Independent Liquor Honeywell Burner Air Ratio Control Upgrade Project
Improved Gas efficiency, 100% reliability and precise control over the Fuel-Air mixture was achieved with the Honeywell ControLinks System.
The upgrade was installed and commissioned in one day allowing the boiler to go back on line that same day with-out any loss in production.
Project Overview
- Independent Liquor Honeywell Burner Air Fuel Ratio Controller Upgrade,
Papakura, Auckland.
- Scope was the Removal of old unreliable Jack Shaft Air Fuel controller and replaced with new Honeywell ControLinks electronic Air Fuel Ratio Controller.
- Athenry Electrical Ltd designed a working electrical document to allow the Honeywell ControlLinx integration to existing Siemens LGK16 Burner management system.
- Project Value: Approximately $20,000.00
Project History
The John Thompson Multipac 10MW Fire Tube boiler supplies steam to the process and is a critical component to this process. "No Steam, No Production", and can cost 10s of thousands of dollars per hour if the boiler faults. Therefore reliability is crucial.
The gas fired burner was upgraded some years prior by others. They were never able to commission it successfully.
With a rapidly expanding production base and huge growth in the brewing sector, we were putting more and more pressure on our steam requirements which was causing major reliability issues.
Specialised industry experts were called as the burner was becoming more and more unreliable. Blowing flame out when steam demand increased and locking out control. When demand increased Inaccurate fuel and air mix increased allowing higher flame intensity, this would cause violent vibration which would resonate through boiler combustion chamber giving the appearance of being very unstable causing a safety issue. Any one in attendance would panic and the boiler would generally lockout.
We employed the services of a combustion engineer to assist in tuning the Jack Shaft combustion control with minimal success. Boiler engineers stripped the air ducts, damper, burner diffuser, and gas train components in hope to discover obvious mechanical problems. To no avail. It was when the old modutrol fuel ratio drive motor failed a couple of weeks later and caused a 6 hour delay in production that management decided to look at replacement options.
Independent Liquor Engineer took a look at his options. Athenry Electrical ltd was requested to meet Honeywell on site with the view of utilising their new to the NZ market ControLinks system.
Achievements
- As the Honeywell ControLinks is designed to integrate with the Honeywell 7800 series Burner Management Controller, Athenry Electrical set about designing a retrofit method which reduced cost and down time.
- After some bench simulation, we committed ourselves to a date and time for changeover.
- Athenry Electrical previously installed the new controller adjacent to existing and only needed to isolate power and integrate wiring, which was achieved in a couple of a hours.
- After about 3 or 4 hours of ironing out small issues, we had successfully plotted a new Air / Fuel curve and the boiler was back in operation.
- The client was ecstatic. The exact energy efficiency is not known, but they have now increased production with additional beverage brewing and pasteuriser, complete with filling facility and this has minimally increased gas consumption costs.
- The big factor was "RELIABILITY" and this was achieved due to the ControLinks accuracy, "0.1 degree". Call outs due to breakdowns have been eliminated to date.
The client was at the end of his tether all the industry experts had had a go at solving the problem but all were at a loss with what to do next.
Quality, Technical and Innovation
ControLinks by Honeywell allowed the removal of the conventional Jack-Shaft mechanical linkage system giving them all the problems. It was replaced with separate precision drive motors for the fuel and air control with 0.1 degree positioning accuracy. The ControLinks controller contains the programmed fuel-air ratio curve ensuring the motors are always positioned correctly.
Customer Feedback
- With rapidly expanding production base and huge growth in the brewing sector, we were putting more and more pressure on our steam requirements which was causing major reliability issues.
- The mechanical air/fuel mixture system struggled to cope with varying production demands resulting in high gas usage, poor efficiency and burner lockouts.
- For us, the upgrade to Honeywell’s ControlLinx system was a last resort and to some degree a leap of faith as there were no similar system in operation in New Zealand. Had the system not worked we had no plan B available to us.
- The upgrade to Honeywell’s ControLinks system has eliminated all the issues we were experiencing.
- We now have no vibration issues and no burner lockouts. The boiler is no longer constantly subjected to rapid changes in demand due to the PID pressure control system which has resulted in more stable boiler temperatures and pressures (another major advantage).
- Since the installation by Athenry and Honeywell we have had zero production down time due to boiler issues. From a production point of view, the ultimate result.
Energy Efficiency
The new system has been so successful that for minimal increase in gas consumption they have seen a large increase in production.
Health and Safety
The Boiler is no longer vibrating off its foundations as a call for steam was requested which was a major concern to anyone near it.
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