City of Cheraw Updates Recorders at
Fresh-Water Treatment Facility
CHERAW , S.C. -- The City of Cheraw, South Carolina, has installed two 15-channel chart recorders in its fresh-water treatment facility. Doug Stowe, the city's water supervisor, expected the recorders to collect necessary data to meet DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) requirements. DHEC is the state governmental agency that regulates water treatment facilities. Stowe did not expect the continuous maintenance and repairs necessary to keep the recorders in operating condition.
Stowe says, "When the chart recorders went down, no data was collected. The down time was usually substantial. The closest repairman was at least a 4-hour drive away from the time we actually reached him. It could take a day or more to get the disabled recorder operating again.
"Eventually, one of the recorders broke. The representative for the recorders told us that the company had been bought out, and would be discontinuing the chart recorder as well as its support."
After reviewing their options and several quotes, the City of Cheraw decided to give the project to INTEWORX.NET. The INTEWORX.NET proposal included replacing the old, strip-chart recorders with a new PC running Think & Do Software, and replacing the old I/O with two, new Ethernet Terminator I/O racks from AutomationDirect .
Senior Engineer Bill Glover, of INTEWORX.NET, says, "One of the advantages of using the PC-based system is the ability to store recorded data on a PC instead of on paper. It's easier to use because you can visually see all of your information at one time. Before, one could only read a single line of data at a time. It took a lot of patience waiting for the recorder to scroll one line at a time to find the data needed at that given moment. Another advantage is the new system is expandable and upgradeable. The old system wasn't at all."
Glover continues, "Our biggest challenge in implementing the new PC-based system was retro-fitting the new recording system with the old architecture. To overcome this challenge, we chose AutomationDirect Ethernet Terminator I/O racks because they are adaptable and the I/O points were spread out. The AutomationDirect I/O racks made it easy to wire. They were reliable, easy to work with and easy to maintain. We used Think & Do Software on the PC because it was inexpensive, easy to create graphical screens, and has proven reliable in similar environments."
The installation of the AutomationDirect Ethernet Terminator I/O racks and the Think & Do Software went smoothly. Glover says, "The I/O racks and the software were very flexible. We had only gotten a verbal description over the phone and a couple of pictures e-mailed before physically going to the facility. The I/O racks and software allowed us to make modifications as we made the installations to meet the system's needs. Changes were easy, reducing the time necessary on site. We were able to install the entire system over the course of a weekend, when the facility runs at a lower capacity."
Stowe says the new system has been running smoothly since its installation, with no maintenance calls - a dramatic difference from the old system. "Before, we were spending between $800 and $1,000 each year on maintenance and repairs."
According to Stowe, the greatest benefits include easy data storage and data accuracy. "We are required by DHEC to store recorded data for five years", says Stowe. "Storage and organization were cumbersome with the paper data. Now everything is recorded onto a CD, which is much easier to deal with. Another advantage is the improvement in accuracy. With the old system, employees had to read a graph from the strip-chart recorder and interpret the values. Now values are clearly read from a computer screen without any interpretations or misinterpretations."
With the low maintenance requirements, accurate values, and easy storage, Stowe says, "We have been very pleased with the outcome."
INTEWORX.NET is an integration company that specializes in control systems that involve data connectivity between the shop floor and the front office. INTEWORX.NET also provides data collection, software solutions, and remote monitoring of machines across intranets and the Internet. The company's web site can be found at www.INTEWORX.NET.
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