A Man Operates a Computer inside a Large Cabinet Focused on Tank Farm Automation in St. Cloud, MN

Project Overview

Switching 1300 IO points over to a new PLC system in less than 4 hours.  CPS did that. Having the new software installed and operational in 2 days.  CPS did that. With 1500 possible flow paths between 70 storage tanks, production equipment, rail car and truck loading and unloading stations we used a pathway optimization algorithm to show the operators the available flow paths.

The operators would simply select the starting raw material tank and the destination tank or equipment.  The tank farm automation system would automatically verify the available pumps, flow meters and pipe paths and then suggest to the operators which paths are available.  After the operator made their selection the system automatically opened/closed valves and started the pumps to transfer the product. Replacing five 25 year old Square D PLC systems over a weekend was a challenge.  CPS did that.

  • Pathway optimization algorithm
  • Existing wiring field verification before start up
  • Custom interface card that reused the old Square D wiring harness – switched over 1300 IO to the new PLC upgrade in less than 4 hours with three CPS field technicians
  • Preinstalled new PLC panel and prewired to existing IO panels for fast conversion
  • Redundancy – GE Redundant PLC, Cimplicity Redundant HMI Servers and Redundant Profinet IO Networks
  • Front Office Integration – Production Scheduling, Reporting
  • Scalable to other tank farms and process equipment