Project Description:
A customer needed to upgrade a 'recipe-based' metal casting control system. The existing system executed on an obsolete OS/2 platform communicating to an Allen-Bradley PLC.

Approach:
Applied Sciences Group developed a semi-continuous casting recipe control system which included all of the engineering effort required to design, integrate and debug a process engineering workstation. The customer specified the design parameters, and the control system was based on an Allen-Bradley PLC 5.

The process engineering workstation involved Intellution's FIX software residing on an industrial PC-based platform. The interface provided operating and engineering personnel with process variable displays, operating parameters, parameter selections, and recipe editing functions.

Applied Sciences Group also developed a Process Data Reporting System. The development effort consisted of translating an existing OS/2 platform application to a Windows™ platform using Intellution FIX with Microsoft Access. An existing customer PC was utilized. The Access application used FIX' SQL Option to sample data at customer specified rates.

Over 20 customer specified queries were generated to allow a process engineer the ability to sort data for varying defect trends. Additionally, over 25 report selections were supplied including summary reports of process data. The summary reports averaged the data samples taken for each production batch.

Results:
The combination of the Intellution SCADA node and report generation based on the observable data provided essential process information to factory floor personnel that was not previously available. These enhancements significantly improved the process, resulting in increased productivity. The integration of PLC 5, Intellution, and Microsoft Access was a winning combination for this project.