APPLICATION STUDY: Unattended Weighing
Sometimes scale operators are necessary for truck weighing applications to ensure that processes are being followed. Automation can help keep processes moving swiftly and working at off hours while still ensuring the correct process steps are being followed. In a recent project, our Carlton Industrial Automation team helped a waste management municipality make their third-party dumping process more efficient. This allowed for yard operators to focus elsewhere in the facility, saving manpower and money.
WHO:
Liquid Waste Management Municipality
WHAT:
Unattended waste weighing with truck scale, user verification, and I/O control
PROCESS DESCRIPTION:
Drivers pull onto the truck scale where an RFID scanner reads an information card and registers the driver entering the yard. The system automatically verifies the user and collects weight data while the driver selects the waste material type and other process information. Next, they head to the pump area for automated unloading. A separate RFID scanner verifies the user has checked in and turns the pump on to unload the material. This ensures that weight data is captured prior to unloading. After the product is offloaded, the driver checks-out at the unattended station, weighing their empty truck and receives a ticket with payment information.
SOLUTION SUMMARY:
This system uses an unattended weighing box at the truck scale as well as an RFID scanning box at the pump area with I/O controls. The unattended truck scale box contains the scale terminal, RFID scanner, and ticket printer. This system communicates to a centralized database running a custom version of TruckPlus! DotNetAdvanced. The software stores weight data and material types while verifying driver information. This version of TruckPlus! is set up for communication between the unattended weighing station, the independent RFID scanner at the pump station and the I/O devices controlling the pump. The IND780 also had a customized application to prompt truck drivers to enter information about their load when checking in.
This system involved multiple steps and communications hurdles to ensure that the offloading process can happen without the need for operators to be present to check drivers in. This was also a full turn-key application, which gave the Industrial Automation team the flexibility to improve the current process rather than just replace a truck scale.
PRODUCT USED:
– METTLER TOLEDO Truck Scale
– METTLER TOLEDO IND780
– TruckPlus! DoNetAdvanced
– Customized Unattended Weighing box
– RFID Scanners
– Stoplights
– Ticket Printers
The Carlton Industrial Automation team have been designing innovative and custom solutions to fit our customer’s needs for twenty-five years. We have the experience to solve your biggest truck scale problems. Request a free asset evaluation.
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