DRIVES, CONTROLS & MOTORS FEATURE
Intelligent routing speeds up production
Elite Control Systems, a leading provider of systems integration services for the food and beverage industry, has introduced an intelligent routing system that is said to offer a step forward in production speed and efficiency for the beverage and bottling industry
T
he system is already being used by Scottish whisky distillers as a control
system for tank farms to transfer specific amounts of essential ingredients from one point to another during the blending and bottling process.
IMMEDIATE RE-ROUTING CAPABILITY One of the main advantages of the routing system is the automation of equipment, such as valves and pumps that are traditionally altered manually. On existing systems, setting up routes can take hours, if not days. With the introduction of this system, an operator can now make these adjustments in seconds via computer. “Routing product to a production line used
to mean manually adjusting a series of valves and pumps, which, in some cases, could require up to several days. Because our new routing system is capable of creating upwards of 25,000 routing configurations, it’s just a matter of selecting the source and destinations for a route. For example, say you want to transfer 10,000 litres of a specific product from blending tanks to the production lines. The operator simply selects the source and the destination on the routing system, and the route is set up immediately,” says Ewan McAllister, technical director for Elite Control Systems. “The fact that the system is intelligent means that it ‘knows’ when a particular route is busy and will alert the operator of this, allowing an alternative route to be selected or the transfer to be queued until the route becomes available. This means that the tank farm can run at full capacity, dramatically increasing production.” The system also allows routes to be added or
modified without any PLC logic changes, so it’s extremely flexible.
BLENDING BY REMOTE CONTROL The new system does much more than set up transfer routes at the flick of a switch. Because blending of ingredients is critical to distillers and beverage producers, the system was designed to control other areas of the production process, such as the blending process. It is programmed to accurately measure set volumes of ingredients to be transferred into the vessels, and how long it should remain standing in the vessel before continuing with the next part of the process. It is also capable of monitoring the temperature and volume of a product. It can even monitor alcohol strength and colour as moves through the blending process. Throughout the transfer process, the system also ensures that the route integrity is not compromised, and that operations are being carried out safely. After the transfer process is completed, the system can provide production data to the operators, such as where the input ingredients came from, when they arrived, and even the specific vehicle that transported the ingredients. This data is also stored.
INNOVATIVE DESIGN The intelligent control system is designed to guide operators safely and accurately through every step. To achieve this, it offers two major differences in design. The first is the structure of the programme, which uses object-oriented programming. This makes it possible for potentially large systems to be broken down into simple-to-manage functional modules or ‘objects.’ The second is the method in which the routing information is handled, by utilising an SQL routing database.
VERSATILE ROUTING SYSTEM BENEFITS PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY Although it is being used primarily for tank farm control in the distilling and bottling sectors, Elite Control Systems has also installed the system in a large petrochemical plant.
Elite Control Systems
www.elitecontrols.com T: 01506 597900
/AUTOMATION
FEATURE FEATURE TITLE
ASK THE EXPERT ABB
Why do motors fail?
T
here are several
reasons, but they can be broken out into three main specific areas. Firstly heat, secondly water ingress, and the third one is either incorrect sizing or improper installation Heat comes from many factors; the
loading on the motor, the ambient temperature that the motor is running in, mechanical stress, even the thickness of the paint. So what does the heat do to a motor? Basically
it breaks down the insulation system, putting it under stress, causing it to fail. Around 51 percent of motors, however, fail because of the bearings. Now that could be down to a lack of lubrication or even an over- lubrication. But it is important that you use the
manufacturer’s specification to lubricate the motor properly, bearing in mind how the motor’s mounted, the speed of the motor and the type of bearings installed. When it comes to the cooling system, it’s
important, that this is maintained, that airways are kept clear, and the motor is kept clear of debris. The second point of failure is water ingress.
Water enters motors from various points, but the main one we found is through the cable gland. Wherever possible, good practice should be followed which is to bring the cable gland in through the bottom of the terminal box, therefore preventing water from running down the cable into the terminal box arrangement. This we find mainly in the food industry, where they do wash downs for hygiene. Thirdly, the cause of failure is down to either
the incorrect sizing of the motor, or the way the motor has been installed. It is always good to follow good engineering practice principles when installing a motor. So whether you are installing the motor using
pulleys and belts, or direct shaft-to-shaft coupling, it is best to use some kind of alignment process to ensure the stress on the bearing is kept to a minimum, and prolonging the life of your motor.
Enter 208
Peter Wilson, Covelec - an ABB authorised value provider T: 01925 741111; E:
energy@gb.abb.com www.abb.co.uk/energy
Enter 209 AUTOMATION | JUNE 2015 17
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