Venezuela soft drink producer goes Profibus
Jan 2000
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Ernetic introduces upgraded twisted pair transmission equipment.
Sopresa, a Venezuela-based Pepsi bottler and part of the Polar brewing group, has made the technology leap to a Profibus fieldbus communication backbone for its plant. The backbone was integrated into the plant's water treatment system which was designed and manufactured by Canadian fluid handling specialist, Sterling Berkefeld.
The reasons for choosing to go the Profibus route were the lower cabling and installation costs as well as the ease of commissioning and use. The project called for the installation of Profibus compliant process measurement instrumentation to be installed on the filtration, ion exchange and dechlorination units of the water treatment system. The bulk of instruments were supplied by Endress+Hauser and included Promag magnetic flow meters, Mycom pH measurement transmitters, Prosonic ultrasonic level measurement transmitters, Liquiphant vibrating level switches, temperature and pressure transmitters.
All of the field instruments are connected through a Siemens segment coupler to a Siemens programmable logic controller (PLC) using a simple 2-wire twisted pair cable, linking instruments as far away as 70 m to the PLC. According to Sterling Berkefeld, the initial cost of the instruments was higher but was more than offset by the shorter commissioning time compared to conventional analog units. In addition, the instruments were delivered preconfigured from the factory which drastically simplified installation for the systems integrator and local technicians. The Endress+Hauser equipment feature internal node connections. This is of particular benefit to the company as the water treatment system is situated outside and external nodes are prone to corrosion.
Sterling Berkefeld maintain that the system experienced no teething problems and have made the decision to recommend Profibus as the communication bus of choice when designing systems with eight or more instruments.
Profibus is one of the world's leading fieldbus technologies, offering fully digital, two-way communication for any plant or process. Its high transmission rates, data rich capabilities and intrinsic safety make it ideal for use in a broad spectrum of industries and applications, including hazardous areas, in mining, chemicals, food, brewing, water, wastewater treatment, paper and more. In South Africa, it has already seen its deployment in six major projects. At present there are more than two million installed Profibus compliant devices in 200 000 applications throughout the world, worth an estimated $4,5 billion.
Endress+Hauser
(011) 444 1386
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