Solvang Brewing Company SCADA

The Solvang Brewing Company is in the heart of Solvang’s Historic Danish Downtown, known for delicious food, Danish tradition, and award-winning craft beer.

To produce high-quality products, Solvang Brewing Company’s operations require an accurate and reliable system. A supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system controls the brewing processes, which include fermentation tank, wort tank, temperatures, and variable frequency drives (VFDs) to control various mixers and pumps. With several ales, stouts, IPAs, Porters, and seasonal brews on tap, management of each brewing process requires organization, sequencing, and above all accuracy.

Historically, the SCADA system was installed and maintained by brewery staff. Then, the system experienced random errors and anomalies with temperature readings. They sought the advice of Cannon’s Automation and Electrical Engineering Division. What was thought to be a straight-forward problem (inaccurate readings from the temperature probes), was a symptom of the following four-fold problem:

  • Grounding was inconsistent among the conduits, motors, tanks, and panels.
  • Control wiring was installed in the same panel with high voltage wiring. Electrical and magnetic fields from the VFD and converter legs created noise currents in the control loops that threw off the instruments.
  • Single-phase 120-volt to three-phase 380-volt converter failed while Cannon was trouble-shooting the system; this added to the randomness of problems seen in the system.
  • One of the RTD cards in the programmable logic controllers (PLC) failed, likely due to the above-mentioned power issues.

By isolating each problem and understanding the operating sequence, Cannon’s staff resolved the issues. Solutions for this project included upgrading the grounding for the system; rewiring and reprogramming portions of the PLC Ladder Logic and instrumentation loops; and separating the control wiring from the high voltage wiring.

Location

Solvang, California

Key Elements

  • SCADA Support

Thanks to Cannon, we now have confidence in our SCADA system. Our time is focused on what we do best -- brewing award-wining, craft beer. I would recommend Canon's Automation and Electrical Engineering services to others without reservation.

Steve Renfrow, Co-Owner | Solvang Brewing Co.

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