance, as they can be used to check compatibility between different manufacturers. This will be followed by guidelines, certification and global marketing measures. PI Competence Centers and Test Laboratories provide support. Working groups are also currently working on modeling, HMI integration, and process control, among other things. The first documents are already being reviewed, so that this work will be completed in early 2025. At the same time, activities have been started on the international standardization of MTP, which is to be made available in the future as an IEC (63280) standard.
The Interaction Works Smoothly
Things are also making progress in practice: the first products based on the Module Type Package were presented at Achema 2024. Users also got an idea of how these can be quickly and easily integrated into one or more higher-level orchestration systems. A large multi-vendor live demo illustrated the integration of Process Equipment Assemblies (PEA) into a higher-level control or SCADA system of the Process Orchestration Layer (POL). The PEAs represented various industries, such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, water, and hydrogen. The POLs, in turn, enable operation and monitoring, process control, coordination and documentation of production in the entire plant. Twelve manufacturers showed solutions and products for automation via PEAs, and a further seven manufacturers contributed POLs.
Use Interesting Data Faster
A similar path is now being taken for NOA technology. Here, PI was selected as a host by NAMUR and ZVEI to bring NOA into widespread use and to further develop it. As with MTP, the users also laid the important groundwork. In the future, NOA will enable users to access a wide range of data in their systems much more easily and, above all, more securely and to use this data for monitoring and optimization (M+O) tasks. The background to this is that smart sensors or mobile devices can now provide very useful data for process optimization which cannot be used within the classic automation pyramid or can only be used with great effort. With NOA, this data can be transmitted on a second channel without any feedback. There is therefore no risk to the installed base in terms of availability or security. In addition, this open, scalable approach can also significantly reduce costs. Users benefit from increased flexibility and better interoperability. This is because NOA is also compatible with Ethernet-APL or MTP.
Now, however, it is no longer just about the technology, but also about aspects of standardization, certification, and marketing. The first step will be to develop a consistent specification and certification based on the use-cases and initial test systems developed so far. The topic of internationalization and interoperability will also take up a lot of space. PI has decades of experience in these tasks and will establish joint working groups for this purpose. The extensive investigation and development of use-cases provides a good starting point for the specification work and international standardization.
Dietmar Bohn