Opportunity
Rockport Chemicals manufactures and sells water sanitation products to the Agriculture Industry. One primary product is a 2-part chemical that has to be mixed, where it then undergoes a chemical reaction that is then slowly metered into the water line depending on water flow.
Challenge
When starting out, there were no economically priced water metering and controlling devices available. The flow meters that were available did not work with low flow and the Medication Pumps were not accurate for the minute doses that the chemical called for. To solve that, Rockport started using Seametrics flow meters and Grundfos dosing pumps, but these two are not plug and play. That’s where the Micro X7 comes into the picture.
Solution
Rockport used the Micro X7 to read up to 4 high-speed pulse flow meters using the HSC inputs, and to control two analog pumps and an infinite number of digital pumps. The flow has a readout on the main screen along with water logging. The pump’s dosing rate is controlled by percentage of water flow, which is set by watching PH and ORP levels.
Because of the Horner Micro X7’s big screen, it was easy to add water logging to the program. Users can view Hourly, Daily, Monthly and Lifetime logs. When one customer approached them later that they’d like to automate their daily waterline flushing, it was easy to add that using two SmartStix, Horner’s Remote I/O system. The controller opens one valve at a time and increments them when the set gallons have flushed through the line.
Testimonial
“The Micro OCS line from Horner Automation is a sweet controller with an awesome I/O package for the price. With features like datalogging, email notifications, remote monitoring, these controllers pack a punch for the price.”
~ Daniel Wipf, Rockport Chemicals, Alexandria, South Dakota