Tag Archives: telemetry outstation

Telemetry System for Printers in Spain.

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

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.

 

Salinity Monitoring and Penstock Automation

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

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

Radio telemetry for large dairy to stop contaminated water entering watercourse

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

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


Driver Controlled Delivery System for BP LPG

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

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.