Product category:
Industrial Drives/Controls
News Release from: Danfoss Motion Controls | Subject: Decentral drives
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 19 September 2002
DeviceNet drives keep the stubbies
running
In a recent major upgrade of its bottling hall, The South Australian Brewing Company has made extensive use of Danfoss Decentral drives.
The South Australian Brewing Company, located in Adelaide, South Australia, recently undertook a major upgrade of its bottling hall The company's engineering department was given the task of rebuilding the entire packaging conveyor system and its associated controls during a four week shutdown window
Very careful preplanning and selection of equipment and suppliers was of paramount importance, with specific emphasis given to equipment availability, commissioning time and innovative cost effective solutions.
Because of the very tight time schedules, it was important that commissioning was simplified and quick, with local expertise and help readily available if required at short notice.
Richard Boiwko, the Electrical Engineer for SA Brewing, was innovative in his approach to the control philosophy for the new conveyor system.
He decided that a fieldbus network must form the cornerstone of the whole control system.
And having previously standardised on Danfoss drives and Allen Bradley PLCs throughout the plant, he decided on a common DeviceNet fieldbus communications platform.
During discussions with Danfoss, Boiwko was impressed with the Decentral concept Danfoss offered with its FCM and FCD ranges of drives.
The FCD particularly was of interest because not only did it feature DeviceNet but also supported localised installation of the drives, actually on the existing motors in many cases.
This indicated significant savings could be achieved in cabling and controls panels.
He subsequently ordered 96 FCD 311 drives complete with the newly developed DeviceNet comms option.
All 96 FCD drives were delivered on time, complete with DeviceNet and customised mounting boxes with gland holes on one side only.
All the FCD 311 drives were mounted directly onto existing gear motors using a locally produced aluminium mounting adapter.
This method of direct motor mounting eliminated screened motor cables and their associated costs and largely eliminated potential EMC problems.
Boiwko stated his reasons for choosing the Danfoss FCD concept as: reduced switchboard real estate as all the drives are mounted on the plant; simplified and lower cost cabling with several drives supplied from one circuit, looping from one drive to the next in circuit; faster, easier commissioning over the serial link as the DeviceNet protocol allows complete parameter transfers - once one drive had been set up, its basic programme was simply copied to all the others; the FCD motor performance was markedly superior to all other types considered; the FCD could be retrofitted to the existing motors - brand or motor type was not critical; and the sanitary corrosion-resistant IP66 enclosure was ideal for the damp bottling hall conditions and facilitated a rigorous cleaning regime.
Following completion of the refurbishment, it was identified that over A $100,000 was saved overall, mainly in cabling, switchboard costs and installation time by using the Danfoss Decentral drives.
The South Australian Brewing Company is delighted with its new installation, and since commissioning three months ago, the Danfoss FCD and DeviceNet network has performed faultlessly.
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