Badger's SET RIGHT
15 Jan 2000
Even the most traditional of breweries can't get by without up-to-date control equipment. Hall & Woodhouse's brewery at Blandford, best known for its Badger beers and lagers, has installed a new programmable logic controller-based control system which allows the operators to control the parameters of the brewing processes and CIP procedures, remotely.
A major part of this new system is a series of multi-function 4301 pressure transmitters from KDG-Mobrey, which monitor and control the levels in the liquor (water) and detergent tanks throughout the brewery. An additional sensor provides level and pump control for the beer kegging tank.
The flexibility of the sensor/controller unit enables the brewery to standardise the control parameters of a range of level monitoring and control applications.
Because Hall & Woodhouse produce and package a number of different lagers and beers at the site, fine control over tank levels and process parameters is essential to achieve quality results. Liquor tank levels at the brewery had previously been monitored using manual dips and sight glasses, although critical tanks, such as the CIP detergent tank, used float switches to prevent overfill. Now that the PLC system is installed, however, tank levels, pumps and valves are controlled automatically, according to recipe information stored in the PLC, and recalled by the operator as required, for each brew.
KDG-Mobrey's 4301 met the need for a universal tank contents sensor and controller in a single unit, says Hall & Woodhouse. The system is used on the seven hot and cold liquor tanks in the brewhouse, where it provides continuous level monitoring with a 4-20mA signal direct to the PLC. It is also used on the main detergent tank for the brew house CIP system, which is controlled by a separate PLC.
A further 4301 unit monitors the levels in a keg beer tank, from which kegs are filled ready for shipping. The tank is pressurised with carbon dioxide. The 4301 measures the level, using a differential pressure measurement between the top and bottom of the tank, and provides a control signal direct to automatic valves. If the beer level should reach the critical preset high or low levels, the automatic valves are actuated. This provides extremely fine control over the beer level, says Meggit Mobrey.
All the 4301 units supplied to Hall & Woodhouse are made of stainless steel, to meet the food industry's stringent hygiene specifications.
The ability to standardise for level measurement and control functions on a single instrument cuts Hall &Woodhouse's installation, set-up and maintenance times dramatically, says Ronnie Bruce, the company's engineering manager. `Detergent and beer are both liquids which can foam and bubble at the surface,' he explains, `causing problems for other level measurement technologies, but the 4301 pressure sensor in the base of the tank provides a universal solution.' The sensors that are installed already have been exceptionally reliable, he comments; so much so, in fact, that the company intends to continue standardising on the 4301 throughout the Blandford plant.
The brewery is not yet using the full capability of the 4301 in every application on the site, comments Bruce. However, he adds: `The system's digital capability and sophisticated PID control functions mean that it is well placed to cope with future upgrading of the control system.'
Hall & Wood, which brews traditional beers Badger and Tanglefoot, has automated level measurements with a versatile pressure sensor
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