Feature Drives, controls & transmissions
Drive automation doubles production for brewery
A new and modern beer racking plant worth £2.5m supplied by brewery design specialist Microdat has increased capacity at the St Austell brewery to 300 firkins, that is nine gallon casks, per hour. The increased efficiency allows the brewery to switch from two-shift to one-shift operation and still have two times the capacity. Throughout the plant Microdat has used drives and automation equipment from Lenze ranging from controllers to efficient geared motors. The networking of the system is the key to the efficient operation of the plant
eeds-based Microdat is a UK spe- cialist for brewery keg and cask handling systems with 25 years’ experience in machinery such as washers, fillers, cappers, weighing and cask handling equipment. The racking plant is a production line that takes in empty casks, cleans and fills them and then prepares them for despatch. Returned casks are fed in to a process called deshiving where the old plugs are removed, then the casks are washed and dried. The filling process, known as racking, uses accurate Microdat peristaltic pumps driven by geared motors. The full casks are then sealed and transported ready for despatch. The level of automation is such that only three operators are required to achieve a production level of 2,700 gallons per hour. This is equiv- alent to more than the capacity of an Olympic-sized swimming pool every
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month. Lenze power transmission equipment for drives and automation is used throughout the plant.
The heart of the automation system is a network of five Lenze controllers, type 3200C, that are linked by Ethernet. One controller looks after
Frequency inverter for HVAC apps W
eg, a specialist in electric motors, has launched a new frequency inverter CFW501 that has been designed to meet the needs of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) indus- try. The compact and easy-to-use drives are available with a power range from 0.18 to 7.5kW and are suitable for cooling and heating systems in commercial buildings, as well as for all pump and fan applications in general. Thanks to their advanced features and design, they help users to optimise the operation of their motors, while being quick and easy to install and cost-effective to maintain. The CFW501 is based on the same modular plug-and-play platform as the CFW500 product
family. The units include a built-in micro-PLC, programmable according to IEC 61131-3, and an advanced intuitive HMI. The interface offers specific engineering units for HVAC applica- tions, such as bar, mbar and m3/h, and is also available as a remotely controlled version for installation in a panel door. To allow for direct communication with the most important proto- cols in building automation, the CFW501 supports Bacnet, MetaSys N2 and Modbus-RTU. Like the CFW500 drives, the new inverter is designed with simplicity of installation and operation in mind. It can identify up to 64 different plug-in modules, which makes it simple to also connect to major fieldbus systems including Profibus-DP, DeviceNet and CANopen. Weg
T: 01527 513800 16
www.weg.net/uk
Drives and automa- tion equipment from Lenze has been used in a new beer racking plant at St Austell brewery
each stage of the process. Plugged into the side of the 3200C controller are I/O modules from the Lenze System 1000. The drives are frequency inverters of the Lenze 8400 series. EtherCAT as the communication bus was chosen because it is fast and deterministic. The inverters have the option of Safe Torque Off so operators can perform work on the plant such as cleaning without the need to power everything down. A variety of Lenze geared motors are used. In the case of the racking pumps which have a high duty and need to deliver a precise volume, type GKR bevel gearboxes were used. These have 96 per cent efficiency, low backlash are virtually wear free. The new cask racking plant was for- mally opened using an iPad through VNC technology. Microdat had installed a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) which allows platform independent remote control of mouse and keyboard with return relay of screen updates. James Staughton, man- aging director of St Austell Brewery says: “The opening of the new cask operation plant represents a signifi- cant milestone in our company’s 160- year history and it brings the total investment in our brewing and bot- tling facilities to almost £6 million in just seven years. The opening of the cask operation plant is a bold move, but will mean we will be able to con- sistently meet the demand for our range of award-winning ales now and in the years to come.” The brewery experience of Microdat partnered with Lenze drive technology has achieved efficiency with low operating costs.
Lenze T: 01234 753227
www.lenze.com Enter 311
Series offers energy efficiency B
Enter 312
osch Rexroth has unveiled its new series of variable frequency drives for general automation, materials handling, pumps, fans and conveyors. Better known for providing tailored solutions, the EFC 3600 series, which will be available from The Inverter Drive Supermarket, marks Rexroth’s first foray into an ‘off-the-shelf’ product range. Featuring both a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) and a sequence control system, the EFC 3600 series allows energy-efficient operation of equipment and machinery at their optimal operating point. The in-built control systems also enable load dependant adjustment of the voltage and frequency curve, extending motor service life. A high intermittent overload capacity of up to 200 per cent, as well as high initial torque of up to 150 per cent, means the new drives can be adapted for a wide range of uses including both heavy duty and energy-saving applications. Bosch Rexroth
T: 01480 22 3290
http://rexroth.inverterdrive.com Enter 313 JULY/AUGUST 2013 Factory Equipment
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