Symphony Plus

S+ Control: BRC410
Symphony Plus
S+ Control: BRC410

SymphonyTM Plus is the new No other automation platform has such a long field record and
large installed base in power and water as Symphony. For more
generation of ABB’s widely than 30 years, ABB has evolved the Symphony family, ensuring
acclaimed Symphony family of that each new generation enhances its predecessors and is
backwardly compatible with them - all in accordance with ABB’s
distributed control systems - the long-held policy of ‘Evolution without obsolescence.’

world’s most widely used DCS Included in Symphony Plus is a comprehensive suite of

in the power generation and standards-based control hardware and software that meet the
requirements of total plant control. Following the ‘Evolution
water industries. In all, there are without obsolescence’ policy, S+ Control BRC410 represents
the newest addition to the Bridge Controller family and
more than 6,000 Symphony DCS combines the controller power of the BRC400 with the device

installations in operation all over integration capabilities of the HPG800.

the world, more than 4,000 of

which are in power and water
applications.

1 BRC400, BRC410, HPG800

2 Symphony Plus
Overview Online upgrades to BRC410 functionality are supported by
The BRC410 combines into a single module the controller installing the BRC410 as the redundant backup module to both
performance and capacity of BRC400 with the Modbus TCP the BRC400 and HPG800.
communications capability of HPG800. It can be used in
redundant combination with either the BRC400 or HPG800 A functional overview of the capabilities of BRC410 is shown in
module, thus facilitating an online upgrade of the running figure 2.
controller or device gateway capabilities. The BRC410 with
Harmony Gateway Software (HGS) enables Symphony
Plus customers to upgrade existing RS232 or RS485 serial
communications interfaces to 100 MB Ethernet using the
Modbus TCP communications protocol. Moreover, BRC410
provides enough performance and capacity for multiple serial
interfaces to be merged into a single 100 MB Ethernet interface.

2 Functional overview of BRC410 capabilities

Exception reports:
AOL, DOL, etc
Control way

Third-party PLCs
Bus signals:
AIB, DIB, etc

Modbus TCP

Wireless
gateways

Harmony rack
I/O modules

Wireless transmitters

Symphony Plus 3
Symphony Plus
S+ Control: BRC410

Comprehensive I/O support

The BRC410 provides simultaneous support for all Harmony I/O
subsystems and is capable of providing closed loop control for
2,000 I/O points in less than 250 msec. Harmony I/O options
provide a wide variety of input/output and signal conditioning
capabilities, which in combination form the optimal automation
solution. Using standard function codes, the S+ Engineering
Composer tool is used to configure and maintain all the
BRC410 I/O modules and channels.

The BRC410 controller can communicate with up to 64 rack

I/O modules locally with additional remote rack I/O modules
connected via the RIO22 module. Use of rack sequence
of events (SOE) I/O modules provides for one millisecond
3 S+ Engineering Composer timestamp resolution across the entire system.

In addition to traditional rack I/O modules, the BRC410

Powerful process controller provides for integrated turbine control via a series of turbine
First and foremost, the BRC410 is a high-performance control specific rack modules. These include:
controller. Based on a 160 MHz, 32-bit Freescale Coldfire − Hydraulic servo module (HSS)
processor, the BRC410 controller can be adapted to a broad − Turbine protection module (TPS)
spectrum of applications and process requirements. Configured − Turbine auto synchronization module (TAS)
by the S+ Engineering Composer tool, the BRC410 features − Condition monitoring module (CMM)
an extensive library of more than 150 pre-defined control
algorithms or function codes (figure 3). These functions provide The BRC410 remote I/O capabilities are further expanded with
the ability to easily design complex control strategies to fit any S800 I/O. S800 I/O provides options for all signal types and
control application, including continuous, sequential, batch and is designed with a small, modular DIN form factor footprint to
advanced control. In addition to standard function blocks, the facilitate local mounting to sensors in the plant. Redundant
BRC410 supports ‛C’ programming and batch. communications and modules provide for fault-tolerant
connection to S800 I/O.
BRC410 controller features include:
− Enhanced controller reliability
− Provides more than 10 x performance of previous generation
controllers
− Simultaneous support for all Harmony I/O subsystems
− Downloadable firmware
− Extended user configuration memory (2 MB NVRAM)
− Support for 30,000 function blocks
− Flexible online configuration capability

4 Symphony Plus
Device integration capabilities The BRC410 device integration features include:
Beyond controller functions, the BRC410 with Harmony − 100 MB Ethernet port using the Modbus TCP protocol
Gateway Software provides a bi-directional, real-time − Bi-directional communication of up to 4,000 Modbus points
communication interface between controller applications and − High availability and fault tolerance in a redundant pair
Modbus TCP devices, such as intelligent electronic devices configuration
(IEDs), third-party PLCs, or HART wireless transmitters. − Can operate as client, server, or server/client
Harmony Gateway Software maps function blocks to Modbus (concurrently) on the Modbus TCP network
points and communicates those points over the controller’s 100
MB Ethernet port using the Modbus TCP protocol. Unlike OPC To illustrate the last point, when connecting third-party devices
communication interfaces, the BRC410 high-speed interface to Symphony Plus, the BRC410 can operate as a client, server,
presents device data as system points; this allows the data to or client/server concurrently on the Modbus TCP network.
be integrated within the control application. This capability provides ultimate flexibility with regard to the
Modbus devices that are directly connected to the Symphony
Standard Harmony function blocks are configured on the Plus system. Standard industrial grade off-the-shelf network
BRC410 using S+ Engineering Composer. The controller is switches, routers and Ethernet cables provide for easy and
capable of importing and exporting data from the system’s flexible connection options (figure 4).
process controllers and system nodes, and accepts control
commands for operators and computers connected to the
network. Using the Modbus TCP interface, the BRC410 also
provides peer-to-peer communications with AC 800M or AC
500 controllers.

4 BRC410 Ethernet connection options

AC 800M
CAT 5 or
better media

BRC410 AC 500 AC 800M

Hubs /
Switches Fiber optic link
Fiber cable IEDs
switch

Fiber cable Hubs /

switch Switches

Symphony Plus 5
Symphony Plus
S+ Control: BRC410

5 6

5 BRC400 and BRC410 | 6 HPG800 and BRC410

Seamless upgrade path protects installed investments The BRC410 is a form/fit/function replacement for either
True to the ABB ‘Evolution without obsolescence’ policy, the BRC400 or HPG800 modules. By installing the BRC410 as the
BRC410 retains previous Network 90, INFI 90 or Harmony redundant backup to existing BRC400 or HPG800 modules,
controller hardware and software architectures, including it is possible to seamlessly upgrade the existing controller or
support for all existing function code executions and custom device gateway functionality without interruption to its running
user programs. In order to provide ultimate evolution flexibility, applications.
the BRC410 also supports traditional RS232 or RS485 serial
communications interfaces. This provides for a predictable
and risk-free evolution for an installed system’s execution
environment.

6 Symphony Plus
Contact us

3BUS095379 EN US Letter Power Generation 0611

© Copyright 2011 ABB
All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures,
ABB Inc. schematics, and other graphics contained herein are published for illustration
Power Generation purposes only and do not represent product configurations or functionality.
User documentation accompanying the product is the exclusive source for
Wickliffe, Ohio, USA functionality descriptions.
Phone: +1 440 585 3087 Symphony is a registered or pending trademark of ABB S.p.A.

Email: [email protected]

ABB AG
Power Generation
Mannheim, Germany
Phone: +49 621 381 3000
Email: [email protected]

ABB Pte. Ltd.

Power Generation
Singapore
Phone: +65 6776 5711
Email: [email protected]

www.abb.com/powergeneration