Control Panel and Process Automation - Design & Build

With over 35 years of experience in the Process Control, Water Treatment and Effluent Treatment sectors, the engineers at Automated Water & Effluent Ltd are experts at defining and building multi-parameter control panels and process automation systems for use in industry.

As a leading supplier in instrumentation for the measurement and control of electrochemical processes, with parameters including pH, Redox, Conductivity, Dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity, Temperature, Flow and Level, we understand that a process automation solution is reliant on the accuracy of the measurement taking place.

We combine our precision instrumentation into control panels and systems to provide accurate, repeatable and dependable process measurements.  Depending upon the requirements of your process, these can provide any number of outputs to control single phase or 3 phase equipment, whether it's actuated valves, solenoid valves, solenoid driven dosing pumps, mechanical dosing pumps, industrial mixers or your own process control devices.

Control Panel and Process Automation Design

Working in consultation with your engineers, our control panel and system engineers will develop a P&ID (Process and Instrumentation Diagram) outlining how a control panel will integrate into an existing process, or will work as a stand alone device.

During the design stage, our engineering team can liaise nationally or internationally with fabricators or plant manufactures, to ensure that the sensors, industrial mixers and other elements of control equipment can be successfully integrated into a design.  If required, we can modify or re-engineer existing sensors or sensor holders to ensure compliance with specific regulations (ATEX or Hazardous Area usage, Pharmaceutical Hygiene standards, IAEA for the nuclear sector or hygienic fittings for food and beverage sectors, etc.) or to meet specific requirements, such as remote locations, marine applications, or for export to world markets.

The design team will ensure that the safety of the plant and operating staff is paramount by ensuring that safeguards are in place for the machinery operated and that e-stops and other safety requirements are adhered to.

Once the design and P&ID drawings are signed off, we can look at specifics involved within the provision of the control panel, keeping you informed, every step of the way.

PLC Programming For Water Treatment, Effluent Treatment and Process Control

Our in-house PLC programmers are experts in systems design for use with water treatment, effluent treatment and process control applications.  Combining efficient and well laid out UX in HMI screens through to engineering specific knowledge for electrochemical parameters.  Whether it's the logarithmic nature of pH correction or ensuring that the menu is well laid out so that an operator can see process critical information at a glance, we make sure that the software we write is dependable for even the most challenging industrial process.

Control Panels with Restrictive Access

As well as designing and building control panels which can be relied upon for process specific applications,  we remain aware that people will still be involved in any process automation task.  As such, we can design and build our control panels with restrictive access for safe operation in an industrial setting.

We have delivered restrictive access control panels across many sectors, with a range of security features, most commonly restricting specific functionality from operators, while having a wider range of options for plant engineers.

Restrictive access control panels can be achieved in a number of ways, for more traditional sites with high operator autonomy, we can design and build control panels with single or dual key switches.  With a key switch control panel, only the person or persons with the correct key or keys can operate a control panel.  This can be delivered for either a single key access or where both keys must be present.  We can also restrict the access to some functionality, such as system purges, adjustment of set-points, or to mute an audible alarm in the form of a password, or as a combination of both options.

Control Panel Build and Test

Our control panels are built in house by a fully qualified panel wiring team.  We understand the requirements of installation engineers and our control panels are wired to facilitate easy installation on-site, which means that dedicated terminals for incorporating new or existing equipment are included, and that space is left to ease the connection of external equipment or signals.

In addition to designing and building control panels, we also understand that control panels sometimes require modification. As we don't always know how far in the future modifications will be required, we pride ourselves on the tidiness, clarity, and traceability of the panel building we undertake, to make sure that incorporating additional equipment or future modifications are as simple as possible - whether the modifications take place in the next 12 months, or the next 12 years.

Each control panel is tested prior to leaving the factory, by a senior engineer, to ensure that it operates in the manner described.  We can issue certificates of test and certificates of calibration to accompany each panel we supply.

When supplied - each control panel includes an operation and maintenance manual, which includes wiring diagrams, design drawings, P&ID drawings as well as an HMI walkthrough, if the panel includes a PLC and HMI device.

Control Panel Commissioning

The control panels we supply are as simple as possible to integrate into your process, and once installed by your engineers, we can commission a control panel to minimise any delay in operation and give you confidence that the control panel will operate as required.

A senior service engineering or commissioning engineer will undertake the commissioning at your premises to ensure that the panel is operating as defined, that the control panel is calibrated, that the sensors and control equipment are delivering as expected, as well as issuing certificates of calibration which can be traced to national standards.

As well as commissioning the control panel, supplied sensors and control equipment, the commissioning engineer can provide a workshop session for plant operators and engineers on the usage of the control panel and associated equipment.

Our commissioning service is designed to provide frictionless integration; both for systems integration and operator integration.