GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is collaborating with Critical Power Consultants, a Roanoke, Virginia-based company that specializes in emergency standby power control systems, load management control systems, and monitoring solutions. CPC offers a host of technical services to original equipment manufacturers, engineering firms, and end users that require quick, responsive engineering services for critical power systems. The company has chosen PACSystems RX3i controllers for true dual redundancy data synchronization and automatic switchover for continuous operations.

“Today, customers face increasing critical power demand within the same space, which requires additional generators, switchgear and control systems,” said Gary Butcher, President of Critical Power Consultants. “Oftentimes, the existing systems contain obsolete controls or controls that do not afford expansion capabilities.”

CPC’s clients include data centers, hospitals and municipalities that need to upgrade aging mission critical emergency power systems or need to expand existing systems to facilitate growth. The emergency power systems in these facilities are absolutely critical to their business and sometimes even to life. The company has provided solutions to improve data center system reliability relying on GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ PACSystems RX3i redundant controllers to offer connectivity to various I/O on a proven industrial network that provides deterministic data and automatic switchover for continuous operations. This redundancy solution operates as a single system to the overall operations, eliminating the complex preparations usually needed to synchronize data between other applications and external systems.

“At the heart of PACSystems High Availability is GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ unique, patented redundancy Control Memory Xchange (CMX) module, based on reflective memory technology,” said Connie Chick, General Manager of GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms Controllers business. “It synchronizes systems at the beginning and end of each logic scan execution to keep all variable data the same—providing rapid and bumpless switchover. PACSystems High Availability offers true dual redundancy data synchronization with dual modules. The controllers have dedicated, redundant links to one another and operate synchronously with virtually no overhead added to the control application—transferring all application’s variables, status and I/O data on every scan with speed and transparency.”

By removing the multiple points of failure, the CPC system can increase system integrity, reliability and security with the new solution. In addition, the PACSystems RX3i’s open and flexible architecture enables CPC to leverage existing technology equipment, saving significant time and money.

CPC selected GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ suite of products for its open and flexible platform and tight integration. The solutions are quick to deploy and do not require having to reprogram or reconfigure the solution, which can save CPC significant time and costs, resulting in higher productivity and profitability. In addition to key benefits for CPC, the redundancy and monitoring solutions using GE Fanuc’s technologies have delivered significant benefits for end users: