OREANDA-NEWS. June 18, 2012. Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces the development of Release 5.02 of the CENTUM® VP integrated production control system, the company’s flagship product.

Yokogawa has been continuously developing and enhancing CENTUM VP as the cornerstone of the VigilantPlant® business concept for operational excellence. In accordance with the strategies set forth in the Evolution 2015 mid-term business plan, our aim with the development of CENTUM VP Release 5.02 has been to achieve best-in-class functionality and reliability.

With the shift toward larger and more efficient industrial plants that make use of highly functional systems and devices, processes are growing more complex. The increased use of field devices is also providing more data on these processes. To give operators better access to essential information, Yokogawa has developed new functions that improve the operability of the control and monitoring displays. In addition, a PROFIBUS communication function has been enhanced to give operators the full benefits of field digital communications*1.
*1 field digital communications
A means by which plant operations are optimized by making full and effective use of digital information exchanged between intelligent field devices and the CENTUM VP system
CENTUM VP Release 5.02 Features
Strengthened operation and monitoring functions
 CENTUM VP Release 5.02 includes a function that uses instrument tag names to create hierarchies that allow operators to quickly and easily access information on the status of plant operations. Additional changes that improve operational and maintenance efficiency include more memory for the storage of historical data, improved graphic display operability, enhanced control logic correlation, and standardized printing formats. With these functions, we have made progress in accommodating certain requirements of the VGB R 170C operational guideline, opening up new opportunities for CENTUM VP in Europe and other growing power plant markets.

Reinforced PROFIBUS Communications
 A newly released communication module, the ALP121, complies with the PROFIBUS communication standard that has been widely adopted by the chemical and other industries, primarily in Europe. As specified in PROFIBUS User Organization (PNO) guidelines, the ALP121 module supports the use of redundant communication paths with subsystems, improving overall system reliability. The installation of additional devices and online parameter changes are also enabled, which makes it easier to maintain devices and operate a plant.