TISICS finds the right balance between automation flexibility and operator safety
Specialist materials company uses Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix®, RSLogix™ 5000 and FactoryTalk® View SE to keep a volatile precision process both safe and under control.
Background
UK-based TISICS is one of only two companies in the world to manufacture Silicon Carbide continuous core monofilaments – primarily for use as fibre reinforcement in Titanium composite parts. The monofilaments allow the fabrication of Titanium components that offer functional attributes on a par with that of a similarly temperature-resistant steel component; but typically at half the weight, and with greater strength and corrosion resistance. As you can imagine this is of immense interest to the aerospace sector, considering the falling price of titanium, as well as other applications where strength and weight cannot afford to be traded.
Following its recent plant relocation, the company decided that to make the best possible use of the new manufacturing space available, it needed to migrate from its existing manual recipe creation and control process to one that involved a contemporary automation solution from Rockwell Automation. At the same time it also needed to address the major safety issues that arise due to the chemistry of the coating process.
Challenge
The process used by TISICS to coat the tungsten filament is known as chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Not only does CVD involve very high temperatures, typically around 1,300°C and very high voltages, it also uses dichloromethylsilane, which could be extremely hazardous if it was not appropriately contained.
 |
The company is also seeing growing demand for its products – both the fibres it produces and the titanium components it fabricates. Well known customers include a major aero engine manufacturer, for aerospace components and a company in the US, which uses the fibres for solar cells. In most cases, specific applications require certain types of fibres; the problem is the more variables that are introduced, the more complex the process becomes to control. Using the manual process it was also extremely timeconsuming to develop and test new recipes – a procedure often measured in years prior to automation.
Solution
TISICS opted for a SCADA process based on Rockwell Automation’s Integrated Architecture, employing an Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PAC running RSLogix 5000 with a FactoryTalk View SE top end. For monitoring and control the ControlLogix PAC passes all process data up to an FTView SE Server, so the operators can have a clear graphical representation of all the parameters associated with this precession process on a screen using an HMI solution developed by one of Rockwell Automation’s System Integrators.
Moss explains: “The Rockwell Automation hardware feeds all the necessary information to us on one screen. It knows and feeds back the conditions, it will not allow any process variability outside acceptable levels and it offers us a much greater level of safety functionality. Another extremely useful facet of the installation is its expandability. It is our intention to bring more production into the factory and with the current hardware we have we know we can simply add production lines to the control umbrella of the ControlLogix PAC, without any major re-programming headaches.
“Most of the safety issues are on the gas side,” Moss continues. “The ControlLogix PAC tops up and feeds through the reagents. It also measures the amount of material moving through the system by measuring the weight and the pressure, never overfilling the bubbler, and helps to make sure all cleaning operations take place by giving operators clear and concise logic instructions. Materials handling used to be a major day-to-day operation here, we can now load materials confident that the safety and control system has it contained, because we know it is being accurately monitored. It was never our intention to de-skill, we simply wanted to remove the safety worries from the operators.”
As well as safety and functionality, TISICS is also able to develop new formulations and recipes in a fraction of the time it used to take. Moss continues: “What used to take us years, we can now achieve in a matter of months. What is more, the amount of variables is now not an issue because of the level of control the PAC offers us. I freely admit that I look at the FTView SE SCADA system and the PAC as a black box. I don’t need to know how it works, but I can be confident that everything is under control and that all of the operators have easier-tounderstand readout for everything.”
Moss concludes: “In the short term, the Rockwell Automation equipment has brought us far better control of our processes, while offering us the capability to expand in the medium term. It has also taken care of all the safety-critical aspects that we used to worry about.”
For more information, please e-mail us at: info_at@ra.rockwell.com with ref: Tisics
| Challenge With a move to a new factory, TISICS wanted a contemporary automation system that, as well as keeping a very exacting precision chemical vapour deposition process under tight control, would also offer a greater level of safety integrity. |
- Integrated Architecture - Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PAC - RS Logix 5000 - FTView SE Server and clients - S.I.L. 2 safety rating | Results - Improved control of all process parameters - Complete visibility of all process parameters - Helped reduce product development time - Helped increase productivity - Improved operator safety |
Print This Page
Locations Contact Sitemap Legal Notices