Proceeduiqs of the 7th Internatumai WorkIng Conference on Stored-product Protection - Volume 2

Application of PLC and SCADA in auto-control systems for

silo grain handling
Zhang Yaozu and LIU Hong!

IS conveyed, pre-cleaned and weighed by two 200tlh-

Introduction production lmes m the workmg tower, and/or to be sent to
rail wagon directly or to be packed m flat warehouse for
Vertical silo fmds ItS great favors in the field of gram, storage Aspirator for dust-removal system IS equipped at
feeds, foodstuff and light mdustnes because of ItS the places where gram gravity-drop difference occurs on the
charactenstics of high mecharuzation, large capacity, quick processmg route.
circulauon, less area occupation, etc Nowadays, concrete 200Uh equipment such as 2 sets of scales, a pre-cleaner,
and steel plated silos are widely used for gram storage, and bel t conveyors, en-masse cham conveyors and eleva tors are
the SIlo storage m proportion to general capacity of Chma
mstalled m the workmg tower to fulfill the functional
gram depot IS annually mcreased
operations of m-takmg , pre-cleanmg , weighmg , re-
To realize silo mechanization operation, the electnfication
circulatmg from bm to bm and out-taking
and auto-control systems are absolutely necessary for the
coordmated control over the vanous gram handlmg
equipment of conveymg, cleanmg, weighmg , ventilatmg
Functional system
and dust-removing HIgh-reliable PLC IS specifically
All equipment on production lme are auto-controlled and
designed for mdustnal control This PLC ensures 20-year
mterlocked by PLC Dunng normal operation, these
contmuous normal operation Without mistakes Its mserted
equipment are to be turned on respectively m an order of
module IS exchangeable withm a few minutes, m case of
conversed process flow and to be turned off in an order of
hardware failure due to any accident,
process flow. At the time when failure occurs, computer
Instead of traditional mImIC panel and operation desk,
makes ItS solutions by alarmmg , sequential stop, emergency
man-machme mterface IS adopted All operational functions
are carried out by SCADA user's operation and momtonng stop and completely mstantaneous stop respectively on the

configuration mterface based on the micro-computer under baSIS of failure condition An mtegration of central control
the condinon of Wmdows. Computer configuration man- and local SWItch, automatic and manual modes are adopted
machme mterface makes the features of direct SIght, for convemence of mamtenance operation System process IS
dynamic display and user's fnendlmess. SImultaneously displayed by the computer

Start-up, stop of the interlocking equipment

Brief introduction of silo process according to technological flow
Shanghai Mechanization Gram Depot bears the responsibility In addition to conveyors, weighing machmes, and pre-
of receivmg , dispatchmg , intermediate transportation and cleaner, the SIlo m Shanghai Gram Depot No.7 IS equipped
storage of free flow bulk gram, mamly wheat and maize. WIth dust-removal system and magnetic separator to meet
The technological design IS m focus on 35,000- ton silo and the technological requirement for large-sized silo operation,
ItS workmg tower IS mtegrated WIth full production lme of electncal protection and anti-explosion safety measures. To
flat warehouse, speCIfIC raIlway and 10,000t-grade wharf put productiOn lme mto operatiOn, dust-removal system
ThIS concrete vertical sllo IS composed of 33 bms mcludmg should be turned on at the very begmmng, then the other
21 SIlos (m 3 parallel rows WIth 7 sllos each) and 12 star relevant eqmpment be turned on respectively m an order of
sllos. ThIS SIlo IS of 9m ID WIth gram stackmg heIght of process counter-flow. All mvolved eqmpment WIll be stopped
29 . Sm The workmg tower IS 9-storeyed structure bmldmg respectively m an order of process flow and the dust removal
200tlh wharf eqmpment for m-takmg gram from system be stopped at the end, whlle 'stop operatiOn button'
waterway: the commg gram IS to be put mto the sllo when It IS pressed. At the time when fallure occurs, the eqmpment
from source to the faulty eqmpment WIll be stopped
1 Shanghm Zhenda Storage Industry and Commerce Company, ImmedIately and the dust removal system wlll also be
Shanghm, P R Chma stopped then.

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 Proceedsnqs of the 7 th International Working Conference on Stored-product Protection - Volume 2

emergency button on the display according to the situation of

Route auto-selection and start-up/stop equipment
faulty equipment
according to the selected silo bins
Silo management system for real-time inventory
The process control can be divided mto 8 divisions
contammg more than 20 processing operations A main local
control
manual control/stop / remote control selection switch IS ThIS functional design IS presented by real-time inventory
located m a central control room (CCR) to prevent local display of both upgraded data of the handled or remained
switch from random operation. Each equipment has ItS products (gram) in silo and SImulation of the level changes
manual mamtenance / stop / remote selection switch PLC of the products in silo based on the weighing -information
controls the operation from the control room, when remote from auto-scales and computer conversion.
position is selected. And local manual switch IS positioned at
'start-up / stop' for equipment maintenance and testing System formation
Several emergency push- buttons are equipped on each floor
of the working tower m order to stop all involved The silo remote control system m Shanghai Gram Depot No.
equipment, If necessary. Complete control system possesses 7 consists a set of COMPAQ486-66 computer as the SCADA
with 3 sub-systems: CCR manual operation, automatic workstation, a power source cabinet, a PLC cabinet with a
operation and simulation Manual operation from CCR - each power distnbutor , MCC cabmet for control of 10 motors, 2
equipment can be started-up / stopped easily as a separated large-screen displays of 37 and 20 inches, a 5 kVA isolated
unit, Computer screen displays all mspection signals and transformer, 3 sets of 1kVA on-lme UPS. Amencan Allen-
equipment real-time status. There's no mterlockmg between Bradley PLC-5125 cor troller consisting of a mam rack and 3
any other process equipment Automatic operation - when expanded racks IS installed into a PLC cabmet
process selection, bin selection, confirmation and start-up In this automatic control system Senes 486 mdustnal
are made, dust removal system WIll automatically be runnmg micro-computer manages bulk gram handling m the silos,
and the related equipment Will also be runrung sequentially while PLC controller fulfill auto-control over the equipment
m an order of process counter-flow m comphance With the operation. It IS equipped With the process SImulation to
requirement of the selected operation route. SImulation IS display equipment real-time status and to send both VIdeo
for the purpose of trammg and exlubition. and audio alarms promptly when failure operation happens to
Each sub-system owns 6 flow-processes such as gram the equipment And the mstallation of local manual switches
intake, outtake, re-circulate from bm to bm, deliver into IS additionally satisfied for the system requirements of
flat warehouse directly, dispatch to flat warehouse, rehabihty, visuahzation and applicability.
synchronous operation of intake and outtake from silo to
warehouse. Route selection can be done freely and easily. System hardware architecture
What the operator should do is Just to choose bms, confirm
and activate by the mouse on the condition of determmed PLC IS used for operation control over the equipment in
operation route. comphance With process demand. PLC commumcates With
SCADA, equipment status can be real-time reflected by
Automatic resolution of alarming, sequential stop,
SCADA and the instructions from SCADA can be real-time
emergency stop on the basis of equipment failure
responded.
Auto-switch and thermo-relay for electrical control system Senes PLC-5 programmable controller produced by
are to keep the equipment from short-circuit and Amencan ALLEN-BRADLEY Co. IS utilized for the PLC
overloading. Speed sensor and belt misahgnment switch are I/O module is of msertable module structure Hardware
eqUlpped on each elevator. Matenal block sWItches are failure can be resolved WIthin a few mmutes. AvaIlable
mounted on each honzontal conveyor. Level sensors are set quantity of separated I/O ranges from 16 to 3072 pomts
up onto each sIlo bm And manual/automatic dIversIOn Estimated I/O points m ShanghaI Gram Depot No.7 are
switches for start / stop of the equipment are mstalled at about 1120, and the virtual I/O points are decreased to 928
each story m workmg tower. All sIgnal information from on- because of our optimIzed deSIgn. So this PLC 5125 type PLC
SIte sensors are transmitted by PLC mput / output With max Supporting 1024 I/O pomts are adopted for the
mterfaces, MCC cabmet operates mvolved eqUlpment This system.
technology reaches the hIgher automation level. PLC 5125 is a large capaCIty programmable controller
ThIS safe and reliable system ensures the dIsplay of the from PLC-5 senes. Its module structure and standard
equipment real-time status and ItS auto-solution for all hardware techmque can be randomly arranged accordmg to
operations, and let the operator make manual emergency the detaIled needs. This PLC has maXImum 21K memory,
stop operation by pressmg on-SIte emergency button and EPR0M13K, selectable 1024 I/O points, 8 racks mcluding

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 Proceedmqe of the 7th International Wm-kmg Conference on Stored-product Protection. - Volume 2

one local rack and 7 remote racks, commumcation interface Configuration mterface can be divided mto following
mcluding DR + and remote I/O interfaces. Executive time three parts:
for program scannmg IS 8ms/1K bit. Available for Automatic mterlockmg control
connection With various modules of PLC-5 senes, for Manual control
communication With multi-networks through DH-PLUS Mimic Simulation
network, for user's program and testing With ladder 2) Parametric defmition of configuration drawing and
diagram, words entry and flow process of system functional interface
control. 7 mam configurations and some ancillary configurations
for route selection and confirmation are drawn m
System software design compliance With the technological requirements of
gram m-takmg , out-taking and re-circulatmg from bm
SCADA configuration control takes configuration to bin. Image display IS made by easy operation
operation interface as man-machine dialogue Interface parametnc defnution IS to estabhsh the

interface relationship and to change the color, shape and Size,

depending on the status of PLC I/O point and the
Configuration momtonng software IS In Touch Version relevant dynamic configuration
5.0 from Amencan Wonderware Co. All functional
operations are carried out by In Touch user's operation and Communication between Britain SIMON electronic
momtonng configuration interface based on a set of 486 scale and PC SCADA
micro-computer under the condition of Windows Traditional The data from electromc scale can be dynamically
mimic panel and operation desk are omitted displayed on PC computer by the communication, and the
The In Touch charactenstics are as follows: inventory can also be reported Simultaneously The
The point number and max configuration patterned communication agreement between SIMON scale
demonstration momtored by the In Touch software are and PC computer IS exclusive Our project engineers have
of no hrrntation , because of the capacity Windows 3.0 made out the explanation of this commumcation agreement
management memory and the expanded storage space through hard-connection of scale and computer and repeated
Perfect configuration function and VIvid display testing and analyzing m light of only one page words from
Vanous alarnung measures of digital alarm, ratio alarm, SIMOM manuals. Based on the achieved communication
dIfference alarm, etc. agreement, DDE Server I/O interface dnve modules are
Functional conversion for 11 database compiled for In Touch configuration momtonng software.
4 real-time curving diagrams, 4 profile trend curves and Thus, the measured data from electronic scale can be
alarming indications play the role of on-lme mstruction reflected on the configuration display, the height of grain
for the operator. level in each bin can be Simultaneously shown via computer
Multi-modes for user data mput calculation, and the inventory can be reported respectively.
Flexi.ble configuration.
The user can establish configuration and version displays
Production check
by operating the simple stnpes, sealed configurations,
words and figures or the comprehensive pagers of alarm, The comrrussionmg and trial operation of this system had
position, trend, combination and totalised drawings been Implemented by the Spnng Festival m 1995, and load
Parametric definition of silo gram ballast (mainly wheat) and large-scale input had
begun since then:
1) Design of configuration control and operation interface

Year In-taking Out-taking Recirculatmg Packing

1995 23,331t 3,634t 17,750t 6677

1996 24,655t 11 ,978t 25,660t 8,986t

1997 408t 4,998t 17,765t 6,230t

Dunng 3-year-operatIon, overall control system IS in good easy-understanding operation mstructions and complete
order, Without failure. It IS well accepted by the users alarming system for equipment failure.
because of ItS fnendly man-machine interface, simphfied

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 Proceeduuje of the 7th International Workmg Conference OIl Stored-product Protection - Volume 2

Thanks to the comprehensive functions of monitoring and

Conclusion controllmg, matenal blockage and equipment stoppage are
largely decreased, labour strength IS greatly reduced and the
ThIS system gams the following advantages: management IS also updated to the further high level
2-grade management system IS adopted and computer Based on the replacement of tradmonal control desk and
comprehensive management system IS estabhshed. Thanks mImIC panel with computer configuration control and
to PLC for its large reduction m quantity of mediate-relay operation interface, this system features: direct digital
and hard-wmng , the rehabihty and flexibihty of the system control, high mterference-free ability, absolute rehabihty
are greatly enhanced and less dimension All working operations can be realized
This system IS suitable not only for the requirement of SIlo by optirmzmg selection of process route direction according
control, but also for the other mdustnal requirements of to technological demands. And the smart operations for auto-
process operations of nee null, flour rmll , feed null, 011 alarm, sequent and emergent stop are created.
refiner, foodstuff factory and etc.. And the system is now The application of this system reduces the labour
contributed to the project of Zhengzhou Mechanization Gram strength, avoids mharmoruous operation lmks and delays
Depot, World Bank Projects of Liuzhou Intermediate Gram resolution for removal of equipment failure , decreases
Depot and Chenglmgji Intermediate Gram Depot. mistakes or errors, provides the technological environment
Smce the system IS put into operation, It has played an for upgrade of equipment utihzation ratio, labour
Important role m speeding up harbour transportation. productivity and capability of gram handling

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