Weir Minerals (Weir) is a global mining technology company whose technologies help customers in mining and similar industries operate with the highest productivity and lowest environmental impact.
The Challenge
At Weir’s European headquarters in Todmorden, the company operates a manufacturing & testing facility for centrifugal slurry pumps. The testing facility is well established however the Emerson data acquisition and control system had become outdated and was costly and inflexible to adapt to Weir’s changing test requirements. Austin Consultants was engaged to replace the old system with a new adaptable custom-built solution.
The Solution
Following a detailed site survey of the existing test system Austin Consultants proposed to design and develop a new bespoke application in LabVIEW and replace the existing Emmerson PLC-based hardware with an NI cRIO controller within the existing cabinet, in situ, to reduce cost and waste. The new solution allows Weir to easily adapt or extend the system to accommodate future requirements.
Working with Weir, our engineers undertook a detailed design review to understand the key requirements and dependencies for the application, including user interface (UI) designs, operator workflows and automated test routines.
The test system comprises a number of valves, flow metres, torque metres, pressure transducers, three VSD-controlled pumps and fixed-speed pumps. The control system allows the operator to configure different test loops and equipment depending on the test requirements.
Software
The software is a Windows-based Application which provides users with an interface to the underlying DAQ and control loops through intuitive UIs across 2 screens, all contained within a single application
Data Acquisition
All data acquisition inputs are oversampled and automatically averaged via a 1s rolling mean to improve the stability of the signals. Each test also has a user-defined data acquisition time period. Over this time, relevant averaged signals are logged & displayed alongside vibration data which is processed to output RMS and Peak to Peak data.
SCADA Live View
An important part of this application is the SCADA live view screen that is always present alongside test screens to allow the test operator to quickly see what is happening, even during an automated test cycle.
Sensor Scaling and Calibration
From the application, the operator is able to access a sensor database and channel configurator. The user can configure which sensor is connected to each DAQ input. A calibration Wizard allows the user to build up a table of calibration points and calculate the scaling and offset values for all DAQ channels/sensors.
Test Execution
From the home screen, the user is presented with a series of drop-down menus to select the equipment to be used in a test. These options are selected sequentially, and the selections from previous menus affect the options presented in future menus to limit the potential for misconfiguration. This configuration is then used to load the test screen where initially the user shall set a selection of parameters used to tune the behaviour of the test.
When an automated test is then started, the application will calculate a series of target flow rates based on the entered parameters. A sequence is then started where for each target flow rate, the pump shall be kept at a constant RPM while a valve opening is regulated to reach the target flow. Upon reaching the target flow, the valve opening is set and a dwell time is activated to allow the flow to reach a steady state. Following the dwell time, a reading is taken for the user-defined time window and the sequence proceeds to the next target flow. Once all target flows have been sequenced, the flow rate is regulated to a warm-up flow rate for the end of the test.
After the test, all data logs can be accessed in a test-specific folder within the user-defined test log directory. The data logs include specific files for overall trends throughout the full test execution, high and low-frequency logs for each test step, a background log, and a log of the test table as displayed on the application.
Settings Configuration
All the test station parameters and settings are accessible by a dedicated UI to ensure that Weir can alter application settings without support from Austin Consultants.
Alarming
An alarming engine allows warning and alarm thresholds to be configured. The alarm engine is only active during a test, and only the channels related to the test-specific configuration are monitored during the test. When a warning or alarm threshold is breached, the application will inform the user of the event and provide controls to clear the warning or alarm.
Hardware
The purpose of this project was to upgrade an existing system in a cost-effective manner. As such, hardware was reused wherever deemed practical. Austin Consultants opted to replace the original Emerson system with an NI-based system utilising an 8-module cRIO, and an 8-module EtherCAT expansion chassis. This enabled the reuse of the existing signal cabling and instrumentation etc. However, Weir also wanted some new functionality which was enabled by utilising some Beckhoff-distributed IO modules which communicate data back to the cRIO over EtherCAT.
Results
The Austin Consultants upgrade was delivered with minimum disruption to test operations. It has provided Weir Minerals with a bespoke solution, designed to their specific needs with the flexibility and modularity to enable future requirements quickly and cost-effectively.
The test procedure adheres to Weir Minerals requirements and provides the user with controls that are intuitive and restrict the potential for misconfiguration due to user error. Throughout the test procedure, all displayed and logged data has been optimised to provide value. The data logged has been specified to meet the standards that the customer needs to meet when testing their products.
We are delighted with the comprehensive and cost-effective upgrade that Austin Consultants has delivered for us. Their expertise was apparent from the outset of the project in terms of how they were able to completely capture and understand all our system requirements and suggest great additional practical system improvement, through to the software delivery, and the onsite install and commissioning that was performed with minimal disruption. I highly recommend them for their great service and support.
