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The Ceramic Industry presents serious technical challenges that are often not easily overcome. We have a great deal of experience in Design of Controls and Instrumentation, Commissioning, and Remediation of both Periodic and Tunnel Kilns - fired with Liquid and Gaseous Fuels - and the peripheral equipment associated with them. Tunnel Kilns in particular represent a big challenge. These are by far the most complex and difficult to manage Industrial Processes on the Planet. Properly set up, they are also among the most efficient at transferring energy to the Product. Surprisingly, we see very few that have been properly set up despite the fact that they were commissioned, serviced and maintained by reputable companies. We have no explanation for this, except to say that we have developed unique insight through working with our Clients to solve their Process Control problems. We have come to know that even the simplest details such as the physical configuration of mechanical actuators and their integration with the Controls are extremely important - and correcting problems that no one really could see as problems before universally yield huge dividends in efficiency. We find that by far the biggest problem that we encounter in existing installations is the application of inappropriate Sensors and improperly integrated Control Actuators - and also the use of Controls that simply can't be properly integrated to provide seamless operation. Many of these problems can be solved without making a huge investment in new equipment by simply properly integrating what is already in place. If you have a problem, we can handle it! We are particularly good with design and integration of highly integrated Control Systems in Ceramic Plants. We are a Intellution partner, specifically with their iFix32 product. This is an incredible product for this industry, as it combines Process Control with excellent Historical Data Trending and excellent Alarming and Remote Access - these features alone can make the difference between a Control System and a GREAT CONTROLS SOLUTION for your Plant. This integrates the ability to page your Operators or Supervisors in the event that any Alarm Condition exists - eliminating the need to watch the Controls constantly. They can then, if required, log on and view the Process from Home or on the road to analyze the situation. In particular, this makes unattended overnight operations much less worrisome. Historical Trending is done On-disk, and archived to CD-ROM - eliminated the hundreds of paper charts generated over a years' time. Additionally, this can be interfaced with many existing Stand-alone Controllers - maintaining your investment and utilizing them to their fullest abilities. They provide the same Stand-Alone Control, while the PC Based system writes SetPoint changes and acquires the data to maintain Historical Trending. A particularly good example of the efficiency gains that can be realized through the installation and integration of a good HMI combined with proper configuration of the various is shown below. This is an existing installation of Honeywell Stand-Alone Controllers (various models) that have been integrated with an HMI that provides the ability to see what the Process is doing in the long term. These two screen shots show the Totalized Fuel Flow at a point well after we had begun work. During the initial stages of integrating the HMI, the Fuel Flow Chart Recorder (Honeywell DR4500) was found to have a bad Motherboard that would not communicate with the Network. At the time that the Integration Phase was begun the average Fuel Flow was approximately 415 MCF/Day. We had already dropped this somewhat to around 390 when the new Motherboard was installed. To be fair, we should also point out that the production rate was dropped from 32 CPD to 30 CPD from the time of the first Screen Shot to the second. Product Quality was described as "Better than it has ever been" and losses were reduced from several percent to well under 1%. This installation was done at the height of the Fuel Crisis of 2001, and given the fact that the Fuel Costs had nearly tripled, this installation paid for itself in well under 6 months. The image on the left is the "Gas Chart" just after the DR4500 was integrated with the HMI, on the right is the most recent, showing a nearly 100MCF/Day reduction in Fuel Consumption. Click on the Thumbnail to view a full size Screen Shot.
The following Links will take you to places representative of this Industry SBL Kiln Services Maxwell Kilns Dal Tile Kentwood Brick Vesuvius |
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