The Barge located in the Adriatic containing Mass Measuring’s SCADA system
How do you accurately weigh sand, at 200 tonnes per hour, whilst at sea? This was the challenge facing engineers in constructing a liquid natural gas platform, 15km off the coast of Venice, Italy. They called in the experts, Manchester-based Mass Measuring.
Mass Measuring are no strangers to providing innovative solutions in material handling environments. They were subcontracted by main contractor Foster Wheeler, who were working on the project on behalf of Dutch dredging company Jan de Nul.
The sand is moved to provide ballast to sink the foundation for the liquid natural gas platform. The challenge came in accurately measuring the sand whilst taking into account the motion of the barge at sea.
Mass Measuring implemented a system comprising four identical plants, located on the barge, each of which transfers sand from a hopper to any one of 132 individual cell destinations. It is critical that the correct levels of sand are pumped and that they reach the correct cells in sequence.
The solution was found by Mass Measuring and required a belt weighing machine, attached to an itinerant weighing machine to provide constant weighing data, to counteract the barge’s motion effects.
Water was used as the medium to pump sand into the cells.
In setting about the challenge, Mass Measuring first undertook trials at its Manchester facility. Once the system was fine tuned, it was exported to Antwerp, where a quarry was used to sink the equipment for final testing prior to it being transported by sea to the Adriatic where it was finally installed.
Mass Measuring installed the control systems, which utilised Siemens S7 control gear. Operators at the site interface with the plant via one of three PCs running a Siemens WinCC SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)
The system has not only proved itself, but is fully future proof, having been tested to ensure it can survive for 100 years in its environmental conditions. High levels of reliability needed to be built in by Mass Measuring given the nature of the project.
“We enjoyed the challenge of finding a solution to this particular problem,” stated Tony McGeever, Managing Director of Mass Measuring. “By working closely with our designers, we will be able to deal with the issues raised, design the system and fully prove it before actual install. In 100 years time we know it to be running like clockwork, as that was the way we designed it”, he added.
This is just one of the turnkey systems that Mass Measuring has provided recently to key customers.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
