Development of a demo system for MTP with PCS neo

How can the MTP standard be implemented in practice? As part of his bachelor's thesis, our system engineer Eric Borer developed a demo system based on PCS neo. It not only shows the current status of implementation of the MTP standard, but also serves as the basis for a production-ready system.

The demands on the process industry are currently changing rapidly. Markets are becoming more dynamic, products more diverse and innovation cycles ever shorter. As a result, operators of production plants are under increasing pressure to make their processes more flexible and at the same time more economical. Traditional automation systems are increasingly reaching their limits. Changes are often complex, time-consuming and associated with high costs.

One promising approach to overcoming these challenges is the standardization of modular automation. Systems are no longer viewed as a rigid overall system, but are instead composed of reusable functional units. These modules have their own intelligence and can be flexibly replaced or expanded as required.

Modular process automation with MTP

The key to this approach is the Module Type Package (MTP). This industry standard, based on VDI/VDE/NAMUR 2658, specifies how modules describe their services, interfaces, and visualizations.

This allows them to be integrated into a higher-level control system—known as the Process Orchestration Layer (POL), integrated into the system and controlled centrally from there. POL orchestrates the modules, provides uniform user interfaces, and enables recipe-based control of entire processes. For operators, this means less integration effort, shorter project timelines, and significantly greater flexibility in the face of changing production requirements. This makes MTP a crucial building block for the future of the process industry and a practical tool for turning the vision of “Plug & Produce” into reality.

What does the practical implementation of the standard look like?

As part of my bachelor's thesis, I developed a plant that demonstrates the MTP standard in conjunction with the PCS neo process control system from Siemens. The goal was to develop a modular process plant that integrates Process Equipment Assemblies (PEA) illustrated in the Process Orchestration Layer (POL) by various manufacturers.

MTP is becoming a crucial building block for the future of the process industry.

Eric Borer, System Engineer CTE

The system was realized as a simulation on controllers; a connection to real hardware was initially dispensed with. The process system consists of two modules - a pump module and a mixing module. Together they represent the core process: dosing three different media from the tank farm and then mixing them in a container.

The pump module provides the media, doses the required volume via the discharge pumps using fill level measurements and transfers it to the downstream module. The module also offers the function of filling the tank farm. The mixing module stores the media dosed by the pump module in the mixing tank and produces a homogeneous end product through the stirring process. The product is then transferred to the next module. Both modules have their own control system and communicate with the central control station via standardized MTP files.

Orchestration is handled by PCS neo, the web-based process control system from Siemens. The modules are integrated there, clearly displayed and controlled via a standardized user interface. The system can be flexibly operated either manually or automatically via the recipe control system.

PEA engineering

In order to demonstrate manufacturer independence, different systems were used for the two modules. The pump module was implemented with Beckhoff TwinCAT. The services and control modules of the PEA were developed using the graphical interface of the MTP project. This allowed both the control logic and the HMI interface to be generated automatically. Finally, the MTP file was generated from the three components so that the module was ready for orchestration.

The mixing module was implemented with Siemens TIA Portal. The PFL library and the Service Engineering Tool were used here - the core of PEA engineering. Using the MTP-Creator extension, the MTP file was generated and then imported into PCS neo. Although the two PEAs were developed with software from different manufacturers and different engineering approaches were pursued, the POL produced a homogeneous result: both modules could be integrated and operated in a uniform manner.

PEA2 mixing modules. — PEA2 mixing modules

Operation of the system in manual mode and via recipe control

Integration into PCS neo was achieved by importing the MTP files and instantiating the PEAs. The modules were then available for manual operation in the POL environment. Another success was the integration of recipe-based batch control. The individual services of the modules can be combined into recipes. The operator no longer has to carry out each step manually, but simply specifies the desired end product. The system carries out all the necessary work steps automatically across all modules. The result is recipe-based automation that is efficient and flexible.

To implement batch control, the state machines for MTP and ISA 88 synchronized. The MTP modules use a standardized finite-state machine that differs from the ISA 88 model in several respects. In PCS neo, the two finite-state machines therefore had to be synchronized. By linking ISA 88 templates with MTP templates, this is done automatically in PCS neo.

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Next steps on the way to the modular process plant

The demo system developed forms a solid basis for a production-ready process system based on the MTP standard. Thanks to its modular design, it can be expanded with additional modules with little effort. The next step would be to connect real hardware in order to replace the simulation with a physically represented process. The work has not only created a functioning demo system, but also built up valuable know-how. Despite existing differences between the manufacturers, it is clear that the vision of modular process plants can already be realized to a large extent today.

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