Automation Process Controls - Grain Handling Facility
Custom built in house Controls and motor starting cabinet to CSA standard and inspection. This panel takes care of a 2 dryer, 3 elevator and 20 screw auger at a corn dryer plant. The system takes care of starting and stopping in sequence any required motor that take part in a chain of screw augers and elevator to move grain from receiving pit to final bin storage along with dryer monitoring and hopper bin scale trending. This also ensures motors are start/stopped while screws and elevators are empty reducing mechanical wear and expense. Monitoring every motors operating amperage compared to set min/max values so that should a motor fall out of this safe operating range (could be due to slipping or broken belt, jammed screw auger, or overloaded elevator). This particular motor is shut off and so is every motor feeding it while any motor after this screw is shut off in sequence. To further optimize system efficiency, receiving pit elevator hydraulic gates are controlled to maximize elevator capacity which ensures minimized waiting time while unloading keeping trucks. Bin fill status shuts down dryers so that unmanned drying or filling can take place and orderly shut down can take place late into the night. The operation of this plant throughout a season proved to be a success and the soya plant was retrofitted in the same fashion the following year. In order to minimize down time when faults occur a bell and flashing probe along with a text message is sent out so that a user can take appropriate action in a short delay.
