Electricity and Control July 2022

SAFETY OF PLANT, EQUIPMENT + PEOPLE : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

Safety controllers for brewery valves

weekend maintenance downtime. To ensure the pro cesses remained uninterrupted, SICK and SAB engi neers planned their work per kettle, conducting the in stallation only during scheduled downtime. “We worked in the short windows of opportunity provided during maintenance intervals,” McDaniel explains, “and we managed to complete the project in two months.” In addition, product training for SAB’s engineers and operators forms part of the SICK solution. “We’re a local supplier and we retain stock of all our control lers, which is a benefit for our clients,” McDaniel adds. “As well as having sufficient Flexi Soft stock on hand, we provide aftersales support with all our solutions and this is available 24/7.” The SICK Flexi Soft safety controller can be pro grammed via software. With its modular hardware plat form, it provides a tailored and efficient solution for numer ous safety applications. It has a wide range of available modules, which include main modules, gateways, digital and analogue input/output modules, motion control and relay modules. The licence-free Flexi Soft Designer con figuration software enables intuitive programming, fast commissioning, and continuous diagnostics down to the automation level. Functions to enable safe controller net working, safe series connection, or safe drive monitoring reduce costs and boost productivity. For more information contact SICK Automation Southern Africa. Tel: +27 (0)10 060 0558 Email: Grant.Joyce@sickautomation.co.za Visit: www.sickautomation.co.za turn off the panel, verify the panel is de-energised using standard safety procedures, place the clamp and sync it to a smartphone with the Fluke Connect app, close the panel, re-energise it, and take measurements from a safe distance. For more information contact Comtest. Tel: +27 (0)10 595 1821 Email: sales@comtest.co.za, visit: www.comtest.co.za

SICK Automation Southern Africa recently provided a safety controller solution to South African Breweries (SAB) at its Rosslyn plant where the relay controllers for the valves in the brewhouse kettle section, which needed repair, were found to have been discontinued. The relay controllers were experiencing intermittent breakdowns, but the manufacturer no longer provided support or spares for the range. Further, there was no documenta tion nor drawings for the existing controllers in the client’s application and this made repair attempts futile. SICK installed the CE-certified SICK Flexi Soft safety rated controllers as the relay solution. This offers fail-safe conditions and incorporates additional design modularity, allowing for straightforward expansion and reduction. It provides increased control intuitively, compared to the previous relay, and its programmable flexibility allows for customisation into any application. Flexi Soft resolved the control and monitoring function of the brew kettle valves and helped decrease wastage by optimising production processes and runtime. The challenge presented by the lack of documenta tion was resolved by reverse engineering the applica tion, which allowed for Flexi Soft to be adapted to the SAB-specific system. Chris McDaniel, Engineer at SICK Southern Africa says, “Without electrical drawings or standard operation procedures to reference, this was quite an achievement.” SICK engineers also included an innovative button-controlling functionality, negating the need for SAB to update the controller via PLC. SAB’s brew kettles operate 24/7, barring scheduled measurement data from multiple Fluke Connect test tools to create and share reports from the job site via email, and collaborate in real time with colleagues via ShareLive™ video calls or email, increasing productivity in the field. The 376 and 902 clamp meters also decrease the number of instances in which technicians will need to wear personal protective equipment when working on high voltage/current panels. The technician can simply

SICK Automation recently provided SAB with Flexi Soft safety-rated controllers for the valves at its Rosslyn plant brewhouse.

JULY 2022 Electricity + Control

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