Industry Insights

Do you have an obsolete control system that is causing frequent downtime and is difficult to maintain? With Rockwell Automation’s CompactLogix and PanelView, you can upgrade your old system with reliable, cost-efficient solutions.

Rockwell Automation’s CompactLogix controllers provide a secure platform for automation and process control. This new, integrated architecture enables you to easily migrate from one system to the next without worrying about compatibility issues. CompactLogix is ideal for small and mid-sized applications – it’s scalable yet easy to use.

A water wastewater facility in Chicago, USA used an obsolete system that was difficult to maintain. But with Rockwell Automation’s CompactLogix and PanelView, Concentric Integration was able to deliver a reliable, low-cost solution. The new control system provided a secure platform for automation and process control, while also enabling the facility to scale up as needed without worrying about compatibility issues. Please visit New Control System Upgrade Unlocks Business Value | Rockwell Automation for details.

Upgrade your old systems with reliable, cost-efficient solutions from Rockwell Automation’s CompactLogix and PanelView today! With this new integrated architecture, you can easily migrate from one system to the next without worry. And best of all, you’ll have a secure platform for automation and process control that keeps your facility running smoothly and efficiently.

Contact Pima today to learn more about our CompactLogix and PanelView solutions! Let us help you upgrade your old systems with reliable, cost-efficient solutions from Rockwell Automation

Author: Vineet Parikh, Ahmedabad

Business Leader, Investor, Industrial Automation Consultant

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In India, several thousand occupational accidents take place in the Electrical room annually. The loss of lives, injures and the social cost of the large number of accidents caused directly by low maintenance of electrical panels and switchgear can be reduced by the inherently safe design of the panel and by proper installation and maintenance.

An electrical panel or switchboard operates in a hot industrial environment. The ambient temperature in India ranges from 35ᴼ C to 50ᴼ C. Initially, everything works well. But soon the heat and accelerated aging catches up!

Overheating can start from several areas; connections can overheat and be damaged, components may be impaired, insulation degrades and in all the risk for fire and arc flash increases manifold. Checking the temperature rise in the Panel is the single most important technique to ensure the electrical safety of the switchboard, to avoid the effects from overheated equipment.

As per IEC and considering India’s weather, the maximum allowable temperature for copper bus bars is around 140ᴼC, for individual components is around 125ᴼC, and about 105ᴼC for externally insulated conductors. Hence it is important for users to make sure that the panel does not get overheated during operation.

One way of temperature measurements without direct contact is by use of a high resolution IR-camera. The IR thermography can only be done periodically, hence any abnormality in-between inspections will be missed. It is also difficult to capture hidden areas not accessible from the front or in panels which cannot be opened for thermography during operation.

To address these concerns, we now have Hot spot Monitors which is a continuous temperature monitoring device, for hot spot and temperature abnormalities detection in electrical connections of power distribution systems like bus bars, MCCs, drive panels, switchgear, and bus ducts. The unique non-conductive fiber optic technology with secured connections allows simple field installation in low, medium, and high voltage electrical systems up to 80kV.

The IoT enabled Hot Spot Monitor logs, alarms, and enables users to trend temperature variations that are indicative of a potential fault. It can be integrated seamlessly with any control systems. The result is real-time insights into equipment health with the ability to issue alerts when anomalous temperatures are detected, allowing maintenance teams to safely prepare and schedule out repairs as opposed to responding to unplanned downtime.

We are aware that manufactures are looking for safe and productive work environment which provides maximum uptime and high equipment efficiency.

Pima Controls Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified professionally managed Company focused on Distribution and Supply of Industrial Automation and Electrical Products and Services, partnering with world-renowned quality companies since 1986. They help Machine Builders and End Users carry out Predictive Maintenance strategies.

Tags: Temperature Rise, Hot Spot, Electrical Safety, Thermography, Efficiency, Uptime, OEE

Author: Vineet Parikh, Ahmedabad

Business Leader, Investor, Industrial Automation Consultant

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Predictive maintenance has always been a highly intriguing area for Industries. You need to be a domain expert to talk about it, understand it, or even given an opinion.

There is a shift in how industries operate and maintain their equipment. Increased productivity pressures and high uptime demands of equipment combined with a shortage of qualified maintenance personnel are driving facilities to rely more on predictive maintenance tools (PdM).

It has become imperative that the maintenance of the equipment becomes easier. We have different ways of predicting an equipment failure. One very important metric is vibration. In the old days, or I would say even today in certain facilities. You have trained, skilled maintenance professionals who take a tour of our facility, listen to the noise made by equipment, Touch the equipment, and will tell you if there is something wrong. Just as a doctor, holds our nerves and tells our ailments, without running any tests. This method cannot be scaled and is prone to human errors.

In modern days, we rely more on tests, probes and electrical signals. There came probes that are mounted on the equipment, that can give out signals based on the vibrations on the equipment. This signal is then plotted like an ECG, and a skilled professional understands the plot of the signal and can predict abnormalities, to give you an early indication of a failure, or a downtime. This process is time-consuming and not all industries can afford such expensive resources. Further mounting these probes wiring them to a particular transmitter or a plotter or electronics is challenging. The critical equipment is mounted in varied locations and conditions wherein it is not possible to install electronic panels, and hence these probes need to be wired, all the way to the control room, hundreds of meters away.

Today’s wireless technology can eliminate these long lead probes and give us a lot of freedom. The latest technology is mounting wireless sensors on a piece of equipment, which can send out signals up to hundreds of meters so that you need not worry about running cables. These wireless signals are then logged into smart software, which can give you complete insights into your equipment performance. This smart software helps us to run AI-based analytics so that maintenance personnel can get advanced information of a problem that may occur, saving expensive downtime.

Manufacturers want the highest OEE on their assets. Predictive maintenance is the weapon to improve the overall efficiency of the equipment. PdM has come a long way! Early technology adopters are reaping the benefits of technology. IoT + AI + Cloud Computing has given us the power to have early and advance information on our smartphones and mobile devices.

Pima Controls Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified professionally managed Company focused on Distribution and Supply of Industrial Automation and Electrical Products and Services, partnering with world-renowned quality companies since 1986. They help Machine Builders and End Users carry out Predictive Maintenance strategies.

Author: Vineet Parikh, Ahmedabad

Business Leader, Investor, Industrial Automation Consultant

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Pima Controls organized Product Launch for Kinetix 5100 in Ahmedabad where key customers from the region were present.

Kinetix 5100 is a low-cost servo product targeted at the Asian Market.

It can cater to various low to mid-sized OEMs application which requires position control.

We had the opportunity to speak to Michael Vlahos, Asia Pacific Business Manager – Motion for Rockwell Automation, the person responsible for the launch and promotion of the product in the region.

The machinery sector in India is one of the major sources of all industrial activity. In India alone, several thousand occupational accidents take place annually.

In this episode on Machine Safety, Rajendran Menon of Rockwell Automation talks to our Vineet Parikh. Rajendran is a Machine Safety expert and represents Rockwell Automation at various forums. He has helped companies in developing Functional Safety specification documents.

He discusses a wide range of topics from the role of Government policies, executive sponsorship from stakeholders to the efforts of Rockwell Automation in helping Machine Builders and End-users in a holistic way.

Pima Controls Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified professionally managed Company focused on Distribution and Supply of Industrial Automation and Electrical Products and Services, partnering with world renowned quality companies since 1986. They help Machine Builders and End Users carry out Safety Assessment and Risk Analysis together with methods of implementing Risk Mitigation strategies.