PLCs for furnace control
May 2008
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
CHI Control Component’s programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and human machine interfaces (HMIs) are being used in furnace control panels manufactured by Leonard Light Industries for a gold mine in south-east Asia.
Leonard Light Industries are the manufacturers of KEEGOR branded products for fire assay and gold plant furnaces, machinery and requisites. The company supplies a large proportion of the equipment and consumables used in local assay laboratory and smelt-house applications.
Additionally they have equipment operating in Australia, Canada, South America and the United States. Leanord Light technical manager, Bruce Hansmeyer, says, “CHI has been a key supplier to us for many years. The CHI team is very approachable, if we have a problem we can talk to them”. Hansmeyer states that the CHI products have provided them with a platform that has allowed them to provide their customers with increased functionality by utilising PLC and touch screen technology. System faults and trips are logged and stored in memory, which is useful for warranty claims as the system can be interrogated for the details of a particular problem.
The introduction of CHI Control Component’s range of DL06 PLCs and C-more HMI’s has resulted in simplified panel wiring as well as increased safety. The internal interlocking is not easily bypassed ensuring that the process cannot be tampered with. Hansmeyer states that an added benefit is that the intellectual property is protected, as it is all programmed into the PLC by their engineers. Jaysen Loock, Systems Engineer at Leonard Light, enthuses that solid state technology allows them to manage the heating elements in the furnace chamber. Loock states that as silicon carbide elements age their electrical resistance increases and therefore they deliver less power when connected to a fixed supply voltage. The system is now programmed to automatically monitor and increase average voltage based on measured resistance, thereby providing constant power output. Traditionally, 16 step transformers or thyristor control was used to accomplish this – both very expensive options. “Control via PLC is accurate and far more cost effective as the system is programmed to continuously search for the optimum position using pre-programmed algorithms,” says Loock.
CHI Control Component’s range of products is readily available throughout sub-Saharan Africa via a well developed distribution network. The companies 24/7 service centres are manned by highly experienced service engineers capable of supplying technical and product support.
For more information contact Rob Hare, CHI Control Components, +27 (0)11 824 7400, robh@chicontrol.co.za, www.chicontrol.co.za
Further reading:
The rise of software-defined brownfield automation
Schneider Electric South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert is enabling brownfield operators to modernise incrementally, decoupling control logic from hardware to bridge legacy equipment and future-ready operations without disrupting production.
Read more...
Upgrading alarm systems for critical industries
Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Omniflex’s OMNI16R alarm annunciator platform provides a direct replacement for legacy CSA systems such as MPAS 90 and SA9100, enabling operators in oil and gas, nuclear and power generation to modernise alarm infrastructure without sacrificing the clarity required for safe operations.
Read more...
How DCS can step off the hardware obsolescence treadmill
Schneider Electric South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Schneider Electric argues that virtualising DCS environments breaks the cycle of hardware obsolescence, giving plant operators a smarter path to lifecycle modernisation without production disruption.
Read more...
Loop signature Part 2-6
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
The Loop Signature series turns to frequency plot theory, explaining Bode open-loop plots and how dynamic gain, phase lag and crossover frequency can be extracted from test data to inform more accurate control loop tuning.
Read more...
PC-based control in surgery
Beckhoff Automation
Editor's Choice PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Researchers at the University of Basel are using Beckhoff PC-based control technology to develop a miniature laser robot for minimally invasive bone surgery.
Read more...
IIoT controller for the field and control cabinet
ifm - South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
The IIoT controller from ifm is a powerful, communicative and flexible PLC solution in machine and plant digitalisation.
Read more...
How the DCS can step off the hardware obsolescence treadmill
Schneider Electric South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Ageing servers and unsupported operating systems are quietly eroding the stability of process plants that rely on distributed control systems. Kobus Vermeulen of Schneider Electric explains how virtualising the DCS environment can break the hardware obsolescence cycle without disrupting operations.
Read more...
Centralised control rooms where growth is elastic, not physical
Schneider Electric South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Modernised control rooms feature distributed control system architecture consolidated into centralised compute environments. replacing traditional PCs with thin clients.
Read more...
Advanced DCSs preserve what must not change while enabling
Schneider Electric South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Next-generation DCSs, such as Schneider Electric’s Foxboro, are preserving the best of the old while introducing the new in a less disruptive manner.
Read more...
Siemens launches new generation of logic controller
Siemens South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Siemens has launched the latest generation of its proven intelligent logic controller, LOGO! 9. This enables simple implementation of small automation projects.
Read more...
printer friendly version