Honeywell Experion PKS C200 Replacement

[Motorjunkie]

Hello all, calling anyone with some experience in both AB and EPKS...

We have an Experion PKS DCS system that is running on all C200 hardware, well past its prime and starting to show its age. We have some spare processors but cannot get any more from Honeywell, so the clock is ticking to upgrade.

That being said, Honeywell only controls a single section of the process in a large plant. We are mostly AB elsewhere, and in fact, even in this Experion PKS system there is plenty of PLC-5 IO hanging around. And seeing as the C200 hardware is just badge engineered controllogix, all of the IO is terminated on rockwell IFMs with rockwell cables to rockwell swingarms so it would be really great to just replace everything with rockwell hardware. Only trouble is, we have a specialty batch program running on another Honeywell ACE controller (using VB scripts) and according to some local integrators, converting that program to AB Structured Text would be prohibitively expensive, not to mention the HMI, FT licenses, etc. But we don't want to go with C300 either, because that would mean our current cabinets and layout would be worthless as I understand it because of the ridiculous footprint of the newer controllers and I/O.

Which brings me to my ultimate question: Could the Honeywell Controledge UOC controllers be the fix to my problem? Supports EPKS, and the documentation seems to suggest that it supports AB DLR rings and I/O, so we should ostensibly be able to use controllogix I/O and we get to keep the current controls and HMI. Any other insight on these UOC controllers would be greatly appreciated as well, like any drawbacks compared to the C200 and C300, or if I have the wrong idea about being able to use AB I/O.

Thanks in advance

 

[danw]

For a fact, the Honeywell UOC controller, HC900 Controller and the ControlEdge PLC all share the same Honeywell designed and produced rack, power supply and I/O cards.


Having had dealings with the Honeywell HC900 for 15 years, give or take, I have never heard that the Honeywell Rack and I/O were interchangeable with ControlLogix I/O. Maybe I missed that fact. Or maybe the Honeywell C200 was designed for compatability with CLX hardware.



Honeywell Systems (the DCS division of Honeywell) allows distribution to sell the UOC and the PLC but holds distribution at an arm's length when it comes to support.


As a retired guy, I heard about the UOC being targeted at replacing the C200 but never sat through an intelligible webinar on what the framework for that was. In my opinion, the DCS Systems group was using distribution to generate leads from which they could take over sales and service.



I suspect that unless you can deal with one of the two distributors who have an internal Experion LS (a watered down, crippled PKS)/UOC group (Loy in Indiana, forget the name of CA distributor), you'll have to deal with Honeywell's Systems people to get a answer. My impression is that they'll frame their response to you about what the UOC is, does or can do in a manner that will drive you to stay in the Honeywell PKS world (C300).

 

[Remrun]

The UOC should do what you want. We replaced a C200 with a C300 keeping the C200 (series A I/O as Honeywell calls it) a couple of years ago. Because the controller was a C300 we went with the Honeywell FTEB card instead of DLR as it wasn't an option with C300. Everything migrated with no software changes required. We are supposed to be able to replace the I/O cards with Rockwell cards if needed but we haven't needed to yet. I think Honeywell has a list of compatible Rockwell cards. Physically the cards are the same but at least in the earlier versions the Honeywell version of the Rockwell cards had different firmware. Converting the software (batch makes it worse) is generally more expensive than just paying for the migration. Which is pretty much the case anytime when converting from one vendors software to to another.

 

[Motorjunkie]

The C200 series is indeed compatible with controllogix, they used the same hardware, and we are even using AB DHRIO cards in our C200 racks.

Articles like this one: https://theautomationblog.com/honeywell-c200-upgrade-paths/
And diagrams like this from the Honeywell docs:

are some of the things that gave me the idea the controllogix I/O would work here.

But from what you're saying, I'm guessing that only the Experion LS (LX?) distributors would give me any real support on the UOC, the DCS team only sees it as a marketing hook?

Remrun, was converting just the processors to C300 a hassle? That doesn't sound like a bad way to go, I'm just concerned how long they'll support making FTEB cards for series A I/O.

 

[MaBarker]

Honeywell UOC provides options for swing arm conversions, which, when considering both the cost and space efficiency, make it an attractive choice over Series C I/O for future migration plans. However, we've encountered challenges primarily with the initial setup of the I/O modules in UOC, which can lead to complications if not configured properly. It appears there are still some quirks to iron out with UOC. Specifically, we've faced difficulties in managing processor loads with UOC controllers and experienced communication problems between standalone PLCs within the UOC framework. Overall, UOC is still our preferred migration path.