Abstract: This paper proposes a fully integrated dust collection monitoring and alarm system based on WinCC. This system integrates five existing, disparate dust collection control systems , unifying them into a single system. This enables unified data acquisition and processing, displayed on a single human-machine interface for easy operation. When abnormal data occurs in the operating equipment, an audible and visual alarm signal is immediately issued to alert personnel for prompt action. Furthermore, the system constructs a dust collection system operation database, automatically saving and archiving all historical data for easy retrieval later. The stored data can also be used to generate historical trend charts of equipment status. By querying and analyzing historical data, we can promptly grasp the equipment's operating status, identify deterioration trends and abnormal conditions, and provide theoretical data support for normal equipment operation and predictive maintenance.
1. Introduction
"Total Integrated Automation" is a concept proposed by Siemens in response to the new demands of industrial automation process control systems. Its core idea is unified data management, unified standards, and unified interfaces. Today, "Total Integrated Automation" is gradually penetrating into various industries with its irresistible advantages [1-4].
As a member of the tobacco industry, Qingzhou Cigarette Factory is constantly improving its equipment automation and integration. The centralized dust removal station, a crucial system in the factory's power workshop, is primarily responsible for environmental dust removal in the production workshop and providing pneumatic feeding for cigarette production. With the continuous development and upgrading of dust removal equipment, the corresponding control system is becoming increasingly intelligent and digital.
Currently, the monitoring and operation of all dust collection units in the centralized dust collection station are handled by five independent control systems, as shown in Figure 1. These five control systems are provided by different manufacturers, and each control system has its own control cabinet and human-machine interface. This places high demands on the skill level of the operators and has certain drawbacks.
Figure 1 Control system of dust removal unit
These control systems transmit data to the equipment in real time, but lack data storage capabilities. Therefore, the collected data is overwritten by subsequent data transmissions. This requires operators to fill out an "Inspection Record Form" every two hours, each time manually, which is not only labor-intensive and difficult to save and retrieve, but also results in poor data timeliness and offers virtually no reference for real-time equipment status monitoring.
Furthermore, these control systems are installed in the control panel room, which is some distance from the control room. When equipment malfunctions, they cannot be detected and dealt with in a timely manner, and prolonged malfunctions will cause equipment downtime, affecting the workshop's production operations.
Based on the above problems, we designed a fully integrated dust removal monitoring and alarm system. It mainly integrates the existing five control systems, collects and processes data in a unified manner, and displays the data on a single human-machine interface, thereby solving the shortcomings of the existing operating system.
2. System Composition
This system is an innovative development based on the existing system. It uses WinCC for configuration design [5] to realize the communication operation between the host computer and the slave computer. It mainly realizes the following functions:
(1) Integration
The existing five control systems are consolidated into a unified system, enabling unified data collection and processing, and displaying the data on a single human-machine interface for easy operation.
(2) Monitoring
It enables real-time monitoring and alarms, with 100% visibility into operational status. In the event of data anomalies, it immediately issues audible and visual alarm signals, facilitating immediate action by staff.
(3) Record
Build a database for the dust removal system's operation. Automatically save and archive all historical data for easy retrieval later.
(4) Data processing
The stored data is used to create historical trend charts of equipment status, laying the foundation for planned equipment maintenance.
This monitoring and alarm system mainly consists of hardware and software components, as shown in Figure 2. The hardware components primarily include a WinCC host computer, an industrial switch, network cables, and a PLC [6-8]. The host computer communicates with the industrial switch via TCP/IP protocol, and the switch transmits data to the existing five dust removal systems via network cables.
Figure 2 Topology diagram of WinCC fully integrated dust removal monitoring and alarm system
The software mainly implements functions such as monitoring, alarm, data storage, and data analysis. The main functional program modules are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Main functional program modules
3. System Design and Implementation
3.1 Front-end Display Program Design
The front-end display program integrates all the dust collection units in the dust collection hall onto our human-machine interface, where we can clearly see the operating status and parameters of each device. See Figure 4 for details.
Figure 4 Interface of the Qingzhou Cigarette Factory's Integrated Dust Removal Monitoring and Alarm System
Clicking on a dust collector unit will display its specific operating status. Green indicates that the equipment is running, and red indicates that the equipment is stopped. The specific information is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Operating status of the dust removal unit in the molding environment.
3.2 Real-time alarm program design
This alarm program enables real-time monitoring and alarm functions. When abnormal equipment parameters occur, the system issues an audible and visual alarm. The alarm will not disappear until the operator confirms and disables the alarm message, ensuring that no equipment malfunction is missed. The monitoring alarm program is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6 Monitoring and Alarm Procedure
3.3 Historical Database Programming
This program enables the collection and storage of historical data, facilitating data storage and retrieval. It can completely replace paper records and also provides data support for equipment operation monitoring. See Figure 7 for details.
Figure 7 Data storage procedure
3.4 Historical Trend Chart Programming
The historical trend chart program is designed to perform statistical analysis on historical data and display it graphically. By analyzing data trends, the operating status of equipment can be monitored in a timely manner, and trends of equipment deterioration and abnormal conditions can be detected, providing theoretical data support for normal equipment operation and predictive maintenance. Specific information is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8 Historical Trend Chart Programming
4. Conclusion
This integrated system consolidates five existing control systems, enabling unified data acquisition and processing, and displaying the data on a single human-machine interface. This facilitates operation and allows operators to monitor equipment status promptly. When abnormal equipment parameters occur, an audible and visual alarm signal is immediately issued, allowing staff to address the issue immediately.
This system automatically saves and archives historical data in a database, standardizing data management and completely replacing the previous handwritten inspection records. This not only reduces workload but also facilitates the querying and analysis of historical data. Furthermore, the system can generate historical trend charts of equipment status, laying the foundation for planned equipment maintenance.
While this system has completed the acquisition, storage, and processing of existing data from the control system, other parameters of the equipment cannot currently be collected due to hardware limitations. Therefore, the next step is to add appropriate hardware to the dust removal equipment and, in conjunction with the software, collect and process other important parameters of the equipment to further improve equipment monitoring and operation.
