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 documentation 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 various applications. 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 documentation was resolved by reverse engineering the application, 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 weekend maintenance downtime. To ensure the processes remained uninterrupted, SICK and SAB engineers planned their work per kettle, conducting the installation only during scheduled downtime. “We worked in the short windows of opportunity provided during maintenance intervals,” McDaniel says, “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 controllers, 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.”
Functionality and configuration
The SICK Flexi Soft safety controller can be programmed via software. With its modular hardware platform, it provides for a tailored and efficient solution for numerous 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 configuration software enables intuitive programming, fast commissioning, and continuous diagnostics down to the automation level. Functions to enable safe controller networking, safe series connection, or safe drive monitoring help to reduce costs and boost productivity.
For more information visit: www.sickautomation.co.za