Brewer upgrades bulk intake controls

Burton-upon-Trent, UK - UK brewery Molson Coors Brewing Co. has installed two full-loadcell bulk weighers – rated at 50 and 90 tonnes/hr – at its Maltings site in Shobnall, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.

The two new weighers, for recording intake weighments of malt and barley were installed and commissioned to replace existing mechanical EPG scales, which were originally installed by Richard Simon Ltd (RSL) over 20 years ago.

The project also involved decommissioning and removal of the old weighers from the Maltings. Since early 2003 all of the original RSL design materials have been available in Nottingham for use by fellow Premier Tech company Chronos BTH Ltd.

Having access to the original project files and original RSL design authority documentation and drawings, enabled Chronos BTH to manufacture the new bulk weighers to the same overall size and specification, which simplified the installation process.

Control of the new weighers is being undertaken by two Chronos PC456i controllers, which were supplied in special cabinets to meet Molson Coors Brewing Company ATEX requirements for the Shobnall maltings site.

There were several particularly challenging aspects to the installation work, according to Steve Holyoake, the project and electrical engineering manager at the Burton-upon-Trent site.

“The main challenges to this project were to be able to maintain production during the installation and commissioning on the new weighers. A challenge in itself, as the plant runs 24/7.

Working with Chronos the team were able to remove the old weighers and install the new weighers within very short timescales, ultimately having very little or no effect to our production schedule. Finally the weigher control system was linked into our own PLC system to allow remote monitoring of each weigher.”