April 2013System Integration & Control Systems Design
For years now, Metso has delivered first class crushers and equipment to its customers for processing aggregates. Crushers, stationary or mobile, typically come with a well-proven machine automation IC (Intelligent Controller) system to ensure high availability and safe performance. Gradually, Metso has taken the degree of automation even further by introducing a plant-wide automation system for controlling and monitoring a whole crushing plant consisting of Metso crushers with their IC units.
The plant-wide Metso DNA automation improves operability and safety by taking a control room either to an excavator cabin or to a purpose-built cabin. By providing instant process values, camera images, and time trends of all the operable crushing equipment, the system allows a quick overview of the process at any time. To deal with varying process conditions, such as changing feed material type or moisture, process set-points can be easily accessed and modified whenever needed. In addition, preset alarms give wake-up calls in abrupt and unexpected process situations, making process fault detection and troubleshooting quicker and less tedious.
Plant automation with electronic diary
A cutting edge feature of the Metso DNA system enables an operator to go back in time to hunt down any unnoticed act of operation or process event while the crushing plant continues running undisturbed. Automatic start-up and shutdown sequences and fail-safe operations by the system complete the high availability of a plant. The plant-wide automation comes with an electronic diary enabling operators to write down their comments on process upsets, equipment malfunctions, completed or required maintenance actions. As a result, all the operation shifts share the same information on the status of the plant.
Metso DNA can also be equipped with a fully automatic feed rate control for maintaining a smooth and undisturbed flow rate throughout the whole crushing plant. The Metso DNA feed control works like ‘cruise control’ in a car by automatically compensating feed flow variations arising from changes in feed material size distribution, moisture, recycling flows or crusher settings and wear.
All the measured process variables are stored into a historian database for further analysis or service calls. But above all, the data stored by Metso DNA serves as a basis for plant-wide monitoring and reporting. There are different purpose built and customisable reports for production monitoring, crusher up and downtime monitoring, total fuel consumption, fuel consumption rate and monitoring crusher feed levels. The electronic reports can be easily filed, sent to an office and printed out whenever needed.
Automation makes training more effective
One of the benefits of advanced automation is that a high-tech working environment with computer-based working tools attracts both young and new, but often inexperienced, employees. It also makes on-site training of new employees more effective. And, in addition to simply being cool, a plant-wide automation system with a clean and centralised control room makes running the whole plant more productive, robust against production upsets and a significantly safer environment.
Metso DNA plant-wide crushing plant deliveries come with a service agreement ensuring not only high process productivity, but also a long lasting relationship between Metso and its valued customer throughout the plant life-cycle.
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