Ai2SA automates winch control under breakdown conditions

July 2016 Motion Control & Drives

Architects Integrating Industry (Ai2SA), specialising in the specifications, implementation, execution and project management of industrial control and information systems, was recently contacted by a remotely located mine to inspect a conveyor belt winch controlled tensioner, programmed and commissioned by a third party.

The courtesy visit turned into a mini project when the client decided that the PLC had to be reprogrammed immediately on site, underground, because it had not worked properly from inception. Within a period of hours, Ai2SA successfully completed the programming and commissioning of the system. One of the challenges was that the controller was programmed using an outdated version, which prohibited simply uploading and correcting it, hence the program had to be rewritten from scratch under duress with blasting scheduled to take place. No functional specification was available, which meant that software had to be developed based on experience to achieve the functionality defined below.

Control description

The aim of the control system is to ensure that the conveyor belt tension remains within a 'safe-zone' (dead band) where the belt tension is kept optimal. Figure 1 depicts the observed trend and timing diagrams of the respective outputs of the system.

For more information contact Petrus Klopper, Ai2SA, +27 (0)12 348 6124, [email protected], www.ai2sa.co.za

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