Mobile pilot installations

Studies, pilot & lab tests
Automation

Customer: Vlakwa (Flemish center for knowledge of water treatment)

PCA developped 8 mobile pilot installations. With these pilote installations Vlakwa can offer small & medium companies and the agri- & horticultural sector a temporary watertreatment installation. Vlakwa can research with these installations how to diminish the water consumption and respect the environmental directions.

These installations were to be used in different situations, so they had to work independently and successively as well. In total there were 10 devices to be connected on one network. The 8 installations were equiped with a Programmable Logic Controller. The control-unit is equipped with a PLC, a touch panel and an ethernet-switch. The touch panel only accepts 8 connections, so the communication between the panel and one of the installations occurs through the PLC of the control-unit. The communication between the PLC’s is made easier by using standard communication blocks.

plc waterbehandeling
The different units for the treatment of the water form a chain wherein the water circulates from one unit to another. In order that every unit knows when it is receiving and transmitting water it is essential that each unit communicates with previous and following units. Thats why we equipped the units with a standard communication. In this way the units can be connected in a random order.

Beside the treatment, it was also important to measure the results of the treatment. Therefor different measurement instruments were installed who communicate with the control unit. These instruments transmit a digital or an analog signal. So different converters were configurated (temperature, pH, redox, conductivity, turbidity...).