Prosoft - A Brains Brewery Application Story

Whether it's Football or Rugby in Great Britain, the two entirely different sports have one thing in common – many of the spectators like drinking their beer. One of the prominent beers in the United Kingdom is SA, manufactured by Brains Brewery. SA recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Its tagline or slogan is "It wouldn't be Wales without SA."

Brains Brewery in Wales, founded in 1882, has the beer to satisfy any beer connoisseur, from those who prefer unique craft varieties, such as Calypso and Bragging Rights, to those who like more traditional ales like SA. Brains has a wide variety of brews.

Brains, based in Cardiff, Wales, decided it was time to upgrade its yeast handling control process with a Rockwell Automation® CompactLogix™ system. We all know how important yeast is to beer and Brains postponed the upgrade until after the Christmas festive period to avoid downtime. The point here is that downtime, as is often the case in any automation system, was not an option.

Mike Cooper of IAC Engineering proposed using ProSoft Technology's Remote I/O to Ethernet (AN-X2-DHRIO) Gateway to allow the CompactLogix™ system to communicate with six racks of 1771 Remote I/O over Ethernet. He met ProSoft Technology Regional Sales Manager Myles Heinekey at a Rockwell Automation event in Birmingham. “The main aim of the project was to upgrade two PLC2 Controllers, which were 27 years old. Limited downtime was available, only three days, so the old 1771 I/O racks would be retained, but two obsolete PLC-2® controllers were replaced by the CompactLogix™.” The commissioning time was reduced massively because the existing Remote I/O cards and wiring could be retained,” Mike Cooper noted. “Only the processor and software needed to be added and commissioned, not the field wiring.”

With ProSoft Technology’s solution, Brains Brewery was able to reduce project costs by installing a CompactLogix™ PAC system. Without the ProSoft Technology gateway, a new I/O system would need to be added and wired in. ProSoft Technology's solution didn't just reduce the project cost, it reduced it by 40 percent in terms of the other option. One additional, yet important benefit of the solution is the system still retains the 1771 Remote I/O cards with the CompactLogix™ processor. This means no additional spare I/O cards need to be carried, and none of the Remote I/O needed to be rewired.

Finally ProSoft Technology's solution allowed for flexibility at Brains Brewery's automation system. "The Remote I/O to Ethernet gateway allowed a great level of flexibility, so the different racks of I/O could be moved on to a network and controlled from different PLCs, if required," Mike Cooper added. "The ProSoft gateway also gets the I/O data onto Ethernet which can be accessed anywhere on the plant network at a higher speed."