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IMM Staff

November 10, 2008

3 Min Read
Centralized auxiliaries control

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In real time, you now can efficiently monitor and remotely control Conair blenders, loaders, dryers and heat-transfer equipment in any of your shops from anywhere in the world by using the latest edition of the production and process monitoring and control system trademarked ControlWorks by its developer, Conair Inc. (Cranberry Twp., PA). Described by company sources as a “portal to the process,” ControlWorks reportedly can dramatically increase your management efficiency and productivity.

It cost-effectively combines software you can customize with all the necessary data collection hardware and an easy-to-use interface, allowing you to quickly navigate between your auxiliaries when reviewing or changing the major equipment settings, when responding to alarms, or when accessing archived production data.

Access to the system is through workstations connected to a plantwide LAN. Also, using a secure, Web-based virtual private network (VPN), your ControlWorks data can be accessed online and the system can send system priority alarms to appropriate personnel via e-mail. Auxiliaries can be monitored by a specific type—all of your dryers, for instance.

It also allows you to check up on all the auxiliaries in a specific cell, or all the auxiliaries in your entire plant. And you’ve got the freedom to customize the display screens, too—using a digital photo of the dryer in a specific cell, for instance, or a digital photo of a central blending system in which each blender is tagged with a dedicated device ID. All you’d have to do is to click on an image to see how it’s doing.

You can choose to implement either some or all of the system’s capabilities thanks to its modular design. You can, for instance, use it to monitor just one or two types of auxiliaries. Or, you can integrate all your auxiliaries into the system.

Web extra: Nine modules in Conair’s ControlWorks
ControlWorks presently includes the following modules:

1. Bulk storage module: monitors up to three resin level displays, each of which can monitor multiple silos or other storage vessels, providing either a high-level alarm, a reorder-point alarm, or a low-level alarm. This module also can monitor up to 36 level sensors.

2. Blending module: monitors up to 64 blenders and allows you to perform setups and to download and enter recipes and operating parameters. ControlWorks also monitors real-time operational data, logging material usage and generating material-usage reports.

3. Thermolator module: monitors up to 32 units, allowing entry of setpoints and parameters for mold temperature controls and portable and central chillers. Also displays and records operating values and alarms.

4. Central water module: monitors up to three central water systems, controlling all pumps, valves, and fans. Displays and records operating values and alarms.

5. Dryer module: monitors up to 32 dryers, allowing entry of setpoints and operating parameters and displaying and logging actual operating values and alarms. Dewpoint trending is included.

6. Resinworks module: monitors up to 32 hoppers connected to a central dehumidifying dryer, allowing entry of setpoints and operating parameters and displaying and logging actual operating values and alarms. ControlWorks can trend temperatures to track performance and report any variances.

7. Robot module: monitors status, alarms, and active programs on up to 32 Sepro robots.

8. ILS loading module: monitors up to three ILS loader control systems and allows users to set/change load time, purge time, discharge time, material alarms, regrind cycles, and proofing.

9. A miscellaneous I/O module can monitor any combination of analog, digital, RTD, or thermocouple inputs. The ControlWorks workstation is a standard Web-enabled PC desktop computer, which comes equipped with keyboard, mouse, DVD/CD reader/writer drive, and two Ethernet network cards. The standard package includes dual hard drives with a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) control that writes to both hard drives simultaneously.—[email protected]

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