PROCESS CONTROL SOFTWARE 2.0

At Walton Process Technologies, we deliver systems that maximize the thermal process through a higher standard of quality, an increased commitment to the customer, and the strong desire to continually improve upon an already superior product.

The Process Control System, or PCS, provides a powerful, state-of-the-art, user-friendly method of controlling composite processing equipment. PCS was designed by WPT to meet the strict quality standards of aerospace composite manufacturing.

Controls all types of thermal processing equipment

  • Composite autoclaves
  • Custom hydraulic presses
  • Composite ovens

FEATURES

PCS

PCS is a full-featured software, providing tools and features for every step of the thermal processing workflow.

  • Select or configure run assets. Maintain a catalog of parts, cures, and quality specifications, collecting any desired custom data fields.
  • Reduce human error during the run setup. Validations occur at many stages throughout the run setup process, safeguarding against many common losses of parts and time.
  • Control equipment to meet specified requirements. Control any temperature, pressure, vacuum, clamping pressure, bladder, or custom process controls to meet precise specifications.
  • Monitor status of runs remotely. View run progress from any trusted, local device and see estimated time remaining, investigate and silence alarms, or begin preparing the following run.
  • Verify a run performed according to custom quality specifications. Enforce quality checks at the end of a run with a cure- or part-specific Quality Specification Report, indicating an overall “pass” or “fail” as well as additional in-depth detailed results.
  • Produce reports from PCS’s suite of included reports. Save or print reports as needed to accompany parts throughout their production.

PCS + Redundancy

Pair PCS with a second complete installation of PCS. If the active instance fails, the second can recover immediately, continuing the run and logging data.

PCS + Enterprise Server

Join PCS to a locally-hosted Enterprise Server, and get a centralized place for managing all run assets (i.e. users, part, cure, quality specification configurations), running reports, and monitoring equipment statuses across the entire facility.

PCS + Redundancy + Enterprise Server

By combining both features, run data will be synchronized across three databases, with two run engines to ensure uninterrupted cure execution.

Start Run Window | Walton Process Technologies

Start Run Page

  • Ensure parts are connected properly
  • Check live sensor readings
  • Perform vacuum leak checks
  • Automatic validation helps ensure proper run configuration

View Run Page

View Run Window

  • Smarter monitoring of active runs using brand new tools
    • Live Graph
      • Zoom in/out of plotted areas
      • Select a range to immediately calculate the rate of movement
    • Cure Predictions
      • Shows an estimated time remaining in cure and per segment
      • Constantly calculates an expected time of completion
    • Immediately identifies which control has met its parameters per segment
    • Highlights exactly what conditions a segment is waiting on before advancing
  • Allows quick browsing of historical data on previous runs
    • View graphs for previous runs without having to generate reports
    • Duration of run is broken down by segment, helping to troubleshoot any issues
    • Part information is displayed with sensor assignments
    • View leak test information, including tolerance, duration, deviation, and pass or fail
View Run Window | Walton Process Technologies
View Run Window | Walton Process Technologies

View Run Window

View Run Window

  • Smarter monitoring of active runs using brand new tools
    • Smart Graph
      • Zoom in/out of plotted areas
      • Select an area to immediately calculate the rate of movement
      • Data ranges can be quickly modified with a click and drag
    • Cure Predictions
      • Shows an estimated time remaining in cure and per segment
      • Constantly calculates an expected time of completion
    • Immediately identifies which control has met its parameters per segment
    • Highlights exactly what a segment is waiting on before advancing
    • Immediate access to full Cure Report
  • Allows quick browsing of historical data on previous runs
    • Immediately view graphs for previous runs without having to generate reports
    • Duration of run is broken down by segment, helping to troubleshoot any issues
    • Part information displayed with sensor allocation
    • Leak test information, including tolerance, duration, deviation, and pass or fail
Graphical Autoclave Report | Walton Process Technologies

Reports

  • Graphical Report shows full run execution
  • Tabular Data Report allows for data to be grouped by part
  • Export data in CSV format to use in spreadsheets
  • Quality Specification Report evaluates run data against specific criteria to show pass/fail results
  • Event Report includes all logged event messages that occurred during the run
  • Alarm Report shows which alarms were raised during the run
  • Leak Test Report details the results of any leak tests performed before or during the run
  • …and more

Cures

  • Control parts to tight tolerances
  • Program automatic leak tests during runs
    • At start of segment
    • After a delay in minutes
    • At end of segment
  • Automatically control vacuum valves a different points in the cure

Policies

  • New policies section allows customizing the equipment behavior and tailoring the application to meet specific needs

Alarms

  • All alarms are independently customizable
  • Unimportant alarms can be categorized as silent, the alarm will still be logged but will never trigger a bell
  • 24/7 logging of alarms, even outside of a run
  • Equipment alarms
  • Instrument alarms
  • In cure process alarms

Events & 24/7 Logging of Sensors

  • Data sensors can be configured to log 24/7
  • Equipment and system events logged 24/7

Virtual Demo Environment

  • Supports configuration of a virtual environment in which to train operators and test cures
  • Helps with cure R&D as well as cure simulations with simulated alarms
Events & Alarms | Walton Process Technologies
Enterprise Server | Walton Process Technologies

Meeting the needs of Industry 4.0

PCS delivers a user interface via an inbuilt web server. For machine-to-machine interfaces, PCS exposes a RESTful API for reading and writing data, and also maintains a WebSocket server for live status updates and data streams.

Enterprise Server has similar architecture as PCS, with similar interfaces available for data access and system interactions.

Quality Management System

Quality specifications can be created to ensure that parts met very specific requirements during the cure. A Quality Report shows an overall “pass” or “fail,” as well as additional, more granular details.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Components

  • Availability % – Measure equipment availability, determining how much time an equipment was idle because it was between cures or under maintenance
  • Performance % – Measure how much time a cure should take to run versus how much time it actually takes
  • Quality % – Measure for how consistently an equipment produces parts that pass quality criteria

Sensor Certifications

Certifications provide reassurance that sensors are providing accurate readings. Test readings can be automatically captured by attaching a fluke or other tool for simulating accurate electrical signals.