Project Portfolio Spotlight: Bio-Refinery Controls System

Signal.X has developed a National Instruments-based control system using PXI and the RIO architecture for a demonstration refinery that converts biomass to diesel fuel. Two PXI controllers interface to 10 EtherCAT chassis, subsystem PCL’s, and networked sensors for a total of more than 3,000 points of I/O. Factors in the choice of controls system included re-configurability, clear user and operator interfaces, and the ability to trend and log data during a run of the refinery at a given recipe setting with a given feedstock. Signal.X designed a comprehensive graphical interface that gives operators immediate visual awareness of process status. To organize functionality over the large amount of distributed I/O, Signal.X introduced our proprietary PAX technology. This user-configurable automation core allows engineers to define high-level command functions, safety and fault behaviors, and automation sequences. Click here to learn more about this case history.

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