With its fully automatic car wash systems, AWT Autowaschtechnik focuses on the economical use of energy, water and cleaning chemicals as well as careful cleaning of dirt and process water. And, of course, on the result: consistent cleaning quality with the greatest possible protection of the car surfaces. The intelligent control technology of the car wash systems plays a central role in this. Because even if the systems are standardized, they differ depending on the ambient conditions on site, for example in terms of water hardness or typical vehicle soiling. AWT sells its systems under the brand name Soft Car Wash as turnkey wash centers, not least in order to be able to monitor and optimize all operating parameters.
The control technology of the systems is based on Codesys. The company leaves the development and optimization of the control applications to the system integrator Inasoft, which was involved early on with the Codesys Automation Server, the cloud-based administration platform for control systems.

An Industry 4.0 platform

And so Inasoft set about clarifying important questions on the basis of the Industry 4.0 platform:

- How can Soft Car Wash, as the operator, or AWT, as the system manufacturer, quickly gain an overview of the status and version information of the control systems supplied? After all, the systems are widely distributed - at several dozen locations in Germany and Switzerland.

- How can the application software of the control systems be centrally managed and used as source or executable binary code? How can authorized employees easily gain access to the latest versions - especially when they are not at the company site?

- How can updates to the control software be quickly rolled out to the car washes already installed? And centrally, without employees on site with a PLC programming tool?

- What are the current values of important operating parameters at the various operating sites? How can these parameters be adjusted centrally to optimize the washing results without having to travel to the respective operating site?

- How can a replacement machine be loaded with the previously running application software as quickly as possible after a control system failure? How can losses in operating income be minimized through such a replacement?

Roger Kunz, Managing Director Inasoft

© Inasoft

"We are already considerably simplifying the development, maintenance and management of the control application with the Automation Server. At the same time, we are looking forward to the new features. This will enable us and our customers to achieve savings that will catapult the competitive advantage of car washes to the top!"

In consultation with the customer, the system integrator set up a pilot project to connect the car washes to the Automation Server.

Steps to go

The Automation Server web interface: Registered gateways from different system locations.

© Codesys

Four steps were necessary for Inasoft to connect the Codesys controllers to the Automation Server:

1. create and manage an account in the Automation Server. This can be done online in the Codesys Store.

2. connect the controllers to the Internet. The system integrator already uses a whole range of security measures provided by the system to secure the Codesys-based controllers. After all, the devices and applications should be protected against unauthorized access and misuse. A further level of security is introduced with the Codesys Edge Gateway: This software service separates the control network from the Internet and, for its part, communicates exclusively with the cloud platform in a secure manner. Signing and encryption are based on X.509 certificates and therefore the same procedures that have proven themselves in online banking, among other things. Depending on the system constellation, Inasoft can decide whether the gateway is installed on a selected controller in the network or remotely on dedicated Linux or Windows devices. In either case, the gateway becomes the transition point between the cloud platform and the local control network.

3. register the Edge Gateway in the Automation Server account. One or more Edge Gateways are registered by command in the Automation Server development system. This allows the controllers of different locations to be mapped in one account.

4. integrate controllers via the Automation Server web interface. A network scan for each gateway enables all connected controllers to be found in the web interface, which can be transferred to the Automation Server administration with a click of the mouse. Initially, nothing more needs to be done for the central list view of the devices. This list can be displayed in any browser, for example from PCs or mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. The controllers can also be clearly structured in topology views, for example in map views for the locations in Germany and Switzerland, or graphical overviews of the different system types.