11 Jul Iritron awarded international-based, multimillion-rand contracts for Furnace Control
11 July 2023: Engineering, integration and manufacturing company, Iritron, has announced that it has been awarded two international-based, multimillion-rand Furnace Drying projects.
Iritron, with extensive expertise in Furnace Drying control systems, and provides solutions in the fields of electrical, instrumentation, control systems and decision support systems, has been appointed by an original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) for a project in Canada and one in Angola.
The special OEM is a global specialist and supplier of bulk material handling and separation equipment for mines and specialises in high-tech engineering for the drying and processing industries.
“We have collaborated on a number of projects with the OEM, and provide specialist in-house engineering expertise as well as products specific to these complex drying projects. By designing an intelligent thyristor control system, we provide immediate savings by reducing the cost of expensive, high maintenance capacitors and freeing up transformer capacity, making the plant more cost effective,” states Andre Roeloffze, Managing Director, Iritron.
Iritron has been appointed to supply the control system utilising Eurotherm’s award winning EPower™ that offers a patented predictive load management control strategy utilising a high-speed CanBUS network. It continually samples data that allows the main drive to distribute furnace zone firing cycles, keeping demand as low as possible (while maintaining product quality).
In addition, through advanced diagnostics, the resistance of each element is continually measured for possible local failure giving maintenance teams pro-active warning to correct that element phase and remediate an unbalanced load on the star connection. All communication protocols are supported including ProfiBus; ProfiNet, DeviceNet etc., for early warning to PLC, DCS and SCADA systems.
The system will include machine-learning and artificial intelligence, with Statistical Process Control, Special Cause Variation, detecting and predicting anomalies, smart alarms and indicating trends in operational areas, all focused on overall equipment efficiency and preventative maintenance.
Within the mining, minerals and metals clusters, processes utilising kilns, ovens, glass lehr baths and furnaces for extracting, drying, melting and heat treatment, are large consumers of electricity.
“The current energy crisis facing many countries across the world, makes it increasingly more critical to implement energy efficient systems and processes. Implementing digital transformation will result in efficiencies and ultimately energy savings,” explains Roeloffze.
He concludes: “It is important to not only reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs but also reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Environmental, Social and Governance – ESG – considerations are becoming important when investors are measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of a company.”
ENDS
About Iritron
Iritron is a Level 2, B-BBEE empowered engineering, integration and manufacturing company providing solutions in the fields of electrical, instrumentation, control systems and decision support systems. We have extensive local and international engineering expertise and a proven track record across various industries.
Contact:
Gerhard Greeff
Divisional Manager PM&C | Iritron
Contact: 082 654 0290
Email: Gerhard.greeff@iritron.co.za
Media Contact:
Charles Poulter
Director | SWM Communications
Contact: 076 812 8429
Email: charles@swmcommunications.co.za