Max Wright Ltd - Revolutionary River Abstraction plant in Suffolk

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Revolutionary River Abstraction plant in Suffolk

Project Design and Management by Waveney Pumps Limited

Panel Design, manufacture and Installation by Max Wright Limited

The river Gipping in Suffolk is the water source for a new project involving the abstraction of water for Ipswich and the surrounding area. A number of control panels have been constructed and installed to allow the removal of water from the river to supply a nearby reservoir and treatment works, while maintaining an Enviromental Agency monitored flow downstream. The panels consist of two separate MCC's. These MCC's contain two 132kW DOL (Direct On Line) drives and one 250kW VSD (Variable Speed Drive) each, that work between the two panels in a Duty Assist manner. The panels status is controlled by an Allen Bradley PLC. The remaining cabinets consist of an ICA (Instrumentation Control and Automation) panel, two Bandscreen Control Panels and a Telemetry Backboard.

The ICA panel as the name suggests is the main control centre for the system. It contains a rack mounted Allen Bradley SLC500 with an 5/04 CPU this, as the main control processor, monitors the two MCC's via a DH+ data link. This DH+ link then connects to a Panel Mounted Computer SCADA system (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) supplied and programmed by Max Wright Systems & Software, this SCADA covers the whole site incorporating full control and monitoring of the system. Signals are gathered from another site further upstream via a radio link, and water quality and power monitoring is transfered by MODBUS. In addition there is a further MODBUS radio link to the reservoir which allows the reservoir SCADA sytem to replicate the site SCADA systems operation and functionality.

The image above is of MCC No.1 and shows the the two 132kW DOL drives and the single 250kW VSD drive, also to be noted is the Fire Trace system on the right hand side of the panel. This consists of a supply reservoir of extinguishing material that is fed throughout the panel compartments within a tube that will rupture on contact with flame. All three main panels contain this system.

The image shows MCC No.2 which is the mirror image of MCC No.1.

The ICA Panel as described above contains the main PLC rack. On the front can be seen two chart recorders to give a visual record of events, the Panel Mounted Computer can also be seen along with level meters and lamps. The large amount of computer equipment within the panel necessitated the fitting of an Air Conditioning unit to maintain temperature at a safe level for component function and life. This can be seen on the right hand side of the panel.