BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The Type 8652 AirLINE has been optimised
for installation at the bottom of a control
panel, which in this case, was custom-built
by Burkert at its Systemhaus in Germany.
The compact nature of this valve island
would normally reduce the size of the
panel required, but in this case, the brewery
wanted to include additional space for
future expansion as well as its own input/
output systems. To accommodate the future
plans for the site, Burkert populated all the
valve island control modules, allowing the
unused ones to be easily connected as the
application expanded.
Due to the choice of positions for the air
supply port on the valve island, the air
preparation unit, which consists of a filter
and a regulator, could also be included
within the panel without additional
connection points.
Traditionally, this would have been external
to the panel, but this design protected it
from any washdown processes.
Greg Wainhouse, UK Field Segment
Manager for water, explains: “One of
the most obvious new features of the
Type 8652 valve island is the integrated,
back-lit LCD screen that displays pilot
valve status, switching status of the
process valve, a switching cycle counter
as well as a diagnostic report. This
simplifies commissioning and operational
maintenance including fault diagnosis by
providing instant status information for
remote components and connections.
“Another feature that really stands out is
the ‘hot-swap’ facility that allows control
sections in the valve island to be replaced
during normal operation. This means
production can continue uninterrupted,
even if a maintenance issue arises”
SIMPLIFIED INSTALLATION
Multiple Type 8652 units could have been
daisy-chained together using one gateway
to connect directly to the Rockwell PLC.
However, in this case, it was a personal
preference to install three, hard-wired
connections to the valve islands; even with
this option, there was still a considerable
saving in the amount of wiring that needed
to be installed for this project, compared
to the original concept using electrical
solenoid valves.
Interfacing with the PLC was a very simple
process, the EDS file is available from
Burkert’s website and the commissioning
software is provided free-of-charge.
Khalid Aziz, Project Manager, at Marstons,
concluded: “The technical assistance we
have received from Burkert has had a very
significant impact on this project. The
increased functionality means that we can
reduce the amount of cooling and have
greater control over the whole process.
We have also made some very significant
savings in terms of installation time and
overall plant running costs.”
Once this project was installed,
commissioned and fully operational,
Marstons continued with a further part of
the expansion plan that required another
valve island and 20 more Type 2000 valves,
all of which were ordered from Burkert.
These were installed as part of the project
to provide new chilled storage tanks and
offered the same simplicity of installation
and connectivity.
For those looking to update existing
systems or introduce new control
technology, the Bürkert solution can
reduce installation and commissioning
times as well minimise operating costs
and downtime.
www.burkert.co.uk
Issue 37 PECM
189