Design and Development of Industrial Compressed Air System

2019-09-24 Project End Date 2020-09-23

Project Title

Design and Development of Industrial Compressed Air System

Project Area of Specialization

Internet of Things

Project Summary

2019-09-24

Compressed air system plays a vital role in almost every industry i.e. Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverage, Aeration and Agitation, Semiconductor & Electronics. The progress of industry is highly dependent on this data, but there is no method of providing this data to every authorized person of the relevant industry. This data includes Pressure, Temperature, Speed in rpm, and air flow rate. There is a device called iConn by Gardner Denver which can transmit this Compressed air system data but the problem with this is that it is only compatible with the latest versions of compressors. This research proposes a device which uses the microcontroller to access the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) memory register through Modbus communication RS232 then transmit this data to an online portal where real time monitoring of compressor will be provided to only the authorized persons. This device is compatible with the old models of any PLC like Siemens or FATEK etc. A staff member is usually required to note this data hourly, but this proposed solution will independently take a record at every instant of time. With the help of Internet of things, a cloud-based visualization is provided which will save time and effort.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is considered to be the revolution of this century. Most of the industries in Pakistan use automation in compressors but those compressors are not IoT enabled. Which means they are not smart enough as they need men to supervise the automated system in the plant. IoT enabled feature helps to make the industrial plant smart enough so that one can go through the parameters of the compressor while sitting anywhere. Access of internet is needed for this purpose. Pakistan industries lack this feature which is surely a need for them in the coming years. It would increase the efficiency of the system. Moreover, a lot of time would be saved. The world is progressing on a rapid pace. To compete within Pakistan and international industries, our industries need technology up to the mark.

Mainly we are targeting the industries which are using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and to be more concise “Compressor Industries”. These industries in particular need compressed air, boilers/steam and electricity. They need a proper Human Machine Interface (HMI) at the compressor screen to check the important parameters. But they need this supervision one hour after the other and it is therefore a very hectic job. To make it easy we are going to make the system IoT enabled, by doing this the system will be smart and data of desired compressor using PLC can be accessed and monitored on the internet. This will make life much easier and advance for the labor and system.

Project Objectives

The main objective of the industrial project is to create an IoT solution for compressors which shows parameters i.e. pressure and temperature on Human Machine Interface.

1. Our device will be configurable on all PLC which just even support serial communication architecture.
2. More Convenient: The data is available over the internet so you can have it whenever and wherever you need it.
3. Cost effective in a way that it reduces the salary for the dedicated person hired just to monitor the values. As this data is available over the web, there is no need to put another HMI Devices to display this data within the industry premises because you can view them on your own smart devices.

Project Implementation Method

There are five communication ports available such as port0, port1, port2, port3, port4. Port0 is only dedicated for the default communication between PC and PLC for sending the ladder logic to device, and this doesn’t allow Modbus RTU communication protocol. Port0 to port1 can be used by ladder logic program interface for using the instruction function such as FUN150 (Modbus) and FUN151 (Clink).

RS232 interface uses the EIA RS232C standard; these parameters have a range up to 921.6 kbps communication rate. FUN150 (Modbus) instruction acts as master for Modbus RTU protocol to connect to other devices. To establish this type of communication between two devices, these two devices must have Modbus protocol in order to accomplish but if the device other than PLC doesn’t support Modbus then this is not going to work for data transfer.

FUN151 (Clink) has four different modes which will be able to communicate with other devices accordingly. MD0 has the functionality to behave as master within the internal CPU network of PLC for communication link. MD1 modes is used for user defined protocol communication which behaves as transmitter device whereas MD2 behaves opposite to the MD1 because when this mode is being used then PLC device will behave as receiver. MD3 is for high speed CPU link for communication. MD0 to MD2 uses 4.8Kbps to 921.6Kbps baud rate having a data length of 7-bit with transmitting code of ASCII.

Wiring plays an essential role for transferring and receiving data from one point to other point.        Each plug has its own dedicated pins which perform certain task. We need a wire to burn the ladder logic program onto PLC memory for changing its status to running. A mini-DIN to female DB9 plug is being used for this purpose.

Benefits of the Project

The main benefit is to develop an online platform for industrial compressor to monitor its parameters.

1. Time saving: you don’t have to go to the field to measure values anytime you need it.
2. Can be used on FATEK and Siemens PLC because in Pakistan most used PLC is Siemens.
3. As this data is available over the web, there is no need to put another HMI Devices to display this data within the industry premises because you can view them on your own smart devices

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The main objective of this project is to build a smart device which will monitor compressor’s parameters via Programmable Logic Controller. This smart device will be showing results on the online portal.

• 1. Clink protocol is used in PLC software for serial communication of data.
  2. Serial Communication protocol is being used for establishing link between microcontroller Arduino and PLC.
  3. Hterm software is used for verification of data from software of PLC without any hardware attached.
  4. To send data from PLC to Arduino ASCII decimal values are used which were stored in registers in the form of packets. Here are some details for its ASCII mode:
• Baud rate:9600
• Parity: Even
• Stop bit: 1
• Data length: 7

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Others

Other Industries

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com