Although wind power plants have gigantic dimensions, they are generally mass-produced products. The logistics of plant parts which are several meters large regularly becomes more difficult and time-consuming, e.g. to the Far East. So why not outsource the entire manufacturing over there and connect local added value with German know-how? With the creation of a manufacturing control system SPANGLER, in cooperation with its customer Max Bögl Wind AG, guarantees the contact for the mobile plant of the customer to the main plant in Germany.

Communication via OPC UA

Until the concrete half shells for the towers of wind power plants have been produced from the delivered steel and sand, a lot of work has to be done. Thereby, every process is documented with all data important for the process in order to achieve consistent quality. The control system communicates with all machines via seven different protocols, OPC UA among other things. After the engineering of Max Bögl Wind AG the control system was installed on the customer server and commissioned by SPANGLER. All data collected worldwide can be seen and evaluated via remote access from the head office.

Dispatch in 257 sea containers

So that the manufacturing could be dispatched, halls and machines were disassembled and distributed to 257 containers. Thereby, more than 250 cables had to be recorded and administered by SPANGLER in order to minimise unnecessary delays during the reconstruction of the mobile prefabricated component plant.

Cable laying with tablet computer

In order to be able to provide language-independent and appropriate assistance to the technicians when laying the cables, a customer-specific scanning system was developed by SPANGLER according to wishes and specifications of Max Bögl. Therefore, the technician can scan each cable via a cable barcode and then receives graphically represented on the corresponding tablet computer where, on the one hand, the cable must be connected to the source and destination and, on the other hand, over which cable paths the cable has to be laid. Furthermore, the exact connection to the respective component with additional information, e.g. the torque, is visually shown on the tablet computer. A rights and revision management was also integrated in this scanning system. Therefore, any information about the status of the cable regarding laying and connection are always retrievable.

Moreover, the scanning system was developed further especially for the logistical processing. This means that the technicians can retrieve information about the location of the container as well as the container content. You can exactly retrace which cables are located where, from which technician they have already been laid and where they were connected.

Smart living – the trend of the reactive and networked building equipment for private households gets more and more interesting also for industrial solutions. Intelligent thermostats which regulate the temperature further down during holiday have long been reality as well as self-closing window blinds. For these purposes different software solutions and techniques are offered for home users. SPANGLER has installed a system for the Koller Group, a supplier from the automotive industry, which brings together the advantages of the mechanical engineering and the building control system.

Technical building installation

The technical building installation deals with switches, sensors, actuators, light, blinds, heating or cooling. SPANGLER had the additional task to record parts of the mechanical engineering in order to monitor and manage the flows of energy. The basis of the solution is an adapted control system of the manufacturer FlowChief. SPANGLER has taken on coordination meetings with all companies in order to successfully integrate all trades into the software.

Control system and energy management

By means of the rights system the administrator can determine which employees are allowed to change which parameters. All messages are archived via the alarm and warning reporting system. As additional instance an energy management system of the type eGem was also implemented.

The main focus of the control system is placed on controlling and monitoring all process-relevant data as well as on measuring, evaluating and archiving these data in a database. The energy management system is used for the further analysis of the technical data recorded and their representation. This means that for example the entire energy requirement (electricity, water, heating, pressure, etc.) can be visualised by one machine or one process. Thereby, the operator is already able to adhere to the strict documentation instructions for the energy consumption in the automotive industry.

Investment in the future

For the Koller Group the acquisition of the SPANGLER solution pays off as it meets the specification of the energy management prescribed by law in addition to cost-effective industry hardware. Therefore, costs for energy-intensive machines can already be reduced while the foundations for future certifications have also been laid.

For the HUBER Technology España S.L.U. the control for thirteen multi-rake screens and two conveyor belts for a wastewater treatment plant near the Spanish city Sevilla were modernised. SPANGLER is always open to the customers’ wishes and can rely on comprehensive experiences of realised projects. Without great challenges an Allen Bradley control from Rockwell was therefore implemented in order to design the control technology in a sustainable and modern way. SPANGLER has already realised the entire range of Allen Bradley, from the MicroLogix to the redundant ControlLogix. In this case, the company chose the middle one, the CompactLogix.

Customer-specific solutions

Every plant is specially designed, programmed and manufactured for the intended field of application. Nevertheless, for plants which are only changed in details it can be fallen back on a standard range of programme and function blocks. Furthermore, SPANGLER can integrate every component that is technically possible. The reasons for these customer wishes are of any kind such as certification and approval reasons, personal preferences and the supply of replacement parts in a country or the integration in existing systems.

Free design in every component

Regarding the plant in Spain, its PLC was carried out with a CompactLogix and the PanelView Plus 7 HMI made by Allen Bradley. The SPANGLER solution was integrated in an already existing control system. Although this system allows the manual control of the drives for test purposes, it is, however, not authorised to control the automatic process from the control system. Thereby, SPANGLER can use the strengths of a control system such as the data archiving, the fault processing and the remote maintenance, without simultaneously neglecting the capabilities of a new plant or implementing a complete reconstruction of the control system architecture.

PM drives are motors whose rotor is equipped with permanent magnets. Due to their type of construction they promise users a higher degree of efficiency than the conventional asynchronous motors. However, the small engines do also have a negative side. Permanent magnet motors cannot even be operated directly on the power supply on a trial basis but only with frequency converters. SPANGLER Automation has developed a portable test stand for the company HUBER SE in order to be able to test machines in the production hall as well as on construction sites at different speeds. In these machines there are installed both asynchronous and permanent magnet motors.

Personal security is above all

So that the test stand can be connected to different motors and machines, the supply line and the motors were designed pluggable. Although this increases the flexibility of the plant, it required special demands on the personal security. This means it is not allowed to connect electrical equipment with a frequency converter with no further ado to a power socket which is monitored with a fault-current circuit breaker (RCD) of the type A. These RCDs of the type A are only designed for detecting errors with alternating voltage. In case of a direct-current error, this RCD could both not detect the error and thus injure people or rather the RCD could be damaged forever what could lead to personal injuries later.

Limitation DC residual current 6mA

The RCDs of the type A are still used in many production sites. SPANGLER has found a solution to guarantee personal security for pluggable equipment of 30mA and, in addition, to limit the DC residual current proportion to less than 6mA. With a special fault-current circuit breaker type B MI for mobile units it is allowed to connect the plant downstream of a type A. The tripping level of 6mADC prevents a dangerous pre-magnetising of the upstream fault-current circuit breaker of the type A as a result of a smooth DC residual current.

Proof of efficacy in the test laboratory

By installing a low-leakage filter in front of the frequency converter the limit values for emitted interferences for variable-speed drives (150kHz – 30MHz) class C1 could be adhered to and proven. Moreover, by installing the filter another demand (leakage current <3,5mA) for mobile plants has been fulfilled. The efficacy of all these measures was proven by means of an EMC testing in the test laboratory at the company EPA GmbH.