Flow Control Dampening: Commandbatch V1.03 & Later 11/27/12
Uploaded by
Aly AbdelhamedFlow Control Dampening: Commandbatch V1.03 & Later 11/27/12
Uploaded by
Aly AbdelhamedFlow Control
Dampening
COMMANDbatch V1.03 & Later
11/27/12
Command Alkon Inc.
5168 Blazer Parkway
Dublin, Ohio 43017
1.800.624.1872
Fax: 614.793.0608
Part Number: 24995
© 2003-2012 Command Alkon Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Command Alkon Incorporated believes the statements contained herein are accurate as
of the date of publication of this document. HOWEVER, COMMAND ALKON
INCORPORATED HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,
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document are for informational purposes only and are subject to change without notice.
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products that may or may not have the same characteristics listed in this publication.
Should Command Alkon Incorporated modify its products in a way that may affect the
information contained in this publication, Command Alkon Incorporated assumes no
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Alkon Incorporated assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this
manual. This publication is intended only for the direct benefit of users of Command
Alkon Incorporated products. This manual may not be used for any purposes other than
those for which it is provided. Information disclosed herein was originated by and is the
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Command Alkon Incorporated
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(205) 879-3282
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Dublin, OH 43017-1339
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Contents
Contents ........................................................................................ 3
Introduction .................................................................................. 4
Purpose ................................................................................................ 4
Audience ............................................................................................... 4
Revision Summary ................................................................................. 4
Flow Control Dampening ................................................................ 5
Flow Control Dampening Setup ................................................................ 5
Flow Control Dampening Logging .............................................................. 7
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Introduction
Topics in This Section
Purpose
Audience
Revision Summary
Purpose
This document explains how COMMANDbatch dampens material flow rates to
allow more precise feed cutoff calculations and drop determinations.
Audience
This guide is intended to be used by Command Alkon installation and service
personnel, as well as plant personnel specifically authorized to install and
configure COMMANDbatch.
Revision Summary
CMDbatch
Date Version Revision
Feb. 28, 2005 First draft.
Mar. 3, 2005 Minor revisions per QA review. Published the manual.
Oct. 6, 2005 1.04 Fixed a table problem (one table on top of another).
Mar. 8, 2007 1.06 Improved Notes, Tips, Cautions, and Warnings with
better icons and formatting.
Aug. 17, 2009 1.7.8.0 Added a cross-reference to the Discharge Diagnostics
manual for monitoring scale flow rates.
Aug. 30, 2012 1.8.4.5 Updated the manual for 1.8.4.5.
Oct. 11, 2012 1.8.6.0 Described the updated/new Dampening Types.
Nov. 27, 2012 1.8.6.0 Minor rewording of feature description.
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Flow Control Dampening
This feature allows scale flow rates to be dampened to allow more precise
feed cutoff calculations and drop determinations.
To enable this feature, the “Allow Flow Control” option on the Scales form
must be checked and a value from 0.01 to 0.99 entered in the Dampening
Factor field of the Calibrations form.
Notes: • The Dampening Factor defaults to 0.0 on upgraded systems so
they can function as they did in the past without Dampening.
• If the Scales form is opened and saved without changes to the
Dampening Factor, its value defaults to 1.0 and allows the
system to function without Dampening.
Topics
Flow Control Dampening Setup
Flow Control Dampening Logging
See Also:
Disch_Diag.pdf
Flow Control Dampening Setup
1. For each scale that uses Flow Control, check the “Allow Flow
Control” box on the Flow tab of the Scales form.
Scales form with Flow Control enabled
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2. On the Calibrations form, enter a Dampening Factor for the scale.
Allowable values must be in the range, 0.01 to 0.99.
Note: A Dampening Factor of 0.1 is recommended.
3. Select one of the following Dampening Types.
Flow
This is the default and refers to the discharge flow rate. Flow Dampening is the
default mode and refers to the Rate-of-Change of the material to be flow controlled.
Base Actual
Refers to the scale reading that is derived as new scale values are read from the scale
unit at the analog update rate, using the Dampening Factor.
Average Actual
Refers to the scale reading that is derived as new scale values are read from the scale
unit at the analog update rate, using the Dampening Factor and an average over a
number of samples.
Calibrations form with Dampening Factor for Agg Scale
4. Save your changes. The following message appears.
Restart RTC message
5. Click “Restart Now” to reboot the RTC.
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Flow Control Dampening Logging
To allow analysis of the effects of dampening, a service feature is provided
that enables flow information to be logged to a file. The user must have
access to a # prompt console on the COMMANDbatch RTC.
To enable flow control logging:
Enter the following command at the root # prompt on the RTC.
FlowLog <Unit Number> <Device Name> <On:Off> [<mm>]
Where:
Unit Number is an Interface Parameter Unit Number.
Device Name must be a quoted Device Name with Flow Control
enabled.
On:Off must be either "On" or "Off" to Enable or Disable Flow
Logging.
mm is optional and defines the number of minutes to leave
the FlowLog file open. If no time is specified, the
default is 15 minutes.
Example: FlowLog 1 “Agg Scale” On
Each time flow control logging is enabled, a new file is created in the /usr/ftp
directory on the RTC. The file is named as follows:
Flow_Log_MMDDYYYYHHMM.csv
Where:
MM represents the Month
DD represents the Day
(example: ‘12’ for the 12th day)
YYYY represents the Year
HH represents the Hour in 24-hour format
(example: ‘18’ for 6:00 pm)
MM represents the Minute
To conserve disk space on the RTC, logging, once enabled, will automatically
disable after 15 minutes. In addition, WARNING messages will be included in
the RTC’s Trace Logging data requesting that these files be deleted. If the files
are not deleted within 3 days, the normal RTC reboot will remove them.
Using the Flow Control Log:
Information sent to the flow control log includes:
• Device Name
• Actual Scale Value
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• Dampened Scale Value
• Raw Flow
• Dampened Flow
• Averaged Flow
This information can be exported to a Microsoft Excel file and inserted into a
chart. The following example shows the Raw, Averaged, and Dampened
values when a Dampening Factor of 0.1 was used.
Flow Rate with 0.1 Dampening Factor
Color Legend:
Dark Blue = Raw
Purple = Dampened
Yellow = Averaged
In this graph, the
Averaged Flow has
been dampened.
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