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Precise Control for Newspaper Production Facility Project Profile


Overview

A Genesis II Direct Digital Control System has been installed in the Gold Coast Bulletin's print centre in the Gold Coast suburb of Molendinar.

Challenge

The function of the Innotech control system was to provide temperature and humidity control for the facility's equipment, as well as air conditioning control for the remainder of the building.

The Gold Coast Bulletin required a simple-to-use system that would also be accurate reliable, well supported and cost effective.

Site Logistics

The Gold Coast Bulletin print centre is two stories high and approximately 5,000 square metres in size. Facilities include administration areas, reel stand hall, press hall, mechanical workshops, and a publishing area of approximately 900 square metres.

Solution

The Innotech control system at this facility consists of:
The system controls temperature, humidity, mechanical ventilation fans, chilled water air handling units and a chiller. This enables the Gold Coast Bulletin to control and monitor various temperatures, pressures, and equipment status and faults, as well as providing the facility to adjust setpoints, schedules and the calibration of detectors. The system also incorporates humidity and temperature control in the publishing area.

All the MPC's are located together in a mechanical services switchboard. These are connected to the Maxim II controller and USB converter, situated in their own enclosure near the touchscreen. An ethernet hub connects the touchscreen and an on-site PC to the system.

Also installed in the mechanical switchboard, a GenII Viewport enables access to the system as a backup to the on-site PC.

A permanent on-site generator has the capacity to run critical equipment in case of power failure, however it does not have the capacity to maintain the power requirements for the entire building.

Originally, a one square metre mimic panel was to be installed for auto/off manual control, run/fault indication, monitoring of generator current and chiller demand adjustment.

If the total demand during a power failure increases to the generator's upper limit, the operator has the facility to:

  • Disable non-critical equipment such as general air-conditioning, or
  • Reduce the chillers' cooling capacity to allow the critical equipment, such as the printing presses or ventilation systems to continue to operate, without exceeding the generators total running capacity.

This solution needed to be as simple as operating switches, viewing indicating lights and gauges, so that non-technical personnel could operate the system without the need for software training or computer literacy.

By installing the touchscreen and Magellan software these needs were met, whilst also reducing both space required and installation costs.

Additional features of the Innotech system include monitoring of generator current; ability to increase or decrease chiller capacity; disabling of air handling units, ventilation and exhaust fans in non-critical areas during periods when load shedding is required; and monitoring of critical and non-critical alarms.

Summary

"The challenge was for Innotech to design a system that would meet the needs of our customer," commented Thomas McIlhatton of Innotech Controls. "The Gold Coast Bulletin required the ability to control conditions to a variety of critical and non-critical equipment, from printing presses and paper storage to general air conditioning and ventilation. We believe that our system met the Bulletin's criteria, while also proving to be innovative, cost-effective and easy to use and maintain."

Key Functions:
  • Humidity and temperature control in the publishing area.
  • Monitoring of generator current, allowing total control of essential services in the event of power failure.
  • Allows disabling of air handling units, ventilation and exhaust fans in areas when loadshedding is required.
  • Increase or decrease chiller capacity to ensure generator capacity is not exceeded.
  • Monitoring of critical and non-critical alarms.
  • The Genesis software (Gen2Works) facilitates a greater level of independence for the client.
  • Simplicity and ease of use, allowing quicker fault detection, and resulting in decreased downtime for the client.
  • Control and monitor temperature, equipment status and faults, system pressures and adjustments to setpoints as required.


For more information about this project or if Innotech can help you please contact us.

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