In the snowmaking industry, proper monitoring of many variables such as temperatures of air and water, discharge pressures and flow is required. A family owned and operated ski resort was looking to expand their capacity, increase efficiency, and replace an aged motor/ pump control. It was decided to also integrate an injection pump system to inject an eco-friendly solution, to provide better quality snow at a wider range of temperatures, requiring more complex metering calculations. Also, regulations required reporting of water usage data, thus all process data would be recorded during runtimes.

As snowmakers are added and shut down on branch discharge lines, a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) would be used to maintain proper operating conditions for the remaining equipment on the discharge system. System operators would have to have the ability to be able to change set point values and other variables depending on the process needs.

With the wide range of onboard I/O options and simple user interface, a Horner XLEe controller was chosen to handle all aspects of the project needs. The XLEe also provides the communications and expandability to integrate into resort wide control.

“Having used Horner PLC’s in many applications, I know first hand of the capabilities to perform in industrial environments. The quality and value for the amount of performance was a big driver in the selection of the OCS. Tech support has always been there for me and was also a major contributor to the decision.”

~ Kyle Hagen, Technic Control LLC, Bismarck, North Dakota