• Product : EDS-726 26-port managed industrial Ethernet switch
• Country : Taiwan
• Company : Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC)

FPCC is one of the largest petrochemical groups in Taiwan and has developed several commercial petroleum plants that require heavy industrial development. Their No. 6 Naphtha Cracker Project required the reclamation of land from the sea and a sophisticated design for the foundation. The project is located at Mailiao on the west coast of Taiwan, and includes an oil refinery plant with an annual capacity of 21 million tons of crude oil, two naphtha cracking plants that produce 1.735 million tons of ethylene per year, a thermal power plant that can output 3 million kilowatts of energy, and several other petrochemical plants.

A naphtha cracker is a plant that uses a "cracking process" to produce ethylene from naphtha. One of the main control issues with naphtha crackers is how to regulate the conditions in the cracking process to control ethylene output. Establishing an extremely reliable Ethernet network would be critical for the transmission of control and device management signals. The network would serve as the main communication channel for the plant's entire DCS (distributed control system).

System Description
The main control processes were controlled using a DCS that consisted of several subsystems, each of which handled a different part of the operation. The central IT room, for example, contained LCD monitors for the HMI/SCADA system, as well as workstations for data processing and a data server for remote controlling and monitoring I/O controllers.

In order to optimize manufacturing output, the conditions during the cracking process required careful monitoring and control. Remote I/O servers are typically used to connect digital or analog I/O sensors to measure temperature, pressure, humidity, and other important items. Controllers and motor servers are also connected to maintain better control of the process. Control panels are placed in the field so engineers on-site can set and adjust parameters or monitor device status.

The DCS at the No. 6 Naphtha Cracker Project, like other sophisticated industrial control systems, was required to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so production could run smoothly. Ethernet was used to establish the main communication network for the entire DCS. For better reliability, Moxa's EDS-726 managed Ethernet switches were selected to form a doubly redundant fiber network backbone with dual-tree topology. Moxa's EDS-316-MM-SC and EDS-308-MM-SC unmanaged Ethernet switches were used to connect the backbone to Ethernet terminal devices.

Two parallel but independent Ethernet networks were created, with each network device connected simultaneously to both networks (e.g., each workstation had two network cards). In addition, two complete sets of the entire array of workstations and devices were installed, with one set "hot" and the other set "cold" at any given time. If a device in the "hot" set fails, the corresponding device in the "cold" set would spring immediately into action, taking over operation until the original device is repaired.

MOXA's EDS switches are available in a variety of fiber and copper port combinations. With their reliable, industrial-grade quality, EDS switches are helpful in creating a reliable gigabit backbone and communication network to exchange data and optimize manufacturing output. Facilities that use EDS switches in their DCS can improve manufacturing productivity and achieve a competitive advantage.

Business Benefits:

• Easy maintenance and upgrade with modular design (EDS-726)
• High port density that maximizes connections at field sites, providing greater versatility
• Gigabit backbone that meets high bandwidth requirements of sophisticated DCS's
• Class 1, Div. 2 (Zone 2) certification for applications at hazardous locations
• High MTBF and greater reliability for long-term operation
• Multi/single-mode fiber for the long distance communication required at large sites
• Wide range of port combinations for different applications
• Better monitoring and control over the network with RMON and SNMP (V1, V2C, V3)