Need help hooking up still automation

[Evil Wizard]

I got a great new job as head distiller on a potato farm. Its big and bright and shiny, 5000L kettle, 40 plate Kothe, boiler and glycol systems the size of buses.

Kothe shipped us the automation rack pre assembled and a local company wired up the electric valves {actuators?} on everything. However there is no integrated panel and the assumption is that we would just hook up to computer.

There's a computer in the rack with usb and Ethernet, there's an ip address pasted on the computer.

Of course none of this works with my Mac. I gave up on PCs a while ago so I'm shitty with them.

Going on what I read, I plugged a windows laptop into the usb and it recognized the computer but failed to download the correct driver.

Even after I figure out the driver issue {help me out?} what kind of software do I get to read temps and control the actuators?

Thanks, I'll post specs shortly.

[Evil Wizard]

The actuators are the orange belimo brand, model lrb24-sr on the water systems and model afx24-mft-x1 on the steam side.

The computer in the rack is a Saia PCD3.M90

[StillerBoy]

Have you tried the web.. here's what I got on Saia PCD3.M90

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1AO ... _0Q4dUDCAo

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1AO ... 0kQ4dUDCAo


https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1AO ... 78Q4dUDCAo

Mars

[Sunshineer]

Please let us know how you make out with this and keep this thread active I'm very interested in what you are doing.

[HDNB]

i would think that anything built like that would have a custom software right from the manufacturer to run it....other wise why would they sell you all that shit? and then tell you to write your own software?
A Kothe still is likely north of a million bucks, they should have sent a tech from Germany to set it up and a sweet little frauline to rub your neck while you watch the cleaning run go....

[acfixer69]

Million bucks tell me more about the frualine that rubs me back.

[Evil Wizard]

I neglected to mention that I'm replacing the original distiller who was in over his head as was the electonic installer. And the glycol installer.

So in basically doing forensics to figure out who did what and why THAT way?

Seems like kothe runs everything out of Chicago.

[Windy City]

This is definitely not the place to get these answers ,although it is a great place to get many good answers .
You would be best served by Kothe.
I have been to their distillery in Chicago and Robert should be able to answer any questions and get you up and running properly
Here is the link

http://www.kothe-distilling.com/newsite/about/usa

Let us know how it works out

[nerdybrewer]

Obligatory IT guy answer coming right up in 3...2...1:

When all else fails, RTFM!

[Evil Wizard]

Turns out their "automation guy" is on vacation and they won't say how long.

I've plugged the Saia pcd into a fresh router in case the rackmount ethernet switch is bollocksed - no ip comes up.

I think i have to patch the usb to boot up the ethernet. But nothing pops up and I dont have the software.

Know anyone with the following file from Kothe?

DDC_Controller_Lib$*.exe

[HDNB]

see PM

[Tinkerzone]

Your post says very little about what Control System (CS) you have there.
If I understand you right you need additional Local Control Panel (LCP) meaning additional computer on the production floor.
As a good start, on your computer Human to Machine Interface (HMI) screen go to F1, help menu and find out software type.
HMI additional nodes are usually requiring additional licence and it might be beyond our capability to simply add it to existing system as it requires specialty software which typically is very expensive (may exceed cost of whole plant) and restrictive in means of additional copies.
In addition to that your CS will have Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and peripherals such as Motor Control Center (MCC) and the end devices such temperature, pressure, pH, turbidity transmitters for measuring Process Variables (PV).
What I mentioned above is expected typical configuration but these days there could be many other CS varieties.
Once again give us more info

[Evil Wizard]

Regarding to the above, there is no panel nor hmi, just a pcd in a rack.

I managed to update the pcd settings using Saia software over usb and now I can access the onboard start page on the Pcd over WiFi.

However there is no visualization program linked to the start page web server. I am assuming that the engineers of the rack that comes with the Kothe still would have included a program to read the sensors and control the actuators.

From my readings, this software might supposed to be installed on a pc to limit the load on the pcd. Or maybe it's on the pcd and I just have to point the web server at it.

[Evil Wizard]

I did manage to get it going, I had to download a client application - SBC micro browser, and I could see the GUI. Went like gangbusters.
When I quit I put everything back he way I found it. Nonfunctional.

[sambedded]

Does it means your "right and shiny, 5000L kettle, 40 plate Kothe" haven't been used so far?

[zapata]

You quit?! But everything started off so smoothly!

[shadylane]

When I quit I put everything back he way I found it. Nonfunctional.

That kinda sounds like sabotage
I don't think that would look very good on a resume

[Evil Wizard]

Well, they never had the still automation running when I started as they didn't pay the pro engineers to come and set it up (not sure they finished paying for the still!). So I stayed nights, was doing 83hr weeks, to figure out the PLC. I did it, just enough that I could read the various temps on a GUI. It was linked to an app on my phone.
In my exit interview I asked if they wanted me to put everything back the way I found it. They said yes. Sabotage? No. It's not like I stuck a potato in the column to block it! Any software engineer or distiller at my level could have figured out the things I figured out.

Yeah it started well, except they were potato farmers who resented every professional they hired, (called us Cidiots - city-idiots), drank only lite beer, had no education and argued with us at every step. My director wanted me to make 1000s of litres of gin on a leaky 9L decorative copper still with a coleman gas stove.

They wouldn't even give me enough potatoes to figure out the fermentation dynamics. Turned out they were buying not growing the potatoes for the vodka. Then I find a tanker truck full of potato NGS. There was some weird financial shit I wasn't privy to also. I don't blame them, in Canada the profit margin on distilling is razor thin due to taxes and they overbuilt and overspent and got into a bad situation. But calling me a weirdo in a meeting? Yeah I blame them for that.