The calibration of flow sensors takes place in the calibration plant at ifm prover gmbh.
To ensure maximum measuring accuracy, both hot and cold water is sent through the sensors. The measured values are used for calibration.
In the past, ifm prover gmbh would determine the level of the water tanks daily by means of visual inspection by the employees. There was no visualisation of the current water quantity or any limit value monitoring with alarm function. As a result, the calibration process repeatedly came to a standstill in case of insufficient water quantities, which would lead to downtimes and, thus, increased costs. Due to the lack of data recording, there was no transparency regarding the refilling processes. Neither was it possible to determine the maintenance requirements and plan them in good time.
In order to avoid unplanned downtimes in the future, permanent, software-supported level monitoring was to be implemented. This was supposed to inform staff in good time of low water levels or maintenance requirements by means of warning and alarm signals.
Thanks to the existing IT structure, moneo was installed on a central server of ifm prover gmbh to activate the moneo RTM module. The level sensors for tank monitoring are connected to an IO-Link master that in turn is connected to the server via a VLAN.
Level monitoring with moneo RTM has led to a more reliable and uninterrupted calibration process. Thanks to the automated notification function when the limit value is about to not be reached, the water demand can be covered permanently, thus reducing the cost factor of calibration. Another result of automated level monitoring is the stable assurance of high product quality based on consistently ideal process conditions.
The moneo dashboard provides a clear overview
The dashboard provides the user with an overview of the relevant process values for the calibration plant.
Via the analysis function, the user can analyse the tank level in detail. The level values are permanently recorded and can even be checked after days, weeks or months. This allows, for example, to draw conclusions about leaks.
For the two level sensors, values for the lower and upper alarm limits are defined on the basis of maintenance experience.
The following values are calculated additionally based on the level.
Current tank level in litres
Since the floor space of the tank is known to be 0.24 m², the fill quantity can be easily determined by using the formula "floor space * level".
Lacking water quantity in litres
Since the maximum volume of the tank is known to be 72 litres and the current fill quantity has already been calculated, the missing quantity can easily be determined via "maximum volume - fill quantity".