Posted to News on 25th May 2013, 09:21
Lenze drive automation for Cornish brewery
A new and modern beer racking plant worth 2.5m supplied by brewery design specialist Microdat has increased capacity at the St. Austell brewery to 300 firkins, that is 9 gallon casks, per hour. The increased efficiency allows the brewery to switch from two-shift to one-shift operation and still have two times the capacity. Throughout the plant Microdat have used drives and automation equipment from Lenze ranging from controllers to efficient geared motors. The networking of the system is the key to the efficient operation of the plant.
Leeds-based Microdat are a UK leader for brewery keg and cask handling systems with 25 years' experience in machinery such as washers, fillers, cappers, weighing and cask handling equipment. The racking plant is a production line that takes in empty casks, cleans and fills them and then prepares them for despatch. Returned casks are fed in to a process called deshiving where the old plugs are removed, then the casks are washed and dried. The filling process, known as racking, uses accurate Microdat peristaltic pumps driven by geared motors. The full casks are then sealed and transported ready for despatch. The level of automation is such that only three operators are required to achieve a production level of 2700 gallons per hour. This is equivalent to more than the capacity of an Olympic sized swimming pool every month.
Lenze power transmission equipment for drives and automation is used throughout the plant. The heart of the automation system is a network of five Lenze controllers, type 3200C, that are linked by Ethernet. One controller looks after each stage of the process. Plugged into the side of the 3200C controller are I/O modules from the Lenze System 1000. The drives are frequency inverters of the Lenze 8400 series. EtherCAT as the communication bus was chosen because it is fast and deterministic. The inverters have the option of Safe Torque Off so operators can perform work on the plant such as cleaning without the need to power everything down. A variety of Lenze geared motors are used. In the case of the racking pumps which have a high duty and need to deliver a precise volume, type GKR bevel gearboxes were used. These have 96 per cent efficiency, low backlash are virtually wear free.
The new cask racking plant was formally opened using an iPad through VNC technology. Microdat had installed a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) which allows platform-independent remote control of mouse and keyboard with return relay of screen updates. James Staughton, Managing Director of St. Austell Brewery says: "The opening of the new cask operation plant represents a significant milestone in our company's 160-year history and it brings the total investment in our brewing and bottling facilities to almost 6 million in just seven years. The opening of the cask operation plant is a bold move, but will mean we will be able to consistently meet the demand for our range of award-winning ales now and in the years to come." The brewery experience of Microdat partnered with Lenze drive technology has achieved efficiency with low operating costs.
For further information about Lenze drives and automation equipment please visit www.lenze.co.uk.
