Project
Distributed Temperature Control System
Application
Production Process Control
Customer Need
Our customer supplied custom designed and thermal blankets which were fitted to piping in process plants. Previous installations by our customer required a central temperature controller with home run wiring to connect RTDs and AC controls to thermal blankets used to maintain process pipe at required temperatures. The goal was to develop a low cost distributed system that performed stand-alone control and eliminated long wiring. User installation and setup needed to be simple.
AVID's Solution
AVID developed a single channel temperature controller which provides ON/OFF AC control to the thermal blankets. Since AC is needed at the blanket anyway, a short pig-tail wire was all that is required. A separate short connection to a local RTD connects via pre-wired connector. The controllers are designed to daisy-chain from a single User Interface Panel. Device addressing is automatic. A common off-the-shelf CAT5 cable provides power and communications to the chain. Up to 40 controllers can be chained together. The User Interface allows setup of a multi-zone system, monitors the system operation and alarms, and provides the ability to interface to a computer for data logging or other database functions.
Value Added or Technologies Applied
- System Specification / System Architecture
- Hardware and Firmware Design for Local Controllers and User Interface
- Industrial Design and Mechanical Packaging
- Prototype and Validation
- Production Test System Development
- Manufacturing Support and Product Life Cycle Management
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