PLC Virtualization and Software Defined Architectures in Industrial Control Systems

Today’s automation systems are going through a transition called Industry 4.0, referring to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. New concepts, such as cyber-physical systems, mi-croservices and Smart Factory are introduced. This brings up the question of how some of these new technologies can be utilized in Industrial Control Systems. Machines and production lines are nowadays controlled by hardware PLCs and this is considered as a state-of-the-art solution. However, the market demands are continuously increasing and pushing the industry e.g. to lower the operational costs and to develop more agile solutions. Industry 4.0 provides promising approaches to take a step forward and consider PLC virtualization. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate PLC virtualization possibilities using different Software Defined Architectures. Requirements and benefits of different solutions were evaluated. The major objective of the case study was to compare container- and hypervisor-based virtualization solutions using Docker and KVM. The case study provides a modular and scalable IIoT solution in which a virtual PLC takes over the control instead of a hardware PLC. Node-RED was used as a runtime environment and an I/O-module was needed to set up a control loop test. Response time of the control loop was measured by capturing Modbus traffic with tcpdump. Multiple iterations were performed to show minimum, maximum, average, median and 90th pctl. latencies. The results indicate that the container-based solution has a smaller overhead than the hypervisor-based solution and it has a very little overhead in general. Peak latencies are a concern and even the average latencies show that this solution would not be suitable for any hard real-time or safety-related applications. Further investigation on the topic would be needed to estimate the actual potential of PLC virtualization on hard real-time applications. First of all, a more powerful hardware PC would be needed to perform such tests. Secondly, a faster industrial protocol than Modbus TCP/IP would be required. Perhaps another kind of approach would be needed to overcome the issues that were experienced in this case study. It would be interesting to test a direct communication between virtual PLC and I/O and use Node-RED nodes for example to trigger inputs. Anyhow, it seems that container-based solution is holding much promise as a virtualization approach

Novel Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) Based Composite Material for the Sequestration of U(VI) and Th(IV) Metal Ions from Aqueous Environment

The combination of magnetic nanoparticles and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has demonstrated their prospective for pollutant sequestration. In this work, a magnetic metal–organic framework nanocomposite (Fe₃O₄@AMCA-MIL53­(Al) was prepared and used for the removal of U­(VI) and Th­(IV) metal ions from aqueous environment. Fe₃O₄@AMCA-MIL53­(Al) nanocomposite was characterized by TGA, FTIR, SEM-EDX, XRD, HRTEM, BET, VSM (vibrating sample magnetometry), and XPS analyses. A batch technique was applied for the removal of the aforesaid metal ions using Fe₃O₄@AMCA-MIL53­(Al) at different operating parameters. The isotherm and kinetic data were accurately described by the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models. The adsorption capacity was calculated to be 227.3 and 285.7 mg/g for U­(VI) and Th­(IV), respectively, by fitting the equilibrium data to the Langmuir model. The kinetic studies demonstrated that the equilibrium time was 90 min for each metal ion. Various thermodynamic parameters were evaluated which indicated the endothermic and spontaneous nature of adsorption. The collected outcomes showed that Fe₃O₄@AMCA-MIL53­(Al) was a good material for the exclusion of these metal ions from aqueous medium. The adsorbed metals were easily recovered by desorption in 0.01 M HCl. The excellent adsorption capacity and the response to the magnetic field made this novel material an auspicious candidate for environmental remediation technologies

Mercerized mesoporous date pit activated carbon—A novel adsorbent to sequester potentially toxic divalent heavy metals from water - Fig 5

<p>SEM images of DPAC before (a), and after Cu(II) (b), Zn(II) (c), Cd(II) (d), Pb(II) adsorption.</p

Non-linear isotherm data for heavy metals adsorption on DPAC.

<p>Non-linear isotherm data for heavy metals adsorption on DPAC.</p

Mercerized mesoporous date pit activated carbon—A novel adsorbent to sequester potentially toxic divalent heavy metals from water - Fig 6

<p>TGA plot (a), FT-IR spectra of DPAC before and after heavy metals adsorption (b).</p

Linear isotherm data for heavy metals adsorption on DPAC.

<p>Linear isotherm data for heavy metals adsorption on DPAC.</p

Thermodynamics data for heavy metals adsorption on DPAC.

<p>Thermodynamics data for heavy metals adsorption on DPAC.</p