Automatic Fluid Filling System for Road Construction Vehicles

Project Introduction: BOMAG is a worldwide leading manufacturer of road construction vehicles. At the end of each production line, the vehicles have to be filled with hydraulic fluid, engine oil, and cooling fluid. All the vehicles will be automatically filled with the appropriate fluids after they have been scanned by the operator, and then the fueling data for each type of vehicle needs to collected and stored in a database. This system was developed by Advantech Channel Partner and System Integrator VISAM, who used their own process control and HMI software (VisAM Win 32), which they installed on Advantech's TPC-1570 and ADAM-5510/TCP products.

System Requirements: When designing this system, the customer wanted to have the capability for automatic and manual fueling. Additionally, they wanted to have warning displays and alarm messages, in the event of a leaky oil container or faulty hydraulic fluid filter. Furthermore, central process control was essential to provide information about actual vehicle type, all actual and set filling values and filling process status information. Each vehicle's fuel list needed to be adjusted through a password protected menu, and for each fluid, a pulse generator flow controller should be connected to the counter input of an Ethernet based I/O controller, which was connected to the TPC. Additionally, the TPC-1570H front panel required IP65 compliance and be fanless to withstand the harsh outdoor conditons.

Project Implementation:

TPC-1570H: Intel Celeron M Touch Panel Computer with 15" XGA TFT LCD

ADAM-5510/TCP: 4-Slot Ethernet-enabled Programmable Controller

ADAM-5080: 4-Channel Counter/Frequency Module

ADAM-5051S: 16-Channel Isolated Digital Input Module with LED

VisAM 32 WIN 32: 3rd Party VISAM Process Control and HMI Software

System Description: At the end of the production cycle, the vehicle arrives at the automatic fluid filling station. The operator, responsible for the correct filling of oil, hydraulic fluid and water, scans the vehicle type with the barcode scanner. The VisAM WIN 32 software recognizes the model and loads the filling fuel from the database. The filling process will start after pressing the "start filling" key from the touchscreen menu. The filling starts automatically until the required volume has been reached. Each individual fluid filling process can be viewed at the touchscreen. For safety reasons, only one filling cycle can be started after each barcode scan process. The actual volume filled can be viewed at the screen. By selecting the "refill key" each individual fluid can be controlled manually even other fluids are still in the automatic filling process. Pressing the "Pause/Halt" key will interrupt the automatic filling process immediately. Unlocking the "Pause/Halt" key will continue the automatic filling process.