Westermo are one of the world’s leading industrial communications specialists, manufacturing, distributing and supporting a varied range of industrial communications equipment.

This appointment recognises the work already undertaken by Tycon Automation Ltd in the field of industrial communications utilising the Westermo portfolio of products. “We are pleased to appoint Tycon Automation Ltd as an Approved Solution Provider as they have consistently demonstrated their expertise in the integration of our industrial communication products” said Neil Yates of Westermo.

Tycon Automation Director Scott Davis adds “We have worked closely with Westermo on a number of significant projects and in our experience their products and support infrastructure are second to none. This appointment marks the next phase of our relationship with Westermo and underlines the continued ambition to grow our business and be associated with the best manufacturers in the market place.”

Tycon Automation Ltd are using the Westermo Connect M2M remote support solution for many of its customers. Providing access to a control system in a remote location over any media i.e. ADSL, VDSL, 3G/GPRS or a LAN already present on the remote site. The only requirement is that there is access to the Internet. There are no geographic or country restrictions; machines or remote system can be located anywhere in the world. The remote systems can be connected 24/7 or on demand as required over the Internet. Using secure network tunnels to the remote site, accurate trending and alarm information can be gathered. The information can be used to pre-empt a system failure and allow maintenance to be carried out in an orderly and cost effective way.

“Service support is a growing element of our business model, with the features of Westermo Connect, we can now gain access to our control systems without the requirement of a secure SCADA for a connection point. Our engineers can now remotely support our customers out of any location with Internet access, for instance Wi-Fi hot spots, via 3G mobile networks or a home broadband connection. Which can only be good for our customers and the level of service we can provide” says Scott Davis.

Left to Right: Neil Yates,Westermo; Scott Davis, Tycon Director; Andrew Robertson, Tycon Director.

“By winning major OEM contracts, securing several major capital projects and customers we have increased sales and profitability over the last two years. Our ambition for continued growth is reflected in the investment made in the new headquarters.” says Director Scott Davis.

This will allow further expansion of Tycon’s engineering department, as well as increased capacity for stock holding of spares and equipment. In addition, the extra space will allow the manufacture, assembly and full factory acceptance testing of larger turnkey systems prior to shipment, installation and commissioning.

“The automation sector’s we are involved with are continuing to show strong growth, I am confident that our new facility will be an important foundation on which to build future sales across our full range of automation equipment supply, control panels and automation solutions.” Mr Davis continues.

Tycon Automation’s new facility is located just off Rackery Lane on the Llay Industrial Estate at the following address:-

Unit I
Schappe Building
Llay Industrial Estate
Rackery Lane
LL12 0PB

ABB and Tycon Automation has worked with Spirax Sarco to develop a control system for Spirax Sarco’s Next Generation EasiHeat™. ABB is the single source supply for all control components in the new innovative Spirax Sarco product and includes an AC500 PLC and CP600 human machine interface (HMI) together with an array of ABB low voltage products. By using standard modular control components, the system can be easily expanded in the future.

The original Spirax EasiHeat control system was based around a PID loop controller and used traditional style relay logic. The ABB-Tycon solution uses a PLC and HMI, allowing more complex algorithms to bring a new level of intelligence to the control system.

The Next Generation Spirax EasiHeat offers superior energy efficiency when compared to other steam to water heating solutions. The new control system allows access to validate this energy data along with CO2and carbon emissions. “Having this information readily available will make the production of reports for energy managers simple,” says Chris Rowlands, senior group business development executive of Spirax Sarco.

A seven inch TFT touch screen with advanced graphics is being introduced as standard. This will make the operation of the unit as intuitive as today’s personal computers and mobile phones, providing complete visual access to all key parameters.

Advanced communications mean that the control system is compatible for connection to existing proprietary networks and can interact with Ethernet and Modbus systems as well as Profibus, CANopen, EtherCAT and DeviceNet. To meet the growing demand for increased connectivity within building services, Tycon Automation developed the control system with BACnet capability. The design also features remote web access for monitoring and controlling packages, thereby reducing maintenance costs.

“We will now be able to communicate with a much wider array of building management systems, improving the integration of our solutions with customer systems,” says Rowlands. “We will be able to send text messages and e-mails from the package to inform the customer’s maintenance team, or our own service department, of any alarms or service needs from the packages. We can even connect to the package from anywhere in the world via the internet, allowing access to control the unit, interrogate historical trends or diagnose faults without even stepping into the plant room.”

Tycon Automation’s Scott Davis adds: “We wrote all the bespoke software and energy saving calculations and manufactured two complete working prototype units prior to securing the order. We went that extra mile to give the customer the confidence in our design and integration abilities and the quality of our work. With the assistance of ABB we have worldwide support and superb technical knowledge on system integration.”

While the value of the agreement is not disclosed, the number of control systems is significant and is expected to more than double over the next few years. The contract includes worldwide warranty cover from ABB and round-the-clock remote support using Westermo Connect.

“This design puts us way ahead of the competition,” says Rowlands. “To ensure Spirax Sarco can benefit from these developments worldwide we needed a partner that could support us globally. ABB proved to be such a partner.”

Spirax Sarco’s group product manager – controls, Sean Nicholas, comments: “After a rigorous investigation and a robust, well communicated vendor selection procedure, I believe that the products and services offered by ABB and Tycon are matchless. We are now actively working closely with both ABB and Tycon to capitalise on the strength of our new partnership and class-leading products to bring enhanced C&I products and services to market in the future.”

ABB’s UK division head for discrete automaton and motion, Steve Ruddell adds: “ABB is delighted to have been chosen as the supplier of choice for the new control system for the EasiHeat range. This represents the single largest UK OEM account to date for ABB PLC and HMI products and we are fully committed to living up to the trust placed in us by Spirax Sarco”.

The Spirax EasiHeat is a true instantaneous steam-to-water heater. It always provides a stable secondary temperature whatever the secondary load conditions, without the need for a secondary circuit buffer tank or storage tank. With steady load conditions, the Spirax EasiHeat will control at ±1°C. Even where there are large and sudden secondary load changes, such as those found in a domestic water heating application, the Spirax EasiHeat will control at ±5°C. It is designed for applications where steam is the primary medium and water is the secondary medium and as such is the preferred solution for a wide range of HVAC and process hot water heating applications.

Front row left to right: Steve Ruddell, ABB Group Business Unit Marketing Manager; Chris Rowlands, Spirax Sarco Senior Group Business Development Executive – HTS; Scott Davis, Tycon Automation Director
Back row left to right: Andrew Robertson, Tycon Director; Mike Gillick, Spirax Sarco Group HTS Business Manager; Gary Busby, ABB Small Drives Sales Manager

Tycon Automation engineers assisted Verwer Training and Consultancy Ltd in installing the first Procentec COMbricks unit in the UK.

COMbricks is a new concept in PROFIBUS networking and monitoring from Procentec, the company that produces the well known PROFIBUS analyser ProfiTrace.

ProfiTrace is an essential and widely used portable tool for health checking and fault finding on PROFIBUS networks. However, to use this tool, the engineer has to be on-site and quickly get to the location. The engineer is required to be “the expert” in order to interpret the diagnostic information. Fault finding has to be “reactive”, that is the fault has to have been visible so that it is noticed. This normally means that the network has failed before we know about the problem. We normally have no pre-warning of impending failure, therefore we must do regular health checks to ensure good quality communication is maintained.

COMbricks is a new modular repeater system allowing up to 20 PROFIBUS segments to be connected in a single network. The repeater modules can also be easily configured to be on up to four different networks.

The real innovation in the COMbricks concept is that the unit includes a head station with built in ProfiTrace functionality. Further, the ProfiTrace is accessible as a web page over a standard Ethernet network. This allows up to four networks to be permanently monitored for communication faults and peripheral errors.

COMbricks does not require a permanently connected PC with special software. The COMbricks web pages can be accessed with a simple web browser from anywhere within the company’s IT network.

We currently have the following vacancies:-

Electrician – experience of electrical control panel manufacture, testing and electrical installation
Software Engineer – Working with a range of PLC, HMI and SCADA systems
Production Worker – Ability to be flexible and adapt to a range of production tasks

If you think you would fit well into the Tycon Automation Team, and have suitable qualifications and experience please email your CV to scott.davis@tyconautomation.co.uk

Alternatively, please send your CV to:-

Scott Davis
Director
Tycon Automation Ltd
Heritage House
Rhosddu
Wrexham
LL11 4YL

Tycon Automation Ltd has now been awarded Mitsubishi Systems Specialist status as part of the MELSMART system integrator programme. Companies selected for the integrator programme have specialist skills and experience with the Mitsubishi product ranges.

The MCE programme run by Mitsubishi tests the technical and practical ability of engineers to a stringent set of modular examinations. The MCE certification process ensures that all

Mitsubishi Certified Engineers have demonstrated a high level of technical and practical ability. Certification has become the default Mitsubishi seal of approval for the individuals and their associated companies.

Tycon Automation Ltd currently employs several Mitsubishi Certified engineers who have a vast experience and expertise in integrating a whole range of Mitsubishi products.

This will also give Tycon Automation Ltd the access to the latest Mitsubishi product information, technical support and training. This also ensures that Tycon Automation Ltd can select the most suitable automation equipment for any application, from the smallest PLC to complete automated production lines. Tycon Automation Ltd engineers are trained in the full range of Mitsubishi equipment, specialising in PLC, HMI and SCADA development.

Tycon Automation Ltd has already won major contracts for high profile companies and the ISO 9001 accreditation is testament to its effectiveness in implementing management procedures.

Director Scott Davis commented on the company’s achievement

“The process of obtaining ISO9001 has made a valuable contribution to our business. It has helped us to identify opportunities to improve our standards and procedures, and ensure that we continually improve our customer service levels”.

Tycon Automation Ltd has recently become one of the UK’s first ABB automation solution providers. As part of the world wide Channel Programme ABB approached Tycon Automation Ltd, based on their current wide and varied process expertise and excellent track record as a Systems Integrator.

With applications spanning across various UK industry sectors, Tycon Automation Ltd have built up a reputation of quality control systems built around a key focus on customer requirements.

A client demand for more information from control systems has lead to an increase in the complexity of systems. This increase in complexity requires Tycon Automation Ltd to be at the forefront of new technologies. With this in mind we are able to offer our clients the most up to date and cost effective solutions.

The products under the ABB range allow the control systems to be scaleable and effortlessly expanded. The versatile ABB product range runs from the high end process DCS systems, through to the Hybrid Mini DCS or PLC&SCADA down to the more basic fixed IO PLC systems.

The Profibus Installation Taster Workshop will be delivered by Tycon Automation Director Scott Davis, a Certified Profibus Engineer and Associate Lecturer to the Manchester Metropolitan University Profibus Competency Centre. Scott has over eight years experience in installing and troubleshooting on Profibus systems.

Tycon Automation have installed and configured numerous Profibus systems both using Profibus DP and Profibus PA on many different vendor PLC platforms.

The importance of a well engineered and installed Profibus system cannot be underestimated. With installation and design errors accounting for over 80% of the errors made with Profibus, the foundations need to be laid at an early stage for successful robust system operation. In the workshop the following areas will be covered:

• Profibus DP Network Layout
• Reflections – the number 1 problem!
• Termination – Concepts and Rules

There will also be a Live Demonstration with hands on practical session whereby everyone involved will be asked to build and test a Profibus DP network.

For more information about the 2009 Profibus/Profinet Conference is free, click here.

Basic Simocode DP/Pro C /ProV Programming

Enabling your engineering personnel to understand what and how the Simocode reacts to input conditions, how to streamline the programming within the unit to allow fast proactive fault diagnostics.

Network courses

Can tailored to a number of levels of complexity ranging from basic PLC networks through to full redundant networks.

Contact us to discuss your training needs.