3 panelview screens-one SLC5/04??

I recently got a job with a small food manufacturing company. We have 3 flour scales that are run from a central panelview screen, and the operators have to leave their stations to run to that screen every time they have to weigh a batch of flour and dump to the mixing bowls. This is a huge loss of time over the course of a week. Is there a way to have 3 remote panelview screen communicating with the SLC-5/04 PLC so they can control each weigh hopper at their stations?

Yes. A 5/04 is a DH+ model. Is the current PV on DH+? If so you can definaely add two more PVs on DH+.

I would have to check, but I do believe it is DH+. How would I go about hooking the other two panelview stations to it? And is the easiest way (fastest) to program the two additional staions just to duplicate the existing program(copy) with panelbuilder32 and dump it into the two new stations?

And thanks for the help!!!!!

Be careful when just coping and dumping HMI programs. Think about this. What happens when you have 2 operators in the same system. (I know it is only designed for one guy, but play along.) You get a new supervisor in the production floor and he is trying to make a name for himself. He decides that 2 operators would be more efficient and on third shift he makes the switch. Now you have 2 (old grumpy operators that say they said to run it and we will I don't care if it breaks or 2 new guys that don't know any better) operators that can Sturdevant and stop the system from different locations. One goes to manual and the other goes to auto. This guy accidentally bumps a screw auger while that guy is trying to clean it out with a long pole.

See where I am going?

Is there a way to have 3 remote panelview screen communicating with the SLC-5/04 PLC so they can control each weigh hopper at their stations?. . . And is the easiest way (fastest) to program the two additional staions just to duplicate the existing program(copy) with panelbuilder32 and dump it into the two new stations?

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Yes, the PLC doesn't care about from where a Start or Stop command is generated. If each of the 3 scale stations need to control only 1 of 3 weigh hoppers, then you need to delete some tag names so that each Panelview only has control over its assigned equipment. Basically copy the Panelview program, but then delete certain tags that need to be specific and not common to all 3 stations. Of course you need safety lockouts to kill all power when anyone is working on the equipment.

Ok, I'll plan it that way then. There is a lockout on the main panel, and I will install labels at the other two stations directing them to lockout the power there. This company is only 7 years old, and they have doubled in size in the last two years, and will double again in the next two. I am in the process of getting all of the software and cables needed for the PLC's (I already have panelbuilder32). There is a LOT of automation that needs to be implimented here...almost everything in the plant is relay logic, even though there are SLC 5/04 PLC's everywhere!

Hey Jeff...yes, I see your point, however the flour is transported by a blower (no augers in the system), and there is a "que" funcion that will not start transport to a system downstream from one that is already loading until the first one in the que completes. Everything goes through diverter valves to the weigh hoppers, and the program should be pretty simple. I don't have the cables in-house yet to upload the program and look at it yet but the functions are very simple and few. I would of course wire e-stops at each station all tied through the main e-stop.

I was being hypothetical on a lot of it. I wanted to make you think more than anything. Stop and think about the worst case scenarios. We all live in the real world. I have seen guys use a long pole to clear a bridge in a flour hopper. Should it have been locked out sure. Have the majority of people made a semi educated risk assessment. They may not know that it was a risk assessment. As soon as they say well I am out away from the hazard and can't get hurt here because I have a tool in the hazard not my body part.

Just be aware of the different areas of the system. You may want to break the system up into zones or areas.
Example 1st Hopper and valve to the discharge of the first sifter =zone 1. The 2nd, 3rd & 4th hopper and valves zone to the mill=zone 2. Etc.etc.
We had a mixing tower that fed 3 lines and then they added 2 more towers so each line had it's own tower.

Does turning the system to manual in one area affect the entire system? Is there a mixing operation that shouldn't be interrupted?
Obviously I don't know anything about your system. I just want to make you think about a few things before you make a quick decision and cost yourself or your employer a lot of work and or time/money.

YOU SHOULD ALWAYS FOLLOW ALL APPLICABLE SAFETY RULES AND REGULATIONS.

Jeff,

I totally agree. I always think safety first. I have been in the industrial side for over 30 years, most of that in maintenance before I went to engineering. Nothing can be made "idiot proof", because as soon as you think it is an idiot will come along and prove you wrong...but you can make it as idiot-resistant as possible!

In our application we have a silo that feeds through a blower system. This one blower system feeds one line that runs through 3 zones. The way it is set up with the diverter valves limit switches, zone 1 diverter valve must show closed before it allows transport to zone 2, and both zone 1 and 2 must show closed before it allows transfer to zone 3. If any of the limit switches hang, the system alarms and will not allow the blower to come on. Like I said, it is a very simple system with just the silo airlock, the blower system (which runs on a count-down timer for a minute after closing valves to clean the system), and 3 weigh hoppers in series. Right now there aren't enough e-stops to suit me...and that will also be rectified during this as well.

Nothing can be made "idiot proof", because as soon as you think it is an idiot will come along and prove you wrong...but you can make it as idiot-resistant as possible!

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All too true words of wisdom.

Stu....