COOLANT & CUTTING OILS SMARTENING UP
With its SmartControl,
Castrol is bringing
Industry 4.0
technology to coolant
management
Fluid management
Earlier this year, Machinery carried details of the WillFill coolant monitoring and maintenance system
(https://is.gd/movuhe) supplied through Carillon Industrial Services and also similar technology (https://
is.gd/oruwat) offered by Houghton. Sometime prior to these two, Jemtech (https://is.gd/jiyelo) unveiled its
Oracle system. At September’s EMO exhibition, it was Castrol’s turn to bang the Industry 4.0 drum
SmartControl is Castrol’s new system
that provides automatic, in-machine
real-time monitoring and management
of metalworking uids (MWF). Developed in
collaboration with German control systems
experts Tiefenbach, SmartControl is a realtime
condition monitoring system that puts
the user in total control of metalworking uid
operations.
“At Castrol, we know that managing cutting
uids requires many manual processes, like
sampling, testing, intervention and
documentation, which are an inef cient use of
our customers’ time and resources. That’s
why we’ve created Castrol SmartControl, our
automated, real-time condition monitoring
solution. It can maximise the effectiveness
and ef ciency of our customers’ cutting uid
management and limit the associated HSSE
risks,” explains Mathias Buschbeck, global
industrial leader at Castrol.
SmartControl moves monitoring and
management to a new level and takes
repetitive, dirty and dangerous tasks out of
engineers’ hands, Castrol offers. Real-time
condition monitoring is designed to improve
MWF management, minimise errors and
maintain uids and their performance by
integrating Castrol’s advanced XBB MWFs
with Industry 4.0 technology.
SmartControl continually measures the
following MWF parameters: concentration;
pH level; conductivity; temperature; and
volume ow.
Any variation away from required values
triggers an alert to enterprise, production and
control IT systems. It does away with manual
sampling, meaning no loss of time while
samples are transported to the lab to be
analysed, and ensures there are no delays on
account of reports being sent late.
SmartControl even self-cleans and selfcalibrates,
in order to maintain ongoing
accuracy. Taking an even bigger step forward
is SmartControl AUTO. It offers more than
condition monitoring, as it can be connected
to the central MWF system to fully automate
MWF management.
It measures all of the same parameters
as the standard version in real time, but it
can also add water, concentrates or
additives, as needed, based on uid
concentration and pH levels.
SmartControl AUTO keeps uid condition
as close as possible to the ideal state. It
virtually eradicates the need for traditional,
manual intervention and can eliminate routine
tasks entirely. Not only that, but the time
taken for conventional sampling and lab
analysis to detect and report condition
variation is cut to zero.
Industry & product news in brief
Lubricants specialist Fuchs has signalled its commitment to climate protection by making
plans for complete CO2 neutrality as early as next year. More: https://is.gd/juteye
Filtermist has opened a new 20,000 ft2 distribution building and is consolidating its
separate operations into two main business streams. Full article: https://is.gd/igadox
Fuchs’ innovative cardboard packaging solution Lube Cube has avoided use of 500
tonnes of plastic since its launch in 2012. More: https://is.gd/evecuj
Master Fluid Solutions’ acquisition of of Wilhelm Dietz GmbH will see the current UKbased
HQ operations move to Germany next year. More: https://is.gd/febera
The in-house development team at CIS has released its cloud-based MWF coolant care
solutions management software. More: https://is.gd/okiyeg
Eclipse Magnetics has introduced a mobile ltration unit for of ine coolant cleaning.
More: https://is.gd/ixuxov
38 December 2019 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets
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