Our
customer has been having problems a pair of cement mixers. Positioned
over a conveyor and in use 24 hours a day, they continuously produce small
amounts of cement for sections of the conveyor as it passes.
The controls, located on the side of the unit, haven't been lasting very long. We suspected that they are being used outside their design parameters; the continual usage and elevated position cause a lot of vibration and the environment is liable to be dust and/or wet.
We had originally supplied a remote operator's box with stop and start buttons that interface with the machine existing control circuitry. We replaced this box and the machine's control system with a complete remote control panel that can withstand the constant use and is away from the actual mixer.
Additionally the original machine had a numerical fault indicator which was impractical with the documentation being away from the machine. We created a system of labeled coloured leds to indicate the nature of any potential faults.