Category: Testing and Sampling Case Studies

Case Study 130: Gas Recovery System Industry Sector: Testing Equipment • Gas Recovery System

New Technology Applied:

• Allen Bradley SLC 500
• Allen Bradley MicroLogix 1500
• Allen Bradley PanelView Plus
• Rockwell RSView32 SCADA

Project Description:
Staneco Corporation designed a control system that purified contaminated ground water. The system consisted of three wells. Water was pumped from two of the wells.  Flow from the wells was monitored.  The flow rate could be regulated either by fixed flow rate or by monitoring the level of the wells and adjusting the flow to keep the level of the wells at a fixed setpoint. The operator selected the desired method of control. A chemical was added to the water and it was pumped back into a third well. The flow rate of the chemical was paced to the flow rate of the water.  Data was collected which included well levels, water flow, and chemical flow. The data was stored in Excel format.

Case Study 127: Platinum Recovery Industry Sector: Testing & Sampling • Platinum Recovery System

New Technology Applied:

• AB SLC 500
• AB PanelView Plus

Project Description:
Staneco Corporation designed a control system to process discarded catalytic converters to collect the Platinum for resale. The installation provided the user with the ability to automatically start the line in production mode, controlling the delivery of the pre-crushed material to the Hammer Mill to optimize the loading of the unit. In addition, complex calculations were incorporated in the control system to perform lot size and sample size requirements for a given order. The system then monitored the weight of the accumulated lot and automatically shut the system down when calculated weight was reached. Other functionality included was:

1. Maintenance alarms for individual system components based on hours of operation and the amount of processed material processed.
2. Real time and historical trending for key variables of the process.

A second process train was added to the original system to allow the user to optimize system utilization and limit the downtime to a minimum. This addition incorporated hardware and control strategies to provide the ability to process two lots of material at the same time, thus maximizing the throughput of the system.

Project Outcome:
Enabled the customer to maximize the production capabilities of the installation and provide the ability to effectively schedule operating personnel to limit operations dead time.

Case Study 112: Automated Testing Industry Sector: Testing & Sampling • Hardness Testing Machine

New Technology Applied:

• AB SLC 500
• AB PanelView Plus

Project Description:
Staneco Corporation designed an automatic machine that tested the hardness of railroad wheels. The wheels were of different sizes and with different model numbers. The information about the wheels was received from a DCS system. The DCS provided data on wheel diameter, model number, serial number, along with the minimum and maximum allowable hardness ranges. When the wheel arrived at the testing machine, the machine head was lowered into position. A mill was used to clean the surface of the wheel to be measured. The hardness head was then engaged. When the hardness was determined, the value was sent to the PLC serial port as ASCII characters. The ASCII characters were evaluated to determine the hardness number. If the value was in range, the part was passed and sent out. If the hardness failed, the wheel was retested a second time. If the wheel still didn’t pass, it was marked with paint and sent out as a reject.

Project Outcome:
By adding this system to their production line, the end user was able to guarantee product quality and maximize profitability.

Case Study 116: Pressure Vessels Industry Sector: Testing & Sampling • Repeater Pressure Testing Control System

New Technology Applied:

• Allen Bradley SLC 500
• Rockwell RSView32 SCADA System

Scope of Work:
Staneco Corporation designed a control system to do high pressure testing for Trans-oceanic fiber-optic repeaters. The repeaters were put into a high pressure vessel. The outside of the vessel was pressurized to 10,000 PSI with a mixture of air and helium. The inside was monitored using a helium leak detector. Multi-stage pumps had to be used to attain the required pressure; this pressure had to be held for a selected time. Since the plastic content in the repeater could be damaged if the pressure changed too quickly, the pressure had to be reduced over several hours.

Project Outcome
By utilizing the new control system, repeaters could be tested more quickly allowing production to meet increased sales demands.