Oriel were asked by leading Ink supplier Flint Ink to supply and install a Telemetry system for one of their major customers located in Spain.
The purpose-built printing facility built by Rotocobrhi and located in the industrial area of Tres Cantos is close to Madrid has approximately 350 employees, it specializes in periodic magazines as well as brochures and have 8 presses in total.
It is critical that ink deliveries are planned and delivered in good time as the Ink management contract is managed by Flink Ink NL in the Netherlands whereas the ink isactually manufactured in Wolverhampton UK.
Oriel have supplied and installed an Intelligent Telemetry Outstation on broadband which provides instantaneous tank level readings back at Flint Ink headquarters in Holland. As well as current tank level information the system also provides historical information on ink consumption along with estimates of when the next delivery and of what colour needs to be planned.
Oriel’s intelligent Telemetry outstation connects directly to the on-site Mitsubishi plc using the Modbus communications protocol to obtain all the relevant datapoints from the plant and displays them in real-time on the Master Station PC screen in an easy to use and understand graphical manner.
Text messages were requested to inform the account managers that the ink levels are getting low and they can then check on the Master Station Telemetry PC or laptops to view recent use-age and estimate when the next delivery should be scheduled.
The Oriel systems VMI system is a flexible and cost-effective solution to monitoring customer usage of a product or number of products, bringing together information from customer sites around the globe to provide instant information on potential stock-out situations.
Amidst strong competition, Oriel Systems’ Vendor Managed Inventory solution was chosen by leading ink manufacturer Sun Chemicals to integrate and replace a myriad of different systems inherited from recent acquisitions and new customer contracts
The Oriel systems VMI system is a flexible and cost-effective solution to monitoring customer usage of a product or number of products, bringing together information from customer sites around the globe to provide instant information on potential stock-out situations.
In any mature industry where many suppliers are perceived to be the same, many suppliers have found this to be a significant differentiator as their customers now receive the best possible service 24/7 leading to increased customer loyalty.
There are more benefits for the supplier, this is rapidly turning into a “Win-Win for all” scenario. As the supplier is provided with information on product usage or consumption, this also allows for increases in efficiencies to be made in both the scheduling of production and of deliveries.
The system comprises of software residing on a PC which, in normal operation automatically connects into the customers site at regular intervals to retrieve latest stocking levels. In the case of a potential stock-out situation, the system over-rides and immediately alerts the supplier of the occurrence. Potential stock-out situations are notified audibly and by pop-up “on screen” messages, which must be accepted before they disappear. For out of hours use a “dialling rota” can be configured, which will automatically dial a series of mobile or landline numbers to alert the supplying company or their transportation / logistics department of the occurrence.
Once an alarm is received, it must be acknowledged from the telephone keypad, otherwise the system will continue to dial the next number in series. From the telephone keypad the user can choose to replay the current alarm or replay all alarms or to delete them.
Other options include mobile versions of the VMI software allowing remote interrogation using smartphones. This allows the transport / logistics / customer service departments to connect to the customers site and to view both current and historical information on customer usage, even whilst away from the office
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
Although Telemetry Systems are fairly commonplace these days, they are used in many different industries to give prior warning that an “event” is about to happen
For instance; automatic cash machines will alert the bank’s staff to the fact that the machine is running out of banknotes, petrol filling stations are linked to telemetry to alert the head office that a particular fuel is about to run out. In the shipping industry, engine performance information is relayed back to a central monitoring station to alert the control centre of any required maintenance that may be performed at the next intended port of call so that down time is kept to a minimum. We at Oriel Systems are always pleased to hear of other applications that may be of use to our customers and, in turn are keen to offer a practical solution.
One recent application that Oriel were involved with was for BP at their LPG Tanker filling sites around the country. The problem that BP had was that their LPG filling terminals sites were all 24hour operations and were open 7days a week. The Health and Safety Executive insisted on 2 people being present at all times to oversee the filling operations. Some days there may not be a single tanker pulling in to refuel and yet there would still need to be 2 BP staff on site. Over all of BP’s sites this amounted to many hundreds of staff that would have to be employed and also paid overtime (with unsociable shift allowances) even tough in many cases these staff may not actually be required.
After discussions with the customers engineers, Oriel were able to draft a proposal based on an Oriel Intelligent Telemetry Outstation at each site along with 2 CCTV cameras, one fixed, the other moveable. Security at the entrance gate would also be provided which, upon a tanker arriving out of hours would open up voice communications between the filling site and the Central Control Station, which was to be located in Scotland. As soon as this communications link is opened up, the screen for the individual site becomes active and appears in the foreground of their Monitoring PC at the Control Centre. From the overview screen the Central Control operator grants the tanker driver the required permissions to commence re-fuelling operations and a “time band” is allocated to him. During this “time band” all the critical and emergency systems such as the fire pump and deluge system are running non-stop. Once the “time band” has been exceeded the system will automatically shut down necessitating another “time band” to be allocated and permissions to be repeated.
At all times, two cameras, one fixed the other moveable via on screen controls follow every move the tanker driver makes. If the tanker driver were to fall and injure himself this would immediately be picked up and the necessary action initiated and the operation automatically shut down. The whole system runs over the secure high speed BP network and the information from any of the remote sites can be viewed from any location around the country just by plugging a laptop into the nearest standard telephone connection point and accessing the relevant password protected pages. The system gave BP the flexibility that they needed at this time, with the option to move the Control Centre to another location at a later date without incurring additional expense.
Similar technology can and already has been applied to the other Industries, Oriel Systems has already installed a system able to take video in the event of a problem such as vandalism or theft at a remote site. If the operator is alerted to a “situation” the operator can instruct the remote site to capture video and transmit the pictures to a central location and can then decide what course of action to take. If the situation warrants police involvement the pictures are saved for future use as evidence.
Of course the camera could also be used for much simpler purposes such as a view on the state of the plant and equipment at the remote site to decide the severity of a situation and whether a site visit is really necessary immediately or whether the engineer can wait until the next planned maintenance visit. Overall the system can pay for itself in just a few years, although in a recent vandalism case where a local Drainage Board had all the windows smashed in at a remote Pump Station the system, the cost could be recouped in a matter of months.
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
The Water Management Alliance is a consortium of 5 Internal Drainage Boards who ensure that the delicate balance between salt and fresh water is preserved to allow both flora and fauna to flourish and provide fresh water for local wildlife.
The Halvergate Marshes, situated between Norwich and Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk Broads were designated a SSSI by English Nature prior to the formation of Natural England. The Water Management Alliance is a consortium of 5 Internal Drainage Boards who ensure that the delicate balance between salt and fresh water is preserved to allow both flora and fauna to flourish and provide sufficient fresh water for local wildlifePreviously, local farmers controlled water levels with a series of dams and sluice inlets allowing fresh water from the River Bure to enter but this method of management could no longer be solely relied upon.
Oriel Systems were asked to automate the penstock and provide a system that could automatically raise the penstock proportionally in increments from 0 through to 100% open, to only let fresh water in to the mill pond and subsequently the Fleet, but only when the Fleet was able to take the water.
Once the control strategy was agreed upon Oriel installed in-line salinity monitoring equipment at both the River Bure and the Mill pond. Ultrasonic water level sensors were installed at the Bure, the Mill Pond and some 4Km away at the Fleet where an Oriel Low Power Telemetry Outstation was installed to transmit the signal back to Halvergate by radio.
An Oriel Intelligent Telemetry Outstation takes care of the day to day sampling of salinity and water levels. It also makes the decision whether to operate the penstock and if so, by how much. In the case of power failure the system automatically lowers the penstock stopping any water getting through.
All critical site information is automatically transmitted back to the central office and the Operations Manager is notified by voicemail of any on-site problems. Once at the Telemetry Master Station PC or if out in the field the operator can view and act upon information from their laptop and is also able to remotely control the equipment from there.
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
Oriel Systems have just completed a project for a large dairy in Wiltshire providing Automation and Control of a pair of Rotork Actuators and Penstocks
Automation was required to prevent run-off water contaminated with milk powder from the manufacturing process entering the local watercourses until it had been tested for water quality purposes.
In normal operation the run-off water is stored in a large holding pond some distance away on site which is subject to evaporation and refilling through normal precipitation. The distance and the terrain proved unsuitable and too costly to run cables between the penstocks and the sensor so Oriel reccomended the use of a low power radio link between the two locations. Oriel engineers installed an Ultrasonic Level sensor at the holding pond along with an Oriel Intelligent Telemetry Outstation or ITO that would accept the water level signals. In cases of extreme precipitation and when the holding pond reaches it’s upper level and only once waterquality testing has been performed and found to be of acceptable quality can the signal be sent over the radio link to the Actuators and allow operation of the Penstocks to release water to a safe level into the local watercourse.
The radio link provides cost savings for installation over traditional cabling and allows remote interrogation and control of on-site conditions and has proved to be a cost effective and reliable solution for automating the penstocks along with providing a reduction in staffing costs
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
With the cost of copper and other metals increasing substantially over the last year or so, there seems to be a worrying and increasing trend of thefts and attempted break-ins at remote Pumping Station sites at present.
The target in many cases is the copper windings in the electric motors and inside high current cables. It is not so much the theft of the materials, although that is obviously a problem, but also the damage that is caused to other equipment, structures and buildings in removing these items, customers have reported chains being used to attach to pump motors, and then vehicles being used to pull these items away from their fixed concrete bases. The other problem customers have reported is vandalism and public safety issues. The consequence of this is that with the disruption caused, it can take many months to get the Pump Station operational again and insurance renewal costs will have to rise as a result of this.
In response to this Oriel have introduced their Video Intelligent Telemetry Outstation or “VITO” a low-cost cctv video monitoring solution that can be installed at any remote site even though it may not be connected to a land-line. For those customers that already have an Oriel outstation, their existing unit can be easily upgraded to provide live colour video back at the main office.
After a successful trial at one of their remote Pump Stations, Lindsey Marsh DB have placed the order for 10 more of their remote Pump Station sites to be linked up with cctv and integrated into the Main LMDB Telemetry System at Louth. This will ensure that their insurance renewal costs remain low and the system should pay for itself in a matter of years.
The cctv monitoring system comprises a state of the art outdoor day and night colour camera at the site, fixed in a strategically placed location that monitors access to the site at all times and sends real-time video back to the Control Centre in Louth using Mobile Broadband / 3G technology. Door switches and PIR sensors have been installed at any potential entrance points. If any unauthorized access occurs it is immediately reported to the Duty Engineers by voice message on their mobile phones, the Duty engineer can then view the relevant site screen in real-time on the Main Telemetry PC. A continuous 24/7 high resolution (HD) video is automatically stored onto Oriels’ VITO, which can then be downloaded onto a memory stick and re-played using a free to use media player available on the internet.
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
A new solution, by Oriel Systems, allows operators to remotely view live video feeds of Salmon and Sea trout in order to monitor their numbers and gauge the health of the river.
The monitoring of spawning salmon and sea trout numbers in rivers gives a good indication as to the general ‘health’ of a river. It also helps to confirm whether pumping stations and other water control structures are causing obstructions to fish movements and if fish-passes are working as they should.
Research by the EA has found that some of the smaller fish passes previously constructed to allow to allow salmon and sea trout to travel upstream to spawn were proving difficult for the fish to locate during high river flows and it was found that large numbers of fish were congregating below these structures preventing them from their upstream migration. During autumn these passes also often became blocked by debris which was limiting the ongoing recovery of the fish population.
The freedom of movement of fish is important in achieving and maintaining a good ecological balance to our watercourses
Live video feed is an excellent means of acomplishing this, however, live video monitoring generally requires either on-site viewing or a visit to download the information and re-playing at a later date. Oriel System’s solution solves this issue by allowing live video feed to be transmitted back to a central monitoring station.
The solution, soon to be adopted by the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board, provides time and cost savings and will be integrated into an existing on-site telemetry system, with the existing telemetry outstations being upgraded to Oriel’s Video Intelligent Telemetry Outstations or VITO’s.
The system comprises a number of compact submersible camera’s, specifically designed for underwater applications up to 50m deep and using built-in high sensitive IR LEDs, they can capture video in total darkness. Various mounting arrangements are available however the BSIDB are mounting them in a perspex panel attached to cables and then lowered into positions that allow for easy retrieval for cleaning, the frequency of which will vary for different watercourses. Live underwater video images from the remote site are transmitted using mobile phone technology back to the Central Monitoring station and appear in a sub-window on the water company’s Telemetry Master Station PC. Live video is only displayed when required and movement is detected by the submersible cameras.
For further information please contact us on01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
Oriel Systems have recently completed a project for a large still and sparkling mineral water bottling plant in the Hardanger area of Norway.
This glacial wilderness has never been settled or industrialised and is protected from development by two national parks. Access is difficult as temperatures fall below -40 degrees C at night time and the area is covered in snow with regular snowfalls and avalanches during winter time. It is here and under these conditions that the mineral water is extracted to ensure it’s purity. Since it’s introduction into the UK in 2008 the company has won many awards and is now sold in all major supermarkets throught the country
The project has involved a number of Oriel Intelligent Telemetry Outstations being installed at the Pump Houses located at strategic locations on the glacier face. These Pump Houses are responsible for pumping the glacier water directly to the bottling plant some 5Km distant. The main objective was to provide information on the performance of each of the Pump Houses and to be able to control the Auma actuated valves located at each remote site without having to send an engineer to site to physically open or close them using the supplied hand winding mechanism. A trip to one of the Pump Houses would take approximately two hours due to the area being snow covered for most of the year and access finally involves an hours walk by the engineer due to snow and rough terrain.
With the extraction and bottling process it is imperative that no air is allowed to enter the water pipeline along which the mineral water travels as this could cause bacteria to grow and the quality of water would then be affected.
Communications between the sites is by GPRS with external low profile aerials to guard against snow and avalanche damage. Oriel’s GPRS Telemetry solution links up all the remote sites and provides bi-directional communications between the Control Centre and the remote sites for critical equipment and process monitoring and control.
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
For further information please contact us on 01249 705070 or www.orielsystems.com
Oriel Systems have just completed a project for a large dairy in Wiltshire providing Automation and Control of a pair of Rotork Actuators and Penstocks.
Automation was required to prevent run-off water contaminated with milk powder from the manufacturing process entering the local watercourses until it had been tested for water quality purposes.
In normal operation the run-off water is stored in a large holding pond some distance away on site which is subject to evaporation and refilling through normal precipitation. The distance and the terrain proved unsuitable and too costly to run cables between the penstocks and the sensor so Oriel reccomended the use of a low power radio link between the two locations. Oriel engineers installed an Ultrasonic Level sensor at the holding pond along with an Oriel Intelligent Telemetry Outstation or ITO that would accept the water level signals. In cases of extreme precipitation and when the holding pond reaches it’s upper level and only once waterquality testing has been performed and found to be of acceptable quality can the signal be sent over the radio link to the Actuators and allow operation of the Penstocks to release water to a safe level into the local watercourse.
Oriel Systems have been awarded the contract for the supply and integration of CCTV and Remote Monitoring and Control Systems into BP’s Driver Controlled Delivery system at all the BP LPG sites throughout the UK.
The problem that BP had was that their 13 LPG filling terminals sites were all 24/7 operations and the Health and Safety Executive insisted on 2 people being present at all times to oversee the filling operations. Some days there may not be a single tanker pulling in to refuel and yet there would still need to be 2 BP staff on site. Over all of BP’s sites this amounted to 26 staff that would have to be employed and also paid overtime (with unsociable shift allowances) although in many cases these staff may not actually be required.
Oriel Systems’ PC based Control and Monitoring software system was installed at each site, which, upon a tanker arriving out of hours would open a voice communications channel between the filling site and the Central Control Station located in Scotland. As soon as this communications link is opened up the screen for the individual site automatically appears in the foreground on the PC. From the overview screen the Central Control operator grants the tanker driver the required permissions to commence re-fuelling operations and a “time band” is allocated to him. During this “time band” all the critical and emergency systems such as the fire pump and deluge system are running non-stop. Once the “time band” has been exceeded the system will automatically shut down necessitating another “time band” to be allocated and permissions to be repeated.
At all times, two cameras, one fixed the other moveable via on screen controls follow every move the tanker driver makes. If he were to fall and injure himself this would be picked up immediately and the necessary action initiated and the operation automatically shut down.
Although CCTV is commonplace these days, the difference was that BP wanted a system that allowed their remotely sited operators to view their own sites on their standard office PC’s and also that the filling operations at each of the remote sites could be viewed over BP’s own high speed Wide Area Network from any location around the country just by plugging a laptop into the nearest standard telephone connection point and accessing the relevant password protected pages. This gave BP the flexibility that they needed at this time, with the option to move the Control Centre to another location at a later date without incurring additional expense.
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