by Staff Writer | Nov 19, 2015 | Control Systems, CSI, Oil and Gas, Programming
THE MYSTERY A purchaser and transporter of crude oil products contacted ACES with a challenge relating to one of their LACT stations. A LACT unit (Lease Account Custody Transfer) is the critical control system in an oil pumping station, which measures and regulates...
by Staff | Feb 1, 2013 | Control Systems, CSI, Motion Control, Programming
THE MYSTERY A barrel manufacturer called ACES with a problem: The heads that formed the beads of the barrels had started moving inconsistently and roughly enough that when they stopped the whole machine would jerk. Just two years earlier ACES had installed a brand new...
by Staff | May 13, 2011 | Control Systems, CSI, Motion Control, Programming
THE MYSTERY The ACES CSI was called to the scene of a factory that manufactured cardboard boxes. Two of 24 drives controlling a folding and gluing machine were down and there was an error code on the front of the amplifier that indicated “the operating parameters were...
by Staff | Apr 22, 2011 | Control Systems, CSI, Motion Control, Programming
THE MYSTERY An ACES Control Systems Engineer was called to the scene of a violent crime: A forklift had rammed a control cabinet, which pushed the side of the cabinet into the terminals of a DC drive. The power arced to the cabinet wall and grounded, causing the...
by Staff | Jul 7, 2010 | Control Systems, CSI, Programming, Wiring and Electricity
THE MYSTERY A local box manufacturer called ACES in a panic because the machine which produced the starch that glued their corrugated cardboard had suddenly quit working, resulting in a sticky mess. The factory used glue to turn giant rolls of paper into corrugated...
by Staff Writer | Oct 8, 2009 | Control Systems, CSI, Municipal Water, Programming
THE MYSTERY A municipal water plant was stuck with an unresponsive system of 28 PLCs and an AWOL dealer. The case of the obsolete PLCs. Every vendor the client talked to insisted a whole new system was the only way to get the plant back up to speed again. THE CLUES...
