Aaron Oil, a company active in used oil recycling and petroleum-based hydrocarbon reclamation sector, has discussed with ENGraphted Inc. the development of a new generation route collection truck.
Aaron Oil wanted to track gallon amounts of various liquids pumped through a collection truck by analyzing the liquid as it was being loaded onto the truck. This real time analysis data is used to route different waste products to their respected holding compartments on the truck, and tally up individual totals for the various liquids being pumped onboard.
It is common to find various liquids that are stratified within a single "waste" tank at a customer location. Some of the stratified liquids may be considered a liability, while other layers may be considered an asset.
They needed to separate these layers in real time, in order to provide an honest report as well as introduce a high level of handling efficiency.
To do that, Aaron Oil used a Unitronics Vision560™ PLC with a V200-18-E6B snap-in I/O module. The V560 PLC was able to provide the specific communication features, I/O support as well as the HMI preferences that they needed for their application. The PLC handled all of the onboard automation and data collection on the truck.
The PLC accepted an input from an in-line multi-parameter analyzer to keep a running total of various liquids pumped through the truck and to route various liquids into different compartments. It also provides usable output to an onboard PC for real time invoicing purposes, in order to give the customer the most accurate gallon amounts.
This information is also communicated on a real time basis to a central office location via secure cellular VPN for accounting purposes as well. Finally, this information is shared with an external GPS based driver tracking system to promote efficient dispatching and to track driver performance.
The PLC also handled other mission critical decisions and proprietary processes which cannot be replaced by human operation. The operator has the ability to override certain automated tasks at different security levels.
"The Unitronics V560 was a unified solution that was rugged and suitable for an on-road application," said Guy Chetrit, PE, of ENGraphted. "A specific set of I/Os was required, as well as the ability to communicate with other devices onboard, and handle network protocols. The V560 met these requirements and more. Other benefits of using the V560 PLC were the HMI features, the adaptability of the I/O modules that were compatible with this PLC and the ease of programming."
Marco Marangoni
