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Heat Transfer Boxes & Systems: A Breeze with the AC Tech MCH Series

Ryan Chamberlin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:32 +0000

Epsilon Industries is a supplier of integrated air and fluid side-heat transfer systems including factory built penthouses with mechanical/electrical systems; complete heat transfer packages and refrigeration systems. “One reason for the success of the ‘packaged’ mechanical systems concept,” says Epsilon Sales & Marketing VP, Brad Hughes, “is customers realize they can decrease the total cost and meet their deadlines by utilizing our specialized, highly trained technical staff.” To regulate pumps, chillers and air handlers, Epsilon uses MCH Series drives from Lenze – AC Tech.

What led Hughes to choose the MCH Series? “Our choice of variable frequency drives is a good example of how closely we look at anything that can be done better.” As he explains, “These Lenze – AC Tech drives offer a couple of advantages that make a lot of sense to us, one is the automatic transfer to bypass; the others are the disconnect option, and the on-site warranty.” The automatic-transfer-to-bypass option allows the motor to transfer from drive operation, and continue across the line in bypass mode.

Say there’s an external condition that creates a problem with variable frequency drive operation; like transient voltage harmonics from the utility causing the drive to trip off on a fault. The MCH drive can be configured to attempt several restarts, but if the condition will not clear, the automatic-transfer to-bypass function will transfer from drive operation to line power, without any human intervention. If the drive did not have this capability, an experienced, trained operator would have to be on hand to ascertain there was a problem, and then he would have to manually put the drive into bypass mode.

“Utilizing the MCH drive is a way for us to make sure we maintain uninterrupted service, no ifs or buts,” summarizes Hughes. Once again, dependability under demanding circumstances and assuring their customers that the systems are going to offer top performance is a crucial aspect of Epsilon’s market success. Epsilon has found a niche and is taking full advantage of it. Hughes counts on Lenze – AC Tech relating “Demystifying drives is the first step towards making them an integral part of our clients’ design. When we don’t need an expert to understand them, we can really count on them, and move on.”

MCH Series Benefits:

• Automatic Transfer to Bypass Option

• Automatic Disconnect Option

• Keypad Select for HOA (Hands Off/Auto)

• PID Setpoint Control

• Variable Torque Drive

• NEMA 12 Enclosure Available

• RS-485 MODBUS Communication

• Proven Performance & Reliability

Breaking the Swedish Language Barrier on an Automatic Foaming Machine

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:21:36 +0000

About a week ago, I was given the opportunity to work on a startup with a customer who works in the world of automated foaming. As with any other job, the preliminary overview of the project is often where the scope of the project is determined. One of the most critical things a customer can possess is documentation to their machines, it reduced both the time and effort required on the engineering side of the startup.

In this particular case, however, all of the documentation was written in the Swedish language. The drive itself had extensive documentation in the form of manuals that were written in English, but there were no actual machine documents written in English.

The customer had taken the liberty to do a good chunk of translation regarding the essential documents, but as you know, even documentation written in the English language can be hard to understand if you weren’t one of the original engineers.

On projects such as these, I typically like to spend a day or two with my head completely in the program – in this case with the Google Translator at my side. The two most fundamental aspects I was looking for? The homing sequence and the foam gun sequence (as they desired changes to the way the gun operates).

This is the order of operations I took, and it may help some of you out in the future:

Gather all of the documentation specific to the job.
Gather the requirements of what the customer desires and write them down.
Gather all of the tools that will help you break the language barrier (human translators or robot ones)
Dig out the I/O list if it is included in the documentation (if it is not, build the list yourself manually)
Translate that list to the proper language
Cross reference your I/O list to your documentation to seek out a homing sequence in the program
Use this as your starting point, as your homing sequence is typically the building block of your program.
Next, target the section of the program (referencing the I/O related to it) the customer wants changes too or is having issue with.

This is an excellent starting point for any troubleshooting of PLCs or Motion Controllers outside of your language barrier. After two days of research and properly building my own documentation – I was able to get the machine running (not without headaches of course) in about one 8 hour day.

Even though the documentation was in a completely different language, this job would have taken weeks had there been no documentation at all – this truly is a testament to the importance of having documentations for your systems – even if that documentation is in a completely different language.

Craig Chamberlin