Touch panel improves productivity of existing plant

Paul Boughton

The interface between man and machine often provides potential for optimisation in automated production. In particular increases in efficiency in the operation of plant contribute to improved production results overall.
 
In the application under consideration, the existing control units of the centrifuge have been adapted to state of the art technology in order to increase the speed of the system.
 
BARTEC replaced the old panel on site with the modern 12.1-in widescreen touch panel of the POLARIS Professional series, suitable for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. Indeed, modernisation of the centrifuge control was absolutely necessary: centrifuges used in the chemical industry are part of a highly flexible production system and are constantly being configured for the preparation of different formulations. But the far too long response times when entering new commands impeded the operator in his work and slowed production down.
 
A more convenient and faster system for operation was necessary but without changing the existing plant, and it had to be suitable for use in potentially explosive areas, since the materials processed in the centrifuge contain solvents.
 
For this reason the customer was looking for an option to upgrade his existing plant without high engineering costs. As a specialist in industrial safety technology for use in potentially explosive areas, BARTEC had the right solution and offered the added benefit of flexibility.
 
In the POLARIS Touch Panel with Ethernet interface, communication, imaging and processing using the keypad work in parallel. As soon as the next log retrieval takes place, all parameters are already updated. The communication processes run in the background using a Modbus/TCP protocol, new entries are entered and integrated directly. The appropriate response is immediate. This means that all commands are executed almost immediately after entering and the objective of near real-time operation under hazardous conditions has become tangible.

BARTEC GmbH is based in Bad Mergentheim, Germany. www.bartec.de
 

 

Recent Issues