The Client
Tri Tech Refrigeration are a proud leader in the delivery of industrial and commercial refrigeration, and air conditioning systems to clients across Australia. They specialise in design and engineering, construction, service and maintenance, refrigeration equipment leasing and second-hand equipment.
Challenge
IoTics were engaged by Tri Tech Refrigeration to completely decommission, re-design and commission a new control system for a refurbished twin compressor refrigeration plant at a local SA based apple orchard storage facility.
The existing control system was inefficient, unsupportable and greatly outdated, missing many modernised functions and fundamental operational support systems.
Upgrading the control system required careful planning and expertise to ensure correct operation and smooth commissioning to newly installed equipment and instrumentation, as well as minimal disturbance to production and against tight time-lines in line with the upcoming needs of the end-user.
The new plant had to be designed to allow adaptable interfacing to other existing areas of the process plant including secondary instrumentation and controls; many of which were not documented or available through the end-user.
Solution
Leveraging our wide-spread knowledge and experience in the refrigeration sector, we collaborated closely with Tri Tech Engineers to attain a complete understanding of the application and requirements as well as suggesting and implementing many advantageous benefits to the user interface and contributions to operational efficiency of the platform.
Our team de-commissioned the existing core system in conjunction with the challenge of determining the wiring, architecture and configuration of existing undocumented secondary electrical equipment, out of project upgrade scope yet critical to ensuring operation.
The successful restoration project included designing, constructing, programming, installing and commissioning a new control system into the plant as a full turn-key offering.
Further, the design is industry 4.0 ready; allowing the ability for remote support and monitoring of the control system in the field eliminating the need to send expertise to site.
Outcome
The success of the project between all teams resulted in a scalable, highly efficient and intuitive control system and user experience, enabling features and performance tuning that never existed in the previous plant.
The improved design reduces energy consumption and incorporates smart-loading of the refrigeration network increasing efficiency and saving money.
Additionally, the added benefit of a smart / remote-monitoring ready design provides future-proofing through critical plant status, remote alerting and insights through process data.
