Wireless Wave

Our client:
DERC Salotech is the market leader in Europe in industrial high-pressure cleaning systems. DERC Salotech has a solution for every problem in the field of efficient and very high water pressure cleaning of (industrial) environments. The cleaning systems can build up a pressure of up to 3000 bar (for comparison: a high-pressure cleaner for home use delivers about 100 bar water pressure!). Because of this extreme water pressure, the cleaning systems may only be used under strict supervision and by certified personnel. Environments in which the systems are used:

Petrochemical installations
Shipping / Offshore
Blast furnaces
Food processing industry
In these environments there is often a risk of fire and/or explosion, as a result of which standard electronics may not be used (e.g. ATEX environments).

Problem definition:
A high-pressure cleaning system consists of a number of (electronically controlled) components. The spray lance, the pump (which is usually mounted on a vehicle) and the control of the system. A system is usually operated by 2 persons: an operator who uses the spray lance to perform the actual cleaning and the operator who observes the environment and the operator and can prevent dangerous situations by stopping the system by means of an emergency button.

Until now, the spray lance and operator console were connected to the controls on the pump truck with a long communication cable. This long and expensive cable was always a vulnerable part, had to be rolled out and restricted the freedom of movement of the operator and operator. Faulty cabling is very annoying and costly.

The solution:
By coincidence the contact between DERC Salotech and Brunelco arose and the cable problem was discussed. Brunelco believed in a secure wireless connection between the system components as a replacement for the expensive cable. On a no cure – no pay basis, Brunelco organized a demo. Using existing components and a high-pressure cleaning system provided by DERC Salotech, Brunelco successfully demonstrated that an intrinsically safe wireless connection with emergency stop function was possible. The Wireless Wave system was born!

The components developed by Brunelco for the Wireless Wave system are:

Lance module: the electronics in the handle of the spray lance that communicates with the rest of the system by means of a fail-safe wireless protocol. The smart hand control prevents the spray lance from being accidentally activated.
Operator console: wireless control unit that displays the status of the system, equipped with an emergency button and all the intelligence to safely configure a system. Unintentional combinations of pumps, consoles and sprayers in the vicinity could lead to fatal accidents!
Pump Module: Control that activates the pump and controls the speed of the pump.
Trigger-lock module: connected to a spray lance, this module makes it possible to work with a cable. In some cases a wireless connection is not allowed!
The Wireless Wave system is fully Atex certified, extremely reliable, equipped with IP67 / 68 housings, multilingual and expandable with an additional operator console. Brunelco also takes care of the production and delivery of the electronics to DERC Salotech; due to applicable standards with regard to traceability, all used components are registered!

Applicable standards:

Machine Directives (2006/42/EC)
EMC Directives (2004/108/EC)
ATEX Directives (94/9/EC)
Safety EN 13849-1 (PL)
See also: waterjetting.nl

Applied techniques:

• 802.15.4 RF technology
• Redundance
• Casting of electronics
• Intrinsically safe design