07 May 2013
Employing a SCADA system that gathers data from multiple textile stenter machines, Turkish company, Ekoten Textile, is able to record and compile data from every stage of its textile production process. With this data, the company is able to compare everything from output by machine, to the quality of the finished product.Stenter machines stretch or straighten fabric so that it can then be coloured or marked according to specific patterns. Production and process data is critical when using these machines. In order to manage a consistent fabric quality, batch and recipe data must be recorded. Additionally, all costs need to be considered. A SCADA system that is capable of recording process data and recipe and batch information is critical for any textile company that wishes to remain competitive. Ekoten Textile chose Enmos, a specialist system integration company in Turkey which specialises in the textile industry. Enmos is also a certified InduSoft system integrator with InduSoft.In order to capture and store the data gathered from the machines, a vital part of the application would rest in the ability of the SCADA application to connect to an SQL database. Not only machine data, but batch information would need to reside in and be easily recalled from a database. InduSoft Web Studio has a patented method for communicating with SQL databases. Traceability was also a consideration. It was important that machine operators have individual login and password credentials in order to track each batch to the operator who handled it. Because InduSoft Web Studio offers support for user and group based identification, this was easy to incorporate into the design.Enmos created a solution that gathers data from 10 different textile stenter machines. The SCADA ssystem connects directly to these machines through industrial PCs, the Simplex 640 IPC of Enmos that is certified by Indusoft, with Delta Electronics PLCs using the Modbus protocol. The processes are started and stopped separately for every batch on these machines. Indusoft Web Studio is connected to the SQL server on the main server that houses the process set data, and sends the active values to the server.The machine speed, top, bottom and exit feeding speed, circulation fan speeds, zone temperatures, circulation fan alarms, machine active, burner active contacts, fabric sensor, electrical and natural gas consumption relays are all monitored, as well as other needed analogue and digital signals that are connected to the PLC side. The batch number is checked through the SQL database, and the process data and set values are sent from the SQL database to the screen. If the batch number doesn’t exist in the SQL database, then the process will not be started. If the batch number does exist in the database, then the program is started. After startup, the process values are recorded, and the active values will be checked according to the tolerances of the set values. If the active values are outside these acceptable parameters, then the alarms for these values will be recorded and shown with pop-up pages. The electrical and natural gas consumptions are all recorded for each process and 8 hour shifts. The stop conditions of the process are also entered from the pop-up page for further information on the production. The operators log in with their password in every 8 hour shift and user activity is also logged by this system.The flow of data coming from the system is diverse, which allows Ekoten to take advantage of a detailed view of their operations on a shift-by-shift basis. This allows operators to monitor the costs of each batch closely, and find the best combination of efficiency in time and materials, and quality. www.adprosys.com
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