Process Automation Monitoring and Control with IO-Link

A leading oil product manufacturer chose to work with Comtrol on a variety of applications involving IO-Link.

A leading oil product manufacturer chose to work with Comtrol on a variety of applications involving IO-Link. For Application 1, the company wanted to create greater visibility with their storage tank pressure and flow rates. Application 2 needed to track presence detection and flow rates to supervise oil feed into a bottling machine. Application 3 focused on label detection on conveyor lines.

Application 1:

The user desired to monitor their pressure and flow rates of oil being supplied to their holding tanks. They installed a Comtrol IO-Link Master DR-8-EIP inside a cabinet that could communicate with the IO-Link sensors. If the rates were too high, the operators would know remotely through their EtherNet/IP PLC. The Comtrol IO-Link Master also gave them greater sensor diagnostic and status information through its extensive web-interface.

Application 2:

The company was looking to supervise oil supply into bottling machines. Tracking these statistics give the company an ability to monitor the oil viscosity. They chose various sensors of different brands that supported IO-Link in order to accomplish this. Comtrol’s 8-EIP IP67 machine mount master was used to connect the sensors right at the application. This helped reduce wiring and gave them multiple connection points in the area.

Application 3:

Label detection stations were improved to alert when a bottle was missing a label on either side. Color registration sensors were used for this purpose. Presence detection was also used to monitor if bottles were moving along the line. If not, it could mean there is a jam or backup and the process can be stopped. All were connected using Comtrol’s 8-EIP IP67 model right on the conveyor.

Comtrol’s extensive web interface allows them to access the IO-Link devices remotely from their office. They can view sensor diagnostics, and set up the version 1.1 IO-Link sensors for data storage, or Advanced Device Replacement. The data storage feature allows them to easily swap out a sensor and have the master program it automatically. Comtrol’s IO-Link blocks are also programmable by port, in case an application requires digital input or output devices that are not IO-Link.