Process control - a new start
Friday, January 7, 2011 at 9:31AM End User: Animal Feed Producer
Location: Cambridgeshire
Having been producing animal feed pellets from straw for the last 25 years, this plant underwent a major refit in the summer of 2008. The existing control system was installed in the 1970's and was largely relay logic with a large mimic diagram of the plant.
The new control panels are now PLC controlled and the operators use touch screen HMI's to drive the plant. The extensive trending of process values has provided fresh insights into the operation of the plant. Using this new found knowledge and additional control loops has increased production and decreased energy usage with the same mechanical plant. Further energy savings have been made by automatically putting unused parts of the plant to sleep.
The safety of the plant was improved with increased guarding and programmable safety controls for the many zones in the facility. The safety system reports directly to the PLC and allows the status of the interlocks to be reported on the HMI, leading to reduced downtime.