Holman Engineering has developed both PC based and custom microprocessor based controllers for many applications. A small sample of these is outlined below:

Water Purifier Controller

Below is a photo of a Water Purifier (Click on the photo to enlarge it). The control system for this water purifier is a good example of a product that was developed from only an initial concept. The water purifier is now being manufactured in three countries, and sold to a world market.

The water purifier uses an energy efficient method of low temperature distillation to provide users with continuous chilled and hot pure water.

The control system is responsible for controlling the water purification process, energy recovery process, cooling the chilled water and heating the hot water. The control system allows the user to select the setpoint temperatures of both the chilled and hot water, display the actual temperatures and measure the water purity. The system also has a full suite of maintenance facilities, including calibration facility, diagnosis menus, machine component running times and much more.

Servo Motor Controllers

A wide variety of machines and processes have been automated by Holman Engineering using multi axis servo systems. Most of these systems use an industrial PC and special purpose software developed by our company.

Below is a photo of a winding machine which also had all of the control developed by Holman Engineering (Click on the photo to enlarge it).

Automation of a Bottle Capping Machine

Holman Engineering developed a PC based control system for a special purpose bottle capping machine. The machine is pictured below (click on the photo to enlarge it), with the Industrial PC being located in the bottom section of the machine, and a custom display and keyboard (also designed and manufactured by Holman Engineering) located on the arm which extends out the right hand side of the machine.

The control system controls 3 servo motors, a variable speed drive, numerous valves and other outputs. The man-machine interface is very user-friendly, and allows the easy configuration and operation of the machine. The software also provides running statistics, and diagnostic information to assist with both quality control and fault finding.

The photo below shows the spindle that rotates the bottles and the capping head. Each cap is individually tightened to a specific torque which is configurable from within the software. The software is very flexible allowing it to be used on many different types of machines.

Facade Testing Rig Control System

Most large buildings these days have external building facades on the outside to enhance their looks. Each type of facade panel must be tested to Australian Standards to ensure the safety of the public. Sydney's largest producer of these facades needed a controller built which would control all the test parameters (Pressure, air flow, water spray, and also measure displacement) on their new test rig. Holman Engineering designed and produced the control software to fully automate the CSIRO testing procedure which previously took one week to run and several weeks to analyse the results. The system we provided completes all the tests within hours and the results are available at the completion of the test. Below are some photos of the test rig, control room and one of the many servo motor drive mechanisms used to control the testing procedure.

PC Based Control Software

Holman Engineering developed a PC based control and data acquisition system for a gas meter testing rig for the Gas & Fuel Corporation of Victoria. The rig is used to automatically test all industrial gas meters used throughout Victoria.

Below is a photo taken inside the control room of the testing laboratory. The test rig itself can be seen through the window.

Holman Engineering’s system controls several High Power (100kW) fans, eight valves, and several analogue control valves. These outputs are used to set the flow rate through the meter. The system reads twenty five RTD’s down to 0.01 of a degree C and twenty eight pressure transducers many times every second while a test is being conducted. Below is a photo showing some of the many valves and transducers.