29th September 2006

Masterpower's control system and VSD with battery backed DC Bus, ensures an essential fan will run for 20 minutes in a fully automated manner upon loss of power in the Johnson Matthey Clitheroe facility.

Masterpower Solutions for Johnson Matthey PLC.

Johnson Matthey is a speciality chemicals company focused on its core skills in catalysts, precious metals and fine chemicals.

The group's principal activities are the manufacture of autocatalysts and pollution control systems, catalysts and components for fuel cells, pharmaceutical compounds, process catalysts and fine chemicals ; the refining, fabrication and marketing of precious metals, and the manufacture of colours and coatings for the glass and ceramics industries.

Johnson Matthey has operations in over 30 countries and employs around 7,700 people. Its products are sold across the world to a wide range of advanced technology industries.

The Clitheroe site in England, can be subject to power dips, which require the processes to be shut down in a safe and controlled manner. However, one particular process produces an exothermic reaction, which could last up to 20 minutes, and Johnson Matthey realised that during this period, there is potential for hazardous fumes to be released into the immediate environment. Therefore they required a solution to fully operate the fume extraction process even in the event of an extended power dip. The package had to be fully integrated into the existing process control system, to provide back up for up to 20 minutes, in the event of failure of the main extractor fan.

Masterpower Electronics, with a proven track record in secure power systems, control logic and drives, designed and developed a solution. Utilising a 4Kw Powerflex 70 Series VSD with battery backed DC Bus system, comprising VSD, VRLA battery, charger and drive control panel, integrated into the existing systems, ensured the back up fan would run (and stop) in a fully automated manner once enabled by the user.

The Control Package was designed as a hard wired relay logic system to meet client safety requirements and also permit automated control of the back up fan motor. The control system became an integral part of the Main Fan motor control system via control permissive and trip signals. The system was rigorously tested to meet the exacting customer standards and following installation was commissioned by Masterpower engineers.

The Masterpower Powerflex package was the perfect solution for Johnson Matthey due to it's ease of operation, the simplicity of interrogating the drive to obtain operational data and also the system is maintenance friendly.

Overall, the Masterpower solution provides Johnson Matthey with a process control system that protects the immediate environment from harmful fumes, released by the loss of power within the facility.

The Project Manager at Johnson Matthey commented, "We are very pleased with the result, and how the project was managed".