Upgrading Computrolls
Modernization of ITP Computrols
The Customer turned to us to upgrade the existing dispatching system, which needed to be supplemented with means of controlling the contours of the system. An additional incentive for the appeal was the fact that the Customer had to manually set the percentage of opening of certain control valves. As a result, the return water temperature could significantly exceed the permissible limit, and the supplying company (MOEC) imposes fines for deviation from the schedule of coolant consumption.
A little bit about the system
The Customer has a system of tanks integrated into a common hydraulic system for supplying hot water to apartments. The tanks are installed to heat the water at a time when the hot water is either turned off or not heated enough for a comfortable and safe supply of water to consumers. Even if the tanks do not participate in the process of heating water, they are an additional inertial link that complicates the process of temperature stabilization. The system is harmed by sudden temperature changes that destroy the joints of pipes made of different materials (plastic / metal).
Task
The task was to install additional temperature sensors on the pipes, as well as to transfer control of the control drives to another newly created control system. It was necessary to achieve regulation and stabilization of the temperature in the water supply circuits with indirect analysis of the temperature of the total return water. When approaching the threshold of exceeding the temperature of the total return water, it is necessary to close the valve in the hottest circuit and continue to adjust according to the PID law only when there is a sufficient difference between the current return water temperature and the set threshold.
Initially, the building in which the system is located was automated by specialists from Computrolls (New Orleans, USA). It should be noted that all automation was created well enough, but not customized enough. At the time of acceptance and delivery of the system, the customer was poorly oriented in the needs of his system, and also did not have the opportunity to influence the standard decisions made by Computrolls in any way. And after the well-known sanctions processes, the modernization of such facilities by foreign partners has become almost impossible.
Problem solving
1) Installed new overhead temperature sensors OWEN PT1000 on the heating pipes.
2) The control of the three hot water regulators has been transferred from the Computrols control cabinet to the OWEN control cabinet.
3) A control algorithm is prescribed to prevent overregulation of the return water temperature (shown below).
4) Information about the temperature in the circuits was output to the OWEN cloud.
5) The system of notification of the customer about the approach of temperature to critical values is implemented.
Part of the system control was moved to a new cabinet, which solves the issues of circuit control and expands the capabilities of the existing system. A touch programmable controller SPK107 OWEN was installed in it.
Appearance of the main screen:
Video frame of the ventilation system circuit control:
System faceplate:
The Computrolls cabinet, from where we took part of the control signals to the system regulators:
Computrolls I/O Boards:
The WEB interface is used for monitoring, allows you to monitor the process at any time on the computer.
The chief engineer uses the OwenCloud service to analyze the situation on network schedules. Monitors trends and notifications via Telegram notifications and email.
What did the customer get?
The customer received the opportunity of predictable system management. At any time of the year, the operator can, by changing the remotely set temperature values, achieve stable operation of the system. The rocking of the system circuits is always under control and within acceptable limits. The operator can control the settings of the controllers from several locations: directly from the SPK107 OWEN panel, via the WEB interface over the local network, via the Owencloud cloud service. Also, the operator receives notifications when the parameters go beyond the specified limits. At the same time, the Customer received a fairly budget solution without redoing all other subsystems.
#Computrolls, #Owencloud, #SPK107
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