LT Software has developed a solution to upgrade Westfalia Decanters that were based on a Siemens S5 PLC and Danfoss drives.

The new solution replaces the original outdated Siemens and Danfoss components with state of the art AB PLC / HMI and ABB Drive technology.

Because the PLCs of the 1980’s couldn’t handle the high-speed requirements of a Decanter the core of the original Siemens S5 control solution was based upon a custom third-party Decanter Control Module.

The custom Decanter Control Module known as an S5-APB, was designed as an encoder interface to track Bowl and Screw speeds and to provide a serial data stream to the Danfoss 500 drive used to control the speed of the Screw.

The solution developed by LT Software Solutions utilizes a Rockwell L27 CompactLogix processor with Ethernet IP connectivity to two ABB ACS-880 drives for control of the Bowl and the Screw.

The encoder inputs from the Bowl and Screw are connected directly to the Rockwell L27 on board high speed counter inputs without the need for any additional I/O or custom hardware.

This solution (Including the Drives) is physical smaller than the original components so it fits well into the existing footprint.

Installation and Startup can be performed during a 24-hour outage.