Remote maintenance
Remote and yet monitored
It's a shame about all the energy that is generated and wasted during industrial processes! Waste heat, for example, can be used to generate electricity - and even monitored at remote locations via remote maintenance.
The Norwegian company Viking Heat Engines came up with the idea of shedding new light on the subject of waste heat recovery. Until now, the systems used in this segment have primarily been turbine or scroll-based, which is often impractical in practice as the optimum operating range is very narrow and only allows satisfactory efficiency under very specific ambient conditions.
Viking Heat Engines is therefore pursuing a different approach: together with the company AVL Schrick, the 'CraftEngine' piston expander has been developed. It uses the properties of a refrigerant to drive a piston via its phase change at different pressures. AVL Schrick has been developing combustion engines since the 1960s and has been focusing on alternative concepts such as hybrid drives for over ten years; the company's portfolio also includes combined heat and power plants.
Prototypes of the CraftEngine are currently in use worldwide. A compact 10 kW single-cylinder version ensures that waste heat from 80 °C upwards can be converted into electricity. As the solution is flexible compared to conventional turbine solutions, the waste heat from liquid and gaseous media can be used equally. It can also be operated at partial load without compromising efficiency. Speeds between 500 and 1500 revolutions are tolerated, with an inverter system producing the required mains frequency.
Remote locations
With the current low energy prices in Germany, the amortization times of the reciprocating engine tend to have an inhibiting effect, but the technology is a good solution for remote locations. This is because there is no electricity grid in less developed regions; diesel generators are usually used here to produce energy - but this diesel also has to be delivered. The CraftEngine, on the other hand, is self-sufficient - for example, it uses the waste heat from a wood-burning stove to generate the required electricity at the same time.
An example: when rice is harvested in Colombia, the plant waste is burned and the rice is dried using the resulting heat. However, electrical energy is also required to control this process - until now, this was generated by diesel generators. However, transporting the diesel to the remote rice fields is expensive and risky. By using the CraftEngine, the heat can now be used not only to dry the rice, but also to generate electricity - the result is independence.
The situation is similar with the incineration of fruit residues on plantations in Africa or with mobile waste incineration plants, such as those set up in tent cities after natural disasters. Here, the electricity generated can then be used immediately for drinking water treatment.
Assured availability
Dr. Tim Hamacher helped develop the 'CraftEngine' and is now an authorized signatory of Viking Heat Engines.
© Viking HeatAt remote locations, it is particularly important to automate the service and analysis capability of the machines. On the one hand, availability is important, on the other hand, a technician could only reach the site of operation at considerable expense in terms of time and money. Viking Heat Engines therefore relies on remote maintenance and an internal data connection and communication via an Industrial Ethernet switch. Without these, the company would not deliver at all, explains Dr. Tim Hamacher, authorized signatory of the newly founded Viking Heat Engines Germany in Remscheid, which was established after the development of the CraftEngine.
The 'CraftEngine' is always controlled by 'eWON' remote maintenance routers and switches from Wachendorff Prozesstechnik.
© Wachendorff Process TechnologyWachendorff Prozesstechnik and its remote maintenance router 'eWON' were brought in as a partner. "The remote maintenance solutions from Wachendorff establish an outgoing connection via SSL, which worked straight away in all tested cases - and without making any changes to the customer's IT. Other brands use different methods and can sometimes collide with the customer's IT firewall," Dr. Hamacher suspects. The worldwide availability of the components and the stable connection were also decisive factors in the decision for this partner. "We can't risk losing access to a system and its Ethernet-enabled communication components that are located somewhere in the rainforest," explains Dr. Hamacher.
Software updates can be installed remotely in order to optimize the machines during operation. Service intervals are monitored so that maintenance can be carried out efficiently and components can be replaced before damage occurs to the system. The modular router type 'eWON Flexy' is used for all these applications, which, in conjunction with the unmanaged switch 'ETHSW500', enables the expansion of the available ports, the connection to the internal LAN and also WAN via mobile radio.
Connected via VPN
On request, the router establishes a secure VPN connection to the Talk2M service portal, bypassing the firewall and proxy server. At the other end, the authenticated user establishes a secure VPN connection to the Talk2M portal, which acts as an intermediary between the two endpoints.
The piston expansion motor works according to the ORC principle (Organic Rankine Cycle), in which organic liquids with a low evaporation temperature are used as the working medium, and can convert thermal energy into electrical energy.
© Wachendorff Process TechnologyThe key features of this online service portal are the complete integration of IT security standards and encryption techniques in the form of VPN and HTTPS technology (SSL, TLS) as well as extensive options for central user and device management. No changes to the security settings of the IT network are required, as communication for outgoing connections takes place via standard ports that are normally enabled anyway.
With the help of the Wachendorff router and Talk2M's WebHMI service 'M2Web', Viking Heat Engines is now able to access the visualization of the controller and the data of the connected internal network participants with any end device via a web browser. This enables service technicians to quickly gain an overview and provide assistance - even if they are on the other side of the world. With the help of the 'eCatcher' software, the service technician can connect directly to the controller and adapt the program.
The inverters are addressed via a CAN interface. For control and safety, each inverter is also connected to the system's internal local area network (LAN) via a Wachendorff industrial Ethernet switch. The robust industrial Ethernet switches have been specially developed for industrial environments. Different versions and designs from Ethernet media converters with two ports to switches with nine connection options - optionally as a combination of RJ45 and fiber ports - are available in the unmanaged switch range. In this case, the DIN rail switches with IP30 and Fast Ethernet provide the basis for communication via Industrial Ethernet.
Future plans for the CraftEngine include recording system data as well as comprehensive alarm management in order to make further system optimization and predictive maintenance routine.
In addition to compact 10 kW machines, the CraftEngine workshop currently has new power packs that can deliver up to 40 kW. Together with other industrial partners, large multi-cylinder engines are to be developed in the future in order to achieve outputs in the three-digit kilowatt range.
Author:
Helmut Halmburger is Product Manager Industrial Communication at Wachendorff Prozesstechnik in Geisenheim.
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