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Modern valve island enhances process reliability

Bürkert presented its new valve islands AirLINE (Type 8652) for control cabinets and AirLINE Field (Type 8653) for field installation without control cabinets at the Hannover Messe 2017. Both are easy to install and their integrated monitoring and diagnostic functions improve process reliability.

The valve islands were designed for applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and beverage industries as well as for water treatment applications. They offer users adjustable monitoring and diagnostic functions that improve system availability and process reliability, while at the same time enabling preventive maintenance. An integrated display for this purpose shows detailed on-site information such as the current switching statuses of the pilot and process valves, issues a message if pre-set pressure limit values are exceeded or displays errors such as cable breaks in plain text. During development, particular attention was also devoted to the compact design. The valve island 8652 is significantly smaller than its predecessor and therefore fits perfectly into compact control cabinets that can be placed close to the process valves.

Greater system availability due to network redundancy

The valve island communicates via common industrial Ethernet protocols or PROFIBUS DP. In sealed ring topologies and PROFINET IO communication, the Media Redundancy Protocol (MRP) for highly available networks ensures that even switch or cable break can be compensated for.  This increases system availability and makes processes more reliable.

Process reliability through pneumatic functions

Every single valve is hot-swap capable, which means it can be replaced during live operation without shutting down the system. As an additional safety function, check valves are used in the exhaust channel. These prevent the unwanted activation of valves by pressure peaks and the resulting mixing of media. Consequently, a reliable process is also guaranteed on the pneumatic side.

Powered by EDIP

With the new valve island, Bürkert is systematically expanding the new Efficient Device Integration Platform (EDIP), which the company is using to equip its products for Industry 4.0. The EDIP device platform includes numerous functions and adapted HMI devices that facilitate the integration of new devices into systems. The free Bürkert software – the Communicator – enables diagnostic functions such as monitoring of operating data as well as alarm messages for customer-specific parameters.