New heat central renewed and optimized in record time
New heat central in less than a month
Picca Automation was responsible for the controlling system when Arla Foods' dairy in Rødkærsbro due to expanding needs established a new heating central. In less than a month was all controllers designed, tested and implemented so that the heating central was in operation within the tight deadline.
Arla Foods' dairy in Rødkærsbro produces mozzarella cheese for the export market in an approximately ten years old processing plant. The energy is until now produced in a natural gas heating plant with a 6.3 MW water boiler (
"Since the cheese production required more hot water, we decided to build a new heating plant with 16.3 MW capacity. The expansion is done by installing a new 10 MW boiler and relocate the existing 6,3 MW boiler" Allan Hansen says, who has responsibility for 24-hour operation of the heating central and for the supply of water, refrigeration and compressed air to the dairy.
Heat is the heart of the company - without hot water and steam the white and tasty cheese can not be produced.
Minimum production downtime
To achieve a minimum production stoppage the relocation of the boilers and the start of the new heating plant was prepared in such a way, that the new 10 MW boiler plus the steam boiler was installed and ready to operate in the new heating plant in one day. Then there were six days to move the existing 6.3 MW boiler.
"This required work around the clock, and without good partners the project would not have been successful," says Alan Hansen. "Originally we had expected to have a less comprehensive control system with touch screens as control panels, as our own engineers should have been responsible for. But engineers were preoccupied with something else, so four weeks before the deadline we contacted Piccas department in Silkeborg" says Alan Hansen, ”and the project suddenly rushed”. Two years earlier Picca had constructed the controlling system (with a similar technique) for the dairy’s wastewater treatment plant. Evening- and weekend meetings were quickly planned and hold in order to define the task on paper.
"According to the agreement Arla performed the physical wiring, while Picca supplied the software and the PLC - a Siemens Simatic S7-315. Instead of the touch-screen solution, we have installed i-FIX software on an ordinary PC. As a result we have achieved a good system overview, and all monitoring and control of the system can be done with a few mouse clicks. The heating central can also be controlled from the workshop, where maintenance and repair of the equipment takes place. Furthermore I can also log in from my home PC to the system, and I get text messages (SMS) if errors and alarms arise" explains Allan Hansen.
700 hours in one month
"The layout of the new boiler was easy and painless. The new heat supply was completed in less than a month with only minor adjustments in the control system in the following week" says Allan Hansen, who is satisfied with the project, which succeeded thanks Piccas ability to deliver the required 700 hours within a month.
