Canal Lift Bridge Speed Adjustment
Overview
This Canal lift bridge were having multiple hydraulic and electrical problems with one of their pumps used to lift the bridge. They have a small HPU situated in a garage, one with a variable pump controlled with an EPC and the other with a standard pump with no EPC.
Task
I was tasked with adjusting the Electronic Pressure Controller on the pump such that the bridge would raise and lower at the correct speeds.
My Work
- Adjusted the gain on the EPC to achieve a satisfactory lift speed on the bridge.
- Replicated the satisfactory EPC settings onto the additional EPC intended for the second pump
- Took spare EPCs back to Leeds to have the DIP switch settings for hardware current limit reduced from 800mA to 160mA.
- Wrote a guide on how to connect to the EPC as their PLC engineer has been unable to connect to it.
- Sent the customer a copy of the correct EPC settings and the guide on how to connect to the EPC.
Outcome
The bridge had a target raise time of 60 seconds and a lower time of 72 seconds.