Pilz Upgrades Waste Water Treatment Plant

CANTON, Mich., May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Glastechnik Holger Kramp GmbH based out of Stockelsdorf, Germany needed to improve the operational and environmental safety of its water treatment facility where waste water from grinding, drilling and similar machining functions is cleaned and made available again to the production process. The plant consists of several large storage tanks and containers and operates in close contact with the production facility via incoming and outgoing water pipes and pumps. The process of design started with a systematic analysis by Glastechnik Holger Kramp along with Pilz application engineers, to determine what requirements would be needed to improve the safety and reliability for both the human operators and to prevent possible environmental contamination. It was decided that two major goals had to be accomplished, develop a user-friendly and service-friendly diagnostic system that would, in the event of a fault provide the location and cause of the fault and tips for repairing/remodeling the fault. The goal of this system was to reduce the downtime created by maintenance and safety situations. The safety aspect of the system was accomplished using a series of Pilz E-STOP pushbuttons and coded PSENcode safety switches, in conjunction with the multifunctional safety system PNOZmulti. The PNOZmulti modular safety system watches over the emergency stop devices operating both locally and across the range of machines, as well as the link between the machines and the water treatment system: A fault around one individual machine does not immediately mean that the whole plant has to be brought to a standstill. However, if the central water treatment system should fail, this must result in a controlled overall shutdown of the plant. The safety system also detects potential shorts between contacts, monitors the speed of the pump motors and guarantees that they shut down in the case of a fault. The implementation of this centralized and integrated safety and diagnostic system guarantees that user-friendly solutions are found quickly and accurately. The use of clear easy to understand event and fault messages also make the system significantly easier and faster to diagnose and repair.

SOURCE Pilz Automation L.P.