Remote-I/O-System Facilitates Condition Monitoring of Pumps for Desalination of Sea Water

Related Vendors

Lutz Pumpen GmbH

EagleBurgmann Germany GmbH & Co. KG

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH

WAGO GmbH & Co. KG

Machine health is determined

Condition monitoring is being used ever more often in order to be able to detect damage to pumps early. Here, the state of the pump is monitored, among other things, using vibration measurement and analysis. The client also requested this method for some pumps. The information about the “health“ of the pumps should be made available to a SCADA system via a Profibus network. Since in the desalination plant a majority of the automation was already equipped with Wago components, Norit Injhuis sought contact with Wago Holland. For the condition monitoring, information such as the temperature of the bearings and coils and the vibrations of the pump had to be forwarded to the SCADA system. The multi-faceted Wago-I/O-System 750/753 with Profibus coupler was used for this. On the intake side of this modular automation system, special sensors for vibration and temperature signals are connec­­ted via I/O modules. The entire system could be assembled completely on the respective pump. The installation and start-up of the system took place at Norit Nijhuis in Winterswijk. Karel Gering, Manager of Project Engineering at Norit Nijhuis commented: “We only participated in a morning-long training session at Wago; after that everything was clear and we were able to set the entire apparatus correctly.“

Flexibility pays off

The installation went smoothly in Australia. But as often happens with a project, the client made changes on-site. First, it should be possible to process all information ­centrally via the SCADA system. Later the request was to implement local information processing for the larger pumps. The pumps must function independently and be able to react directly to signals, even with possible disturbances in the network. Furthermore, it must be possible to operate the functions using a local display. These changes required a programmable controller, which in turn required the corresponding software. Norit Nijhuis itself did not have the expertise to do such specific programming. The completion date for the project was coming ever closer, therefore, haste was required. Wago Holland suggested three software companies; IACT of Haaksbergen received the order. Within a few weeks, it programmed an application for the controller based on CoDeSys 61131-3. Karel Gering confirms: “This time too the installation and start-up went smoothly and we were able to adhere to the deadline. A next order for a large project in Australia has already been placed!“

* R. Bezemer works as a specialised journalist (translated from the Dutch); R. Klebe-Klingemann is an employee at Wago Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG/Minden.

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