Cement plant control and energy monitoring

The brief

Two cement plants in Telangana came to us with different problems. Nagarjuna Cements ran on Siemens PLCs and WinCC and, while planning an expansion, brought in an expert system from Madhav Automation to raise production. Vishnu Cements needed to know where its power went, motor by motor.

What we built

At Nagarjuna Cements, iFIX was connected to the Siemens PLCs through remote OPC servers for Madhav Automation's expert system, and replaced WinCC completely: the plant is now run from iFIX. At Vishnu Cements, 43 power meters were networked through PROCON Modbus/TCP converters to iFIX, with run hours for every motor and daily and monthly consumption reports shared on the plant LAN.

• Nagarjuna Cements: iFIX in place of WinCC

  We supplied iFIX to Madhav Automation and connected it to the Siemens PLCs through remote OPC servers. The old WinCC software was replaced completely, and the plant is now controlled from iFIX.

• Vishnu Cements: energy monitoring

  Madhav Automation supplied 43 power meters. We connected all of them to iFIX over TCP through PROCON Modbus/TCP converters, so power, voltage, current and frequency are read at one PC.

• Reports in the plant's format

  Run hours are calculated for every motor. Daily run hour, daily consumption and monthly consumption reports are generated automatically in the customer's format, stored and printed, and open to other users on the plant LAN.

Outcomes