FEATURE MACHINE BUILDING, FRAMEWORKS & SAFETY Under construction When building an experimental laboratory
combustion rig which required precise, independent control of three gases, Saflame turned to Bürkert Fluid Control Systems
W
hen it needed a special laboratory combustion rig to assist with
research into flame deposition of chemical films onto various materials, the chemistry department at the University of Liverpool turned to Saflame. The company manufactures and supplies thermal processing and control equipment to a wide range of industries and has considerable expertise in designing the control mechanisms – including the use of PLC’s, SCADA and fieldbus systems. During the consultation, the university
provided an outline of the purpose of the rig, the gases involved and the limiting factor of size which was determined by the dimensions of the fume cupboard in which it would be operating. The detailed design was then left in the hands of the engineers at Saflame. Three major design areas were
established: safety, precision and connectivity. However, considerable engineering skill is necessary when equipment is required to control combustible gases and deliver precise, repeatable, results.
MEETING REQUIREMENTS The basic concept of the combustion rig was to provide a platform which would allow oxygen, nitrogen and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to be mixed at precise ratios and ignited to produce a consistent flame. Once a
stable flame is established, a test chemical is introduced and then deposited onto a sample material plate which is positioned in front of the flame. As the level of gas control required for this project needed some expert assistance, Saflame approached Bürkert with the specifications for the gas control system – and the compact Type 8713 mass flow controller (MFC) for gases was suggested. Designed to provide precise and consistent results, this uses CMOSens technology to accurately measure the gas flow rate, allowing it to control a set point or actual value changes within 100ms and also maintain its high sensitivity, even at low flow rates. Three Type 8713 MFC’s, one for each gas, were incorporated into the
design and connected to the GRX SCADA system, which allowed each MFC to be independently programmed, controlled and monitored during each experiment. Gary Williams, technical director at
Saflame, commented: “The Bürkert product really was a plug & play item with its connectivity allowing direct control through our GRX SCADA system, which enables the parameters of each experiment to be recorded and replicated if necessary. The MFC’s proved to be easy to set up and, following some commissioning and training with the university, the combustion rig has been performing perfectly.” Dr Troy Manning, who gave the initial design specification to Saflame, commented: “We have worked closely with Saflame to ensure that the finished rig would fulfil
our requirements. As part of a research project, it is crucial that we can record all of our base data and also repeat experiments with a level of
precision that allows meaningful, reproducible results to be collected.”
Bürkert Fluid Control Systems
www.burkert.co.uk
ACHIEVE HAZARDOUS AND ACCESS POINT SAFETY WITH NEW LIGHT CURTAIN It is a Type 4 device (IEC 61496), enabling compliance in applications
With integrated laser alignment for simple installation, the deTec4 Prime safety light curtain from SICK is said to make it easy to achieve hazardous and access point safety protection up to PLe/SIL3. The curtain offers protective field heights in increments from 300mm to 2100mm and a choice of finger (14mm) or hand (30mm) resolution providing protection against operator intervention in accordance with EN ISO 13855 in applications covering up to 21m. It provides full end-to-end protection with no blind zones and a scanning range up to 21m. In addition, cascading up to three of the curtains minimises wiring complexity and reduces the number of safety inputs in the control cabinet, and the coded light beam option prevents optical interference between devices in side-by-side applications.
with requirements up to PLe (EN ISO 13849) and SIL 3 (IEC61508). In addition, it has a tough IP65 or IP67 impact and warp resistant enclosure with an operating temperature range from -30˚C to +55˚C. LEDs along both sender and receiver indicate the field, and OSSD’s and state of the light curtains allowing efficient maintenance and diagnostics. The curtain also allows the connection of a reset button and/or the facility to monitor external devices (EDM) which can reduce wiring and the need for additional devices in the control cabinet saving space. The deTec4 Prime is suitable for applications such as
machine tool operation, automotive production, warehousing and logistics, and FMCG goods handling and packaging.
SICK T: 01727 831121
26
APRIL 2016 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
