Modern food and beverage plants commonly use systems for the monitoring and control of liquid media. Pneumatic valves, controlled via automation systems with input from various sensors, ensure that interlinked systems of pipes, heaters and stainless steel tanks work as required.
Pneumatic actuators and sensors are normally connected to valve islands installed, for reasons of hygiene, in standardised stainless steel enclosures located at a safe distance from the application.
In order to simplify the installation of these control cabinets, Bürkert Australia locally manufactures its Bürkert Air cabinet solutions, supplied ready to install and connect. Bürkert Air offers a local solution for fast, cost effective, delivery of pneumatic or electropneumatic control cabinets, Australian made with precision Bürkert technology from Germany.
Pre-assembled precision pneumatic control
The Bürkert Air valve island cabinet solution incorporates the Bürkert Type 8652 AirLINE valve island and associated electrical and control wiring pre-assembled in an IP66 stainless steel cabinet. The Type 8652 with 5/2 H function pilot valves can be configured for 8, 12, 16 or 24 stations, with digital input feedbacks, built in air pressure monitoring, hot swap, check valves and manual overrides as standard. The stainless steel mounting and adapter plate on the base of the Type 8652 is fitted through a laser-cut opening in the bottom of the cabinet to provide access to the ports, and eliminating the need for pneumatic tubes within the enclosure.
The Type 8652 AirLINE also offers diagnostic functions that can be visualised locally on the LCD display, both in clear text as well as symbols, or also at the controller.
The standard cabinet solution can be provided as either a 24VDC hardwired solution – in which all pilot valves are prewired to DIN terminals inside the cabinet – or as in industrial Ethernet version incorporating a power supply and Ethernet gateway, supporting EtherNet/IP, Profinet, Modbus TCP and EtherCAT protocols as standard.
The Bürkert Air cabinets are constructed from 316 stainless steel with wall mounting brackets for easy installation. Each panel has been designed with ease of installation, commissioning and serviceability in mind.
All the cabinets – built in-house at Bürkert Australia’s headquarters in Sydney – are supplied complete with general arrangement (GA), electrical and pneumatic drawings as standard and are fully tested with a QA/FAT certificate.
The cabinets can also be fitted with an optional air filter regulator assembly to remove moisture and odours from air supply and promote long actuator service life.
Pre-configured solutions reduce cost
The food and beverage industry encompasses a wide array of applications, each with its own set of challenges, complexities and requirements. Implementing a pre-configured standard or customised control cabinet solution helps reduce the cost and complexity of pneumatic valve control, while bringing the valve control closer to the application – reducing pneumatic tubing and lowering cost of ownership through a distributed control architecture. Cost is further reduced in the medium to long term when digital connectivity is used through industrial Ethernet, significantly reducing wiring costs and simplifying changes an upgrades.
Importantly, the Bürkert Air cabinet solution effectively eliminates labour – which drastically improves delivery times and cost efficiency.
Part of Bürkert's larger portfolio of services
Bürkert's portfolio of products and services can be customised to suit diverse applications within the food and beverage industry. Whatever the application, Bürkert can provide expertise and experience to provide tailor-made solutions, from small-scale pilot projects to large-scale industrial facilities.
As a core manufacturer of pneumatic valve manifolds, Bürkert is able to supply Bürkert Air as a standard product for rapid project delivery, but is also able to help solve process challenges via customised cabinets with specific configurations and size requirements to perfectly match Bürkert’s field-mounted process valves.
Visit Bürkert at Stand D172. APPEX is taking place on 12-15 March at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. Free registration is open now.
