Oil Separator Controlling
Programming a Beckhoff PLC for an oil separator system
During my exchange semester in Norway at the University of Agder (UiA), I took the Industrial IT course, which focused on the programming and concepts of PLCs, specifically Beckhoff PLCs. Together with three other students, we programmed the PLC of a three-phase oil separator as our final project. The goal was to separate an emulsion of water and oil based on their difference in density.
We developed the sequence logic for the whole system and implemented it using TwinCAT. We also designed a PID controller, which was simulated in MATLAB before being implemented in the system. An HMI was added to control the system, and the finished controller was extensively tested and documented. The project was graded an A, which corresponds to a 5.5-6.0 on the Swiss grading scale.
Read the full report here
Schematics of the oil separator:
Human-Machine Interface:
Physical separator:
