Snow Peak Resort, Valhalla, Vt.; 3 a.m.—The snowmaking supervisor wipes the snow crystals off her visor and lets the snowmobile idle as she looks down the slope. She surveys the progress of the automatic tower snow guns and decides it’s time to take a quick scan of the trail snow depth. She fires up the snowmobile screen display and depth alarm indicator, then sets the snowmobile-mounted depth scanner to one foot. She proceeds down slope at a comfortable pace through the center of the trail, keeping an eye on the display depth chart. Very satisfactory! The favorable light wind this evening has helped spread the snow deposition and the snow depth is running from two to three feet. Great! She heads toward the usual trouble spots and immediately the alarm indicator flashes and becomes a steady glow. She fingers an icon on the touch screen display to mark the location. The on-board GPS unit notes the coordinates. The supervisor continues and marks all the trail locations with thin cover. At the bottom of the trail she stops the snowmobile and takes out her weatherized palm hand computer. She keys the system display and brings up the grooming department interface and touches the send-trail-data icon. The information is transferred through her radio link to the grooming computer. The grooming department will then transfer this data to the grooming vehicles that will locate, fill and groom the trouble spots.
She then keys the snowmaking computer icon and gives her identification password. The snowmaking computer accepts the password and waits for the next command. The supervisor keys the trail icon, selects from the menu list the “snowmaking in progress trail” and then touches the trail shutdown icon. A verification request appears on-screen. She verifies. Within a few moments she hears the snow guns begin their sputtering shutdown and drain procedure.
The computer room operator notes the changing snowmaking scenario and scrolls through his hit list for trail snow dusting. He highlights the priority trail and hydrants, and then initiates the start-up sequence. He notes the booster pump station that services one of the trails flash a start-up request. He maintains the booster in manual mode and checks the water intake pressure, pump status and power demand; all is well. He clicks the automatic start-up icon and watches the booster pumps ramp up and begin charging the water line. Ten minutes later the first group of snow guns start up, and then sequentially other snow gun groups come on-line—until the system is again at peak capacity.
The computer room operator radios the snowmaking supervisor to request a snow quality check on the trail that is being dusted with a finish layer of snow. A snowmaking technician is assigned this task and begins checking the trail by riding under the snow plumes of the automatic tower guns. He notes the seventh tower is a bit loud and checks the hydrant and hoses. All looks good. He takes out his palm computer, selects the trail icon and inserts the hydrant number. The display changes to hydrant operation, he quickly touches the “increase” icon twice and hears the tower snow gun change pitch. Elapsed time 30 seconds; system is a bit slow today. Looks good. He continues down the trail of 50 snow guns, stopping to tweak several snow guns using the same procedure.
6 a.m.—The computer room operator notes that it is time to send out his nightly report. He brings up his system reports and snowmaking status screens, does a quick check and presses the send icon. The information is sent from the snowmaking computer to the mountain intranet Web server. The grooming supervisor is simultaneously performing the same actions, sending her report and display screens to the mountain Web server.
6:30 a.m.—The mountain manager is sipping his latte at home, staring at today’s weather report—another perfect Vermont day. He pops up the Snow Peak Web page, enters his password and begins to scan the snowmaking trail status screen. Excellent progress. He continues to the grooming status screen. Also excellent. He affixes his signature to both displays and continues to the trails-open screen. The graphical mountain display is starting to look good. Definite progress with 70 percent of snowmaking terrain open.
6:45 a.m.—The marketing supervisor reviews the trails-open status, snowmaking status and grooming status screens on her computer. She accesses the internal server and brings up the www.snowpeak update screen. She types in her password and date, then clicks on the update icon. The latest screens are now sent to the Internet web server, ready for display to the world.
7 a.m.—Jackie Schuss is surfing the web in her condo 30 miles from Snow Peak Resort. Where to ski today? She surfs a number of ski resorts and hits the Snow Peak site. She checks the webcam and real-time mountain weather graphic, next she clicks on the trail graphic. Whoa! Snow Peak shows a trail map with open terrain highlighted. She clicks on the snowmaking graphic and up pops a trail map showing last night’s snowmaking trails. Out of curiosity she then looks over the grooming and lifts-in-operation graphics…
The effects of technology are, at times, unseen and unnoticeable; however, they have steadily permeated ski resort operations and administration over the past two decades. A few examples are: desktop pc’s, cell phones, electronic lift and pump drives, smart cards, air compressor controls, digital watches, CD-Rom, DVD, and on and on and on. The computer chips are ubiquitous, steadily impacting our lives with every application, the flashing LED and LCD displays a playful reminder of their presence.
Automation uses these computer chips and associated software to perform functions that are increasingly complex. The integration of these elements has permitted the control of equipment and industrial processes to become more productive, more efficient and less labor-intensive. Contrary to popular perception, this technology is simple and understandable.
There are only two inherent elements that a computer chip requires: 1) command software and 2) communication links. A typical industrial computer can be described as a PLC (programmable logic controller). This PLC is designed for the specific purpose of controlling industrial processes and machinery. The PLC requires the input of outside information in order for it to fulfill its control purpose. This outside information can be provided by other PLCs or instrumentation (pressure and temperature transmitters, flow meters, etc.). Standard instrumentation is normally connected to the PLC via an I/O (input/output) panel. In the I/O panel the analog electrical signals are converted to a digital signal that the PLC software can understand. The same procedure can be used to send the I/O information to a standard computer.
Smart instrumentation has a chip embedded in the actual instrument and communicates digitally with the PLC directly via a communication protocol such as Profibus network or others. The I/O interface digital conversion is eliminated. This type of instrument can be calibrated and adjusted via a hand-held communicator or laptop.
The PLC is capable of operating a pump station, air compressors, fan guns and snow-gun hydrants. A standard computer is also capable of performing the same functions. The PLC, however, is manufactured to function under adverse industrial conditions and is much less prone to failure than a standard computer that normally resides in a comfortable and temperature-controlled environment. The PLC software is also inherently simpler: only instruction sets and logic are required. Plugging and unplugging a PLC typically does not cause any problems; the PLC recovers very rapidly. Try that with Windows 98.
A PLC communicates with a standard computer via a number of methods. The digital data from the PLC is converted to a language that can be used and displayed in a Windows environment through a communication driver. This digital data enters the computer via a variety of ports, such as RS232, RS485, Ethernet or USB. There are other special variants.
The information from the PLC is normally displayed in a graphical Windows environment by any number of process control programs such as Intellution Fix32. This Windows-based program is specifically designed to create an HMI (Human to Machine Interface). This interface is normally composed of a series of screen displays, which provide a view into the workings of the process. The screen displays are designed to give the control room operator a working picture of the machinery and real-time process information. Control of the process is normally done by clicking on the desired screen item or by typing in a command. The MMI software then sends this command back to the PLC. The PLC will then perform the command or integrate it into the control logic software.
The ski resort environment can be severe and the communication distances between the control room and remote stations very lengthy. This presents some unique problems to the operator to ensure solid communication channels. There are definite distance limitations to the normally available methods; however, the nature of the medium (wire) impacts distances tremendously. A normal Ethernet wire connection is good for a distance of 300 feet. Changing the wire type to coaxial cable doubles the distance. Adding signal-boosting electronics and appropriate communication wire will extend this distance to 15,000 feet. The data transfer speed (baud rate) of the connection normally depends on the distance—the greater the distance, the slower the communication speed. There are other ways to maintain contact with remote sites: fiber optic cable, modems, radio communication, etc.
Solid and reliable communication links are the backbone of automation. The ski resort operator should plan his communication network with an eye on the future and be able to expand this network as needs arise.
The subject of automation must include a short review of the placement or location of the of the process control intelligence. The ski resort application lends itself to distributing the control logic to the remote sites. The remote PLC is programmed to continue its operation in the event of communication loss with the control computer. That means that in the instance of communication failure, the remote pump station or machinery will continue to operate and control the on-site process. Furthermore, a display can be incorporated into the remote location to allow for operational changes. This also can be done with an inexpensive laptop computer. A manual back-up system is still recommended in the event of major failures.
Placement of the intelligence at the remote site also reduces the need for the higher speed communication rates. The only data transferred between sites is process data and occasional commands. The on-site PLC responds instantly to changes and continues to control the process. System operation and integrity is maintained.
Recently, the development of local intranets and the World Wide Web has spurred further advances in the ability to forward important information to management and ultimately to the ski resort customer. The management and distribution of information are critical to a ski resort, especially as the long distances between base lodges and remote lifts complicate the ability to provide timely information. However, the advent of local intranets and the Internet have opened up avenues of information transfer that were only a dream 10 years ago.
It is now possible to take information from many mountain sources and to integrate them into a Web-based browser format (Internet Explorer or Netscape) that allows rapid access to and the distribution of important operational and marketing information.
Perhaps all the above is a bit overwhelming; however, the vision depicted at the opening of this article is based on technologies that are available, and in use. The second installment of this article will examine the benefits of technology and automation as applied to the ski industry in real-world applications.
The flow of information and its velocity has always been important to our ability to react to changes in the world around us. With the recent increases in velocity of information flow, the world is having to adjust to the resultant changes brought on by information technology and automation. This can only be described as a major paradigm shift and an evolution of business practice.
