AS Interface from Siemens used to network the A+S Schuster crane system
Working in cooperation with the crane system construction company A+S Schuster
and VA GmbH in Peiting, Germany, the wood working company Schößwendter
Holz has constructed an environmentally- friendly biomass heating and power station
at its site in Saalfelden/ Salzburg. This station has a fully automatic crane
system for charging the firing bunker. A large part of the automation runs over
the AS Interface field bus system.
The heating station now runs fully automatically!
The firing bunker of the heating station is charged by the A.S Schuster crane
system, which is equipped with AS Interface. For some years now, A.S Schuster
of Peiting, Germany has specialized in special solutions for transport tasks.
There are now more than 4,000 of its systems (series crane systems and special
constructions) in operation across Europe. In agreement with VA GmbH (VA = process
engineering plants) it was decided to interface the distributed I/O of this
and many comparable crane systems using the actuator-sensor interface field bus
system (AS Interface).
Why AS Interface?
The decisive advantage of the AS Interface technology was the drastic reduction
of wires that needed to be laid along the trailing cable that was previously
an integral part of crane applications. Using conventional wiring, approx. 120
lines used to be laid along the trailing cable, whereas this crane system requires
a mere 10 wires – 5 for AS Interface, 5 for the load. It goes without saying
that this makes installation considerably easier all round.
The application advantages of the AS Interface from Siemens:
Simple and effective remote
maintenance. The diagnostics of the system can be performed over touch panel
from the Schößwendter
Holz site. An online connection enables communication over greater distances.
Bus technology makes maintenance of the system more effective. Faults and
cable breaks can be localized quickly and easily.
Uncomplicated expansion of the system.
AS Interface also supports the
processing of analog data over analog modules. These automatic crane systems
also make use of the ability to determine the load through AS Interface using
force transducers. Using the "minimum
load" limit value, the system is able to detect that it has touched down.
