Ikerlan was designing a new biomass transformation process using pyrolysis. It had undertaken the construction of an experimental plant with a capacity of 25Kg/hour. They needed to develop a control system that was both reliable and flexible, with the capacity to monitor the system parameters, using the information obtained to optimize the process. The possibility that explosive atmospheres might be present in the plant made it necessary to use materials that are flameproof or intrinsically safe (with ATEX certificates).

Solution provided

• Power cabinet design, with capacity to control motor rotation speeds, pumps and high-power electric heaters.
• Design of inside plant distribution cabinets with signal conditioners and intrinsic security barriers.
• Design of a control cabinet based on National Instruments' CompactFieldpoint chassis.
• Creation of the control program in Labview.
• Supervision of the assembly and start-up of the entire control system.

Advantages

• Labview’s flexibility has made it possible to accelerate the creation of software and the improvement of response times in light of the continuous changes required by an experimental plant of this type.
• ZERMIK has developed the entire electrical portion of this project, from the design of the electrical power and signaling systems to programming and the start-up of all components. This aspect enables providing a rapid response in the case of problems or small system changes.
• User-friendly interface, thanks to Labview programming.
• Test results are generated in standard files for export to Excel applications.