INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION CONTROL SYSTEMS

Our Services

  • PLC & HMI Programming

    From individual machines to whole lines. From aerospace to waste water treatment.

    We don’t shy away from any challenge and we don’t put limits on what problems we can solve for you.

    We’re also completely brand agnostic!

  • Robot Programming

    Picking, placing, welding, painting. Stick a camera on the end of it if you like! We just love robots!

  • Machinery Safety

    Risk assessments.

    Determining which standards need to be met.

    Safety calculations.

    Safety circuit design.

    Safety programming.

    Assessment of the safety functions.

    Determining whether the essential health and safety requirements have been met.

    We do all that boring, complicated stuff so you don’t have to!

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Who are we?

We are currently just a one man band.

I'm Daniel Brant CMSE® MIET, a Controls Engineer with 10+ years experience working mostly in special purpose machinery, but also process automation.

I've done multiple machines and a plethora of plants: simple assembly benches; leak test machines; ostomy bag testing; plastic injected railway sleepers; waste water treatment; and many more!

I've covered a lot of industries including automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, defence and food.

I've interfaced with dozens (possibly hundreds) of pieces of equipment, from servos and steppers to vision systems, robots and laser markers.

Finally, I've also worked on projects from cradle to grave:
- Quoting and sales concepts
- Writing specifications
- Project management
- Risk Assessment
- Safety Calculations
- Electrical design
- Programming
- Commissioning
- Writing manuals
- Operator training

What's with the name?
I wanted a name that was an actual defined word, so I wouldn't have to spell it down the phone, but I also wanted to name this legacy in honour of my greatest legacy - my sons Elijah (ELI) and Caleb (CAL)!

And the logo?
Well it's a DNA double helix, because it's named after my sons who share my DNA and the shape is helical in nature. It also encompasses the DNA of the business. Born in the Black Country, the birthplace of the first industrial revolution. Innovation, invention, engineering; it’s in our blood! It also lends itself well to being turned into a H and A for Helical Automation, which totally didn't happen by accident midway through the logo design process...

Previous Projects

  • Hydrostatic Valve Leak Test

    GE Proficy Machine Edition and Cimplicity SCADA running on an IPC with ModbusTCP I/O modules.

    Pressurised valves with water up to 30000psi. Determined pass or fail based on leakage over time.

  • Pharmaceutical Water Production

    Upgrade from old PLC to S7-400H and iFix SCADA. Original MS-DOS code reverse engineered.

    Tap water blasted with UV, deionised with resin beads, then filtered to make “Pyrogen Free” water.

    Resin beads were periodically “recharged” with acid and caustic.

  • Lighthouse and Buoy monitoring SCADA Virtualisation

    SCADA running on Blackberry QNX Neutrino real-time operating system (RTOS).

    Old servers required an upgrade. OS was virtualised and installed on new servers.

    4 new servers, 2 to Site A, 2 to Site B

    Each server having 1 SSD and 1 HDD in RAID config to avoid common cause failure.

  • Automotive Leak Test Machine

    S7-1200 + V20 with USS comms over RS485.

    Operator loads fluid tank into fixture and presses start. Door closes. Stoppers plug holes. Before leak test, fixture is flipped upside down to test float switch. Furness leak tester performs leak test. Pass mark is punched onto tank.

  • Aerospace Winding Machine

    Mitsubishi FX3 PLC and GOT2000 HMI.

    Parker VFDs controlling 5 motors speeds from PLC analogue signals.

    Winding plastic wire around cloth for aeroplane air conditioning. Variable turns per inch (TPI) and cloth length.

    Wire went through motor controlled dancer mechanism to maintain correct wire tension before going through room temperature vulcanising (RTV) container. Container was topped up with peristaltic pump.

    Wire is taped to start of cloth. Cloth is spun while RTV wire traverses down the length, adhereing it to the cloth.

Our
Team

  • Dan Brant CMSE® MIET

    Dan started this company when he realised that he wanted to build a legacy. Taking all the best bits from over 10 years in special purpose machinery, he started building his vision.

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