The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continues to impact wastewater SCADA project implementation. However, blogger Stan Prutz’s other Gulf Coast projects are still being completed. Travel between sites is no easy task, as Prutz describes: “Only a few restaurants were open—people were never so thankful for a McDonald’s hamburger.” Though no natural disasters have affected the Cascade Controls biopharmaceutical filtration automation project, blogger John Sever writes about his use of PLC peer-to-peer modules—showing how a function normally associated with enterprise IT can be useful in automation.
Biopharmaceutical filtration automation project:
With no HMI hardware yet arrived, blogger John Sever and others from Cascade Controls continue to develop equipment module logic in parallel with the software design. Work this week focused on automation design, which on this project is divided into two main documents grouped by major process system—microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF). The UF system design specification will be submitted later this week. The MF system design document is roughly 150 pages and includes design details for the following control modules: harvest vessel, harvest vessel temperature control, MF skid feed, MF skid retentate, shared equipment, CIP distribution, Misc. support, and PLC peer-to-peer.
The PLC Peer-to-Peer modules provide monitor and control functionality across PLC processors. For example, when sanitizing the harvest tank, the piping is opened back to a fermentor, which is controlled on another PLC and the code is being developed by another integrator. Therefore, a module is required to read the transfer line trap temperature so the harvest sanitization sequence can verify achieving and maintenance of the proper temperature during the sequence.
To get the full details on this project, view the weekly blog updates here .
To view the introductory article explaining this project, click here .
Wastewater SCADA project
Other projects underway at QDS in the Gulf Coast region were still, surprisingly, completed a week after Katrina passed through. However, Baton Rouge—site of this blog’s SCADA project—is still going through upheaval. As our blogger Stan Prutz says, “Nothing is business as usual anymore.” In light of this, Prutz says his company has made a decision to give priority attention to repairs of water, wastewater, and other critical infrastructure when asked to become involved.
To get the full details on this project, view the weekly blog updates here .
To view the introductory article explaining this project, click here .
