The slightly different 'wooden path'
Switchgear construction for a wood extraction plant
What do food for breeding animals and railway wagons have in common? Nothing, you think. Nothing yet, we say.
The Bern University of Applied Sciences is researching how low-emission adhesives with high fire resistance can be obtained from wood. These can be used in the construction of railway carriages. In addition, wood ingredients can be used as additives in animal food. There they lead to a reduction in bacterial growth and reduce parasite infestation in breeding animals. A wood extraction plant is used to extract the ingredients from the bark of the wood. Blumenbecker supplied the switchgear cabinet and software for this pilot plant in Switzerland.
Experience and competences secure initial order
Blumenbecker can refer back to decades of experience in the chemical and explosion-proof sectors. Testing and manufacturing is done according to the UL 508A and UL 698 standards. This was one of the decisive factors for this first order, explains electrical engineer Petar Petrov at DEVEX Verfahrenstechnik GmbH. "Blumenbecker's quality and competence are convincing," he adds.
DEVEX designs and builds turnkey factories, machines and plants. One focus is the manufacture of extraction plants used to extract essential oils, oil resins, flavours, natural extracts and proteins. For this project, DEVEX received all automation solutions from Blumenbecker from a single source: engineering, switchgear construction, software, visualisation and commissioning.
"The wood extraction plant itself has actuators and sensors with different types of explosion protection. The challenge was to combine everything in a switchgear cabinet. The system can be operated via a touch screen, which is also approved for the explosion area," explains project manager Uwe Podlich.
» Blumenbecker convinces with quality and competence. We can recommend Blumenbecker in any case. «
EIP.mobile for digital plant documentation
The Blumenbecker app EIP.mobile was integrated in the realisation of the project. This is an app for digital plant documentation. Components of a system can be clearly identified and digitally retrieved via the equipment identification code or the QR code applied. From there, you can access the entire assembly, its components and the associated manuals. In addition, the circuit diagram, the assembly plan or the layout plan is displayed directly in EIP.mobile.
Originally, the use of EIP.mobile was only planned for the components of the Blumenbecker switchgear cabinet. "We presented the mobile solution to DEVEX. The customer was so enthusiastic that we were asked to extend the app to the entire plant," says Podlich happily. For this purpose, the components of the plant were marked with QR codes. Thanks to EIP.mobile, all information about the plant is directly available digitally.
From the wooden path to practice
The switchgear was built at Blumenbecker's modern production facility in Beckum. Since November 2020, the switchgear cabinet, including the operating portal and the associated wood extraction plant, has been in the Bern University of Applied Sciences - to the customer's satisfaction: "We can definitely recommend Blumenbecker to others," says Petrov.
Who knows? Maybe we will soon be sitting in railway carriages which are held together with adhesives manufactured from local woods. Away from normal wood processing to a 'wood path' of a different kind
