Future-proofing a brewery

Fifth generation brewer Tim Cooper's decision to 'future-proof' his family company's new brewery by installing cutting-edge Profibus technology has been thoroughly vindicated, writes John Immelman of Endress+Hauser.

Coopers Brewery - Australia's third largest brewer, and largest family owned brewery - was founded by Thomas Cooper in South Australia in 1862. When Coopers Brewery relocated from Leabrook to Regency Park in 2001, the company took the opportunity to expand its capacity by commissioning an entirely new brewery.

International brewery designers Briggs of Burton proposed linking all measuring points with a Profibus communications system based on its well-proven success in other breweries worldwide. Recognising that Profibus technology would be highly beneficial for the company's new plant, MD Dr Tim Cooper agreed and Coopers thus gained Australia's first Profibus PA-networked brewery.

Even three years later the new Coopers facility remains Australia's most modern. Its state-of-the-art Profibus technology includes both Profibus DP (used in the control room to link the PLCs and SCADA), Profibus PA (used extensively throughout the plant for the measurement and control of level, temperature, flow, pressure and valves) and ASi bus (for the digital I/O).

Successful commercial brewing depends on the accurate management of a highly complex series of processes. Precise, integrated process data on density, flow, level, pressure, pH and temperature are crucial for effective process control. Temperature requirements, for example must be precisely 57° or 58°C (depending on the brew) in the mash tun, at boiling point in the kettle, 96° C in the whirlpool, and between 12° and 22° C en route to the lager cellar. At each of these stages, temperature is only one of a host of parameters that must be closely monitored and controlled.

According to the company, since the introduction of Profibus, process managers are now obtaining and successfully coordinating more accurate and immediate feedback than ever before on each and every measurement parameter, and measuring point at each and every process stage. The more exact the data that can be obtained at each stage and the better orchestrated the control, the more efficient the process in terms of minimising the consumption of energy and raw materials, thus reducing process time, preventing batch wastage and optimising the quality of the finished product. Better process control has also increased the efficiency of sub-processes within the brewery - such as the collection of spent grain (a by-product sold as brewer's grain), and CIP processes (optimising plant cleaning, thus reducing the risk of batch contamination and minimising chemical and energy usage).

Breweries are typically harsh environments whose high temperatures, aggressive processes and caustic cleaning materials can be hazardous for workers and machinery and damaging to cabling. By radically reducing the amount of cabling needed within the Coopers facility and enabling process instruments to be added quickly and easily into the network, Profibus radically reduces the potential for cable damage and the time, costs and dangers associated with maintenance. Furthermore, Profibus enables 'plug and play' commissioning. The programmer simply obtains the relevant GSD file (equivalent to a printer driver), adds the new instrument onto the circuit and it's ready to go.

One of the key advantages of Profibus is its flexibility. No additional cabling is required when extra measuring points are installed - such as the recently commissioned Promass Coriolis flow meter on the mash filter, which has significantly boosted the efficiency of this critical process stage. This single Profibus PA connection already provides data on volumetric flow, mass, density and temperature, and degrees Plato (sugar content) will soon be added.

And if an instrument is damaged, the Profibus network does not fail and the source of the problem is instantly identifiable from the control room.

Process managers can also proactively prevent instrument failure by remotely detecting incipient problems and pinpointing where attention is required. This reduces process down time and batch wastage, and minimises the resources spent on maintenance.

Having experienced the benefits of using Profibus PA and seen the resulting increase in the quality of its products, Coopers is continuing to introduce Profibus PA throughout the remainder of the plant as it upgrades and expands to meet growing market demand for its products.