Combined Heat & Power

An early project consisted of replacing an aging electro-mechanical data logging and alarm system, at a Combined Heat and Power station, with a computer.

Steam generated from an incinerator is used to produce hot water for a district heating system and the computer system monitored temperatures and pressures throughout the system.

Flash Butt Weld Monitor

Flash Butt Welding is a process for joining metal in which the heat required to forge the joint is created by the resistance of the pieces being welded to the passage of electrical current.

During the process the variation of three different parameters - current, pressure and displacement - can be used to give an indication of the quality of the weld.

To monitor the process, an Industrial PC fitted with a multi channel analogue input card is used. Once the raw data from the welding machine has been recorded, the traces are analysed and the actual values of various process parameters are checked against their required values. A database contains a table of machine settings, and weld recordings along with their evaluation data, plus results from other tests. The system can be networked to allow access to the data from remote PCs.

Gas Supply Monitor and Alarm System

Our customer has a large range of different bottled speciality gasses for laboratory and medical use. There was a requirement for a system to send E-mail messages to members of staff when different gas bottles became empty. For each bottle, different recipients needed to be specified and the text of the message customised.

Digital Analysis has developed a SCADA package, OnX, which, with the enhancement of an E-Mail facility, was configured to do exactly what our customer required. The status of the Gas Bottles could be monitored and alarms were set up within the package to correspond with the alarms from the Gas Bottles. These are then logged to the new ‘Mail’ device which is responsible for transmitting the mail messages.

Hydraulic Press Control System

One of our ‘heaviest’ industrial installations is a Computerised Section Forming Press, which bends RSJs intended for lining tunnels. It is a teach and repeat system consisting of an industrial PC with multiple digital input/ouput devices linked to a 200 ton horizontal hydraulic press.The system was originally designed for the many mines in the area which have distinctive roofing arches, but now extends into the rail and civil engineering industries.

MaxiCheck

A contract that required 3-dimensional engineering was the interfacing of a PC to a Vickers Maxicheck coordinate measuring machine. This has precision linear transducers fitted on three axes with a moveable probe set on a gantry. The probe is placed at certain points on the engineered part under test and the angles, positions, centres, radii etc. are calculated by the computer and compared with original drawings and specifications.

Remote Generator Set Control

We developed the industrial computer system, ‘ReMAC’, to operate and monitor modified diesel engines for generating electricity up to 1M Watts from land-fill gas at remote sites around the country. Embedded PCs supervise startup of the generator sets, synchonisation with the National Grid and control the power output of each set. A dial-up system can monitor the sets and call engineers in the event of an alarm.

Fault Simulator

Another industrial computer system, installed in 1988 and still in use today, is a Fault Simulator for an electricity substation. This is used for training purposes and interfaces to actual substation components via 64 digital input/outputs. The status of the substation is show on the screen and various faults applied by pressing options on a touch screen. Also included is a ‘watchdog’ which turns the feed power off in the event of a computer crash.