The Rockwell Automation Power & Energy ManagementSolution installed atGlaxoSmithKline’s Collegeville,PA research facility monitorsincoming power for levelfluctuations and in the event of a power loss, the system re-powers the facility using on-site power generationcapabilities.

“It was Rockwell

Automation’s knowledge

of controls, power

distribution and

electrical emergency

generation that really

made the difference.”

CASE STUDYGlaxoSmithKline protects research facility with Rockwell Automation'sPower & Energy Management Solutions

TAKING A STAND AGAINST MOTHER NATURE

Electrical power systems are dynamic and fragile — precariouslybalanced between supply and demand and often interrupted byMother Nature. Through any number of external and internal factors— from lightning strikes and ice storms to burnouts and overloads —a power system can be thrown off balance, leaving facilities in thedark and assets vulnerable. And Mother Nature is, if anything,unpredictable and uncontrollable — two variables that strike fear infacility engineers.

Regularly hit by Mother Nature’s wrath, Eastern Pennsylvania isparticularly vulnerable to power system instability. Frequent springthunderstorms, lightening strikes and summer temperatures oftenpushing the triple digits play havoc with the region’s electricalservice. Sitting in the middle of this region is the 281-acreGlaxoSmithKline Research and Development campus in Collegeville,PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.

A division of the world’s largestresearch-based pharmaceuticalcompany, the site’s 10 buildingcampus experiences at least four orfive power outages each spring andsummer. The site houses medicalresearch aimed at eliminating someof mankind’s deadliest diseases — a time consuming and expensiveprocess sometimes taking up to 15 years and over $500 million todevelop.

BACKGROUNDBuilt in 1992 by a pharmaceuticalcompany later purchased byGlaxoSmithKline, the 1.1 million-squarefoot Collegeville campusdraws 12.5 MW of electricity onpeak days. The majority of thispower is consumed by the heating,ventilating and air conditioning(HVAC) system in order to maintainthe strict environmental conditions.

According to Don Stuck, ManagerFacilities and ScientificInstrumentation, GlaxoSmithKlineCollegeville facility, the originalcampus design — which included abuilt-in SCADA system and powermanagement system — neverworked properly, and as a result, the

campus would function for extendedperiods without electricity.

When GlaxoSmithKline bought thefacility in 1995, the facilitiesmanagement team immediatelybegan to evaluate options forimproving the site’s powermanagement capabilities. In 1996Stuck and his team performed aSCADA system audit followed by anengineering study to determine thescope, complexity and costs ofimplementing a new powerdistribution system.

The extensive evaluation processinvolved looking at multiple variablesand specifically identified reasons forfrequent downtime; how manyinstances the campus had beenwithout electricity for extendedperiods of time; the damage causedto campus refrigerator/freezers andthe expense (time and money) torepair; and the “upsets” in theprocess that would occur.

Based on their findings, Stuck andhis team presented GlaxoSmithKlinemanagement with comprehensivedata justifying the capitalexpenditure for a new powerdistribution system.

“We were having at least four or fivecomplete power outages a summer,and once the team was able toattach dollar figures to the directand indirect losses incurred byunplanned energy outages,management agreed that a newer,state-of-the-art power distributionsystem was needed,” said Stuck.

CHALLENGETaking into account the fragility ofthe research and the costs involved,GlaxoSmithKline quickly realizedthat even temporary power outagescould result in the loss of millions ofdollars in pharmaceutical research.

“With the ongoing experiments anddata being collected at our facilityday and night, as well as criticalsample storage spaces, andmanufacturing and computersystems, it's critical that we havepower at all times,” said Stuck. “Ifthis facility were to experienceelectrical problems or powerdisruptions, it would put us atconsiderable risk of losing years ofscientific data and research.”

SOLUTION To protect the company’sinvestment, GlaxoSmithKline teamedwith Rockwell Automation’s Power &Energy Management Solutions(PEMS) group to implement anadvanced power managementsolution. This solution includes anemergency load shedding programused in conjunction with on-sitediesel power generators. In theevent of an unexpected power loss,the Rockwell Automation system willactivate on-site diesel generators thatwill maintain continuous power tocritical processes,such asrefrigeration, heating and airconditioning.

Data gathered from the substations and incoming utility power lines is graphically representedusing Rockwell Software RSView32 visualization software displayed on a large flat panel monitor.The system allows operators to quickly survey system status and the effects of transitioning toemergency power.

RESULTS Stuck and his team began the processof selecting and implementing anenergy management solution in thesame methodical fashion as they didin justifying the need for one. Theyquickly determined that a newdistributed power system would needto meet the facility's current demands,as well as accommodate futureexpansion.

More importantly, the system had tobe installed with little or no impact oncurrent operations.

As a way of measuring the success ofthe project, Stuck and his teamidentified specific project goals, whichincluded replacing the existing systemwith little to no impact on buildingoperations; staying within budget;minimizing complexity of the system;creating a new operator friendlyenvironment; installing a Y2K-compliant system, expandable forfuture growth and; utilizing fiber opticcommunications media as the basisfor other facility management systemintegration with other networks.

When it came time to select asupplier, the Collegeville engineeringteam employed an equally thoroughevaluation processes. After extensiveproduct research, Stuck identifiedthree vendors who offered the powerdistribution components he waslooking for. The team then establishedspecific vendor criterion.

The company needed to have:1) the ability to provide theequipment needed; 2) experience inpower management implementationand; 3) background and expertisewith automation controls.

From Stuck’s perspective he waslooking for more than a productsupplier; he wanted a partner whowould be there from start to finishand beyond. They found that partnerin Rockwell Automation’s Power andEnergy Management Solutions (PEMS)team.

“Frankly, it was Rockwell Automation’sknowledge of both power and energymanagement as well as automation,that set them apart from the othervendors,” said Stuck. “Also playing akey role was their reliability andfuturistic product growth path,including forward migration andbackward compatibility.”

In eastern Pennsylvania, MotherNature begins to make her presenceknown in late April with springthunderstorms and lightening strikes.For this reason, it was critical to havethe new power distribution system upand running before another poweroutage season began. Working intandem, GlaxoSmithKline Collegevillefacility management personnel andRockwell Automation PEMSapplication specialists developed apower distribution system that met theidentified project goals and workedtoward an April 1999 installation.

Engineered and programmed atRockwell Automation’s MayfieldHeights, Ohio facility, the PEMSsolution underwent rigorous testingbefore it was shipped to theCollegeville campus.

To minimize disruptions at theresearch facility, the PEMS systeminstallation was planned for aweekend in April 1999.

Once installed, an online test wasconducted during a four-hour period.

More than 25 individuals –contractors, consultants, engineers andinternal maintenance personnel –were on-site to facilitate the finalinsert on-site testing of the system.

Installation was completed with onlysporadic power downtime totaling lessthan two hours.

“It was Rockwell Automation'sknowledge of controls, powerdistribution and electrical emergencygeneration that really made thedifference,” Stuck said. “The PEMSapplication specialists were with usevery step of the way, working as ateam to ensure that the project met allof our goals. They gave usconstructive criticism and offeredbetter methods for creating the systemwe needed.”

Based on a SCADA system, thesolution performs electrical powermonitoring and emergency loadshedding in conjunction with onsiteco-generation capabilities.

Through the SCADA system, theincoming power is monitored todetect level fluctuations. In the eventof a power loss, an emergency modeis initiated.

In emergency load-shedding mode,the system opens predeterminedcircuit breakers, starts six 2000kWstand-by generators, and re-powersthe facility using onsite powergeneration.

Rockwell Automation's configurable power meters are critical elements of the power and energymanagement solution installed at Glaxo Smith Kline research facility in Collegeville, Pennsylvania"

The success of the system dependson its ability to gather and monitorcritical electrical information, from thetwo 34.5 kV incoming PECO(Pennsylvania Electric Company)power lines down to the 480Vsubstations and all of thetransformers, generators, breakers,transfer switches and protectiverelaying. With this information,automatic or manual decisions can bemade to ensure the availability ofpower to the critical loads within theapplication.

Additionally, the real-time monitoringof electrical usage within individualbuildings enables facility managers tomake better quantified decisionswhen expanding or adding to existingelectrical distribution system. Keycomponents of the system includetwo redundant Allen-Bradley PLC-5/80™ controllers connected to 32Allen-Bradley Powermonitor II™power meters located at substationsthroughout the campus.

Used to collect electrical informationon the substations within the system,the power meters communicate datato the central control cabinet locatedin the campus Central Plant buildingwhich also houses the HoneywellDCS HVAC system.

The GlaxoSmithKline solutionincorporates two communicationnetworks — one for control functions(ControlNet™) and one for dataacquisition (Ethernet). The Ethernet®

network allows operators totroubleshoot the system fromanywhere within the system. Ethernetwas used because it can beincorporated into the campus’ existing

Ethernet infrastructure and can beeasily expanded as the system grows.The ControlNet network connects thecontrollers, allowing for unrestrictedand protected communication.

Data gathered from the substationsand incoming utility power lines isgraphically monitored using RockwellSoftware RSView™ visualizationsoftware displayed on a large 42-inchflat panel monitor mounted on thecontrol room wall. The system allowsoperators to quickly survey the effectsof transitioning to emergency powerand easily monitor generator status.

Using Rockwell SoftwareRSPower32™ software, operators areable to manage system configurationsand display real time and historicaldata sorted within the powermonitors. The adaptable nature ofRSView32 and RSPower32 allowsGlaxoSmithKline to create or modifyscreens in a matter of minutes — atime saving benefit as the facilitycontinues to expand.

Facility engineers have access to thesystem from two stationary operatorinterface stations — one in thecontrol room and the other in thegenerator control trailer — as well asthrough an Intranet connection.Additionally, information can bepulled directly from the substationsusing a port on the Powermonitor IIpower meters for laptop connections.

After three years of operation, powerinterruptions at the campus havebeen minimal. And during thoseinterruptions, the lengths of time havebeen limited to the less than threeminutes before the on-site generatorskick in.

“There hasn’t been a time when acontrol system didn’t get thegenerator online and loaded withinthree minutes,” said Stuck.

“With the previous system, the lengthof the blackout was dependent onwhen it happened. If it was duringthe day, we would only be down fiveto ten minutes because personnelwere on site. But if it happened at2:00 a.m., it would be upwards of halfan hour or more without electricity.The new system drastically reducesthe costly effects of power outages.”

Publication1400-AP002B-EN-P – June 2006 Copyright ©2008 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.

PLC 5/80, Powermonitor and ControlNet are trademarks of Rockwell Automation. RSView32 and RSPower32 are trademarks of RockwellSoftware. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.

Power meters from Rockwell Automation areinstalled on each of the facilities eight-dieselgenerators.