Storm Technologies just completed a major ammonia refrigeration control upgrade project for a Michigan based customer in the food industry. During this project, Storm Technologies upgraded the plant's existing control system by replacing 5 outdated Allen-Bradley SLC 5/05 PLCs with new ControlLogix 5580 series PLCs. The customer was relying on an unsupported Windows XP desktop running FactoryTalk SE for all of their control graphics. New graphics were developed on Ignition by Inductive Automation and all controls were migrated to this HMI platform.
Energy Savings- An evaporator sequencing program was developed to automatically shutdown or start selected evaporators when the overall room temperature has been met for the selected amount of time. The system monitors multiple temperatures within the room and dynamically manages evaporators to reduce energy usage by an estimated 25%-50% during periods of stable temperatures.
Workload reduction- Automations for temperature setpoint change schedules, VFD controlled fan speed schedules, scheduled inspection/maintenance tracking, spray chill sequencing, text/email notifications, etc. were built in to reduce the redundant, and often time-consuming, tasks our customer performs daily.
System Details:
Approx 70,000 sqft of refrigerated space
57 evaporators
Spray chill
Walking beam
Water chiller
Complete manual backup capabilities
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