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O/T - 1.8 Megawatts controlled with an iPad

motion guru

Diamond
Joined
Dec 8, 2003
Location
Yacolt, WA
This is a project we started about 2 years ago and recently commissioned for our customer. There are 12 each 200HP Siemens drives networked together and combined with a series of actuators on the floor of the pool to move the wave around.

All controlled wirelessly from an iPad . . . of course everything we provided is underground and out of sight, but the end results are pretty fun. My son did a lot of the operator interface programming to make it easy for the lifeguard to operate the pool and react to any safety issues.

Quite a number of challenges putting that much power into the water. GFCI anyone? No need to heat the pool, the inefficiency of the pump motors, impellers, and piping provide ample heat.


Oddly enough we are also working on a WEC project . . . a “Wave Energy Capture” system to harness wave energy in the ocean to generate electricity. Will need a couple WEC systems in a high sea state to generate enough power to run the “wave generator” In the video above.
 
This is a project we started about 2 years ago and recently commissioned for our customer. There are 12 each 200HP Siemens drives networked together and combined with a series of actuators on the floor of the pool to move the wave around.

All controlled wirelessly from an iPad . . . of course everything we provided is underground and out of sight, but the end results are pretty fun. My son did a lot of the operator interface programming to make it easy for the lifeguard to operate the pool and react to any safety issues.

Quite a number of challenges putting that much power into the water. GFCI anyone? No need to heat the pool, the inefficiency of the pump motors, impellers, and piping provide ample heat.


Oddly enough we are also working on a WEC project . . . a “Wave Energy Capture” system to harness wave energy in the ocean to generate electricity. Will need a couple WEC systems in a high sea state to generate enough power to run the “wave generator” In the video above.

Very cool!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
No need to heat the pool, the inefficiency of the pump motors, impellers, and piping provide ample heat.

Not real surprise, pretty much every watt put out on the pumps ends up as a heat. Close to 100% of the mechanical energy you use in that system ends up eventually as a heat.
So you have overcomplicated 1.8 MW pool heater :D
 
Interesting topic.....an example where technology has gotten too big for its britches. On a water park? No big deal.

But in the world of industry, similar concepts have been developed - the people who developed them are very proud of themselves. Imagine being able to control a 5000MW coal fired power plant from an iPad! Or a 100,000Bpd refinery!

The problem, of course, is once you mull that over, you realize it's not a good idea to be able to do so.

Go walk into a Marathon refinery or a BASF chem plant and tell them you have a gizmo that will allow anyone with an iPad (and some hacking skills) to shut down their entire operation from 300 miles away and they'll send you packing.
 
Interesting topic.....an example where technology has gotten too big for its britches. On a water park? No big deal.

But in the world of industry, similar concepts have been developed - the people who developed them are very proud of themselves. Imagine being able to control a 5000MW coal fired power plant from an iPad! Or a 100,000Bpd refinery!

The problem, of course, is once you mull that over, you realize it's not a good idea to be able to do so.

Go walk into a Marathon refinery or a BASF chem plant and tell them you have a gizmo that will allow anyone with an iPad (and some hacking skills) to shut down their entire operation from 300 miles away and they'll send you packing.

GregSY, I know that you are familiar enough with industrial hardware to have likely heard of Stuxnet. One reason our company was selected was because we could roll this out with an appropriate level of security while also having the ability to design and build the power infrastructure, integrate the drives, figure out the safety aspects of ground faults and shock hazards, and do it reliably on budget and on schedule.

The iPad is relaying an industrial grade HMI package that has the same security features as are used in all modern high security plants, in this case WinCC. Suffice to say that it is an islanded control system architecture as far as the location is concerned and the wireless connection via the iPad is 128bit encrypted. A skilled hacker would have to install a device or sit poolside, attempt billions of password guesses on the limited range wireless network while also remaining undetected . . . while not impossible, not probable.

We do a broad range of applications using VFD technology, AC Vector drives, and motion controllers with the significant majority happening in manufacturing. With near zero business happening with manufacturing customers at present, we are glad to have an opportunity to keep a few folks busy and put food on the table with this application.

We have done work on other applications in the entertainment space ranging from the Ka Theatre at the MGM in Vegas to camera positioning systems for the Olympics, Super Bowl football games, and even a few Democrat and Republican National conventions. Our largest customer is a Koch owned company and we are DPD compliant for our largest aerospace customer. You would be surprised at the level of security required by each of these entities.

Your comments about security in this context are naive at best, laughable at worst.
 
So what makes the wave? Is there a hump in the middle of the pool that the water just rides over? Or is it something with the water that makes the wave?
 
Is that for some type of competition or do people pay an hourly rate to use the pool?
 
Ah, well, there's a handful of contributors here that just have to find (or make up) fault with everything. I think its a phenomenal accomplishment in many ways, and people ought to remember that technology and method always cross platforms eventually. I'm impressed.

Like CatMan, I'm interested in how the water is made to move in that manner.
 
Given the COVID-19 situation, the complex is not officially open just yet to my knowledge. My understanding is that you can buy a day pass to the park that gives you limited access to the surf pool, or book time in 15 minute increments, or book a day for a big group. I have a group of engineers who are avid snow boarders and range in age from mid-20’s to late 50’s who want to spend a day on this pool. We will see about horse trading a service contract for a company family weekend at the facility when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

As for how it works, a bit of fluid dynamics at play with the shape of the pool bottom along with adjustable water depth, and adjustable deflectors along the bottom surface of the pool.

US20110099707A1 - Artificial surfing facility
- Google Patents


US6019547A - Wave-forming apparatus
- Google Patents
 
Ah, well, there's a handful of contributors here that just have to find (or make up) fault with everything. I think its a phenomenal accomplishment in many ways, and people ought to remember that technology and method always cross platforms eventually. I'm impressed.

Like CatMan, I'm interested in how the water is made to move in that manner.

No.
Sometime complexity and remote wireless horseshit just aren't necessary.
An operators panel hardwired is no longer good enough?
Like the enrichment plant, the clever-dick highest security facility will be compromised using the most basic methods.
 
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GregSY, I know that you are familiar enough with industrial hardware to have likely heard of Stuxnet. One reason our company was selected was because we could roll this out with an appropriate level of security while also having the ability to design and build the power infrastructure, integrate the drives, figure out the safety aspects of ground faults and shock hazards, and do it reliably on budget and on schedule.

The iPad is relaying an industrial grade HMI package that has the same security features as are used in all modern high security plants, in this case WinCC. Suffice to say that it is an islanded control system architecture as far as the location is concerned and the wireless connection via the iPad is 128bit encrypted. A skilled hacker would have to install a device or sit poolside, attempt billions of password guesses on the limited range wireless network while also remaining undetected . . . while not impossible, not probable.

We do a broad range of applications using VFD technology, AC Vector drives, and motion controllers with the significant majority happening in manufacturing. With near zero business happening with manufacturing customers at present, we are glad to have an opportunity to keep a few folks busy and put food on the table with this application.

We have done work on other applications in the entertainment space ranging from the Ka Theatre at the MGM in Vegas to camera positioning systems for the Olympics, Super Bowl football games, and even a few Democrat and Republican National conventions. Our largest customer is a Koch owned company and we are DPD compliant for our largest aerospace customer. You would be surprised at the level of security required by each of these entities.

Your comments about security in this context are naive at best, laughable at worst.

Unfortunately, you left out the most critical security link - people.

Tom
 
Given the COVID-19 situation, the complex is not officially open just yet to my knowledge. My understanding is that you can buy a day pass to the park that gives you limited access to the surf pool, or book time in 15 minute increments, or book a day for a big group. I have a group of engineers who are avid snow boarders and range in age from mid-20’s to late 50’s who want to spend a day on this pool. We will see about horse trading a service contract for a company family weekend at the facility when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

As for how it works, a bit of fluid dynamics at play with the shape of the pool bottom along with adjustable water depth, and adjustable deflectors along the bottom surface of the pool.

US20110099707A1 - Artificial surfing facility
- Google Patents


US6019547A - Wave-forming apparatus
- Google Patents

I would think that pool would be a separate charge and pricey as I would not think many could use it at a time for safety reasons.
 
GregSY, I know that you are familiar enough with industrial hardware to have likely heard of Stuxnet. One reason our company was selected was because we could roll this out with an appropriate level of security while also having the ability to design and build the power infrastructure, integrate the drives, figure out the safety aspects of ground faults and shock hazards, and do it reliably on budget and on schedule.

The iPad is relaying an industrial grade HMI package that has the same security features as are used in all modern high security plants, in this case WinCC. Suffice to say that it is an islanded control system architecture as far as the location is concerned and the wireless connection via the iPad is 128bit encrypted. A skilled hacker would have to install a device or sit poolside, attempt billions of password guesses on the limited range wireless network while also remaining undetected . . . while not impossible, not probable.

We do a broad range of applications using VFD technology, AC Vector drives, and motion controllers with the significant majority happening in manufacturing. With near zero business happening with manufacturing customers at present, we are glad to have an opportunity to keep a few folks busy and put food on the table with this application.

We have done work on other applications in the entertainment space ranging from the Ka Theatre at the MGM in Vegas to camera positioning systems for the Olympics, Super Bowl football games, and even a few Democrat and Republican National conventions. Our largest customer is a Koch owned company and we are DPD compliant for our largest aerospace customer. You would be surprised at the level of security required by each of these entities.

Your comments about security in this context are naive at best, laughable at worst.


I'm not so sure about that. Again, no one cares about a water park. If I'm naive and/or laughable, you're also painting an entire group of people - those who run most of the major industries in this country (and others) - with the same brush.

As others noted on this thread, anything that communicates over the air is frowned upon. Hard wires with no outside link are the order of the day.

The Stuxnet ordeal was the warning shot, and the naive/laughable heeded it. The only - ONLY - appropriate level of security is to not connect to the air. Everytime someone tells me about encryption and security, I think of the countless times I've seen headlines announcing yet another 34 million people have had their personal data breached.

As a final comment, it's easy for anyone to offer super-security when they have little to lose if something goes wrong. Go tell a major oil company you'll guarantee security of your new system AND back it up with an insurance policy that covers them for tens of millions of dollars in losses they'll incur. Crickets...
 
Guys - its a single device on a single wifi connection locked down with a matched mac ID with a 128 bit password - and not connected to the internet.

This is not a refinery, not a power plant, not a key fob for your car or truck . . . its a surfing pool.
 
Guys - its a single device on a single wifi connection locked down with a matched mac ID with a 128 bit password - and not connected to the internet.

This is not a refinery, not a power plant, not a key fob for your car or truck . . . its a surfing pool.

Thanks for posting, I sure hope you keep posting in spite of all the negative nancys. Lots of experts around here, definition of xpert, x is the unknown quantity, spert is a drip under pressure.
 
When I was in 5th or 6th grade we toured the Venice, IL power plant. One of the things I remember was that the exciting current for the huge steam turbine came from a separate small turbine, which in turn was excited by a smaller yet one that did not stand as high as I was. Its field was controlled by a DC supply, which was controlled by an ordinary plastic knob, much like the one on a radio. I asked our guide why they went through so many stages and his answer was that they had better stability that way. I found it more than a little intriguing that I could turn a knob and burn up electrical devices all over Venice, Madison, and north St. Louis.

Bill
 
Thanks for posting, I sure hope you keep posting in spite of all the negative nancys. Lots of experts around here, definition of xpert, x is the unknown quantity, spert is a drip under pressure.

The problem in today's Woke society is you can't say anything without people getting offended. Therein lies the real negativity. The suppression of ideas. I'll repeat myself for the 3rd time - for a water park, no one cares. My comment was simply expanding the concept into areas when it is NOT a good idea. I'd like to think the people on this board would find such discourse interesting - not offensive or negative.
 
The problem in today's Woke society is you can't say anything without people getting offended. Therein lies the real negativity. The suppression of ideas. I'll repeat myself for the 3rd time - for a water park, no one cares. My comment was simply expanding the concept into areas when it is NOT a good idea. I'd like to think the people on this board would find such discourse interesting - not offensive or negative.

+1 on nobody cares.
Water Park/Surfing Pool should be built in the desert of the Middle East, right next to the Sheiks enclosed refrigerated year round ski-slope.
 








 
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