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,

Introduction

pre-cleaned

rail wagon directly

Vertical silo fmds ItS great
feeds,

foodstuff

charactenstics
circulauon,

and

favors in the field of gram,

light

mdustnes

of high mecharuzation,
less area occupation,

because

of

large capacity,

etc

Nowadays,

storage

ItS

quick

and auto-control
coordmated
equipment
and

systems

control

the

cleanmg,

control

contmuous normal operation

module IS exchangeable

PLC

Without mistakes

man-machme

mterface

IS adopted

configuration

mterface

the condinon

operation

m case of

Computer

machme mterface makes the features

dynamic display and user's fnendlmess.

Shanghai Mechanization

The technological
flat warehouse,

mstantaneous

WIth full production

cleaner,

WIth dust-removal

lme of
wharf

the technological
electncal

protection

put productiOn

relevant eqmpment
respectively

m-takmg

gram

from

IS pressed.
from

Industry

and

Commerce

Company,

machmes,

and pre-

separator

to meet

for large-sized silo operation,

safety measures.
dust-removal

To

system

then the other

m an order of

All mvolved eqmpment WIll be stopped

m an order of process flow and the dust removal

system be stopped at the end, whlle 'stop operatiOn button'

the commg gram IS to be put mto the sllo when It

Storage

weighing

be turned on respectively

bmldmg

Chma

System process IS

should be turned on at the very begmmng,

and 12 star

The workmg tower IS 9-storeyed structure

Zhenda

on the

of central control

operation

and anti-explosion

29 . Sm

Shanghm, P R

computer

and manual modes are adopted

lme mto operatiOn,

process counter-flow.

Shanghm

m an order of

stop respectively

mtegration

system and magnetic

requirement

heIght of

and
these

the SIlo m Shanghai Gram Depot No.7 IS equipped

sllos. ThIS SIlo IS of 9m ID WIth gram stackmg

waterway:

An

In addition to conveyors,

and

mamly wheat and maize.

for

operation,

Start-up, stop of the interlocking equipment

according to technological flow

ThIS concrete vertical sllo IS composed of 33 bms mcludmg

eqmpment

normal

conversed process flow and to be turned off in an order of

for convemence of mamtenance

SIght,

transportation

speCIfIC raIlway and 10,000t-grade

wharf

re-

SImultaneously displayed by the computer

21 SIlos (m 3 parallel rows WIth 7 sllos each)

200tlh

functional

lme are auto-controlled

Dunng

and local SWItch, automatic

man-

design IS m focus on 35,000- ton silo and

ItS workmg tower IS mtegrated

the

weighmg ,

equipment are to be turned on respectively

Gram Depot bears the responsibility

storage of free flow bulk gram,

PLC

baSIS of failure condition

Brief introduction of silo process

of receivmg , dispatchmg , intermediate

on production
by

stop and completely

under

of direct

to fulfill

pre-cleanmg ,

makes ItS solutions by alarmmg , sequential stop, emergency

functions

configuration

tower

process flow. At the time when failure occurs,

desk,

and momtonng

based on the micro-computer

of Wmdows.

difference occurs on the

from bm to bm and out-taking

mterlocked

Its mserted

All operational

are carried out by SCADA user's

m-takmg ,

All equipment

20-year

mImIC panel and operation

for

IS equipped at

Functional system

IS specifically

withm a few minutes,

of traditional

workmg

of

handlmg

This PLC ensures

system

en-masse cham conveyors and eleva tors are

m the

circulatmg

hardware failure due to any accident,

Instead

bel t conveyors,
mstalled

for the

gram

for dust-removal

the places where gram gravity-drop

weighmg , ventilatmg

HIgh-reliable

designed for mdustnal

necessary

vanous

or to be packed m flat warehouse

Aspirator

operations

the electnfication

are absolutely

over

of conveymg,

dust-removing

operation,

to be sent to

200Uh equipment such as 2 sets of scales, a pre-cleaner,

and

the SIlo storage m proportion to general capacity of Chma

gram depot IS annually mcreased
To realize silo mechanization

and/or

processmg route.

concrete

and steel plated silos are widely used for gram storage,

by two 200tlh-

and weighed

production lmes m the workmg tower,

At the time when fallure occurs,

source

ImmedIately
stopped then.

1919

to

the

and the

faulty
dust

eqmpment
removal

the eqmpment

WIll be

system

stopped

wlll also be

Proceedsnqs of the 7 th International

Working Conference on Stored-product Protection - Volume 2

Route auto-selection and start-up/stop

according to the selected silo bins
The

process

control

can be divided

mto

located m a central
switch

control room (CCR)

from random

manual mamtenance

operation.

Silo management system for real-time inventory

control

A main local

/ remote control selection

switch IS

to prevent

Each equipment

ThIS functional design IS presented

local

display of both upgraded

has ItS

/ stop / remote selection switch

PLC

controls the operation from the control room, when remote

position is selected.
'start-up

/ stop'

for equipment

with

tower

3 sub-systems:

screen

System formation

stop

all

involved

The silo remote control system m Shanghai Gram Depot No.

7 consists a set of COMPAQ486-66 computer as the SCADA

operation,

automatic

large-screen

signals and

There's no mterlockmg
confirmation

In this automatic

be runnmg

m comphance

of the selected operation

route.

micro-computer

control

manages

while PLC controller

With the

SImulation IS

for the purpose of trammg and exlubition.

Each sub-system

3 sets of 1kVA on-lme UPS. Amencan Allen-

expanded racks IS installed into a PLC cabmet

Will also be runrung sequentially

m an order of process counter-flow

a 5 kVA isolated

Bradley PLC-5125 cor troller consisting of a mam rack and 3

and start-up

are made, dust removal system WIll automatically

displays of 37 and 20 inches,

transformer,

between

Automatic operation - when

bin selection,

and the related equipment

power distnbutor , MCC cabmet for control of 10 motors,

/ stopped easily as a separated

displays all mspection

a power source cabinet, a PLC cabinet with a

workstation,

Manual operation from CCR - each

any other process equipment

process selection,

to

CCR manual

equipment real-time status.

requirement

in silo and SImulation of the level changes

in silo based on the weighing -information

from auto-scales and computer conversion.

Complete control system possesses

equipment can be started-up

Computer

products (gram)
of the products

maintenance and testing

m order

If necessary.

operation and simulation

unit,

inventory

push- buttons are equipped on each floor

working

equipment,

by real-time

data of the handled or remained

And local manual switch IS positioned at

Several emergency
of the

button on the display according to the situation of

faulty equipment

8 divisions

contammg more than 20 processing operations

manual control/stop

emergency

equipment

operation.

Senes

486 mdustnal

bulk gram handling

fulfill auto-control

It IS equipped

display equipment

system

m the silos,

over the equipment

With the process

real-time

SImulation

to

status and to send both VIdeo

and audio alarms promptly when failure operation happens to

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

flat

directly,

rehabihty,

warehouse

synchronous

owns 6 flow-processes

operation

warehouse.

dispatch

to

flat

of intake and outtake

Route selection

warehouse,

visuahzation

for the

system

requirements

of

and applicability.

from silo to

System hardware architecture

can be done freely and easily.

What the operator should do is Just to choose bms, confirm

and activate by the mouse on the condition of determmed
operation route.

PLC IS used for operation

SCADA, equipment

Automatic resolution of alarming, sequential stop,

emergency stop on the basis of equipment failure
Auto-switch and thermo-relay
are

to

keep

overloading.

the

from

short-circuit

Speed sensor and belt misahgnment

eqUlpped on each elevator.

mounted on each honzontal
up onto each sIlo bm

Matenal
conveyor.

Senes

and

mterfaces,

are

transmitted

by

PLC

output

MCC cabmet operates mvolved eqUlpment

equipment
operations,

real-time

status

Estimated

stop operation

by pressmg

produced

module structure

Hardware

WIthin a few mmutes.

AvaIlable

I/O points m ShanghaI Gram Depot No.7

Supporting

are

to 928

1024 I/O pomts are adopted for the

PLC 5125 is a large capaCIty programmable

from PLC-5

for all

button

by

system.

make manual emergency

on-SIte emergency

controller

because of our optimIzed deSIgn. So this PLC 5125 type PLC

With max

This

the dIsplay of the

and ItS auto-solution

and let the operator

programmable

about 1120, and the virtual I/O points are decreased

technology reaches the hIgher automation level.

ThIS safe and reliable system ensures

by

quantity of separated I/O ranges from 16 to 3072 pomts

are mstalled at
/

reflected

from SCADA can be real-time

I/O module is of msertable

dIversIOn

mput

PLC-5

failure can be resolved

each story m workmg tower. All sIgnal information from onSIte sensors

can be real-time

in
With

Amencan ALLEN-BRADLEY Co. IS utilized for the PLC

switch are

Level sensors are set

switches for start / stop of the equipment

over the equipment

PLC commumcates

responded.

block sWItches are

And manual/automatic

status

SCADA and the instructions

for electrical control system

equipment

control

comphance With process demand.

and

senes.

Its

module

structure

controller

and standard

hardware techmque

can be randomly arranged

the detaIled needs.

This PLC has maXImum 21K memory,

EPR0M13K,

1920

selectable

1024 I/O points,

accordmg to

8 racks mcluding

Proceedmqe of the 7th International

one local rack and 7 remote racks,

mcluding DR
for

program

connection

scannmg

IS 8ms/1K

bit.

modules

of PLC-5

With

multi-networks

user's

program

time

Available
senes,

through

and

testing

Configuration

interface

Executive

With various
for

diagram,
control.

commumcation

and remote I/O interfaces.

communication
network,

Wm-kmg Conference on Stored-product Protection. - Volume 2

can be divided mto following

for

Automatic mterlockmg

for

Manual control

DH-PLUS
With

mterface

three parts:
control

Mimic Simulation
2) Parametric defmition

ladder

words entry and flow process of system functional

System software design

of configuration

and some ancillary configurations

for route

and confirmation

selection
With the

technological

gram m-takmg , out-taking

to bin.

Image

Interface

5.0

from

momtonng

Amencan

software

IS In Touch Version

Wonderware

Co.

All

configuration

micro-computer

interface

are as follows:

The

and

point

number

demonstration

momtored

max

Traditional

The

configuration

management

by the In Touch software are

data

from

electromc

from bm

IS to estabhsh

the

shape and Size,

of PLC I/O point and the

scale

can

be

dynamically

by the communication,

inventory

reported

can

also

be

communication

through hard-connection

and the

Simultaneously

agreement

IS exclusive

made out the explanation

function and VIvid display

between

The

SIMON scale

Our project engineers

of this commumcation

have

agreement

of scale and computer and repeated

testing and analyzing m light of only one page words from

Vanous alarnung measures of digital alarm, ratio alarm,

SIMOM manuals.

etc.

agreement,

Functional conversion for 11 database

4 real-time curving diagrams,

on the status

and PC computer

memory and the expanded storage space

dIfference alarm,

defnution

and to change the color,

displayed on PC computer
patterned

of no hrrntation , because of the capacity Windows 3.0

Perfect configuration

and re-circulatmg

IS made by easy operation

Communication between Britain SIMON electronic

scale and PC SCADA

mimic panel and operation desk are omitted

The In Touch charactenstics

m
of

functional

based on a set of 486

under the condition of Windows

are drawn
requirements

relevant dynamic configuration

operations are carried out by In Touch user's operation and

momtonng

display

parametnc

relationship
depending

Configuration

and

interface
7 mam configurations
compliance

SCADA configuration control takes configuration

operation interface as man-machine
dialogue
interface

drawing

Based on the achieved

DDE Server

I/O interface

compiled for In Touch configuration

4 profile trend curves and

Thus,

alarming indications play the role of on-lme mstruction

for the operator.

the measured

reflected

Multi-modes for user data mput

data from

on the configuration

communication

dnve

modules are

momtonng

electronic

software.

scale

can be

display,

the height of grain

level in each bin can be Simultaneously

shown via computer

calculation,

and the inventory

can be reported respectively.

Flexi.ble configuration.
The user can establish configuration
by operating

the

simple

stnpes,

and version displays

sealed

words and figures or the comprehensive

position,

trend,

Production check

configurations,
pagers of alarm,

The comrrussionmg

combination and totalised drawings

been Implemented

and trial operation

of this system

had

by the Spnng Festival m 1995, and load

of silo gram ballast (mainly wheat) and large-scale input had

Parametric definition

begun since then:

1) Design of configuration

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,
order,

Without failure.

because of ItS fnendly

control and operation interface

overall control system IS in good

It IS well accepted
man-machine

by the users

interface,

easy-understanding

operation

mstructions

alarming system for equipment failure.

simphfied

1921

and

complete

Proceeduuje of the 7th International

Workmg Conference

Stored-product Protection - Volume 2

OIl

Thanks to the comprehensive

Conclusion

controllmg,

matenal

largely decreased,
ThIS system gams the following advantages:
2-grade

management

comprehensive

system

management

IS adopted

management
and computer

system IS estabhshed.

to PLC for its large reduction

m quantity

and hard-wmng , the rehabihty

and flexibihty of the system

mImIC panel

of mediate-relay

control,

control,

refiner,

of nee null,

alarm,

And the system is now

The

flour rmll , feed null,

to the project of Zhengzhou Mechanization Gram

Depot, World Bank Projects of Liuzhou Intermediate

Depot and Chenglmgji Intermediate

Smce the system IS put into operation,

Important

role

m speeding

up

Gram

Gram Depot.
harbour

It has played an

transportation.

control desk and

configuration

this system

control

ability,

absolute

All working operations

and

direct digital

features:

rehabihty

can be realized

by optirmzmg selection of process route direction according

requirements of
011

mdustnal

foodstuff factory and etc..

contributed

of SIlo

IS greatly reduced and the

of tradmonal

computer

high mterference-free

and less dimension

but also for the other

process operations

with

interface,

operation

are greatly enhanced

This system IS suitable not only for the requirement

labour strength

and

stoppage are

IS also updated to the further high level

Based on the replacement

Thanks

of monitoring

functions

blockage and equipment

to technological demands. And the smart operations for autosequent and emergent

stop are created.

application

system

of

this

strength,

avoids mharmoruous

resolution

for removal

reduces

operation

labour

failure

, decreases

mistakes or errors,

provides the technological

environment

for

equipment

upgrade

productivity

1922

of

of equipment

the

lmks and delays

utihzation

and capability of gram handling

ratio,

labour